2. 外语
  3. No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli, especially in the two centuries following his death. But he has since foun

No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli, especially in the two centuries following his death. But he has since foun

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问题     No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli, especially in the two centuries following his death. But he has since found many able champions and the tide has turned. The prince has been termed a manual for tyrants, the effect of which has been most harmful. But were Machiavelli’s doctrines really new? Did he discover them? He merely had the frankness and courage to write down what everybody was thinking and what everybody knew. He merely gives us the impressions he had received from a long and intimate intercourse with princes and the affairs of state. It was Lord Bacon who said that Machiavelli tells us what princes do, not what they ought to do. When Machiavelli takes Caesar Borgia as a model, he does not praise him as a hero at all, but merely as a prince who was capable of attaining the end in view. The life of the state was the primary object. It must be maintained. And Machiavelli has laid down the principles, based upon his stud-y and wide experience, by which this may be accomplished. He wrote from the view-point of the politician—not of the moralist. What is good politics may be bad morals, and in fact, by a strange fatality, where morals and politics clash, the latter generally gets the upper hand. And will anyone contend that the principles set forth by Machiavelli in his Prince or his Discourses have entirely perished from the earth? Has diplomacy been entirely stripped of fraud and duplicity? Let anyone read the famous eighteenth chapter of The Prince: " In what Manner Princes should Keep their Faith, " and he will be convinced that what was true nearly four hundred years ago, is quite as true today.
    Of the remaining works of Machiavelli the most important is the History of Florence written between 1521 and 1525, and dedicated to Clement VII. This book is merely a rapid review of the Middle Ages, and as part of it the history of Florence. Machiavelli’s method has been criticized for adhering at times too closely to the chroniclers of his time, and at others rejecting their testimony without apparent reason, while in its details the authority of his History is often questionable. It is the straightforward , logical narrative, which always holds the interest of the reader, that is the greatest charm of the History.
Lord Bacon’s remarks on Machiavelli is quoted as
选项 A、a support for the author’s viewpoint.
B、one of the mainstream views on him.
C、a judgment in support of most critics.
D、a modification of the author’s previous stand.
答案A
解析 该题为细节题。根据第一段第六和七句“He merely had the frankness and courage to write down what everybody was thinking and what everybody knew．”“He merely gives us the impressions he had received from a long and intimate intercourse with princes and the affairs of state．”可知，作者认为马基雅维利只是够坦白、有勇气将每个人所想的和所知道的写下来而已；他所告诉我们的是他和君主的长期亲密接触过程中以及国家事务中所留下的印象。接着作者引用培根的话“马基雅维利告诉我们君主所做的事，而不是他们应该做的事。”由此可知，作者和培根的观点一致，都认为马基雅维利只是讲述了君主实际上所做的事，可以推断出作者引用培根的话为了进一步支持自己的观点，故选A。
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