中国社会科学院研究生院 RL
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2015 年攻读博士学位研究生入学考试试卷 jOunWv|
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8 >EWKI9
英 语 n,(sBOQ
2015 年 3 月 14 日 ]cWUZ{puRB
8:30 – 11:30 oulVg];
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1 _Ey9G
PART I: Vocabulary and Grammar }eU*(
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Section A (10 points) }'V5/>m[
Directions: Choose the answer that best fills in the blank. Qj.#)R
1. Even the president is not really the CEO. No one is. Power in a corporation is concentrated and ,eW%{[g(
vertically structured. Power in Washington is ______________ and horizontally spread out. 286;=rN]*
a. prudent b. reversible c. diffuse d. mandatory 34O
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2. In describing the Indians of the various sections of the United States at different stages in their wE>\7a*P%
history, some of the factors which account for their similarity amid difference can be readily L.2^`mZs
accounted for, others are difficult to _______________.
z+wA
rPxc
a. refine b. discern c. embed d. cluster Id'-&tYG
3. The partial transfer of legislative powers from Westminster, implemented by Tony Blair, was X1|njJGO1
designed to give the other members of the club a bigger ______________ and to counter @Zu5Vp J
centrifugal forces that seemed to threaten the very idea of the union. gQg"j)
a. say b. transmission c. decay d. contention t;Sb/ 3
4. It can hardly be denied the proliferation of so-called dirty books and films has, to date, reached 0B/,/KX
almost a saturation point. People do not acknowledge the _______________ fact that children &*,#5.
are bound to be exposed to ―dirty words‖ in a myriad of ways other than through the public x%m%_2%Z
airwaves. <tNBxa$gS
a.irrefutable b. concrete c. inevitable d. haphazard -t'jNR'
5. A condition is an essential term of the contract. If a contract is not performed, it may constitute a @Z
%ivR:
substantial breach of contract and allow the other party to _______________ the contract, that is, '&tG?gb&
treat the contract as discharged or terminated. NZLxHD]mp
a. repudiate b. spurn c. decline d. halt @[<><uTH
6. Each of us shares with the community in which we live a store of words as well as agreed R6Km\N
conventions ______________ these words should be arranged to convey a particular message. gnOt+W8
a. as the way by which b. by the way in which >}8j+t&T
c. as to the way in which d. in the way of which Ys!82M$g
7. Rarely ______________ a technological development _______________ an impact on many feDlH[$
aspects of social, economic, and cultural development as greatly as the growth of electronics. |!3DPA(_
a. has… had b. had…had c. has…has d. have…had 2\MT;;ZTZ
8. If early humans ______________ as much as they did, they probably ______________ to evolve B$fPgW-
into different species. iAEbu&XG
a. did not move and intermingle…would continue M#4pE_G
b. would not move and intermingle…had continued (&F}/s gbi
c. had not moved and intermingled…would have continued |^"1{7)
d. were not to move and intermingle…could have continued2 OUPUixz2Z
9. It was ______________ the last time around the track ______________ I really kicked it kzQ+j8.,U
in--passing the gossiping girlfriends, blocking out the whistles of boys who had already =vCY?I$P
completed their run and now were hanging out on the grassy hill, I ran--pushing hard, breathing u^+7hkk
shallowly, knowing full well that I was going to have to hear about it from my disapproving B
dj!ia;H
friends for the next few days. ,GbR!j@6
a. not until…when b. not until…that c. until…when d. until…that ]b:Lo
10.One impediment ______________ the general use of a standard in pronunciation is the fact <s31W3<v
______________ pronunciation is learnt naturally and unconsciously, while orthography is shy-Gu&
learnt deliberately and consciously. ~tS Z%q
a. in…which b. of …in which c. on…that d. to…that ;s = l52
Section B (5 points) W fN2bsx>
Directions: Choose the word that is the closest in meaning with the underlined word. T"}5}6rSG
11. It is some 15 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims swept up in a tumultuous shuffle of citizens g#pr yYz
between India and Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. (&Kk7<#`
a. division b. turmoil c. fusion d. consolidation B?gOHG*vd>
12. Concerning speculation, philosophy looks upon things from the broadest possible perspective; Af~$TyX
for criticism, it has the twofold role of questioning and judging everything that pertains either b;B%q$sntC
to the foundations or to the superstructure of human thinking. kYP#SH/
a. inebriates b. forsakes c. relates d. emaciates Wq D4YGN
13. Meeting is, in fact, a necessary though not necessarily productive psychological side show. d=$Mim
Perhaps it is our civilized way to moderating,if not preventing, change. `!3SF|x&
a. promoting b. impeding c. tempering d. arresting hn7#
L
14. The truth about alliances and their merit probably lies somewhere between the travel utopia +/4
A
presented by the players and the evil empires portrayed by their critics. hE'-is@7
a. collaboration b. worth c. triumph d. defect +5g_KS
15. But Naifeh and Smith reveal a keen intellect, an avid reader and a passionate observer of other K-^\"
W8
artists’ work who progressed from labored figure studies to inspired outbursts of creative energy. ,a{P4Bq
Far from an artistic flash in the pan, he pursued his calling with dogged determination against '2A)}uR
nearly insurmountable odds. !]A
a. insuperable b. unsurpassable c. uncountable d. invaluable [NjXO`5#]
Section C (5 points) IEL%!RFG
Directions: Choose the letter that indicates the error in the sentence. .Bl\Z
16. One of the most important non-legislative functions of the U.S. Congress is the power to3 y1jCg%'H
investigate, which is usually delegated to committees—either standing committees, special B{n,t}z
A B y>8sZuH0
committees set for a specific purpose, or joint committees consisting of members of both VD;01"#'
C D &@X<zWg
houses. d~])K#oJ
17. One of the important corollaries to the investigative power is the power to publicize |"q5sym8Y_
investigations and their results. Most committee hearings are open to public and are reported ]6k\)#%2
A B g.k"]lP
widely in the mass media. Congressional investigations thus represent one important tool @Z_x.Y6
C q^@Q"J =v
available to lawmakers to inform the citizenry and to arouse public interest in national issues. LRxZcxmy
D ~p6 V,Q
18. It is not a voice we recognize at once, whereas our own handwriting is something which we B6+khuG(
A B A;q9rD,_
almost always know. We begin the natural learning of pronunciation long before we start L]|gZ&^
C ^cC,.
Fdw
learning to read or write, and in our early years we go on unconsciously imitating and z
EX
D |w~nVRb
practicing the pronunciation of those around us for many hours everyday. a@K%06A;'
19. It had happened too often that the farmers sold their wheat soon after harvest when farm debts
RF$eQzW
A *uRBzO}
were coming due, only to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various occasions,
[-1^-bb
B q4h]o^ +
producer groups, asked firmer control, but the government had no wish to become involved, at Ys9[5@7
C ,$L4dF3
least not until wartime when wheat prices threatened to run wild. ='r!g
D hg]]Ok~cAs
20. Detailed studies of the tribe by the food scientists at the University of London showed that \##zR_%
A yf.~XUk^
gathering is a more productive source of food than is hunting. An hour of hunting yields on edq4D53
B C bjW]bRw
average about 100 edible calories as an hour of gathering produces 240. <]t%8GB2V
D k
PG-hD
] )\Pqn(
PART II: Reading comprehension (30 points) c9
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Directions: Choose the best answers based on the information in the passages below. i v38p%Zm
Passage 1 9!\B6=r y4
Plato’s Republic has been the source of great consternation, especially in literary circles, for its 4 rl;~pO5R9
attack on the poets. Socrates in fact asserts that they should have no place in the ideal state. Eric ZgcMv
,=
Havelock suggests that there are several misunderstandings in this regard, and in his Preface to !dnH7"
Plato he identifies the issues, explains the historical context. UYJZYP%r
Havelock opens his discussion by suggesting that the very title of the Republic is the source of :6
R\OeH+
much confusion. The book is commonly understood to be a treatise on the ideal political entity, but `cUl7 'j
even a casual analysis will show that only one-third of the text is concerned with statecraft. The qS$Ox?Bw#u
other two-thirds cover a variety of subjects, but the thrust of Plato’s argument amounts to an attack R4cM%l_#W
on the traditional Greek approach to education. `i*E~'
The educational methods still in use in the 4th century BC had their origins in what has been 9wwqcx)3(
called the Greek Dark Age beginning around 1200 BC when the Mycenaean era collapsed. Very I; |B.j
little is known about the whys and wherefores of this collapse, but it wasn’t until around 700 BC :U%W%
that the Phoenician alphabet began to be adapted and used in the Greek-speaking world. During the I"<\<^B<
intervening centuries, all knowledge concerning Greek history, culture, mores and laws were orally K=k"a
transmitted down through the generations. The most effective device in aid of memorizing vast /nNN,hz
amounts of information was rhyme. The epic form we see in Homer’s Iliad grew out of the need to Vn}0}Jz
preserve the Greek cultural memory. Havelock takes the reader through Book 1 of The Iliad and )9`qG:b'
dissects it in detail to show how this cultural, historical and ethical heritage was conveyed. The AJ`h9%B
Iliad takes on new and significant meaning to the reader of this minute examination. vJ[^K
The Iliad and presumably other poetic vehicles were taught to children from an early age. The M`!H"R 7
whole of the Greek-speaking world was immersed in the project of memorizing, and out of the IY\5@PVZ
masses arose those individuals with superior memories and theatrical skills who became the next 6j]0R*B7`Q
generation of minstrels and teachers. Education was thus comprised of memorization and rote kfY}S
learning, and the people enjoyed constant reminders through public readings and festivals. VU]`&`~J
Plato’s focus in the Republic and elsewhere is on Homer and Hesiod and to some extent the c9u`!'g`i
dramatists which at the time were the centerpieces of the educational regime. Their works presented y
I
gods and heroes as fundamentally immoral and thus bad examples for youth. The overall result is giw &&l=_
that the Greek adolescent is continually conditioned to an attitude which at bottom is cynical. It is "_NN3lD)X
more important to keep up appearances than to practice the reality. Decorum and decent behavior rcG"o\
g@+
are not obviously violated, but the inner principle of morality is. Once the Republic is viewed as a LYK"( C
critique of the educational regime, Havelock says that the logic of its total organization becomes 0-Ku7<a
clear. q{LF>Wi
What Plato was railing against was an ―oral state of mind‖ which seems to have persisted even >tV{Pd1
though the alphabet and written documentation had been in use for three centuries. Illiteracy was %pL''R9VF
thus still a widespread problem in Plato’s time, and the poetic state of mind was the main obstacle -zeG1gr3
to scientific rationalism and analysis. This is why Plato regarded the poetic or oral state of mind as p6Gy,C.
the arch-enemy. In his teachings he did the opposite. He asked his students to ―think about what E4/Dr}4
they were saying instead of just saying it.‖ The epic had become, in Plato’s view, not ―an act of w;amZgD>
creation but an act of reminder and recall‖ and contributed to what Havelock terms ―the Homeric >SHhAEF
state of mind.‖ It was Socrates’ project (and by extension Plato’s) to reform Greek education to K
Z91-
encourage thinking and analysis. Thus all the ranting and railing about the ―poets‖ in Plato’s X5$ Iyis
Republic was limited basically to Homer and Hesiod because of what he viewed as a wholly @K!T,U
inadequate approach to education of which these particular poets were an integral part. CkQ3#
L <2
Unfortunately, Western culture has misconstrued what Plato and Socrates meant by ―the K is"L(C
poets.‖ And because we view poetry as a highly creative and elevated form of expression, our 5 lX4
x*
critics have failed to recognize that Plato’s diatribe had a very specific and limited target which had S_UIO.K
nothing to do with high-minded creativity, of which there is plenty, by the way, in the proscribed UySZbmP48
poets. It wasn’t really the poets who were the problem; it was the use of them that was deemed ;iL#7NG-R
unacceptable. S;#'M![8
Post-Havelock, we can now read the Republic with the scales lifted from our eyes and see it BUXpCxQ
for what it really was: an indictment of an antiquated educational regime which had no place in a LFRlzz;
democratic society. <6 Uf.u`
Comprehension Questions: ; )@~
21. The mistaken understanding of Plato's Republic consists in the widespread belief that it consists T}v4*O.,
of _______________. ~U&AI1t+J
a. literary criticism b. a treatise on the ideal polity 12 gU{VD
c. a critique of rationalism d. an indictment of an obsolete pedagogy @Z:l62l=bE
22. According to Havelock, Plato’s anger with the poets arose from: N2<
!}Eyu
I: Their representation of gods and heroes as fundamentally immoral and thus bad examples for 5MJS
~(
youth. {8bSB.?R
II: Their transmission of culture, mores and laws. ^WWQI+
pk
a. I. b. II. c. Both I and II. d. Neither I nor II. &E5g3
lf
23. Prior to the 4th century BC, recitation was considered the best educational method because p947w,1![
______________. ,/|T-Ka
a. poetry was seen as a highly creative and elevated form of expression UH"%N)
[
b. rhyme was the most effective device in aid of memorizing vast amounts of information L`TRJ.GaJ
c. there was no writing system LyFN.2qw
d. the people enjoyed constant reminders through public readings and festivals "87:?v[[1
24. In Plato's diatribe the poetic or oral state of mind is the arch-enemy of _______________. =]0&i]z[.
a. democratic society b. the Mycenaean Republic "oO%`:pb
c .the Phoenicians d. literacy X
UuN )i
25. A common critique of the present-day Chinese educational system resembles the educational gV_}-VvP
system that Plato fulminated against in that it often _______________. draN0vf
a. asks students to think about what they were saying instead of just saying it \z(gqkc 6
b. comprises of memorization and rote learning &&>ekG9@
c. has a very specific and limited target ^s"R$?;h
d. encourages thinking and analysis
{F.[&/A
Passage 2 *b\t#meS&
To govern is to choose how the revenue raised from taxes is spent. So far so good, or bad. But ER.}CM6{[
some people earn more money than others. Should they pay proportionately more money to the YT(AUS5n
government than those who earn less? And if they do pay more money are they entitled to more DEZveQr=
services than those who pay less or those who pay nothing at all? And should those who pay P+/e2Y
nothing at all because they have nothing get anything? These matters are of irritable concern to our 6 z-)O9PV
rulers, and of some poignancy to the rest. #S"nF@
Although the equality of each citizen before the law is the rock upon which the American @E
|}Y
Constitution rests, economic equality has never been an American ideal. In fact, it is the one }&D32\
unmentionable subject in our politics, as the senator from South Dakota recently discovered when $qj2w"'
he came up with a few quasi-egalitarian tax reforms. The furious and enduring terror of Er?&Y,o
Communism in America is not entirely the work of those early cold warriors Truman and Acheson. ~Z'?LV<t
A dislike of economic equality is something deep-grained in the American Protestant character. Z4ImV~m
After all, given a rich empty continent for vigorous Europeans to exploit (the Indians were simply a >~0Z& d
disagreeable part of the emptiness, like chiggers), any man of gumption could make himself a good
92oFlEJ
living. With extra hard work, any man could make himself a fortune, proving that he was a better L.JT[zOfb
man than the rest. Long before Darwin the American ethos was Darwinian. ^^ixa1H<
The vision of the rich empty continent is still a part of the American unconscious in spite of the 3%b6{ie/=
Great Crowding and its attendant miseries; and this lingering belief in the heaven any man can "VMz]ybi^
make for himself through hard work and clean living is a key to the majority’s prevailing and AH~E )S
apparently unalterable hatred of the poor, kept out of sight at home, out of mind abroad. e$Pj.>-<=
Yet there has been, from the beginning, a significant division in our ruling class. The early ~((O8@
}J
Thomas Jefferson had a dream: a society of honest yeomen, engaged in agricultural pursuits, ]3Sp W{=^(
without large cities, heavy industry, banks, military pretensions. The early (and the late) Alexander I{=Qtnlb
Hamilton wanted industry, banks, cities, and a military force capable of making itself felt in world g*+>H1}
politics. It is a nice irony that so many of today’s laissez-faire conservatives think that they descend 19%imf
from Hamilton, the proponent of a strong federal government, and that so many liberals believe 'PW5ux@`<
themselves to be the heirs of the early Jefferson, who wanted little more than a police force and a #&e-|81H
judiciary. Always practical, Jefferson knew that certain men would rise through their own good kvu)
y`
efforts while, sadly, others would fall. Government would do no more than observe this Darwinian nKj7.,>;:<
spectacle benignly, and provide no succor. 5146kp|1
In 1800 the Hamiltonian view was rejected by the people and their new President Thomas '[%j@PlCX
Jefferson. Four years later, the Hamiltonian view had prevailed and was endorsed by the reelected /&JT~M
Jefferson. Between 1800 and 1805 Jefferson had seen to it that an empire in posse had become an KLk~Y0$:v
empire in esse. The difference between Jefferson I and Jefferson II is reflected in the two inaugural !^G\9"4A
addresses. rEz^
It is significant that nothing more elevated than greed changed the Dr. Jekyll of Jefferson I into gf\oC> N
the Mr. Hyde of Jefferson II. Like his less thoughtful countrymen, Jefferson could not resist a deal. &=mtc%mL
Subverting the Constitution he had helped create, Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon, (S Yln>
o
acquiring its citizens without their consents. The author of the Declaration of Independence was SUK?z!f<i
quite able to forget the unalienable rights of anyone whose property he thought should be joined to E2+`4g@{8<
our empire—a word which crops up frequently and unselfconsciously in his correspondence. Q22 GIr
In the course of land-grabbing, Jefferson II managed to get himself into hot water with France, */S_
Icf
England, and Spain simultaneously, a fairly astonishing thing to do considering the state of politics ChQxa
in Napoleonic Europe. [()koU#w.
Comprehension Questions: ql
~J8G9
26. The author believes that Americans ________________.
F_P~x(X
a. still believe America to be largely unpopulated b|(:[nB
b. largely believe in lower taxation KqP#6^ _
c. are in favor of taxation without representation7 bcz:q/f}@
d. should reconsider the Louisiana purchase "$vRMpW:
27. From the passage, we may assume that the senator from South Dakota _______________. ?Z} &EH
a. opposed tax reform b. was Thomas Jefferson B`sAk
%
c. failed in his attempt to reform tax law d. was Alexander Hamilton X5w$4Kj&4l
28. Jefferson made it possible for ________________. UC$ppTCc?
a. a potential empire to become a real one HK%7g
b. tax laws to reflect the will of the people ez[Vm:2K
c. France, England, and Spain to simultaneously vacillate upon their mutual feelings towards lk =<A"^S
the United States. wdoR%b{M
d. Darwinian social theories to be accepted without question .A|@?p[
29. Jefferson’s early political writings espoused what would today be called _______________. 4 H&#q>
a. collectivism b. libertarianism c. socialism d. liberalism 4I(Xy]wm
30. The author holds that Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana territories _______________. Kf-JcBsrT
a. may be seen as a hypocritical act 3r1*m
+
b. rigorously held with his previous views of inalienable rights YHl;flv
c. cannot be seen as an act of empire-expansion @KUWxFak
d. was an act meant to lower taxes and improve the wealth of the nation d0 /#nz
Passage 3 LXCx~;{\
If, besides the accomplishments of being witty and ill-natured, a man is vicious into the bargain, H%lVl8oQ
he is one of the most mischievous creatures that can enter into a civil society. His satire will then lUMdrt0@z
chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from it. Virtue, merit, and everything that 9o!Bzy+_
is praiseworthy, will be made the subject of ridicule and buffoonery. It is impossible to enumerate E<*xx#p
the evils which arise from these arrows that fly in the dark; and I know no other excuse that is or "J3x_~,[4m
can be made for them, than that the wounds they give are only imaginary, and produce nothing J|rq*XD}q
more than a secret shame or sorrow in the mind of the suffering person. It must indeed be confessed h@wgd~X9
that a lampoon or a satire do not carry in them robbery or murder; but at the same time, how many Jfl!#UAD|n
are there that would not rather lose a considerable sum of money, or even life itself, than be set up 3T0"" !Q
as a mark of infamy and derision? And in this case a man should consider that an injury is not to be f`66h M[
measured by the notions of him that gives, but of him that receives it. Those who can put the best Yu`~U,m
countenance upon the outrages of this nature which are offered them, are not without their secret GsM<2@?
anguish. I have often observed a passage in Socrates’ behavior at his death in a light wherein none 0Wp|1)ljA
of the critics have considered it. That excellent man entertaining his friends a little before he drank dUdT7ixo
the bowl of poison, with a discourse on the immortality of the soul, at his entering upon it says that 11;zNjD|
he does not believe any the most comic genius can censure him for talking upon such a subject at f(7GX3?
such at a time. This passage, I think, evidently glances upon Aristophanes, who write a comedy on 6;5Ss?ep
purpose to ridicule the discourses of that divine philosopher. It has been observed by many writers UJ6v(:z<
that Socrates was so little moved at this piece of buffoonery, that he was several times present at its ~WV"SaA)*U
being acted upon the stage, and never expressed the least resentment of it. But, with submission, I IV)j1
think the remark I have here made shows us that this unworthy treatment made an impression upon 8 ?=pT7M
his mind, though he had been too wise to discover it. When Julius Caesar was lampooned by BTrn0
Catullus, he invited him to a supper, and treated him with such a generous civility, that he made the \Y}8S/]
poet his friend ever after. Cardinal Mazarine gave the same kind of treatment to the learned Quillet, d m%8K6|
who had reflected upon his eminence in a famous Latin poem. The cardinal sent for him, and, after Aq7osU1B
some kind expostulations upon what he had written, assured him of his esteem, and dismissed him %H"47ZFxAs
with a promise of the next good abbey that should fall, which he accordingly conferred upon him in ]e@Oiq
a few months after. This had so good an effect upon the author, that he dedicated the second edition R*r#E{!V;
of his book to the cardinal, after having expunged the passages which had given him offence. FaJ &GOM,
Though in the various examples which I have here drawn together, these several great men behaved v/=}B(TDF
themselves very differently towards the wits of the age who had reproached them, they all of them jW@Uo=I[
plainly showed that they were very sensible of their reproaches, and consequently that they *c+ (-
received them as very great injuries. For my own part, I would never trust a man that I thought was /&94 eC
capable of giving these secret wounds; and cannot but think that he would hurt the person, whose :9 ^*
^T
reputation he thus assaults, in his body or in his fortune, could he do it with the same security. Q]>.b%s[
There is indeed something very barbarous and inhuman in the ordinary scribblers of lampoons. I %84rL?S
have indeed heard of heedless, inconsiderate writers that, without any malice, have sacrificed the q'82q
Y
reputation of their friends and acquaintance to a certain levity of temper, and a silly ambition of P";'jVcR
distinguishing themselves by a spirit of raillery and satire; as if it were not infinitely more ~qOa\#x_
honourable to be a good-natured man than a wit. Where there is this little petulant humor in an V~5jfcd
author, he is often very mischievous without designing to be so. vRO
_Q?
Comprehension Questions: C3YT1tK
31. According to the author, those who want to trivialize satire tend to suggest that N?"]
_______________. oILZgNe'
a. the damage is immaterial b. the effect is mere buffoonery @I!0-OjL
c. wit is a streak of genius d. the mischief must be taken in a spirit of raillery ,\%c^,HLJ
32. What would be the best strategy for the object of satire to adopt, according to the author? 6,{$J
a. To take no heed. b. To placate the author. ^.NU|NQi'
c. To take offence. d. To suffer the consequences. *bA.zmzM
33. The main purpose of this article is ________________. R/z=p_6p7`
a. the derision of the perpetrators of satire hZ
b. a warning against mischievous scribblers $ gS>FJ
c. creating understanding of the genre :&9s,l
d. reproaching fellow satirists x+@rg];m
34. When the author speaks of ―this little petulant humor‖ it is evident that he means DN5 7p!z
________________. wEvVL
a. good-natured wit b. the choleric temper XuM'_FN`A<
c. a silly ambition d. submission RdRp.pb8
35. In view of the opinion of the author, it is unlikely that the author is a ________________.9 4u})+2W
a. man of letters b. satirist c. wit d. a good-natured man P?of<i2E
Passage 4 N U`
Alexander the Great’s conquests in the Eastern Mediterranean initiated a series of profound \n|EM@=eE
cultural transformations in the ancient centers of urban civilization of the Fertile Crescent. The final );&:9[b_
destruction of native rule and the imposition of an alien elite culture instigated a cultural H*'IK'O
discourse—Hellenism—which irrevocably marked all participants, both conquerors and conquered. -fW*vE:
This discourse was particularly characterized by a transformation of indigenous cultural traditions, ,M
^<CJ
necessitated by their need to negotiate their place in a new social order. As Bowerstock has argued, K:#I
the process of Hellenization did not accomplish the wholesale replacement of indigenous cultural @>Km_Ax
traditions with Greek civilization. Instead, it provided a new cultural vocabulary through which +E(L \
much pre-existing cultural tradition was often able to find new expression. This phenomenon is 6)
[H?Q
especially intriguing as it relates to language and literacy. The ancient civilizations of the eF-."1
Syro-Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultural spheres were, of course, literate, possessing indigenous "CQa.%
literary traditions already of great antiquity at the time of the Macedonian conquests. The e)?
.r9pA;
disenfranchisement of traditional elites by the imposition of Greek rule had the related effect of ytJ/g/,A0i
displacing many of the traditional social structures where in indigenous literacy functioned and was ">,|V-H
taught—in particular, the institutions of the palace and the temple. A new language of power, Greek, g(7rTyp4)
replaced the traditional language of these institutions. This had the unavoidable effect of displacing ,CcV/K
the traditional writing systems associated with these indigenous languages. Traditional literacy’s fW1CFRHH
longstanding association with the centers of social and political authority began to be eroded. `MN4uC
Naturally, the eclipse of traditional, indigenous literacy did not occur overnight. The decline of :v&$o'Sak
Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic literacies was a lengthy process. Nor was the nature of their respective k1Y ?
declines identical. Akkadian, the ancient language of Mesopotamian court and temple culture, cO
+qs[
BQ
vanished forever, along with cuneiform writing, in the first century CE. Egyptian lived on beyond VSI9U3t3w
the disappearance of hieroglyphic in the fourth century CE in the guise of Coptic, to succumb as a V]e 8a"/[{
living, spoken language of daily social intercourse only after the Islamic conquest of Egypt. Even J7Hl\Q[D1
then, Coptic survives to this day as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This e>7>j@(K]
latter point draws attention to an aspect of the decline of these indigenous literacies worthy of note: 4=.89T#<
it is in the sphere of religion that these literacies are often preserved longest, after they have been &P}_bx
superseded in palace circles—the last dated cuneiform text we have is an astrological text; the last g-</ua(j
dated hieroglyphic text a votive graffito. This should cause little surprise. The sphere of religion is J~zUp(>K
generally one of the most conservative of cultural subsystems. The local need to negotiate the /}fHt^2H
necessities of daily life and individual and collective identity embodied in traditional religious *-=(Q`3
structures is slow to change and exists in ongoing dialogue with the more readily changeable royal N06OvU2>xU
and/or state ideologies that bind various locales together in an institutional framework. +-U- D?-
The process of ―Hellenization‖ of the ancient cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean ~IfJwBn-i
provides us, then, with an opportunity to observe the on-going effect on traditional, indigenous .B]MpmpK
literacy of the imposition of a new status language possessed of its own distinct writing system. The v6M6>&RR|
cultural politics of written and spoken language-use in such contexts has been much discussed and r?lf($D*
it is clear that the processes leading to the adoption of a new language—in written form, or spoken Is)u }
form, or both—in some cultural spheres and the retention of traditional languages in others are *yt=_Q
complex. Factors including the imposition of a new language from above, adoption of a new ,j2Udn}
language of social prestige from below, as well as preservation of older idioms of traditional status 10 jrlVvzZ
in core cultural institutions, must have affected different sectors of a conquered society in different UXc-k
fashions and at different rates. nwB_8mN|
Comprehension Questions: Q_Q''j(r6b
36. The languages that have to some extent managed to survive Hellenization did so in what area? 0neoE
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a. In palace circles. b. In governmental institutions. b8`)y<