Question

Susan Sontag (1933—2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything — to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American culture life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.

Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords (格言), but at a time when the barriers (障礙)between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In “Notes Camp”, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. “Notes on Camp”, she wrote, represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’ ”.

By conviction (信念) she was a sensualist(感覺論者), but by nature she was a moralist(倫理學(xué)者), and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s , it was the latter side of her that came forward. In illness as Metaphor —published in 1978, after she suffered cancer—she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities (被壓抑的性格), a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.

In America, her story of a 19th  century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said,“I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending …is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it

seriously too.

51.The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means Sontag  ______.  

A. was a symbol of American cultural life

B. developed world literature, film and art

C. published many essays about world culture

D. kept pace with the newest development of world culture

52. She first won her name through ___________.                                   

A. her story of a Polish actress

B. her book illness as Metaphor

C. publishing essays in magazines like partisan Review

D. her explanation of a set of difficult understandings

53.According to the passage, Susan Sontag ________.                               

A. was a sensualist as well as a moralist

B. looked down upon the pop culture

C. thought content was more important than form

D. blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed

54. As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit, she __________.                           

A. misunderstood the idea of seriousness

B. re-examined old positions

C. argued for an openness to pop culture

D. preferred morals to beauty

55.Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon___________.                         

   A. a tireless, all-purpose cultural view

   B. her lifelong watchword：seriousness

   C. publishing books on morals

D. enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing

Answer 1

51—55 DDABA