(1)Aristotle emphasized direct observation of nature and insisted that theory should follow fact.This is different from Plato's reliance on subjective thinking.(2)He thought that "idea"and matter together made concrete individual realities in which he differed from Plato who held that ideas had higher reality than the physical world His significant works includes:Ethics,Politics,Poeties and Rhetoric. 10.Who were some of the other philosophers active in that period? Does the word "Epicurean"in its modern sense convey the true meaning of the philosophy of the ancient Epicureans?What were their views on pleasure? (1)They were Heracleitue,Democritus,Diogenes,Pyrrhon,Epicu- rus and Zeno.(2)No,it dosen't.The ancient Epicureans believed pleasure to be the highest worth of life,but by pleasure they meant, not sensual enjoyment but that attained by the practice of virtue.But this idea was misled by modem people,in their sense,the word "Epicurean"has come to mean indulgence in luxurious living. 11.Say something about Greek sculpture,pottery and architecture. What was the most famous Greek temple?Is it still there? (1)Along with the formation of Greek civilization,Greek sculp- ture,pottery and architecture got many great achievements.Greeks put into works of art the things they admired and worshiped,the sci- entific rules they discovered.Greek art evolved from the archaic period to the classical period which marked its maturity.(2)The most famous temple was the Acrpolis at Athens.(3)Yes,it is still there. 12.Give some examples to show the enormous influence of Greek culture on English literature. Some examples: (1)A Freudian term"Oedipus Complex"of 19th century originating ·20·
from a Greek tragedy in which king Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother.(2)In the early part of the 19th cen- tury,in England alone,three young Romantic poets expressed their admiration of Greek culture in works which have themselves be- come classics:Byron's Isles of Greece,Shelley's Hellas and Prometheus Unbound and Keat's Ode on a Grecian Urn.(3)In the 20th century,there are Homeric parallels in the Irishman James Joyce's modernist masterpiece tlysses. (二）Roman Culture 1.What did the Romans have in common with the Greeks?And what was the chief difference between them? (1)The Romans had a lot in common with the Greeks.Both peoples had traditions rooted in the idea of the citizen-assembly,hostile to monarchy and to servility.Their religions were 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 fused.Their languages worked in similar ways and were ultimately related,both being members of the Indo-European lan- guage family which stretches from Bangladesh to Iceland.(2)There was one big difference.The Romans built up a vast empire.The Greeks didn't,excepted for the brief moment of Alexander's con- quests,which soon disintegrated. 2.Explain Pax Romana. In the year 27 B.C.,Octavius took supreme power as emperor with the title of Augustus.Two centuries later,the Roman empire reached its greatest extent in the North and East.The emperors mainly relied on a strong army-the famous Roman Legions and an influential bu- reaucracy to exert their rules.Thus the Romans enjoyed a long period of peace lasting 200 years.This remarkable phenomenon in the histo- ·21·
ry is known as Pax Romana. 3.What contribution did the Romans make to the rule of law? In Roman's earliest stage,only a number of patricians knew the cus- tomary legal procedure.When the rules were put into writing in the middle of the third century B.C.it marked a victory for the ple- beians.There was further development of law under the emperors un- til it was codified,eventually to become the core of modem civil and commercial law in many Westem countries. 4.Who were the important prose writers in ancient Rome?What does "Ciceronian"mean?Did Cicero write that kind of rhetorical prose all the time? (1)Marcus Tullius Cicero and Julius Caesar were two important prose writers.(2)Ciceronian means Cicero's eloquent,oratorical manner of writing,which has had an enormous influence on the de- veopement of European prose.(3)No,he didn't.Because Cicero ap- pears as a different man with a different style,far less rhetorical,but colloquial and intimate. 5.Give an example of the terse style of Julius Caesar's prose. An example:I came,I saw,I conquered(models of succint Latin). 6.Who was Lucretius?What did he do? (1)Lucretius was a poet of ancient Rome.(2)He wrote the philo- sophical poem On the Nature of Things to expound the ideas of Epi- curus the Greek atomist 7.What is the book for which Virgil has been famous throughout the centuries?In what ways is the book linked with the Greek past? (1)The book was Aeneid.(2)The story was about Aeneas,one of the princes of Troy,who escaped from that burning city when it fell to the Greeks,to carry on the Trojan cause in a new place,Rome.He ·22·
didn't go alone,but,carrying his father on his shoulders and leading his little son by the hand,a family group of three generations moved together.Thus in this way the book is linked with the Greek past. 8.Why do we say Aeneus is a truly tragic hero? Because Aeneas had to betray the great passion of his life,his love for Dido,queen of Carthage,so that he could fulfill his historic mis- sion. 9.What is the chief Roman achievement in architecture?Give some examples. (1)The Romans were great engineers.They covered their world from one end to the other with roads,bridges,aqueducts,theatres and arenas. (2)Some examples: 1The Pantheon:the greatest and the best preserved Roman temple built in 27 B.C.. 2 Pont du Gard:it is an exceptionally well-preserved aqueduct that spans a wide valley in southem France. 10.Why are the wall-paintings of the ancient Romans still signifi- cant to us today？ Roman painting was strongly infiuenced by the art of Greece.And it also had pecularities of its own.Unfortunately much of the paint- ing no longer exists.There are,however,some wall-paintings from Pompeii and other towns near Naples.These wall-paintings include still lifes,landscape paintings and figure paintings.Among them were Lady Musician and Young Girl,the Maiden Gathering Flowers and the Landscape. ·23·
DMIO人YTO THE BIBLE AND CHRISTIANITY 基督教和《圣经》 一、背景知识及本章内容概要 基督教与佛教、伊斯兰教并列为世界二大宗教。在所有宗教 中，基督教是到目前为止在西方影响最为深远的宗教。正如第一 章所说，基督教-犹太教(Judeo-Christian)是欧洲文化的两大组成 部分之一 犹太教(Judaism)是世界各地犹太人信奉的宗教。这一教派 的经典《I旧约》(the Old Testament)记载了犹太人的历史。大约 3800年以前，犹太人的祖先希伯莱人(the Hebrews)在中东一带的 沙漠上流浪。大约在公元前1300年，他们逐渐在当时以发展农业 为主的迦南地区(Canaan,现在的巴勒斯坦)定居下来，并形成了 一些小王国。他们的历史以民间故事的形式口头流传下来，后来 这些故事被载人《旧约》，形成圣经的第一部分。因此，人口不多的 希伯莱人为世界文明做出了最大的贡献。 基督教与犹太教关系密切。它的发源地正是犹太教的发源地 巴勒斯坦。实际上，它最初是犹太教的一个下层教派，公元1 至2世纪之间逐步同犹太教分裂，成为新的宗教。 尽管基督教是在犹太教的基础上形成的，然而自从它诞生以 来，它一直强调两个信念以区别于其他宗教。…是耶稣基督(Jesus ·24·