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. Mark your choice by blackening the corresponding letter [A]，， [C] or ID] on the answer sheet .

        1. Romance， which uses narrative verse or prose to tell stories of____ adventures or other heroic deeds ， is a popular literary form in the medieval period. [A] Christian lB] knightly [C] Greek [D] primitive 2. Among the great Middle English poets， Geoffrey Chaucer is known for his production of____. [A]Piers Plowman lB] Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [C] Confessio Amantis [D] The Canterbury Tales 3. Which of the following historical events does not directly help to stimulate the rising of the Renaissance Movement ？

        [A] The rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture. The new discoveries in geography and astrology. [C] The Glorious revolution. [D] The religious reformation and the economic expansion. 4. Which of the following statements best illustrates the theme of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ？

        [A] The speaker eulogizes the power of Nature. The speaker satirizes human vanity. [C] The speaker praises the power of artistic creation. [D] The speaker meditates on man's salvation. 5."And we will sit upon the rocksdSeeing the shepherds feed their flocks/By shallow rivers to whose falls/Melodious birds sing madrigals." The above lines are probably taken from ____. [A] Spenser's The Faerie Queene John Donne's "The Sun Rising" IC] Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18' [D] Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" 6. "Bassani Antonio ， I am married to a wife Which is as dear to me as life itself ；But life itself ， my wife， and all the world ，Are not with me esteem'd above thy life ；I would lose all， ay ， sacrifice them all，Here to the devil ， to deliver you. Portia ： Your wife would give you little thanks for that，ff she were by to hear you make the offer." The above is a quotation taken from Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice. The quoted part can be regarded as a good example to illustrate IA] dramatic irony personification IC] allegory [12 ）] symbolism 7. The true subject of John Donne's poem， "The Sun Rising，" is to [A] attack the sun as an unruly servant give compliments to the mistress and her power of beauty [C] criticize the sun's intrusion into the lover's private life [DJ lecture the sun on where true royalty and riches lie 8. Of all the 18th century novelists Henry Fielding was the first to set out ， both in theory and practice， to write specifically a" _________ in prose，" the first to give the modem novel its structure and style. [Al tragic epic comic epic [C] romance ID] lyric epic 9. The Houyhnhnms depicted by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels are IAI horses that are endowed with reason lB] pigmies that are endowed with admirable qualities [C] giants that are superior in wisdom [D] hairy ， wild ， low and despicable creatures ， who resemble human beings not only in appearance but also in some other ways 10. Here are four lines from a literary work ： "Others for language all their care express，/ And value books ， as women men ， for dress." The work is IAI Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" [BI John Milton's Paradise Lost IC] Alexander Pope's Essay on Criticism ID] Shakespeare' s Midsummer Night's Dream 11. The phrase "to urge people to abide by Christian doctrines and to seek salvation through constant struggles with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils" may well sum up the implied meaning of_______ [A] Gulliver's Travels lB] The Rape of the Lock [C] Robinson Crusoe [DJ The Pilgrim's Progress 12. William Wordsworth ， a romantic poet， advocated all the following EXCEPT [A] the use of everyday language spoken by the common people the expression of the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings [C] the use of humble and rustic life as subject matter [D] the use of elegant wording and inflated figures of speech 13. Which of the following is taken from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn"？

        [A] "I fall upon the thorns of life ！ I bleed！" "They are both gone up to the church to pray." ICI "Earth has not anything to show more fair." ID] "Beauty is math ， math beauty". 14. "If Winter comes， can Spring be far behindg." is an epigrammatic line by [A] J. Keats W. Blake [C] W. Wordsworth [D] P. B. Shelley 15. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" shows the contrast between the______ of art and the of human passion. IA] glory……， ugliness permanence…… transience [C] transience ……， sordidness [DJ glory ……， permanence 16. In the statement "___ oh ， God！ would you like to live with your soul in the grave ？" the term "soul" apparently refers to IA] Heathcliff himself lB] Catherine [C] one's spiritual life [DJ one's ghost 17. The typical feature of Robert Browning's poetry is the___. IA] bitter satire lB] larger-than-life caricature ICI Latinized diction ID] dramatic monologue 18. The Victorian Age was largely an age of________ eminently represented by Dickens and Thackeray. [A] poetry drama [C] prose ID] epic prose 19. ________ is the first important governess novel in the English literary history. [A] Jane Eyre [BI Emma [C] Wuthering Heights [D] Middlemarch 20. The major concern of_____________ fiction lies in the tracing of the psychological development of his characters and in his energetic criticism of the dehumanizing effect of the capitalist industrialization on human nature. [A] D. H. Lawrence's J. Galsworthy's [C] W. Thackeray's [D]T. Hardy's 21. __________is considered to be the best-known English dramatist since Shakespeare， and his representative works are plays inspired by social criticism. [Al Richard Sheridan [BI Oliver Goldsmith IC] Oscar Wilde [D] Bernard Shaw 22. Which of the following is NOT a typical feature of Modernism？

        IAI To elevate the individual and inner being over the social being. To put the stress on traditional values. [C] To portray the distorted and alienated relationships between man and his environment. [D] To advocate a conscious break with the past. 23. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the____in the American literary history. [Al individual feelings [BI idea of survival of the fittest IC] strong imagination ID] return to nature 24. Henry David Thoreau's work，________， has always been regarded as a masterpiece of New England Transcendentalism. [A] Walden [BI The Pioneers [C] Nature [DJ Song of Myself 25. The famous 20-year sleep in "Rip Van Winkle" helps to construct the story in such a way that we are greatly affected by Irving's [A] concern with the passage of time expression of transient beauty [C] satire on laziness and corruptibility of human beings [D] idea about supernatural manipulation of man's life 26. Walt Whitman was a pioneering figure of American poetry. His innovation first of all lies in his use of _______， poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. [A] blank verse lB] heroic couplet [C] free verse [D] iambic pentameter 27. The literary characters of the American type in early 19th century are generally characterized by all the following features EXCEPT that they____. [A] speak local dialects lB] are polite and elegant gentlemen [C] are simple and crude farmers [D] are noble savages（red and white） untainted by society 28. Hester Pryme ， Dimmesdale ， Chillingworth and Pearl are most likely the names of the characters in_____. [A] The Scarlet Letter lB] The House of the Seven Gablest [C] The Portrait of a Lady [D] The Pioneers 29. "This is my letter to the World" is a poetic expression of Emily Dickinson's about her communication with the outside world. [A] indifference anger [C] anxiety [D] sorrow 30.With Howells， James， and Mark Twain active on the literary scene ， ____ became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century. [Al sentimentalism romanticism [C] realism ID] naturalism 31. After The Adventures of Tom Sawyer， Twain gives a literary independence to Tom's buddy Huck in a book entitled____. IAI Life on the Mississippi The Gilded Age [C] The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [D]A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 32. However ， _____， the keynote of Daisy Miller's character， turns out to be an admiring but a dangerous quality and her defiance of social taboos in the Old World finally brings her to a disaster in the clash between two different cultures. IA] experience sophistication IC] worldliness [D] innocence 33.Generally speaking， all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be____. IA] transcendentalists idealists [C] pessimists ID] impressionists 34. Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression？

        [A] Religion and immortality. Life and death. [C] Love and marriage. [D] War and peace. 35. In "After Apple-Picking ，" Robert Frost wrote： "For I have had too much / Of apple- picking ： I am overtired/Of the great harvest I myself desired." From these lines we can conclude that the speaker is_____. [A] happy about the harvest still very much interested in apple-picking [C] expecting a greater harvest [D] indifferent to what he once desired 36. Chinese poetry and philosophy have exerted great influence over____. IA] Ezra Pound Ralph Waldo Emerson [C] Robert Frost [D] Emily Dickinson 37. The Hemingway Code heroes are best remembered for their____. [A] indestructible spirit pessimistic view of life IC] war experiences [D] masculinity 38. In The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape， O'Neill adopted the expressionist techniques to portray the ____ of human beings in a hostile universe. IA] helpless situation uncertainty [C] profound religious faith [D] courage and perseverance 39. In Hemingway's "Indian Camp" ， Nick's night trip to the Indian village and his experience inside the hut can be taken as____. IA] an essential lesson about Indian tribes a confrontation with evil and sin [C] an initiation to the harshness of life ID] a learning process in human relationship 40.Which of the following statements about Emily Grierson， the protagonist in Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily，" is NOT true ？

        [A] She has a distorted personality. [BI She is physically deformed and paralyzed. IC] She is the symbol of the old values of the South. ID] She is the victim of the past glory.

        PART TWO

        II. Reading Comprehension （16 points ， 4 for each ）

        Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answer in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. 41 ."Her eyes met his and he looked away. He neither believed nor disbelieved her ， but he knew that he had made a mistake in asking ； he never had known ， never would know ， what she was thinking. The sight of her inscrutable face， the thought of all the hundreds of evenings he had seen her sitting there like that， soft and passive， but so unreadable， unknown， enraged him beyond measure." Questions ： A. Identify the writer and the work. B. What does the phrase "inscrutable face" mean？

        C. What idea does the quoted passage express？

        42. "And when I am formulated ， sprawling on a pin ，When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall ，Then how should I begin To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways." Questions ：A. Identify the poem and the poet. B. What does the phrase "butt-ends" mean ？

        C. What idea does the quoted passage express？

        43. "God knows…… I'm not myself —I'm somebody else —…… and I'm changed， and I can't tell what's my name ， or who I am." Questions：A. Identify the work and the author. B. The speaker says he is changed. Do you think he is changed ， or the social environment has changed ？

        C. What idea does the quoted sentence express ？

        44. "I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence：Two roads diverged in a wood， and I—I took the one less traveled by ，And that has made all the difference." Questions ：A. Identify the poem and the poet. B. What does the phrase "ages and ages hence" mean？

        C. What idea does the quoted passage express？

        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. As a rule ， an allegory is a story in verse or prose with a double meaning： a surface meaning， and an implied meaning. List two works as examples of allegory. What is an allegory usually concerned with by its implied meaning？

        46. Inspiration for the romantic approach initially came from two great shapers of thought. Who are the two？ And what ideas they expressed inspire the romantic writers ？

        47. The white whale ， Moby Dick， is the most important symbol in Melville's novel. What symbolic meaning can you draw from it？

        48. Nature is a philosophic work， in which Emerson gives an explicit discussion on his idea of the Oversoul. What is your understanding of Emersonian "Oversoul" ？

        IV. Topic Discussion（20 points in ali， 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. How is Romanticism different from Neoclassicism？ Provide brief evidence from the literary works you know best. 50. Summerize the story of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in about 100 words ， and comment on the theme of the novel