信阳师范学院美国文学作品选读

出自:信阳师范学院美国文学作品选读

Had I as many souls as there be stars. I’d give them all for Mephistophilis! By him I’ll be great emperor of the world, And make a bridge through the moving air To pass the ocean with a band of men; I’ll join the hills that bing the Africa shore And make that country continent to Spain, And both contributory to my crown; The Emperor shall not live by my leave, Nor any potentate of Germany. Now that I have obtained what I desire I’ll live in speculation of this art. Till Mephistophilis return again.” A. Identify the author and the title of the work from which the passage is taken. B. Based on the passage, write down in one or two sentences the theme of the play.

“It is when the feet weary and hope seems vain that the heartaches and the longings arise. Know, then, that for you is neither surfeit nor content. In your rocking chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel.” A. Identify the author and the work. B. What does the rocking-chair symbolize？

“He neither spoke, nor loosed his hold some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I dare say; but then my mistress had kissed him first, and I plainly saw that he could hardly bear, for downright agony, to look into her face! The same conviction had stricken him as me, from the instant he beheld her, that there was no prospect of ultimate recovery there—she was fated, sure to die.” A. Identify the author and the work. B. What does the rocking-chair symbolize?

‘Is dying hard, Daddy?’ ‘No, I think it’s pretty easy, Nick. It all depends. ’” Questions: A. Who’s the author of the quoted part, and what’s the title of the work? B. What was Nick preoccupied with when he asked the question? C. Why did the father add “It all depends” after he answered his son’s question?

“My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’ d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty- seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death” Questions: A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem? B. What do “soil” and “air” represent in the first line? C. What does the poet try to say in the above quoted lines?

1. “When the stars threw down their spears, And water’ d heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee ?” Questions: A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza? B. Whom does the “he” refer to? C. What does the “Lamb” symbolize?

“Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendor, valley, rock or hill; Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep ! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! The very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!” ( From Wordsworth’s sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge ) Questions: A. What does this sonnet describe? B. What does the phrase “mighty heart” refer to? C.What is the form of the poem?

Shall I compare thee to a summer.s day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May. Questions: A. Who is the author? B. What is the theme of the poem? C. What kind of poem is it?

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 astomishing, the way I felt as light as a feather, right off, and my troubels all gone. So I got a piece of paper and a pencil, all glad and excited, and set down and wrote... Questions: A. Who does I refer to in the passage? B. Who am I going to write to? C. What kind of image is "I"?

When the minister spoke from the pulpit, with power and fervid eloquence, and, with his hands on the open bible, of the sacred truths of our religion, and of saint-like lives and triumphant deaths, and of future bliss of misery unutterable, then did Goodman Brown turn pale, dreading, lest the roof should thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers. Questions: A. Identify the title of the short story from which this part is taken. B. What had happened in the story before this church scene? C. Why was Goodman Brown afraid the roof might thunder down?

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 B.life and death C.love D.war

] Which writer does not belong to the group of American Romantic writers? A.William C. Bryant B.Henry W. Longfellow C.Edgar Allan Poe D.Ann Bradstreet

Washington Irving was one of the first American writers to earn international fame and was regarded as _____. A.father of American drama B.father of American poetry C.father of American literature D.father of short stories

________ is not a fictional character in The Scarlet Letter. A.Hester B.Arthur Dimmesdale C.Roger Chillingworth D.Ishmael

The Transcendentalists believe that, first, nature is ennobling, and second, the individual is__________. A.insignificant B.evil C.divine D.silly

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.John Galsworthy’s B.Thomas Hardy’s C.D．H．Lawrence’s D.Charles Dickens’

We can perhaps summarize that Walt Whitman’s poems are characterized by all the following features except that they are ________. A.conversational and crude B.lyrical and well-structured C.simple and rather crude D.free-flowing

The most original playwright of the Theatre of Absurd was __________. A.Bernard Shaw B.John Osborne C.Samuel Beckett D.W. B. Yeats

Which of the following brings LITTLE impact on the development of 20th century literature? A.Oscar Wilde’s idea of “Art for Art’s Sake”. B.Friedrich Nietzche’s assertion: “God is dead”. C.Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophical ideas of irrationality. D.Freudian-Jungian psychoanalysis.

Which of the following best describes the speaker of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”? A.a man of action. B.a man of apathy. C.a man of inactivity. D.a man of passion

Galsworthy was a ______ writer, who inherited the fine tradition of the great Victorian novelists of the critical realism such as Dickens and Thackeray. A.naturalistic B.romantic C.realisitc D.conventional

“ ‘Damn the fool! There he is’, cried Heathcliff, sinking back into his seat, ‘Hush, my darling! Hush, hush, Catherine! I’ll stay. If he shot me so, I’d expire with a blessing in my lips.’” The novel from which the passage is taken is _______. A.Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice B.Charles Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop C.Samuel Richardson’s Pamela D.Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights

All of the following are stream –of- consciousness novels EXCEPT________. A.The Sound and the Fury B.Ulysses C.Mrs. Dalloway D.Jude the Obscure

In Hardy’s Wessex novels, there is an apparent ______ touch in his description of the simple and beautiful though primitive rural life. A.humorous B.romantic C.nostalgic D.sarcastic

The assertion that poetry originates from “emotion recollected in tranquility” belongs to ______. A.Wordsworth B.Coleridge C.Shelley D.Blake

Which of the following comments on William Blake is not true? A.The Book of Loss is his masterpiece. B.Childhood is central to Blake’s concern in the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. C.Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell marks his entry into maturity. D.Symbolism in wide range is a distinctive feature of his poetry.

We can perhaps describe the west wind in Shelley’s poem “Ode to the West Wind” with all the following terms EXCEPT________. A.tamed B.swift C.proud D.wild

Daniel Defoe describes _______ as a typical English middle-class man of the eighteenth century, the very prototype of the empire builder or the pioneer colonist. A.Tom Jones B.Gullivers C.Moll Flanders D.Robinson Crusoe

Surface”, “Sneerwell”, “Backbite”, and “Candour” are most likely the names of the characters in _______. A.Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession B.Sheridan’s The School for Scandal C.Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost D.Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus

Literature of Neoclassicism is different from that of Romanticism in that _______. A.the former celebrates reason, rationality, order and instruction while the latter sees li B.the former is heavily religious but the latter secular C.the former is an intellectual movement the purpose of which is to arouse the middle class D.the former advocates the “return to nature” whereas the latter turns to the ancient Greek

[单选题,0.5分] Daniel Defoe’s works are all the following EXCEPT_____. A.Moll Flander B.Macbeth C.Hamlet D.Ulysses

Metaphysical Poetry” refers to the works of the 17th - century writers who wrote under the influence of _____. A.Milton B.John Donne C.Johnson D.Fielding

____ is NOT a dramatist who holds the central position in American drama in the modernistic period. A.Sinclair Lewis B.Eugene O’Neill C.Arthur Miller D.Tenessee Williams

Nigger Jeff, Old Rogaum and His Theresa are all _____ by Dreiser. A.novels B.novellas C.plays D.short stories v

___ is the author of the play “The Hairy Ape”. A.Eugene O’Neill B.Henry James C.Herman Melville D.Charles Dickens

______ is a poem based on a traditional Spanish legend of a great lover and seducer of women. A.Adonais B.Don Juan C.Prometheus Unbound D.The Revolt of Islam

_______ is the most distinguishing feature of Charles Dickens’ works. A.Language B.Character portrayal C.Humor D.Plot

The protagonist of the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a kind of tragic figure caught in a sense of deafened idealism and tortured by unsatisfied desires. Of the following descriptions of him, which isn’t suitable for him? A.He is neurotic. B.He is self-important. C.He is illogical. D.He is a man of action

] Symbolism appeared in the late 19th century in _____. A.France B.Germany C.England

Statement ____ is NOT true in describing Gothic novel. A.Gothic novel is a type of romantic fiction B.Gothic novel predominated in the early 18th century C.Its principal elements are violence, horror and supernatural

G. B. Shaw’ s play ________ established his position as the leading playwright of his time. A.Mrs Warren.s profession B.Hamlet C.Widowers. Houses D.Candida

[单选题,0.5分] In Death in the Afternoon ________ presents his philosophy about life and death through the depiction of the bullfight as a kind of microcosmic tragedy. A.William Faulkner B.Jack London C.Ernest Hemingway D.Mark Twain

This Side of Paradise which was, to some extent, his own story A.F·Scott Fitzgerald B.Ernest Hemingway C.William Faulkner D.Emily Dickinson

Shelley’ s political lyrics ______ is not only a war cry calling upon all working people to rise up against their political oppressors, but an address to them pointing out the intolerable injustice of economic exploitation. A.“Ode to Liberty” B.“Ode to Naples” C.“Ode to the West Wind” D.“Men of England

Where intelligence was fallible, limited, the Imagination was our hope of contact with eternal forces, with the whole spiritual world.” was said by ______. A.William Wordsworth B.William Blake C.Samuel Taylor Coleridge D.John Keats