Passage 9
学霸导读 独立的审美视角，胜过为了观赏而观赏。
The Art of Seeing
My favorite travel quote comes from the Indian poet Tagore （ 泰戈尔 ）. Ref lecting upon why he traveled so much， the Nobel laureate （ 诺贝尔奖获得者 ） concluded that he did so “in order to see properly”. Or， as a 1 observant （ 善于观察的 ） traveler， American writer Henry Miller， once said， “One’s destination is never a place， but a new way of seeing things.”
Tagore and Miller were on my mind during a recent visit to Florence. The birthplace of the Renaissance taught me how to see “properly”.
The past, it has been said, is a f 2 country. The Florence of today is, of course, very different from the Florence of Michelangelo and Leonardo’s day. The Florence of today has pizza, pasta, espresso, Wi-Fi and tour buses. What to do?
“Squint （ 眯着眼看 ）.”
That was the a 3 of a friend when I’d mentioned my plans to visit Florence. I’d laughed it off, but I now realize it’s actually a smart strategy. As the great psychologist William James said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” Sometimes we can see more by narrowing our f ield of view than by e 4 it.
If you want to “see properly”， it helps to have a sharp-eyed guide. Mine was Eugene Martinez. In the days I spent with him， walking the cobblestoned （ 鹅卵石铺就的 ） streets of Florence， he taught me how to see the artwork for its own sake， and not be burdened with expectations of what I should see.
I liked the way Martinez said crazy things, such as “I don’t c 5 for the Renaissance”.
“What？” I replied， dumbstruck （ 呆若木鸡 ）.
“I don’t. It’s too pretty for me.” I was wondering what he meant by that when he then said, “Give it a few days. You’ll see what I mean.”
A week later， at the huge and garish （ 花哨的 ） Pitti Palace （ 皮蒂宫 ）， walking down one of the oversized corridors， p 6 the inlaid tiles （ 镶饰花砖 ） and the colorful tapestries （ 织 锦 ）， I realized， f inally， what Martinez meant when he said that the Renaissance was too pretty for him.
He meant too “pretty” in the sense of too f lowery. Some art simply tries too hard to please. This doesn’t apply to all Renaissance art, of course. Some of it is absolutely worthy of our affection—but we need to make that judgment ourselves rather than blindly follow the lead of an art historian, or anyone else for that matter.
Seeing art, it t 7 out, is less important than the art of seeing.
1.__________2.__________3.__________4.__________5.__________6.__________7.__________
高频词汇
ref lect /rɪ'f lekt/ v. 深思，考虑，认真思考
destination /ˌdestɪ'neɪʃn/ n. 目的地；终点
properly /'prɒpəli/ adv. 正确地；合适地
burden /'bɜːdən/ v. 烦扰；加重压于
affection /ə'fekʃn/ n. 喜爱；钟爱
blindly /'blaɪndli/ adv. 盲目地