美国文学选读复习材料

一1.“He was silent with conceit of his son. Mrs. Morel sniffed, as if it were nothing.”(Sons and Lovers by wrence)From the above quotation, we can see that Mrs. Morel’s attitude to her husband is ______ .A. sincerely warmB. genuinely kindC. seemingly angryD. merely contemptuous2. A boy makes a quest of his idealized childish love through painful experience up to the point of losing his innocence and coming to see the drabness and harshness of the adult world.The above sentence may well sum up the major theme of ______.A. Eliot’s poem The love Song of J. Alfred PrufrockB. Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s ProfessionC. Joyce’s story ArabyD. Lawrence’s story The Horse Dealer’s Daughter3. Linguistically, compared with the writing s of Mark Twain, Henry James’s fiction is noted for his ______.A. frontier vernacularB. rich colloquialismC. vulgarly descriptive wordsD. refined elegant language4. Which of the following statements about Washington Irving is NOT true?A. Literary imagination should breed in a land rich in the past culture.B. He is preoccupied with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil.C. His stories are among the best of the American literature.D. Some of his works are based on the materials of the European legendary tales.5. Which of the following is NOT one of the main ideas advocated by Emerson, the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism?A. As an individual, man is divine and can develop and improve himself infinitely.B. Nature exercises a healthy and restorative influence on human beings.C. There exists an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal “Oversoul.”D. Evil and sin are ever present in human heart and will pass on from one generation toanother.”6. Whitman’s poems are characterized by all the following features EXCEPT ______ .A. the strict poetic formB. the free and natural rhythmC. the easy flow of feelingsD. the simple and conversational language7. “Then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.” In the quoted sentence, the author might imply that ______.A. nothing changes in the 5000 years of human historyB. man’s desire to conquer nature can only end in his own de structionC. nature is evil as it was 5000 years agoD. nature has the ultimate creative power二、作家作品：F. Scott FitzgeraldHerman MelvilleHenry JamesErnest HemingwayJames Fenimore CooperBenjamin FranklinThomas JeffersonHenry Wadsworth LongfellowNathaniel HawthorneThomas PaineEdgar Allan PoeWashington IrvingHenry David ThoreauThomas PaineEdgar Allan PoeWashington IrvingHenry David ThoreauWalt WhitmanMark TwainRobert FrostThomas Stearns EliotTheodore DreiserJohn SteinbeckIII. Reading Comprehension. (30 points in all, 10 for each)Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English.1. 1. “With Blue—uncertain stumbling Buzz—Between the light—and me—And then the Windows failed—and thenI could not see to see—”Questions:A. Identify the poem and the poet. (4 points)B. What do “Windows” symbolically stand for? (3 points)C. What idea does the quoted passage express? (3 points)A. Emily Dickinson: “I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died”.B. Eyes, for they are considered as the windows of human soul.C. The last thing the dying person saw and heard was the fly and its buzz. When the eyes failed, the human soul was closed and the person died. (The speaker could not see any of the afterlife or God or angels she expected to see.)2. A. Ernest Hemingway: Indian Camp.B. Life and death.C. When father says that dying is pretty easy, he might be thinking about the self-murdered husband. But when he reflects on the wife’s miracle survival of the violent pain in the whole process of birth, he adds the final sentence. Dying is both hard and easy, it all depends on individuals.3. “I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence;Two roads diverged in a wood and I –I took the one less travelled byAnd that has made all the difference.”Questions:A.Who is the author of this poem? (2 points)B.Identify the title of the short poem from which this part is taken. (4 points)In one or two sentences, interpret the implied meaning of the last two lines. (4 points)A. Robert Lee FrostB. The Road Not Taken.C. Confronted the dillema, I made a choice and “took the one less traveled by”. As a result,all the differences have been made.4. “It was you that broke the new wood,Now is a time for carving.We have one sap and one root—Let there be commerce between us.”Questions:A．Whom does the “us” refer to? (4 points)B．What does the phrase “broke the new wood ” mean here? (2 points)C．What is the intention of the poet in writing the poem “A Pact” from which these lines are taken? (4 points). A. Whitman and Pound (the Imagists)B. Made experiments with the conventions of the traditional poetryC. In this poem, Pound started to find some agreement between "Whitmanesque" free verse,which he had attacked for its carelessness in composition, and the " verse libre" of the Imagists who showed more concern for formal values.5. “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his bluegardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagneand the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor—boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week—ends his Rolls—Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing—brushes and hammers and garden—shears, repairing the ravages of the night before.”Questions:A．Identify the author and the title of the novel from which this passage is taken. (4 points)B．What can you imply by reading this passage? (3 points)C．What do the “moths ” symbolize? (3 points)A. F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Great Gatsby?B. This passage describes Gatsby' s extravagance.C. Moths are used metaphorically to refer to those people who are drawn to the party simply for its glamour, for the wealth of Gatsby.IV. Questions and answers.(20 points in all, 10 for each)Give brief answers to each of the following questions in English.1.Why is Twain considered the central figure in American fiction?Mark Twain was one of the main founders of 19th century American realistic literature, have made outstanding contributions in the theory and the style of fiction to the development of American literature. He advocated the creation of literary works with local flavor and suggested writers to start from their own familiar regions and use the language of the people to describing their lives and portray their characters and souls. In his view, supposing writers follow this principle, the American people and the whole picture of American life will be faithfully displayed before the world. And only then, “the great American fiction” will be written. In many years after the founding of the United states, almost all American writers were under the influence of traditional English literature. However, Mark Twain broke this situation, creating a new path by the masses’ humor in the western region, colloquial style of American slang and a special way to tell a story. Mark Twain is considered a master of humorous language. His writing style created a precedent of colloquial language in American fiction, which had a tremendous impact on the later writers. All of his works are full of humorous art. Mark Twain’s humor is based on rich ideas and formed with the funny writing. It has not only rich philosophy about life but also strong artistic appeal, which shows his superb control on the language skills. He blends humor in with satire. There is not only filled with unique personal wit and witticism, but also no lack of profound social insight and analysis.2.Explain the symbolic meanings of “A” in The Scarlet Letter.a. The letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as anadulterer, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able” or “Angel”.b. Besides Hester, Dimmesdale also ironed the letter “A” on his body, which provoked hisself-consciousness and showed his repent for what he did.c. Pearl, their baby, wore a green letter “A” in a piece of seaweed while playing on the beach.This green letter “A” symbolizes vitality or new life, and also suggests her inheritance from her mother.3. What is Transcedentalism and list some representative figures?Transcendentalism is the climax of American Romanticism.First, the Transcendentalist placed emphasis on spirit, or the oversoul, as the most important thing in the universe.Secondly, Transcendentalists stressed the importance of the individual.Thirdly, the Transcendentalists offered a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are the representative figures.。