英语专业考研英美文学复习资料.doc

英语专业考研英美文学复习资料目录一、英美文学作品选读1二、英美文学选读考前总复习6三、英美文学选读模拟试题17英美文学选读模拟试题（一）17英美文学选读模拟试题（二）25英美文学选读模拟试题（三）35英美文学选读模拟试题 (四)45英美文学选读模拟试题 (五)55四、英美文学选读真题及答案.66五、英美文学题库87一、英美文学作品选读Selected Readings of British and American LiteratureThis subject is about the historical development of British and American literature, it describes the lives and careers of the great and major writers, especially their representative works.英国1. 中古英国文学（8世纪-14世纪）2. 文艺复兴时期（14世纪-17世纪中）3. 新古典主义时期（17世纪中-18世纪）4. 浪漫主义时期（18世纪中-19世纪中）5. 维多利亚时期（1836- 1901）6. 现代主义时期（19世纪末-）文艺复兴时期文学The renaissance was a European phenomenon, which originated in Italy. The English renaissance encouraged the reformation of the church. In Elizabethan period, English literature developed with a great speed. The most distinctive achievement of Elizabethan literature is drama. Next to drama is the lyrical poetry, remarkable for its variety and freshness and romantic feeling. In the renaissance period, scholars began to emphasize the capacities of human mind and the achievement of human culture. So humanism became the keynote of English renaissance.1. William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights and poets in the world. He has also been given the highest praises by various scholars and critics the world over. His greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. His greatest comedies are: A Midsummer Nights Dream, the Merchant of Venice, as you like it and Twelfth Night. In them, he portrayed young people just freed from feudal fetters. He sang of their youth, love and ideal of happiness. They trust in themselves and their efforts are crowned with success. The general spirit is optimism.The Merchant of Venice: A moneyless young man Bassanio loves a rich beauty Portia. He wants to marry to her, so he appeals to his friend Antonio for help. To aid Bassanio in his courtship, he borrows money from Shylock the Jewish usurer. Shylock agrees to lend the money on the condition that if the loan is not paid in three months, he may cut a pound of flesh from Antonias body. Unfortunately, Antonio cant pay the money because his ship doesnt return on time. Shylock demands his pound of flesh and Antonio is in danger now. At the critical moment, a young doctor of law comes to help him. He asks Shylock to take no more or no less than one pound of flesh and spilling no drop of blood. Shylock cant do this, so Antonia is saved. The man who saves the life of Antonio is no other than Portia in disguise! Portia: she is one of Shakespeares ideal women- beautiful, cultured, courteous（谦恭） and capable of rising to an emergency. Shylock: he is an avaricious money-lender and a Jew of pride and deep religious instincts. He has suffered much in the hands of the Christians. His revolting bond is counterbalanced by Antonios arrogant treatment of him. We can see his loud protest against racial discrimination.Hamlet is considered the summit of Shakespeares art. The whole story shows how hamlet, who represents good and justice, fights against his uncle in whom all the evil things can be seen. The famous line in the play “to be or not to be” by hamlet is often quoted by people. He is a hero of the renaissance. He loves good and hates evil. He is a scholar, soldier and statesman. His learning, wisdom, noble nature, limitation and tragedy are all representative of the humanists at the turn of the 16th and the 17th century. Othello is a splendid Moorish general in Venice. He marries to a beautiful girl and they live happily together. Iago is a very bad man and he envies his happiness. He tells Othello that his wife betrayed him. He believes him and kills his wife. But at last he knows the truth and regrets very much, so he killed himself. It is a tragedy of humanism and a tragedy of the colored people in a society of racial prejudice. Othello is a great warrior and too noble-minded to suspect those whom he loves. Though his kin is dark, he has great moral beauty. He loves Desdemona dearly because he finds her to be the embodiment of integrity, sincerity and loftiness of mind. Their tragedy shows that noble-minded people maybe led astray by evil forces in an evil society and commit mistakes if they can not distinguish falsehood from truth, and evil from good. King Lear: Lear is the king of Britain and he is a self-wild old man, intends to divide his realm among his three daughters by asking them how much they love him. The two elder daughters win his trust by fine words. But his little daughter Cordelia says she loves him according to her duty, not more or less. Her father is angry and decides to give her nothing. Sonnet: the sonnet is a poem in 14 lines with one or the other rhyme scheme.17世纪文学1. John Milton is the greatest writer of the 17th century. He is often considered the greatest English poet after Shakespeare. In his life and literary career the two dominant historical movements of renaissance and Reformation combine and receive their most intense and intelligent expression. His works include paradise lost, paradise regained and Samson Agonistes. Milton has noble thought and splendid imagery. He is a great stylist. His poetry has a grand style. His poetry is noted for sublimity of thought and majesty of expression. Milton is a great master of blank verse. He is the glorious pioneer to introduce blank verse into non-dramatic poetry. He has used it as the main tool in his masterpiece Paradise Lost. His blank verse is rich in every poetic quality and never monotonous. His works are marked by cosmic themes and lofty religious idealism. Paradise lost is his masterpiece and the greatest English epic. In the poem, god is no better than a selfish despot, who is cruel and unjust in punishing Satan, the rebel. Adam and Eve embody his belief in the powers of man. Satan is the real hero of the poem.18世纪文学Realism. The eighteenth century was the golden age of the English novel. The novel of this period spoke the truth about life with an uncompromising courage. What the writers described in their works were social realities and the main characters were usually common men. The writers and philosophers of the Enlightenment held that man is good and noble by nature but many succumb to an evil environment.Enlightenment: it was an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. They thought the chief means for bettering the society is enlightenment or education for the people.1. Daniel Defoe has been regarded as the discoverer of the modern novel. Defoe was a very good story-teller. He had a gift for organizing minute details in such a vivid way that his stories could be both credible and fascination. His sentences are sometimes short, crisp and plain, and sometimes long and rambling, which leave on the reader an impression of casual narration. His language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular. Robinson Crusoe was one of the forerunners of the English realistic novel. Crusoe was a sailor, a merchant and a slave-owner. On the voyage to Africa, he met a shipwreck and found himself cast by the sea waves upon the shore of an uninhabited island. He managed the livelihood there by himself. Finally, he was saved and got married in England. At last, he sailed back to the island and established a colony there.2. Jonathan Swift Gullivers travels 3. Henry Fielding Tom Jones4. William Blake songs of innocence, songs of experience- the chimney-sweeper, London and the tiger. It shows the poets eyes are open to the evils and vices of the world.5. Robert burns a red, red rose. He wrote poems to express his hatred for the oppression of the ruling class and his love for freedom. 浪漫主义时期1. William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet. His major poets include I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and The solitary reaper. His poetry is distinguished by the simplicity and purity of its language.2. George Gordon Byron is one of the most excellent representatives of English romanticism. His literary career was closely associated with the struggle and progressive movement of his age. She walks in beauty and Don Juan. Don Juan is a Spanish youth of aristocratic birth. The long poem describes Don Juans adventures in many countries.3. Percy Bysshe ShelleyPrometheus unbound is his masterpiece. The story is taken from greek mythology. According to greek myth, Prometheus steals fire from heaven and is punished by zeus, who chains him to a rock. Finally, zeus is overthrown and Hercules sets Prometheus free. His short poems on nature and love form an important part of his literary output. His best love lyrics are Ode to the west wind and to a skylark. “If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” is a famous line in ode to the west wind. 4. John KeatsHis famous works are ode to a nightingale, ode on a Grecian Urn and ode to autumn. Ode is his main form of poetry. He sought to express beauty in all his poems. His leading principle is beauty in truth, truth beauty. His poetry is distinguished by sensuousness and the perfection of form.5. Walter ScottWaverley, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe. He is the first novelist to recreate the past. In his novels, historical events are closely interwoven with the fates of individuals. He is always mindful of the role and fates of the ordinary people. In a sense, his literary career marks the transition from romanticism to realism in English literature of the 19th century.6. Jane AustenHer major works are Pride and prejudice, Emma, sense and sensibility. She was popular all through the 19th century. Pride and prejudice is his masterpiece. The central character is Elizabeth Bennet, one of the daughters in the Bennets. Elizabeth meets a young man Darcy and has prejudice against him because she thinks he has nothing but pride. After many twists and turns, misunderstandings disappear and they are happily united. The plot is simple, but Austen has woven vivid pictures of everyday life of English country society. Her novels show a wealth of humor, wit and delicate satire. Her dialogues are admirably true to life.维多利亚时期文学Critical realism appeared during this period. Dickens is the representative writer. With striking force and truthfulness, he pictured bourgeois civilization, showing the misery of common people. The 19th century critical realists made use of the form of novel for full and detailed representation of social and political events, and one of the fate of individuals and of whole social class.1. Charles Dickens is the greatest representative of English critical realism. He wrote lots of famous works, such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Hard times and a tale of two cities.Oliver Twist is one of the best works of Dickens. Oliver Twist is an orphan boy. He is born in a workhouse and brought up under cruel conditions. Then he runs to London and meets a gang of thieves. They try to convert Oliver into a thief. He is rescued by a rich man, but the thieves kidnap him, make him join them again. At last, he is saved and adopted by the kind man. His vivid description of the thieves den and the underworld of London shows the sympathy for the lower classes. Among the characters of the lower strata, Oliver is the only one who emerges happy and successful in the end. This happy issue shows his optimistic belief in the inevitable triumph of good over evil.2. William Makepeace Thackeray is a representative of critical realism in 19th century. He is a realist, a satirist and a moralist. Vanity fair: the title was taken from Bunyans pilgrims Progress. The main characters are Amelia and Becky. Amelia is a simple but kind girl and Becky is a craft and resourceful girl. Becky is an orphan and tries to make her way into the upper society. She is a classic example of those who grub money by all means.3. Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre is a story about an orphan girl called Jane Eyre. Maltreated by her aunt, she goes to a charity school. Later she becomes a governess of Mr. Rochester. He loves her. Before their wedding, she learns that he has got a mad wife. Shocked by the news, she left him. When she heard that his house is destroyed in a fire and he becomes blind, she returned to him and became his wife. In the novel, Jane Eyre maintains that women should have equal rights with men. Charlotte also aims to criticize the bourgeoisie educational system.4. Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights it deals with the story of the hero Heathcliff who is a gipsy. He is picked up by Me. Earnshaw and brought up together with his children. Healthcliff and the daughter Miss Catherine have loved each other since childhood. When he grows up, he joins the army and three years later he becomes a rich man. When he comes back, he finds his lover has been married to another man. Later, he becomes the master of the family and takes revenge upon the next generation. Its a powerful attack on the bourgeoisie marriage system.5. George Eliot has three remarkable novels: Adam Bede, The mill on the floss, silas marner. The hero of Adam Bede is a village carpenter, an honest young man. He falls in love with a girl, but the girl gives her heart to a selfish squire. Later the girl is put into prison for deserting her own child. Adam and a woman preacher get married. 6. Thomas hardy: His masterpieces are Tess of the DUrbervilles, the major of Casterbridge, far from the madding crowed and Jude the obscure. Tess is a poor dairymaid who has been seduced by Alec DUrbervilles, a wealthy villain, and gives birth to a child. Later she falls in love with a man called Clare. On their wedding night, she confesses to her husband that she has been seduced and given birth to a child. He husband can not accept the fact and goes abroad. Some years later, he comes back and wants Tess to come back to him. Tess murders her seducer and is arrested and hanged. The tragedy of Tess is an exposure of the wicket oppressors represented by Alec.7. Alfred Tennyson was recognized as the greatest poet of Victorian England. His main poetical works include the princess, Maud and short poem break, break, break. He has a total mastery of the sounds and rhythms of the English language. He has genius for evoking moods and states of mind in his poems. No poet could surpass him at linking descriptions of nature to the state of the mind.8. Robert Browning is realistic, optimistic and believes in the progress of mankind. His contribution to poetry is his dramatic monologues. 现代作家They turned increasingly to lower middle class and working-class life and liked to describe what was happening in the mind of their characters. Under the influence of impressionism, writers focused on individual moments of experience. They insisted that fiction should explore the depth and recesses of personality, an unending stream of impression, feelings and thoughts.1. John Galsworthy is one of the greatest novelists in the early 20th century. He was born in a wealthy family. After graduation from Oxford, he began to devote himself to literary work. His style is noted for its strength and elasticity. His language is simple, clear and straightforward.The forsyte saga has been regarded as his masterpiece. It includes three novels and two interludes. And the man of property marks the peak of critical realism in all Galsworthys works. Forsyte is the central figure of the story, who is the man of property. He has married a girl, but pays no attention to her thoughts and feelings, regarding her as a piece of his property. Then his wife loves another who is killed by a car.2. Bernard Shaw was a greatest dramatist in the 20th century. He used stage to criticize the evils of capitalism. He is a critical realist writer and a humorist. His play deals with contemporary social problems. His major plays include widowers houses, the apple cart, Major Barbara, Mrs. Warrens profession and heartbreak house. Widowers houses satirizes bourgeois businessmen whose ill-gotten money is squeezed out of poor, suffering people. An English businessman Mr. Sartorius and his daughter meet a young doctor Harry Trench while traveling in Germany. The two youth fall in love with each other and plan to get married. Then Trench finds that his future father-in-law makes his money by renting slum housing to the poor, so he refuses to marry her daughter. Later, Sartorius reveals that Trenchs income is as dirty as the money made by Sartorius. At last, Harry and Blanche reunite.One should love animals. They are so tasty. / Behind every successful man, there is a woman and behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.3. David Herbert Lawrence was an English author, poet, playwright and literary critic. In his works, he confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, human sexuality and instinct. He is best known for his novels Sons and Lovers, the Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterleys Lover. Within these Lawrence explores the possibilities for life and living within an Industrial setting. In particular Lawrence is concerned with the nature of relationships that can be had within such settings. Though often classed as a realist, Lawrences use of his characters can be better understood with reference to his philosophy. His use of sexual activity, though shocking at the time, has its roots in this highly personal way of thinking and being. It is worth noting that Lawrence was very interested in human touch behavior and that his interest in physical intimacy has its roots in a desire to restore our emphasis on the body, and re-balance it with what he perceived to be western civilizations slow process of over-emphasis on the mind. Sons and Lovers is Lawrences semi-autobiographical novel. It tells the story of a coal miners family with the son Paul as the central character. The thread of the story evolved around Pauls love for the two girls Miriam and Clara as well as his love for h