A portrait type that appeared with relentless frequency in eighteenth-century England is the familiar image of a gentleman poised with one hand inside his partially unbuttoned waistcoat. Standard interpretations of this portrait posture offer observations of correspondence—demonstrating either that it mirrors actual social behavior or that it borrows from classical statuary. Such explanations, however, illuminate neither the source of this curious convention nor the reason for its popularity. It is true that in real life the “hand-in” was a common stance for elite men. Still, there were other ways of comporting the body that did not become winning portrait formulas. And even if the “hand-in” portrait does resemble certain classical statues, what accounts for the adoption of this particular pose?
1.In the context of the passage as a whole, the primary function of the sentence in lines (“It is …men”) is to
- emphasize the influence of a particular social class on the conventions of eighteenth-century English portraiture
- account for the origin of a particular type of behavior frequently represented in eighteenth-century English portraiture
- acknowledge a historical basis for two competing hypotheses about a particular portrait type
- question the relevance of certain evidence frequently cited in support of an explanation for a particular portrait type
- concede that one explanation for the prevalence of a particular portrait type has a basis in fact
2.Which of the following might provide an explanation for the popularity of hand-in portraits that would satisfy the author of the passage?
- An eighteenth-century English etiquette manual discussing the social implications of the “hand-in” stance
- A comprehensive catalogue of eighteenth-century English portraits that showed what proportion of portraits depicted gentlemen in the “hand-in” stance
- A passage from an eighteenth-century English novel in which a gentleman considers what stance to adopt when his portrait is painted
文章結構：
第一：由however開始，他是分水嶺，表示however之前和之後兩者邏輯關係是不同的，由於however的邏輯取反比較寬鬆，所以可以是為跟前面的東西比較起來有從不同就對了，絕不只有絕對相反的選項。然後我們在看到however,後面有個 it's ture A. Still B.這種句型，他其實是可以直接對等到句內轉折although A, B兩者是一樣的，都是『讓步語氣』，所以第一題選項剩下Ｃ跟Ｅ可以選了，但是Ｃ選項中two competing hypotheses，文章並沒有針對這兩者（社會習慣，經典姿勢）句捉對評比，重點是在講插口袋這件事到底是為何而來，所以剩下（Ｅ），Ｅ當中的in fact=classical statues(a common stance for elite men)
第二：might provide an explanation第二題題幹問到的其實就是找原因，那原因就那兩組了而且句尾留了一個問號，表示不確定，因此題目說到的might就可以當作是對應點，只是問說有可能，並沒有說絕對，然後依照社會習慣，經典姿勢這兩點去找答案，社會習慣對應到Ａ當中social implications，而經典姿勢對應到eighteenth-century English novel，選擇Ａ，Ｃ
ＰＳ：Ｂ選項看到proportion就要刪掉了，八竿子打不著邊，
反正之後跟陳奕迅一樣拍照要記得插袋
以上個人筆記希望有幫助到大家，有誤再請指教!!
托福TOEFL ibt (4)