题目

What might have kept the Victorians from smiling for pictures in the 1890s? But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction of the Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’s digital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smiles were relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for an explanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile. One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesy grin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victorian maxim, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouths were often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean, regular “pearly whites” was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve of the super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).请选出本题正确答案A、Their inherent social sensitiveness.B、Their tension before the cameraC、Their distrust of new inventions.D、Their unhealthy dental condition.

What might have kept the Victorians from smiling for pictures in the 1890s?

        But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction of the Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’s digital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smiles were relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for an explanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile.

       One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesy grin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victorian maxim, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouths were often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean, regular “pearly whites” was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve of the super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).

请选出本题正确答案

  • A、Their inherent social sensitiveness.
  • B、Their tension before the camera
  • C、Their distrust of new inventions.
  • D、Their unhealthy dental condition.

题目解答

答案

D

解析

考查要点：本题主要考查学生对历史背景知识的理解，以及从文本中提取关键信息的能力。需要结合维多利亚时期的社会文化背景和文本中的具体描述，分析出人们不微笑的真正原因。

解题核心思路：

  1. 排除干扰项：题目中明确提到“曝光时间已足够快”，因此技术问题（如拍摄时的紧张、技术不成熟）已被排除。
  2. 抓住关键句：文本通过格言“Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth”和“oral hygiene was shocking”等信息，直接指向牙齿健康问题。
  3. 联系历史背景：维多利亚时期牙科医学尚未发展，普通人的牙齿状况普遍较差，因此避免微笑以维护尊严。

破题关键点：

  • 锁定文本中的因果关系：文中明确将“不微笑”与“牙齿问题”关联，而非其他选项中的社会敏感性或技术因素。

步骤1：排除技术相关选项

  • 文本提到“exposure was almost instantaneous”（快门速度已足够快），说明技术问题（如拍摄时的紧张、相机不便）已解决，因此排除选项B、C。

步骤2：分析牙齿问题的描述

  • 格言解读：“Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth”表明维多利亚人认为遮住牙齿是自然且必要的，暗示牙齿状态不理想。
  • 历史背景补充：文中指出“before proper dentistry”，牙科技术落后导致口腔卫生差，健康牙齿是“稀有特权”，说明当时普遍牙齿状况不佳。

步骤3：排除社会敏感性

  • 文本未提及社会礼仪或敏感性直接导致不微笑，而是通过牙齿问题解释“尊严的丧失”（loss of dignity），因此选项A不成立。

结论：唯一合理的答案是D（unhealthy dental condition）。