Question

Shakespeare is to literature in English, so is the poet Du Fu to the Chinese literary tradition. Du Fu, known as the Sage of Poetry, lived and wrote in the eighth century, and his work is still available to modern Chinese readers. Du Fu, in fact, is still widely quoted (引用) in China today, and he has had a great influence on Chinese poetry in the past 1,200 years. However, the poet’s complete works weren’t unavailable in English translation in the past.

Conant University Professor Stephen Owen, who spent eight years on The Poetry of Du Fu, a 3,000-page translation published by De Gruyter, has completed the first English translation of the complete works of Du Fu.

Because Du Fu, like Shakespeare, is known for great width — in subject, in the way he uses language to pass on different registers (不同場合用的語言和文體) (see “Out with the Sake, In With the Wine”) and layered (多層次的) meanings — he is one of the most challenging poets to translate. Chinese poetry, a literary tradition in which tenses are absent, pronouns rare, and the use of the singular and plural forms are hard to understand, is well known for seeming ambiguous (模糊不清的) at times. Within that tradition, the interpretation of Du Fu’s work is especially contested. Owen’s critical edition, in which his translations face the original texts, brings a scholarly aid for the first time to English-speaking readers ready to engage with China’s literary lion.

1.“Shakespeare is to literature in English, so is the poet Du Fu to the Chinese literary

tradition.” means “ ”.

A. Du Fu has the same important literary status as Shakespeare in their own countries

B. Du Fu is not as well-known as Shakespeare in China

C. Du Fu is much more famous than Shakespeare in England

2.The Poetry of Du Fu is translated into English by .

A. Shakespeare B. Du Fu C. Stephen Owen

3.The underlined sentence is closer to the original Chinese version “ ”.

A. 零落棲遲一杯酒，主人奉觴客長壽

B. 莫思身外無窮事，且盡生前有限杯

C. 花間一壺酒，獨酌無相親

4.Chinese poems are hard to translate because of the following factors EXCEPT .

A. the use of singular and plural forms

B. too many characters

C. tenses and pronouns

5.According to the passage, the following statement “ ” is TRUE.

A. The Poetry of Du Fu is the first English translation of the complete works of Du Fu.

B. There was no English translation of Du’s works in the past.

C. Du’s works are out of style in China today.

Answer 1