考研英语阅读理解精读：UNIT 11 TXET 2

　　考研阅读一直是考研人在英语上难以攻克的一道难关，但是分值占比又很大，所以说放弃那是不可能的，小编建议大家在复习中还是多积累多理解，考试的时候才能得心应手。下面是好轻松考研小编整理的考研英语阅读理解精读：UNIT 11 TXET 2，希望对大家有帮助。

　　TEXT 2

　　Not all modern observers of Byzantium have been so willing to associate the city on the Bosphorus with universalism or cultural breadth. While Byzantium's rating has risen recently, it has not entirely shaken off the criticisms dished out in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the devastating verdict of William Lecky, an Irish historian, who in 1869 described the Byzantine empire as “the most thoroughly base and despicable form that civilisation has yet assumed.”

　　Even Byzantium's modern defenders have tended to set out their case in qualified terms, stressing the empire's relationship to other historical developments. Some see it as a connecting line between classical antiquity and the modern world; others, particularly those who think that civilisations are doomed perpetually to clash, stress the empire's role as a bulwark against Islam, without which Europe as a whole would have turned Muslim. Others again see it as a catalyst for the European Renaissance, especially after Hellenic talent was freed from Byzantine dogmatism.

　　Judith Herrin, a professor at King's College London, sets out to show that there are far better reasons to study and admire the civilisation that flourished for more than a millennium before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and whose legacy is still discernible all over south-east Europe and the Levant. She presents Byzantium as a vibrant, dynamic, cosmopolitan reality which somehow escaped the constraints of its official ideology. For example, despite the anti-Semitism of the empire's public discourse and theology, its complex, diversified economy could hardly have functioned without the 30-plus Jewish communities that Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century rabbi, described.

　　Ms Herrin also shows that there was a fluid and perpetually evolving relationship between the competing influences of classical Greek learning, Greek Christianity and popular Byzantine culture. She pays particular attention to the powerful female voices that emerged from Byzantium: not just pious ladies who wrote saints' lives and hymns (including one breathtaking piece of sensual, almost erotic religious poetry) but the sophisticated political history that was penned by Anna Komnene, a frustrated would-be empress of the 12th century.

　　Ms Herrin will certainly win over some sceptics. But it will remain the case that more people are drawn to Byzantine civilisation through its dazzling art and architecture than by its literature. In August 2006, for example, more than 1,000 academic specialists on Byzantium converged on London for a week-long conference. The success of the quinquennial event was a sign that Byzantine studies are flourishing in almost every corner of the world. But it is a reasonable bet that, whatever they ultimately studied, these scholars were first drawn to the Byzantine world by gazing in wonder at an icon or a frescoed church rather than by perusing the pages of Anna Komnene.

　　The brilliance of Byzantine art is proof enough that something extraordinary happened on the Bosphorus. And this brilliance remained undimmed even when the empire's geopolitical fortunes were collapsing. Snobbish Western classicists who called Byzantium a poor substitute for ancient Greece may have missed the point. True, the Byzantine world was weighed down by deference to classical Greek models. But that charge could also be laid against the pedagogues who used to dominate the study of the humanities in the Western world. Right now, Byzantine history is in vogue at many universities while old-fashioned classical studies are struggling to hold their own.

       1.Modern observers and defenders do not highly praise Byzantium’s culture because_____

　　[A] the civilisations of the empire were short of universalism or cultural breadth.

　　[B] William Lecky, who is the leading figure of the Byzantium’s study, depreciated the culture of Byzantium greatly.

　　[C] criticisms against the Byzantium in the history biased people.

　　[D] Byzantium’s culture was completely devastated in the 18th and 19th centuries.

　　2. The example by Herrin in the third paragraph may prove that _____

　　[A] the civilisation of Byzantium is worth of studying and admiring.

　　[B] Byzantium’ civilization had flourished a much longer time than people usually perceive it and such influence has been neglected.

　　[C] To some extent, it is not necessary to relate Byzantium the city with the whole empire’s public discourse and theology.

　　[D] The Jewish communities actually had made great contribution to Byzantium, which is against the conventional view of the study.

　　3. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of the academic conferent on Byzantium?

　　[A] The scholars were only interested in studying icons or frescoes in Byzantium.

　　[B] The success of this conference proves the study on Byzantium is in vogue.

　　[C] Scholars were drawn to Byzantium civilisation by its art at the very beginning .

　　[D] Scholars showed less interest in the literature of Byzantium.

　　4. According to the passage, Byzantine culture _____

　　[A] is merely a replica of the ancient Greece.

　　[B] is quite independent from Greek culture in almost all aspects.

　　[C] is of no relation with the ancient Greece in a subtle way.

　　[D] is influenced by the Greek culture and theology.

　　5. Towards the classical studies on Byzantium, the author’s attitude can be said to be_____

　　[A] biased.

　　[B] negative .

　　[C] skeptical.

　　[D] objective.

　　文章剖析：

　　这篇文章介绍了关于拜占庭文化的一些成见和拜占庭文化的价值。、二段讲述由于一些历史评价原因，拜占庭文化没有得到应有的评判；第三、四段讲述Herin对拜占庭文化的研究和肯定；第五段讲述当下研究拜占庭的学者开始进行研究的契因；第六段讲述拜占庭文化被低估了，以及目前存在的新旧两种看法。

　　词汇注释：

　　despicable adj. 卑劣的, 卑鄙的bulwark n. 壁垒

　　catalyst n. 催化剂Hellentic adj. 希腊的

　　dogmatism n. 教条主义discernible adj.可辨别的

　　pious adj. 虔诚的quinquennial adj. 每五年的

　　fresco v. 作壁画于                                               pedagogue n. 卖弄学问的人

　　难句突破：

　　(1)Judith Herrin, a professor at King's College London, sets out to show that there are far better reasons to study and admire the civilisation that flourished for more than a millennium before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and whose legacy is still discernible all over south-east Europe and the Levant.

　　[主体句式] Judith Herrin sets out to show that…

　　[结构分析] 这是一个复合句，宾语从句比较复杂；在宾语从句中，that引导的定语从句和whose引导的定语从句都用来修饰the civilisation。

　　[句子译文] 伦敦国王学院教授Judith Herrin表示拜占庭文明值得研究和敬仰，拜占庭文明在1453年被君士坦丁堡征服之前已经兴盛了一个多世纪，其遗迹在整个东南欧洲和累范特还是可以看出来的。

　　(2) But it is a reasonable bet that, whatever they ultimately studied, these scholars were first drawn to the Byzantine world by gazing in wonder at an icon or a frescoed church rather than by perusing the pages of Anna Komnene.

　　[主体句式] But it is a reasonble bet that these scholars were…

　　[结构分析] 这是一个复合句，主语从句比较复杂；在该从句中whatever…是状语, 从句的主体为these sholars were drawn to …by … rather than by…

　　[句子译文] 但是不管这些学者的最后研究内容是什么，一个比较理性的观点就是他们一开始都是因为看到雕像或画有壁画的教堂才被拜占庭吸引的，而不是因为细读了Anna Komnene的文字。

　　题目分析：

　　[答案] C

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理题。文章段提到虽然拜占庭近来评级上升，但是18、19世纪对它的批评一直有影响，因此人们对它有偏见；从文章其他部分可以看出，拜占庭文明实际上是很辉煌的，因此这只是一种偏见而已。选项中C最为符合题意。A选项的“universalism or cultural breadth”对应于文章段的句话，但原句的意思是“并不是所有的现代观赏拜占庭的人都愿意将这个博斯普鲁斯海峡的城市和普世或文化宽容联系起来”，显然是与选项表述有出入的。B的错误在于William Lecky只是一个拜占庭研究的学者，文章没有提到他是一个领军人物。D选项明显错误，拜占庭文化从来没有被彻底毁灭过。

　　[答案]C

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析] 推理题。文章第三段Herrin的例子中，尽管该帝国的意识形态是反犹太的，但是没有30多个犹太社团的作用，其经济就得不到发展。结合上文，拜占庭摆脱了官方意识形态的束缚，那么可以看出，这个例子是为了说明这一点的，其中该选项中“public discourse and theology”可以视为是对文章中“official ideology”这个词组的解读或解释。因此选项C为正确答案。而其余几项都不是这个例子直接要说明的问题。

　　[答案]A

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆☆

　　[分析] 细节题。选项A，第五段最后指出，不论他们最后研究的是什么，但是最一开始是是因为被其雕像和壁画教堂吸引来的。可以看出，他们目前不一定只研究雕像和壁画，只是契因是这些而已。因此A说法不正确；C、D从第五段可以看出；B，第五段也提到了拜占庭研究正在流行。因此，答案为A选项。

　　[答案]D

　　[难度系数] ☆☆☆

　　[分析] 细节题。选项A，第六段指出那些认为拜占庭是古希腊替代品的古典主义者错了，因此该陈述错误，其中replica这个词的意思就是“复制品”。选项B，文章第四段指出，拜占庭文化和希腊学术、希腊宗教方面有着某种不固定的、但一直发展的关系。那么，可以看出，拜占庭文化和古希腊文化还是有一定关系的。同时C选项也是错误的。因此，只有D选项是正确的。

　　[答案]B

　　[难度系数] ☆☆

　　[分析] 态度题。从文中作者形容古典研究的词汇就可以看出作者的态度，他将西方古典主义者称作是“势利的”，认为他们的观点有问题。因此，作者对于古典研究的态度是否定的。

　　参考译文：

　　并不是所有观赏拜占庭的现代人都愿意将这个位于博斯普鲁斯海峡的城市和普世或文化宽容联系起来。尽管对拜占庭近来有所改进，但它还是不能完全摆脱18、19世纪对它的那些批评，包括爱尔兰历史学家William Lecky对其猛烈的俄抨击，他于1869年将拜占庭帝国描述为“所有文明中级、最卑劣的形式”。

　　拜占庭的现代拥护者也倾向于用一些低调的词语来形容这座城市，重在强调该帝国与其他历史发展的关系。一些人将它看作是古典世界与现代世界的连接线，而还有一些人特别是那些持文明冲突论的人强调拜占庭的作用主要是作为对抗伊斯兰的一个壁垒屏障，如果没有拜占庭，整个欧洲都可能变为穆斯林国家。还有一些人认为拜占庭是欧洲文艺复兴的催化剂， 尤其在是希腊智慧摆脱了拜占庭教条主义之后。

　　伦敦国王学院教授Judith Herrin表示拜占庭文明值得研究和敬仰，拜占庭文明在1453年被君士坦丁堡征服之前已经兴盛了一个多世纪，其遗迹在整个东南欧洲和累范特还是可以看出来的。她将拜占庭看作是充满活力的、生机勃勃的世界，并且摆脱了官方意识形态的束缚。比如，尽管该帝国的公众演说和神学带有反犹太的特点，但是如果没有12世纪Tudela的拉比Benjamin描述的那30多个犹太社会，帝国那复杂多样的经济就得不到发展。

　　Herrin女士也表示希腊古典学术、希腊基督教此与拜占庭流行文化之间的竞争关系是不断变化和进化的。她特别关注拜占庭出现强有力的女性声音：不仅仅是那些描写圣人生活和书写圣歌的虔诚妇女（包括一篇令人惊心的情色、甚至可以说是淫秽的宗教诗歌），而且还有12世纪那位失意的未来女皇Anna Komnene书写的复杂的政治历史。

　　Herrin女士肯定胜过了哪些怀疑论者。但是一个不变的事实是，更多的人是为拜占庭炫目的文化和建筑而着迷，而不是其艺术的影响。比如2006年8月，1000多名研究拜占庭的学术专家汇聚伦敦，举行了为期一周的会议。这个五年一次会议的成功举办是拜占庭研究在世界各个角落兴盛的标志。但是不管这些学者的最后研究内容是什么，一个比较理性的观点就是他们一开始都是因为看到雕像或画有壁画的教堂才被拜占庭吸引的，而不是因为细读了Anna Komnene的文字。

　　拜占庭的辉煌艺术足以证明在博斯普鲁斯海峡曾经发生过的那些非凡大事。而这种繁荣即使在拜占庭帝国地理政治的财富被摧毁了之后仍然存在。那些假装内行的西方古典学家称拜占庭是古希腊可怜的替代品，其实他们错了。确实，拜占庭世界因为遵循古希腊的模式而被低估。但这一点也可以用来反驳那些过去在西方人文研究方面的权威学究。现在，拜占庭历史在许多学校都很盛行，而那些过时的正统研究也在竭力坚守着自己的立场。

　　在考研英语中，不管是英语一还是英语二，阅读都是题量分值的一部分，所以才有得阅读者得天下这一说，考研英语要想拿高分阅读理解是必须重视起来的一个版块。以上就是小编今天的介绍啦，最后的冲刺阶段大家也不要懈怠哦。