Graffiti revival threatens New York subway system涂鸦卷土重来：纽约地铁系统面临威胁

邓玉梅

主題语境：文化 篇幅：387词 篇 建议用时：7分钟

1 The ten?car subway train was adorned at theend of June in a tunnel in Queens. The artistsappeared to use paint rollers to cover it alongone side， from top to bottom， in an awfulshade of pink with a brown line.

2 Tagging （涂鸦） a train is often less about artand more about the prize of marking something that involves risk and echoes the originalgraffiti writers， who blanketed subway trains， including the windows and seats inside，in the 1970s and 1980s.

3 “Modern graffiti began in Philadelphia in the 1960s. But it became an art form in NewYork City，” says Eric Felisbret， author of Graffiti New York.“ Graffiti benefited fromthe popularity of hip?hop globally，”says Mr Felisbret. “Out of all the elements ofhip?hop， graffiti is by far the most rebellious... Back then， all graffiti was illegal.”

4 In 2020， the Metropolitan Transportation Authority （MTA）， which runs the subway，spent $1.2 million on cleaning. By the end of May 2022 it had already spent$1.1 million. In all of 2021， 681 subway cars were“ ruined”. In 2023， more than 700 cars have been“ ruined”. More than one in ten subway cars had to be taken out of servicefor cleaning.

5 The recent spike in subway graffiti activity once paralleled the lifting of travel restrictions.The graffiti on trains usually gets cleaned or hidden quickly， so artists postimages of their work on social media. Sharif Profit， who organizes the annual GraffitiHall of Fame in Harlem， says he can always tell when the work is done by someonefrom another country“： It is not on the same level.”

6 Tagging on the subway is dangerous. The live third rail is lethal （致命的） and the tunnelsare dark. Trains can appear with little warning， so trespassers （不法进入者） mayhave no way of avoiding them. Two French graffiti artists were killed by a train inBrooklyn in April.

7 The MTA removes any tagged train so as to avoid encouraging other people. Passengersthen have to wait longer.“ That was the case recently，” says Richard Davey， head of theMTA's New York City Transit system， when eight trains were ruined. The resultingdelays affected thousands of commuters.“ It's our goal to make sure we don't return tothe 1970s，” he says“， whether it's in our stations or on our cars.”

8 Graffiti on the subway began to die out in the late 1980s. One former graffiti writer saidit is almost shocking to see tagging there now.

Reading

Check

1. Why do graffiti artists tag a subway train？

A. For the prize of an art competition.

B. In pursuit of artistic beauty.

C. To express their dissatisfaction with society.

D. To imitate the early graffiti creators.

2. What does the underlined word“ spike” in paragraph 5 mean？

A. Increase.B. Participation.

C. Drop.D. Pause.

3. What can we infer about tagging from the text？

A. It helps people better understand the world.

B. It has brought inconvenience to commuters.

C. Modern graffiti was at its peak in the 1970s.

D. It is embraced by a majority of artists now.

Language

Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

Tagging a train is often less about art and more about the prize of marking somethingthat involves risk and echoes the original graffiti writers， who blanketed subway trains， includingthe windows and seats inside， in the 1970s and 1980s. 涂鴉列车往往不是为了艺术，更多的是为了获得标记的奖赏，这涉及风险，也与最初的涂鸦作者不谋而合，他们在20世纪70年代和80年代在地铁列车上涂鸦，包括车窗和车厢内的座位。

【点石成金】本句中，that引导的是一个定语从句，先行词为something；who引导的是一个非限制性定语从句，先行词为the original graffiti writers。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

benefit from 受益于……

take...out of service 停止使用……

on the same level 处于同一水平

die out 逐渐减少

make sure 确保