大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题
大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题：
1.选择/对错60分（40道选择，20个对错）
2.名词解释10分（5个）
3.选段配对10分（5个）
4.问答20分（10/2）
1．历史：Father / poetess…
2. 名作家：Hemingway, Faulkner, Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson
3．作品：The Wasteland/Moby Dick/Scarlet Letter
1.a)选择题（40个，40分）
1. At the age of reason and revolution, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ________.
A. Chartist Movement
B. Romanticist Movement
C. Enlightenment Movement
D. Modernist Movement
2. Which is NOT connected to Benjamin Franklin? ________
A. He was born in a poor family.
B. He was a pious puritan.
C. He was phrased as “Jack of all trades”.
D. He was a master of diplomacy.
3. Ernest Hemingway is noted for the following EXCEPT ________.
A. Lost Generation
B. Iceberg theory
C. American Dream
D. Code Heroes
4. Which character is NOT from The Scarlet Letter? ________
A. Hester Prynne
B. Roger Chillingworth
C. Captain Ahab
D. Pearl
5. Jack London’s semi-biographical novel ________well presents the disillusionment of American Dream.
A. The American Tragedy
B. The Call of the Wild
C. Martin Eden
D. The Grapes of Wrath
b)判断对错题（20个，20分）
1. Poe’s masterpiece “To Helen” is written to memorize his deceased wife. (F)
2. The tone of “Annabel Lee” is optimistic and hopeful. (F)
3. Mark Twain's novel Jumping Frog was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize. (F)
4. Sister Carrie ended up in tragedy because she could not control her fate. (F)
2.名词解释题（5个，10分）
1. It refers to t he religious beliefs held by the Puritans, who had intended to “purify” or simplify the religious ritual of the Church of England. They believed in the original sin and the harsh Day of Doom, although some good people --- the chosen people or “the Elect”--- may be saved. (Puritanism)
2. A literary doctrine that called for “reality and truth” in the depiction of ordinary life．
It had originated in France and was very popular in 19th century. (Realism)
3.选段配对题（5个，10分）
1. Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet:
No roving foot shall crush thee here,
No busy hand provoke a tear.
The Wild Honey Suckle (Philip Freneau)
2. During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the cloud hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.
The Fall of the House of Usher(Edgar Allan Poe)
4.问答题（10/2，20分）
1. Transcendentalism
(a) Transcendentalism (p56)
{1}As a moral philosophy, it exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom. & believed in the transcendence of the“oversoul”{2}A literary movement flourishing in New England from the 1830s to the Civil war. It stresses intuitive understanding of God, without the help of the church and advocated independence of the mind. The representative writers are Emerson and Thoreau.
{b}The significance of Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism exerted a dominating notion onto the major wirers of the Romantic period and its essence has been permanently absorbed into the main stream of American thought. As a moral philosophy, Transcendentalists took their ideas from the romantic literature of Europe, from neo-Platonism, from German idealistic philosophy and from the revelations of Oriental mysticism. They spoke for cultural rejuvenation and against the materialism of American society. They believed in the transcendence of the “Oversoul”, an all-pervading power for goodness from which all things come and of which all things are a part. As a philosophical and literary
movement, Transcendentalism flourished in New England from the 1830’s to the Civil War. Its doctrines found their greatest literary advocated in Emerson, who believed that man was a part of absolute good, and in Thoreau who beheld divinity in the “unspotted innocence”of nature. It was a powerful expression of the intellectual mood of the age, and the ideas it represented have remained a strong influence on great American writers from the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman to the present.
2. “The Road Not Taken”
Symbolic meanings of The Road Not Taken:
In this poem, the author uses two roads in the woods to symbolize the choices in the real life. The author suggests us not being afraid to take a chance, not following the crowd and trying new things. Individualism is highlighted in the poem because the speaker chooses to go his own way, taking the “road less traveled”.
Caution is also taken before deciding to take the “road less traveled”, for the speaker takes time to consider the other road.
Commitment is symbolized in the poem because the speaker does not have second thoughts after making his decision.
The last symbolized theme is accepting a challenge. It may be that the road the speaker chooses is less traveled because it represents trials or perils. Such challenges seem to appeal to the speaker.
The Road Not Taken
This poem, as many of Frost’s poems, begins with the observation of nature, as if the poet is a traveler sightseeing in nature. By the end, all the simple words condense into a serious proposition: When anyone in life is confronted with making a choice, in order to possess something worthwhile, he has to give up something which seems as lovely and valuable as the chosen one. Then, whatever follows, he must accept the consequence of his choice for it is not possible for him to return to the beginning and have another chance to choose differently. Frost is asserting that nature is fair and honest to everyone. Thus all the varieties of human destiny result from each person’s spontaneous capability of making choices.
Form: The poem is very regularly structured with 4 classic 5-line stanzas, with the rhyme scheme “abaab” and in conversational rhythm.
3. The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby the parody (戏仿)of American dream
Thematically，the novel is a parody of the American dream as represented by Gatsby’s pursuit for wealth and love．
(1)American Dream(derived the Puritanism) is a popular belief that people can achieve success，whether it is wealth，fame or love through honest hard working in a new world of liberty，equality，chances and promises．(e.g. Franklin, Obama ) (2) It is true that Gatsby had a huge wealth，but it was built up through illegal means —bootlegging. Daisy was the embodiment of love for Gatsby，but the Daisy in Gatsby’s illusion was not the Daisy in reality——a mindless and spiritless woman only with a beautiful appearance，who retreated to her boring but secure way of life rather than accept the responsibility at the moment of crisis．
(3) Like Franklin，Gatsby also made a time table and a list of “do’s and don'ts”．But unfortunately he did not know that the time had changed．
(4) Therefore, G’s dream is tarnished by his material possessions, much like America is now with the obsession with wealth. In any case, Gatsby would have failed to his idealistic dream inevitably, namely disillusion of American dream.
Together with Martin Eden, it well presents the disillusionment of American Dream. Main ideas:
Nick Caraway, the narrator decided to leave his family in the Midwest to study bond business in New York．He took a small house at West Egg of Long Island and became a neighbor of Jay Gatsby，a mysterious man of great wealth．He resumed acquaintance with Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy at a dinner party in their home．There he also met Jordan Baker，an attractive but arrogant young lady．He soon learned that their marriage was not happy and Tom has a mistress，Myrtle，wife of George Wilson，a garage owner in the Valley of Ashes．A few days later he was invited to Gatsby’s party. From Gatsby and later from Jordan, Nick learned of the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby before she married Tom．Gatsby then made a request of Nick：to bring Daisy to tea and meet Gatsby．At the reunion Gatsby changed from nervousness to excitement and from excitement to a remote fantasy．At a party Gatsby gave to the Buchanans，Nick and Jordan，Gatsby and Tom had a fierce quarrel over Daisy and Daisy sided with both men in turns．Then Daisy and Gatsby left in Gatsby’s car while the others followed in Tom’s．On the way Gatsby’s car knocked Myrtle dead and ran away，but he later told Nick that Daisy was driving at the time of the accident．Myrtle，thinking Tom was in the car，ran toward it and was hit．Meanwhile Mr．Wilson traced Gatsby’s car and found Gatsby's house．A few hours later both of them were found dead．Apparently Wilson shot Gatsby and then himself．Although Nick tried to make Gatsby’s funeral respectable，none of his friends came．Only Gatsby’s father appeared，still thinking that his son was a great man．On another occasion Nick met Tom and Daisy and was reluctant to shake hands with them．He already knew that it was Tom who made Wilson believe that Myrtle was Gatsby’s lover and was run over by Gatsby．Soon Nick went back to his people in the Middle West．