自考英美文学选读复习资料

1. …I glaneed back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house,

making the ni ght fine as before, and survi ving the laughter and the sound of

his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.

A. lden tify the author and the title of the no vel from which this passage is

take n.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

B. The passage describes the end of an eve nt. What is it?

It is a description of the end of a big party

C. What implied meaning can you get from read ing this passage?

The passage hints at the meaninglessness, spiritual emptiness and vanity

of such a life of pleasure-seeking. There is a tragic sense that the party ”will be over.

2. My ton gue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,

Born here of pare nts born here from pare nts the same, and their pare nts the

same,

I, now thirty-seve n years old in perfect health begi n,

Hoping to cease not till death.

A. Iden tify the poet and the title of the poem.

Whitman, Song of Myself

B. What do "soil" and "air" represe nt in the first line?

America, his coun try, his n ative land

C. What does the poet try to say in the above four lin es?

I was born and nurtured by this land and shall from now on devote my whole life to the coun try.

3. I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom bel onging to me as good bel ongs to you.

I loafe and inv ite my soul,

I lea n and loafe at my ease observ ing a spear of summer grass. ”

(From Walt Whitman ' So ng of Myself ”)

A. Who does myself ” refer to ?

The poet himself and the America n people.

B. How do you un dersta nd the line I loafe and in vite my soul? ”

The line in dicates a separati on of the body and the soul.

C. What does a spear of summer grass "symbolize?

The phrase in dicates Whitma n ' optimism and experie nee.

4. "A nd the n ative hue of resoluti on/Is sicklied o 'r with the pale cast of

thought." (Shakespeare, Humlet)

A. What does the "n ative hue of resoluti on" mea n?

determ in ati on (determ inedn ess, actio n, activity, ...)

B. What does the "pale cast of thought" sta nd for?

con siderati on (in decisi on, in activity, hesitati on,...)

C. What idea do the two lines express? Too much thi nking (con siderati on,...) made (makes) activity (acti on) impossible.

5. "Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; /Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!"

A. Ide ntify the poem and the poet.

Shelley ' Ode to the West Wind

B. What is the "Wild Spirit"?

The West Wind; "breath of Autumn ' being"

C. What does the "Wild Spirit" destroy and preserve?

It destroys things that are dead, it preserves new life.

6. "Whe n the mini ster spoke from the pulpit, with power and fervid eloque nee,

and, with his hands on the ope n bible, of the sacred truths of our religi on,

and of sain t-like lives and triumpha nt deaths, and of future bliss or misery

unu tterable, the n did Goodma nBrow n turn pale, dreadi ng, lest the roof should thun der dow n upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers.

A. Ide ntify the title of the short story from which this part is take n.

Hawthorne ' Young Goodman Brown

B. What had happe ned in the story before this church sce ne?

Brow n had atte nded a witches ' party where he saw many prom inent people

of the village, the mini ster in cluded.

C. Why was Goodma n Brow n afraid the roof might thun der dow n?

Brow n was shocked by the mini ster, secretly a member of the evil club,

who could talk about sacred truths of the religi on ope nly and un ashamedly. He

thought God would punish such hypocrites dow n on them.

7. (A lot of comm on objects have bee n enu merated before, and here are the last two lines of There Was a Child Went Forth :)

The horizon ' edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragranee of salt marsh and shore mud.

These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes,

and will always go forth every day.

A. Who is the author of this poem? What is the title of the poem?

Whitma n. There was a Child Went Forth

B. What does the "Child" sta nd for in the poem?

The young grow ing America.

C. In one or two senten ces, i nterpret the implied meaning of the two lin es.

The poet uses his childhood experie nee of grow ing up and lear ning about

the world around him to imply that young America will grow and develop like

that.

D. How do you un dersta nd These became part of the child ”？

It is interesting to reexamine the sequenee of the items list in this poem

which became part of the child ". They reflect the natural process of a boy ' growth. At first, his world was limited within the barnyard. Later, he sought into fields and streets.

Then, he became interested in something more mysterious —his fellow huma n bein gs. Fin ally, he was on the symbolic threshold of the outside world, the sea. He had grow n in to a young man from a boy.

8. And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

Whe n I am pinned and wriggli ng on the wall.

Then how should begi n