Text A The Twee Tribe
Anna Katharina Schaffner
The opening,in 2013,of the world's largest Cath Kidston shop,at 180 Piccadilly,London;Photograph:© Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images for Cath Kidston
Consider the following phenomena:owl-shaped cushions,bird-print textiles and kitten ephemera.French horns,ukuleles and accordions.Grown women with wispy fringes who dress like little girls,grannies or Jean Seberg,and young men who sport excessively neat haircuts,horn-rimmed glasses and waistcoats.Cotton candy,gluten-free acai berry cupcakes and quinoa fritters with probiotic goat yoghurt.Anything that is locally sourced,vintage or artisanal.Creamcoloured retro bikes with wicker baskets and 1950s sun dresses in ice-cream shades.Polka dots and cocktails in jam glasses.The comic strip Peanuts,J.D.Salinger and Maurice Sendak.The Smiths and Belle and Sebastian.Taxidermy,stamp collecting and home baking.The films of Wes Anderson.What do they all share?According to Marc Spitz,they are emblems of“Twee”—“the most powerful youth movement since Punk and Hip-Hop”.
Since the Second World War,Spitz argues,there has been a“gentle revolution”in our sensibilities,aesthetics and tastes,driven by an ethos of kindness and a quest for purity in an impure world.Originally a niche phenomenon,the aesthetics and ethics of Twee have infiltrated mainstream film,fashion,literature,music and food.Spitz defines the movement's key features as an unabashed celebration of beauty,whimsy and preciousness,a nostalgic fetishization of childhood paired with a wariness of sexuality,and a glorification of the awkward and geeky.
“The Twee Tribe”is characterized by a tendency to create highly stylized alternative modes of existence in opposition to competition-driven mass culture.Just as Greil Marcus sketched a history of influence from Dada via Situationism to punk in Lipstick Traces:A secret history of the twentieth century(1989),so Spitz creates a lineage of Twee from the 1950s to the present,one that includes Walt Disney,Dr Seuss,Edward Gorey,Holly Golightly,James Dean,Jonathan Richman,the Buzzcocks,Art Spiegelman,Sofia Coppola,Jonathan Safran Foer and Lena Dunham,among many others.
Spitz is certainly on to something very important—think of the extraordinary popularity of The Great British Bake Off and the seemingly unstoppable spread of the Cath Kidston franchise—and his book is heartfelt,entertaining,informative and very readable.However,his analysis is flawed in various respects.First and foremost,it is too inclusive,rapidly turning into a history of everything and nothing.Secondly,many of his examples do not fit his own criteria.Although he repeatedly asserts that a“punk spirit”or“punk sensibility”underlies Twee,the latter is,if anything,the very opposite of punk:where punk is angry,ugly,nihilistic and violently confrontational,Twee is gentle,celebrates beauty and goodness,and aims to preserve the past.A number of Spitz's other examples of Twee are no less surprising:Anne Frank,Sylvia Plath and Kurt Cobain seem misplaced,and surely François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel films,especially the later ones,are much more twee than anything by Jean-Luc Godard and what about The Sound of Music.
Furthermore,Spitz does not persuasively theorize Twee's relation to that against which it stands.He argues that,in the face of a world perceived as violent and ugly,Twee is optimistic and idealistic,focusing on“our essential goodness”.Charlie Brown,for example,“became a sort of existential hero in an age of helplessness and horror,brokenhearted but still hopeful”.He faces a“cold world with idealism”.Yet one is left to wonder whether this steadfast idealism is naive or ironic.Is it regressive or progressive?Is the essence of Twee tragicomic,romantic or just escapist?
Spitz also misses the opportunity to assess the wider political implications of Twee.He acknowledges that the aesthetics of Twee appeals mainly to the affluent,liberal arts-educated,white middle class.Nevertheless,he endorses Twee as“a mark of a slow evolution toward a better,kinder,humbler,more politicized and‘so pure’human race”,but then adds:“or at least one with a better record collection”.Yet it is difficult to view wearing Peter Pan collars,Hello Kitty socks and collecting narwhal figurines as serious modes of political engagement.
The most regrettable omission in this potentially important book is any reflection on why the post-war era has seen the rapid rise of Twee.Why is ours the age of retro,why are we so drawn to the mood,styles and objects of the past?Since the 1990s,we have not seen the emergence of an original collective style that has survived longer than one season.Has fashion simply become both more ephemeral and more violently eclectic,or do those who shape the cultural landscape indeed prefer to look backwards rather than forwards?Perhaps with the exception of the Renaissance,the glorification of the past has tended to be driven by escapism—think,for example,of the Romantic idealization of all things Gothic.It is no coincidence that Spitz's account commences with the 1950s,a period that occupies a special status in the Twee canon.A faux new age of innocence,in which people were eager to forget the horrors of war,the Holocaust and revolutionary politics,and to seek both solace and meaning in the pleasures of consumerism,the 50s also saw a return to reactionary gender roles and to various other forms of cultural conservatism.Like the Twee movement more generally,the 50s attempted to counter the horror with decency,homeliness and cupcakes.
A turn to the past always entails a disenchantment with the present.It also testifies to a lack of optimism about the future.Twee is both weary and wary:it has neither the anger nor the energy to change the status quo.It is escapist in that it celebrates style over substance,aesthetics over politics.It has a regressive tendency,both in a temporal and in a psycho-sexual sense:while Twee sometimes borders on camp,it is ultimately profoundly asexual.Generation Twee appears above all to yearn to return to an idealized state of perma-childhood,eager to rid itself of the responsibilities of adulthood.Wes Anderson's most memorable characters,for example,are either adults behaving like children,or pre-teens suspiciously aware of the dark continent that is human sexuality,but who generally prefer not to explore it.The blurring of generational boundaries and the fetishization of childhood aesthetics,tastes and behaviours produce hybrids such as the femmeenfant,the man-child,and the uncannily precocious child,or“adorkables”,such as the actress Zooey Deschanel,who co-founded the“HelloGiggles”website and who publicly declared that she wishes“everyone looked like a kitten”.
Twee,then,is a symptom of profound cultural exhaustion,a pop-cultural response to the death of grand narratives and radical politics:too weary to fight the corporate capitalist machine,the twee instead create hyper-stylized alternative worlds in which kittens play,ukuleles sound and childhood is eternal.Their basic disposition is melancholy rather than angry,and they will always opt for owl-print wallpaper over kicking against the pricks.
(1,161 words)
New Words＆Expressions
1.twee［twiː］adj.artificially attractive or too perfect
2.ephemera［I΄femərə］n.small cheap things that people use in their ordinary life
3.ukulele［ˌjuːkə΄leIli］n.a small guitar or banjo with four strings尤克莱利琴
4.accordion［ə΄kɔːdIən］n.手风琴
5.wispy［΄wIspi］adj.(of hair,threads,smoke,etc.)consisting of small,thin pieces
6.gluten［΄gluːtn］n.a protein which is contained in wheat and some other grains谷蛋白
7.acai［ə΄si］n.a South American palm tree producing small edible blackish-purple berries
8.quinoa［΄kiːnəʊə］n.the seeds of a South American plant which are cooked and eaten as food奎奴亚藜
9.fritter［΄frItə］n.a slice of fruit,vegetable or meat covered with batter(=a mixture of flour,egg and milk)and then fried油炸馅饼
10.probiotic［ˌprəʊbaI΄ɒtIk］n.a food or tablet that contains good bacteria which may keep you healthy益生菌食物或药片
11.vintage［΄vIntIdʒ］adj.of high quality and lasting value,or showing the best and most typical characteristics of a particular type of thing,especially from the past
12.artisanal［΄ɑːtIzənəl］adj.made in a traditional way by someone who is skilled with his hands
13.retro［΄retrəʊ］adj.based on styles of fashion and design from the recent past
14.wicker［΄wIkə］adj.made of very thin pieces of wood twisted together枝条编的
15.taxidermy［΄tæksIdзːmi］n.the activity of cleaning,preserving and filling the skins of dead animals with special material to make them look as if they are still alive
16.emblem［΄embləm］n.a picture of an object which is used to represent a particular person,group or idea
17.sensibility［ˌsensə΄bIlIti］n.an understanding of or ability to decide about what is good or valuable,especially in connection with artistic or social activities
18.aesthetics［iːs΄θetIks］n.the formal study of art,especially in relation to the idea of beauty
19.ethos［΄iːθɒs］n.the set of beliefs,ideas,etc.about social behaviour and relationships of a person or group(个人或团体的)精神特质,价值观
20.niche［nItʃ］n.a job or position which is very suitable for someone,especially one that they like
21.infiltrate［΄InfIltreIt］v.to secretly join an organization or enter a place in order to find out information about it or harm it
22.whimsy［΄wImzi］n.something that is intended to be strange and humorous but in fact has little real meaning or value
23.nostalgic［nɒ΄stældʒIk］adj.feeling happy and sometimes slightly sad at the same time as you think about things that happened in the past
24.fetishization［ˌfetIʃI΄zeIʃən］n.(盲目)迷恋,拜物教
25.geeky［΄ɡiːki］adj.boring and not fashionable
26.lineage［΄lIniIdʒ］n.the members of a person's family who are directly related to that person and who lived a long time before him or her血统；世系
27.unstoppable［ˌʌn΄stɒpəbl］adj.unable to be stopped or prevented from developing
28.franchise［΄fræntʃaIz］n.a right to sell a company's products in a particular area using the company's name特许经销权
29.underlie［ˌʌndə΄lai］v.to be a hidden cause of or strong influence on something
30.nihilistic［ˌnaII΄lIstIk］adj.rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless
31.steadfast［΄stedfɑːst］adj.staying the same for a long time and not changing quickly or unexpectedly
32.regressive［rI΄gresIv］adj.(of tax)lower on large amounts of money,so that the rich are less affected(税收)递减的
33.escapist［I΄skeIpIst］n.逃避现实者adj.逃避现实的
34.acknowledge［ək΄nɒlIdʒ］v.to accept,admit or recognize something,or the truth or existence of something
35.affluent［΄æfluənt］adj.having a lot of money or owning a lot of things；rich
36.endorse［In΄dɔːs］v.to make a public statement of your approval or support for something or someone
37.narwhal［΄nɑːwəl］n.a small Arctic whale,the male of which has a long forwardpointing spirally twisted tusk developed from one of its teeth独角鲸
38.figurine［΄fIɡəriːn］n.a small model of a human,usually made of clay or porcelain(陶瓷)小雕像,小塑像
39.ephemeral［I΄femərəl］adj.lasting for only a short time
40.eclectic［I΄klektIk］adj.including a mixture of many different things or people,especially so that you can use the best of all of them折中的；不拘一格的
41.commence［kə΄mens］v.to begin something
42.faux［fəʊ］adj.not real,but made to look or seem real；false
43.solace［΄sɒləs］n.help and comfort when you are feeling sad or worried
44.consumerism［kən΄sjuːmərIzəm］n.the state of an advanced industrial society in which a lot of goods are bought and sold消费
45.conservatism［kən΄sзːvətIzəm］n.the quality of often not liking or trusting change,especially sudden change necessary,or to involve something
46.disenchantment［ˌdIsIn΄tʃɑːntmənt］n.no longer believing in the value of something,especially having learned of the problems with it觉醒；不再着迷；幻想破灭
47.testify［΄testIfai］v.to speak seriously about something,especially on account of law；to give or provide proof证明,证实
48.weary［΄wIəri］adj.very tired,especially after working hard for a long time
49.wary［΄weəri］adj.not completely trusting or certain about something or someone谨慎的；小心翼翼的
50.the status quo:the present situation现状
51.temporal［΄tempərəl］adj.relating to practical matters or physical things,rather than spiritual ones世俗的,现世的
52.asexual［ˌeI΄sekʃuəl］adj.without sex or sexual organs无性的,无性器官的；having no interest in sexual relationships性冷淡的,无性欲的
53.disposition［ˌdIspə΄zIʃən］n.the particular type of character which a person naturally has性格,性情
54.melancholy［΄melənkəli］n.忧郁,愁思adj.忧郁的,忧伤的
Notes
1.Anna Katharina Schaffner is Reader in Comparative Literature at the University of Kent.She is currently working on a cultural history of exhaustion.“The Twee Tribe”is a review of Twee:The gentle revolution in music,books,television,fashion,and film written by Marc Spitz,published on 18 February,2015,on The Times Literary Supplement,which is the leading international forum for literary culture.
2.Designer Cath Kidston opened her first shop in London's Holland Park in 1994,selling hand-embroidered tea-towels and brightly renovated furniture.Cath Kidston Limited is an international chain of home furnishing retail stores based in England.In April 2011,there were 41 shops and concessions in the UK,two in the Republic of Ireland,eleven in Japan and three in Korea.Less than three years later,there were 136 outlets,including a flagship store on Piccadilly next to Fortnum＆Mason and four stores in China.
3.Piccadilly(/ˌpIkə΄dIli/)is a road in the City of Westminster,London to the south of Mayfair,running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east.At just under 1 mile(1.6 km)in length,Piccadilly is one of the widest and straightest streets in central London.
4.Jean Dorothy Seberg(1938—1979)was an American actress.She starred in 34 films in Hollywood and in Europe.
5.Polka dots［(衣料上的)圆点花纹)］are a large number of small round spots that are printed in a regular pattern on cloth.
6.Comic strip(连环漫画)is a short series of funny drawings with a small amount of writing which is usually published in a newspaper.
7.Jerome David Salinger(1919—2010)was an American writer.In 1951,his novel The Catcher in the Rye was an immediate popular success.His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential,especially among adolescent readers.The novel remains widely read and controversial,selling around 250,000 copies a year.The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to public attention and scrutiny.
8.Maurice Bernard Sendak(1928—2012)was an American illustrator and writer of children's books.He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are,first published in 1963.Born to Jewish-Polish parents,his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust.
9.The Smiths was an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982.The NME named the Smiths the“most influential artist ever”in a 2002 poll,even topping the Beatles.
10.Belle and Sebastian is a Scottish pop band formed in Glasgow in January,1996.
11.Wes Anderson(born May 1,1969)is an American film director,film producer,screenwriter,and actor.His films are known for their distinctive visual and narrative style.
12.Punk is a culture popular among young people,especially in the late 1970s,involving opposition to authority expressed through shocking behavior,clothes and hair,and through fast loud music(also punk rocker).It can also refer to a person who wears punk clothes and likes punk music.
13.Hip-Hop is a type of popular music in which the subject of the songs is often politics or society and the words are spoken rather than sung.
14.Dada or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century.
15.Dr Seuss,Theodor Seuss Geisel(1904—1991)was an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children's books under the pen name Dr Seuss.His works include several of the most popular children's books of all time,selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.Geisel adopted his“Dr Seuss”pen name during his university studies at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford.
16.Edward St John Gorey(1925—2000)was an American writer and artist noted for his illustrated books.His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings.
17.Holly Golightly(born September 1,1964)is a comic book writer and artist.She was formerly known as Fauve,and has also worked under the name Holly G!
18.James Byron Dean(1931—1955)was an American actor.He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement,as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film,Rebel Without a Cause(1955),in which he starred as troubled teenager Jim Stark.
19.Jonathan Richman(born May 16,1951)is an American singer,songwriter and guitarist.
20.The Buzzcocks is an English pop punk band.They achieved commercial success with singles that fused pop craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy.Devoto and Shelley chose the name“Buzzcocks”after reading the headline,“It's the Buzz,Cock!”,in a review of the TV series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine.The“buzz”is the excitement of playing on stage;“cock”is Manchester slang meaning“mate”(as in friend/buddy).They thought it captured the excitement of the Sex Pistols and nascent punk scene.
21.Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist,editor,and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel Maus.
22.Sofia Coppola(born May 14,1971)is an American screenwriter,director,producer and actress.In 2003,she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the comedy-drama Lost in Translation,and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.In 2010,with the drama Somewhere,she became the first American woman(and the fourth American filmmaker)to win the Golden Lion,the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.Her father is a director,producer and screenwriter,Francis Ford Coppola.
23.Jonathan Safran Foer(born February 21,1977)is an American writer.He is best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated(2002),Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close(2005)and Eating Animals(2009).He teaches creative writing at New York University.
24.Lena Dunham(born May 13,1986)is an American actress,author,screenwriter,producer,and director.She wrote and directed the independent film Tiny Furniture(2010),and is the creator,writer and star of the HBO series Girls.She has received eight nominations for Emmy Awards as a writer,director,actress and producer and won two Golden Globe Awards for Girls.
25.The Great British Bake Off,often referred to as simply Bake Off or GBBO,is a BAFTA award-winning British television baking competition first shown by BBC Two on 17 August,2010.The judges are cookery writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood.Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins have presented all series of the programme to date.The competition selects from amongst its contestants the best amateur baker.The programme was moved to BBC One for its fifth series after it became the most popular show on BBC Two.Its increasing popularity is credited with reinvigorating interest in baking throughout the UK.Many of its participants,including winners,have gone on to start a career based on bakery.
26.Anne Frank was a German-born diarist and writer.She is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust.Her wartime diary The Diary of a Young Girl has been the basis for several plays and films.She gained international fame posthumously after her diary was published.It documents her experiences during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
27.Sylvia Plath(1932—1963)was an American poet,novelist,and short-story writer.She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956;they lived together in the United States and then England,and had two children.Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life.She committed suicide in 1963.
28.Kurt Cobain(1967—1994)was an American musician who was best known as the lead singer,guitarist,and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana.
29.Francois Truffaut(1932—1984)was a French film director,screenwriter,producer,actor,and film critic,as well as one of the founders of the French New Wave.
30.Antoine Doinel is a fictional character created by the French film director Francois Truffaut.Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut,sharing many of the same childhood experiences,looking somewhat alike and even being mistaken for one another on the street.
31.Jean-Luc Godard(born 3 December,1930)is a French-Swiss film director,screenwriter and film critic.He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement La Nouvelle Vague,or“New Wave”.
32.The Sound of Music(1959)is a multiple Tony Award-winning musical.Many songs from the musical have become standards,such as“Edelweiss”,“My Favorite Things”,“Climb Every Mountain”,“Do-Re-Mi”,and the title song“The Sound of Music”.The original Broadway production,starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel,opened on November 16,1959.This production was a five time winner at the 14th Tony Awards,out of nine nominations.
33.The Renaissance is a period in Europe,from the 14th to the 17th century,considered the bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history.It started as a cultural movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe.Its intellectual basis was humanism,derived from the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy,such as that of Protagoras,who said,that“Man is the measure of all things.”This new thinking became manifest in art,architecture,politics,science and literature.Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits,as well as social and political upheaval,it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo,who inspired the term“Renaissance man”.
34.Romanticism(also the Romantic era or the Romantic period)was an artistic,literary,and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850.It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment,and the scientific rationalization of nature.It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts,music,and literature,but had a major impact on historiography,education,and the natural sciences.It had a significant and complex effect on politics,and while for much of the Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism.Its long-term effect on the growth of nationalism was perhaps more significant.
35.Gothic:of or like a style of building which was common in Europe between the 12th and the 16th centuries,and which has pointed arches and windows,high ceilings and tall,thin columns
36.The Holocaust was a genocide in which approximately six million Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime and its collaborators.Killings took place throughout Nazi Germany and German-occupied territories.
37.Zooey Claire Deschanel(born January 17,1980)is an American actress,singersongwriter,model,musician,and producer.
38.HelloGiggles.com is an entertainment and lifestyle website launched in May 2011.It was founded by actress/musician Zooey Deschanel,producer Sophia Rossi and writer Molly McAleer.The website is geared toward women,and covers topics in pop culture,love,friendship,female empowerment,careers,style,food and daily news with an intelligent,feminist slant.HelloGiggles.com is marketed as a positive online community by its users with a strict“no gossip”policy.Reader contributions are permitted,and many are published every day.
39.Kicking Against the Pricks is the third album released by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.First released in 1986,the album is a collection of cover versions.The title is a reference to a biblical quote from acts 9,verse 5 from Acts of the Apostles(the fifth book of the New Testament;it tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman empire).
Reading Comprehension
Ⅰ.Questions for discussion
1.Why does the author begin the text with a list of the phenomena?
2.What's your understanding of“Twee”?
3.What is the author's attitude toward Spitz's discussion about Twee?
4.What's the author's argument about Twee?Is it convincing?
Ⅱ.Judge,according to the text,whether the following statements are true(T)or false(F).
1.Twee is a youth movement that has infiltrated every field of life.
2.Spitz's analysis of Twee is inclusive and persuasive.
3.In the author's opinion,Spitz fails to assess the wider political implications of Twee.
4.The author thinks it the biggest flaw that Spitz omits the reflection on the reasons for the rapid rise of Twee.
5.The author asserts that Twee is the production of disenchantment with the present,a lack of optimism about the future,and that it's a regressive tendency.
Vocabulary
Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks with words that best complete the sentences.
( )1.Usually the couples regard their child as a dazzling________of their love.
A.representative B.emblem C.reflection D.figurine
( )2.What makes a painting beautiful is quite different from what makes music beautiful,which suggests that each art form has its own language for the judgement of________.
A.aesthetics B.ethos C.viewpoint D.value
( )3.Another ancient________tale,Homer's Odyssey,tells of Odysseus,whom the gods have cursed to wander and suffer for many years before Athena persuades the Olympians to allow him to return home.
A.request B.conquer C.quest D.advisable
( )4.Li Na has carved/made a________for herself as a professional tennis player.
A.niche B.narwhal C.nihilist D.narrative
( )5.American commercialism has been________Chinese universities for the past decade.
A.piercing B.punching C.tearing D.infiltrating
( )6.In the debate competition,there was a fatal________in the rival's statement,so we won finally.
A.shortcoming B.shortage C.flaw D.fault
( )7.There's been a________decline in the standard of living over the past few years.
A.regressive B.progressive C.digressive D.ingressive
( )8.He was________of the constant battle between his girlfriend and him.
A.wary B.aware C.weary D.worried
( )9.Nowadays many young girls love buying________handbags to satisfy their vanity.
A.vintage B.classic C.retro D.classical
( )10.Not a few movie stars live in Beverley Hills,which is known as________neighbourhoods.
A.famous B.affluent C.fluent D.filthy
Ⅱ.Fill in each blank with a word chosen from the box in its appropriate form.
ephemera assert acknowledge unabashed persuasively exhaustion
corporate theorize disenchantment narrative uncannily preserve
1.The girl who came to Shanghai for the first time said nothing,but looked____________.
2.The couple who had broken up met in Paris one___________afternoon in early autumn.
3.Fashions are____________:new ones regularly drive out the old.
4.He is trying to____________local and foreign businesses to invest in the project.
5.Prince Charles condemned the____________modernist style of architecture.
6.History always has a(n)____________coincidence,and no one can explain it.
7.PhD candidates need to do a(n)____________study of those related to the topic they intend to explore.
8.His poetic efforts are mocked by the____________of the story.
9.According to the development of linguistics,few Chinese scholars contribute to the____________of linguistic rules.
10.She didn't want to work for a big____________where everything was so impersonal.
11.A number of art_________have been working hard to renovate Dunhuang Grotto Murals.
12.In an academic thesis or monograph,the author needs to write____________so as to express his or her thanks to all the people who have helped him or her.
Cloze
Of the four choices given below for each blank,choose the one that best fits into the passage.
Girl Power
Acclaimed design duo Meadham Kirchoff were among the first to champion the wild and whimsical in their designs—with their pinafore dresses(背心裙)and fairy-tale,dressing-up-box 1 and,like Lo,Edward Meadham is also influenced by kawaii,he says.“When I was growing up in the‘90s,I 2 to wear a lot of Hello Kitty things,and I 3 little cute things in general,”he recalls.
Yet for Meadham,the look is about more than cutesiness—it is 4 rebellion and subversion:“Girl culture holds a special interest 5 me.The riot girls reclaimed girlishness and their own girlhoods by using the codes and 6 of girl childhood,and this had a big influence on me.”Among the duo's inspirational figures are Courtney Love,Viv Albertine(of early punk band The Slits)and Kathleen Hanna,feminist activist and member of Bikini Kill—all of whom have subverted orthodox notions of 7 .
The notion of girlish style as radical is shared by Danielle Romeril, 8 shortlisted NewGen designer.Her Autumn/Winter 2015 collection 9 polka-dot plastic raincoats and pinafore dresses.“There is a real shift away from the rather old-f ashioned 10 of‘age appropriate’clothing,”she tells BBC Culture.“A 15-year-old and a 60-year-old can both wear the same beautifully printed raincoat 11 it's tailored to fit their form.Grown-up women are embracing vibrant, 12 clothing and they're showing off their personalities.”
( )1.
A.aesthetic B.sympathetic C.pathetic D.genetic
( )2.A.tended B.turned C.got D.used
( )3.A.sent B.collected C.put D.took
( )4.A.on B.over C.about D.in
( )5.A.for B.of C.at D.to
( )6.A.representatives B.tokens C.symbols D.representation
( )7.A.girlishness B.girls C.girlhood D.girliness
( )8.A.another B.one C.a D.the
( )9.A.characterized B.featured C.included D.had
( )10.A.note B.notion C.keyword D.idea
( )11.A.just as B.as if C.as much as D.as long as
( )12.A.graceful B.youthful C.respectful D.careful