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.Consider the most controversial，at least today，of Twain’s novels，Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.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.Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel“trash and suitable only for the slums(贫民窟)．”More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim，the escaped slave，and many occurrences of the word nigger.(The term Nigger Jim，for which the novel is often severely criticized，never appears in it.)

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’nhead 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.

Twain’s racial tone was not perfect.One is left uneasy，for example，by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自传) about how much he loved what were called“nigger shows”in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black?face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them.Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality.His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.

Was Twain a racist? Asking the questioning the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln.If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the“wisdom”of the considered moral judgments of the present，we will find nothing but error.Lincoln，who believed the black man the inferior of the white，fought and won a war to free him.And Twain，raised in a slave state，briefly a soldier，and inventor of Jim，may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.

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

5.What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A．The attacks.

B．Slavery and prejudice.

C．White men.

D．The shows.

6.What does the author mainly argue for?

A．Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism.

B．Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln.

C．Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds.

D．Twain’s works should be read from a historical point of view.

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.D

3.C

4.C

5.D

6.A

【解析】本篇为说明文，谈到马克·吐温的小说是不是对奴隶制和(种族)偏见进行了抨击，以及它们受到了不同人士的批评的情况。

1.

2.2】解析：选D。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 occurences 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。

3.3】解析：选C。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。A、D项叙述与原文不符；B项未提及。

4.4】解析：选C。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。

5.5】解析：选D。词义猜测题。由画线词所在句的前一句可知，没有理由认为马克·吐温把这些表演当作现实，后句紧接着解释到：马克·吐温对奴隶制和偏见的不断抨击说明了他敏锐的意识——它们不是现实。可见they就是指代the shows。

6.6】解析：选A。推理判断题。最后一段最后一句体现了作者的观点：And Twain...may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice...than any other novelist in the past century.故只有A项符合要求。