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
考研
"Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have w
"Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have w
admin
2012-09-11
72
问题
"Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here," wrote the Victorian sage Thomas Carlyle. Well, not any more it is not.
Suddenly, Britain looks to have fallen out with its favourite historical form. This could be no more than a passing literary craze, but it also points to a broader truth about how we now approach the past: less concerned with learning from our forefathers and more interested in feeling their pain. Today, we want empathy, not inspiration.
From the earliest days of the Renaissance, the writing of history meant recounting the exemplary lives of great men. In 1337, Petrarch began work on his rambling writing De Viris Illustribus--On Famous Men, highlighting the virtus (or virtue) of classical heroes. Petrarch celebrated their greatness in conquering fortune and rising to the top. This was the biographical tradition which Niccolo Machiavelli turned on its head. In The Prince, he championed cunning, ruthlessness, and boldness, rather than virtue, mercy and justice, as the skills of successful leaders.
Over time, the attributes of greatness shifted. The Romantics commemorated the leading painters and authors of their day, stressing the uniqueness of the artist’ s personal experience rather than public glory. By contrast, the Victorian author Samuel Smiles wrote Self-Help as a catalogue of the worthy lives of engineers, industrialists and explorers. "The valuable examples which they furnish of the power of self-help, of patient purpose, resolute working, and steadfast integrity, issuing in the formation of truly noble and manly character, exhibit," wrote Smiles," what it is in the power of each to accomplish for himself. "His biographies of James Watt, Richard Arkwright and Josiah Wedgwood were held up as beacons to guide the working man through his difficult life.
This was all a hit bourgeois for Thomas Carlyle, who focused his biographies on the truly heroic lives of Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon Bonaparte. These epochal figures represented lives hard to imitate, but to be acknowledged as possessing higher authority than mere mortals.
Not everyone was convinced by such bombast. "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles," wrote Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto. For them, history did nothing, it possessed no immense wealth nor waged battles:" It is man, real, living man who does all that. "And history should he the story of the masses and their record of struggle. As such, it needed to appreciate the economic realities, the social contexts and power relations in which each epoch stood. For: "Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past. "
This was the tradition which revolutionised our appreciation of the past. In place of Thomas Carlyle, Britain nurtured Christopher Hill, EP Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm. History from below stood alongside biographies of great men. Whole new realms of understanding--from gender to race to cultural studies -- were opened up as scholars unpicked the multiplicity of lost societies. And it transformed public history too: downstairs became just as fascinating as upstairs.
[A] emphasized the virtue of classical heroes.
[B] highlighted the public glory of the leading artists.
[C] focused on epochal figures whose lives were hard to imitate.
[D] opened up new realms of understanding the great men in history.
[E] held that history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle.
[F] dismissed virtue as unnecessary for successful leaders.
[G] depicted the worthy lives of engineers, industrialists and explorers.
Marx and Engels
选项
答案
E
解析
根据信号词Marx and Engels定位到第六段。根据第四句And history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle可知,E项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Kje4777K
0
考研英语二
相关试题推荐
Theword"this"(Paragraph1)probablyrefersto______.Accordingtothetext,geneticengineeringcanbeusedto______.
Thelongestbullruninacenturyofart-markethistoryendedonadramaticnotewithasaleof56worksbyDamienHirst,Beauti
Thelongestbullruninacenturyofart-markethistoryendedonadramaticnotewithasaleof56worksbyDamienHirst,Beauti
Thelongestbullruninacenturyofart-markethistoryendedonadramaticnotewithasaleof56worksbyDamienHirst,Beauti
Wearelivinginoneofthoseperiodsinhumanhistorywhicharemarkedbyrevolutionarychangesinallofman’sideasandvalue
Wearelivinginoneofthoseperiodsinhumanhistorywhicharemarkedbyrevolutionarychangesinallofman’sideasandvalue
"Universalhistory,thehistoryofwhatmanhasaccomplishedinthisworld,isatbottomtheHistoryoftheGreatMenwhohavew
Isitpossiblethattheideaswehavetodayaboutownershipandpropertyrightshavebeensouniversalinthehumanmindthatit
Isitpossiblethattheideaswehavetodayaboutownershipandpropertyrightshavebeensouniversalinthehumanmindthatit
随机试题
A.葡萄胎B.稽留流产C.蜕膜反应D.子宫腺肌症E.恶性滋养细胞疾病子宫饱满增大,官腔线前移,后壁肌层回声不均匀,可见散在斑点状无回声区,血流信号稍丰富,首先考虑
对高肾素型高血压痛有特效的是
B市路桥公司承接了西南丘陵地区某二级公路第二合同段的施工,合同段路线长14.5km。其中K18+300~K18+800段为软土地基,采用袋装砂井处理:K20+100~K26+300为膨胀土路段,采用膨胀土作为填料,边坡填筑时采用非膨胀土作为封层,路堑段边
注册建造师的签章文件类别包括()等类施工管理文件。
Excel工作簿保存后,其文件扩展名为()。
下列针对无形资产核算的表述正确的是()。
E注册会计师负责对X公司2009年度财务报表进行审计。在获取和评价审计证据时,E注册会计师遇到下列事项,请代为做出正确的专业判断。E注册会计师为了证实X公司应付账款的完整实施了以下的审计程序,其中能够达到查找未入账的应付账款目的有()。
公文具有其他任何文献形式无法替代的功能是()。
浙江省武义县北中南三个区块资源禀赋差异较大,产业分布特色明显。从2000年左右开始,武义县提出了“北部机声隆隆,中部车水马龙,南部满目葱茏”的空间发展布局。经过近二十年的接棒努力,武义县较好形成了北部工业经济活跃、中部旅游服务业兴旺、南部生态保护成效显著的
______inthisway,thesituationdoesn’tseemsodisappointing.
最新回复
(
0
)