109 年 國立成功大學外文研究所甲組《英文閱讀與評析》
第 1 題
Below are two paragraphs from the concluding Chapter 18 of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854). Read the passage and analyze some aspect or aspects of how it says what it says.
Examples of what you might discuss:
How far does the passage suggest agreement with its Mirabeau quotation? What is the nature of the difference that remains between them? Does the speaker expect to meet with a just government?
What "reason" for leaving the woods is stated or implied? What does that have to do with the previous paragraph?
Why does Thoreau select the images he does, and how do they function in the passage? (Why, for instance, switch from land to sea at the end of the second paragraph?) How does the passage employ puns and wordplay?
You don't have to try to write about all of those questions, or any of them, as long as you provide some kind of specific interpretation and analysis of the text. You don't need to know details of American history in order to answer the question, and please don't summarize them for us if you do. (100 points)
It is said that Mirabeau took to highway robbery "to ascertain what degree of resolution was necessary in order to place one's self in formal opposition to the most sacred laws of society." He declared that "a soldier who fights in the ranks does not require half so much courage as a footpad"-"that honor and religion have never stood in the way of a well-considered and a firm resolve." This was manly, as the world goes; and yet it was idle, if not desperate. A saner man would have found himself often enough "in formal opposition" to what are deemed "the most sacred laws of society," through obedience to yet more sacred laws, and so have tested his resolution without going out of his way. It is not for a man to put himself in such an attitude to society, but to maintain himself in whatever attitude he find himself through obedience to the laws of his being, which will never be one of opposition to a just government, if he should chance to meet with such.
I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear, that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.
登入後即可作答並保存紀錄。
本題為一篇針對 Henry David Thoreau《Walden》書中兩段文字的閱讀理解與分析題。考生需要根據提供的引導問題，深入剖析文章內容、修辭手法、思想觀點，並提出具體的詮釋與分析。這是一道開放性極強的寫作題，重點在於考生能否準確理解文本，並提出有見地的論述。
核心觀念：
文本理解、文學分析、論述寫作。
解題思路：
此題要求考生分析 Thoreau 的文字，並從幾個引導性的問題中挑選一至多個進行深入探討。引導問題涵蓋了：
- 與 Mirabeau 語錄的比較： 探討 Thoreau 對 Mirabeau 關於「決心」和「反抗」的觀點的認同程度，以及 Thoreau 自己主張的「更神聖的法則」與 Mirabeau 的「公路搶劫」行為之間的區別。特別是 Thoreau 提到「順從自己存在的法則」來維持姿態，並指出這不會與「公正的政府」對立，這與 Mirabeau 的激進行為形成對比。
- 離開森林的原因： 分析 Thoreau 離開森林的理由，是字面上的原因（「有更多生命要活」），還是隱喻的含義。這需要與前一段關於 Mirabeau 的討論連結，探討 Thoreau 是否在以一種更為「內在」或「精神」的方式來實踐他的「反抗」或「決心」，而非 Mirabeau 那樣外在、激烈的行為。
- 意象的使用與功能： 剖析 Thoreau 選擇的意象（如「腳印」、「小徑」、「河流」、「海洋」、「甲板」等）及其在文中傳達的意義。特別是「從陸地轉向海洋」的意象轉換，可能象徵著從個人生活（森林）轉向更廣闊的世界或精神探索。
- 雙關語與文字遊戲： 檢查文章中是否存在作者運用的雙關語或文字遊戲，以及這些手法如何增強文章的表達力。
考生應採取的策略：
- 仔細閱讀兩段文字： 確保理解 Thoreau 的主要論點和表達方式。
- 聚焦引導問題： 從提供的問題中選擇自己最有把握、最能提出獨到見解的 1-2 個問題進行深入分析。例如，可以專注於 Thoreau 如何區分「外在的反抗」與「內在的順從」，以及他如何運用「道路」和「海洋」的意象來闡述其哲學。
- 提出具體論證： 引用原文中的詞句來支持自己的論點，分析這些詞句的含義、修辭效果和思想內涵。
- 結構清晰的寫作： 組織好文章的結構，包含引言（點出分析的重點）、主體段落（逐一論證）和結論（總結觀點）。