6.2　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．The writings of Francis Bacon mainly fall into three categories: ______, purely literary and professional.

【答案】philosophical

【解析】培根的著作可分为三类，即哲学类、文学类及专业类。

2．In Elizabethan Period, ______ wrote more than fifty excellent essays, which made him one of the best essayists in English literature.

【答案】Francis Bacon

【解析】弗朗西斯·培根是伊丽莎白时代的散文家，一生创作了50多篇散文，1597年出版的《培根散文集》被认为是英国散文发展史的一座里程碑。

3．Of Youth and Age is one of the essays written by ______.

【答案】Francis Bacon

【解析】《论青年与老年》是弗朗西斯·培根创作的散文。

II. Multiple Choices

1．Which is not the intellectual energy of the English Renaissance showed itself in the achievement of Francis Bacon?

A. The founder of English materialist philosophy.

B. The founder of modern science in England.

C. The first English essayist.

D. The most gifted of the “university wits”.

【答案】D

【解析】弗朗西斯·培根（1561-1626），英国文艺复兴时期最重要的散作家、哲学家。他不但在文学、哲学上多有建树，在自然科学领域里，也取得了重大成就。他是英国唯物主义和现代科学的创始人；“大学才子派” 是指16世纪80年代英国出现的一批受过大学教育的剧作家。这一批作家致力于英国戏剧改革，把戏剧艺术提升到了一个新高度。

2．From the following, choose the one which is not Francis Bacon’s work: ______.

A. Advancement of Learning

B. The New Instrument

C. Venus and Adonis

D. The New Atlantics

【答案】C

【解析】《维纳斯与阿多尼斯》是莎士比亚所写的一首长诗。

3．Francis Bacon, one of the most important British essayists, was active in the ______. （北二外2010研）

A. Middle Age

B. Anglo-Saxon Period

C. English Renaissance

D. Victoria Age

【答案】C

【解析】弗朗西斯·培根是英国文艺复兴时期著名哲学家、思想家、作家和科学家。

4．“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested” is one of the epigrams found in ______.

A. Francis Bacon’s Of Studies

B. Thomas More’s Utopia

C. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress

D. Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones

【答案】A

【解析】选句选自培根的《论读书》。

Ⅲ. Explain the following terms.

1．Francis Bacon （四川大学2011研）

Key: Francis Bacon, (1561-1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. His essays are famous for its brief and wise quotations and the most widely-read works are his essays “Of Studies”, “Of Truth” and “Of Death”.

2．essay

Key: ①a short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition. A minor literary form, essay is more relaxed than the formal academic dissertation. ②The term was coined by French writer Michel de Montaigne in the title of his Essais, the first modern example of the form. Francis Bacon’s Essays began the tradition of essays in English, of which important examples are those of Steele, Hazlitt, Emerson and D. H. Lawrence. The verse essays of Pope are rare exception to the prose norm.

IV. Read the following quotations and answer the questions.

Passage 1

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them, for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.

Questions:

(1) These words are taken from a famous essay written by ______.

(2) What is the title of this essay?

(3) What do you think of the language of this essay?

Key: (1) Francis Bacon

(2) Of Studies

(3) The language of this essay is known for its conciseness, brevity, simplicity and forcefulness. The sentences are short, pointed, incisive, and often of balanced structure.

Passage 2

Identify the following quotation by giving the title of the work and the full name of the author, and explain the implications of the underlined parts. （中国人民大学2004年研）

It will be acknowledged even by those that practice it not, that clear and round dealing is the honor of man’s nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge, saith he, “If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth is as much as to say that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.”

Key: Of Truth; Francis Bacon.

“Round dealing” equals square dealing, which means honest and fair treatment.

“Embaseth” refers to “debases”, which means making something or someone lose its value or people’s respect. By taking the example of gold, silver and alloy, Bacon implies that falsehood in people, just as alloy devalues silver and gold, devalues people.

V. Short answer question

What is the writing style of Francis Bacon’s essays?

Key: (1) Bacon’s essays have a literary style peculiar to their own. Bacon’s chief concern is to express his thought with clearness and in as few words as possible.

(2) His sentences are short, pointed, incisive, and often of balanced structure.

(3) His essays are well-arranged and enriched by Biblical allusions, metaphors and cadence. Generally speaking, Bacon’s literary style has three prominent qualities: brevity, compactness and forcefulness.

（此题可从培根散文的措辞、句式结构等方面作答。）

VI. Essay question

According to many critics, Francis Bacon is the father of the English essay while Charles Lamb, the Shakespeare of it. Make a comment the statement. （中山大学2004研）

Key: Generally speaking, Bacon’s literary style has three prominent qualities: brevity, compactness, and forcefulness. Bacon’s chief concern is to express his thought with clearness and in as few words as possible. His sentences are short, pointed, incisive, and often of balanced structure. His Essays began the tradition of essays in English. It covers a wide range of topics, including such titles as “Of Study”, “Of Beauty”, “Of High Place”, “Of Friendship”, “Of Nature in Men”. The works were much admired by his contemporaries and many of his aphorisms--such as “Cure the disease and kill the patient.”--are current today. For this reason, Bacon is considered the father of the English essay.

Lamb wrote a handful of poems and made some attempts at drama. But he is known chiefly for his essays. He did much for the revival of interest in the Elizabethan drama. Tales from Shakespeare serves as a valuable work for the popularizing of the great plays of the great dramatist not only among children but also for many adults to whom the original Shakespearean dramas are too difficult to read. The essay “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare” is an important critical work on the great Shakespearean tragedies. In the essay, Lamb admirably pointed out the merits of these masterpieces and the impossibility of fully illustrating these merits by the performance of the plays on the stage. His criticism is a frank expression of his personal feelings; it is in the proper sense “impressionistic” criticism; and it gets its value from the quality and flavor of the author’s taste and personality. In this sense, Charles Lamb could be called the Shakespeare of the English essay.