Just as Norman Mailer, John Updike and Philip Roth were at various times regarded as the greatest American novelist since the second world war, John Ashbery and Robert Lowell vied for the title of greatest American poet. Yet the two men could not be more different. Lowell was a public figure who engaged with politics-in 1967 he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Mailer in protest against the Vietnam war, as described in Mailer’s novel "The Armies of the Night". Lowell took on substantial themes and envisioned himself as a tragic, heroic figure, fighting against his own demons. Mr Ashbery’s verse, by contrast, is more beguilingly casual. In his hands, the making of a poem can feel like the tumbling of dice on a table top. Visible on the page is a delicately playful strewing of words, looking to engage with each other in a shyly puzzled fashion. And there is an element of Dada-like play in his unpredictability of address with its perpetual shifting of tones.

Lowell, who died in 1977 at the age of 60, addressed the world head on. By contrast, Mr Ashbery, who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year, glances wryly at the world and its absurdities. In this edition of his later poems, a substantial gathering of verses selected from six volumes published over the past 20 years, his poetry does not so much consist of themes to be explored as comic routines to be improvised. He mocks the very idea of the gravity of poetry itself. His tone can be alarmingly inconsequential, as if the reader is there to be perpetually wrong-footed. He shifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day. His poems are endlessly digressive and there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, though these always come lightly at the reader, as though they were scents on the breeze.

Lowell wrote in strict formal measures; some of his last books consisted of entire sequences of sonnets. Mr Ashbery can also be partial to particular forms of verse, though these tend to be of a fairly eccentric kind-the cento (a patchwork of other poets’ works), for example, and the pantoum (a Malaysian form, said to have been introduced to 19th-century Europe by Victor Hugo). Often he writes in a free-flowing, conversational manner that depends for its success upon the fact that the ending of lines is untrammelled by any concern about whether or not they scan. Within many of his poems, there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between one stanza and the next. Mr Ashbery likes using similes in his poetry. This is often the poet’s stock-in-trade, but he seems to single them out in order to send up the very idea of the simile in poetry, as in "Violets blossomed loudly/ like a swear word in an empty tank".

Life, for Lowell, was a serious matter, just as he was a serious man. Mr Ashbery’s approach, as evinced by his poetry, is more that of a gentle shrug of amused bewilderment. Unlike Lowell’s, his poems are neither autobiographical nor confessional. He doesn’t take himself that seriously. "Is all of life a tepid housewarming?" For a poet this is a tougher question to answer than you might think.

1.The word "substantial" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____.

[A] serious

[B] big

[C] important

[D] real

2. The last words of Lowell mean that_____.

[A] the world should go forward without stopping.

[B] the world should not mourn for him.

[C] the world should forget him totally.

[D] the world should go on its path for a bright future.

3. Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashbery’s poetry?

[A] Some lines are borrowed from the other poets’ works.

[B] Stanzas are different from each other in one poem.

[C] Words are scattered casually in his poetry.

[D] Tones are continuously changing from the highbrow to the common.

4. Mr. Ashbery’s similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets in that_____.

[A] he likes to single them out.

[B] he uses them in an eccentric way.

[C] he uses simile for simile.

[D] he uses simile to express his complex thought.

5. Why the author think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher one for a poet than we might think?

[A] Because a poet looks at things in a very complicated way.

[B] Because a poet takes life seriously.

[C] Because this question is a difficult one.

[D] Because the theme of life is worth thinking for a poet.

1.The word "substantial" (Line 4, Paragraph 1) most probably means_____.1. "Substantial"这个词最有可能的意思是_____。
[A] serious[A] 严肃的。[B] grand[B] 宏大的。
[C] heroic[C] 英雄的。[D] tragic[D] 悲剧的。
[答案] B
[分析] 猜词题。根据上下文来断定该词的意思，这个词是用来形容Lowell 诗歌主题的特点的。由第一段中Lowell喜欢参与政治，在诗歌中经常将自己视为悲剧的英雄人物这一点可以看出，他主题选择应该是比较宏大的。这一点在后面的几个段落中也可以发现。选项A也容易混淆，但要从tragic heroic 这几个词中推导正确答案，因为这些就是宏大叙事中常见的特征。因此，B为正确答案。

2. The last words of Lowell mean that_____.2. 洛厄尔的临终遗言意思是_____。
[A] the world should go forward without stopping.[A] 世界应该继续前行，不要停止。
[B] the world should not mourn for him.[B] 世界不要为他而哀痛。
[C] the world should forget him totally.[C] 世界应该把他完全忘记。
[D] the world should go on its path for a bright future.[D] 世界应该继续它朝向美好未来的道路行进。
[答案]D
[分析] 推理题。洛厄尔的临终时addressed the world head on，意思是让世界继续前行，但其深层次的意思要结合洛厄尔的性格来判断。根据整篇文章，洛厄尔是比较正统的一位诗人，他对待世界的态度是严肃的，他这句话的深层意思是世界应该一直努力向前，最终能够走到光明的未来。选项D最为符合题意。

3. Which one of the following is NOT the characteristics of Ashbery’s poetry?3.以下哪个不是Ashbery 诗歌的特点？
[A] Some lines are borrowed from the other poets’ works.[A] 许多句子是借用其他诗人的。
[B] Stanzas are different from each other in one poem.[B] 诗中节与节差异颇大。
[C] Words are scattered casually in his poetry.[C] 诗中的词都是随意散落搭配的。
[D] Tones are continuously changing from the highbrow to the common.[D] 语调不停变化，有时是阳春白雪，有时是下里巴人。
[答案]A
[分析] 细节题。题干要求选出不属于Ashbery 诗歌特点的一项，因为文章通篇都有对其诗歌特点的描述，因此就要细心查找每一选项是否在文章中提及。选项A, 文章第二段最后一句提到，there are often echoes of other poets in his writings, 有其他诗人的调子，但并没有说直接借用其作品中的句子，可能是模仿其风格或语调。因此，答案A 不一定正确。选项B, 关于诗歌节的特点，文章第三段提到there often seems to be a gently humorous antagonism between one stanza and the next，关键要知道 "antagonism"的意思，"对抗的"，说明节与节之间是截然不同的对立的风格，答案B是其诗歌特点。答案C 是关于诗歌用词的特点，第一段有提及，提到他诗歌中的词就像散落在桌上的色子一样，那么C也是其特点。D是关于诗歌语调的，文章有两处提及，第一段提到its perpetual shifting of tones，第三段有更为详细的描述: He shifts easily from the elevated to the work-a-day, D也是其特点。因此，答案应选A。

4．Mr. Ashbery’s similes in poetry are different from that of the other poets in that_____.4．Ashbery先生诗歌中的比喻和其他诗人所用的比喻不同在于_____。
[A] he likes to single them out.[A] 他喜欢把比喻单独列出来。
[B] he uses them in an eccentric way.[B] 他用比喻的方式很奇怪。
[C] he uses simile in order to make fun of it.[C] 他为捉弄比喻而用比喻。
[D] he uses simile to express his complex thought.[D] 他用比喻来表达自己复杂的思想。
[答案]C
[分析] 细节题。文章第三段提到，Ashbery喜欢在诗歌中运用比喻手法，但和一般诗人不同的是，他喜欢把比喻单独列出来，好像要戏谑诗歌中的比喻似的。然后作者举了一个例子，是个非常奇怪的比喻，"紫罗兰纵声开放/ 宛如空桶里的一句毒誓"。这个题目有一定难度，send up 这个短语的意思考生不一定熟悉，但考生可以根据Ashbery一贯游戏人生的态度分析出来。选项AB只是表层的现象，C才是真正的实质。

5. Why the author think the question Ashbery raised is a tougher one for a poet than we might think?5. 为什么作者认为Ashbery 提出的问题要一个诗人回答其困难程度要比我们想象的难得多？
[A] Because a poet looks at things in a very complicated way.[A] 因为诗人看待事物的方式很复杂。
[B] Because a poet takes life seriously.[B] 因为诗人对待生活的态度很严肃。
[C] Because this question is a difficult one.[C] 因为这个问题本身很难。
[D] Because the theme of life is worth thinking for a poet. [D] 因为对于一个诗人生活这个主题值得思考。
[答案] D
[分析] 推理题。最后的这个问题是："生活的全部是不是只是迁入新居？"这个问题的提出要结合文章最后一段来看，最后一段是描写Ashbery对于生活的态度，洛厄尔对待生活的态度是很严肃的，但是Ashbery 却是一种玩世不恭的态度，对于这个问题他给出的答案可能是肯定的，但是对于其他诗人呢，则需要好好地考虑一下了, 尤其是生活主题对于诗人来说是一个非常复杂的问题。答案中D最为符合。