美国文学题库

1、美国文学题库II. Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.1. For Melville, as well as for the reader and _, the narrator, Moby Dick is still a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe.A. Ahab B. IshmaelC. Stubb

2、 D. Starbuck2. Naturalism is evolved from realism when the authors tone in writing becomes less serious and less sympathetic but more ironic and more_.A. rational B. humorousC. optimistic D. pessimistic3. Dreisers Trilogy of Desire includes three novels. They are The Financier, The Titan and_ .A. Th

3、e Genius B. The TycoonC. The Stoic D. The Giant4. The impact of Darwins evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the nineteenth-century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to yet another school of realism: American_ .A. local colorism B. vernacularismC.

4、 modernism D. naturalism5. Robert Frost combined traditional verse forms -the sonnet, rhyming couplets, blank verse -with a clear American local speech rhythm, the speech of _farmers with its idiosyncratic diction and syntax.A. Southern B. WesternC. New Hampshire D. New England6. As an autobiographi

5、cal play, ONeills _(1956) has gained its status as a world classic and simultaneously marks the climax of his literary career and the coming of age of American drama.A. The Iceman Cometh B. Long Days Journey Into NightC. The Hairy Ape D. Desire Under the Elms7. Apart from the dislocation of time and

6、 the modern stream-of-consciousness, the other narrative techniques Faulkner used to construct his stories include_, symbolism and mythological and biblical allusions.A. impressionism B. expressionismC. multiple points of view D. first person point of view8. Stylistically, Henry James fiction is cha

7、racterized by_.A. short, clear sentences B. abundance of local imagesC. ordinary American speech D. highly refined language9. One of the characteristics that have made Mark Twain a major literary figure in the 19th century America is his use of_ . A. vernacular B. interior monologue C. point of view

8、 D. photographic description10. It is on his_ that Washington Irvings fame mainly rested. A. childhood recollections B. sketches about his European toursC. early poetry D. tales about America11. At the middle of 19th century, America witnessed a cultural flowering which is called “_”.A. the English

9、Renaissance B. the Second RenaissanceC. the American Renaissance D. the Salem Renaissance12. As a philosophical and literary movement, the main issues involved in the debate of Transcendentalism are generally concerning _.A. nature, man and the universeB. the relationship between man and womanC. the

10、 development of Romanticism in American literatureD. the cold, rigid rationalism of Unitarianism13. About the novel The Scarlet Letter, which of the following statements is NOT right?A. Its very hard to say that it is a love story or a story of sin.B. Its a highly symbolic story and the author is a

11、master of symbolism.C. Its mainly about the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin upon the main characters and the people in general. D. In it the letter A takes the same symbolic meaning throughout the novel.14. The great sea adventure story Moby-Dick is usually considered_.A. a sym

12、bolic voyage of the mind in quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe.B. an adventurous exploration into mans relationship with natureC. a simple whaling tale or sea adventureD. a symbolic voyage of the mind in quest of the artistic truth and beauty15. In his poems, Walt Whitman is innovative

13、 in the terms of the form of his poetry, which is called “_.”A. free verse B. blank verseC. alliteration D. end rhyming16. After the Civil War America was transformed from _ to _.A. an agrarian community an industrialized and commercialized societyB. an agrarian community a society of freedom and eq

14、ualityC. a poor and backward society an industrialized and commercialized societyD. an industrialized and commercialized society a highly developed society17. Which of the following is said of the American naturalism?A. They preferred to have their own region and people at the forefront of the stori

15、es.B. Their characteristic setting is usually an isolated town.C. Humans should be united because they had to adapt themselves to changing harsh environment.D. Their characters were conceived more or less complex combinations of inherited attributes, their habits conditioned by social and economic f

16、orces.18. Which of the following is not right about Mark Twains style of language?A. His sentence structures are long, ungrammatical and difficult to read.B. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect.C. His humor is remarkable and characterized by puns, straight-faced exaggeration， rep

17、etition and anti-climax.D. His style of language had exerted rather deep influence on the contemporary writers.19. The impact of Darwins evolutionary theory on the American thought and the influence of the 19th century French literature on the American men of letters gave rise to another school of r

18、ealism: American _.A. Romanticism B. TranscendentalismC. Realism D. Naturalism20. Which of the following is not written by Henry James?A. The Portrait of A Lady and The Europeans.B. The Wings of the Dove and The Ambassadors.C. What Maisie Knows and The Bostonians.D. The Genius and The Gilded Age.21.

19、 More than five hundred poems Dickinson wrote are about nature, in which her general Skepticism about the relationship between _ is well-expressed.A. man and man B. men and womenC. man and nature D. men and God22. Which of the following is right about Emily Dickinsons poems about nature?A. In them,

20、she expressed her general affirmation about the relationship between man and nature.B. Some of them showed her disbelief that there existed a mythical bond between man and nature.C. Her poems reflected her feeling that nature is restorative to human beings.D. Many of them showed her feeling of natur

21、es inscrutability and indifference to the life and interests of human beings.23. As a great innovator in American literature, Walt Whitman wrote his poetry in an unconventional style which is now called free verse, that is _.A. lyrical poetry with chanting refrainsB. poetry without a fixed beat or r

22、egular rhyme schemeC. poetry without rhymes at the end of the lines but with a fixed beatD. poetry in an irregular metric form and expressing noble feelings24. In the first part of the 20th century，apart from Darwinism, there were two thinkers -_， whose ideas had the greatest impact on the period.A.

23、 the German Karl Marx and the Austrian Sigmund FreudB. the German Karl Marx and the American Sigmund FreudC. the Swiss Carl Jung and the American William JamesD. the Austrian Karl Marx and the German Sigmund Freud25. Which of the following can be said about Eugene ONeill plays?A. Most of his plays a

24、re concerned about the root, the truth of human desires and human frustrations.B. His tragic view of life is reflected in many of his works.C. His plays are concerned about the relationship between man and nature as well as man and woman.D. Both A and B.26. Most of ONeills plays are concerned about

25、the following except_.A. success and failure in mans literary careerB. life and death, illusion and disillusion, dream and realityC. alienation and communication, self and society, desire and frustrationD. the basic issues of human existence and predicament27. Which of the following can be said abou

26、t a typical modern literary work?A. It is a record of sequence and coherence of the history and the world.B. It is a juxtaposition of the past and present, of the history and the memory.C. It is a book of integrity drawn from diverse areas of experience.D. Its perspective is shifted from the interna

27、l to the external, from the private to the public.28. As to the great American poet Ezra Pound, which of the following is not right?A. His language is usually oblique yet marvelously compressed and his poetry is dense with personal, literary, and historical allusions.B. His artistic talents are on f

28、ull display in the history of the Imagist Movement.C. From his analysis of the Chinese ideogram Pound learned to anchor his poetic language in concrete, perceptual reality, and to organize images into larger patterns through juxtaposition.D. For he was politically controversial and notorious for wha

29、t he did in the wartime, his literary achievement and influence are somewhat reduced.29. In his poetry, Robert Frost made the colloquial _ speech into a poetic expression.A. England B. New EnglandC. Plymouth D. Boston30. Which of the following statements is right about Robert Frosts poetry?A. He com

30、bined traditional verse forms with the difficult and highly ornamental language.B. He combined traditional verse forms with the pastoral language of the Southern area.C. He combined traditional verse forms with a simple spoken language-the speech of New England farmers.D. He combined traditional ver

31、se forms with the experimental.31. Which of the following statements can be said about the works of Scott Fitzgerald, a spokesman of the “Roaring 20s”?A. Many of them portrayed the hollowness of the American worship of riches and the unending American dream of fulfillment.B. They are symbolic of the

32、 psychological journey of the modern man and his helplessness in the modern world.C. They show the primitive struggle of individuals in the context of irresistible natural forces.D. They penetrate into the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself.32. Which of the following is not written

33、by Ernest Hemingway, one of the best-known American authors of the 20th century?A. The Sun Also Rises. B. The Old Man and the Sea.C. Mosses From the Old Manse. D. The Green Hills of Africa.33. Which of the following statements is right about the novel A Farewell to Arms?A. The author favored the ide

34、a of nature as an expression of either gods design or his beneficence.B. The author attempted to write the epitaph to a decade and to the whole generation in the 1930s.C. The author emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mentally and suggests that man is doomed to be entrapped

35、.D. It tells a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with an Italian nurse.34. Which of the following is depicted as the mythical county in William Faulkners novels?A. Cambridge. B. Oxford.C. Mississippi. D. Yoknapatawpha. 35. To Faulkner, the primary duty of a writer was

36、to explore and represent the infinite possibilities inherent in human life. Therefore a writer should _.A. observe with no judgment whatsoever.B. reduce authorial intrusion to the lowest minimum.C. observe at a great distance and sometimes participate in the events.D. both A and B. 36. Which of the

37、following is right about American fiction from 1945 onwards?A. A group of new writers who survived the war wrote about their ideals within the artistic field.B. There appeared a significant group of Jewish-American writers whose works were set against the Jewish experience and tradition.C. Black fic

38、tion began to attract critical attention during the 1950s.D. American fiction in the 1950s and 1960s proves to be a harvest which derived from its predecessors.37. Which of the following is not a work of Nathaniel Hawthornes?A. The House of the Seven Gables. B. The Blithedale Romance.C. The Marble F

39、aun. D. White Jacket.38. In Hawthornes novels and short stories, intellectuals usually appear as _.A. commentators B. observersC. villains D. saviors39. Besides sketches, tales and essays, Washington Irving also published a book on _, which is also considered an important part of his creative writin

40、g.A. poetic theory B. French artC. history of New York D. life of George Washington40. In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, there are detailed descriptions of big parties. The purpose of such descriptions is so show _.A. emptiness of life B. the corruption of the upper classC. contrast of the rich and t

41、he poor D. the happy days of the Jazz Age41. In American literature, escaping from the society and returning to nature is a common subject. The following titles are all related, in one way or another, to the subject except _.A. Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnB. Dreisers Sister CarrieC

42、. Coppers Leather-Stocking TalesD. Thoreaus Walden42. Which of the following novels can be regarded as typically belonging to the school of literary modernism?A. The Sound and the Fury B. Uncle Toms Cabin.C. Daisy Miller. D. The Gilded Age.43. Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspect

43、s of life. Which of the following is not a usual subject of her poetic expression?A. Religion. B. Life and death.C. Love and marriage. D. War and peace.44. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled _ at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "Our intellectual Declaratio

44、n of Independence."A. "Nature" B. "Self-Reliance"C. "Divinity School Address" D. "The American Scholar"45. Which of the following statements about writers in 1920s is true?A. Mark Twain published his last and most important novel.B. F. Scott Fitzgerald re

45、ceived the Nobel Prize.C. Freudian psychology influenced many modern writers.D. Most writers were politically radical.46. In American literature the first important writer who earned an international fame on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean is_. A. Washington Irving B. Ralph Waldo Emerson C. Nathani

46、el Hawthorne D. Walt Whitman47. The American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his“black vision”The Term “black vision” refers to_. A. Hawthorne's observation that every man faces a black Wall B. Hawthorne's belief that all men are by nature evil C. that Hawthorne employed a dream vi

47、sion to tell his storyD. that Puritans of Hawthorne's time usually wore black clothes 48. Theodore Dreiser was once criticized for his_ in Style，but as a true artist his strength just lies in that his style is very serious and well calculated to achieve the thematic ends he sought. A. crudeness

48、B. elegance C. conciseness D. subtlety49. Almost all Faulkners heroes turned out to be tragic because_. A. all enjoyed living in the declining American South B. none of them was conditioned by the civilization and Social institutions C. most of them were prisoners of the past D. none were successful

49、 in their attempt to explain the inexplicable50. Yank, the protagonist of Eugene ONeills play The Hairy Ape, talked to the gorilla and set it free because_. A. he was mad，mistaking a beast for a human B. he was told by the white young lady that he was like a beast and he wanted to see how closely he

50、 resembled the gorilla C. he was caged with the gorilla after he insulted an aristocratic stroller D. he could feel the kinship only with the beast51. In_, Robert Frost compares life to a journey, and he is doubtful whether he will regret his choice or not when he is old, because the choice has made

51、 all the difference. A. “After Apple-Picking” B. “The Road NOt Taken” C. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” D. “Fire and Ice”52. Though Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were romantic poets in theme and technique, they differ from each other in a variety of ways. For one thing, whereas Whitman li

52、kes to keep his eye on human Society at large, Dickinson often addresses such issues as_, immortality, religion, love and nature. A. progress B. freedom C. beauty D. death53. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the_ in the American literary history A. individual feeli

53、ng B. survival of the fittestC. strong imagination D. return to nature54. Generally speaking，all those writers with a naturalistic approach to human reality tend to be_. A. transcendentalists B. optimistsC. pessimists D. idealists55. With Howells, James, and Mark Twain active on the literary scene, _became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century A. Sentimentalism B. Romanticism C. Realism D. Naturalism56. American writers af