Question

Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.

I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Toms Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.

Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “ trash and suitable only for the slums (貧民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)

But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”

There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.

The point was difficult to miss: nurture (養(yǎng)育),not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example— were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.

Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自傳)about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black-face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.

Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.

65. How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?

A. Twain was more willing to deal with racism.

B. Twain’s attack on racism was much less open.

C. Twain’s themes seemed to agree with plots.

D. Twain was openly concerned with racism.

66. Recent criticism of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn arose partly from its ______.

A. target readers at the bottom

B. anti-slavery attitude

C. rather impolite language

D. frequent use of “nigger”

67. What best proves Twain’s anti-slavery stand according to the author?

A. Jim’s search for his family was described in detail.

B. The slave’s voice was first heard in American novels.

C. Jim grew up into a man and a father in the white culture.

D. Twain suspected that the slaves were less intelligent.

68. The story of two babies switched mainly indicates that ______.

A. slaves were forced to give up their babies to their masters

B. slaves’ babies could pick up slave-holders’ way of speaking

C. blacks’ social position was shaped by how they were brought up

D. blacks were born with certain features of prejudice

69. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A. The attacks.                                        B. Slavery and prejudice.

C. White men.                                          D. The shows.

70. What does the author mainly argue for?

A. Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism.

B. Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

C. Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds.

D. Twain’s works should be read from a historical point of view.

Answer 1

語篇解讀：本篇為說明文，談到馬克吐溫的小說是不是對奴隸制和偏見進(jìn)行了反抗，以及它受到了不同人士的批評情況。

段落	關(guān)鍵詞、句	大意概括
第一部分 （Para. 1）	Mark Twain; the clever literary attack on racism	馬克吐溫；對種族歧視聰明的文學(xué)攻擊
第二部分 （Para. 2-末段）	on the surface about something else；people hated the book；rude；nigger；the voice of survival；the voice of the individual；nurture was the key to social status；Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. Was Twain a racist?	他的作品關(guān)注表層其它事情；人們恨這本書；認(rèn)為它粗魯；用了nigger這個詞；社會地方的關(guān)鍵是撫養(yǎng)；吐溫的種族觀并非完美；吐溫是種族主義者嗎？

65. B。推理判斷題。由第二段的Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely可見馬克吐溫是在小說的表層而且還是完全談及其它事情中植入了對奴隸制和偏見的攻擊。其它早期小說是直接攻擊方式（dealt directly with slavery）。因此B項說他的小說對種族主義制度的攻擊非常不明顯是恰當(dāng)?shù)摹�A項文章沒有提及；C項與題干無關(guān)，答非所問；D項文章沒有提及。

66. D。推理判斷題。根據(jù)關(guān)鍵詞Adventures of Huckleberry Finn定位到第三段。由More recently the book has been attacked because of …many occurrences of the word nigger.可知答案。A項中的target readers錯了，文章沒有說到；由下一段的But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery.可知B項錯；C項中的impolite language范圍過廣，文章只是說到批評者對nigger一詞的出現(xiàn)感到不滿。

67. C。細(xì)節(jié)理解題。由第四段的末句the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities…可知答案。A項中的in detail文章沒有提及；B項中的The slave’s voice錯了，與文章的the character of Jim不一致；D項文章沒有提及。

68. C。推理判斷題。根據(jù)第五段的內(nèi)容可知，舉馬克吐溫舉這個例子是為了說明前面的Twain’s mystery novel…as a challenge to the racial beliefs，而下一段的The point was difficult to miss: nurture, not nature, was the key to social status是對a challenge to the racial beliefs進(jìn)一步解釋。故只有C項符合。其它各項都是對例子的字面意思的理解。

69. D。詞義猜測題。由劃線句的前面一句可知：沒有理由認(rèn)為吐溫把這些表演當(dāng)作現(xiàn)實，后句緊接著解釋到：吐溫對奴隸制和偏見的不斷攻擊說明了他敏銳的意識——它們不是現(xiàn)實�？梢妕hey應(yīng)該就是指代shows。

70. A。推理判斷題。末段首先提出一個疑問，然后通過論據(jù)否定了這個觀點(diǎn)，最后總結(jié)了一下作者的觀點(diǎn)：Twain…may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice …than any other novelist in the past century。可見作者要反駁的是末段首句所表達(dá)的疑問，只有A項符合，其他各項只是對具體例子的說明。

【難句學(xué)習(xí)】

1. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”

翻譯：正如J. Chadwick指出的那樣，吉姆的角色在美國小說中首次出現(xiàn)——一個擁有雙重人格的奴隸的承認(rèn)，“在白人奴隸文化中生存的聲音和個體的聲音：吉姆，他的父親和那個男士�！�

分析：本句主干是he character of Jim was a first in American fiction。as引導(dǎo)定語從句，that the slave…是同位語。

2. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth.

翻譯：馬克吐溫的小說寫于這樣的一個時期，人們公認(rèn)黑人比白人低等，特別在智力上，他的小說的中心部分圍繞兩個在出生就被調(diào)換的嬰兒身上。

分析：本句的主干是Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth。written…是過去分詞短語作狀語，when引導(dǎo)定語從句，修飾time。