阅读求解答 决胜机考版GRE阅读理解： 真题16中的第5题

kashellouUID: 3270179

The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separately as a group, for instance, the extent to which their work reflects the development of poetry in general should not be forgotten, or a distortion of literary history may result. This caution is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of the century (1900-1909) and those of the generation of the 1920’s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the later generation and its technical inventiveness. It should be remembered, though, that comparable differences also existed for similar generations of White poets.

When poets of the 1910’s and 1920’s are considered together, however, the distinctions that literary historians might make between “conservative” and “experimental” would be of little significance in a discussion of Black poets, although these remain helpful classifications for White poets of these decades. Certainly differences can be noted between “conservative” Black poets such as Counter Cullen and Claude McKay and “experimental” ones such as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. But Black poets were not battling over old or new styles; rather, one accomplished Black poet was ready to welcome another, whatever his or her style, for what mattered was racial pride.

However, in the 1920’s Black poets did debate whether they should deal with specifically racial subjects. They asked whether they should only write about Black experience for a Black audience or whether such demands were restrictive. It may be said, though, that virtually all these poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Weldon Johnson rightly put it, “perforce the thing the Negro poet knows best.”

At the turn of the century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry. These poets were not unusually gifted, though Roscoe Jamison and G. M. McClellen may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, “meant a rejection of stereotypes of Negro life,” and they refused to write only about racial subjects. This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, “Valuably insisting that Negro poets should not be confined to issues of race, these poets committed [an] error… they refused to look into their hearts and write.” These are important insights, but one must stress that this refusal to look within was also typical of most White poets of the United States at the time. They, too, often turned from their own experience and consequently produced not very memorable poems about vague topics, such as the peace of nature.


5、It can be inferred from the passage that the author finds the work of the majority of the Black poets at the turn of the century to be

(A) unexciting
(B) calming
(C) confusing
(D) delightful
(E) inspiring

参考答案为 A

confectionerUID: 2952737

At the turn of the century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry.

kashellouUID: 3270179

confectioner 发表于 2013-5-25 22:24
At the turn of the century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner ...

谢谢你的回复，但有个疑问是句中说这些BLACK PEOTS expressed noble emotion in their peotry这个跟unexciting不太符合吧

oldboy61UID: 3446232

These poets were not unusually gifted, ... mean 这些诗都很平常
This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. ... mean 优劣均有。
所以， 作者的态度绝不是正向的， 负或平常的态度 calming unexiting. AB 或选，
但calming更像是一种平静的风格， 而作者更表明他们品质上的不出众， unexiting 更能表明这种平常。