2016 美国文学复习资料(1)

3. Who is the poet celebrating? ---The poet is celebrating himself, his own life.

Passage 6

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these preachers of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. Questions:

1. This paragraph is taken from a famous essay. What is the name of the essay?--- Nature

2. Who is the author? ---Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. What does the author say would happen if the stars appeared one night in a thousand years?

Then, the men cannot believe and adore the God, cannot preserve the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.

Passage 7

From morning suns and evening dews

At first thy little being came: If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same; The space between, is but an hour, The frail duration of a flower.

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Questions:

1. Who is the poet of the poem ? ---Phillip Freneau 2. What is the title of this poem? ---The Wild Honey Suckle

3. What does the ―little being‖ refer to? What meaning is suggested by the phrase ―but an hour‖? ---―little being‖ refer to the wild honey suckle, ―But an hour‖ means the lifespan of a flower is very short.

Passage 8

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. Drowsy and dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows (a North American Indian ceremony involving feasting and dancing there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Questions:

1. Who is the writer of this short story from which the passage is taken? --- Washington Irving

2. What is the title of this short story? --- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

3. Give a definition of \story\--- A short story is a brief prose fiction, usually one that can be read in a single sitting. It generally contains the six major elements of fiction---characterization, setting, theme, plot, point of view and style.

Passage 9

Poor, poor dear Cat. And this was the price you paid for sleeping together. This was the end of the trap. This was what people got for loving each other. Thank God for gas, anyway. What must it have been like before there were anaesthetics? Once it started, they were in the

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mill-race. Catherine had a good time in time of pregnancy. It wasn’t bad. She was hardly ever sick. She was not awfully uncomfortable until toward the last. So now that got her in the end. You never got away with anything. Get away hell! It would have been the same if we had been married fifty times. And what if she should die? She won’t die. People don’t die in childbirth nowadays. That was what all husbands thought. Yes, but what if she should die? She won’t die, She’s just having a bad time. Afterward we’d say what a bad time and Catherine would say it wasn’t really so bad. But what if she should die? Questions:

1. This paragraph is taken from a famous novel. What is the name of the novel? ---A Farewell to Arms

2. Who is the author? --- Ernest Hemingway

3. What do you think of the language style? --- Hemingway manages to choose words concrete, specific, more commonly found, more casual and conversational. He employs these kinds of words often in a syntax of short, simple sentences, which are orderly and patterned and sometimes ungrammatical.

Passage 10

In the world's broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Questions:

Which poem is the stanza above quoted from? --- A Psalm of Life 2. Who is the poet of this poem? --- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

3. Summarize the lines above. --- In the world's broad field of battle: the human world is compared to a battle field. We should not expect too much about the visionary future, no matter how pleasant the future may appear.

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Passage 11

When a girl leaves her home at eighteen, she does one of two things. Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better, or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse. Of an intermediate balance, under the circumstances, there is no possibility. The city has its cunning wiles, no less than the infinitely smaller and more human tempter. There are large forces which allure with all the soulfulness of expression possible in the most cultured human.

Questions:

1. From which novel is this paragraph taken?---Sister Carrie 2. Who is the author of this novel?---Theodore Dreiser

3. How do you understand ―the cosmopolitan standard of virtue‖? ---―The cosmopolitan standard of virtue‖ is something that makes a person become low in virtue and value and become worse.

Passage 12

On his bench in Madison Square, Soapy moved uneasily. When wild geese honk high of nights, and When women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand.

Questions:

1. 1. Which work is this selection taken from? ---The Cop and the Anthem 2. Who is the author of this work? ---O· Henry

3. Analyze the writing style of the author. --- O· Henry is a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. Typical for O· Henry 's stories is a twist of plot which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance. In his works, O· Henry presents the panorama of the American people to readers with ironic and humorous tone

Passage 13

Standing on the bare ground-my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into

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