2. 外语
  3. At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published—between 1811 and 1818—English literature was not part of any academic curriculum

At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published—between 1811 and 1818—English literature was not part of any academic curriculum

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问题     At the time Jane Austin’s novels were published—between 1811 and 1818—English literature was not part of any academic curriculum. In addition, fiction was under strenuous attack. Certain religious and political groups felt novels has the power to make so-called immoral characters so interesting that young readers would identify with them: these groups also considered novel to be of little practical use. Even Coleridge, certainly no literary reactionary, spoke for many when he asserted that "novel-reading occasions the destruction of the mind ’ s power"
    These attitudes toward novels help explain why Austin received little attention from early 19—century literary critics. The literary response that was accorded her, however, was often as incisive as 20th century criticism. In his attack in 1816 on novelistic portrayal "outside of ordinary experience", for example, Scott made an insightful remark about the merits of Austin’ s fiction. Her novels, wrote Scott, "present to the reader an accurate and exact picture of ordinary everyday people and places, reminiscent of 17th century Flemish Painting." Scott did not use the word "realism", but he undoubtedly used a standard of realistic probability in judging novels. The critic Whately did not use the word realism either, but he expressed agreement with Scott’ s evaluation, and went on to suggest the possibilities for moral instruction what we have called Austin’ s realistic method. Her characters, wrote Whately, am persuasive agents for moral truth since they are ordinary persons "so clearly evoked that we feel an interest in their fate as if it were our own" Moral instruction, explained Whately, is more likely to be effective when conveyed through recognizably truman and interesting characters than when imparted by a sermonizing narrator. Whately especially praised Austin’ s ability to create characters who "mingle goodness and villainy, weakness and virtue, as in life they arc always mingled." Whitely concluded this remarks by comparing Austin’ s art of characterization to Dickens’ , stating his preference to Austin’ s.
    Yet the response of 19-century literary critics to Austin was not always so laudatory, and often anticipated the reservations of 20th century critics. An example of such a response was Lewes’ complaint in 1859 that Austin’ range of subjects and characters was too narrow. Praising her verisimilitude, Lewes added that nonetheless her focus was too often upon only the unlofty and the commonplace. (20th century Marxists, on tile other hand, were to complain about what they saw as her exclusive emphasis on a lofty upper-middle class. ) In any case, having been rescued by some literary critics from neglect and indeed gradually lionized by them, Austin steadily reached, by the midnineteenth century, the enviable pinnacle of being considered controversial.  
It can be inferred from the passage that Whately found Dickens’ characters to be______.
选项 A、especially interesting to young readers
B、less liable than Jane Austin’ s characters to have a realistic mixture of moral qualities
C、ordinary persons in recognizably human situations
D、more often villainous and weak than virtuous and good
答案B
解析 文中第二段最后一句提到Austin mingles goodness and villainy，weakness and virtue，as  in life the yare always mingled，并指山比起Dickens’characters，Whitely更喜欢Austin’ s characters，由此可以判断选项B正确。
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