One of the silliest things in our recent history was the use of “Victorian” as a term of contempt or abuse. It had been made fashionable by Lytton Strachey with his clever, superficial and ultimately empty book Eminent Victorians, in which he damned with faint praise such Victorian heroes as General Gordon and Florence Nightingale. Strachey’s demolition job was clever because it ridiculed the Victorians for exactly those qualities on which they prided themselves—their high mindedness, their marked moral intensity, their desire to improve the human condition and their confidence that they had done so.

Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.

Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in America) allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate—and hence to work on the inner organs of the body—not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.

To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew’s wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour—reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital—testify to the social conscience that was at the center of “Victorian values”.

But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was—the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: “We are our father’s shadows cast at noon”.

1.According to the author, Lytton Strachey’s book Eminent Victorians _____.

[A] accurately described the qualities of the people of the age

[B] superficially praised the heroic deeds of the Victorians

[C] was highly critical of the contemporary people and institutions

[D] was guilty of spreading prejudices against the Victorians

2. The change in the attidues towards the Vcitorians is revealed in the fact that _____.

[A] the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria is celebrated

[B] the media publicizes events or people about the Victorian age

[C] people begin to highly praise Victorian heroes

[D] a new book regards Victorians as creators of the modern world

3. What is the meaning of the word “gadgets” (Paragraph 4)?

[A] devices [B] tools [C] appliances [D] engines

4. According to the text, the Victorians invented _____.

[A] surgery [B] seaside holiday [C] funfair [D] mass entertainment

5. The author talks about the darker side of the Victorian period to _____.

[A] disclose the social injustices and evils

[B] give proof to Karl Marx’s Das Kapital

[C] manifest the Victorians’ good sense of right and wrong

[D] show the age’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses

答案:1.D 2.D 3.A 4.B 5.C

核心词汇与超纲词汇

(1)damn sb./sth. with faint praise名褒实贬，用冷漠的赞扬贬低，如She damned Reynolds with faint praise, calling him one of the best imitators in the world.

(2)demolition(n.)破坏，毁坏

(3)sneer(n./v.)冷笑，讥笑，嘲笑

(4)epoch(n.)新纪元，时代，时期

(5)redress(v)纠正，矫正;重新穿衣，重新调整

(6)essential(a.)本质的，基本的;必不可少的;精华的(n.)基本必要的东西;本质，实质要素，要点

(7)far-flung(a.)蔓延的，广泛的，广泛传播的，辽阔的

(8)anaesthesia(n.)感觉缺乏，麻木，麻醉(法);esthe词根表示“感觉”，如esthetic感觉的

(9)catalogue(n.)目录;一连串(糟糕)事，如a ~ of disasters接二连三的灾难(v.)列入目录;记载，登记(某人某事的详情)

(10)testify(v.)(出庭)作证;证实，证明;~ to sth.作为某事的证明，说明，如The film testifies to the courage of ordinary people during the war(这部电影表明老百姓在战争时期的英勇行为)

(11)humility(n.)谦卑[恭，逊]，[pl. ]谦让的行为

全文翻译

我们近代历史上最愚蠢的事之一就是把“Victorian”作为鄙视和漫骂的名称。而使这一说法得以流传开来的是莱顿·斯传策斯那本言辞巧妙但肤浅空洞的《维多利亚时代的俊杰》，在这本书中他讽刺了如戈登将军和弗洛伦斯·南丁格尔这样的维多利亚时代的英雄。斯传策斯破坏性的工作是巧妙的，因为它嘲笑的正是维多利亚人引以自豪的品质：清高、特别的道德强度、想改善人类条件的愿望以及他们认为自己已经做到了的信心。

然而，即使是今年维多利亚女王逝世一百周年纪念日到来之前，人们已看到这种嘲笑的态度正在开始转变。广播和电视中只有半数有关维多利亚及以她的名字命名的时代的节目设法进行自我贬低。人们开始意识到那个时代有些英雄的意味，又或许是开始害怕维多利亚时代是这个国家最后一个伟大的时代。

现在的一本新书《维多利亚时代的人为我们作了什么?》旨在进一步恢复平衡并提醒我们：在大多数基本方面，我们自己的时代实际上是维多利亚时代创造的东西的延伸。可以从列举维多利亚时代的发明开始。他们对设备十分痴迷——小到家用设备，大到为远航整个帝国的船只提供动力的新途径。在医学方面，(在本国和美国都有发展的)麻醉法使外科大夫有更多的时间，从而可以对身体的内部器官进行手术，更不用说减少病人的疼痛和恐惧了。

也因为有了维多利亚人，我们才有了草地网球、在现代规则下的全国足球协会、露天游乐场的动力旋转木马和提供大众娱乐的剧院。当然，现代海边渡假几乎完全就是维多利亚时代的发明。不过，维多利亚时期也有阴暗的一面。大家之所以都知道这一点，主要是因为维多利亚人自己已经将它记录下来了。亨利·梅休描写伦敦贫苦人生活的精彩卷集，官方有关卖淫、济穷院和儿童劳工的报道(马克思写《资本论》时引用的这些方面的数据)都表明了社会良知是“维多利亚价值观”的核心内容。

但是如今，我们应该感激维多利亚创造现代世界所取得的成就。当我们拿丁尼生、达尔文、约翰·亨利·纽曼和卡莱尔的时代与我们自己的时代相比较时，唯一明智的反应就是谦卑：“我们只是父辈在正午投射的影子”。