参考答案 - 选修第三册第五单元
UNIT 5 POEMS
Reading and Writing
① Read the text and answer the questions.
1 What are the typical features of classical Chinese poetry?
2 How is modern poetry written?
3 What themes did the three Tang Dynasty poets like to write about?
4 Who first introduced Americans to Chinese poetry?
5 When did European literature come to China?
6 Who are the most popular English Romantic poets?
7 What does the writer think about translations of poems?
EXPLORING POETRY IN CHINA
Poetry plays with sounds, words, and grammar. That makes poetry difficult to write but very interesting to read. Poetry uses colours, feelings, experiences, and images to paint a picture in your mind.
In Chinese classical poetry, the form is very important: the correct number of lines and the number of characters in each line. Poetry often follows special patterns of rhythm and rhyme. However, modern poets began to reject traditional forms and structures for poetry in the 20th century. As a result, most poetry today is written in free verse, with lines of varying length.
During the Tang Dynasty, a high point of classical Chinese poetry, poems by Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei became very popular. Widely known as a genius and often called the "Immortal Poet", Li Bai (701—762) wrote with a romantic style and his poems celebrated things such as friendship, nature, and wine. Du Fu (712—770) is also known as one of the greatest Chinese poets. He has been called the "poet-historian" and the "Poet-Sage" by Chinese critics, and his poems cover a range of topics, with his most famous poems reflecting on the effects of war on the people. Wang Wei (701—761) was a painter, musician, and poet, and he was well known for his love of nature in his paintings and poetry.
Outside of Asia, the study of Chinese language inroduced the West to Chinese poetry. Americans were first introduced to classical Chinese poetry by American poet Ezra Pound (1885—1973). He translated 18 classical Chinese poems, mainly by Li Bai, into English, based on the notes of the American art historian Ernest Fenollosa (1853—1908). At about the same time, Chinese writers started reading more foreign poetry. From around 1910 onwards, European literature came to China when some famous writers began to translate both poetry and novels into Chinese.
Just like readers in the West, Chinese readers admire Shakespeare, John Milton, Alexander
Pope and many others for their fine English poetry. English Romantic poets are greatly loved in China. The nature poems by William Wordsworth, Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Gordon Byron's Isles of Greece, and long poems by John Keats have long been favourites. The style and the atmosphere in their poems have often led to comparisons with poets such as Du Fu and Li Bai. Among modern poetry, the American poet Robert Frost and his poems might be the best known.
Today, many Chinese people are becoming more interested in reading poems, no matter in
what language they are written. Translations can be good, but being able to read in the onginal language is best. No matter how well a poem is translated, something of the spirit of the original work is lost. Besides, poems and literature can be bridges between East and West. They can help us to understand each other better, or as the poet Mu Dan wrote:
Quietly, we embrace
In a world lit up by words.
② Discuss the questions with your partner.
1 How has foreign poetry influenced Chinese poetry? Find the clues from the text to support your opinion.
2 Do you think translating poems from one language to another is a good thing? Why?
③ Read the poems in Expanding Your World and choose the poem you like best. Write an essay about your understanding of the poem, and explain why you like it. The following expressions may help you.
● The poem is written from a parent's/ ... perspective.
● The poet describes the scene ...
● The poet compares ... with ...
● ... reminded me of ...
● The poet was filled with ... as he/she wrote ...
● The image of ... brings a feeling of ...
● The reason why I love this poem is that ...
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第五单元 诗歌
Suggested Answers
Activity 1
1 The typical features of classical Chinese poetry are form, which has a correct number of lines and characters in each line, and following special patterns of rhythm and rhyme.
2 Modern poetry rejects traditional forms and structures and is written in free verse, with lines of varying length.
3 Li Bai liked to write in a romantic style about friendship, nature, and wine. Du Fu liked to write about a range of topics such as history and the effects of war. Wang Wei liked to write about nature.
4 American poet Ezra Pound first introduced Americans to Chinese poetry.
5 European literature came to China from around 1910 onwards.
6 The most popular English Romantic poets are William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Gordon Byron, and John Keats.
7 The writer thinks that translations of poems can be good but reading them in their original language is best.
Activity 2
1 Chinese poetry has been influenced by foreign poetry such as the works of the English Romantic poets, like Wordsworth.
2 I think translating poems from one language to another is a good thing because it promotes cultural exchange between the people of the world.
Activity 3
Sample Writing
The poem On Children describes parents' relationship to their children. The poet is saying that your children are not your property, and that they are individual people with their own thoughts and souls that should be respected. Parents should not try and make their children exactly like themselves. The poet compares a parent and child to a bow and arrow to describe this relationship. The parent is the bow, which should remain stable and reliable, and the child is the arrow, which one should make sure is fired straight and true.
I think the poet was filled with love for his children when he wrote this, and also knowledge that he had come to understand himself. The reason why I love this poem is that I think it will help people become better parents by showing them that it is better not to control their children too much. They should be there to look after them when they need it and guide them on their way.
