美国文学期末考试模拟试题及答案
I. True or false choices: 20% (One point for each item)
(T ) 1. Franklin’s autobiography, published after his death, has become one of the classics of the
genre.
(F ) 2. In Catch-22, Yossarian devises multiple strategies to fly combat missions, but the military
bureaucracy is always able to find a way to make him stay.
(F ) 3. Eben kills the infant in Desire under the Elm and confesses his crime in the end of the
play.
(T ) 4. ―Dreams‖ has the meaning to encourage other black people not to give up hope or lose
their ideal of a better world, for without hope, life is unbearable.
(T ) 5. The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is an American novel written by Nathaniel
Hawthorne and is generally considered to be his representative work.
(F ) 6. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the
Imagist movement in the early 19th century.
(F ) 7. ―The Fall of the House of Usher‖ is one of Poe’s poems.
(F ) 8. Saul Bellow’s perceptions center around the black people, the big city, and the spirit of
American life in the second half of the 20th century.
(T ) 9. In The Scarlet Letter, Pear is Hester’s illegitimate daughter.
(T ) 10. Some present-day critics consider Pound’s Cantos the best long poem in modern
literature.
(T ) 11. In 1895, Stephen Crane published Maggie: A Girl of Street, which exerted great influence
on Theodore Dreiser’s realism.
( T) 12. The setting of The Flowering Judas is the Mexican Revolution is the 1920s.
(F ) 13. Fitzgerald’s fictional world is the best embodiment of the spirit of the romantic period. (F ) 14. William Faulkner’s woks mainly concerned the decay in economy and moral in the
American North.
(F ) 15. In Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, he used a technique called imagism, in which the
whole story was told through the thoughts of one character.
(T ) 16. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway became the spokesman of
the lost generation.
(T ) 17. The novel A Farewell to Arms portrays a farewell both to war and love. (F ) 18. The famous poem ―A Psalm of Life‖ was written by Edgar Allen Poe. (F ) 19. ―The Raven‖ is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe.
(F ) 20. Toni Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her novel The Bluest Eye. II. Match the following writers and their works: 10% (One point for each item) Writers: ( a ) 4. Archibald MacLeish ( g ) 1. Benjamin Franklin ( c ) 5. Nathaniel Hawthorne
( e ) 6. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Works:
a. Ars Poetica ( b ) 7. Stephen Crane ( d ) 2. Toni Morrison ( j ) 8. Katherine Anne Porter ( f ) 3. William Faulkner ( h ) 9. William Carlos Williams
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( i ) 10. Saul Bellow f. Barn Burning b. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets g. Poor Richard’s Almanac c. Twice-told Tales h. Paterson d. Beloved i. Anderson the Rain King e. A Psalm of Life j. The Flowering Judas III. Identify the following by choosing the author’s name and the name of the works:
20% (1 points for each item)
1. And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe
the mentioned happiness of my past life to his kind providence, which led me to the means I used and gave them success. My belief of this induces me to hope, though I must not presume, that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may experience as others have done, the complexion of my future fortune being known to him only in whose power it is to bless to us even our afflictions.
Author: A. William Faulkner B. Benjamin Franklin C. Ralph Waldo Ellison Work: A. The Autobiography B. Barn Burning C. The Great Gatsby
2. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt
my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation.
Author: A. William Faulkner B. Edgar Allan Poe C. Ralph Waldo Ellison Work: A. The Autobiography B. Barn Burning C. The Cask of Amontillado
3. Virtues are, in the popular estimate, rather the exception than the rule. There is the man
_and_ his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world, -- as invalids and the insane pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady.
Author: A. Walt Whitman B. William Faulkner C. Ralph W. Emerson Work: A. The Road Not Taken B.I Shot An Arrow C. Self-reliance
4. The door of the jail being flung open from within there appeared, in the first place, like a
black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and gristly presence of the town-beadle, with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand. This personage prefigured and represented in his aspect the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law, which it was his business to administer in its final and closest application to the offender. Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward, until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air as if by her own free will.
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Author: A. Nathaniel Hawthorne B. William Faulkner C. Emily Dickenson Work: A. Moby Dick B. The Scarlet Letter C. Walden
5. A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one
wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats. In a ten-foot dingey one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience which is never at sea in a dingey. As each slatey wall of water approached, it shut all else from the view of the men in the boat, and it was not difficult to imagine that this particular wave was the final outburst of the ocean, the last effort of the grim water.
Author: A. Henry James B. William Faulkner C. Stephen Crane Work: A.Catch-22 B. The Open Boat C. Miss Jewett
6. Doctor Harry spread a warm paw like a cushion on her forehead where the forked green
vein danced and made her eyelids twitch. ―Now, now, be a good girl, and we’ll have you up in no time.‖
Author: A. Oscar Wilde B.H. W. Longfellow C. Katherine Anne Porter Work: A. The Jilting of Granny Weatherall B. Moby Dick C. The Jolly Corner
7. But all this part of it seemed remote and unessential. I found myself on Gatsby’s side,
and alone. From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me. At first I was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn’t move or breathe or speak, hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested—interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end.
Author: A. F. S. Fitzgerald B. Arther Miller C. H. W. Longfellow Work: A. Once More To the Lake B. Barn Burning C. The Great Gatsby
8. The store in which the justice of the Peace's court was sitting smelled of cheese. The boy,
crouched on his nail keg at the back of the crowded room, knew he smelled cheese, and more: from where he sat he could see the ranked shelves close-packed with the solid, squat, dynamic shapes of tin cans whose labels his stomach read, not from the lettering which meant nothing to his mind but from the scarlet devils and the silver curve of fish…
Author: A. F. S. Fitzgerald B. William Faulkner C. Robert Frost Work: A. Invisible Man B. Barn Burning C. The Happy Prince
9. It was late and everyone had left the cafe except an old man who sat in the shadow the
leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the daytime the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference. The two waiters inside the cafe knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.
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Author: A. Wallace Stevens B. William Faulkner C. Ernest Hemingway Work: A. Death of a Salesman B.A Clean, Well-lighted Place C. Recitatif
10. CABOT--Thunder 'n' lightnin', Abbie! I hain't slept this late in fifty year! Looks 's if the
sun was full riz a'most. Must've been the dancin' an' likker. Must be gittin' old. I hope Eben's t' wuk. Ye might've tuk the trouble t' rouse me, Abbie. (He turns--sees no one there--surprised) Waal--whar air she? Gittin' vittles, I calc'late. (He tiptoes to the cradle and peers down--proudly) Mornin', sonny. Putty's a picter! Sleepin' sound. He don't beller all night like most o' 'em. (He goes quietly out the door in rear--a few moments later enters kitchen--sees Abbie--with satisfaction) So thar ye be. Ye got any vittles cooked?
Author: A.W. C. Williams B. E. G. O’neill C. Saul Bellow
Work: A. Desire Under the Elms B. Looking for Mr. Green C. Catch-22
IV: Complete the following: 20%
1. I shot an __ arrow ___ into the air.
It fell to __ earth ___ I knew not ___ where __; For so swiftly it __ flew ___ the sight
Could not __ follow ___ it in its __ flight ___. (6%) 2. Life is __ real ___! Life is __ earnest ___! And the grave is not its __ goal ___;
__ Dust __ thou art, to ___ dust __ returnest, Was not spoken of the __ soul ___. (6%) 3. Helen, thy ___ beauty __ is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o’er a __ perfumed ___ sea,
The weary, way-worn ___ wanderer __ bore To his own native _ shore ____. (4%)
4. My captain does not answer, his lips are __ pale ___ and __ still ___,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no ___ pulse __ nor __ will ___ (4%)
V. Rewrite the following into modern English: 10% Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.
Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine, The Modern Man I sing.
I sing for physiology from top to toe. Neither looks alone nor intelligence is worthy for the praise. I say the form is far worthier. I also sing for the equality between
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the sexes. I sing for the modern man of their life full of passion, pulse and power. They can cheerfully and freely take actions formed under the divine laws. VI. Comment: 20%
1. The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded me the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong. It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunado cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation. Answer the following questions:
(1) Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress? (5%)
(2) What kind of person do you think the narrator is according to the above passage? (5%)
2. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony. Answer the following questions:
(1) What has happened to Hester? Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate?
(5%)
(2) How does this tell us about her character? (5%) ____________________________________________
美国文学期末考试试卷模拟试题二
True or false choices: 20% (One point for each item)
(T ) 1. The short story, Poe says, must be of such length as to be read at one sitting,
so as to ensure the totality of impression.
(F ) 2. Transcendentalist doctrines found their greatest literary advocates in
Jefferson and Thoreau.
(T ) 3. Williams’ poem ―The Red Wheelbarrow‖ is considered an example of the
Imagist movement's style and principles.
(F ) 4. Simeon and Peter are the farm owners in Desire under the Elms.
(T ) 5. The quotation — ―Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might…‖ is the theme of ―Looking for Mr. Green‖.
(T ) 6. Capt. John Yossarian is a fictional character in Joseph Heller’s novel
Catch-22.
(T ) 7. Set in Puritan Boston in the seventeenth century, The Scarlet Letter tells the
IV.
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