“迷惘的一代”（The Lost Generation），又称迷失的一代，是美国文学的一个极具特点的文学时期，其中的一个代表文学人物是佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿（Zora Neale Hurston, 1891-1960），代表作品《他们的眼睛望着上帝》（Their Eyes Were Watching God，1937）；这个作品也是GRE阅读中被引用的最多的文学作品之一。佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿（Zora Neale Hurston，1891-1960），是20世纪美国文学的重要人物之一。她是小说家、黑人民间传说收集研究家、人类学家。她也生在美国南方，是 Harlem 文艺复兴时期的活跃分子。她毕生为保持黑人文化传统而奋斗，收集出版了黑人民间故事集《骡与人》及《告诉我的马》。赫斯顿还写了四部小说：《他们眼望上苍》《约拿的葫芦藤》《摩西，山之人》《苏旺尼的六翼天使》。其中《他们眼望上苍》是她最受欢迎的作品，是黑人文学中第一部充分展示黑人女子内心女性意识觉醒的作品，在黑人女性形象的创造上具有里程碑式的意义，被公认是黑人文学的经典作品之一。

　　集女作家、民俗学家、人类学家于一身的佐拉·尼尔·赫斯顿一生致力于本民族的传统文化遗产的收集、整理和保护。她对自己的非洲裔美国人的身份非常骄傲和自豪，否认自己有既是美国人又是黑人的“双重意识”的困惑。她拒绝把黑人当成美国社会的“问题”，拒绝把黑人描写成种族歧视制度下产生的畸形儿。她在作品中深刻地揭示了当时黑人社区内存在的鄙视自己黑皮肤的黑人种族主义思想对黑人灵魂的腐蚀，力图唤醒黑人对自己身份的肯定和热爱。然而，哈莱姆文艺复兴的高潮过去以后，以理查德·赖特为代表的黑人“抗议文学”成为当时黑人文学的主流，赫斯顿及其作品被湮没在美国文学的尘埃里无人问津.直到20世纪60年代的黑人权利运动兴起，以及黑人民族主义意识的唤醒，赫斯顿才在一片荒冢中被重新发现。实际上，赖特式的“抗议”与赫斯顿式的“赞美”只是非裔美国人在美国社会求得生存的既矛盾又统一的两种策略。

　　关于上一期GRE文章的参考译文和真题解析

　　【上期文章回顾点击→GRE阅读 | 备考碎片阅读系列（一）】

　　As it was published in 1935, Mules and Men, Zora Neale Hurston’s landmark collection of folktales, may not have been the book that its author first hadin mind. In this anthropological study, Hurston describes in detail the people who tell the stories, often even inserting herself into the story telling scene. Evidently, however, Hurston had prepared another version, a manuscript that was recently discovered and published after having been forgotten since 1929. This version differs from Mules and Men in that it simply records stories, with node scriptive or interpretive information.

　　While we can not know for certain why Hurston’s original manuscript went unpublished during her lifetime, it may have been because publishers wanted something more than a transcription of tales. Contemporary novelist and critic John Edgar Wideman has described Black literature as the history of a writing that sought to “escape its frame,” in other words, as the effort of Black writers to present the stories of Black people without having to have a mediating voice to explain the stories to a non-Black audience. In this, Hurston may have been a head of her time.

　　参考译文：

　　于1935年出版，《骡子和男人》，Z.N.H的这本里程碑似的民间传说合集可能不是这位作者的初衷。在这本人类学的研究作品中，Z.N.H用文字描述了人们讲故事的细节，并不时的把她自己加入到讲故事的场景中。然而，明显的是，Z.N.H早准备了另外的一个版本的《骡子和男人》：最近人们发现并出版了她的手稿，该手稿自1929年后就无人知晓，该手稿和出版了的《骡子和男人》不同，它只是简单的记录故事，没有描述和注解信息。

　　虽然我们没法确切的知道为什么 Z.N.H 的手稿没有在她生前被出版，但大致的原因应该和她的出版商有关，可能他们想要的不仅仅是一本对民间传说的记录。和Z.N.H同时期的小说家和文学评论家J.E.W把黑人的文学历史描述成为一段在寻求“逃脱束缚”的历史，换句话说就是黑人作家们在努力呈现给读者关于他们的故事而不用去做过多的注解，在这一方面，Z.N.H是她那个时代的先行者。

　　1. Select the sentence that suggests a possible reason why Hurston wrote the version of Mules and Men that was published in 1935.

　　题目的理解：选择文中的一句话解释了可能的原因关于为什么Z.N.H出版了1935年的这个版本（引申的意思：就是为什么Z.N.H的手稿没有出版）

　　解析：本题为GRE阅读中的点句题，及用鼠标在原文中选择一句符合题目的原文句子点中即可。此题原文定位的的位置在第二段首句，“While we can not know for certain why Hurston’s original manuscript went unpublished during her lifetime, it may have been because publishers wanted something more than a transcription of tales.”这个题目值得我们关注的地方还有GRE中常见的用While引导的让步语气，让步语气在GRE阅读中通常只是虚指，没有实际的含义，就好像你告白的女生对你并不感冒，客套和你说一句：你是个好人！所以这句话的重点在后半句，“it may have been because publishers wanted something more than a transcription of tales”

　　2. The passage suggests that Hurston may have done which of the following in preparing her original version?

　　A. Discussed her mode of presentation with her publisher before writing the first draft, in order to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding.

　　B. Shortened her presentation of the stories to the bare minimum in orderto be able to present more folklore material.

　　C. Put it aside for several decades in order to maximize its potentialaudience when it was published

　　D. Reluctantly agreed to reshape it in order to take out various elementswith which her publisher had been dissatisfied.

　　E. Chose not to include editorial commentary, in order to present thestories on their own terms.

　　题目解析：本题问Z.N.H在准备她的原稿时做了什么。该题目的答案在原文的第一段最后一句“This version differs from Mules and Men in that it simply records stories, with no descriptive or interpretive information.”---只记录故事，不加注解，所以符合原文的选项为E：选择不加入编辑性的注解，主要按原汁原味呈现故事。”

　　本期的GRE真题文章的练习，文章的解析和答案将在下一期公众号文章中公布。

　　Zora Neale Hurston's 1942 auto biography, Dust Tracks on a road, has received some of the most negative criticism of any of Hurston’s books. Among critics’ complaints—some from Hurston's war mest admirers—is the work’s fragmentary nature, a nature which, while present in other Hurston texts, including the universally acclaimed novel. Their Eyes Were Watching God, is particularly conspicuous in Dust Tracks. The complaints about Dust Tracks arevalid if one insists on the cardinal conventions of autobiography: traditional autobiographical structure and formal organization, and a focused projection ofthe auto biographical persona. But Dust Tracks portrays a persona that resists reduction to a coherent unity—a person of many moods who is in tension with the world in which she moves. In order to correspond better to this persona, Dust Tracks focuses on the fragmented life of Hurston’s imagination: the psychological dynamics of her family, community stories, and characters of friends.

　　1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　explain why Dust Tracks has been less well received than other similarly structured works by Hurston.

　　argue that a supposed deficiency in Dust Tracks actually contributes to the work’s presentation of its subject.

　　compare the critical reaction to Dust Tracks with the critical reaction to Their Eyes Were Watching God.

　　point out specific similarities between the structure of Dust Tracks and the structure of Hurston’s other works.

　　suggest that some critics’ evaluations of Dust Tracks is influenced by their rejection of certain conventions of autobiography

　　2. The author of the passage suggests that critics’ complaints about the structure of Dust Tracks are A. not valid, because Dust Tracks should not be judged by the standards of conventional autobiography.

　　unjustified, because they have not been directed at other Hurston texts that are similarly structured.

　　justified, given the extent to which Dust Tracks is autobiographical.

　　in explicable, given the critical response to Their Eyes Were Watching God

　　compelling, because Huston’s warmest admirers have complained the most strenuously.

　　3. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

　　A situation is presented and an explanation of how that situation developed is offered.

　　Two opposing points of view are contrasted and their relative merits are evaluated.

　　An orthodox view is discussed, a challenge to it is analyzed, and the original view is affirmed.

　　A point of view is described and an analysis challenging that point of view follows.

　　A dispute is analyzed and several points of agreement between the twosides are identified.

　　坚持阅读，每天进步一点点！

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