英语专业美国文学期末考试简答题
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1. In the bosom of one of the spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappaan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail, and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greens burgh, 源自文库ut which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country form the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic. 1) Identify the author and the title of work from which this part is taken? (Washington Irving; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.) 2) What is the setting of this novel? (a quiet, dreamy and mysterious valley, full of superstitions or tales about the ghosts. ) 3) From the perspective of setting, what are the differences between traditional gothic fiction and early American fiction? (The settings of the traditional gothic fiction are often castles, basements, churches, abbeys, forests, chambers, etc. while the setting of the early American fiction is frontier wilderness.)
• 2. I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish experiment, of looking down within the tarn, had been to deepen the first singular impression. There can e no doubt that the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition — for why should I not so term it? —served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a basis. And it might have been for upon my imagination as really to believe that around about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity, an atmosphere which had no affinity with ht air of heaven but which had reeked up form the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn, in the form of an inelastic vapor of gas — dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. • 1) This paragraph is excerpted from The Fall of the House of Usher. Please list out the main characters in it and briefly explain their relationship. • (Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, and the narrator. The first two are brother and sister, and the narrator was one of the brother’s friend in their childhood. ) • 2) What is the symbolic meaning of the “tarn” in this fiction? • (a. Madeline as the twin of Roderick, reflecting his image and personality; b. the image of reality which Roderick and the narrator perceive; though the water of the tarn reflects details exactly, the image is upside down, leaving open the possibility that Roderick and the narrator see a false reality; c. the desire of the Ushers to isolate themselves from the outside world.)
• 2. I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish experiment, of looking down within the tarn, had been to deepen the first singular impression. There can e no doubt that the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition — for why should I not so term it? —served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a basis. And it might have been for upon my imagination as really to believe that around about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity, an atmosphere which had no affinity with ht air of heaven but which had reeked up form the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn, in the form of an inelastic vapor of gas — dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. • 1) This paragraph is excerpted from The Fall of the House of Usher. Please list out the main characters in it and briefly explain their relationship. • (Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, and the narrator. The first two are brother and sister, and the narrator was one of the brother’s friend in their childhood. ) • 2) What is the symbolic meaning of the “tarn” in this fiction? • (a. Madeline as the twin of Roderick, reflecting his image and personality; b. the image of reality which Roderick and the narrator perceive; though the water of the tarn reflects details exactly, the image is upside down, leaving open the possibility that Roderick and the narrator see a false reality; c. the desire of the Ushers to isolate themselves from the outside world.)