10.2　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．The ______ was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century.

【答案】Enlightenment

【解析】启蒙运动是发生在17、18世纪欧洲的一场反封建、反教会的思想文化革命运动，它为资产阶级革命作了思想准备和舆论宣传。

2．The main literary stream of the 18th century was ______ .What the writers described were mainly social realities.

【答案】realism

【解析】18世纪主要的文学潮流是现实主义。启蒙时期的现实主义，是文艺复兴时期现实主义的继续，但又有新的发展。它的特征在于具有更多的政论性，作家们都有意识地把他们自己的政治思想贯穿在文学作品之中。

3．The enlighteners believed that reason should be the only basis of one’s thinking and action. That is why the eighteenth century in England has been called ______.

【答案】the Age of Reason

【解析】18世纪的英国是一个启蒙主义时代，或称为理性时代。启蒙主义者宣扬理性、平等与科学。他们提出要用当代的哲学与艺术思想的晨光启迪世界，主张理性是一切思想与行动的唯一原因。

II. Multiple Choices

1．Modern English novel arose in the _______ century. （北二外2010研）

A.16th

B.17th

C.18th

D.19th

【答案】C

【解析】18世纪英国文学最显著的特征是现实主义小说的兴起和发展。

2．As a man of strongly-held religious and political convictions, Daniel Defoe published many writings, including ______. （首都师范大学2009研）

A. Of Reformation

B. Areopagitica

C. The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth

D. The Shortest Way with Dissenters

【答案】D

【解析】《与意见不同者们打交道的捷径》是笛福的作品，他曾因这本政治小册子获罪。其余都是弥尔顿的作品。

Ⅲ. Explain the following terms.

1．English Enlightenment （北航2008研）

Key: With the advent of the 18th century in England, there sprang into life a progressive intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. The enlighteners held the common faith in human rationality, eternal justice and natural equality. The great enlighteners in Britain were those great writers like Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Jonathan Swift and Samuel Johnson.

2．British neoclassicism （南开大学2009研）

Key: In English literature, the stylistic trend between the Restoration and the advent of romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century is referred to as neoclassicism. The term “neoclassicism” is derived from the convictions of the leading poet-critics of the age that literary theory and practice should follow the models established by Greek and Latin writers. These critics held that writers should emphasize types rather than individual characteristics; adhere to “nature” by aspiring to order and regularity; and strictly observe the unities of time, place, and action in dramatic composition. Major British neoclassicists are John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson.

3．Gothic novel

Key: ①An alternative term is Gothic romance. It is a story of terror and suspense, usually set in a gloomy old castle or monastery. ②The Gothic novel flourished in Britain from the 1790s to the 1820s, dominated by Ann Radcliffe, whose The Mysteries of Udolpho had many imitators. ③Gothic novel contributed to the new emotional climate of Romanticism. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also a well-known example and there are several important American tales and novels with Gothic elements in this sense, from Poe to Faulkner and beyond.

IV. Read the following quotation and answer the questions. （北京航空航天大学2008研）

The Other Side of the Island

I mentioned before that I had a great mind to see the whole island, and that I had traveled up the brook, and so on to where I built my bower, and where I had an opening quite to the sea on the other side of the island. I now resolved to travel quite cross to the seashore on that side…

I saw abundance of parrots, and fain I would have caught one, if possible, to have kept it to be tamed, and taught it to speak to me. I did, after some painstaking, catch a young parrot, for I knocked it down with a stick; and having recovered it, I brought it home, but it was some years before I could make him speak. However, at last I taught him to call me by name very familiarly.

1．Identify the author and the work from which the passage is selected.

2．Why did the hero try to teach a parrot to call his name? Explain it from the historical background of the novel.

3．How do you understand his life on the island, such as hunting, capture of Friday?

Key:1. The passage is taken from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

2．Robinson tried to teach a parrot to call his name because he was eager to find someone to speak to. He lived on the island alone, without contact with the society. So he was starved for a company.

In the 18th century, the feudal divinity advocated “God created everything” and did not admit the power of human beings. But in this novel, Robinson finally taught a parrot to call his name very familiarly, which proved human being’s creativity, knowledge and power. It shows the newly emergent bourgeoisie thought of the author.

3．His life on the island is hard at the very beginning, but it gradually becomes better and better. He is busy at hunting, taming, gathering, harvesting and making baskets or pots. He has a safe and warm place to live, enough food and fruit to eat and a Bible to read. So he is content with his life.

Later he saves a man and gives him the name Friday. Then he has a servant and company. The story glorifies human labor and puritan fortitude, which saves him from despair and gives him pride and happiness. His experience on the island can also be regarded as a kind of conquest. With his gun and Bible, he becomes the “governor” of the island. This also reflects the colonial thought of England at that time.

V. Short answer question

As a pioneering novelist of England, Daniel Defoe is often given the credit for the discovery of the modern novel. Does he deserve that honor? What is the title of his great work? When was the book published, and what real experiences is it based upon? What is the significance of the novel? What are some of the author’s biases revealed in the novel if we examine it from a modern Critic’s point of view? （中国人民大学 2006年研）

Key: (1) Yes, for his novel Robinson Crusoe generally heads the list of modern fiction.

(2) Robinson Crusoe.

(3) This book was published in 1719, based on the adventures of a seaman, Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned on one of the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile.

(4) The significance of the novel: ①“Robinson Crusoe” is an expression of the bourgeois qualities of individualism and private enterprise. Robinson Crusoe is a new man--a man sure of himself and sure of being able to establish himself anywhere in the world. He is a man of new age, in which doubt and uncertainty are replaced by hope and confidence. ②In describing Robinson’s life on the island, Defoe glorifies human labor. ③Robinson is the enterpriser of his age. He is ready to command nature, his enemy, and to found his colony beyond the sea. He is a merchant-adventurer, interested in material profit. So Robinson’s every voyage is connected with some commercial enterprise. ④This novel is an embodiment of the spirit of individual enterprise and colonial expansion of the rising bourgeoisie. ⑤Defoe’s bourgeois outlook shows itself in the fact that he doesn’t condemn Negro-slavery in his book.

(5) This novel revealed the author’s colonialism and Negro-slavery thought. Also the individualism and material-profit-upmost thought is indicated.

（本题考查对丹尼尔·笛福的掌握情况。丹尼尔·笛福是英国启蒙时期现实主义小说的奠基人，被誉为“小说之父”。其作品主要为个人通过努力，靠自己的智慧和勇敢战胜困难。其代表作《鲁滨逊漂流记》闻名于世，鲁滨逊也成为与困难抗争的典型模范，因此他被视作英国小说的开创者之一。）

VI. Essay question

In what way does Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe reflect the history of British colonization in the 18th century? （天津外国语2008研）

Key: Robinson Crusoe reflects British concept of an innocent, unspoiled savage to be saved by civilized, superior white man, whose colonization of savage land is, in the end, a form of salvation for the savage native population, which is actually a good excuse for their colonization. Friday, a savage man saved from hands of cannibals, is a fine example of such British concept. The colonization can be divided into two levels. The first level is on the colonist’s cultural colonization. The first word Crusoe taught Friday is “Master” which is said to be the name of Crusoe. Then he taught Friday English with plans as the first step of Friday’s evolution, never considering learning Friday’s language. The second step is his force to convert Friday’s religious belief into Christian, which is the master of Friday’s mind. Thus he controlled Friday completely. The second level of colonization is the colonist’s gun. He used arm force to guarantee his master position. This level is hidden behind the colonist’s salvation psychology. In nature Friday is good and therefore patient care of Crusoe lets him understand that a civilized man or a colonizing power can lift him out of the darkness of ignorance. That was also rational for colonizing numerous overseas lands where terrible atrocities occurred, since white men’s rule was eventually for the good of savages, who may temporarily not be able to see its benefits.

（本题考查了对《鲁滨逊漂流记》殖民主题的理解。）