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  3. According to Aristotle, the subjects of tragic drama were rightly drawn from ancient mythology, a source considered invar

According to Aristotle, the subjects of tragic drama were rightly drawn from ancient mythology, a source considered invar

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问题             According to Aristotle, the subjects of tragic drama were rightly drawn
       from ancient mythology, a source considered invariably reliable, for it was
       believed that if man had invented such strange incidents, they would have
Line     appeared impossible. Furthermore, the chief characters of a tragic action should
(5)      be persons of consequence, of exalted station, according to Aristotle, and the
       leading personage should not be a man characterized by great virtue or great
       vice, but of a mixed nature, a proclivity for errors and weaknesses that lead him
       into misfortune. Such a mixture of good and evil makes the protagonist seem
       like ourselves, thus more quickly arousing the spectator’s sympathy, saturating
(10)     him with feelings of compassion, driving out his petty personal emotions, and
       thus "purging" the soul through pity and terror. The crimes suitable for tragic
       treatment may be committed either in ignorance, or intentionally, and are
       commonly against friends or relatives, though crimes committed intentionally
       are generally the more dramatic and impressive-this in spite of the fact that
(15)     the central crime in Oedipus the King was committed in ignorance. As to
       style, a certain archaic quality of diction is needful to the dignity of tragedy.
             Another of the most famous of the Aristotelian rules were those relating to
       the so-called unities-of time, place, and action. The unity of time limits the
       supposed action to the duration of a single day, unity of place limits it to one
(20)     general locality; and unity of action limits the play to a single set of incidents
       related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, a middle, and an end."
       Concerning the unity of time, Aristotle noted that all the plays since Aeschylus,
       except two, did illustrate such unity, but he did not lay down such a precept as
       obligatory. Perhaps tacitly he assumed that the observance of the unity of place
(25)     would be the practice of good playwrights, since the chorus was present during
       the whole performance, and it would indeed be awkward always to devise an
       excuse for moving fifteen persons about from place to place.0
           A third unity, that of action, is bound up with the nature not only of Greek
       but of all drama, for Aristotle conceived the action, or plot, of a play as of far
(30)     greater importance than the characters. This conception he gained from the
       plays of the fifth century generally centered around a personified passion rather
       than around a character. Second in importance was characterization, and third
       were the sentiments aroused by the action, for Aristotle insisted very clearly
       that in tragedy the plot does not rise out of the characters, but that the plot
(35)     tests the characters through the working-out of destiny, or "blind fate". The
       main duty of the dramatist, therefore, was to first organize the action, then
       display the moral character of people suffering the blows of fate.
The author suggests that Aristotle believed which of the following was true of the dramatic art that existed prior to Aeschylus?
选项 A、It was unusually resourceful in finding ways to extend the unity of time beyond a single day.
B、It was less elegant than later drama because its disregard for unity of place necessitates the movement of the chorus.
C、It tended to demonstrate better unity of time than of character and action.
D、It did not employ a beginning middle or end, and this fell outside the acceptable range of dramatic principles.
E、It tended to overemphasize the use of cause and effect, instead of the continuity of time, in organizing its action.
答案B
解析
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