浙江省2006年4月高等教育自学考试
美国文学选读试题
课程代码：10055
Part Ⅰ: Choose the relevant match from Column B for each item in Column A. (10 points in all, 1 point for each)
Group 1
Column A Column B
（ ）1. Herman Melville A. The American
（ ）2. Henry James B. Billy Budd
（ ）3. Emily Dickinson C. The Cantos
（ ）4. Ezra Pound D. This Is My Letter to the World
（ ）5. William Faulkner E. Wild Palms
Group 2
Column A Column B
（ ）6. Faith A. Indian Camp
（ ）7. Abram Forster B. The Great Gatsby
（ ）8. Jessica C. Sister Carrie
（ ）9. Myrtle Wilson D. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
（ ）10. Nick Adams E. The Goodman Brown
Part Ⅱ: Select from the four choices A, B, C, and D of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement . (50 points in all, 2 points for each)
11. The Romantic Period in the history of American literature started with the publication of Washington Irving’s _________ and ended with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.（ ）
A. Drum Taps B. Song of Myself
C. The Sketch Book D. Walden
12. Which of the following statements about the Romantic period in the history of American literature is NOT true? （ ）
A. In most of the American writings of this period there was a new emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature.
B. The writers of this period placed an increasing emphasis on the free expression of emotions and displayed an increasing attention to the psychic states of their characters.
C. There was a strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man.
D. Most heroes and heroines in the writings of this period exhibited extremes of reason and nationality.
13. The New England Transcendentalism was from the very beginning a local phenomenon restricted only to those people living in New England, who carried out the movement as a reaction against the cold, rigid rationalism of _________ in Boston. （ ）
A. Classicism B. Calvinism
C. Unitarianism D. Puritanism
14. In the following statements, _________ is NOT true about Washington Irving’s famous story “Rip Van Winkle.”（ ）
A. The story is not only well-known for Rip’s 20-year sleep but also considered a model of perfect English in American literature.
B. The story is set against the background of the inevitably changing America.
C. The social conservatism and literary preference for the past is revealed, to some extent, in the story.
D. Irving describes Rip’s response and reaction in a dramatic way, so that we see clearly both the narrator and Irving agree on the preferability of the present to the past.
15. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay Experience is a serous discussion about the conflict between _________ and ordinary life. （ ）
A. nationalis B. universalism
C. idealism D. communism
16. As one of Hawthorne’s most profound tales, Young Goodman Brown is written in the manner of its concern with_________. （ ）
A. guilt and evil B. good and bad
C. moral and corruption D. destruction and hope
17. Which of the following is NOT among the artistic features of Whitman’s writing?（ ）
A. Free verse. B. The use of the poetic “I”.
C. Allegory. D. Musicality and rhythm.
18. According to Nathaniel Hawthorne, romance should be_________. （ ）
A. both imaginative and creative B. a true record of human life
C. full of adventures D. a mixture of facts and fancy
19. The three dominant figures in the period of Realism of American are William Dean Howells, Mark Twain and_________. （ ）
A. Henry James B. Tom James
C. James Joyce D. Henry Joyce
20. The use of _________ in his writings has made Mark Twain one of the major literary figures in the 19th century American literature. （ ）
A. point of view B. stream-of-consciousness
C. interior monologue D. vernacular
21._________ is generally considered to be Henry James’ 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.（ ）
A. The Portrait of a Lady B. The Golden Bowl
C. Daisy Miller D. The Turn of the Screw
22. Which one of the following statements is NOT true about the theme of “The Art of Fiction”? （ ）
A. The aim of the novel is to present art itself.
B. The artist has the freedom to write about anything that concerns him.
C. The artist should be able to “feel” the life, to understand human nature and to record them.
D. The writer can write human experiences explored in every possible form: illusion, despair, reward, delight, etc..
23. More than five hundred poems Emily Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general _________ about the relationship between man and nature is well-expressed.（ ）
A. denial B. eulogy
C. skepticism D. happiness
24. In his “Trilogy of Desire”, Theodore Dreiser’s focus shifted from the pathos of the helpless protagonists at the bottom of the society to the power of the American financial tycoons in the late 19th century. The “Trilogy of Desire” includes The Financial, The Titan and _________.（ ）
A. The Stoic B. The Genius
C. An American Tragedy D. Jennie Gerhardt
25. Upon the publication of The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) and The Mysterious Stranger(1916), the change in Mark Twain from an optimism to an almost despairing pessimist could be felt and his cynicism and disillusionment with what Twain referred to regularly as the_________became obvious.（ ）
A. damned slavery B. damned Negro
C. damned human race D. damned society
26. Henry James is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th century _________ novels and the founder of psychological realism.（ ）
A. local B. color
C. physical D. stream-of-consciousness
27. In Henry James’ Daisy Miller, the author tries to portray the young woman as an embodiment of_________.（ ）
A. the free spirit of the New World B. the corruption of the newly rich
C. the force of conviction D. the change of the social force
28. “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street.” This is a detailed description of Emily’s old house. The purpose of such description is to imply the person living in it_________. （ ）
A. is an old woman B. has good taste
C. is a conservative aristocrat D. is a prisoner of the past
29. The leading playwright of the modern period in American literature, if not the most successful in all his experiments, is_________. （ ）
A. Arthur Miller B. Eugene O’Neill
C. Tennessee Williams D. E. E. Cummings
30. J. D. Salinger is considered to be a spokesman for the alienated youth in the post-war era and his _________ is regarded as a students’ classic. （ ）
A. This Side of Paradise B. Tender Is the Night
C. The Catcher in the Rye D. Rabbit
31. “The Apparition of these faces in the crowd; /Petals on a wet, black bough.” This little poem has become a famous document in the history of_________.（ ）
A. Symbolism B. Cubism
C. Imagism D. Expressionism
32. Which of the following statements is NOT true of William Faulkner? （ ）
A. He represents a new group of Southern writers.
B. He often depicts slum life in New York and Chicago.
C. His writing is often complex and a little difficult to understand.
D. He is master of stream-of-consciousness narrative.
33. In “Indian Camp”, the first and the typical of the seven Nick stories written by Hemingway, Nick’s night trip to the Indian Village and his experience inside the hut can be considered to be_________.（ ）
A. an important lesson about Indian tribes B. an initiation to the harshness of life
C. a confrontation with evil and sin D. a leading process in human relationship
34. To William Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer was to explore and represent the _________ inherent in human life. （ ）
A. finite impossibilities B. infinite impossibilities
C. infinite possibilities D. finite possibilities
35. Which of the following statements is right about Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms?（ ）
A. The author favored the idea of nature as an expression of either god’s design or his beneficence.
B. The author emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mentally and suggests that man is doomed to be entrapped.
C. It tells a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with an Italian nurse.
D. The author attempted to write the epitaph to a decade and to the whole generation in the 1940s.
Part Ⅲ： Interpretation
Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. (20 points in all, 5 points for each)
36. “It was you that broke the new wood,
Now is a time for carving.
We have one sap and one root—
Let there be commerce between us.”
Questions:
A. What does “broke the new wood” mean here?
B. What is the purpose of the poet in writing the poem “A Pact” from which these lines are taken from?
37. “The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group, then excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light.
...
I believed that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited－they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island, and somehow they ended up at Gatsby’s door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with an amusement park.”
Questions:
A. Who is the narrator here?
B. What kind of person do you think Jay Gatsby is?
38. “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air—
Between the Heavens 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. Who is the author of the poem? What does “the King” refer to?
B. Please give an explanation of “Fly”.
39. “So I was full of trouble, full as I could be; and didn’t know what to do. At last I had an idea; and I says, I’ll go and write the letter—and then see if I can pray. Why, it was astonishing, the way I felt as light as a feather, right straight off, and my troubles all gone. So I got a piece of paper and pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote:
Miss Watson your runaway nigger Jim is down here two mile below Pikesville and Mr.
Phelps has got him and he will give him up for the reward if you send.
…
It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself:
‘All right, then, I’ll go to hell’ —and tore it up.”
Questions:
A. Identify the author and the novel.
B. Briefly explain the narrator’s inner workings.
Part Ⅳ： Topic Discussion
Give brief answers to the following questions. (20 points in all, 10 points for each)
40. “My faith is gone!” cried he, after one stupefied moment. “There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! For to thee is this world given.” Young Goodman Brown exemplifies what is called the “power of blackness in Hawthorne’s works. Please make a brief comment on Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown.
41.Explain the symbolic use of rose in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily in relation to its theme and character.
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