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  3. Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the mac

Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the mac

游客2023-12-19  24
问题    Computers have aided in the study of humanities for almost as long as the machines have existed. Decades ago, when the technology consisted solely of massive, number- crunching mainframe computers, the chief liberal arts applications were in compiling statistical indexes of works of literature. In 1964, IBM held a conference on computers and the humanities where, according to a 1985 article in the journal Science, "most of the conferees were using computers to compile concordances, which are alphabetical indices used in literary research."
   Mainframe computers helped greatly in the highly laborious task, which dates back to the Renaissance, of cataloging each reference of a particular word in a particular work. Concordances help scholars scrutinize important texts for patterns and meaning. Other humanities applications for computers in this early era of technology included compiling dictionaries, especially for foreign or antiquated languages, and cataloging library collections.
   Such types of computer usage in the humanities may seem limited at first, but they have produced some interesting results in the last few years and promise to continue to do so. As computer use and access have grown, so has the number of digitized texts of classic literary works.
   The computer-based study of literary texts has established its own niche in academia. Donald Foster, an English professor at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, is one of the leaders in textual scholarship. In the late 1980s Foster created SHAXICON, a database that tracks all the "rare" words used by English playwright William Shakespeare. Each of these words appears in any individual Shakespeare play no more than 12 times. The words can then be cross-referenced with some 2,000 other poetic texts, allowing experienced researchers to explore when they were written, who wrote them, how the author was influenced by the works of other writers, and how the texts changed as they were reproduced over the centuries.
   In late 1995 Foster’s work attracted widespread notice when he claimed that Shakespeare was the anonymous author of an obscure 578-1ine poem, A Funeral Elegy (1612). Although experts had made similar claims for other works in the past, Foster gained the backing of a number of prominent scholars because of his computer-based approach. If Foster’s claim holds up to long-term judgment, the poem will be one of the few additions to the Shakespearean canon in the last 100 years.
   Foster’s work gained further public acclaim and validation when he was asked to help identify the anonymous author of the best-selling political novel Primary Colours (1996). After using his computer programme to compare the stylistic traits of various writers with those in the novel, Foster tabbed journalist Joe Klein as the author. Soon after, Klein admitted that he was the author. Foster was also employed as an expert in the case of the notorious Unabomber, a terrorist who published an anonymous manifesto in several major newspapers in 1995.
   Foster is just one scholar who has noted the coming of the digital age and what it means for traditional fields such as literature. "For traditional learning and humanistic scholarship to be preserved, it, too, must be digitized," he wrote in a scholarly paper. "The future success of literary scholarship depends on our ability to integrate those electronic texts with our ongoing work as scholars and teachers, and to exploit fully the advantages offered by the new medium."
   Foster noted that people can now study Shakespeare via Internet Shakespeare Editions, using the computer to compare alternate wordings in different versions and to consult editorial footnotes, literary criticism, stage history, explanatory graphics, video clips, theater reviews, and archival records. Novelist and literary journalist Gregory Feeley noted that "the simplest (and least radical) way in which computer technology is affecting textual scholarship is in making various texts available, and permitting scholars to jump back and forth between them for easy comparisons."
   Scholars can also take advantage of computer technology in "publishing" their work. Princeton University history professor Robert Darnton has written of a future in which works of scholarship are presented digitally in a pyramid-like layering. One might start, he suggests, at the top with a concise account of a subject, then proceed to detailed documentation and evidence, continue with a level of questions and discussion points for classroom use, and end with a place for .reports and commentary from readers. [br] Which statement about the early stage of computer application in humanities is INCORRECT?
选项 A、The earliest such applications could be traced back to the Renaissance.
B、The mainframe computers were used to help cataloging word references.
C、Some dictionary compilers were assisted in their work by computers.
D、Library collections were cataloged efficiently with the help of computers.
答案 A
解析 关于计算机在文科方面的早期运用，文章的第一、二段有解释。A说运用可以追溯到文艺复兴时期。这显然是错误的，因为几百年前的文艺复兴时期还没有电脑。原文“．．．in the highly laborious task，which datesback to the Renaissance，of cataloging each reference．．．”中的which指的是前面的laborioustask，即艰苦的词语目录编写工作，这工作早在复兴时期就有了，而不是指电脑。B、C、D的内容都能在原文中找到。
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