首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the machines have existed. Decades ago, when the technolog
Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the machines have existed. Decades ago, when the technolog
admin
2010-03-25
21
问题
Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the machines have existed. Decades ago, when the technology consisted solely of massive, number- crunching mainframe computers, the chief liberal arts applications were in compiling statistical indexes of works of literature. In 1964, IBM held a conference on computers and the humanities where, according to a 1985 article in the journal Science, "most of the conferees were using computers to compile concordances, which are alphabetical indices used in literary research."
Mainframe computers helped greatly in the highly laborious task, which dates back to the Renaissance, of cataloging each reference of a particular word in a particular work. Concordances help scholars scrutinize important texts for patterns and meaning. Other humanities applications for computers in this early era of technology included compiling dictionaries, especially for foreign or antiquated languages, and cataloging library collections.
Such types of computer usage in the humanities may seem limited at first, but they have produced some interesting results in the last few years and promise to continue to do so. As computer use and access have grown, so has the number of digitized texts of classic literary works.
The computer-based study of literary texts has established its own niche in academia. Donald Foster, an English professor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, is one of the leaders in textual scholarship. In the late 1980s Foster created SHAXICON, a database that tracks all the "rare" words used by English playwright William Shakespeare. Each of these words appears in any individual Shakespeare play no more than 12 times. The words can then be cross-referenced with some 2,000 other poetic texts, allowing experienced researchers to explore when they were written, who wrote them, how the author was influenced by the works of other writers, and how the texts changed as they were reproduced over the centuries.
In late 1995 Foster’s work attracted widespread notice when he claimed that Shakespeare was the anonymous author of an obscure 578-1ine poem, A Funeral Elegy (1612). Although experts had made similar claims for other works in the past, Foster gained the backing of a number of prominent scholars because of his computer-based approach. If Foster’s claim holds up to long-term judgment, the poem will be one of the few additions to the Shakespearean canon in the last 100 years.
Foster’s work gained further public acclaim and validation when he was asked to help identify the anonymous author of the best-selling political novel Primary Colours (1996). After using his computer programme to compare the stylistic traits of various writers with those in the novel, Foster tabbed journalist Joe Klein as the author. Soon after, Klein admitted that he was the author. Foster was also employed as an expert in the case of the notorious Unabomber, a terrorist who published an anonymous manifesto in several major newspapers in 1995.
Foster is just one scholar who has noted the coming of the digital age and what it means for traditional fields such as literature. "For traditional learning and humanistic scholarship to be preserved, it, too, must be digitized," he wrote in a scholarly paper. "The future success of literary scholarship depends on our ability to integrate those electronic texts with our ongoing work as scholars and teachers, and to exploit fully the advantages offered by the new medium."
Foster noted that people can now study Shakespeare via Internet Shakespeare Editions, using the computer to compare alternate wordings in different versions and to consult editorial footnotes, literary criticism, stage history, explanatory graphics, video clips, theater reviews, and archival records. Novelist and literary journalist Gregory Feeley noted that "the simplest (and least radical) way in which computer technology is affecting textual scholarship is in making various texts available, and permitting scholars to jump back and forth between them for easy comparisons."
Scholars can also take advantage of computer technology in "publishing" their work. Princeton University history professor Robert Darnton has written of a future in which works of scholarship are presented digitally in a pyramid-like layering. One might start, he suggests, at the top with a concise account of a subject, then proceed to detailed documentation and evidence, continue with a level of questions and discussion points for classroom use, and end with a place for .reports and commentary from readers.
The passage suggests that
选项
A、computers have not been very helpful in humanities study until recently.
B、computers were widely used in all kinds of literary texts very long ago.
C、computers were invented by International Business Machines Corporation.
D、computers began to be used for literary study as soon as they were invented.
答案
D
解析
A说计算机直到最近才运用于文科研究。这不符合首句"Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the machines have existed"的内容。B说计算机很早就运用于处理各种文本,这同“...the chief liberal arts applications were in compiling statistical indexes of works of literature"相矛盾。C说计算机是 IBM公司发明的,这在文章中没有提到。相比而言,D的内容最为接近。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/XTqO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
研究表明,玩视频游戏和观看暴力内容电视有同样的效果。孩子们(会)模仿视频游戏中的打斗动作,就像他们模仿暴力电视一样。
A、Your10%discountisnotenoughforasecondorder.B、Youshoulddeliverthesecondordernextmonth.C、Wecangiveyouadisc
Extract1LastyearIstartedworkwithanewcompany.Unfortunately,inmynewroleIwasrequiredtospeakinpublic,atc
Takingonaleadershiproleforthefirsttimeistough.Thereisalwayspressureonyoutodotherightthings,andtobeseen
Afteradecades-longsearchforamanageablebalancebetweenmotherhoodandcareer,agroupofAmericanwomenhavefoundworkin
EmmaWaydidnotbecomeafigureofcontemptforBritishcyclistsbecauseshenudgedTobyHockleyoffhisbicycleandintoahed
TheUnitedNationsHumanRightsCouncilwasformerSecretaryGeneralKofiAnnan’sdreamchild:anew,strongerinstitutiontore
Education【C1】______inthemodernizationofourcountry.Thereare,however,still【C2】______childreninremoteruralareaswho
A、OnFriday.B、OnSaturday.C、OnThursday.D、OnWednesday.A消息中:Thepresident,facingimpeachmentoverallegationsofcorruption
GoalTrimmerUtopiasaresupposedtobedreamsofthefuture.ButtheAmericanUtopia?Latelyit’sadreamthatwas,atwilit
随机试题
乌梅丸用药不体现以下哪种情况
“十八反”中与甘草相反的药物是
马某、牛某和熊某共同出资设立一合伙企业,合伙人共同推举马某为合伙企业的事务执行人,但马某在执行合伙事务中因故意给合伙企业造成不利影响,故牛某和熊某决定开除马某。在对马某作出除名处理时,下列各项中符合法律规定的正确处理方式是:
采用图示法表达数据的最大优点是()。
下列账簿中,一般采用活页账形式的是()。
2010年1月,关某与吴某在甲市注册成立广汇公司。并取得了增值税一般纳税人资格。2011年3月至2012年3月,吴某私自向乙市正德公司和丙市高能公司分别出售填好金额的增值税专用发票各100份及空白增值税专用发票各50份,共获得800万元,涉税金额累计达1.
学生是班级管理的主体之一。(青岛)()
我国灾害性天气种类繁多,地区的差异性较大。下列属于降水异常造成的农业气象灾害的是()。
【《慕尼黑协定》】华东师范大学2003年世界通史真题
A、 B、 C、 C否定疑问句(Isn’t)和肯定疑问句(Is)一样,可以用Yes/No回答。题干询问是否是要搭乘的公共汽车,选项(C)回答说不是,等待的是7路公共汽车,是正确答案。选项(A)可以作为回答公共汽车运行时间
最新回复
(
0
)