Text 4
If you could sex cities, Florence would be male and Venice female. In 1833 Chateaubriand thought Venice was a female city situated at the water’s edge about to be extinguished with the day. But there is a less sentimental conception of Venice’s femininity: of a woman of easy virtue who clings on to many clients despite the ravages of time which are treated by means of shrewdly applied face lifts. There is enough lingering charm to toy with the memories of her admirers. But this Venice is dying.
All these images are to be found in Margaret Plant’s thoroughly and lovingly researched, thoughtful and hugely concise history of modern Venice. It is surprisingly revealing and ought to make lovers of an unchanged and unchanging Venice reconsider their enthusiasm and prejudices. Ms Plant begins by describing the plucky survival of Venice in the wake of its invasion by Napoleon’s army in 1797. Napoleon stole the four bronze horses from the basilica of San Marco, destroyed its boat-building capacity, and demolished a church in Piazza San Marco. But these were the last major upheavals in Venice. In the absence of political clout, Venice succumbed to the tourist trade — something it had always an instinctive feeling for.
Tourism became an insidious influence on the debate between the party that wanted Venice to be a creature of its past which concentrated on conservation and restoration, and those who preferred to improve the quality of life even if that meant changing the face of the place.
Ms Plant declares that the 1880s were the moment in the modern history of Venice because that decade confirmed it was to be a dead city. “It began quite precisely in 1887, when the city was fetishised and its face turned resolutely to the past. It became a virtual cliché to advocate that Venice had the world as its audience; its own citizens are confirmed as a lower order.”
The fascists tried to alter the policy, developing a port on the mainland in Marghera, but pollution from chemical plants attacked the stone fabric of the city. In 1996 a great flood deluged Venice, and when it was repaired it looked exactly as it had done. After decades of restoration it looks as well as it ever has. Its international audience luxuriates in Venice. But the numbers of tourists rise uncontrollably and the city is flooded with monotonous regularity.
Since Venice has always preferred romance to reality and retained a morbid fascination, Ms Plant’s conclusion is apt enough: “Meanwhile the seas are rising. In the city of apocalypse the four golden horses are at the ready, pawing at the porch of St Mark, waiting to haul the city out of the waters and into the sky.”
36. The sentence “Florence would be male and Venice female” (Line 1, Paragraph 1) means that
[A] Florence is less attractive to clients seeking romance.
[B] Florence is situated further away from water’s edge.
[C] Florence is more immune to man-made preservation.
[D] Florence is less thoughtful of its admirers’ expectations.
37. It is implied in the second paragraph that many lovers of Venice may
[A] fail to recognize the subtlety of its changes.
[B] hold prejudices against political conflicts.
[C] criticize the vicious behaviors of the fascists.
[D] retain a controlled and instinctive fascination.
38. The word “fetishised” (Line 3, Paragraph 4) most probably means
[A] retrieved.
[B] worshipped.
[C] regulated.
[D] sacrificed.
39. According to the author, those who are concentrated on the restoration of Venice should accept the fact that
[A] their efforts are dubiously oriented.
[B] its images improve the quality of life.
[C] their advocates are less sentimental.
[D] the old city is inevitably dying.
40. The text is intended to express the idea that
[A] restoring old cities entails thoughtful and thorough planning.
[B] an old city is bound to be extinguished in foreseeable future.
[C] preserving an old city means interfering with it all the time.
[D] a let-alone policy would be best applicable to a fragile old city.
