《当代美国文学选读》单元练习

《当代美国文学选读》单元练习

Chapter One: Exercises

I.Fill the blanks in the following sentences with correct words.

1, The first edition of Walt Whitman‟s Leaves of Grass was published in the year______.

2, In Whitman‟s life time, altogether _______ editions of Leaves of Grass were published.

3, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed”was a poem written by Walt Whitman in memory of __________.

4, “O Captain! My Captain!”was a poem written by ________ in memory of the American President Abraham Lincoln.

5, “A Noiseless Patient Spider” was a short poem written by __________.

6, …Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking” is a poem written by __________.

II.Define the term “Free Verse”

参考答案

I.

1, 1855; 2, 9; 3, Abraham Lincoln; 4, Walt Whitman; 5, Walt Whitman; 6, Walt Whitman

II.

Free Verse: a kind of poetry that does not conform to any regular metre: the length of its lines is irregular, as is its use of rhyme—if any. Instead of regular metrical pattern it uses more flexible cadences or rhythmic groupings, sometimes supported by anaphora and other devices of repetition. Now the most widely practiced verse form in English, it has precedents in translations of the biblical Psalms and in some poems of Blake and Goethe, but established itself only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with Walt Whitman.

Chapter Two: Exercises

I.Fill in the following blanks with the correct words.

1, “If I can stop one Heart from breaking” is a line in a poem written by the American poet_____________. The line following is ____________.

2, In Dickinson‟s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, the image of the “School” in the third stanza stands for _____________.

3, “This is my letter to the World”is the opening line in a poem written by ______________.

II.Judge whether the following statements are true or false.

1, The 19th century female poet Emily Dickinson was a forerunner of the modern Imagist poetry.

2, Life and death is a major theme in Emily Dickinson‟s poems.

3, Though Emily Dickinson married twice in her life, love had never been a major theme in her poetry.

III.State briefly the uniquely features of Emily Dickinson‟s poetry.

参考答案：

I.

1, Emily Dickinson; I shall not live in vain; 2, youth; 3, Emily Dickinson

II.

1, True; 2, True; 3, False

III.

•Extensive uses of dashes

•Optional employments of capital letters

•Derailment of the proper grammar （full of grammatically wrong structures）•Fresh Images

Chapter Three: Exercises

I.Choose from the 4 answers one that completes the sentences correctly.

1, The author who said that all American literature came from Twain‟s Huckleberry Finn was ______________.

A, Tom Sawyer; B, Mark Twain; C, Ernest Hemingway; D, Henry James

2, The nigger who accompanied Huck Finn on his adventure down the Mississippi River was named __________.

A, Jim; B, Tom; C, Deud; D, Clemens

3, The first important short story published by Mark Twain that won him recognition across the country was entitled __________.

A, “The Spectre Bridegroom”

B, “Rip Van Winkle”

C, “Four Million”

D, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”

4, Twain was the first American author to use a telephone in his novel. The novel‟s title is ______________.

A, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer;

B, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;

C, Life on the Mississippi River

D, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

5, The real name of Mark Twain should be _____________.

A, Huckleberry Finn; B, Injin Joe; C, Samuel Clemens; D, Two Fathoms

6, The author who claimed that only “the smiling aspects” of American life should be depicted in literary writings was ___________.