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
2022-12-06
62
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 bit 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 be 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 revolutionized 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
复现结构。本题左栏中的信息是人的名字Marx and Engels,以这两个名字作为线索回归原文定位,发现文章第六段的第二句出现了这个名字,即:"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles," wrote Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto,此后的句子继续展开说明Man and Engels的观点,即: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 be the story of the masses and their record of struggle. 对比剩余的待选项,发现E项held that history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle. 基本是原文复现,意思高度一致,故答案为E。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/fnMD777K
0
考研英语二
相关试题推荐
Skepticsofhighereducationoftencomplainthatuniversitiesoffertoomanyboringdegreeswithlittlevalueintheworkplace.【
Skepticsofhighereducationoftencomplainthatuniversitiesoffertoomanyboringdegreeswithlittlevalueintheworkplace.【
"Universalhistory,thehistoryofwhatmanhasaccomplishedinthisworld,isatbottomtheHistoryoftheGreatMenwhohavew
Inourcontemporaryculture,theprospectofcommunicatingwith—orevenlookingat—astrangerisvirtuallyunbearable.Everyone
Inourcontemporaryculture,theprospectofcommunicatingwith—orevenlookingat—astrangerisvirtuallyunbearable.Everyone
[A]Putyourselvesinothers’shoes.[B]Tailoryourinteractions.[C]Spendtimewitheveryone.[D]Reveal,don’th
Happypeopleworkdifferently.They’remoreproductive,morecreative,andwillingtotakegreaterrisks.Andnewresearchsugge
Aprettypotplantmightmakeanunemotionalworkspacefeelmorepersonal.Butnewresearchhasrevealedthatofficeplantsdo
Aprettypotplantmightmakeanunemotionalworkspacefeelmorepersonal.Butnewresearchhasrevealedthatofficeplantsdo
Formostofhumanhistoryrichpeoplehadthemostleisure.Ontheotherhand,thepoorhavetypicallyworkedpersistently.Hans
随机试题
心源性晕厥常见的病因是
结核杆菌的培养时间是
于某为甲省乙市丙县的民营企业家,是该省、市、县三级人大代表。于某因犯故意伤害罪被丙县公安局立案侦查,县公安局经审查认为应将于某逮捕,于是便向县人民检察院提请逮捕。对此,如果在人大闭会期间,人民检察院下列哪种做法是正确的?()
由于业主原因导致承包商自有机械停工,则台班窝了费一般按( )计算。
下列各项不属于不动产的相邻各方处理相邻关系时应当遵循的原则的是( )。
应收账款周转率是指一定时期内商品或产品销售收入净额与应收账款平均余额的比值,反映的是应收账款周转速度的指标,应收账款周转率越高表明( )。
下列属于商业银行合格循环零售风险暴露的是()。
In the following essay, each blank has four choices. Choose the most suitable one from the four choices and write down in the an
SolarPowerThesunis【T1】________________________.It【T2】________________________.Peoplehavecreateddifferentwayst
邀请来校讲学说明:以北京大学法学院院长张守文的名义,邀请Mr.Green来校做一个有关法律的讲座。内容:1.得知Mr.Green在华访问,邀请Mr.Green来校做一个有关法律的讲座:2.法学院的师生们爱读他的著作,很期待
最新回复
(
0
)