中国科学院大学考博英语试题样题

　　Passage 5

　　With its common interest in lawbreaking but its immense range of subject-matter and widely-varying methods of treatment, the crime novel could make a legitimate claim to be regarded as a separate branch of literature, or, at least, as a distinct, even though a slightly disreputable, offshoot of the traditional novel.

　　The detective story is probably the most respectable (at any rate in the narrow sense of the word) of the crime species. Its creation is often the relaxation of university scholars, literary economists, scientists or even poets. Disastrous deaths may occur more frequently and mysteriously than might be expected in polite society, but the world in which they happen, the village, seaside resort, college or studio, is familiar to us, if not from our own experience, at least in the newspaper or the lives of friends. The characters, though normally realized superficially, are as recognizably human and consistent as our less intimate acquaintances. A story set in a more remote African jungle or Australian bush, ancient China or gas-lit London, appeals to our interest in geography or history, and most detective story writers are conscientious in providing a reasonably true background. The elaborate, carefully-assembled plot, despised by the modern intellectual critics and creators of “significant” novels, has found refuge in the murder mystery, with its sprinkling of clues, its spicing with apparent impossibilities, all with appropriate solutions and explanations at the end. With the guilt of escapism from real life nagging gently, we secretly take delight in the unmasking of evil by a vaguely super-human detective, who sees through and dispels the cloud of suspicion which has hovered so unjustly over the innocent.

　　Though its villain also receives his rightful deserts, the thriller presents a less comfortable and credible world. The sequence of fist fights, revolver duels, car crashes and escapes from gas-filled cellars exhausts the reader far more than the hero, who, suffering from at least two broken ribs, one black eye, uncountable bruises and a hangover, can still chase and overpower an armed villain with the physique of a wrestler, He moves dangerously through a world of ruthless gangs, brutality, a vicious lust for power and money and, in contrast to the detective tale, with a near-omniscient arch-criminal whose defeat seems almost accidental. Perhaps we miss in the thriller the security of being safely led by our imperturbable investigator past a score of red herrings and blind avenues to a final gathering of suspects when an unchallengeable elucidation of all that has bewildered us is given and justice and goodness prevail. All that we vainly hope for from life is granted vicariously.

　　56. The crime novel is regarded by the author as _________________.

　　A. a not respectable form of the traditional novel

　　B. not a true novel at all

　　C. related in some ways to the historical novel

　　D. a distinct branch of the traditional novel

　　57. The creation of detective stories has its origin in _______________.

　　A. seeking rest from work or worries

　　B. solving mysterious deaths in this society

　　C. restoring expectations in polite society

　　D. preventing crimes

　　58. The characters of the detective stories are, generally speaking, _____________.

　　A. more profound than those of the traditional novels

　　B. as real as life itself

　　C. not like human beings at all

　　D. not very profound but not unlikely

　　59. The setting of the detective stories is sometimes in a more remote place because ___________.

　　A. it is more real

　　B. our friends are familiar with it

　　C. it pleases the readers in a way

　　D. it needs the readers’ support

　　60. The writer of this passage thinks _____________.

　　A. what people hope for from life can finally be granted if they have confidence

　　B. people like to feel that justice and goodness will always triumph

　　C. they know in the real world good does not prevail over evil

　　D. their hopes in life can only be fulfilled through fiction reading

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