大学英语专业英美人文知识练习题

General Knowledge for Third-year Students (I)1.In Britain, where does the Changing of the Guard take place?a)Buckingham Palace. b ) Downing Street.c) Victoria and Albert Museum. d )The Tower of London.2.What is a double-decker?a) A bus. b) A chocolate bar.c) A taxi. d) A two-storey building.3.Of all the symbols, ________, which are considered to representfertility and new life, are those most frequently associated with Easter.a)the pumpkin and the turkey b)the lamb and the beefc)the spring peas and the potatoes d)the egg and the rabbit4.The first landing by Europeans in Australia was in 1606, but what istheir nationality?a) Dutch. b) French. c) Spanish. d) British.5.Middle English was used by the poet _______.a) Hardy b) Chaucer c) Shakespeare d) Milton6.“A Tale of Two Cities” was written by ______.a) William Shakespeare b) Goeffrey Chaucerc) Charles Dickens d) Thomas Jefferson7.Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspects of life.Which of the following is NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression?a) Religion and immortality. b) Life and Death.c) Love and marriage. d) War and peace.8.What three components, generally, make up a system of a typicallanguage?a)Phonology, syntax, semantics. b) Semiosis, syntax, frames.c)Frames, semantics, utterances. d) Sign, sign, signs.9.Of the following word-formation processes, _______ is the mostproductive.a) clipping b) blending c) initialism d) derivation10.“The pen is mightier than the sword.” is an example of ______.a) metonymy b) transferred epithetc) oxymoron d) metaphor11.What is the affectionate name given to the clock tower of the Houses ofParliament, Westminster?a) Big Ben. b) Big Ken. c) Big Bill. d) Big Bob.12.Which of these sports did not originate in UK?a) Cricket. b) Snooker. c) Football (Soccer). d) Golf.13.Which town has been nicknamed …Tinseltown‟ by the Americans?a) New Orleans. b) Reno. c) Hollywood. d) Las Vegas.14.What is the other official language in Canada besides English and whatis Canada‟s capital?a) French. Ottawa. b) Spanish, Ottawa.c) Spanish, Toronto. d) French, Toronto.15.Which English poet wrote of Adam and Eve‟s expulsion from theGarden of Eden in Paradise Lost?a) John Donne. b) John Milton.c) Sir Philip Sidney. d) Edmund Spenser.16._______ died of tuberculosis at the age of 26, but not before leaving animpressive body of poems, including “To Autumn” and “Ode on Melancholy”.a) John Keats b) Lord Byronc) Samuel Taylor Coleridge d) Percy Bysshe Shelley17.Walt Whitman was a pioneering figure of American poetry. Hisinnovation first of all lies in his use of ______, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.a) Blank verse b) Heroic coupletc) Free verse d) Iambic pentameter18.Of the following words, ______ is an initialism.a) VOA b) NATO c) BASIC d) UNESCO19.Which of the following words is NOT formed through clipping?a) Dorm. b) Motel. c) Gent. d) Zoo.20.A regional variety of a language that has variations in pronunciation,vocabulary or meaning is called _______.a) accent b) slang c) dialect d) narrative21.The Channel Tunnel, linking the UK to the rest of Europe, runs betweenEngland and ______.a) France b) Germany c) Belgium d) Netherlands22.What‟s the name of the day set apart in USA for planting trees?a) Earth Day. b) Ann Arbor Day. c) Arbor Day. d) Green Day.23.What was the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to NewEngland in 1620?a) Golden Hinde. b) Sunflower.c) Mayflower. d) Titanic.24.What are the official colours of Australia?a) Red, White and Blue. b) Green and Gold.c) Green and Brown. d) Green and Red.25._______ is the first important governess novel in the English literaryhistory.a) Jane Eyre b) Emmac) Wuthering Heights d) Middlemarch26._______ was a pre-Romantic writer and is best known for his Scottishsongs.a) Sir Walter Scott b) Robert Burnsc) Samuel Taylor Coleridge d) William Blake27.Mark Twain did NOT write _______.a)The Prince and the Pauper b)The Old Curiosity Shopc)Pudd‟nhead Wilson d) Tom Sawyer28.Which of the following is NOT a dialect of English?a) Slang. b) Buffalo. c) American. d) Southern.29.Some words in the basic word stock are said to be stable because they______.a)are complex words b) are technical wordsc) refer to the commonest things in lifed)denote the most important concepts30.What is defined as “the study of sentence structure”?a) Syntax. b) Phonology. c) Morphology. d) Semantics.31.What colour is the British classified business telephone directory?a) Yellow. b) White. c) Blue. d) Pink.32.What does IMF stand for?a)International Monetary Foundation.b)International Monetary Fund.c)Internal Money Foundation.d)Internal Monetary Fund.33.What do Americans celebrate on 4th July?a) Thanksgiving Day. b) The Revolution.c) The Discovery of America. d) Independence Day.34.What is Canada‟s national animal?a) Beaver. b) Moose. c) Bear. d) Husky.35.Which play by Shakespeare is not a tragedy?a) Titus Andronicus. b) Pericles, Prince of Tyre.c) Coriolanus. d) Timon of Athens.36.What is the book Lord of the Flies about?a) A road trip around the USA.b) A swarm of killer flies.c)Schoolboys on a desert island.d)An expert pilot.37.Nathaniel Hawthorne did NOT write _______.a) The Scarlet Letter b) Twice Told Talesc) The Blithedale Romance d) Vanity Fair38.Morphology is _______.a)how a word‟s meaning evolves over timeb)the way a language builds words by putting small, meaningful unitstogetherc)how a word‟s s pelling evolves over timed)in what order words are put in a sentence39.Which of the following words can be described as containing anaffricate?a) Pill. b) Huffle. c) Hammer. d) Budged.40.The word ______ is usually NOT used by British people.a) “tube”b) “pub”c) “railroad”d) “taxi”41. In the United Kingdom, ministers are appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of ______.a) the Speaker b) the Lord Chancellorc) the Duke of Edinburgh d) the Prime Minister42.Who was the first person to walk on the moon?a) John Glenn. b) Clint Eastwood.c) Neil Armstrong. d) Yuri Gagarin.43.How many states are there in the US?a) 49. b) 50. c) 51. d) 52.44.What is the title of Canada‟s national anthem?a) True Patriot Love. b) God Save the Queen.c) Canada My Country. d) O Canada.45.Who wrote “Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise”?a) Browning. b) Marx. c) Shakespeare. d) Kipling.46._______ is the author of “To a Skylark”.a) Mary Lamb b) John Keatsc) Percy Bysshe Shelley d) Lord Byron47.Henry D avid Thoreau‟s work, ________, has always been regarded asa masterpiece of New England Transcendentalism.a) Walden b) The pioneersc) Nature d) Song of Myself48.What is etymology?a)The history of a word.b)The various ways in which a word can be pronounced.c)The study of unwritten languages.d)The study of dead languages.49.________ are bound morphemes because they cannot be used asseparate words.a) Roots. b) Stems. c) Affixes. d) Compounds.50.What is the dominant accent in the United States?a) Midwest. b) General American.c) Southern. d) Canadian.51.The vegetable, leek, is the emblem for which part of the UK?a) Wales. b) Northern Ireland.c) Scotland. d) England.52.John Lennon is a member of the band of ______ in the 1960s.a) The Beatles b) The Policec) The Rolling Stones d) The Eagles53.What is the title of the United States of America‟s national anthem?a) America the Beautiful. b) We Are The Champions.c) God Bless America. d) The Star Spangled Banner.54.How many territories are there in Canada?a) 4. b) 2. c) 3. d) 1.55.In Gulliver‟s Travels, Jonathan Swift describes the island of theHouyhnhnms as the world‟s most perfect society. What kind of animals are the Houyhnhnms?a) Monkeys. b) Fish. c) Dogs. d) Horses.56.In which century were Geoffrey Chaucer‟s Canterbury Tales written?a) Fourteenth. b) fifteenth. c) Sixteenth. d) Seventeenth.57.With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene,_______ became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century.a) sentimentalism b) romanticismc) realism d) naturalism58.To which of these language groups does English belong?a) Romance. b) Germanic. c) Slavonic. d) Baltic.59.“Present” and “absent” form a pair of _______.a) conversives b) gradable antonymsc) complementary antonyms d) marked antonyms60.The morpheme is the smallest syntactical unit. How many morphemesdoes the word “antidisestablishmentarianism” have?a) 1. b) 5. c) 7. d) 6.61.What is the name of the famous stadium in the north of London?a) Wembley. b) Westminster. c) Wimbledon. d) Webster.62.What would you do with a “toad-in-the-hole”?a) Let it out. b) Sing it. c) Eat it. d) Play it.63.Martin Luther King Jr., a young black clergyman, became a nationalleader of the _______ Movement.a) Boycott b) Civil Rights c) Segregation d) Integration64.The majority of French-speaking Canadians live in _______.a) New Brunswick b) Ontarioc) Quebec d) Nova Scotia65.Sir Thomas More coined the word “Utopia”. What does the word meanin Greek?a) Nowhere land. b) God‟s blessings.c) Kingdom in the sky. d) Free from all sorrow.66.Where did Aldous Huxley get the title for Brave New World, whichpresents a chilling vision of a supposedly ideal society?a)The Bible‟s Book of Psalms.b)Shakespeare‟s “The Tempest”.c)Homer‟s “Odyssey”.d)Christopher Columbus‟ journals.67.The Hemingway Code heroes are best remembered for their ________.a) indestructible spirit b) pessimistic view of lifec) war experiences d) masculinity68.Which of the following does affect the register that we speak in?a) Conversational partner. b) Context.c) Social status. d) Gender.69.What is the smallest segment of sound that comprises the basic buildingblocks of a language?a) Morphemes. b) Teramemes.c) Metamemes. d) Phonemes.70.The ambiguity in “Pass the port” is caused by _______.a) lexical items b) a grammatical structurec) homonymy d) polysemy71.Which of these is the patron saint of Wales?a) St. Patrick. b) St. David. c) St. Andrew. d) St. George.72.Where is the official residence of the British prime Minister?a) Constitution Hill. b) Downing Street.c) Whitehall Place. d) The Strand.73.Which American president freed the slaves?a) Thomas Jefferson. b) George Washington.c) Abraham Lincoln. d) Bill Clinton.74.Who said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men arecreated equal”?a) Bill Clinton. b) George Washington.c) Richard Nixon. d) Thomas Jefferson.75.Who was the author of the fa mous storybook Alice‟s Adventures inWonderland?a) Rudyard Kipling. b) John Keatsc) Lewis Carroll. d) H.G. Wells.76.Sonnets from the ______ is regarded as Elizabeth Barrett Browing‟sbest work.a) Spanish b) Portuguesec) French d) Italian77.Chinese poetry and philosophy have exerted great influence over_______.a) Ezra Pound b) Ralph Waldo Emersonc) Robert Frost d) Emily Dickinson78.The dictionary of a language can be called ________.a) pragmatics b) semantics c) lexicon d) grammar79.Which of the following is NOT associated with “Parentese” (how anadult talks to a child)?a) Yes or no questions. b) High pitch.c) Long sentences. d) Exaggerated intonation.80.The group of words _______ make up a semantic field.a)“father, teacher, son, brother”b)“red, white, rose, milk”c)“sorrow, grief, anguish, regret”d)“socks, slippers, shoes, glass”81.Which famous writer was born in Stratford-upon-Avon?a) Geoffrey Chaucer. b) Agatha Christie.c) William Shakespeare. d) Thomas Hardy.82.In which year was the independence from England declared?a) 1679. b) 1876. c) 1776. d) 1779.83.Which of these U.S.A. states has been frequently called “the armpit ofthe Nation”?a) New Jersey. b) Washington.c) Maine. d) Montana.84.Which of the foll owing is Canada‟s national symbol?a) Sunflower. b) Maple leaf. c) Golden wattle. d) Rose.85.How many lines does a sonnet have?a) 10. b) 12. c) 14. d) They vary.86.________ is considered to be the best-known English dramatist sinceShakespeare, and his representative works are plays inspired by social criticism.a) Richard Sheridan b) Oliver Goldsmithc) Oscar Wilde d) Bernard Shaw87._______ is the title of the 1818 novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.a) Spiderman b) Dracula c) Frankenstein d) The Mummy88.The four major modes of semantic changes are _______.a)Extension, narrowing, elevation and degradationb)Extension, generalization, elevation and degradationc)Extension, narrowing, specialization and degradationd)Extension, elevation, amelioration and degradation89._______ deals with the distinctive sounds that are combined to makewords.a) Lexicon b) Morphology c) Phonology d) Semantics90.“Vacuum-clean” resulting from “vacuum-cleaner” is an example of______.a) clipping b) reduplication c) compounding d) back-formation91.The Hundred Years‟ War in the history was between England and_______.a) France b) Norway c) Denmark d) Germany92.Which of the following countries was once called a big empire “onwhich the sun never sets”?a) America. b) Norway. c) Spain. d) Britain.93.A Parliament in Britain has a maximum duration of ________ years.a) 2 b) 3 c) 4 d) 594.Which of the following is NOT a tragedy by Shakespeare?a) Romeo and Juliet. b) Hamlet.c) King Lear. d) The Taming of the Shrew.95.Who is generally regarded as the greatest writer in the Englishlanguage?a) Shakespeare. b) Hemingway.c) Chaucer. d) Mark Twain.96.Which of the following is a chronicle play by Shakespeare?a)Julius Caesar.b)The twelfth Night.c) A Midsummer Nig ht‟s Dream.d)As You Like it.97.______ is a branch of linguistics concerned with the sounds of speech,the way the sounds of particular languages change over time and the way the sounds of one language relate to those of another.a) Phonology b) Morphology c) Syntax d) Semantics98.______ is the branch of linguistics which studies meaning in language.a) Phonology b) Morphology c) Syntax d) Semantics99.“Alive” and “dead” are _______ antonyms.a) relational b) gradablec) symmetric d) complementary100._______ is the study of the production, transmission, and reception of speech sounds.a) Phonology b) Morphology c) Syntax d) Phonetics101.Which university is the oldest one in Britain?a) Oxford. b) Cambridge. c) Edinburgh. d) Glasgow.102.The Reuters is a famous news agency in _______.a) France b) Germany c) America d) Britain103.The most typically English of sports is ________.a) soccer b) cricket c) horse racing d) golf104.“The Red badge of Courage” was written by _______.a) Jack London b) Stephen Cranec) Hamilin Garland d) S. Anderson105.Fitzgerald‟s first novel was ________.a)The Beautiful and Damnedb)This Side of Paradisec)The Great Gatsbyd)Tender Is Night106.The theme of The Waste Land is _______.a) love b) spiritual quest for salvationc) death d) nature107.Wallace Stevens was a successful ________.a) poet b) essayist c) novelist d) critic108.Chinese is a(n) ________.a) isolating language b) agglutinativec) fusional d) incorporating109.______ validity refers to the extent to which the best adequately covers the syllabus area to be tested.a) content b) Constructc) Emprical d) Face110.Sentence (a) “He married a blonde heiress.” _______ sentence (b) “He married a blonde.”a) presupposes b) implicates c) entails d) negates111.The singing group the Beatles was formed in _________.a) the early 1960s b) the early 1970sc) the late 1960s d) the late 1970s112.The most popular sport in England is _______.a) soccer b) cricket c) rugby d) golf113._______ is the base where America originated.a) the Midwest b) the South c) the Great Plains d) New England 114.Napoleon sold the ______ Territory to the United States for only15 million dollars.a) Colorado b) Louisiana c) New Mexico d) Texas115.________ introduced the technique of the stream of consciousness in his writing.a) Shakespeare b) James Joycec) Thomas Hardy d) William Faulkner116.Adgar Allan Poe was a _______.a) novelist and critic b) poet and criticc) novelist and poet d) playwright and novelist117.________ was calle d “inventor of detective stories”.a) Washington Irving b) Fennimore Cooperc) Adgar Allan Poe d) Nathaniel Hawthorne118._______ are of the complementary type of antonyms.a) Sell-buy b) Long-shortc) Good-bad d) Single-married119.Which is created by cutting the initial part of a word?a) Van. b) Prof. c) Bike. d) Telly.120.The word “holiday” originally meant holy day, but now the word signifies any day on which we do not have to work. This is an example of ________.a) meaning shift b) widening of meaningc) narrowing of meaning d) loss of meaning121._______ was the president of the United States during the Great Depression.a) Thomas Jefferson b) John F. Kennedyc) Franklin Roosevelt d) Truman122.______ was involved in the Watergate Scandal.a) Nixon b) Roosevelt c) Truman d) Ford123.The Presidency Election is held every _______ years in America.a) 2 b) 3 c) 4 d) 6124.The Master‟s colleges and universities in America offer _______ degrees.a) BA b) Master‟s c) BA and Master‟s d) doctoral125.“Scarlet Letter” is one of the greatest American novels. It is written by _______.a) Nathaniel Hawthorne b) Wallace Stevenc) Francis d) Willa Cather126.________ was the first to explore fully the possibility of free verse in American history of literature.a) Ralph Waldo b) Stephen Cranec) Walt Whitman d) Robert Frost127.Mark Twain was well-known as a _______.a) critic b) humorist c) poet d) playwright128.Which is NOT a blending word?a) baby-sit. b) transistor. c) motel. d) smog.129.The thematic role which deliberately performs the action described by the verb is _______.a) instrument b) source c) agent d) theme130.Which of the following languages does NOT belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family?a) Italian. b) English. c) German. d) Dutch.131.Which of the following American higher education institution does NOT offer BA degree?a)Junior Colleges. b)Research universities.c)Doctoral universities. d)Master‟s colleges and universities.132.Yale and Harvard Universities are funded by the following EXCEPT ________.a)the tuition fees paid by the studentsb)the donations by corporations and religious organizationsc)individuals‟ donationsd)the governments at all levels133.The unique contribution to architecture by Americans was the ________ in the late 19th century.a) skyscraper b) expressway c) bridges d) tall towers134.Theodore Dreiser was the representative of the _______.a) transcendentalists b) modernistsc) naturalists d) existentialists135.“The Waste Land” was written by ________.a) Thomas Stearns Eliot b) Walt Whitmanc) Emily Dickinson d) Robert Frost136.Which of the following American writers did NOT win a Nobel Prize for Literature?a) Ernest Hemingway. b) T. S. Eliot.c) John Steinbeck. d) Richard Wright.137.Th e word “_______” does NOT have the semantic property of “cause”.a) darken b) kill c) uglify d) touch138.______ is/are NOT included in Pragmatics.a) Speech acts b) Presuppositions c) Dexis d) Pronunciation 139.________ is defined as the study of language in use and linguistic communication.a) Pragmatics b) Sociolinguisticsc) Neuroliguistics d) Contextual linguistics140._______ carry semantic content.a) Grammatical words b) Form wordsc) Lexical words d) Functions141.Elvis Presley was the representative of _______ in American history.a) country music b) disco c) jazz d) rock‟n‟roll142.Thanksgiving Day is on the _______ Thursday in November.a) 1st b) 2nd c) 3rd d) 4th143.The National Day of the American people is on ________.a) June 4 b) July 4 c) June 14 d) July 14144.“invisible Man” probes the existential status of a ______.a) Jewish b) Negro c) White d) Hispanic145.Which of the following is a woman writer?a) Ralph Ellison. b) Saul Bellow.c) James Baldwin. d) Willa Cather.146.“Long Day‟s Journey Into Night” was written by _______.a) Sherwood Anderson b) William Faulknerc) Eugene O‟Neil d) Bernard Shaw147.Which of the following was NOT written by Ernest Hemingway?a)The Sun Also Rises. b)For Whom the Bell Tolls.c)Tender is the Night. d)A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. 148.Which of the following words are minimal pairs?a) beg, bag. b) my, fly. c) cat, slight. d) it, intelligent.149.“Man” and “men” are _______ allomorphs.a) replacive b) suppletive c) zero d) positional150.________ includes the study of linguistic variation, linguistic change, and sociocultural factors that influence language use.a) Pragmatics b) Sociolinguisticsc) Neurolinguistics d) Contextual linguistics151.The longest city in Canada is ________.a) Toronto b) Montreal c) Vancouver d) Quebec City152.English is the language most commonly spoken throughout Canada EXCEPT _______.a) Toronto b) Montreal c) Vancouver d) Quebec153.Today in Canada, services in almost all modern institutions work in _______.a) English b) English and Frenchc) English and Spanish d) English and Dutch154.Fitzgerald usually dealt with the double theme of _______.a) hatred and love b) hatred and warc) love and money d) money and death155.The Sound and the Fury was written by _______.a) Sinclair Lewis b) Theodore Dreiserc) F. Scott d) William Faulkner156.Main Street is a masterpiece of _______.a) transcendentalism b) naturalism c) modernism d) provincialism 157.“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is a ______ poem.a) dramatic b) meditative c) satirical d) philosophical158._____ deals with the analysis and creation of words, idioms, and collocations.a) Morphology b) Lexiconc) Morphophonology d) Morphophonemics159.Which of the following is NOT a fricative?a) /f/. b) /v/. c) /s/. d) /tr/.160.An artificial language used for trade between speakers of different languages is called a ________.a) pidgin b) lingua franca c) creole s) slangKey Answers to General Knowledge1.a2.a3.d4.a5.b6.c7.d8.a9.d 10.a 11.a 12.b 13.c 14.a 15.b 16.a 17.c 18.a 19.b 20.c 21.a 22.c 23.c 24.b 25.a 26.b 27.b 28.a 29.c 30.a 31.a 32.b 33.d 34.a 35.b 36.c 37.d 38.b 39.d 40.c 41.d 42.c 43.b 44.d 45.c 46.c 47.a 48.a 49.c 50.b 51.a 52.a 53.d 54.c 55.d 56.a 57.c 58.b 59.c 60.d 61.a 62.c 63.b 64.c 65.a 66.b 67.a 68.d 69.d 70.d 71.b 72.b 73.c 74.d 75.c 76.b 77.a 78.c 79.c 80.c 81.c 82.c 83.a 84.b 85.c 86.d 87.c 88.a 89.c 90.d 91.a 92.d 93.d 94.d 95.a 96.a 97.a 98.d 99.d 100.d 101.a 102.d 103.b 104.b 105.b 106.b 107.a 108.a 109.a 110.c 111.a 112.a 113.d 114.b 115.b 116.a 117.c 118.d 119.a 120.b 121.c 122.a 123.c 124.c 125.a 126.c 127.a 128.a 129.c 130.a 131.a 132.d 133.a 134.b 135.a 136.d 137.d 138.d 139.a 140.c 141.d 142.d 143.b 144.b 145.d 146.c 147.c 148.a 149.a 150.b 151.a 152.d 153.b 154.c 155.d 156.b 157.b 158.b 159.d 160.a。