美国文学作品选读

作品选读分析:Passage 1…Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued—for the vast house and its shadows where alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-re moon, which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure, of which I have before spoken, as extending from the roof of the building, in a zigzag direction, to the base. …Questions:1.From which short story is this passage taken? Who is the author of this short story?2.what kind of story is it? What’s features of this kind of story?3.What’s the symbolic meaning of the “House” and the “Fissure”?Passage 2“Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.”Questions:1. Which work is this fragment taken from? Who’s the author?2. What does “Universal Being” refer to?3. How to appreciate it?Passage 3The runaway slave came to my house and stopt outside,I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile,Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsy and weak,And went where he sat on a log and led him in and assured him,And brought water and fill’d a tub for his sweated body and bruis’d feet,And gave him a room that enter’d from my own, and gave him some coarse clean clothes,…Questions:1. What’s the title of the poem? From which collection of poetry is the poem taken from?2. What’s the form of the poem? What’s the poet’s writing technique?3. What’s the symbolic meaning of the title of the collection? What’s the theme of the poem? Passage 4Because I could not stop for Death—He kindly stopped for me—The Carriage held but just Ourselves—And Immortality.…We passed the School, where Children stroveAt Recess—in the Ring—We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—We passed the Setting Sun—…Questions:1. Who is the poet of this poem?2. What do “He” and “Carriage” refer to? What do “School”, “Fields of Gazing Grain”and “Setting Sun” symbolize?3. What’s the poet’s attitude towards Death?4. What are the poetic feature of the poet?Passage 5The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.Questions:1. What’s the title of the poem? Who’s the poet?2. What are the objects and images in this poem?3. How do you appreciate the form and words used in this poem?Passage 6Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveller, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;…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 traveled by,And that has made all the difference.Questions:1. What’s the poem? Who is the poet?2. What does the poet mean symbolically by “road”?2. What does the poet refer to by saying “I took the one less travelled by”?Passage 7Let us go then, you and I,When the evening is spread out against the skyLike a patient etherized upon a table;Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,The muttering retreatsOf restless nights in one-night cheap hotelsAnd sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:Streets that follow like a tedious argumentOf insidious intentTo lead you to an overwhelming question. . .Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"Let us go and make our visit.…Questions:1. What do “you” and “I” refer to? What’s the form of this poem?2. What’s the ironic meaning of the title?3. What is the significance of the image of “I”?Passage 8“This is an unusual party for me. I haven’t even seen the host. I live over there--” I waved my hand at the invisible hedge in the distance. “and this man Gatsby sent over his chauffeur with an invitation.”For a moment he looked at me as if he failed to understand.“I’m Gatsby,” he said suddenly.“What!” I exclaimed. “Oh, I beg your pardon.”“I thought you knew, old sport. I’m afraid I’m not a very good host.”…Questions:1. Identify the novel and the author.2. Why Gatsby say he is “not a very good host”?3. What’s the significance of the image of Gatsby?Passage 9He went down the hall. I went to the door of the room.“Y ou can’t come in now,” one of the nurses said.“Y es I can,” I said.“Y ou can’t come in yet.”“Y ou get out,” I said, “The other one too.”But after I had got them out and shut thedoor and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.Questions:1.Identify the author and the novel.2.What’s the theme of it?3.How does the character reveal the typical “hero” created by the author?Passage 10When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister’s address in V an Buren Street…Questions:1. Which novel is this passage taken from? Who is the author?2. What’re the features of the naturalistic novel?3.How is the naturalistic color revealed in the fate of Caroline Meeber?。