2. 外语
  3. Read the following passage and choose the correct answer from A, B, C and D. At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published

Read the following passage and choose the correct answer from A, B, C and D. At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published

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问题     Read the following passage and choose the correct answer from A, B, C and D.
    At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published — between 1811 and 1818 — English literature was not part of any academic curriculum. In addition, fiction was under strenuous attack. Certain religious and political groups felt novels had the power to make so-called immoral characters so interesting that young readers would identify with them; these groups also considered novels to be of little practical use. Even Coleridge, certainly no literary reactionary, spoke for many when he asserted that "novel-reading occasions the destruction of the mind’s powers."
    These attitudes toward novels help explain why Austin received little attention from early nineteenth-century literary critics.(In any case, a novelist published anonymously, as Austin was, would not be likely to receive much critical attention.)The literary response that was accorded her, however, was often as incisive as twentieth-century criticism. In his attack in 1816 on novelistic portrayals "outside of ordinary experience", for example, Scott made an insightful remark about the merits of Austin’s fiction. "Her novels", wrote Scott, "present to the reader an accurate and exact picture of ordinary everyday people and places, reminiscent of seventeenth-century Flemish Painting." Scott did not use the word "realism", but he undoubtedly used a standard of realistic probability in judging novels, the critic Whately didn’t use the word realism either, but he expressed agreement with Scott’s evaluation, and went on to suggest the possibilities for moral instruction in what we have called Austin’s realistic method. "Her characters", wrote Whately, "are persuasive agents for moral truth since they are ordinary persons so clearly evoked that we feel an interest in their fate as if it were our own." "Moral instruction", explained Whately, "is more likely to be effective when conveyed through recognizably human and interesting characters than when imparted by a sermonizing narrator". Whitely especially praised Austin’s ability to create characters who "mingle goodness and villainy, weakness and virtue, as in life they are always mingled." Whitely concluded his remarks by comparing Austin’s art of characterization to Dickens’, stating his preference to Austin’s.
    Yet the response of nineteenth-century literary critics to Austin was not always so laudatory, and often anticipated the reservations of twentieth century critics. An example of such a response was Lewes’ complaint in 1859 that Austin’s range of subjects and characters was too narrow. Praising her verisimilitude, Lewes added that nonetheless her focus was too often upon only the unlofty and the commonplace.(Twentieth-century, Marxists, on the other hand, were to complain about what they saw as her exclusive emphasis on a lofty upper-middle class.)In any case, having been rescued by some literary critics from neglect and indeed gradually lionized by them, Austin steadily reached, by the mid-nineteenth century, the enviable pinnacle of being considered controversial.
The primary purpose of the passage is to______.
选项 A、demonstrate the nineteenth-century preference for realistic novels rather than romantic ones
B、argue that realistic character portrayals the novelist’s most difficult task as well as the aspect of a novel most likely to elicit critical response
C、urge a reassessment of Jane Austin’s novels by twentieth-century literary critics
D、describe some of the responses of nineteenth-century critics to Jane Austin’s novels as well as to fiction in general
答案D
解析 本题是主旨题。文章首段就已提出了本文的主题“At the time Jane Austin’snovels were published—between 1811 and 1818一English literature was not partof any academic curriculum．In addition．fiction under strenuous attack…”(从1811年到1818年，Jane Austin出版了她的小说。在此期间，各院校还没有开设英国文学这门课。另外，这个时期的科幻小说也受到强烈的抨击。一些宗教和政治团体认为小说里那些邪恶的人物会影响年轻人，并且认为这些小说也没有什么实际的用处。)紧接着在以下的段落中，作者阐述了批评家们对JaneAustin小说的评价。故正确答案为D。
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