美国文学考试试题详解及笔记整理

1.What’s Washington Irving’s main contribution to American Literature?华盛顿·欧文对美国文学的主要贡献

Washington Irving’s contribution to American literature is unique in more way than one. He did a number of things which have been regarded as the first of their kind in America. He was the first Am erican writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame:whe n he returned home in 1832, he was acclaimed as(被誉为) the one American author whom people in Europe knew about, and the Am ericans took as a sign that American literature was emerging as an independent entity（形成一个独立的实体）. To say that he was fa ther of American literature is not much exaggeration（夸大）. The short story as a genre（风格）in American literature probably bega n with Irving’s the sketch book（见闻札记）, a collection of essay s, sketches（草图）, and tales, of which the most famous and frequ ently anthologized are “Rip Van Winkle”and “The Legend of Sleep y Hollow”. The book touched the American imagination and fore shadowed（预示）the coming of Hawthorne霍桑, Melville,梅尔维尔, and Poe爱伦·坡, in whose hands the short story attained a degree of perfection as literary tradition. It also marked the beginning of Amercian Romanticism.

2.What is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing style?

纳撒尼尔·霍桑的写作风格

Hawthorne’s vocabulary was wide and well-controlled. Writing is at the formal level. He chose his words with a sharp sense of precise meaning and a keen ear for pleasant sound. His style is also noteworthy for his frequent use of images. Metaphors and similes abound, most of them stirringly fresh and effective, he makes skillful use of colors as a means for conveying mood. His style is soft, flowing and almost feminine. His language is smooth, clear, beautiful in sound and meaning. He also frequently uses symbols and settings to reveal the psychology of the characters.

3.Make a brief comment on symbolism in the novel Moby Dick. (Herman Melville赫尔曼·麦尔维尔)

对《白鲸记》中的象征主义做出一个简短的评论

There is symbolism in the book. The V oyage itself is a metaphor for "search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience." The Pequod is the ship of the American soul, and the endeavor of its crew represents "the maniacal fanaticism of our white mental consciousness". By far the most conspicuous symbol in the book is, of course, Moby Dick. The white whale is capable of many interpretations. It is a symbol of evil to some, readers of goodness to others, and of both to still others. He is "paradoxically benign and malevolent, nourishing and destructive,"

"massive, brutal, monolithic, but at the same time protean, erotically beautiful, infinitely variable." Its whiteness is a paradoxical color, too, signifying as it does death and corruption as well as purity, innocence, and youth. It represents the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing. As Ahab and his crew do not leave it alone, it is only natural that they get drowned.

4.Give a brief introduction about Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

对《汤姆叔叔的小屋》做出一个简短的介绍

The book opens with a Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby facing the loss of his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife, Emily Shelby, believe that they have a benevolent relationship with their slaves, Shelby decides to raise the needed funds by selling two of them—Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of Emily Shelby’s maid Eliza—to a slave trader. Emily Shelby hates the idea of doing this because she had promised her maid that her child would never be sold; Emily's son, George Shelby, hates to see Tom go because he sees the man as his friend and mentor.

When Eliza overhears Mr. and Mrs. Shelby discussing plans to sell Tom and Harry, Eliza determines to run away with her son. The novel states that Eliza made this decision because she fears losing her only surviving child (she had already miscarried two children). Eliza departs that night,