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
121
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
Themainideaofthefirstparagraphisthat______.Whatdoestheword"disruptive"(Paragraph3)mostprobablymean?
Migrationisusuallydefinedas"permanentorsemi-permanentchangeofresidence".However,ourconcerniswithmovementbetween
Thingswentwellforhimduringhisearlylifebutinmiddleagehis______seemedtochange.
Theauthorbelievesinthepassagethat______.Theword"rejuvenated"(Paragraph5)mostprobablymeans______.
Thelongestbullruninacenturyofart-markethistoryendedonadramaticnotewithasaleof56worksbyDamienHirst,Beauti
Pricesarcsky-high,withprofitstomatch.Butlookingfurtherahead,theindustryfaceswrenchingchange,saysanexpertofen
Wearelivinginoneofthoseperiodsinhumanhistorywhicharemarkedbyrevolutionarychangesinallofman’sideasandvalue
"Universalhistory,thehistoryofwhatmanhasaccomplishedinthisworld,isatbottomtheHistoryoftheGreatMenwhohavew
随机试题
给定程序中,函数fun的功能是将a和b所指的两个字符串转换成面值相同的整数,并进行相加作为函数值返回,规定字符串中只含9个以下数字字符。例如,主函数中输入字符串:32486和12345,在主函数中输出的函数值为:44831。请在程序的下
生命与群落的相同特征是()
A.异常活动B.功能障碍C.呼吸困难D.持续高热E.血压降低开放性骨折并发感染的主要表现是
下列有关疾病监测的论述错误的是
李天志与妻子朱兰、女儿李梅(11周岁)一家三口住在贫困山村。为脱贫致富,1998年12月李天志分别向信用社和复员军人张海借款1万元,写下欠条1万元,共计3万元,购买邻村一台旧卡车开始货运业务。1999年1月,在尚未办理各项车辆运输保险的情况下。李天志冒着下
l.如何确定成交样?
以下关于封闭式证券投资基金与开放式证券投资基金的区别的论述,不正确的是( )。
A、 B、 C、 D、 B
设有以下过程:PrivateSubproc(xAsInteger,OptionalyAsInteger)Printx,yEndSub针对此过程,下面正确的过程调用语句是
打开考生文件夹下的演示文稿yswg.pptx,按照下列要求完成对此文稿的制作:演示文稿播放的全程需要有背景音乐。
最新回复
(
0
)