Susan Sontag (1933 ------ 2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything----- to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American culture life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture. Seriousness was one of Sontag's lifelong watchwords , but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poorly-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In Notes Camp, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. Notes on Camp, she wrote, represents "a victory of 'form' over 'content', 'beauty' over 'morals'". By conviction she was a sensualist , but by nature she was a moralist, and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the latter side of her that came forward. In Illness as Metaphor ------published in 1978, after she suffered cancer ------ she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities, a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit. In America, her story of a 19thcentury Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless, all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. "Sometimes," she once said, "I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending... is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness." And in the end, she made us take it seriously too. According to the passage, Susan Sontag would agree to the ideas except _ . A) We should try hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. B) Cancer can be defeated because it is a special problem of repressed personalities. C) 'Form' should be over 'content', 'beauty' should be over 'morals. D) We should defend the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.
B
(Question)
COURSE: History 101 "Instruction to American History" INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Jane Klammer OFFICE: 305 Marshall Hall OFFICE HOURS: 11:15 -12:30 M, W, F, (Monday Wednesday Friday) CLASS: 363 Marshall Hall 3:35 -5:00 T, Th (Tuesday Thursday) 10:00-11:00 M, W, F, other times by appointment TELEPHONE: 255---4786 TEXTBOOK: Green, Robert P. ,The American Tradition; Charles E. A History of the United States, Merrill Publishing Co. Columbus, Ohio 1984 which is available (that can be obtained) at the College Bookstore. COURSE REQUIREMENT: (something needed) mid-term exam: October 10 20% of the final grade final exam: December 10 40% of the final grade Term paper due: December 15 40% of the final grade Attendance is not required, but you are responsible for all the information given in the class lectures. In the lectures I will talk about the chapters in the textbook and other material that I choose to supplement the course. The exams will cover all the information. Therefore, I advise you to come to the classroom as much as possible. If you have to miss a class, be sure to get the class notes from another student. Your homework assignments are listed on the next page. You are supposed to read the chapter about which I will be lecturing before you come to class. This is to make sure that you understand as much as possible while taking notes in my lectures. Be prepared when you come to class. If there are any changes in the assigned homework, I will announce in class. The term paper is 40% of your final grade. It should not exceed15 pages. (Anyone thinking of majoring in history may write 25 pages). Before the mid-term exam you will choose the topic for your paper. Have a good term! If a freshman thinks that he might major in history, what can the maximum length of his paper be? A) 15 pages. B) 25 pages. C) 10 pages. D) No maximum.
(Answer)
B
Ques: The black robin is one of the world's rarest birds. It is a small, wild bird, and it lives only on the island of Little Mangere, off the coast of New Zealand. In 1967 there were about fifty black robins; in 1977 there were fewer than ten. These are the only black robins left in the world. The island has many other birds, of different kinds, large and small; these seem to multiply very happily. Energetic steps are being taken to preserve the black robin. Detailed studies are going on, and a public appeal for money has been made. The idea is to buy another island nearby as a special home, a "reserve", for threatened wild life, including black robins. The organizers say that Little Mangere should then be supplied with the robin's food--it eats only one kind of seed. Thousands of the required plants are at present being cultivated in New Zealand. The public appeal is aimed at the conscience of mankind, so that the wild black robin will not die out and disappear form the earth in our time at least. Is all this concern a waste of human effort? Is it any business of ours whether the black robin survives or dies out? Are we losing our sense of what is reasonable and what is unreasonable? In the earth's long, long past, hundreds of kinds of creatures have evolved, risen to a degree of success--and died out. In the long, long future, there will be many new and different forms of life. Those creatures that adapt themselves successfully to what the earth offers will survive for a long time. Those that fail to meet the challenges will disappear early. This is nature's proven method of operation. The rule of selection--"the survival of the fittest"--is the one by which human beings have themselves arrived on the scene. We, being one of the most adaptable creatures the earth has yet produced, may last longer than most. You may take it as another rule that when, at last, human beings show signs of dying out, no other creature will extend a paw to put off our departure. On the contrary, we will be hurried out. For nature,... The black robin is dying out mainly because _ . A) people have been very careless about its survival B) the appeal for money has come at the wrong time C) the other birds on the island have destroyed it D) its only food supply is far from enough on Little Mangere
Ans:
D