美国文学 练习

四、练习（

Exercises

）

A

、选择题

(Multiple choice questions):

1. Which of the following statements is NOT a famous concept of Transcendentalism?

[A] Nature is ennobling.

[B] The individual is divine and self

–

reliant.

[C] Man is capable of knowing truth by intuition.

[D] Man is corrupted in nature.

2. Which of the following works began to make Irving internationally known?

[A]

The Sketch Book

[B]

A History of New York to the End of the Dutch Dynasty

[C]

Bracebridge Hall

[D]

Tales of Traveler

3. Which of the following is NOT true concerning Washington Irving?

[A] He is the father of the American short stories.

[B] He is the American Goldsmith.

[C] He is the first American writer to win international fame.

[D] He is the first writer to declare the independence of American literature.

4.

The Scarlet Letter

by Hawthorne is mainly concerned with_______.

[A] the corruption of the society

[B] the consequence of sin and guilt

[C] the wrong doing of one generation that lives into the successive ones

[D] ―overreaching intellect‖

5.

Rip V

an Winkle

has its source material taken from _______.

[A] Spanish stories

[B] German legends

[C] English tales

[D] Italian folktales

6. ―But it would have been worth any statesman's money to have heard the profound discussions that sometimes

took place, when by chance an old

newspaper fell into their hands, from some passing traveler.‖ What is the rhetorical device used in this sentence?

[A] Hyperbole.

[B] Metaphor.

[C] Irony.

[D] Paradox.

7. Which of the following statements about Emerson is NOT true?

[A] He was generally known as an essayist.

[B] He was the chief spokesman of Transcendentalism.

[C] He practiced the theory by living a simple life.

[D] For him, nature is symbolic.

8. For Emerson, nature could symbolize the following except______.

[A] God

[B] Spirit

[C] Oversoul

[D] The whole universe

9. What is Hawthorne’s attitude toward Puritanism?

[A] Negative

[B] Affirmative

[C] Indifferent

[D] Mixed

10. One typical feature of Irving’s writing is ______.

[A] always preaching

[B] his best classic style

[C] short and difficult to understand

[D] symbolic

11. ―I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.‖

Who could have written these lines?

[A] Edgar Allen Poe

[B] Walt Whitman

[C] Ralph Waldo Emerson

[D] Henry David Thoreau

12. Which of the following is NOT true with Transcendentalism?

[A] It inherited much from American Puritanism and European realism

[B] It focused on the intuitive knowledge.

[C]

Nature

is its unofficial manifesto.

[D]

It is related in some way with the German idealism.

13. What kind of narrative point of view is adopted in

Moby Dick

?

[A] The first person

[B] The second person

[C] The third person limited

[D] The third person omniscient

14. Which of the following has influenced Melville’s writing EXCEPT______.

[A] Shakespearean tragic vision

[B] Emersonian Transcendentalism

[C] Hawthorne’s black vision of life

[D] Irving’s writing

15. Which of the following writers is not optimistic about the human nature?

[A] Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[B] Nathaniel Hawthorne.

[C] Walt Whitman.

[D] Henry David Thoreau.

16. Which of the following cannot be used to describe Whitman’s poetry?

[A] Elegant and gentle.

[B] Simple and open.

[C] Unconventional.

[D] Colloquial.

17. When Emerson states in the introduction to his

Nature:

―Our age is retrospective.‖ Which of the following is closest to its understanding?

[A] We are conservative.

[B] We see this world through our ancestor

s’ eyes.

[C] We usually look back upon the good old days.

[D] We write a lot of books about the past.

18. Which of the following novels does not represent the theme of return to nature?

[A] Mark Twain’s

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

[B] Thoreau’s

Walden

[C] Cooper’s

Leather-Stocking Tales

[D] Melville’s

Moby Dick

19. Which of the following is NOT a typical feature of the American Romantic writings?

[A] E

xpression of the artist’s imaginations, emotions, impressions, or beliefs.

[B] Emphasis on rules of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion, good taste and decorum

[C] Love for the remote, supernatural, mysterious, exotic and illogical quality of things.

[D] To see nature as a source of mental cleanness and spiritual understanding.

20. The statement tha

t a man’s

journey to the dark forest and his encounter with the devil are symbolic of man's life journey from innocence to knowledge,

from good to evil may well sum up one of the major themes of _______.

[A] Irving’s ―The Legend of Sleepy Hollow‖

[B] Edg

ar Allen Poe’s ―The Fall of the House of Usher‖

[C] Hawthorne’s ―Young Goodman Brown‖

[D] O. Henry’s ―The Cop and the Anthem‖

21. Here is a short passage from a story:

―

He recognized on the sign, however, the ruby face of King George, under which he had smoked so many a

peaceful pipe, ...and underneath was painted in large characters, GENERAL WASHINGTON

‖ The story must be ______.

[A] Cooper’s ―Leatherstocking Tales‖

[B] Hawthorne’s ―Young Goodman Brown‖

[C] Irving’s ―Rip Van Winkle‖

[D] Hemingway’s ―Indian Camp‖

22. ―The universe is composed of Nature and the soul … Spirit is present everywhere.‖ This is the voice of the book_______, w

hich pushed American

Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism.

[A]

Walden

by Thoreau

[B]

The Scarlet Letter

by Hawthorne

[C]

Moby Dick

by

Melville

[D]

Nature

written by Emerson

23. In Whitman’s giant work,

Leaves of Grass

, openness, freedom and, above all, _____ are all that concerned him.

[A] individualism

[B] divine love

[C] sympathy

[D] the power of blackness

24. Which of the following is NOT a typical feature of Hawthorne’s ―Young Goodman Brown‖?

[A] Allegory.

[B] Ambiguity.

[C] Interior monologue.

[D] Symbolism.

25. In Irving’s ―Rip Van Winkle‖ all the drastic cha

nges in the lapsed 20 years displeased Rip EXCEPT that ______.

[A]

he has got his neck out of the yoke of matrimony

[B] the country has finally got its independence from the yoke of the British colonial rule

[C] there comes now the scramble for powers between parties

[D] past glories and a tranquil life of the small village are gone;

B

、阅读理解题

(Reading comprehension):

1. ―In like manner, nature is already, in its forms and tendencies, describing its own design. Let us interrogate the great

apparition, that shines so

peacefully around us. Let us inquire, to what end is nature?

Questions:

A. Identify the work and the author.

B. What is the great apparition?

C. What is the writing style?

2. ―… Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed

a wild dream of witch-meeting?

Be it so, if you will. But, alas! It was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate

man, did he become, from the night of that fearful dream.‖

Questions:

A. Identity the work and the author.

B. What is the general idea of this passage?

C. Did the author tell for sure whether it was only a dream or not?

3. ― I loafe and invite my soul,

I learn and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.‖

Questions:

A. Identify the poem and the poet.

B. What is the meaning of the phrase ―a spear of summer grass‖?

C. What is the implied meaning of the two lines?

4. ―Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against it

s steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of

the sea rolled on as it rolled 5,000 years ago.‖

Questions:

A. Identify the work and the author.

B. What is the basic tone of this passage?

C. What is the meaning of the underlined part?

5.

―

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 changed?

C. What idea does the quoted sentence express?

6.

―Standing on the bare ground, —

my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space,

—

all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent

eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the

Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God.‖

Questions:

A. Identify the work and the author.

B. What does the word ―blithe‖ mean here?

C. What idea does the quoted passage express?

C

、问答题

(Questions and answers):

1.

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‖ and its relationship with ―a transparent eyeball‖?

2. One of the most distinctive features of Hawthorne’s writing is his art of ambiguity. Exemplify it with his story, ―Young Goodman Brown‖.

3. Like Hawthorne, Melville is fond of symbolism in his writings. The white whale, Moby- Dick, is the most important symbol in the novel. What

symbolic meaning does Moby Dick stand for?

4. Whitman is one of the most important figures in American poetic history. He has carried on a sort of experiment on the form of poetry by choosing free