美国文学分章试题

Exercises for American LiteraturePartⅠⅠ. Multiple choice:1._____ reports of exploration in Jamestown have been described as the first distinctly American literature to be written in English.A. John Smith’sB. Washington Irving’sC. Franklin’sD. Jefferson’s2. Which statement is NOT true about the 17th century American literary life?A. The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of the early settlements.B. The writers of the Southern and Middle Colonies who followed John Smithmade their greatest contribution to American literature.C. There were more urban audience for books and newspapers.D. Literature developed slowly especially in the South.3. _____ was the first American writer.A. John SmithB. Benjamin FranklinC. Philip FreneauD. Anne Bradstreet4. John Smith’s _____ (1624) contains his most famous tale of how the Indian Princess Pocahontas saved him from the wrath of her father Powhatan.A. The General History of VirginiaB. The history of New EnglandC. A Map of VirginiaD. The history of Plymouth Plantation5. Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the _____ values that dominated much of the earliest American writing.A. PuritanicB. TranscendentalC. romanticD. realistic6. _____ , the Puritan clergyman who wrote more than 450 works in his life, was an example of the Puritan ideal of hard work.A. John SmithB. Cotton MatherC. Anne BradstreetD. John Cotton7. The Puritans wished to restore simplicity to church services and the authority of _____ to theology.A. the BibleB. the governmentC. the Church of EnglandD. God8. The first major intellectual spokesman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was _____ , sometimes called “the Patriarch of New England”.A. John CottonB. John SmithC. Philip FreneauD. Cotton Mather9. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America is the first published collection ofpoems of _____ .A. Edward TaylorB. Anne BradstreetC. Walt WhitmanD. PhilipFreneau10. The first major center of thought in America was _____ .A. BostonB. PhiladelphiaC. Now YorkD. the State of VirginiaⅡ.Complete the following statements:1.At last early in the __________ century, the English settlements in __________and __________ began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history.2.The earliest settlers in US include __________ , Swedes, __________ , French,__________ , Italians, and __________ .3.The Puritans had come to New England for the sake of __________ , whileVirginia had been planted mainly as a __________ .4.The best way to learn more of the colonial Puritan mind is to meet two importantfigures, __________ and __________ .5.Most Puritan verse was decidedly plodding, but the work of two writers, AnneBradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of __________ .Ⅲ.Define the literary terms listed below:1. Theocracy2. The Puritan MovementⅣ.Answer the following question:What was the first American literature like?PartⅡⅠ. Multiple choice:1.American Enlightenment can be described as the following except that _____ .A.it dealt a decisive blow to the puritan traditionsB.it brought to life secular education and literatureC.its representatives took the task of disseminating knowledge among thepeopleD.it exerted little influence on the War of Independence2.The following statements are true to Benjamin Franklin except _____ .A. a priestB. a scientistC. a diplomatD. a humanist3.Benjamin Franklin shaped his writing after _____ .A. the Spectator PaperB. French writersC. John MiltonD. Walt Scott4.Poor Richard’s Almanac written by Benjamin Franklin is _____ .A. a novelB. a collection of short storiesC. a collection of poemsD. an annual collection of proverbs5.“His shadow lies heavier than any other man’s on this young nation” refers to_____ .A. Benjamin FranklinB. Thomas JeffersonC. Thomas PaineD. Noah Webster6.Thomas Paine boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence” in his famouspamphlet _____ .A. Common SenseB. The Case of the Officers of the ExciseC. The American CrisisD. Rights of Man7.Thomas Paine’s chief contribution was a series of sixteen pamphlets entitled_____ .A. Common SenseB. The Case of the Officers of the ExciseC. Rights of ManD. The American Crisis8.Which of the following is true about Thomas Jefferson? _____ .A.He contributed a lot to the foundation of University of Virginia.B.He served for two terms as president.C.He drafted the Declaration of Independence.D.All of the above.9._____ has been called the “Father of American Poetry”.A. Anne BradstreetB. Philip FreneauC. Thomas PaineD. EdwardTaylor10.As a poet and political journalist, Philip Freneau is _____ .A. a satirist and a sentimentalistB. a humanitarianC. a poet of reason and a deistic optimistD. All of the aboveⅡ.Complete the following statements:1.As we have seen, _________ dominated the Puritan phase of American writing,__________ was the next great subject to command the attention of the best minds.2.American __________ dealt a decisive blow upon the Puritan traditions andbrought to life __________ and literature.3.In 1783, the year the United States achieved its independence, __________declared, “America must be as independent in literature as she is in politics, as famous for the arts and for arms”.4.Born in Boston in 1706, Benjamin Franklin went to Philadelphia as a young manand began his career as __________ .5.Philip Freneau was __________ by training and taste yet romantic in essentialspirit.Ⅲ.Define the literary terms listed below:1. the Age of Reason2. the EnlightenmentⅣ.Answer the following question:Why do people think Benjamin Franklin is the embodiment of American dream?Part ⅢⅠ. Multiple choice:1. A new Romanticism, appeared in England in the last years of the 18th century,came to America in _____ .A. the early 19th centuryB. the mid 19th centuryC. the last years of 19th centuryD. the last years of the 18th century2._____ became the first work by an American writer to win financial success onboth sides of the Atlantic.A. Washington Irving’s Sketch Book.B. Washington Irving’s A Tour on thePrairiesC. James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking TalesD. Henry Thoreau’s Walden3.Which of the following is NOT regarded as one of the general characteristics shared byromantics? _____ .A.Moral enthusiasmB.Faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perceptionC.The practice of a hard and disciplined lifeD.The presumption that man’s soc iety was a source of corruption4.Transcendentalists took some of their ideas from _____ .A. German idealistic philosophyB. the Romantic literatures ofEuropeC. neo-Platonism and Oriental mysticismD. All of the above.5.The first modern short stories and the first great American juvenile literatureappeared in Washington Irving’s _____ .A. The sketch BookB. A History of New YorkC. Tales of a TravelerD. Alhambra6._____ was the first important American novelist who began his literary career ona dare.A. James Fenimore CooperB. Washington IrvingC. Edgar Allan PoeD. Nathaniel Hawthorne7._____ is one of James Fenimore Cooper’s best sea romances.A. The SpyB. The PilotC. The DeerslayerD. The Pioneers8.Cooper launched two kinds of great popular stories, the sea adventure tale and_____ .A. the frontier sagaB. the detective storiesC. the love storiesD. gothicnovels9.Which of the following novels does NOT belong to Leatherstocking Tales?_____ .A. The DeerslayerB. The PathfinderC. The PilotD. The Pioneers10.The last of the Mohicans in The last of the Mohicans refers to _____ .A. UncasB. ChingachgookC. HawkeyeD. Natty Bumppo11.In 1817, _____ written by William Cullen Bryant introduced the best poet inAmerica up to that time.A. “To a Waterfowl”B. “Thanatopsis”C. “The Raven”D. “To Helen”12.Which poem by William Cullen Bryant expressed both the poet’s grateful viewand his sense of a divine power guiding and protecting everything in nature?_____ .A. “To a Waterfowl”B. “Thanatopsis”C. “The Raven”D. “To Helen”13.Edgar Allan Poe deserved the following except _____ .A. a playwrightB. a poet and an editorC. a literary criticD. a writer offiction14.Thy Naiad airs have brought me homeTo the glory that was Greece’And the grandeau that was Rome.The above lines are selected from Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem _____ .A. “The Raven”B. “To Helen”C. “Ligia”D. “Annabel Lee”15.The American Scholar and The Divinity School Address are two speeches thatmade _____ famous.A. Walt WhitmanB. Ralph Waldo EmersonC. Henry David ThoreauD. Herman Melville16.Thoreau once wrote the reason that he went to live in a hut at Walden is that_____ .A.he wanted to live the life of a hermitB.he didn’t want to be arrested for failure to pay the taxesC.he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of lifeD.he didn’t like the people around him17.The story of The Scarlet Letter is set in _____ in the days of the MassachusettsColony.A. the ancient EuropeB. the 19th century EuropeC. the Puritan BostonD. the 19th century Boston18.Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote all of the following except _____ .A. TypeeB. The House of Seven GablesC. The Marble FaunD. Young Goodman Brown19.When Herman Melville’s Moby Dick first appeared, which of the following isNOT true about what happened to this great work? _____ .A.It seemed to be a complete failure at the time.B.Critics in general also failed to see the qualities of this book.C.Hawthorne was one of the few who recognized it as a work of genius.D.It was a great hit at that time and was welcomed by the readers.20.Which of the following works established Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poeticreputation? _____ .A. Voices of the NightB. Poems on SlaveryC. Song of HiawathaD. Ballads and Other PoemsⅡ.Complete the following statements:1.Through the first half of 19th century the pursuit of _________ , utility, and_________remained an American characteristic.2.__________ values were prominent in American politics, art, and philosophy untilthe Civil War.3.As a moral philosophy, transcendentalism was neither __________ nor_________ .4.Romantic writers placed increasing value on the __________ expression ofemotion and displayed increasing attention to the __________ states of their characters.5.In 1828, __________ published An American Dictionary of the English Language.6.Irving was the first great __________, writing always for __________, and toproduce __________ .7.Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes and Whittier were regarded as the “__________poets”.8.At an early age, Irving preferred a literary __________ .9.Ironically, while Poe was struggling in America, his work was commanding moreand more praise in __________. His influence was especially strong on many __________ writers.10.Emerson believed above all in __________, independence of mind, andself-reliance.11.For Thoreau, as for Emerson, __________ and __________ ranked above all.12.Hawthorne’s unique gift was for the creation of strongly __________ storieswhich touched the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. The finest example is the recreation of Puritan Boston, __________ .13.__________ is a tremendous chronicle of s whaling voyage in pursuit of aseemingly supernatural white whale.14.“Pequod” in Moby Dick is a name of __________ .15.Longfellow’s poetry was popular for his gentleness, sweetness, and __________ .Ⅲ.Define the literary terms listed below:1. Romanticism2. Transcendentalism3. SymbolismⅣ. Comment on one of the following:1.Benjamin Franklin and the American Dream2.Moby Dick3.The Scarlet Letter4.“The Wild Honey Suckle”5.“To a Waterfowl”6.“To Helen”Part ⅣⅠ. Multiple choice:1.The end of _____ marked the beginning of what Mark Twain called The Gilded Age.A. The American War of IndependenceB. World War OneC. World War TwoD. The Civil War2. “A Psalm of Life” is a famous poem written by _____.A. Edgar Allan PoeB. Walt WhitmanC. Henry Wadsworth LongfellowD. Emily Dickinson3. By the 1870s _____ had waned.A. PuritanismB. the New England RenaissanceC. RealismD. Classicism4. By the end of the Civil War, _____ became the nation’s literary center.A. New YorkB. BostonC. JamestownD. Los Angeles5. _____ had originated in France, a literary doctrine that called for reality and truth in the depiction of ordinary life.A. PuritanismB. New England RenaissanceC. RealismD. Classicism6. Local color began to decline _____ .A. after 1920B. by the turn of 19th centuryC. after 1910D. in the 1870s7. The arbiter of 19th century literary realism in America was _____ .A. William Dean HowellsB. Mark TwainC. Bret HarteD. Hamlin Garland8. The poetic style Walt Whitman devised is now called _____, that is, poetry without fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.A. free verseB. blank verseC. lyricsD. sonnet9. “Song of myself” is a famous poem written by _____ .A. Emily DickinsonB. Walt WhitmanC. Henry Wadsworth LongfellowD. Edgar Allan Poe10. _____ was the first book of Mark Twain.A. Jumping frogB. Innocents AbroadC. Roughing ItD. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn11. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is the masterpiece of _____ .A. Henry JamesB. William Dean HowellsC. Mark TwainD. Nathaniel Hawthorne12. In “The Cop and the Anthem” the main reason for Soapy to deliberately commitone crime after another is that _____ .A. he hates the wealthy peopleB. he just wants to revenge himselfC. winter is coming and Soapy has no refuge except the prisonD. he just does that for no reasons13. The Gift of the Magi is one of the best stories by _____ .A. O. HenryB. Mark TwainC. Harriet Beecher StoweD. Jack London14. Jack wrote the following except _____ .A. The Four MillionB. The People of the AbyssC. The Iron HeelD. The Call of the wild15. Which of the following novels is written by Jack London? _____ .A. The Portrait of a LadyB. The wings of the DoveC. The Scarlet LetterD. The Sea Wolf16. Theodore Dreiser’s masterpiece of Naturalism is _____ .A. An American TragedyB. The FinancierC. The TitanD. The StoicⅡ.Complete the following statements:1. Realism first appeared in the United States in the literature of ________ .2. James probed deeply at the individual ________ of his characters.American naturalist writers attempted to achieve extreme ________ and frankness.3. The naturalists emphasized that the world was ________ .4. Darwinism seemed to stress the ________ of man, to suggest that he was dominated by the irresistible forces of evolution.5. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass are about man and ________ .6. Many of Dickinson’s poems were based on single ________ or symbols.7. O. Henry imitated ________ as a model.8. Jack London was influenced by the teaching of Marx, Nietzsche and ________ .1.Dreiser’s ________ consists of The Financier, The Titan and The Stoic.2.Dreiser’s greatest and most successful novel was ________ .Ⅲ.Define the literary terms listed below:1. The Gilded Age2. International Theme3. Realism4. NaturalismⅣ.Answer the following question:1. What is the theme of The Leaves of Grass ?2. What are the major differences between Mark Twain and Henry James as major writers in the school of realism?Part ⅤⅠ. Multiple choice:1. Writer of the first postwar era self=consciously acknowledged that they were _____ .A. a Lost GenerationB. a Beat GenerationC. a Jazz GenerationD. None of the above2. During the 1920s William Faulkner published one of the influential Americannovels of the age, _____ .A. The Sound and the FuryB. An American TragedyC. Winesburg, OhioD. The Waste Land3. After _____ a group of new American dramatists emerged, and the Americantheater ceased to be dependent on the dramatic traditions of Europe.A. the War of IndependenceB. the Civil WarC. World WarⅠD. World WarⅡ4. _____ came as a burst of literary achievement in the 1920s by Negro playwrights,poets and novelists who prepared the way for the emergence of numerous black writers after mid-century.A. The Lost GenerationB. The Beat GenerationC. The Harlem RenaissanceD. The New American Theater5. “The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.”These lines were written by _____ .A. Ezra PoundB. T. S. EliotC. Robert FrostD. Carl Sandberg6. Edwin Arlington Robinson was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for _____ .A. three timesB. twiceC. onceD. four times7. The central image of Frost’s “Design” is _____ .A. a flyB. a mothC. a spiderD. a bird8. Which of the following statements is NOT true about the writing atyle of CarlSandburg ? _____ .A. He avoided regular stanza pattern and traditional blank verseB. He wrote an utterly free verseC. He developed Whitman’s long line but moderated its rhetorical impact andintensityD. His poems are often difficult to understand and rich in allusions9. T. S. Eliot won the Nobel Prize for literature in _____ .A. 1948B. 1949C. 1950D. 195110. T. S. Eliot deserves the following titles except _____ .A. a great poetB. a dramatistC. a literary criticD. a great novelist11. In 1954 _____ was awarded a Nobel Prize for his mastery of the art of modernnarration.A. John SteinbeckB. William FaulknerC. Ernest HemingwayD. T. S. Eliot12. The central theme of Faulkner’s works focuses on _____ .A. the county of YoknapatawphaB. the universal theme of the problems of the human heart in conflict with itselfC. the AmericansD. Oxford13. _____ received the 1950 Nobel Prize for literature.A. William FaulknerB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. T. S.Eliot14. “A Rose for Emily” is a famous short story written by _____ .A. William FaulknerB. Ernest HemingwayC. John SteinbeckD. Sherwood Anderson15. Which of the following works of Hemingway is NOT about the war? _____ .A. Death in the AfternoonB. A Farewell to ArmsC. The Sun Also RisesD. For Whom the Bell TollsⅡ.Complete the following statements:1. ________ stands as a great dividing line between the 19th century andcontemporary America.2. The Lost Generation writers were devoid of faith and ________ from acivilization.3. In the 1920s the most prominent American playwright was ________ .4. In “A Pact”, the poet makes a pack with ________ .5. Robinson was interested in the ________ legends.6. The later works of Stevens became increasingly meditative and ________ .7. The first of Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot is ________ .8. The Waste Land introduces a poetic form---- the ________ of related themes insuccessive movement.9. In his best novels, Fitzgerald had revealed the stridency of an age of glittering______.10. ________ was the spokesman for the “Lost Generation”.11. For Whom the Bell Tolls was set in Spain during the ________ .12. A farewell to Arms portrayed a farewell both to war and ________ .13. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for his “mastery of the art ofmodern ________”.14. John Steinbeck was the foremost novelist of the American ________ in the1930s.15. Faulkner’s Snopse Trilogy consists of ________ , The Town and The MansionⅢ.Define the literary terms listed below:1.Avant-garde2. The Lost Generation3. The New American Theater4. Stream of ConsciousnessⅣ.Answer the following question:1. Discuss the thematic concerns of A Farewell to Arms.2. Discuss the themes of William Faulkner.。