第二篇：A study of art history might be a good way to learn more about the culture than is possible to learn in generalhistory classes. Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics and war. But art history focuses onmuch more than this because art also reflects religious beliefs, emotions and psychology. In addition, informationabout the daily activities of our ancestors—or of people very different from our own—can be provided by art. Inshort, a study of art clearly offers us a deeper understanding than can be found in most history books.History books usually present objective information about the political life of a country, but opinions areimplicit. Art, on the other hand, is subjective: it reflects emotions and opinions. The great Spanish painter FranciscoGoya was perhaps the first “political” artist. In his well-known painting The Third of May, 1808, he depicted soldiersshooting a group of simple people. This depiction of faceless soldiers and their victims has become a symbol of theenormous power—and the misuse of this power—that a government can have over its people. Over a hundred yearslater, the symbolic images in Pablo Picasso’s Guernica express the horror of war. In summary, a personal andemotional view of history can be presented through art.For centuries in Europe, religious art was almost the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religiousbuildings were filled with paintings that depicted people and stories from the Bible. Although most people wereilliterate, they could still understand biblical stories in the pictures on church walls. By contrast, one of the maincharacteristics of art in the Middle East was (and still is) its absence of human and animal images. This reflects theIslamic belief (from the Koran) that statues are unholy. By Islamic law, artists are not allowed to copy human oranimal figures except on small items for daily use (e.g. rugs and bowls). Thus, on palaces, mosques, and otherbuildings, Islamic artists have created unique decoration of great beauty with images of flowers and geometric forms.They have also shown great creativity and discipline in their use of Arabic writing as an art form.
56. In the beginning of the passage, the author suggests that ____________.
(A) art tells more than general history class about war
(B) art shows personal perspectives about human activities
(C) history classes tend to teach subjective opinions
(D) it is more useful to learn art than to learn history