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
This is the life of someone who wrote little, spoke little, and about whom there are few memories. Yet if anyone’s life is worth
This is the life of someone who wrote little, spoke little, and about whom there are few memories. Yet if anyone’s life is worth
admin
2010-03-19
51
问题
This is the life of someone who wrote little, spoke little, and about whom there are few memories. Yet if anyone’s life is worthy of a biography it is surely Abram Petrovich Gannibal, an African slave adopted by Peter the Great, who studied mathematics and cryptography before training as a military engineer, spied for the tsar in Paris, became an expert in fortification, was sent to Siberia, became governor-general of Tallinn, and finally retired to an estate in northern Russia as the owner of slaves himself①.
These days he is best known as the great grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, whose family liked to think their illustrious forebear was an Abyssinian prince, and a direct descendant of the legendary Carthaginian general ’whose name he boldly adopted (spelling it in the Russian way with a "g"). It was not until the 1990s that an enterprising scholar from Benin was able to challenge centuries of Russian racism and suggest that Gannibal in fact came from black Africa.
Having traveled to Cameroon and paddled up-river in a 30-foot wooden boot to interview the Sultan of Logone, the intrepid Hugh Barnes lends credence to this theory with a tantalizingly plausible interpretation for the mysterious word "Fummo" (Kotoko for "homeland" ) to be found underneath the elephant portrayed on the family crest②. Mr. Barnes does far more than just "join up the dots" between Pushkin’s unfinished novel about his ancestor and its subject. The result is not merely the first detailed account in English of this remarkable life, but the fullest in any language. It is a fascinating read.
With this book, the fruit of research in an impressive list of obscure archives, Mr. Barnes not only joins the ranks of those journalists able to give academics a good run for their money, but also shows him self to be a travel writer of distinction. The story of his quest to discover Gannibal’s identity in places as far flung as Novoselengisk on the Chinese border, and Pskov at the other end of the Russian empire, is engagingly told. With so little biographical material to go on (even the fabled portrait of Gannibal turns out to be that of a white man when it is restored), the dots have inevitably to be joined up with a degree of speculation. Just occasionally it leads the author astray--the Winter Palace, for example, was painted first yellow and then crimson before finally acquiring the "icy turquoise facade", which Mr. Barnes claims greeted Gan nibal when he received his dismissal from Catherine the Great in 1762.
While plenty of evidence is marshaled to show that Gannibal was the first black intellectual in Europe, his personality remains frustratingly elusive. Nevertheless, this biography of the Russian Othello does much to recast our understanding of 18th century Russian life.
Which one is NOT the objective description of’ Hugh Barnes?
选项
A、He was very brave, persistent and ambitious.
B、He did not blindly worship the authorities.
C、He was down to earth and tried to be objective.
D、He devoted himself to his work, but was liable to fishing for fame and money.
答案
D
解析
推理判断题。第二段最后一句反映了选项B ,第三段第一句、第四段第二句话指出Hugh Barnes为了考证克服重重困难,力求客观真实地再现历史,是一个很有抱负的人,第三、四句说只是在资料不足,客观条件不允许的情况下才会有一点设想成分,所以选项A 和C 是符Hugh Barnes的情况;根据文章第四段第一句话我们可以看出,选项D 后半部分不正确,名利(为学术争得资金和使自己跻身于有钱作家之列)只是他研究工作的客观后果,并不是他研究的初衷和动机。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/EW9K777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Inmanyculturespeoplemakeadistinctionbetweenfineartandfolkart.Althoughtellingthedifferencebetweenthesetwotype
TheCompetitionamongproducersofpersonalcomputersisessentiallyaracetogetthebest,mostinnovativeproductstothemar
TheCarnegieFoundationreportsaysthatmanycollegeshavetriedtobe"allthingstoallpeople".Indoingso,theyhaveincre
Alanguageisasignalingsystemwhichoperateswithsymbolicvocalsounds,andwhichisusedbyagroupofpeopleforthepurpo
Itisonethingtolocateoil,butitisquiteanotherto______andtransportittotheindustrialcenters.
Designingalenscanbecomparedtoplayingchess.Inchessaplayertriestotraphisopponent’skingin’aseriesofmoves.O
It’squitelatenowandMr.White_______hasn’tlefthisoffice.
"Areyouready?""WhyshouldIbereadywhenyouarenot?"she_________.
______isannouncedinthepapers,ourcountryhaslaunchedalarge-scalemovementagainstsmugglingandfraudulentactivitiesi
随机试题
TCP/IP协议实际上是一组协议,是一个完整的体系结构。
以教育理论为主的科学研究成果主要以深刻的理论分析和严密的逻辑论证来说明所研究的问题,以分析和阐述对某一问题的___________为主要内容。()
李某的邻居吴某的儿子吴生深得李某喜爱,并且在吴某因意外去世后愿意抚养成为孤儿的吴生。李某去世,吴生有无参与遗产分配的权利?()
患儿男性,6岁,因“咳嗽4个月”就诊。患儿主要为干咳,常于凌晨咳醒,活动后加重,一直无发热,曾服用多种抗生素均无效,加用氨茶碱后症状明显减轻。既往无湿疹史,查体:两肺呼吸音粗糙。考虑最可能的诊断是
A.营养培养基B.选择培养基C.特殊培养基D.鉴别培养基E.基础培养基在培养基中加入抑制剂,去抑制标本中的杂菌生长,有助于所选择的细菌种类的生长的培养基是
根据《中华人民共和国对外贸易法》的相关规定,下列说法正确的是()。
某房地产开发企业以出让的途径获得某块土地的使用权,准备用其建造一所公立学校,但该土地上还有一建筑面积为1000平方米的商业用房需要拆迁,该商业用房的目前市价为5000元每平方米。拆迁补偿采取产权调换的方式,偿还房屋的目前市场价为6000元每平米,
劳动争议调节委员会由职工代表、用人单位代表、工会代表三方面组成,体现了其具有()特点。
科学家发现狼孩没有意识.这一事实说明意识的产生()
From1971until1986,Japaneseshareinhightechnologyexportmarketincreasedby______.Largecountrieswithlargedomestic
最新回复
(
0
)