2021年考博英语阅读理解模拟题47

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

　　EvenByzantium's modern defenders have tended to set out their case in qualifiedterms, stressing the empire's relationship to other historical developments.Some see it as a connecting line between classical antiquity and the modernworld; others, particularly those who think that civilisations are doomedperpetually to clash, stress the empire's role as a bulwark againstIslam, without which Europe as a whole would have turned Muslim. Others againsee it as a catalyst for the European Renaissance, especially after Hellenictalent was freed from Byzantine dogmatism.

　　Judith Herrin, a professor at King's College London, sets out to showthat there are far better reasons to study and admire the civilisation thatflourished for more than a millennium before the conquest of Constantinople in1453, and whose legacy is still discernible all over south-east Europeand the Levant. She presents Byzantium as a vibrant,dynamic, cosmopolitan reality which somehow escaped the constraints of itsofficial ideology. For example, despite the anti-Semitism of the empire'spublic discourse and theology, its complex, diversified economy could hardlyhave 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 evolvingrelationship between the competing influences of classical Greek learning,Greek Christianity and popular Byzantine culture. She pays particular attentionto the powerful female voices that emerged from Byzantium: not just piousladies who wrote saints' lives and hymns (including one breathtaking piece ofsensual, almost erotic religious poetry) but the sophisticated politicalhistory that was penned by Anna Komnene, a frustrated would-be empress of the12th century.

　　MsHerrin will certainly win over some sceptics. But it will remain the case thatmore people are drawn to Byzantine civilisation through its dazzling art andarchitecture than by its literature. In August 2006, for example, more than1,000 academic specialists on Byzantium converged on London for a week-longconference. The success of the quinquennial event was a sign thatByzantine studies are flourishing in almost every corner of the world. Butit is a reasonable bet that, whatever they ultimately studied, these scholarswere first drawn to the Byzantine world by gazing in wonder at an icon or a frescoedchurch rather than by perusing the pages of Anna Komnene.

　　Thebrilliance of Byzantine art is proof enough that something extraordinaryhappened on the Bosphorus. And this brilliance remained undimmed even when theempire's geopolitical fortunes were collapsing. Snobbish Western classicistswho called Byzantium a poor substitute for ancient Greece may have missed thepoint. True, the Byzantine world was weighed down by deference to classicalGreek models. But that charge could also be laid against the pedagogueswho used to dominate the study of the humanities in the Western world. Rightnow, Byzantine history is in vogue at many universities while old-fashionedclassical 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.

　　[答案]

　　1. C

　　2. C

　　3. A

　　4. D

　　5. B

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