首页
登录
职称英语
John Julius Norwich is the author of more than a dozen books on Norman Sicily
John Julius Norwich is the author of more than a dozen books on Norman Sicily
游客
2023-12-15
22
管理
问题
John Julius Norwich is the author of more than a dozen books on Norman Sicily, the Sahara, Mount Athos and the Venetian and Byzantine empires. Yet even his immense knowledge is not euough to keep his latest chronicle--of 5, 000 years of Mediterranean history—from appearing somewhat lopsided.
Lord Norwich’s first test, he notes in his introduction to The Middle Sea, was to compensate for an ignorance of Spain. He records that he was fortuitously invited to dinner by "my dear friend" the Spanish ambassador to London and "a few weeks later there came an invitation for nay wife and me to spend ten days in Spain. " It is hard to believe that was all the effort he made, for he acquits himself well, even in the convoluted diplomacy that ended in the war of the Spanish succession.
Lord Norwich’s second task was to strike a balance over time. The Middle Sea reaches from ancient Egypt to the first world war. Like many long, chronological narratives, it becomes progressively more detailed, though it is debatable whether this is a good thing. Few people have changed the region as much as the Romans, yet their republic’s five centuries get only a page more than the great siege of Gibraltar which began in 1779.
Lord Norwich’s final, and arguably most important, challenge is the area that is most likely to engage modern readers: the intermittent, but frequently savage, conflict between Muslims and Christians. Impatient with the notion, echoed most recently and disastrously by Pope Benedict, that the Koran sanctions the spreading of Islam by the sword, Lord Norwich is no Islamophobe. He is hostile to the Crusades and fulsome in his praise of that traditional Western schoolbook villain, Saladi.
Yet his account remains disappointingly focused from Christendom outwards. It is true that Muslims do appear in his book—usually in battle—but they rarely speak. Only two items in the 170-volume bibliography are by Arab scholars and only one is by a Turk. This is unabashedly history of the old school: Eurocentric (Octavian, the author declares without irony, was the "undisputed master of the known world") and largely uninterested in what other economic, social and technological changes may have shaped events.
What fires Lord Norwich is recounting the doings of princes and preachers, warriors, courtiers and courtesans. And he does it with consummate skill. He spices his nan-ative liberally with entertaining anecdotes, deft portraits and brisk judgments. Aristotle, for example, is given short shrift as "one of the most reactionary. intellectuals that ever lived". Lord Norwich’s control of his vast and complex subject matter is masterly. And the subject matter itself is as colourful as history can get. No sooner have readers bidden farewell to a short, fat, dissolute sultan, Selim the Sot, than they encounter the "piratical Uskoks, a heterogeneous, but exceedingly troublesome community". Although few will resist the temptation to keep turning the pages, readers will close this monumental work exhilarated and informed, but with plenty of questions still unanswered. [br] According to the author, Lord Norwich’s new book on Mediterranean history is
选项
A、cynical.
B、comprehensive.
C、partial.
D、equivocal.
答案
C
解析
细节题。由Mediterranean history定位至首段,末句指出:Yet even his immense knowledge is not enough to keep his latest chronicle—of 5,000 years of Mediterranean history—from appearing somewhat lopsided.解题关键是lopsided,意为“有失偏颇的”,这说明作者认为其记载并不详实,[C]符合文意,故为答案。同时排除[B]。这里没有提到cynical“愤世嫉俗的”和equivocal“含糊的,模棱两可的”。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3276322.html
相关试题推荐
HenryDavidThoreauwastheauthoroftheworld-famousA、NatureB、RavenC、Walden,
ThenovelCatch-22waswrittenby______.A、J.D.SalingerB、NormanMailerC、SaulBe
MiddleEnglishwasdeeplyinfluencedbyA、NormanFrenchinvocabularyandgrammar
TheNormanConqueststartedacontinualflowof______wordsintoEnglish.A、Lati
DavidLandes,authorofTheWealthandPovertyofNations:WhySomeAreSoR
DavidLandes,authorofTheWealthandPovertyofNations:WhySomeAreSoR
DavidLandes,authorofTheWealthandPovertyofNations:WhySomeAreSoRic
DavidLandes,authorofTheWealthandPovertyofNations:WhySomeAreSoRic
WhichofthefollowingmadetheearliestinvasionofEngland?A、TheNormans.B、Th
Theauthorof"CommonSense"is______andheisanA、ThomasPaine;AmericanB、Be
随机试题
ThevacuumcoffeemakerisaAcomplicateddeviceinBwheresteamisCgeneratedi
adventures本题考查第二段的细节内容:“Greekmythattemptstoexplaintheoriginsoftheworld
女性,36岁。乏力5个月,伴左上腹饱胀感。体检:浅表淋巴结未及,脾肋下5cm。R
FIDIC新黄皮书对业主最终付款的支付时间的规定是,()后的56天内支付。A
评标委员会由()以上的单数人员组成。A.3人 B.5人 C.7人 D.9
下列关于外资建筑企业资质审批与管理的表述中,正确的是( )。 A、外资建筑企
对于研究假设“男女失业者在得到同样多的货币福利后,其求职行为有所区别”,在进行假
基金费用的核算包括计提基金管理费、托管费、预提费用、摊销费用、交易费用等。这些费
传统的风险限额管理主要是头寸规模控制,这种管理方式存在的缺陷包括( )。A:存
基础混凝土不得使用胀锚地脚螺栓的部位是( )。A.承载力的部位 B.突出部位
最新回复
(
0
)