【SAT阅读能力提升】SAT阅读中的文学术语大汇总

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本文要讲解SAT阅读中的十三个常见的文学术语，考生要去理解每个术语的含义。

1.Literature of the absurd： (荒诞派文学) The term is applied to a number of

works in drama and prose fiction which have in common the sense that the human

condition is essentially absurd， and that this condition can be adequately

represented only in works of literature that are themselves absurd. The current

movement emerged in France after the Second World War， as a rebellion against

essential beliefs and values of traditional culture and traditional literature.

They hold the belief that a human being is an isolated existent who is cast into

an alien universe and the human life in its fruitless search for purpose and

meaning is both anguish and absurd.

2.Theater of the absurd： (荒诞派戏剧) belongs to literature of the absurd. Two

representatives of this school are Eugene Ionesco， French author of The Bald

Soprano (1949) (此作品中文译名秃头歌女)， and Samuel Beckett， Irish author of

Waiting for Godot (1954) (此作品是荒诞派戏剧代表作等待戈多). They project the

irrationalism， helplessness and absurdity of life in dramatic forms that reject

realistic settings， logical reasoning， or a coherently evolving plot.

3.Black comedy or black humor： (黑色幽默) it mostly employed to describe

baleful， na?ve， or inept characters in a fantastic or nightmarish modern world

playing out their roles in what Ionesco called a “tragic farce”， in which the

events are often simultaneously comic， horrifying， and absurd. Joseph Heller’s

Catch-22 (美国著名作家约瑟夫海勒二十二条军规) can be taken as an example of the

employment of this technique.

4. Aestheticism or the Aesthetic Movement(唯美主义)： it began to prevail in

Europe at the middle of the 19th century. The theory of “art for art’s sake” was

first put forward by some French artists. They declared that art should serve no

religious， moral or social purpose. The two most important representatives of

aestheticists in English literature are Walt Pater and Oscar Wilde.

5. Allegory(寓言)： a tale in verse or prose in which characters， actions， or

settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities， such as John Bunyan’s The

Pilgrim’s Progress. An allegory is a story with two meanings， a literal meaning

and a symbolic meaning.

6. Fable(寓言)： is a short narrative， in prose or verse， that exemplifies an

abstract moral thesis or principle of human behavior. Most common is the beast

fable， in which animals talk and act like the human types they represent. The

fables in Western cultures derive mainly from the stories attributed to Aesop， a

Greek slave of the sixth century B. C.

7. Parable(寓言)： is a very short narrative about human beings presented so

as to stress analogy with a general lesson that the narrator is trying to bring

home to his audience. For example， the Bible contains lots of parables employed

by Jesus Christ to make his flock understand his preach.

(注意以上三个词在汉语中都翻译成寓言，但是内涵并不相同，不要搞混)

8. Alliteration(头韵)： the repetition of the initial consonant sounds. In Old

English alliterative meter， alliteration is the principal organizing device of

the verse line， such as in Beowulf.

9. Consonance（尾韵）：is the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants but

with a change in the intervening vowel， such as “live and love”.

10. Assonance（类韵）： is the repetition of identical or similar vowel， especially

in stressed syllables， in a sequence of nearby words， such as “child of

silence”.

11. Allusion (典故)：is a reference without explicit identification， to a

literary or historical person， place， or event， or to another literary work or

passage. Most literary allusions are intended to be recognized by the generally

educated readers of the author’s time， but some are aimed at a special

group.

12. Ambiguity(复义性)： Since William Empson(燕卜荪) published Seven Types of

Ambiguity(《复义七型》)， the term has been widely used in criticism to identify a

deliberate poetic device： the use of a single word or expression to signify two

or more distinct references， or to express two or more diverse attitudes or

feeling.

13. Antihero(反英雄)：the chief character in a modern novel or play whose

character is totally different from the traditional heroes. Instead of

manifesting largeness， dignity， power， or heroism， the antihero is petty，

passive， ineffectual or dishonest. For example， the heroine of Defoe’s Moll

Flanders is a thief and a prostitute.