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武汉科技大学

2005年硕士研究生入学考试试题参考答案

课程名称：专业综合 336

专业名称：外国语言学及应用语言学 共 5 页

Section One ADVANCED ENGLISH (70%)

I. Explain each of the following cultural figures or terms briefly: (15%)

1. Black Humor

A term derived from Black Comedy. Its origin can be traced back to Shakespeare’s time. But now the term is usually used to refer to some Western, especially American Post-World War II writers. It is a kind of desperate humor, laughter at tragic things. In the meaningless world, man’s fate is decided by incomprehensible powers. We can do nothing but laugh.

2. Niccolo Machiavelli

Italian politician and author, whose name is now synonymous with cunning and cynical statecraft. In his most important political works The Prince and Discourses, he discusses ways in which rulers can advance the interests of their states (and themselves) through an often amoral and opportunitist manipulation of other people.

3. Ten Commandment

In the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, the laws given by God to the Israelite leader Moses on Mount Sinai, engraved on two tablets of stone. They are: to have no other gods besides Jehovah; to make no idols; not to misuse the name of God; to keep the Sabbath holy; to honor one’s parents; not to commit murder, adultery, or theft; not to give false evidence; not to be covetous. They form the basis of Jewish and Christian moral codes.

4. Malthusian Population Theory

A theory on population proposed by Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), an English economist and cleric. It argued for population control, since populations increase in geometric ratio, and food only in arithmetic ratio. This theory saw war, famine and disease as necessary checks on population growth.

5. The Great Depression

is the period also called Recession or the Slump during the early 1930s, when worldwide economic collapse precipitated commercial failure and mass unemployment. Starting in the USA in 1929, when share prices fell so disastrously that caused international repercussions that led to Roosevelt’s New Deal (1934).

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