Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in America) allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate—and hence to work on the inner organs of the body—not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew’s wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour—reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital—testify to the social conscience that was at the center of “Victorian values”.
B.ut now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was—the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: “We are our father’s shadows cast at noon”.
第16题:According to the author, Lytton Strachey’s book Eminent Victorians _____.
[单选题]One of the things that make Fiji a tourist attraction isA. its comfortable hotelsB. its good weather all year roundC. its exciting football matchesD. its religious beliefs
[单选题]One of the things that make Fiji a tourist attraction isA.its comfortable hotelsB.its good weather all year roundC.its exciting football matchesD.its religious beliefs
[主观题]One of the most important things for this job is English proficiency. Do you speak English fluently?
[单选题]One of the few things you ___ say about English people with certainty is that they talk a lot about the weather.A. need B. must C. shouldD. can
[单选题]What is one of the FIRST things you would do on boarding an inflatable liferaft?()A . Open equipment packB . Post a lookoutC . Issue anti-seasickness medicineD . Pick up other survivor
[单选题]Passage OneValencia is in the east part of Spain. It has a port on the sea, two miles away from the coast. It is the capital of a province that is also named Valencia.The city is the market centre for what is produced by the land around the city. Mos
[试题]Part AD.irections:You heard that one of your friends has been accepted by a foreign university. Write a letter of congratulations including (1) your congratulations; (2) some advice; (3) reminding him to keep in touch with you. You should write about
[单选题]H.aving two eyes, instead of one, is particularly useful for ______.A. seeing at nightB. seeing objects far awayC. looking over a wide areaD. judging distances
[单选题]All other things being equal, which one of the following bonds has the grea
[单选题]Part 2 4. Islamic terrorism may be a distant threat for Shearer Lumber Products, a timber company based in Idaho. But eco-terrorism is a very real one. In November, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an underground organization, gave warning that it h