欧洲文化入门资料

1. The Historical Context

1). In a more remote period of Greek history, probably around 1200B.C. ,

a war was fought between Greece（希腊）and Troy(特洛伊）

2). Greek culture reached a high point of development in the 5th century

B.C.

What marked the high point of development in Greek culture in the 5th century B.C.?

1). The high point of development in Greek culture was marked by (a) the successful repulse of the Persian invasion early in the 5th century B.C., (b) the establishment of democracy and (c) the flourishing of science, philosophy, literature, art and historical writing in Athens（雅典）.

2). the 5th century B.C. closed with civil war between Athens and Sparta （斯巴达） in Greece.

3). in the second half of the 4th century B.C., all Greece was brought under the rule of Alexander, King of Macedon（马其顿王国）.

4). in 146 B.C. the Romans conquered the Greece.

2. Social and Political Structure

What were the main features of ancient Greek society?

1). Athens was a democracy, where only the adult male citizens had the rights.

2). The economy of Athens rested on an immense amount of slave labor.

3). The Greeks loved sports. Once every four years, they had a big festival on Olympus Mount which included contests of sports.

4). Revised in 1896, the Games have become the world’s foremost amateur sports competition.

3. Homer (about 700 B. C.)（荷马）

What did Homer do?（荷马史诗名词解释？）

1). Ancient Greeks considered Homer to be the author of their epics: the Iliad《伊利亚特》and the Odyssey《奥德赛》.

2). Homer probably lived around 700 B.C.

3). The Iliad and the Odyssey are not about events of Homer’s own time, but about great men and wars about a remoter age, probably in the period of 1200—1100 B.C.

Drama

1). Early in their remote past, the Greeks started to perform plays at religious festivals.

2). Out of these religions a powerful drama developed in the 5th century

B.C.

3). Performances were given in open-air theatres, with the audience sitting on stone benches and looking down at the stage from three sides.

Outstanding dramatists

1). The outstanding dramatists of ancient Greece were Aeschylus（埃斯库罗斯）, Sophocles（索福克勒斯）, Euripides（欧里庇得斯） and Aristophanes （阿里斯托芬）.

A. Aeschylus (525—456

B.

C.)

a. Aeschylus is noted for his vivid character portrayal and majestic poetry.

b. Aeschylus wrote plays such as Prometheus Bound《被缚的普罗米修斯》, Persians《波斯人》 and Agamemnon《阿伽门农》.

B. Sophocles (496—406B.

C.)

a. Sophocles was the author of plays like Oedipus the King《奥狄普斯王》, Electra《伊莱克特拉》 and Antigone《安提戈涅》.

b. Oedipus the King is the story of a man who unknowingly committed a terrible sin by killing his father and marrying his mother.

c. The Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud’s term “the Oedipus complex”（奥狄普斯情结） was also derived from Sophocles’s play. C. Euripides(484—406B.C.)

a. Euripides wrote mainly about women in such plays as Andromache Medea and Trojan Women. Less heroic more like ordinary people

b. Euripides may be called the first writer of “problem plays”.

c. 19th century, Elizabath called him Euripides the human

D. Comedy

Aristophanes(about 450—380B.C.)

1). Aristophanes wrote such plays as Frogs《蛙》, Clouds《云》, Wasps 《黄蜂》 and Birds《鸟》.

Philosophers

A. Socrates (about 470—399

B.

C.)苏格拉底

a. We known Socrates chiefly through what Plato recorded of him in his famous Dialogues.

b. The method of argument Socrates used in exposing fallacies has come to be known as the dialectical method（ie the method of argument, by questions and answers.).

c. In 399BC, at the age of seventy Socrates was put on trial on a charge of “injuring the city”by not acknowledging its gods and corrupting the young. This trial was recorded by Plato in the dialogue “The Apology of Socrates”.

B. Plato (about 428—348 B.

C.)柏拉图

a. Plato’s Dialogues《对话录》 are important not only as philosophical writing but also as imaginative literature.

b. Of the Dialogues Plato wrote, 27 have survived, including the Apology 《申辩》,Symposium《会饮篇》或译为《飨宴篇》, and the Republic《理想国》.

c. Plato’s Apology was about Socrates’defense of himself at the trial.

d. Plato’s Symposium dealt with beauty and lov

e.

e. Plato’s Republic was about the idea state ruled by a philosopher but barring poets.

f. Plato’s comprehensive system of philosophy dealt with, among other things, the problem of how, in the complex, ever-changing world, men were to obtain knowledge.

g. The reply Plato gave (to the problem of how men were to obtain knowledge) was: men have knowledge because of the existence of certain general “ideas”, like beauty, truth, goodness.

h. According to Plato, only such “ideas”as beauty, truth, goodness are completely real, while the physical world is only relatively real.

i. Plato’s philosophy is called Idealism because in his system of philosophy only such “ideas”as beauty, truth and goodness are regarded as completely real while the physical world is regarded as only relatively real.

C. Aristotle (384—322B. C.)亚里士多德

a. Of Aristotle’s numerous works, the following are perhaps still important to scholars and general readers alike: Ethics《伦理学》, Politics 《政治学》, Poetics《诗学》, and Rhetoric《修辞学》.

b. Aristotle’s Ethics was an introduction to moral philosophy.

c. Aristotle’s Poetics was a treatise on literary theory.

d. Aristotle’s Rhetoric dealt with the art of persuading an audienc

e.

In what way or ways did Aristotle differ from his teacher Plato?

1). For one thing, Aristotle emphasized direct observation of nature and insisted that theory should follow fact. This is different from Plato’s reliance on subjective thinking.

2). Also, Aristotle thought that “form”(=idea) and matter together made up concrete individual realities. Here, too, he differed from Plato who held that ideas had a higher reality than the physical world.

What is Aristotle’s most influential writing to students of literature?

1). To students of literature, Aristotle’s most influential of writing is Poetics.

D. Contending Schools of Thought

a. The Sophists 诡辩派

1). The most eminent of the Sophists was Protagoras（普罗塔格拉）, born about 500 B. C. He is chiefly noted for his doctrine “man is the measure of all things”.

b. The Cynics犬儒派

1). The word “cynic” means “dog” in Greek.

2). The Cynics got their name because Diogenes（第欧根尼）(about 412—323

B.C.), one of their leaders, decided to live like a dog.

3). Diogenes rejected all conventions.

4). Diogenes advocated self-sufficiency and extreme simplicity in life.

5). Diogenes proclaimed his brotherhood not only with the whole human race, but also with animals.

6). On the other hand, Diogenes had no patience with the rich and powerful.

7). A story has it that Alexander the Great visited him and asking if he wanted any favor, Diogenes replied: “Only stand out of my light”.

c. The Sceptics怀疑派

1). The Sceptics followed Pyrrhon（皮朗）, who held that not all knowledge was attainable.

d. The Epicureans伊壁鸠鲁派

1). The Epicureans were disciples of Epicurus (about 341—270 B.C.), who believed pleasure to the highest good in life, but by pleasure he meant, not sensual enjoyment, but freedom from pain and emotional upheaval, which he thought could be attained by the practice of virtue.

e. The Stoics斯多葛派

1). To the Stoics, the most important thing in life was not “pleasure”, but “duty”.

2). The chief Stoic was Zeno（齐诺）.

3). Zeno believed that there is no such thing as chance, and that the cause of nature is rigidly determined by natural laws.

4). In the life of an individual man, Zeno believed that virtue is the sole good.

II. Roman Culture

1. Romans and Greeks

a. The burning of Corinth in 146 B.C. marked the Roman conquest of Greece, which was then reduced to a province of Roman Empire.

b. Latin was the official language of the west half of the Roman Empire, Greek that of the eastern half.

What did the Romans have in common with the Greeks? And what was the chief difference between them?

a. The Romans had a lot in common with the Greeks.

b. Both the Romans and Greeks had traditions rooted in the idea of the citizen-assembly, hostile to monarchy and to servility.

c. Their religious are alike enough for most of their deities to be readily identified—Greek Zeus with Roman Jupiter, Greek Aphrodite with roman Venus, and so on—and their myths to be fuse

d.

d. Their languages worked in similar ways, and were ultimately related, both being members of the Indo-European language family which stretches from Bangladesh to Iceland.

e. There were one big difference. The Romans built up a vast empire; the Greeks didn’t, except for the brief moment of Alexander’s conquests, which soon disintegrated.

2. Roman history

1). The year 27 B.C. divided the history of Rome into two periods.

2). Before 27 B.C. Rome had been a republic.

The two important contributions made by the Romans to European culture

I. The Pax Romana

II. Roman Law

1) The emperors relied on a strong army—the famous Roman legions—and an efficient bureaucracy to exert their rule, which was facilitated by a well-developed system of roads. Thus the Romans enjoyed a long period of peace lasting two hundred years, a remarkable phenomenon in history known as the Pax Romana.

2). Another important contribution made by the Romans to European culture was Roman Law.

The decline of the Roman Empire(5个时间)

1). The empire began to decline in the 3rd century, increasingly troubled by the inroads of northern tribes such as the Goths.

2). In the fourth century the emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, and renamed it Constantinople (modern Istanbul). 3). After 395, the (Roman) empire was permanently divided into East (the Byzantium Empire) and West.

4). In 476 the last emperor of the West was deposed by the Goths and this marked the end of the West Roman Empire.

5). The East Roman Empire collapsed when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453.

4. Architecture, Painting and Sculpture

A. Architecture

1). The Pantheon is the greatest and best preserved Roman temple, which was built in 27 B. C. and reconstructed in the 2nd century A. D. It is a round, domed form and has the world’s first vast interior space.

2). Pont du Gard is an exceptionally well-preserved aqueduct that spans

a wide valley in southern France.

3). The Colosseum is an enormous amphitheatre built in the centre of Rome in imperial times. A masterpiece of engineering, it held more than 5,000 spectators. Its interior is two-thirds of a mile round.

II. The Old Testament

(1). The Bible《圣经》 is a collection of religious writings comprising two parts: the Old Testament《旧约》 and the New Testament《新约》.

(2). The Old Testament is about God and Laws of God.

(3). The New Testament is about the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

1. The Pentateuch《摩西五经》，《旧约全书》的前五卷

(1). The oldest and most important of the 39 books of the Old Testament are the five books, called Pentateuch.

(2). The first five books of the Old Testament are Genesis《创世记》又译《创世纪》, Exodus《出埃及记》, Leviticus《利未记》, Numbers《民数记》 and Deuteronomy《申命记》.

(3). Genesis is a religious account of the origin of the Hebrew people, including the origin of the world and man, the career of Isaac and the life of Jacob and his son Joseph.

(4). Exodus is a religious history of the Hebrews during their flight from Egypt, the period when they began to receive God’s Law.

(5). Leviticus is a collection of primitive laws.

(6). Numbers is a combination of the account of the flight from Egypt with two censuses about the Exodus.

(7). Deuteronomy is about the final words of Moses（摩西《圣经》故事中犹太人古代领袖）to his people, restating his orders and fifty years’ experiences as a leader.

(8). in the beginning, says the Bible, God created the heaven and earth.

(9). When the world was formed, God created man and woman—Adam and Eve.

A. The Fall of Man

a. Adam (亚当） and Eve（夏娃） lived in perfect happiness in the Garden of Eden（伊甸园）. But at the temptation of the serpent one day, Eve picked the fruit from the forbidden tree and shared it with Adam. Immediately afterwards, they were driven from Paradise and went forth into the world.

The great flood

1). For many hundred years the family of man multiplied and spread over the earth. Because Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and passed on the knowledge of wickedness, man became more and more corrupt. Consequently, God decided to put an end to this by destroying all life on earth in a great flood.

B. Noah’s Ark诺亚方舟

a. There was, however, one good man, Noah, who still remembered God and tried to be at peace with his conscience. So God spoke to Noah about His intention and told him to build an ark to protect him and his kins from the waters. Noah foll owed God’s instruction.

IV. The New Testament

What writings make up the New Testament?

(1). Towards the end of the fourth century four accounts were accepted as part of the New Testament, which tells the beginning of Christianity. The four accounts were believed to have been written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They tell of the birth, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus.

(2). Then come: the Acts of Apostles《使徒行传》, a history of the early Christian movement; the Epistles《使徒书》, or letters to the church groups around the Mediterranean; and lastly the Book of Revelation《启示录》, a visionary account of the final triumph of God’s purpose.

1. Birth of Jesus

According to St. Matthew《马太福音》, Jesus was a child of the Holy Ghost.

2. Jesus is tempted by the Devil

According to St. Matthew, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in order to see whether Jesus was absolutely faithful to God’s teachings.

5. The crucifixion

According to St. John《约翰福音》 19, the Jews had Jesus crucified because he had made himself the Son of God.

II. Manor and Church

1. Feudalism

Feudalism in Europe was mainly a system of holding land in exchange for military service.

A. Growth of Feudalism

Charles Martel 查理·马特

a. In 732 Charles Martel, a Frankish ruler, gave his soldiers estates known as fiefs as a reward for their service.

b. Kingdoms of Western Europe were divided into thousands of feudal manors or farming communities.

B. The Manor

a. The centre of medieval life under feudalism was the manor.

b. Manors were founded on the fiefs of the lord. (12th century manor was made of stone, called castles)

C. Knighthood and Code of Chivalry

a. A noble began his education as a page (侍从或见习骑士） at the age of seven. He was taught to say his prayers, learned good manners and ran errands for the ladies. At about fourteen, the page became a squire（骑士的年轻扈从）. He was taught the duties of a knight and practiced using a sword, lance and shield. He went into battle with his master. If the squire proved to be a good fighter, he would be made a knight（骑士） at a special ceremony known as dubbing（骑士授予仪式）.

b. As a knight, he was pledged to protect the weak, to fight for the church, to be loyal to his lord and to respect women of noble birth. These rules

were known as code of chivalry, from which the Western idea of good manners developed.

名词解释

1. Iliad（《伊利亚特》）: 1) It is one of the two great ancient Greek epics by Homer. 2) It deals with the alliance of the states of the southern mainland of, led by Agamemnon in their war against the city of probably in the period 1200-1100 B. C. 3) The heroes are Hector on the Trojan side and Achilles and Odysseus on the Greek. 4) In the final battle, Hector was killed by Achilles and was sacked and burned by the Greeks.

2．Herodotus（希罗多德）: 1) He is one of great ancient Greek historians.

2) He is often called “Father of History. 3) He wrote about the wars between Greeks and Persians. 4) His history, full of anecdotes and digressions and lively dialogue, is wonderfully readable.5) His object in writing was “that the great and wonderful deeds done by Greeks and Persians should not lack renown.”

3．Socrates: 1) He was the philosopher of ancient Greece in the 5th and 4th century. 2) He was considered one of the three greatest names in European philosophy. 3) He hold that philosophy took the aim to reach the conclusion of oneself and virtue was knowledge. 4) His thoughts were recorded in Dialogues by Plato. 5) He devised the dialectical method.

4. Dialectical method（辩证法）: 1) It was devised by ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. 2) It is a method of argument, by questions and answers.

5. Plato: 1) He was the greatest philosopher of ancient, pupil of Socrates.

2) His Dialogues are important not only as philosophical writing but also as imaginative literature. Of the Dialogues he wrote, 27 have survived, including: the Apology, Symposium and the Republic. 3) Plato built up a comprehensive system of philosophy. 4) His philosophy is called idealism.

6. Diogenes（狄奥艮尼）（北京市2002年自考真题名词解释）: He was one of the Cynic’s leaders in ancient Greece, who decided to live like a dog.

2) The word “cynic” means “dog” in Greek. 3) He rejected all conventions, advocated self-sufficiency and extreme simplicity in life.

7．Stoics（斯多咯派）: 1) It was one of four ancient Greek schools of philosophers in the 4th century B. C. 2) To them, the most important thing in life was “duty”. 3) It developed into the theory that one should endure hardship and misfortune with courage. 4) The chief Stoic was Zeno.

8．Doric Style（陶立克柱）: 1) It is one of three ancient Greek architecture styles. 2) It is also called the masculine style. 3) It is sturdy, powerful, severe-looking and showing a good sense of proportions and numbers. 4) The Doric style. is monotonous and unadorned.

9．Pax Romana（罗马和平）: 1）In the year 27 B.C. Octavius took supreme power as emperor with the tile of Augustus. 2)Two centuries later, the reached its greatest extent in the North and East. 3) The emperors mainly relied on a strong army-the famous Roman Legions and an influential bureaucracy to exert their rules. 4) Thus the Roman enjoyed a long period of peace lasting 200 years. This remarkable phenomenon in the history is known as Pax Romana.

10. Virgil（维吉尔）: 1) He was the greatest of Latin poets. 2) He wrote the great epic, the Aeneid. 3) The poem opened out to the future, for Aeneas stood at the head of a rce of people who were to found the first the Roman republic and then the Roman Empire.

1. The Bible: 1) The Bible is a collection of religious writings comprising two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. 2) The former is about God and the laws of God; the latter, the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

2. The Old Testament: 1)The Bible was divided into two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. 2) The Old Testament is about God and the Laws of God. 3)The word “Testament” means “agreement”, the agreement between God and

3. The New Testament: 1) The Bible was divided into two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. 2) The New Testament is about the doctrine (教义) of Jesus Christ. 3)The word “Testament” means “agreement”, the agreement between God and

4. Pentateuch（摩西五经）: 1) In the Old Testament, the oldest and most important are the first five books, called Pentateuch.2) Pentateuch contains five books: Genesis (创世记), Exodus (出埃及记), Leviticus(利未记), Numbers (民数记), Deuteronomy (申命记).

5．Genesis： 1） Genesis is the first one of the five books in Pentateuch in Old Testament. 2) It tells about a religious account of the origin of the Hebrews people, including the origin of the world and of man, the career of Issac and the life of Jacob and his son Joseph.

6. Exodus: 1) Exodus is the second one of the five books in Pentateuch in the Old Testament. 2) It tells about a religious history of the Hebrews during their flight from Egypt Led by Moses. 3) During the period they began to receive God’s Law.

7. Noah’s Ark（挪亚方舟）: 1) For many hundred years after Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, the family of man multiplied and spread over the earth, but they became more and more corrupt 2) Thus God decided to destroy all life on earth in a great flood. 3) Because Noah always kept his faith in God, God spoke to him about His intention and told him to build an ark to protect him and his kin from the waters. 4) .Noah followed God’s instructions. 5) For 40 days it rained, the whole earth was covered with water, those sheltered in the ark being the only survivals.

8. The Prophets (先知)：1）For more than a thousand years in the Middle East there had been a class of people known as “Prophets” or the spokesmen of God.2） Earlier prophets lived in groups as temple officials. Later on there appeared in dependent prophet. 3）The Prophets can be grouped into the Major Prophets and Minor Prophets.（分为大小先知）

9．The Book of Daniel（《但以理书》）： 1）The Book of Daniel belongs to The Old Testament of the Bible. 2)The book appeared in the early days of Jews’ revolt against the Syrian King Antiochus IV. 3) It is a story mixed with vision, describing how Daniel and his friends were taken prisoner to after the fall of and how they refused to compromise their faith.

10．The Edict of Milan（米兰赦令）: 1) Roman emperor Constantine believed that God had helped him in winning the battle for the throne, so he issued the Edict of Milan in 313. 2) It granted religious freedom to all, made Christianity legal.

11． The four accounts in the New Testament（四福音书）: 1) The four accounts are the first four books in the New Testament. 2) They were believed to have been written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four of Jesus’ early followers. 3) They tell of the birth, teaching, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

12．King James’ version of Bible（钦定版本圣经）: 1）As the most important and influential of English Bible, it is also cal led the “Authorized”

version. 2) It was produced by 54 biblical scholars at the command of King James, and was published in 1611. 3) With its simple, majestic Anglo-Saxon tongue, it is know as the greatest book in the English language.

1．the Middle ages（中世纪）（北京市2002年自考真题名词解释）: 1) In European history, the thousand-year period from the 5th century to 15th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century is called the Middle Ages.2)The middle ages is so called because it came between ancient times and modern times. 3) During the Medieval times there was no central government to keep the order. The only organization that seemed to unite was the Christian church.4) Christianity took the lead in politics, law, art, and learning for hundreds of years. It shaped people’s lives. That is why the Middle Ages is also called the “Age of Faith”.

2．Feudalism（封建主义）：1）Feudalism in Europe was mainly a system of land holding —a system of holding land in exchange for military service. 2）The word “feudalism” was derived from the Latin “feudum”, a grant of land.

3．Fiefs（封地，采邑）：1）In Feudalism, the ruler of the government redivided the large lands into small pieces to be given to chancellors or soldiers as a reward for their service. 2）The subdivisions were called fiefs.

4. vassals（诸侯）: 1)In Feudalism, the ruler of the government redivided the large lands into small pieces to be given to chancellors or soldiers as a reward for their service. 2)The subdivisions were called fiefs.3) The owners of the fiefs w call vassals.

5. Code of Chivalry (骑士制度):1) In the Middle Ages of western Europe, as a knight, he were pledged to protect the weak, to fight for the church, to be loyal to his lord and to respect women of noble birth. 2) These rules were known as code of chivalry, from which the western idea of good manners developed.

6. dubbing (骑士头衔加冕仪式) : After a knight was successful in his trails and tournaments, there was always a special ceremony to award him with a title, knight. This special ceremony is called dubbing.

7. The Manor (庄园)： 1） The centre of medieval life under feudalism was the manor. 2）Manors were founded on the fiefs of the lords. 3）By the twelfth century manor houses were made of stone and designed as fortresses. They came to be called castles.