2012年考研英語閱讀理解精讀高分版(4)

來源：中華考試網時間：2011-12-30 11:38:00

　　TEXT FOUR

　　Just as Norman Mailer, John Updike and Philip Roth were at various times regarded as the greatest American novelist since the second world war, John Ashbery and Robert Lowell vied for the title of greatest American poet. Yet the two men could not be more different. Lowell was a public figure who engaged with politics-in 1967 he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Mailer in protest against the Vietnam war, as described in Mailer’s novel "The Armies of the Night". Lowell took on substantial themes and envisioned himself as a tragic, heroic figure, fighting against his own demons. Mr Ashbery’s verse, by contrast, is more beguilingly casual. In his hands, the making of a poem can feel like the tumbling of dice on a table top. Visible on the page is a delicately playful strewing of words, looking to engage with each other in a shyly puzzled fashion. And there is an element of Dada-like play in his unpredictability of address with its perpetual shifting of tones.

　　Lowell, who died in 1977 at the age of 60, addressed the world head on. By contrast, Mr Ashbery, who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year, glances wryly at the world and its absurdities. In this edition of his later poems, a substantial gathering of verses selected from six volumes published over the past 20 years, his poetry does not so much consist of themes to be explored as comic routines to be improvised. He mocks the very idea of the gravity of poetry itself. His tone can be alarmingly inconsequential, as if the reader is there to be perpetually wrong-footed. He shifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day. His poems are endlessly digressive and there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, though these always come lightly at the reader, as though they were scents on the breeze.

　　Lowell wrote in strict formal measures; some of his last books consisted of entire sequences of sonnets. Mr Ashbery can also be partial to particular forms of verse, though these tend to be of a fairly eccentric kind-the cento (a patchwork of other poets’ works), for example, and the pantoum (a Malaysian form, said to have been introduced to 19th-century Europe by Victor Hugo). Often he writes in a free-flowing, conversational manner that depends for its success upon the fact that the ending of lines is untrammelled by any concern about whether or not they scan. Within many of his poems, there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between one stanza and the next. Mr Ashbery likes using similes in his poetry. This is often the poet’s stock-in-trade, but he seems to single them out in order to send up the very idea of the simile in poetry, as in "Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an empty tank".

　　Life, for Lowell, was a serious matter, just as he was a serious man. Mr Ashbery’s approach, as evinced by his poetry, is more that of a gentle shrug of amused bewilderment. Unlike Lowell’s, his poems are neither autobiographical nor confessional. He doesn’t take himself that seriously. "Is all of life a tepid housewarming?" For a poet this is a tougher question to answer than you might think.

　　1.The word "substantial" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____.

　　[A] serious

　　[B] big

　　[C] important

　　[D] real

　　2. The last words of Lowell mean that_____.

　　[A] the world should go forward without stopping.

　　[B] the world should not mourn for him.

　　[C] the world should forget him totally.

　　[D] the world should go on its path for a bright future.

　　3. Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashbery’s poetry?

　　[A] Some lines are borrowed from the other poets’ works.

　　[B] Stanzas are different from each other in one poem.

　　[C] Words are scattered casually in his poetry.

　　[D] Tones are continuously changing from the highbrow to the common.

　　4. Mr. Ashbery’s similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets in that_____.

　　[A] he likes to single them out.

　　[B] he uses them in an eccentric way.

　　[C] he uses simile for simile.

　　[D] he uses simile to express his complex thought.

　　5. Why the author think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher one for a poet than we might think?

　　[A] Because a poet looks at things in a very complicated way.

　　[B] Because a poet takes life seriously.

　　[C] Because this question is a difficult one.

　　[D] Because the theme of life is worth thinking for a poet.

　　篇章剖析：

　　這篇文章介紹了美國詩人Ashbery和其詩歌的特點，文章雖然是以兩個詩人對比的形式寫作的，但是卻對Ashbery著墨偏多，另外一個詩人洛厄爾只是一個陪襯而已。第一段講述了兩個詩人競爭美國比較偉大詩人的稱號；第二段第三段都是對兩位詩人作品特點的描述；第四段講述他們對生活的不同態度。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　vie v.競爭

　　envision vt.想象, 預想

　　dice n.骰子

　　strew vt.散播, 點綴, 撒滿

　　wryly adv.挖苦地, 表情冷漠地

　　improvise v.臨時準備

　　digressive adj.離題的, 枝節的

　　cento n. 雜燴, 摘錄

　　pantoum n.(根據隔行同韻的馬來詩體改編的) 由隔行同韻的四行詩節組成的詩

　　untrammel adj.自由自在的, 無阻礙的

　　tepid adj.微溫的, 溫熱的, 不太熱烈的

　　難句突破：

　　(1) In this edition of his later poems, a substantial gathering of verses selected from six volumes published over the past 20 years, his poetry does not so much consist of themes to be explored as comic routines to be improvised.

　　[主體結構] His poetry does not so much consist of ...

　　[結構分析] 本句為簡單句，作狀語的介詞短語成分比較復雜，a substantial gathering of verses是edition的同位語，該同位語是帶有作定語的分詞短語。在主句中，不定式短語to be explored...用來修飾themes, 而不定式短語to be improvised 又用來修飾comic routines.

　　[句子譯文] 他這本晚些出版的詩集選編了過去20年間出版的六本詩集中的詩歌，其主題不再是象那種臨時準備的老套滑稽節目，他戲謔詩歌本身具有嚴肅性這個話題

　　(2) This is often the poet’s stock-in-trade, but he seems to single them out in order to send up the very idea of the simile in poetry, as in "Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an empty tank".

　　[主體句式] This is ... but he ...

　　[結構分析] 這是一個并列句，后面分句成份較為復雜，帶有一個不定式短語作目的狀語，as 引導成分修飾的是整個分句。

　　[句子譯文] 雖然這是詩人的慣用手法，但他卻把這些比喻單獨挑出來，以突出詩里面明喻這個概念。比如"紫羅蘭縱聲開放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓"。

　　1.The word "substantial" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____.1. "Substantial"這個詞比較有可能的意思是_____。
　　[A] serious[A] 嚴肅的。　　[B] grand[B] 宏大的。　　[C] heroic[C] 英雄的。　　[D] tragic[D] 悲劇的。
　　[答案] B　　[分析] 猜詞題。根據上下文來斷定該詞的意思，這個詞是用來形容Lowell 詩歌主題的特點的。由第一段中Lowell喜歡參與政治，在詩歌中經常將自己視為悲劇的英雄人物這一點可以看出，他主題選擇應該是比較宏大的。這一點在后面的幾個段落中也可以發現。選項A也容易混淆，但要從tragic heroic 這幾個詞中推導正確答案，因為這些就是宏大敘事中常見的特征。因此，B為正確答案。

　　2. The last words of Lowell mean that_____.2. 洛厄爾的臨終遺言意思是_____。
　　[A] the world should go forward without stopping.[A] 世界應該繼續前行，不要停止。
　　[B] the world should not mourn for him.[B] 世界不要為他而哀痛。
　　[C] the world should forget him totally.[C] 世界應該把他完全忘記。
　　[D] the world should go on its path for a bright future.[D] 世界應該繼續它朝向美好未來的道路行進。
　　[答案]D
　　[分析] 推理題。洛厄爾的臨終時addressed the world head on，意思是讓世界繼續前行，但其深層次的意思要結合洛厄爾的性格來判斷。根據整篇文章，洛厄爾是比較正統的一位詩人，他對待世界的態度是嚴肅的，他這句話的深層意思是世界應該一直努力向前，比較終能夠走到光明的未來。選項D比較為符合題意。

　　3. Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashbery’s poetry?3.以下哪個不是Ashbery 詩歌的特點？
　　[A] Some lines are borrowed from the other poets’ works.[A] 許多句子是借用其他詩人的。
　　[B] Stanzas are different from each other in one poem.[B] 詩中節與節差異頗大。
　　[C] Words are scattered casually in his poetry.[C] 詩中的詞都是隨意散落搭配的。
　　[D] Tones are continuously changing from the highbrow to the common.[D] 語調不停變化，有時是陽春白雪，有時是下里巴人。
　　[答案]A
　　[分析] 細節題。題干要求選出不屬于Ashbery 詩歌特點的一項，因為文章通篇都有對其詩歌特點的描述，因此就要細心查找每一選項是否在文章中提及。選項A, 文章第二段比較后一句提到，there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, 有其他詩人的調子，但并沒有說直接借用其作品中的句子，可能是模仿其風格或語調。因此，答案A 不一定正確。選項B, 關于詩歌節的特點，文章第三段提到there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between one stanza and the next，關鍵要知道 "antagonism"的意思，"對抗的"，說明節與節之間是截然不同的對立的風格，答案B是其詩歌特點。答案C 是關于詩歌用詞的特點，第一段有提及，提到他詩歌中的詞就像散落在桌上的色子一樣，那么C也是其特點。D是關于詩歌語調的，文章有兩處提及，第一段提到its perpetual shifting of tones，第三段有更為詳細的描述: He shifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day, D也是其特點。因此，答案應選A。

　　4．Mr. Ashbery’s similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets in that_____.4．Ashbery先生詩歌中的比喻和其他詩人所用的比喻不同在于_____。
　　[A] he likes to single them out.[A] 他喜歡把比喻單獨列出來。
　　[B] he uses them in an eccentric way.[B] 他用比喻的方式很奇怪。
　　[C] he uses simile in order to make fun of it.[C] 他為捉弄比喻而用比喻。
　　[D] he uses simile to express his complex thought.[D] 他用比喻來表達自己復雜的思想。
　　[答案]C
　　[分析] 細節題。文章第三段提到，Ashbery喜歡在詩歌中運用比喻手法，但和一般詩人不同的是，他喜歡把比喻單獨列出來，好像要戲謔詩歌中的比喻似的。然后作者舉了一個例子，是個非常奇怪的比喻，"紫羅蘭縱聲開放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓"。這個題目有一定難度，send up 這個短語的意思考生不一定熟悉，但考生可以根據Ashbery一貫游戲人生的態度分析出來。選項AB只是表層的現象，C才是真正的實質。

　　5. Why the author think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher one for a poet than we might think?5. 為什么作者認為Ashbery 提出的問題要一個詩人回答其困難程度要比我們想象的難得多？
　　[A] Because a poet looks at things in a very complicated way.[A] 因為詩人看待事物的方式很復雜。
　　[B] Because a poet takes life seriously.[B] 因為詩人對待生活的態度很嚴肅。
　　[C] Because this question is a difficult one.[C] 因為這個問題本身很難。
　　[D] Because the theme of life is worth thinking for a poet. [D] 因為對于一個詩人生活這個主題值得思考。
　　[答案] D
　　[分析] 推理題。比較后的這個問題是："生活的全部是不是只是遷入新居？"這個問題的提出要結合文章比較后一段來看，比較后一段是描寫Ashbery對于生活的態度，洛厄爾對待生活的態度是很嚴肅的，但是Ashbery 卻是一種玩世不恭的態度，對于這個問題他給出的答案可能是肯定的，但是對于其他詩人呢，則需要好好地考慮一下了, 尤其是生活主題對于詩人來說是一個非常復雜的問題。答案中D比較為符合。