Practice 1
Skim the following passage and find out at least three sentences that use the grammatical cohesion devices.
Sentence 1:_______________________________________________________________________________
Sentence 2: _______________________________________________________________________________
Sentence 3:_______________________________________________________________________________
Read the passage again and do the exercises that follow.
The History of Bauhaus
[1] Any mention of the Bauhaus conjures up a sequence of those well-known design objects: a Wagenfeld lamp, a Marianne Brandt teapot, a Marcel Breuer chair. But the Bauhaus was much more than the originator of such now iconic artefacts. It was an idea, a vision of the future, a community of artists and designers whose joie de vivre and dedication made it for a while, until the Nazis killed it, the most celebrated art school in the world.
[2] The concept for the Bauhaus—literally “building house”—came from Walter Gropius, one of the great visionary thinkers of the 20th century and a practising architect himself, from a Berlin dynasty of architects. His famous great uncle Martin Gropius designed the Kunstgewerbe museum, the building now known as Martin Gropius Bau.
[3] The young Gropius’s idea for the Bauhaus emerged from his experience of the first world war in which he served as a cavalry officer on the western front for almost the whole four years. His response to the devastating scenes he lived through was a stark determination to “start again from zero”. Only a new outlook on design and architecture could provide the means for a shattered civilisation literally to rebuild itself.
[4] His opportunity came in 1919 when he was appointed master of the school of arts and crafts in Weimar that became the Bauhaus. Gropius’s vision was for the “unification of the arts under the wings of great architecture”. It was a democratic concept of art for the people, art for social betterment in which everyone would share. The Bauhaus aesthetic replaced bourgeois furbelows with a geometry of clarity, sharp angles and straight lines.
[5] The influence of John Ruskin and William Morris, great 19th-century artistic seers, is obvious. But Gropius was too thorough a modernist to put his faith completely in these ancient gods. He was involved as a member or a leader in the myriad small groups of revolutionary artists forming in the European cities of the period. The founding of the Bauhaus took place in the context of a whole movement of European expressionist ardour. The design for the cover of its manifesto, Lyonel Feininger’s jagged cathedral with three spires standing for architecture, arts and crafts, is a masterpiece of expressionist graphic art.
[6] In its early years in Weimar, the character of the school was dominated by the Swiss-born painter Johannes Itten. It was Itten who, as Gropius’s “master of form”, invented the Bauhaus’s most lasting contribution to art education, the Vorkurs, the preliminary training course in basic forms, textures and colours for all students entering the school. It was also Itten, a mystic and follower of the esoteric Mazdaznan faith, who established the Bauhaus reputation for crankiness. Students followed him in shaving their heads, wearing loose robes and taking up the Mazdaznan macrobiotic diet consisting of “uncooked mush smothered in garlic”. In a fascinating essay on cooking at the Bauhaus, in the catalogue of the new Barbican exhibition, Nicholas Fox Weber quotes Gropius’s wife Alma Mahler complaining of all-pervasive “garlic on the breath”.
New Words and Expressions
conjure /
kʌndʒə(r)/ vt.想象；变魔术
conjure up 想起；使在脑海中显现
a sequence of 一系列；一连串
originator /ə
rɪdʒɪneɪtə/ n.发起人；起源；起因
iconic /aɪ
kɒnɪk/ adj.标志性的；图标的
artefact /
ɑːtɪfækt/ n.人工制品；加工品
dedication /
dedɪ
keɪʃn/ n.奉献；献身
celebrated /
selə
breɪtɪd/ adj.有名的；著名的
visionary /
vɪʒənri/ adj.有远见的
architect /
ɑːkɪtekt/ n.建筑师
practicing architect 执业建筑师
cavalry /
kævəlri/ n.骑兵；装甲兵
devastating /
devə
steɪtɪŋ/ adj.毁灭性的
stark /stɑːk/ adj.彻底的；完全的
shattered /
ʃætəd/ adj.破碎的
unification /
juːnɪfɪ
keɪʃn/ n.统一；一致
democratic/
demə
krætɪk/ adj.民主的；大众的
betterment /
betəmənt/ n.改善，改进；改良
aesthetic /iːs
θetɪk/ n.审美观；美学标准
bourgeois /
bʊəʒwɑː/ adj.资产阶级的
furbelow /'fɜ:bɪləʊ/ n.俗丽的装饰；俗气
geometry /dʒiː
ɒmətri/ n.几何图形
clarity /
klærəti/ n.清楚；明晰
seer /sɪə(r)/ n.预言家；先知者
thorough /
θʌrə/ adj.彻底的；十分的
myriad /
mɪriəd/ adj.无数的；种种的
expressionist /ɪk'spreʃənɪst/ adj.表现主义的
ardour /
ɑːdə(r)/ n.激情；热情
manifesto /
mænɪ
festəʊ/ n.宣言；声明；告示
jagged /
dʒæɡɪd/ adj.锯齿状的；参差不齐的
cathedral /kə
θiːdrəl/ n.大教堂
spire /
spaɪə(r)/ n.尖顶；尖塔
graphic /
ɡræfɪk/ adj.图形的；形状的
mystic /
mɪstɪk/ adj.神秘主义的；神秘的
esoteric /
esəʊ
terɪk/ adj.秘传的；难懂的；玄奥的
crankiness /'kræŋkinis/ n.古怪；偏执
macrobiotic /
mækrəʊbaɪ
ɒtɪk/ adj.能促进长寿的；长命的
garlic /
ɡɑːlɪk/ n.大蒜；蒜头