历年自考历年英美文学选读试卷及答案

英美文学历年真题 全国2009年4月英美文学选读试题 请将填在答题纸相应的位置上(全部题目用英文作答) I. Multiple Choice(40 points in all, 1 for each) Select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement and write the corresponding letter on the answer sheet. 1. In Renaissance, the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to do the following EXCEPT ______. A. getting rid of those old feudalist ideas B. getting control of the parliament and government C. introducing new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie D. recovering the purity of the early church, from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church 2. The Petrarchan sonnet was first introduced into England by ______. A. Surrey B. Wyatt C. Sidney D. Shakespeare 3. As the best of Shakespeare's final romances,______ is a typical example of his pessimistic view towards human life and society in his late years. A. The Tempest B. The Winter's Tale C. Cymbeline D. The Rape of Lucrece 4. John Milton's greatest poetical work ______ is the only generally acknowledged epic in English literarure since Beowulf. A. Areopagitica B. Paradise Lost C. Lycidas D. Samson Agonistes 5. The British bourgeois or middle class believed in the following notions EXCEPT ______. A. self - esteem B. self - reliance C. self - restraint D. hard work 6. “Graveyard School”writers are the following sentimentalists EXCEPT ______. A. James Thomson B. William Collins C. William Cowper D. Thomas Jackson 7. The best model of satire in the whole English literary history is Jonathan Swift's ______. A. A Modest Proposal B. A Tale of a Tub C. Gulliver's Travels D. The Battle of the Books 8. As a representative of the Enlightenment,​​​______ was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England. A. John Bunyan B. Daniel Defoe C. Alexander Pope D. Jonathan Swift 9. For his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel,______ has been regarded by some as “Father of the English Novel”. A. Daniel Defoe B. Henry Fielding C. Jonathan Swift D. Samuel Richardson 10. Which of the following descriptions of Gothic Novels is NOT correct? A. It predominated in the early eighteenth century. B. It was one phase of the Romantic movement. C. Its principal elements are violence, horror and the supernatural. D. Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho and Frankenstein are typical Gothic romance. 11. “Byronic hero” is a figure of the following traits EXCEPT ______. A. being proud B. being of humble origin C. being rebellious D. being mysterious 12. Robert Browning created ______ by adopting the novelistic presentation of characters. A. the verse novel B. the blank verse C. the heroic couplet D. the dramatic poetry 13. Charles Dickens' novel ______ is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the underworld in the nineteenth- century London. A. The Pickwick Paper B. Oliver Twist C. David Copperfield D. Nicholas Nickleby 14. Charlotte Bronte's works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousness towards ______ about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love, understanding and a full, happy life. A. self - reliance B. self - realization C. self - esteem D. self - consciousness 15. The symbolic meaning of “Book” in Robert Browning's long poem The Ring and the Book is ______. A. the common sense B. the hard truth C. the comprehensive knowledge D. the dead truth 16. Thomas Hardy's pessimistic view of life predominated most of his later works and earns him a reputation as a ______ writer. A. realistic B. naturalistic C. romantic D. stylistic 17. After the First World War, there appeared the following literary trends of modernism EXCEPT ______. A. expressionism B. surrealism C. stream of consciousness D. black humour 18. The masterpieces of critical realism in the early 20th century are the three trilogies of ______. A. Galsworthy's Forsyte novels B. Hardy' s Wessex novels C. Greene's Catholic novels D. Woolf's stream-of-consciousness novels 19. In the mid - 1950s and early 1960s, there appeared “______” who demonstrated a particular disillusion over the depressing situation in Britain and launched a bitter protest. against the outmoded social and political values in their society. A. The Beat Generation B. The Lost Generation C. The Angry Young Men D. Black Mountain Poets 20.The following are English stream-of-consciousness novels EXCEPT ______. A.Pilgrimage B. Ulysses C.Mrs.Dalloway D. A Passage to Inida 21. The leader of the Irish National Theater Movement in the early 20th century was ______. A. W.B.Yeats B. Lady Gregory C. J.M.Synge D. John Galworthy 22. T.S.Eliot's most popular verse play is ______. A. Murder in the Cathedral B. The Cocktail Party C. The Family Reunion D. The Waste Land 23. The American writer ______ was awarded the Nobel Prize for the anti-racist Intruder in the Dust in 1950. A. Ernest Hemingway B. Gertrude Stein C. William Faulkner D.T.S. Eliot 24. Hemingway's second big success is ______ , which wrote the epitaph to a decade and to the whole generation in the 1920s, in order to tell us a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with a British nurse. A. For Whom the Bell Tolls B. A Farewell to Arms C. The Sun Also Rises D. The Old Man and the Sea 25. With the publication of ______ , Dreiser was launching himself upon a long career that would ultimately make him one of the most significant American writers of the school later known as literary naturalism. A. Sister Carrie B. The Titan C. The Genius D. The Stoic 26. Henry James is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th-century “stream -of-consciousness”novels and the founder of ______. A. neoclassicism B. psychological realism C. psychoanalytical criticism D. surrealism 27. In 1849, Herman Melville published ______ ,a semi-autobiographical novel, concerning the sufferings of a genteel youth among brutal sailors. A. Omoo B. Mardi C. Redburn D. Typee 28. As a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,______ marks the climax of Mark Twain's literary activity. A. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn B. Life on the Mississippi C. The Gilded Age D. Roughing It 29. Realism was a reaction against ______ or a move away from the bias towards romance and self- creating fictions, and paved the way to Modernism. A. Romanticism B. Rationalism C. Post-modernism D. Cynicism 30. When World War II broke out,______ began working for the Italian government, engaged in some radio broadcasts of anti- Semitism and pro- Fascism. A. Ezra Pound B.T.S. Eliot C. Henry James D. Robert Frost 31. In 1915 ______ became a naturalized British citizen, largely in protest against America's failure to join England in the First World War. A. Henry James B.T.S.Eliot C. W.D.Howells D. Ezra Pound 32. What Whitman prefers for his new subject and new poetic feelings is “______ ,” that is, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. A. blank verse B. free rhythm C. balanced structure D. free verse 33. The American woman poet ______ wanted to live simply as a complete independent being, and so she did, as a spinster. A. Emily Shaw B. Anna Dickinson C. Emily Dickinson D. Anne Bret 34. The Birthmark drives home symbolically ______ point that evil is a man's birthmark, something he was born with. A. Whitman's B. Melville's C. Hawthorne's D. Emerson's 35. The Financier ,The Titan and The Stoic written by ______ are called his “Trilogy of Desire”. A. Henry James B. Theodore Dreiser C. Mark Twain D. Herman Melville 36. Disregarding grammar and punctuation,______ always used “i” instead of “I” in his poems to show his protest against self-importance. A. Wallace Stevens B. Ezra Pound C. Robert Frost D. E.E.Cummings 37. Though Robert Frost is generally considered a regional poet whose subject matters mainly focus on the landscape and people in ______ , he wrote many poems that investigate the basic themes of man's life in his long poetic career. A. the west B. the south C. New England D. Alaska 38. Most critics have agreed that Fitzgerald is both an insider and an outsider of ______ with a double vision. A. the Gilded Age B. the Rational Age C. the Jazz Age D. the Magic Age 39. In the American Romantic writings,______ came to function almost as a dramatic character that symbolized moral law. A. fire B. water C. trees D. wilderness 40. The desire for an escape from society and a return to ______ became a permanent convention of the American literature. A. the family life B. nature C. the ancient time D. fantasy of love II. Reading Comprehension (16 points in all, 4 for each) Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 41. Wherefore feed and clothe and save From the cradle to the grave Those ungrateful drones who would Drain your sweat- nay, drink your blood? Questions: A. Identify the poet and the title of the poem from which the stanza is taken. B. What figure of speech is used in Line 2? C. Whom does “drones” refer to? Answer: A: The Men of England by Percy Bysshe Shelley B. Metaphor (不确定答案) C. Drones: the male of the honey-bees that do not work, referring here to the parasitic class in human society. 42. The following quotation is from one of the poems by T. S. Eliot: No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous, Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; Questions: A. Identify the title of the poem from which the quoted part is taken. B. Who's the speaker of the quoted lines? C. What does the first line show about the speaker? Answer: A. The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock. B. Prufrock. C. (待补充) 43．There was a child went forth every day, And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became, And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. Questions: A. Identify the poet. B. From which poem and which collection of the poet are these lines taken? C. What does the poet describe in the poem? Answer: A. Walt Whitman B. There Was a Child Went Forth; Leaves of Grass. C. This poem describes the growth of a child who learned about the world around him and improved himself accordingly. 44. I heard a Fly buzz- when I died- The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air- Between the Heaves of Storm- The Eyes around- had wrung them dry- And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset- when the King Be witnessed - in the Room- Questions: A. Identify the poet. B. What does “the King” refer to? C. What moment is the poem trying to describe? Answer: A. Emily Dickinson B. the King refers to the God of death. C. the poem trying to describe the moment of death. the author even imagined her own death, the loss of her own body, and the journey of her soul to the unknown III. Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each) Give brief answers to each of the following questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 45. List at least two leading neoclassicists in England. What did Neoclassicists celebrate in literary creation? A. The Neoclassicism period was an important age with the remarkable authors Pope, Defoe, etc. B. 1) The Neoclassical period is about 1660-1798, also known as "the Age of Enlightenment" or "the age of Reason". 2)In essence, the Neoclassical Period was a progressive intellectual movement. 3)The Enlighteners believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work; They celebrated reason/rationality, equality and science. They advocated universal education, which could make people rational and prefect, they believed. 4)In literature, The Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the ancient Greek and Roman classical works; the works at the time, heavily didactic and moralizing; having fixed laws and rules for every type of the literature; among which prose and the modern English novel predominated the age. 46. Jane Eyre is one of the most popular and important novels of the Victorian Age. Why is Jane Eyre such a successful novel? Answer: A. The story opens with the titular heroine, Jane Eyre, a plain little orphan. B. This novel sharply criticize the existing society, e.g. the religious hypocrisy of charity institutions, the social discrimination Jane experiences and the false social convention as concerning love and marriage. C. The success of the novel is also due to its introduction to the English novel the first governess heroine Jane Eyre. D. It is an intense moral fable at the same time. Jane, like Mr. Rochester, has to undergo a series of physical and moral tests to grow up and achieve her final happiness. 47. Who are the three dominant figures of the American Age of Realism and what are the differences in their understanding of the “truth”? Answer: A. the three dominant figures of the American Age of Realism are Mark Twain, Howells, Henry James. B. Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the life of the Americans, Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the “inner world” of man. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle class and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories. 48. What's Dreiser' s naturalistic belief? Please discuss the question with Carrie, a character in Sister Carrie as an example. Answer: 1) Penniless and "full of the illusions of ignorance and youth", Sister Carrie leaves her rural home to seek work in Chicago, she grows from an innocent, pure country girl to be a girl mature in intellect and emotion, and she becomes a star of musical comedies. But in spite of her success in material, she is not happy but lonely and dissatisfied. 2) Sister Carrie best embodies Dreiser’s naturalistic belief that while men are controlled and conditioned by heredity, instinct and chance, a few extraordinary and unsophisticated human beings refuse to accept their fate wordlessly and instead strive, unsuccessfully, to find meaning and purpose for their existence IV. Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each) Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 49. Briefly discuss William Shakespeare's artistic achievements in characterization, plot construction and language. Answer: As one of the most remarkable playwrights and poets the worlds has ever known, Shakespeare has effected his influence far beyond the time he lived—the Renaissance period. In this greatest tragedy “ Hamlet”, his skillful handling of plot construction, powerful condemnations of the royal corruption as well as his genius application of soliloquy are all displayed perfectly, which not only makes this play the most popular one on the stage, but also creates Shakespeare an everlasting fame in the literary world, going beyond the national boundaries for centuries. 50. Briefly discuss Mark Twain's art of fiction in terms of the setting, the language, and the characters, etc., based on his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Answer: 1).Adventures of Huckleberry find proved itself to be the milestone in American literature and thus firmly established Twain’s position in American literature. 2) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn marks the climax of Twain’s literary creativity. The novel is written in a language that is totally different from the rhetorical language used by Emerson, Poe, and Melville. It is simple, direct, lucid, and faithful to the colloquial speech. Speaking in vernacular, a wild and uneducated Huck, running away from civilization for his freedom, is vividly brought to life. Indeed, with his great mastery and effective use of vernacular, Twain has made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country. 3) Mark Twain’s humor is remarkable, too. His humor is not only of witty remarks mocking at small things or of farcical elements making people laugh, but a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social injustice and satirize the decayed romanticism. 4). The profound portrait of Huckleberry Finn is another great contribution of the book to the legacy of American literature. 5). Twain, known as a local colorist, preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions, including people living in that area, the landscape, and other peculiarities like the customs, dialects, costumes and so on. The Mississippi valley and the West became his major theme. Unlike James and Howells, Mark Twain wrote about the lower-class people. He successfully used local color and historical settings to illustrate and shed light on the contemporary society. 或者参考第二个答案：As a true father of American national literature, Twain has impresses the whole world with his milestone work “ Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, which not only gives a record of a vanished life moving millions of people worldwide, but also become a classic for both children and adults owing to its vernacular and remarkable humor. 1. b 2. b 3. a 4. b 5. a 6. d 7. a 8. c 9. b 10. a 11. b 12. a 13. b 14. b 15. b 16. b 17. d 18. a 19. c 20. d 21. a 22. a 23. c 24. b 25. a 26. b 27. c 28. a 29. a 30. a 31. a 32. d 33. c 34. c 35. b 36. d 37. c 38. c 39. d 40. b 41. A. A Song: Men of England, Shelley B. Personification C. the male of the honey-bees that do not work, referring here to the parasitic class in human society. 42. A. The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock B. The speaker is Prufrock. C. neurotic, self-important, illogical and incapable of action. 43. A. Walt Whitman B. There was a child went forth. Leaves of Grass. C. This poem describes the growth of a child who learned about the world around him and improved himself accordingly. 44. A. Emily Dinckinson B. The God of death C. This poem is a description of the moment of death. 45. 无 46. A. It is noted for its sharp criticism of the existing society. B. At the same time, it is an intense moral fable. C. The success of the novel is also due to its intuoduction to the English novel the first governess heroine. 47. A. The three dominant figures of the period are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James. B. While Mark Twain and Howells seemed to have paid more attention to the "life" of the Americans, Henry James had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the "inner world" of man. C. Howells focused his discussion on the rising middle calss and the way they lived, while Twain preferred to have his own region and people at the forefront of his stories. 48. 无 49. A. Characterization: a. Shakespeare's major characters are neither merely individual ones nor type ones;they are individuals representing certain types. Each character has his or her own personalities. b. By applying a psycho-analytical approach, Shakespeare succeeds in exploring the characters' inner mind. c. Shakespeare also prtrays his characters in pairs. Contrasts are frequently used to bring vividness to his characters. B. Construction: a. Shakespeare's plays are well-known for their adroit plot construction. He borrows them from some old plays or storybooks, or from ancient Greek and Roman sources. b. He would shorten the time and intensify the story. There are usually several threads running through the play. C. Language and style: a. Irony is a good means of dramatic presentation. Disguise is also an important device to create dramatic irony, usually with woman disguised as man. b. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. His influence on later writers is immeasurable. Almost all English writers after him have been influenced by him either in artistic point of view, in literary form or in language. 50. A. Mark Twain uses the Mississippi valley as his fictional kingdom, writing about the landscape and the people, the customs and the dialect of one particular region, is therefore known as a local colorist. B. He creates life-like characters, especially the unconventional Huckleberry Finne, who runs away from civilization and stands opposite to convention village morality. C. He uses simple, direct vernacular language, totally diferent from any precious literary language. It is a kind of colloquial belonging to lower class, the living local American English. D. He has created a special humor to satirize and the decayed convention. 2010年4月高等教育自学考试全国统一命题考试英美文学选读试卷+答案 请将答案填在答题纸相应的位置上(全部题目用英文作答) I． Multiple Choice(40 points in all, 1 for each) Select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement. Write the corresponding letter A, B, C or D on the answer sheet. 1. T. S. Eliot’ s ______ bearing a strong thematic resemblance to The Waste Land, is generally regarded as the darkest of Eliot’ s poems. A. “Gerontion” B. “Prufrock” C. Murder in the Cathedral D. The Hollow Men 2. Shelley’ s political lyrics ______ is not only a war cry calling upon all working people to rise up against their political oppressors, but an address to them pointing out the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation. A. “Ode to Liberty” B. “Ode to Naples” C. “Ode to the West Wind” D. “Men of England” 3. Charlotte’ s works are famous for the depiction of the life of ______ working women, particularly governesses. A. the middle - class B. the lower - class C. the upper - middle - class D. the upper - class 4. All of the following works are known as Hardy’ s “novels of character and environment” EXCEPT ______. A. The Return of the Native B. Tess of the D’ Urbervilles C. Jude the Obscure D. Far from the Madding Crowd 5. Jane Austen’ s practical idealism is that love should be justified by ______ and disciplined by self-control. A. reason B. sense C. rationality D. sensibility 6. Shakespeare’ s ______, an elaborate and fantastic story, is known as the best of his final romances. A. The Winter’s Tale B. The Tempest C. The Taming of the Shrew D. Love’ s Labour’ s Lost 7. “Where intelligence was fallible, limited, the Imagination was our hope of contact with eternal forces, with the whole spiritual world.” was said by ______. A. William Wordsworth B. William Blake C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge D. John Keats 8. “To be, or not to be - that is the question;/Whether’ tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles ,/And by opposing end then?” These lines are taken from ______. A. King Lear B. Romeo and Juliet C. Othello D. Hamlet 9. John Milton’ s most powerful dramatic poem on the Greek model is ______. A. Paradise Lost B. Paradise Regained C. Samson Agonistes D. Lycidas 10. Because of her sensitivity to universal pattens of human behavior, ______ has brought the English novel, as an art of form, to its maturity. A. Charlotte Bronte B. Jane Austen C. Emily Bronte D. Henry Fielding 11. Daniel Defoe’s ______ is universally considered as his masterpiece. A. Colonel Jack B. Robinson Crusoe C. Captain Singleton D. A Journal of the Plague Year 12. Poetry is defined by ______ as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, which originates in emotion recollected in tranquility”. A. William Wordsworth B. William Blake C. Percy Bysshe Shelley D. Robert Southey 13. Jonathan Swift’ s ______ is generally regarded as the best model of satire, not only of the period but also in the whole English literary history. A. Gulliver’s Travels B. The Battle of the Books C. “A Modest Proposal” D. A Tale of a Tub 14. All of the following statements about the Victorian period is true EXCEPT ______. A. England was the “workshop of the world”. B. The early years was a time of rapid economic development as well as serious social problems. C. Towards the mid -century, England had reached its highest point of development as a world power. D. Capitalism came into its monopoly stage, the gap between the rich and the poor was further deepened. 15. George Bernard Shaw’ s ______ is a grotesquely realistic exposure of slum landlordism. A. Widower’ s House B. Mrs. Warren’ s Profession C. The Apple Cart D. Getting Married 16. Dickens’ s first child hero is ______. A. Little Nell B. David Copperfield C. Oliver Twist D. Little Dorrit 17. Of all the eighteenth - century novelists ______ was the first to set out, both in theory and practice, to write specifically a “comic epic in prose”, the first to give the modern novel its structure and style. A. Henry Fielding B. Daniel Defoe C. Jonathan Swift D. Laurence Sterne 18. D. H. Lawrence’ s ______ is a remarkable novel in which the individual consciousness is subtly revealed and strands of themes are intricately wound up. A. Sons and Lovers B. The Rainbow C. Women in Love D. Lady Chatterley’ s Love 19. Dickens attacks the Utilitarian principle that rules over the English education system and destroys young hearts and minds in ______. A. Hand Times B. Great Expectations C. Our Mutual Friend D. Bleak House 20. The belief of the eighteenth - century neoclassicists in England led them to seek the following EXCEPT ______. A. proportion B. unity C. harmony D. spirit 21. The Renaissance marks a transition from ______ to the modern world. A. the old English B. the medieval C. the feudalist D. the capitalist 22. The great political and social events in the English society of neoclassical period were the following EXCEPT ______. A. the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 B. the Great Plague of 1665 C. the Great London Fire in 1666 D. the Wars of Roses in 1689 23. With the scarlet letter A as the biggest symbol of all, ______ proves himself to be one of the best symbolists. A. Hawthorne B. Dreiser C. James D. Faulkner 24. The author of Leaves of Grass , a giant of American letters, is ______. A. Faulkner B. Dreiser C. James D. Whitman 25. In Tender is the Night, ______ traces the decline of a young American psychiatrist whose marriage to a beautiful and wealthy patient drains his personal energies and corrodes his professional career. A. Dreiser B. Faulkner C. Fitzgerald D. Jack London 26. Melville is best - known as the author of his mighty book, ________, which is one of the world’ s greatest masterpieces. A. Song of Myself B. Moby - Dick C. The Marble Faun D. Mosses from an Old Manse 27. The theme of Henry James’ essay “______” clearly indicates that the aim of the novel is to present life, so it is not surprising to find in his writings human experiences explored in every possible form. A. The American B. The Europeans C. The Art of Fiction D. The Golden Bowl 28. During WWI, ______ served as an honorable junior officer in the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps and in 1918 was severely wounded in both legs. A. Anderson B. Faulkner C. Hemingway D. Dreiser 29. In order to protest against America’ s failure to join England in WWI, ______ became a naturalized British citizen in 1915. A. William Faulkner B. Henry James C. Earnest Hemingway D. Ezra Pound 30. Robert Frost described ______as “a book of people,” which shows a brilliant insight into New England character and the background that formed it. A. North of Boston B. A Boy’s Will C. A Witness Tree D. A Further Range 31. We can easily find in Dreiser’ s fiction a world of jungle, and ______ found expression in almost every book he wrote. A. naturalism B. romanticism C. transcendentalism D. cubism 32. As an active participant of his age, Fitzgerald is often acclaimed literary spokesman of the ______. A. Jazz Age B. Age of Reason C. Lost Generation D. Beat Generation 33. From the first novel Sister Carrie on, Dreiser set himself to project the American values for what he had found them to be: ______ to the core. A. altruistic B. political C. religious D. materialistic 34. The 20th -century stream- of- consciousness technique was frequently and skillfully used by ______ to emphasize the reactions and inner musings of the narrator. A. Hemingway B. Frost C. Faulkner D. Whitman 35. With the help of his friends Phil Stone and Sherwood Anderson, ______ published a volume of poetry The Marble Faun and his first novel Soldiers’ Pay. A. Faulkner B. Hemingway C. Ezra Pound D. Fitzgerald 36. The Sun Also Rises casts light on a whole generation after WWI and the effects of the war by way of a vivid portrait of “______.” A. the Beat Generation B. the Lost Generation C. the Babybooming Age D. the Jazz Age 37. Within her little lyrics Dickinson addresses those issues that concern ______, which include religion, death, immorality, love and nature. A. the whole human beings B. the frontiers C. the African Americans D. her relatives 38. H. L. Mencken, a famous American critic, considered ______ “the true father of our national literature. ” A. Hamlin Garland B. Joseph Kirkland C. Mark Twain D. Henry James 39. In his poetry, Whitman shows concern for ______ and the burgeoning life of cities. A. the colonists B. the capitalists C. the whole hard -working people D. the intellectuals 40. In 1837, ______ published Twice - Told Tales, a collection of short stories which attracted critical attention. A. Emerson B. Melville C. Whitman D. Hawthorne II. Reading Comprehension (16 points in all, 4 for each) Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 41. Wherefore, Bees of England, forge Many a weapon, chain, and scourge, That these stingless drones may spoil The forced produce of your toil? Questions: A. Identify the poet and the poem from which the lines are taken. B. What do you know about the poem’ s writing background? C. What do you think the poet intends to say in the poem? 42. Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half- deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one -night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster- shells: (The lines above are taken from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S Eliot. ) Questions: A. What does the poem present? B. What form is the poem composed in? C. What does the poem suggest? 43. This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me - The simple News that Nature told - With tender Majesty Questions: A. Identify the poet. B. What idea does the poem express? C. Why does the poet use dashes and capital letters in the poem? 44. There was music from my neighbor’ s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motorboats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week - ends his Rolls - Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing- brushes and hammers and garden - shears, repairing the ravages of the night before. (The passage above is taken from The Great Gatsby ) Questions: A. What time does the story reflect? B. What does the novel evoke? C. What does Gatsby’ s failure magnify? III. Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each) Give a brief answer to each of the following questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 45. Working through the tradition of a Christian humanism, Milton wrote Paradise Lost, intending to expose the ways of Satan and to “justify the ways of God to men. ” What is Milton’ s fundamental concern in Paradise Lost? 46. Briefly introduce Blake’ s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. 47. What are the factors that gave rise to American naturalism? 48. Briefly state Mark Twain’ s magic power with language in his novels. IV. Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each) Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 49. Why is Hardy regarded as a naturalistic writer in English literature? Discuss in relation to his novels you know. 50. Please discuss Henry James’ contribution to American literature in regard to his representative works, themes, writing techniques and language. 英美文学选读试题答案及评分参考 （课程代码 0604） I． Multiple Choice(40 points in all, 1 for each) Select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement. Write the corresponding letter A, B, C or D on the answer sheet. 01-05:DDADA 06-10:BBDCB 11-15:BACDA 16-20:CACAD 21-25:BDADC 26-30:BCCBA 31-35:AADCA 36-40:BACCD II. Reading Comprehension (16 points in all, 4 for each) Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 41. A. Shelley & A Song : Men of England. B. This poem was written in 1819, the year of the *Peterloo Massacre(彼得卢屠杀). * 1819年8月16日发生在英国曼彻斯特圣彼得广场上的一场流血惨案。由于镇压这次集会的军队，有的曾参加过滑铁卢战役，群众乃讥称这次流血惨案为彼得卢屠杀。 C. It is not only a war cry calling upon all working people to rise up against their political oppressors, but an address to them pointing out the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation. 42. A. It presents the meditation of an aging young man over the business of proposing marriage. B. dramatic monologue C. The poem is in a form of dramatic monologue, suggesting an ironic contrast between a pretended "Love Song" and a confession of the speaker's incapability of facing up to love and to life in a sterile upper-class world. 43 A. Emily Dickinson B. Entitled thus, the poem expresses Dickinson's anxiety about her communication with the outside world.) C. In her poetry there is a particular stress pattern, in which dashes are used as a musical device to create cadence and capital letters as a means of emphasis. 44. A. the Jazz Age B. A masterpiece in American literature, the Great Gatsby evokes a haunting mood of a glamorous, wild time that seemingly will never come again. C. Gatsby's failure magnifies to a great extent the end of the American Dream. III. Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each) Give a brief answer to each of the following questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 45. At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies Milton's fundamental concern with freedom and choice.The theme is the "Fall of Man," i.e. man's disobedience and the loss of Paradise.In the fall of man Adam discovered his full humanity. The freedom of the will is the keystone of Milton's creed. 46. The Songs of Innocence (1809) is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy and innocent world, though not without its evils and sufferings. His Songs of Experience (1794) paints a different world, a world of misery, poverty, disease, war and repression with a melancholy tone. Childhood is central to Blake's concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. 47. The impact of Darwin's evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American naturalism. Darwin, in his The Origin of Species (1859) and Descent of Man (1871), hypothesized that over the millennia man had evolved from lower forms of life. The American naturalists accepted the more negative implications of this theory and used it to account for the behavior of those characters in literary works who were conceived as more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic forces. 或 In a word, naturalism is evolved from realism when the author's tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more pessimistic. It is no more than a different philosophical approach to reality, or to human existence. 48. Briefly state Mark Twain’ s magic power with language in his novels. A.Setting: In the novel Mark Twain recreates a small-town world of America and presents the local color. B.Language: He uses simple, direct language faithful to the colloquial speech, the vernacular language of the local people. C.Character（s）: The author recreates two rebels and fugitives running away from civilization, especially Huckleberry Finn, an innocent boy who refuses to accept the conventional village morality. D.Theme: The novel is a criticism of social injustice, hypocrisy, conservativeness and narrow-mindedness of the American small town society. E.Style: The novel employs a humorous style of narration and is also highly symbolic with the central symbol. IV. Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each) Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 49. A. He read Darwin's The Origin of Species and accepted the idea of "survival of the fittest." He was also influenced by Spencer's The First Principle, which led him to the belief that man's fate is predeterminedly tragic, driven by a combined force of "nature," both inside and outside. In his works, man is shown inevitably bound by his won inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for some specific happiness or success and set him in conflict with the environment. Man proves impotent before Fate, however he tries, and he seldom escapes his ordained destiny. This pessimistic view of life predominates most of Hardy's later works and earns him a reputation as a naturalistic writer. B. His best local-colored works are his later ones, such as The Return of the Native (1878), The Trumpet Major (1880), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887), Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. These works, known as "novels of character and environment," are the most representative of him as both a naturalistic and a critical realist writer. 50. A. International themes: In almost all the stories and novels he wrote during this period, James treated with great care the clashes between tow different cultures and the emotional and moral problems of Americans in Europe, or Europeans in America. Nearly every work is important in its own way in terms of James's cultivation of the theme. B. Representative works： Daisy Miller (1878), a novella about a young American girl who gets "killed" by the winter in Rome, brought James international fame for the first time. The Portrait of A Lady (1881) is generally considered to be his masterpiece, which incarnates the clash between the Old World and the New in the life journey of an American girl in a European cultural environment. C. Language: As to his language, James is not so easy to understand. He is often highly refined and insightful. With a large vocabulary, he is always accurate in word selection, trying to find the best expression for his literary imagination. D. Style： Moreover, James's realism is characterized by his psychological approach to his subject matter. One of the James's literary techniques innovated to cater for this psychological emphasis is his narrative "point of view." E. Summary： That is why James is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th-chentury "stream-of-consciousness" novels and the founder of psychological realism. 全国2011年4月高等教育自学考试 英美文学选读试题 I. Multiple Choice(40 points in all, 1 for each) Select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement. Write the corresponding letter A, B, C or D on the answer sheet. 1. One of Shelley’ s greatest political lyrics is ________, which was later to become a rallying song of the British Communist Party. A. “Ode to Liberty” B. “Ode to Naples” C. “Sonnet: England in 1819” D. “Men of England” 2. In Charles Dickens’ work ________, the Utilitarian principle rules over the English education system and destroys young hearts and minds. A. Little Dorrit B. Hard Times C. Great Expectations D. Bleak House 3. The tragic sense turns into despair in Thomas Hardy’s ________, where cornered by the traditional social morality, the hero and the heroine have to kill their own will and passion and return to their former destructive way of life. A. The Return of the Native B. The Mayor of Casterbridge C. Tess of the D’ Urbervilles D. Jude the Obscure 4. The typical representatives of G. B. Shaw’ s early plays are ____B____. A. Man and Superman; The Apple Cart B. Widowers’ House; Mrs. Warren’ s Profession C. Candida; Mrs. Warren’ s Profession D. The Apple Cart; Widowers’ House 5. As a critic of music and drama, ________ held that art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life, revealing social contradictions and educating the common people. A. T. S. Eliot B. Oscar Wilde C. George Bernard Shaw D.W. B. Yeats 6. Symbolism and complex narrative are employed more richly in D. H. Lawrence’s ________, which are generally regarded as his masterpieces. A. Women in Love; Sons and Lovers B. The Rainbow; Women in Love C. Sons and Lovers; Lady Chatterley’s Lover D. Lady Chatterley’ s Lover; The Rainbow 7. T. S. Eliot won the Nobel Prize of Literature in ________. A. 1945 B. 1948 C. 1952 D. 1956 8. Thomas Hardy’s pessimistic view of life predominates most of his later works and earns him a reputation as a ________ writer. A. realistic B. naturalistic C. romantic D. stylistic 9. “Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? ... And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. ” The quoted lines are most probably taken from ________. A. Great Expectations B. Wuthering Heights C. Jane Eyre D. Pride and Prejudice 10. The most distinguishing feature of Charles Dickens’ works is ________. A. the vernacular and large vocabulary B. his humor and wit C. character-portrayal D. pictures of pathos 11. G. B. Shaw’ s play ________ established his position as the leading playwright of his time. A. Widowers’ Houses B. Too True to Be Good C. Mrs. Warren’ s Profession D. Candida 12. Jane Austen’ s first novel ________ tells a story about two sisters and their love affairs. A. Sense and Sensibility B. Pride and Prejudice C. Northanger Abbey D. Mansfield Park 13. “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” the quoted line comes from ________. A. Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” B. Walt Whitman’ s Leaves of Grass C. John Milton’s Paradise Lost D. John Keats’“ Ode on a Grecian Urn” 14. All of the following poems by William Wordsworth are masterpieces on nature EXCEPT ________. A. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” B. “An Evening Walk” C. “Tinter Abbey” D. “The Solitary Reaper” H:\fanwen caiji two\中秋节祝福语大全（一）.doc15. William Blake’s ________ marks his entry into maturity. A. Poetical Sketches B. Songs of Innocence C. Marriage of Heaven and Hell D. Songs of Experience 16. Henry Fielding’ s ________ brings him the name of “Prose Homer”. A. The History of Jonathan Wild the Great B. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling C. The History of Amelia D. The History of Joseph Andrews 17. Among the three major poetical works by John Milton, ________ is the most perfect example of verse drama after the Greek style in English. A. Samson Agonistes B. Paradise Lost C. Paradise Regained D. Areopagitica 18. T.S. Eliot’ s ________ not only presents a panorama of physical disorder and spiritual desolation in the modern Western world, but also reflects the prevalent mood of disillusionment and despair of a whole post- war generation. A. The Hollow Men B. The Waste Land C. Murder in the Cathedral D. Ash Wednesday 19. In ________, Shakespeare has not only made a profound analysis of the social crisis in which the evils can be seen everywhere, but also criticized the bourgeois egoism. A. Hamlet B. Othello C. King Lear D. Macbeth 20. John Milton’s greatest poetical work ________ is the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf. A. Areopagitica B. Paradise Lost C. Lycidas D. Samson Agonistes 21. The work ________ by William Blake is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy world, though not without its evils and sufferings. A. Songs of Innocence B. Songs of Experience C. Poetical Sketches D. Lyrical Ballads 22. The plays known as “the Lawrence trilogy” are all the following EXCEPT ________. A. A Collier’ s Friday Night B. Lady Chatterley’ s Lover C. The Daughter - in - Law D. The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyed 23. Greatly and permanently affected by the ________ experiences, Hemingway formed his own writing style, together with his theme and hero. A. mining B. farming C. war D. sailing 24. “The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one -eighth of it being above water. ” This “iceberg” analogy about prose style was put forward by ________. A. William Faulkner B. Henry James C. Ernest Hemingway D. F·Scott Fitzgerald 25. In Go Down, Moses, ________ illuminates the problem of black and white in Southern society as a close- knit destiny of blood brotherhood. A. William Faulkner B. Jack London C. Herman Melville D. Nathaniel Hawthorne 26. In Death in the Afternoon ________ presents his philosophy about life and death through the depiction of the bullfight as a kind of microcosmic tragedy. A. William Faulkner B. Jack London C. Ernest Hemingway D. Mark Twain 27. William Faulkner once said that ________ is a story of “lost innocence,” which proves itself to be an intensification of the theme of imprisonment in the past. A. The Great Gatsby B. The Sound and the Fury C. Absalom, Absalom! D. Go Down, Moses 28. Walt Whitman believed, by means of “________,” he has turned poetry into an open field, an area of vital possibility where the reader can allow his own imagination to play. A. free verse B. strict verse C. regular rhyming D. standardized rhyming 29. Herman Melville’s second famous work, ________, was not published until 1924, 33 years after his death. A. Pierre B. Redburn C. Moby-Dick D. Billy Budd 30. In 1920, ________ published his first novel This Side of Paradise which was, to some extent, his own story. A. F·Scott Fitzgerald B. Ernest Hemingway C. William Faulkner D. Emily Dickinson 31. Unlike his contemporaries in the early 20th century, ________ did not break up with the poetic tradition nor made any experiment on form. A. Walt Whitman B. Robert Frost C. Ezra Pound D.T. S. Eliot 32. While Mark Twain seemed to have paid more attention to the “life” of the Americans, ________ had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the “inner world” of man. A. William Howells B. Henry James C. Bret Harte D. Hamlin Garland 33. At the age of eighty -seven, ________ read his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961. A. Robert Frost B. Walt Whitman C. Ezra Pound D.T. S. Eliot 34. Of all Herman Melville’s sea adventure stories, ________ proves to be the best. A. Typee B. Redburn C. Moby – Dick D. Omoo 35. Man is a “victim of forces over which he has no control. ” This is a notion held strongly by ________. A. Robert Frost B. Theodore Dreiser C. Henry James D. Hamlin Garland 36. With the publication of ________, Theodore Dreiser was launching himself upon a long career that would ultimately make him one of the most significant American writers of the school later known as literary naturalism. A. Sister Carrie B. The Titan C. An American Tragedy D. The Stoic 37. Nathaniel Hawthorne was affected by ________’s transcendentalist theory and struck up a very intimate relationship with him. A. H. W. Longfellow B. Walt Whitman C. R. W. Emerson D. Washington Irving 38. Among the following writers ________ is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th -century “stream - of - consciousness” novels and the founder of psychological realism. A. T. S. Eliot B. James Joyce C. William Faulkner D. Henry James 39. Walt Whitman wrote down a great many poems to air his sorrow for the death of President ______, and one of the famous is “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’ d. ” A. Washington B. Lincoln C. Franklin D. Kennedy 40. The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a romance set in______, is concerned about the dark aberrations of the human spirit. A. France B. Spain C. England D. Italy II. Reading Comprehension ( 16 points in all, 4 for each) Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 41.“Shah I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:” Questions: A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem? B. What figure of speech is employed in the poem? C. What is the theme of the poem? 42. “When the stars threw down their spears, And water’ d heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee ?” Questions: A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem? B. Whom does the “he” refer to? C. What does the “Lamb” symbolize? 43. “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’ d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty- seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death” Questions: A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem? B. What do “soil” and “air” represent in the first line? C. What does the poet try to say in the above quoted lines? 44. “ ‘Is dying hard, Daddy?’ ‘No, I think it’s pretty easy, Nick. It all depends. ’” Questions: A. Who’s the author of the quoted part, and what’s the title of the work? B. What was Nick preoccupied with when he asked the question? C. Why did the father add “It all depends” after he answered his son’s question? III. Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each) Give a brief answer to each of the following questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 45. What’s the theme of Emily Bronte’ s Wuthering Heights? 46. It is said that B. Shaw’ s play Mrs. Warren’ s Profession, has a strong realistic theme, which fully reflects the dramatist’s Fabianist idea. What’s the theme of the work? 47. What’s the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’ s Young Goodman Brown? 48. Daisy Miller brought Henry James international fame for the first time. What’s the character of Daisy Miller, the protagonist? IV. Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each) Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 49. Make a comment on the character of Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel by Charlotte Bronte. 50. Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?