TEXT FOUR

　　Just asNorman Mailer, John Updike and Philip Roth were at various times regarded asthe greatest American novelist since the second world war, John Ashbery andRobert Lowell vied for the title of greatest American poet. Yet the two mencould not be more different. Lowell was a public figure who engaged withpolitics-in 1967 he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Mailer in protest againstthe Vietnam war, as described in Mailers novel The Armies of theNight . Lowell took on substantial themes and envisioned himself as atragic, heroic figure, fighting against his own demons. Mr Ashberys verse, by contrast, is morebeguilingly casual. In his hands, the making of a poem can feel like thetumbling of dice on a table top. Visible on the page is a delicately playfulstrewing of words, looking to engage with each other in a shyly puzzledfashion. And there is an element of Dada-like play in his unpredictability ofaddress with its perpetual shifting of tones.

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

　　Lowell wrotein strict formal measures; some of his last books consisted of entire sequencesof sonnets. Mr Ashbery can also be partial to particular forms of verse, thoughthese tend to be of a fairly eccentric kind-the cento , for example, and thepantoum . Often he writes in a free-flowing, conversational manner thatdepends for its success upon the fact that the ending of lines is untrammelledby any concern about whether or not they scan. Within many of his poems, thereoften 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 poets stock-in-trade, but he seems tosingle them out in order to send up the very idea of the simile in poetry, asin Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an empty tank .

　　Life, forLowell, was a serious matter, just as he was a serious man. Mr Ashberys approach, as evinced by hispoetry, is more that of a gentle shrug of amused bewilderment. Unlike Lowells, his poems are neitherautobiographical nor confessional. He doesnt take himself that seriously. Is all of life a tepid housewarming? For a poet this is a tougherquestion to answer than you might think.

　　1.The word substantial most probably means_____.

　　[A] serious

　　[B] big

　　[C] important

　　[D] real

　　2. The lastwords of Lowell mean that_____.

　　[A] the worldshould go forward without stopping.

　　[B] the worldshould not mourn for him.

　　[C] the worldshould forget him totally.

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

　　3. Which oneof the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashberys poetry?

　　[A] Somelines are borrowed from the other poets works.

　　[B] Stanzasare different from each other in one poem.

　　[C] Words arescattered casually in his poetry.

　　[D] Tones arecontinuously changing from the highbrow to the common.

　　4. Mr.Ashberys similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets inthat_____.

　　[A] he likesto single them out.

　　[B] he usesthem in an eccentric way.

　　[C] he usessimile for simile.

　　[D] he usessimile to express his complex thought.

　　5. Why theauthor think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher one for a poet than wemight think?

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

　　[B] Because apoet takes life seriously.

　　[C] Becausethis question is a difficult one.

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

　　篇章剖析：

　　這篇文章介紹了美國(guó)詩(shī)人Ashbery和其詩(shī)歌的特點(diǎn)，文章雖然是以兩個(gè)詩(shī)人對(duì)比的形式寫作的，但是卻對(duì)Ashbery著墨偏多，另外一個(gè)詩(shī)人洛厄爾只是一個(gè)陪襯而已。第一段講述了兩個(gè)詩(shī)人競(jìng)爭(zhēng)美國(guó)最偉大詩(shī)人的稱號(hào);第二段第三段都是對(duì)兩位詩(shī)人作品特點(diǎn)的描述;第四段講述他們對(duì)生活的不同態(tài)度。

　　詞匯注釋：

　　vie v.競(jìng)爭(zhēng)

　　envision vt.想象, 預(yù)想

　　dice n.骰子

　　strew vt.散播, 點(diǎn)綴, 撒滿

　　wryly adv.挖苦地, 表情冷漠地

　　improvise v.臨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備

　　digressiveadj.離題的, 枝節(jié)的考試大

　　cento n. 雜燴, 摘錄

　　pantoum n. 由隔行同韻的四行詩(shī)節(jié)組成的詩(shī)

　　untrammeladj.自由自在的, 無(wú)阻礙的

　　tepid adj.微溫的, 溫?zé)岬? 不太熱烈的

　　難句突破：

　　In this edition of his later poems, asubstantial gathering of verses selected from six volumes published over thepast 20 years, his poetry does not so much consist of themes to be explored ascomic routines to be improvised.

　　[主體結(jié)構(gòu)] His poetry does not so much consist of ...

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 本句為簡(jiǎn)單句，作狀語(yǔ)的介詞短語(yǔ)成分比較復(fù)雜，a substantial gathering of verses是edition的同位語(yǔ)，該同位語(yǔ)是帶有作定語(yǔ)的分詞短語(yǔ)。在主句中，不定式短語(yǔ)to be explored...用來(lái)修飾themes, 而不定式短語(yǔ)to be improvised 又用來(lái)修飾comic routines.

　　[句子譯文] 他這本晚些出版的詩(shī)集選編了過(guò)去20年間出版的六本詩(shī)集中的詩(shī)歌，其主題不再是象那種臨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備的老套滑稽節(jié)目，他戲謔詩(shī)歌本身具有嚴(yán)肅性這個(gè)話題

　　This is often the poets stock-in-trade,but he seems to single them out in order to send up the very idea of the similein poetry, as in Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an emptytank .

　　[主體句式] This is ... but he ...

　　[結(jié)構(gòu)分析] 這是一個(gè)并列句，后面分句成份較為復(fù)雜，帶有一個(gè)不定式短語(yǔ)作目的狀語(yǔ)，as 引導(dǎo)成分修飾的是整個(gè)分句。

　　[句子譯文] 雖然這是詩(shī)人的慣用手法，但他卻把這些比喻單獨(dú)挑出來(lái)，以突出詩(shī)里面明喻這個(gè)概念。比如 紫羅蘭縱聲開(kāi)放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓 。

　　題目分析：

　　1.The word substantial mostprobably means_____.1. Substantial 這個(gè)詞最有可能的意思是_____。

　　[A] serious[A] 嚴(yán)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(jù)上下文來(lái)斷定該詞的意思，這個(gè)詞是用來(lái)形容Lowell 詩(shī)歌主題的特點(diǎn)的。由第一段中Lowell喜歡參與政治，在詩(shī)歌中經(jīng)常將自己視為悲劇的英雄人物這一點(diǎn)可以看出，他主題選擇應(yīng)該是比較宏大的。這一點(diǎn)在后面的幾個(gè)段落中也可以發(fā)現(xiàn)。選項(xiàng)A也容易混淆，但要從tragic heroic 這幾個(gè)詞中推導(dǎo)正確答案，因?yàn)檫@些就是宏大敘事中常見(jiàn)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(yīng)該繼續(xù)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(yīng)該把他完全忘記。

　　[D] the world should go on its path for a bright future.[D] 世界應(yīng)該繼續(xù)它朝向美好未來(lái)的道路行進(jìn)。

　　[答案]D

　　[分析] 推理題。洛厄爾的臨終時(shí)addressed the world head on，意思是讓世界繼續(xù)前行，但其深層次的意思要結(jié)合洛厄爾的性格來(lái)判斷。根據(jù)整篇文章，洛厄爾是比較正統(tǒng)的一位詩(shī)人，他對(duì)待世界的態(tài)度是嚴(yán)肅的，他這句話的深層意思是世界應(yīng)該一直努力向前，最終能夠走到光明的未來(lái)。選項(xiàng)D最為符合題意。

　　3. Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashberys poetry?3.以下哪個(gè)不是Ashbery詩(shī)歌的特點(diǎn)?

　　[A] Some lines are borrowed from the other poets works.[A] 許多句子是借用其他詩(shī)人的。

　　[B] Stanzas are different from each other in one poem.[B] 詩(shī)中節(jié)與節(jié)差異頗大。

　　[C] Words are scattered casually in his poetry.[C] 詩(shī)中的詞都是隨意散落搭配的。

　　[D] Tones are continuously changing from the highbrow to thecommon.[D] 語(yǔ)調(diào)不停變化，有時(shí)是陽(yáng)春白雪，有時(shí)是下里巴人。

　　[答案]A

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。題干要求選出不屬于Ashbery 詩(shī)歌特點(diǎn)的一項(xiàng)，因?yàn)槲恼峦ㄆ加袑?duì)其詩(shī)歌特點(diǎn)的描述，因此就要細(xì)心查找每一選項(xiàng)是否在文章中提及。選項(xiàng)A, 文章第二段最后一句提到，there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, 有其他詩(shī)人的調(diào)子，但并沒(méi)有說(shuō)直接借用其作品中的句子，可能是模仿其風(fēng)格或語(yǔ)調(diào)。因此，答案A 不一定正確。選項(xiàng)B, 關(guān)于詩(shī)歌節(jié)的特點(diǎn)，文章第三段提到there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between onestanza and the next，關(guān)鍵要知道 antagonism 的意思， 對(duì)抗的 ，說(shuō)明節(jié)與節(jié)之間是截然不同的對(duì)立的風(fēng)格，答案B是其詩(shī)歌特點(diǎn)。答案C 是關(guān)于詩(shī)歌用詞的特點(diǎn)，第一段有提及，提到他詩(shī)歌中的詞就像散落在桌上的色子一樣，那么C也是其特點(diǎn)。D是關(guān)于詩(shī)歌語(yǔ)調(diào)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(xì)的描述: Heshifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day, D也是其特點(diǎn)。因此，答案應(yīng)選A。

　　4.Mr. Ashberys similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets inthat_____.4.Ashbery先生詩(shī)歌中的比喻和其他詩(shī)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(dú)列出來(lái)。

　　[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(lái)表達(dá)自己復(fù)雜的思想。

　　[答案]C

　　[分析] 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第三段提到，Ashbery喜歡在詩(shī)歌中運(yùn)用比喻手法，但和一般詩(shī)人不同的是，他喜歡把比喻單獨(dú)列出來(lái)，好像要戲謔詩(shī)歌中的比喻似的。然后作者舉了一個(gè)例子，是個(gè)非常奇怪的比喻， 紫羅蘭縱聲開(kāi)放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓 。這個(gè)題目有一定難度，send up 這個(gè)短語(yǔ)的意思考生不一定熟悉，但考生可以根據(jù)Ashbery一貫游戲人生的態(tài)度分析出來(lái)。選項(xiàng)AB只是表層的現(xiàn)象，C才是真正的實(shí)質(zhì)。

　　5. Why the author think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher onefor a poet than we might think?5. 為什么作者認(rèn)為Ashbery 提出的問(wèn)題要一個(gè)詩(shī)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?yàn)樵?shī)人看待事物的方式很復(fù)雜。

　　[B] Because a poet takes life seriously.[B] 因?yàn)樵?shī)人對(duì)待生活的態(tài)度很嚴(yán)肅。

　　[C] Because this question is a difficult one.[C] 因?yàn)檫@個(gè)問(wèn)題本身很難。

　　[D] Because the theme of life is worth thinking for a poet. [D] 因?yàn)閷?duì)于一個(gè)詩(shī)人生活這個(gè)主題值得思考。

　　[答案] D

　　[分析] 推理題。最后的這個(gè)問(wèn)題是： 生活的全部是不是只是遷入新居? 這個(gè)問(wèn)題的提出要結(jié)合文章最后一段來(lái)看，最后一段是描寫Ashbery對(duì)于生活的態(tài)度，洛厄爾對(duì)待生活的態(tài)度是很嚴(yán)肅的，但是Ashbery 卻是一種玩世不恭的態(tài)度，對(duì)于這個(gè)問(wèn)題他給出的答案可能是肯定的，但是對(duì)于其他詩(shī)人呢，則需要好好地考慮一下了, 尤其是生活主題對(duì)于詩(shī)人來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)非常復(fù)雜的問(wèn)題。答案中D最為符合。

　　參考譯文：

　　二戰(zhàn)后的幾個(gè)時(shí)期里，諾曼梅勒、約翰厄普代克、菲利普羅斯成為美國(guó)公認(rèn)的最偉大的小說(shuō)家，同樣地，約翰Ashbery和羅伯特洛厄爾也爭(zhēng)取美國(guó)最偉大的詩(shī)人這個(gè)名號(hào)。但是，這兩個(gè)家伙可是截然不同。洛厄爾是個(gè)公眾人物，參與政治活動(dòng)。1967年，他和梅勒肩并肩抗議越戰(zhàn)，梅勒在其小說(shuō)《夜行軍》曾描述了這些情景。洛厄爾選擇的主題宏大，把自己想象成富有悲劇色彩的英雄形象，和自己的惡魔戰(zhàn)斗。而Ashbery的詩(shī)卻頗有閑逸氣。于他而言，做詩(shī)就好像是在桌上滾動(dòng)的色子，紙上呈現(xiàn)的詞精妙地散落著，彼此都羞澀地挨在一起。其不斷的語(yǔ)氣變化又使得本來(lái)變化莫測(cè)的措辭平添了一絲達(dá)達(dá)派的意味。

　　洛厄爾1977年去世，終年60歲，他還號(hào)召世界繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。而今年年初才慶賀了自己80歲生日的Ashbery，卻冷眼瞧著這個(gè)世界，以及這個(gè)世界的荒誕。他這本晚些出版的詩(shī)集選編了過(guò)去20年間出版的六本詩(shī)集中的詩(shī)歌，其主題不再是象那種臨時(shí)準(zhǔn)備的老套滑稽節(jié)目，他戲謔詩(shī)歌本身具有嚴(yán)肅性這個(gè)話題。他的語(yǔ)氣極其不合邏輯，好像讀者永遠(yuǎn)都站不對(duì)陣腳。他的語(yǔ)氣一會(huì)是嚴(yán)肅的，一會(huì)馬上就成了work-a-day。他的詩(shī)歌是那么的不著邊際，中間或夾雜有其他詩(shī)人的一詞半調(diào)，但輕輕地來(lái)到讀者面前，就好像風(fēng)中的一絲氣息而已。

　　洛厄爾遵循嚴(yán)格的格式，他最后的一些作品有完整的十四行詩(shī)體例。Ashbery先生的詩(shī)歌也有一定的格式，只是有點(diǎn)怪異罷了--比如集錦(其他詩(shī)人作品的雜合)，比如潘頓詩(shī)體(一種馬來(lái)西亞詩(shī)體，據(jù)說(shuō)是由維克托雨果引入19世紀(jì)的歐洲的)。他常以一種隨意、會(huì)話式的方式創(chuàng)作，關(guān)鍵就在于每行結(jié)尾不必非得符合格律。在他的許多詩(shī)里面，兩節(jié)之間常是有點(diǎn)滑稽的對(duì)立。Ashbery先生喜歡用明喻。雖然這是詩(shī)人的慣用手法，但他卻把這些比喻單獨(dú)挑出來(lái)，好像要戲謔詩(shī)里面明喻這個(gè)概念。比如 紫羅蘭縱聲開(kāi)放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓 。

　　對(duì)于洛厄爾，生活是件嚴(yán)肅的事情，正如他本人一樣。而Ashbery的生活方式卻不止是因困惑而輕輕地聳一下肩，從他的詩(shī)中就可以看出來(lái)。和洛厄爾不同，他的詩(shī)既不是自傳性質(zhì)的，也不是懺悔的。他并不那么較真。 生活的全部是不是只是遷入新居? 這個(gè)問(wèn)題讓一個(gè)詩(shī)人來(lái)回答，可是比我們想象的難得多。