Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-re

admin2022-06-06  39

问题 Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-reaching has been the inexorable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage.
    It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers. Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews. To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies.
    We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve of World War II , at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament to the publications in which it appeared. In those far-off days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered. Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Bernard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. "So few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism," Newman wrote, "that I am tempted to define ’journalism’ as ’a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are’" .
    Unfortunately, these critics are virtually forgotten. Neville Cardus, who wrote for the Manchester Guardian from 1917 until shortly before his death in 1975, is now known solely as a writer of essays on the game of cricket. During his lifetime, though, he was also one of England’s foremost classical-music critics, and a stylist so widely admired that his Autobiography (1947) became a best-seller. He was knighted in 1967, the first music critic to be so honored. Yet only one of his books is now in print, and his vast body of writings on music is unknown save to specialists.
    Is there any chance that Cardus’s criticism will enjoy a revival? The prospect seems remote. Journalistic tastes had changed long before his death, and postmodern readers have little use for the richly upholstered Vicwardian prose in which he specialized. Moreover, the amateur tradition in music criticism has been in headlong retreat.
Which of the following could be Newman’s view?

选项 A、It is writers’ duty to entertain their readers.
B、It is contemptible for writers to be journalists.
C、Writers are likely to be tempted into journalism.
D、Not all writers are capable of journalistic writing.

答案D

解析 细节题。根据关键词“Newman’s view”定位到第三段,根据该段中的“so few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism…that I am tempted to define ‘journalism’ as ‘a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are’”可知,在Newman看来,很少有作家有足够的智慧或文学天赋来坚持新闻写作,以至于Newman忍不住想把“新闻工作”定义为“作品没人读的作家用来形容作品有人读的作家的一个轻蔑之词”。D项“并非所有的作家都能胜任新闻写作”与Newman的观点相符,D项正确。A项“给读者带来娱乐是作家的职责”、B项“作家成为新闻工作者是可鄙的”和C项“作家容易被新闻界吸引”均与Newman的观点不符。故本题选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/j0WiFFFM
0

最新回复(0)