考研英美文学必做9道题

1.What is in the book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” that makes

Hemingway say that all modern American literature comes from this book?

(这个题找了2个小时，实在是找不到了。看看下面的会不会有所帮助) (海明威写的Green Hills of Africa中的原文)All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. If you read it you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating. But it's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.

The best work that Mark Twain ever produced is, as we noted earlier on, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It tells a story about the United States before the Civil War, around 1850, when the great Mississippi Valley was still being settled. Here lies an America, with its great national faults, full of violence and even cruelty(n. 残酷；残忍；残酷的行为), yet still retaining the virtues of …some simplicity, some innocence(n. 清白，无罪；天真无邪), and some peace.‟ The story takes plac e along the Mississippi River, on

both sides of which there was unpopulated(adj. 无人居住的) wilderness(n. 荒地) and a dense forest(密林). It relates the story of the

escape of Jim from slavery and, more important, how Huck Finn, floating along with him and helping him as best he could, changes his mind, his prejudice about black people, and comes to accept Jim as a man and as a close friend as well.

At the heart of Twain‟s achievement(n. 成就；完成；达到) is his creation of Huck Finn, who embodies(v t. 体现) that mythic(adj. 神话的；虚构的) America, midway(n. 中途；娱乐场adj. 中途的adv. 中途) between the wilderness and the modern super state.

2.Is Mr. Bennett in “Pride and P rejudice” a positive figure? Why or why not?

(这是原题答案，第一句为第一问，剩下的是第二问)

Mr. Bennet‟s chief characteristics are an iron ic detachment(n. 分离，拆开；超然；分遣；分遣队) and a sharp, cutting wit. The distance that he creates between himself and the absurdity(n.荒谬的言行；谬论；) around him often endears(v t. 使…受钟爱；使…亲密) him to the reader and parallels the amused detachment with which Austen treats ridiculous(adj. 可笑的；荒谬的) characters such as Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine. To associate the author‟s point of view with that of Mr. Bennet, however, is to ignore his ultimate failure as a father and husband. He is endlessly witty(adj. 诙谐的；富于机智的), but his distance from the events around him makes him an ineffective parent. Detached humor may prove useful for handling the Mr. Collinses of the world, but it is helpless against the depredations(n. 掠夺；破坏，破坏痕迹) of the villainous (but likable) Wickham. When the crisis of Lydia‟s elopement(n. 私奔；潜逃) strikes, Mr. Bennet proves unable to handle the situation. Darcy, decent(adj. 正派的；得体的；) and energetic(adj. 精力充沛的；积极的；有力的), and the Gardiners, whose intelligence, perceptiveness, and resourcefulness(n. 足智多谋) make them the strongest adult force in the novel, must step in. He is a likable(adj. 可爱的), entertaining character, but he never manages to earn the respect of the reader.

3.Discuss the theme of Fitzgerald’s "The Great Gatsby".(at least 200 words) (两个主题，有上千字，我不知道怎么概括，我把对每个主题描述的第一段话写在下面了)