阅读理解 Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy.
Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemmas rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.
In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower.
In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style—that sure index of an author's literary worth—was certain to become verbose.
Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses—a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love—but the slight interlocking of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts.
单选题 11.Which of the following is the best title for the text?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】主旨题。文章第一段点出托马斯.哈代的创作冲动多样且不同，但却未能将这些冲动和谐地融入到其作品中。第二、三、四段列举托马斯.哈代创作的不同冲动，及其在作品中不和谐的表现。最后，第五段总结其原因为缺乏控制。不难看出，本文着重论述哈代的创作冲动和他的主要问题：不能控制这些冲动。故选[D]。
单选题 12.According to the text, which of the following is true about literary realism?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】细节题。根据第二段第二句He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase．可知，现实主义包括多个意义，故选[B]。这句之后，作者列举了托马斯.哈代作品中表现现实主义的多个方面，而[A]只是其中之一；[C]、[D]在文章中并没有提到。
单选题 13.The author of the text considers a writer's style to be_________.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节题。第四段第三句When a relaxing impulse was indulged，the style—that sure index of an author's literary worth—was certain to become verbose．对一个作家的风格做了明确的解释，即衡量其文学品格、价值的指标。由此可知[A]正确。
单选题 14.Which of the following can best be the author's attitude towards the works of Thomas Hardy?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】态度题。通读全文可以看出，作者很客观地评述了托马斯.哈代的创作冲动对其作品风格的影响，但同时又对他不能控制好那些穿梭往来不尽相同的创作冲动提出了批评，这种缺陷使哈代的小说显得参差不齐，高低不一。故[B]正确。
单选题 15.Which of the following about Under the Greenwood Tree does the author imply in relation to Hardy's other novels?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】细节题。第五段中，作者认为托马斯.哈代的缺点是未能控制不同创作冲动的此起彼伏，而且也不愿培养、坚持冒险精神。第三句指出他认为《绿荫下》是托马斯.哈代在其作品中控制创作冲动最好的一部，故选[D]。[A]“对爱情心理的透彻探究”、[B]“没有表现出冒险精神”过于片面；虽然托马斯.哈代在这部小说中表现出现实主义，但作者并没有认为他在这方面表现得比其他作品好，故排除[C]。