2. 职称英语
  3. There are two theories that have been used to explain ancient and modern tragedy

There are two theories that have been used to explain ancient and modern tragedy

游客2025-02-25  24
问题 There are two theories that have been used to explain ancient and modern tragedy. Neither quite explains the complexity of the tragic process or the tragic hero, but each explains important elements of tragedy, and, because their conclusions are contradictory, they represent extreme views. The first theory states that all tragedy exhibits the workings of external fate. Of course, the overwhelming majority of tragedies do leave us with a sense of the supremacy of impersonal power and of the limitation of human effort. But this theory of tragedy is an oversimplification, primarily because it confuses the tragic condition with the tragic process: the theory does not acknowledge that fate, in a tragedy, normally becomes external to the hero only after the tragic process has been set in motion. Fate, as conceived in ancient Greek tragedy, is the internal balancing condition of life. It appears as external only after it has been violated, just as justice is an internal quality of an honest person, but the external antagonist of the criminal. Secondarily, this theory of tragedy does not distinguish tragedy from irony. Irony does not need an exceptional central figure: as a rule, the more ignoble the hero the sharper the irony, when irony alone is the objective. It is heroism that creates the splendor and exhilaration that is unique to tragedy. The tragic hero normally has an extraordinary, often a nearly divine, destiny almost within grasp, and the glory of that original destiny never quite fades out of the tragedy.
    The second theory of tragedy states that the act that sets the tragic process in motion must be primarily a violation of moral law, whether human or divine; in short, that the tragic hero must have a flaw that has an essential connection with sin. Again it is true that the great majority of tragic heroes do possess hubris, or a proud and passionate mind that seems to make the hero’s downfall morally explicable. But such hubris is only the precipitating agent of catastrophe, just as in comedy the cause of the happy ending is usually some act of humility, often performed by a noble character who is meanly disguised.  [br] The author states that the theories discussed in the passage "represent extreme views" (see line 6) because their conclusions are
选项 A、unpopular
B、complex
C、paradoxical
D、contradictory
E、imaginative
答案 D
解析 What reason does the author of the passage state or the claim that the two theories of tragedy discussed represent extreme views?
A careful reading of the first few sentences of the passage provides a quick answer to this question. In the second sentence of the passage, the author states that the two theories represent extreme views because their conclusions are contradictory.
It may be that the author has other reasons for this conclusion. However, no other such reasons are stated.
A    The author neither explicitly nor implicitly characterizes either of the theories as unpopular.
B    The author refers to the complexity of the tragic process, but this statement is not used to complain that the theories are extreme.
C    The author nowhere states that either of the theories—or their juxtaposition—is paradoxical.
D    Correct. The author presents this as reason for concluding that the theories are extreme.
E    The author nowhere refers to imaginativeness as a reason for the claim that the theories are extreme.
The correct answer is D.
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