Question

Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism. I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.

Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurrences of the word nigger.

But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”

There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’n-head Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s light-skinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.

The point was difficult to miss: nurture (养育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example—were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.

1.How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?

A. Twain was more willing to deal with racism.

B. Twain’s attack on racism was much less open.

C. Twain’s themes seemed to agree with plots.

D. Twain was openly concerned with racism.

2.Recent criticism of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn arose partly from its ________.

A. target readers at the bottom

B. anti slavery attitude

C. rather impolite language

D. frequent use of “nigger”

3.What best proves Twain’s anti slavery stand according to the author?

A. Jim’s search for his family was described in detail.

B. The slave’s voice was first heard in American novels.

C. Jim grew up into a man and a father in the white culture.

D. Twain suspected that the slaves were less intelligent.

4.The story of two babies switched mainly indicates that ________.

A. slaves were forced to give up their babies to their masters

B. slaves babies could pick up slave holders way of speaking

C. blacks social position was shaped by how they were brought up

D. blacks were born with certain features of prejudice

Answer

1. B

2. D

3. C

4. C

【解析】

本篇为议论文。文章对马克·吐温的小说没有对奴隶制和(种族)偏见进行抨击这种说法进行了驳斥，并通过马克·吐温最著名的小说《哈克贝利费恩历险记》说明他是反对奴隶制的。

1.推理判断题。由第二段的Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely.可知，马克·吐温的小说表面上完全是谈其他事情，而实际上故事中植入了对奴隶制和(种族)偏见的抨击。其他早期小说用的是直接抨击方式(dealt directly with slavery)。因此B项说他的小说对种族歧视的抨击非常不明显是恰当的，由此排除C、D两项；由第三段第一句中的“forced”可知A项不对。

2.细节理解题。根据关键词Adventures of Huckleberry Finn可定位到第三段，由More recently the book has been attacked because of...many occurrences of the word nigger.可知，答案为D项。A、C项都是以前人们对该书的评价；B项无依据。

3.细节理解题。由第四段的末句...the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities...可知，答案为C项，养育的环境是决定人的社会地位的关键，为此，马克吐温将小说中的一个人物Jim设定为成长在白人文化中的一个人，A、D项叙述与原文不符；B项未提及。

4.推理判断题。第五段讲到Twain’s mystery novel...as a challenge to the racial beliefs...，而下一段的The point was difficult to miss：nurture(养育), not nature, was the key to social status.是对a challenge to the racial beliefs的进一步解释。故只有C项符合要求。其他各项都是对第五段的字面意思的理解。