TEXT 2

He emerged, all of a sudden, in 1957: the most explosive new poetic talent of the English post-war era. Poetry specialised, at that moment, in the wry chronicling of the everyday. The poetry of Yorkshire-born Ted Hughes, first published in a book called “The Hawk in the Rain” when he was 27, was unlike anything written by his immediate predecessors. Driven by an almost Jacobean rhetoric, it had a visionary fervour. Its most eye-catching characteristic was Hughes's ability to get beneath the skins of animals: foxes, otters, pigs. These animals were the real thing all right, but they were also armorial devices—symbols of the countryside and lifeblood of the earth in which they were rooted. It gave his work a raw, primal stink.

It was not only England that thought so either. Hughes's book was also published in America, where it won the Galbraith prize, a major literary award. But then, in 1963, Sylvia Plath, a young American poet whom he had first met at Cambridge University in 1956, and who became his wife in the summer of that year, committed suicide. Hughes was vilified for long after that, especially by feminists in America. In 1998, the year he died, Hughes broke his own self-imposed public silence about their relationship in a book of loose-weave poems called “Birthday Letters”.In this new and exhilarating collection of real letters, Hughes returns to the issue of his first wife's death, which he calls his “big and unmanageable event”. He felt his talent muffled by the perpetual eavesdropping upon his every move. Not until he decided to publish his own account of their relationship did the burden begin to lighten.

The analysis is raw, pained and ruthlessly self-aware. For all the moral torment, the writing itself has the same rush and vigour that possessed Hughes's early poetry. Some books of letters serve as a personalised historical chronicle. Poets' letters are seldom like that, and Hughes's are no exception. His are about a life of literary engagement: almost all of them include some musing on the state or the nature of writing, both Hughes's own or other people's. The trajectory of Hughes's literary career had him moving from obscurity to fame, and then, in the eyes of many, to life-long notoriety. These letters are filled with his wrestling with the consequences of being the part-private, part-public creature that he became, desperate to devote himself to his writing, and yet subject to endless invasions of his privacy.

Hughes is an absorbing and intricate commentator upon his own poetry, even when he is standing back from it and good-humouredly condemning himself for “its fantasticalia, its pretticisms and its infinite verballifications”. He also believed, from first to last, that poetry had a special place in the education of children. “What kids need”, he wrote in a 1988 letter to the secretary of state for education in the Conservative government, “is a headfull [sic] of songs that are not songs but blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language.” When that happens, children have “the guardian angel installed behind the tongue”. Lucky readers, big or small.

1．The poetry of Hughes’s forerunners is characteristic of ______

[A] its natural, crude flavor.

[B] its distorted depiction of people’s daily life.

[C] its penetrating sight.

[D] its fantastical enthusiasm.

2.The word “vilified” (Line 3, Paragraph 2)most probably means _____

[A] tortured

[B] harassed

[C] scolded

[D] tormented

3．According to the third paragraph, Hughes’s collection of letters are _____

[A] personal recollection of his life.

[B] personalised historical chronicle of his literary engagement.

[C] reflections of his struggle with his devotion and the reality.

[D] his meditation on the literary world.

4. From the letters, we may find the cause of Hughes’s internal struggle is _____

[A] his devotion to the literary world.

[B] that he is a part-private, part-public creature.

[C] that he is constrained by the fear of his privacy being invaded.

[D] his fame and notoriety.

5. By “lucky readers” in the last sentence, the author means_____

[A] children who read poetry.

[B] children who have a headfull of songs.

[C] children who own blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language.

[D] children who have the guardian angel installed behind the tongue

篇章剖析：

本文讲述了英国著名诗人特德·休斯作品的特点和其所反映的诗人的一些情况。第一段讲述休斯诗歌的特色；第二段讲述因其妻子的原因而创作了一部书信集的情况。第三段讲述这本书信集的特点和反映的内容。第四段讲述休斯对诗歌的看法和态度。

词汇注释：

wry adj. 枯燥乏味的 predecessorn.前辈, 前任

rhetoric n. (措词, 文体的)浮夸与修饰 fervour n.热情

armorial adj.徽章的, 家徽的 lifeblood n. 生命力或生命之源的力量

stink n. 气息，气味 vilifie vt.诽谤, 辱骂, 贬低, 轻视

muffle vt.压抑；阻止 eavesdropping n.偷听

trajectory n. 道路选择好的或采用的路径： notoriety n.恶名, 丑名, 声名狼藉

absorbing adj.吸引人的, 非常有趣的

难句突破：

（1）But then, in 1963, Sylvia Plath, a young American poet whom he had first met at Cambridge University in 1956, and who became his wife in the summer of that year, committed suicide.

主体句式：But then Sylvia Plath committed suicide.

结构分析：这是一个同位语带有定语从句的复合句。whom和who引导的两个定语从句修饰a young American poet, 整体作为Sylvia Plath的同位语。

句子译文：但是在1963年，西尔维亚·普拉斯自杀了，这个美国年轻诗人与他第一次见面是在1956年的剑桥大学，而当年夏天又成为了他妻子。

（2）These letters are filled with his wrestling with the consequences of being the part-private, part-public creature that he became, desperate to devote himself to his writing, and yet subject to endless invasions of his privacy.

主体句式：These letters are filled with his wrestling.

结构分析：这是一个简单句，难点在于最后两个形容词词组的成分（desperate to devote himself to his writing, and yet subject to endless invasions of his privacy）。这两个形容词词组是用来修饰前面的名词creature, 而creature后面紧跟着的that 引导的从句也是修饰它的定语从句。

句子译文：这些信中处处都显现出休斯因为自己成为半私人、半公开这么样一个人物而心理反复挣扎，他渴望将自己奉献给文字，但又时时受到私人空间受到侵袭的威胁。

题目分析：

1.The poetry of Hughes’s forerunners is characteristic of ______

1. 休斯先前的诗人们创作的诗歌特点是______

[A] its natural, crude flavor.

[A] 自然、原始的风味。

[B] its distorted depiction of people’s daily life.

[B] 对人们日常生活的变形描写。

[C] its penetrating sight.

[C] 洞穿一切的视角。

[D] its fantastical enthusiasm.

[D] 梦幻式的热情。

[答案] B

[分析] 细节题。本文第一段讲述了休斯诗歌的特点。第一段第二句说明了当时盛行的诗歌的特色是the wry chronicling of the everyday，紧接着第三句就指出休斯的作品不同于他前辈的诗歌，接下来的几句都是讲述休斯作品具体是什么特色。由此可以推理，第二句所描写的就是其前人作品的特点，是“对日常生活的变形描述”，选项B为正确答案。

2.The word “vilified” (Line 3, Paragraph 2)most probably means _____

2. “vilified”这个词（第二段第三行）最有可能的意思是_____

[A] tortured

[A] 折磨。

[B] harassed

[B] 骚扰。

[C] scolded

[C] 斥责。

[D] tormented

[D] 折磨。

[答案] C

[分析] 猜词题。这个词的意思要根据上下文推断。该词出现的前一句讲述休斯妻子，一位美国诗人自杀了。紧接着就说，该事件发生后很长一段时间里美国的女权主义者对休斯采取了一种行动。后面又讲述了休斯在去世之前将他与妻子的关系情况以书信集的方式表达出来，直到这本集子出版他的背负才得以减轻。那么休斯一直背负着一种精神负担，这部分是由那些女权主义者造成的，可能性比较大的就是一种精神上的谴责，答案[C]最为符合。