Question

【题目】

Classical Roman drama

Following the expansion of the Roman Republic into several Greek territories between 270-240 BC, Rome encountered Greek drama. From the later years of the republic and by means of the Roman Empire, theatre spread west across Europe and reached England; Roman theatre was more varied, extensive and sophisticated than that of any culture before it.

While Greek drama continued to be performed throughout the Roman period, the year 240 BC marks the beginning of regular Roman drama. From the beginning of the empire, however, interest in full-length drama declined in favor of a broader 【1】 of theatrical entertainments. The first important works of Roman literature were the tragedies and comedies that Livius Andronicus wrote from 240 BC. Five years later, Gnaeus Naevius also began to write drama. No plays from either writer have survived. Andronicus was most appreciated for his tragedies and Naevius for his comedies; their successors(继任者) tended to be 【2】 at one or the other, which led to a(n) 【3】 of the subsequent development of each type of drama.

By the beginning of the 2nd century BC, drama was firmly 【4】 in Rome and an association of writers had been formed. The Roman comedies that have survived are all “fabula palliate” (comedies based on Greek subjects) and come from two dramatists: Plautus and Terence. In re-working the Greek 【5】, the Roman comic dramatists abolished the role of the chorus(合唱) in dividing the drama into episodes and 【6】 musical accompaniment to its dialogue. The action of all scenes is set in the street and its complications often follow from eavesdropping(偷听).

Plautus, the more popular of the two, wrote between 205 and 184 BC and twenty of his comedies survive; people 【7】 him for the wisdom of his dialogue and his use of various poetic meters. All of the six comedies that Terence wrote between 166 and 160 BC have survived; the 【8】 of his plots, in which he often combined several Greek stories, was sometimes criticized, but his double-plots enabled a sophisticated presentation of contrasting human behavior. No early Roman tragedy survives, though it was highly 【9】 in its day; historians know of three early tragedians—Quintus Ennius, Marcus Pacuvius, and Lucius Accius.

From the time of the empire, the work of two tragedians survives—one is an unknown author, while the other is the philosopher Seneca. Nine of Seneca’s tragedies survive, all of which are tragedies from Greek stories. Historians do not know who wrote the only extant example of the fabula praetexta (tragedies based on Roman subjects), Octavia, but in former times it was mistakenly attributed to Seneca due to his appearance as a(n) 【10】 in the tragedy.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】AC

【2】A

【3】D

【4】AB

【5】CD

【6】B

【7】AD

【8】BC

【9】ABC

【10】C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章介绍了罗马经典戏剧的发展过程及与希腊戏剧融合的过程。

【1】考查名词。variety多样化、变化。句意：人们对完整剧目及戏剧兴趣下降，转而支持更多种类的戏剧娱乐。文中第一段最后一句提到“…Roman theatre was more varied…”，在与希腊戏剧结合后，罗马的剧院变得多种多样，人们对于长戏剧的兴趣下降了，因为戏剧形式更多样了。故选AC。

【2】考查名词。expert：专家。句意：安德洛尼克斯因其悲剧而备受赞赏，纳维乌斯则因他的喜剧作品而备受赞赏。他们的继任者往往是某一方面的专家。第二段最后一句提到“…led to…”，他们引起了戏剧类型的分离。说明他们的继任者在这一方面的能力非常突出，才能引领某一种趋势。故选A。

【3】考查名词。separation：分离、分开。句意：这引起了每一种类型的戏剧在随后的发展中分离。文中第二段最后一句提到“….subsequent development of each type of drama”每一种戏剧的发展，说明罗马戏剧不断的发展和衍生，因此产生了分离。故选D。

【4】考查动词。established：成立。句意：戏剧在罗马正式成立，并成立了作家协会。第三段第一句提到“…an association of writers had been formed.”成立了一个作家协会，只有戏剧成立起来了，才有可能成立一个作家协会。故选AB。

【5】考查名词。originals：原著、原件。句意：在改造希腊原作的过程中…。第三段第二句提到“The Roman comedies that have survived are all “fabula palliate” (comedies based on Greek subjects)”罗马喜剧存活下来的原因是基于希腊喜剧的内容，说明了罗马戏剧和希腊戏剧之间的融合，罗马人也根据其情况修改了希腊戏剧，使其进行本地化发展。故选CD。

【6】考查动词。introduced：介绍、引入。句意：罗马喜剧作家除了废除合唱团，将戏剧划分为情景角色外，还在对话中引入音乐伴奏。分析文章可知，在罗马戏剧和希腊戏剧结合之前，是没有音乐伴奏的，是在结合之后将其引入罗马戏剧的，故选B。

【7】考查动词。admired：钦佩、赞赏。句意：人们钦佩他智慧的对话，以及他使用的各种诗歌的韵律。第四段提到“…the more popular…”Plautus是两者中更受欢迎的一位，并在后文解释了他受欢迎的原因，因此可使用admire表达人们对他的赞赏和钦佩。故选AD。

【8】考查名词。complexity：复杂性。句意：他经常将几个希腊故事组合在一起的复杂情节有时受到批评。第四段第二句提到“in which he often combined several Greek stories”在Terence的故事里，他集合了几个希腊的故事，不同的故事混合在一起可见其复杂性。故选BC。

【9】考查动词。regarded：把……看作，考虑。句意：尽管它在那个时代受到高度评价。第四段最后一句提到“historians know of three early tragedians—Quintus Ennius, Marcus Pacuvius, and Lucius Accius.”历史学家还是记得这三位早期的悲剧诗人，这三位诗人都来自罗马。但句子开头提到“No early Roman tragedy survives”罗马早期的悲剧都没有存活下来，但仍有三位著名的诗人，说明罗马悲剧在当时还是受到过高度评价的，故选ABC。

【10】考查名词。character：角色。句意：但在过去，由于塞涅卡在悲剧中作为一个角色的出现，这被错误地归因于塞涅卡。戏剧中会有不同的角色出现，故选C。