2008年4月自学考试美国文学选读真题

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【导语】桃李自考网收集整理了2008年4月自考《美国文学选读》真题以供考生参考，具体如下：

2008年4月自学考试美国文学选读真题

Part Ⅰ: Choose the relevant match from Column B for each item in Column A. (5%)

Group 1

Column AColumn B

( ) 1. Henry James a. Tender is the Night

( ) 2. Herman Melville b. The Ambassadors

( ) 3. Mark Twain c. Moby Dick

( ) 4. F. Scott Fitzgerald d. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

( ) 5. Theodore Dreiser e. Sister Carrie

Group 2

Column A Column B

( ) 1.Charles Drouet a. Daisy Miller

( ) 2. Jim b. The Great Gatsby

( ) 3. Nick Carraway c. Moby Dick

( ) 4. Frederic Winterboure d. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

( ) 5. Ahab e. Sister Carrie

Part Ⅱ: Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (60%)

1. American literature from the early 1800s to the beginning of the Civil War can be described as the following except that ________.( )

A. There was a stress on law and reason in literary writings of the time

B. There was a desire for an escape from civilized society and a return to the ennobling nature

C. There was faith in the value of individualism and self-reliance

D. American type of characters speaking local dialects appeared in the fiction

2. According to the two romanticists Hawthorne and Melville, every person is a sinner and therefore ________ is indispensable for the improvement of human nature. ( )

A. grace under pressure B. great courage under pressure

C. courage before difficulties D. great moral courage

3. Despite strong foreign influences, American romantic writings are typically American which can be revealed in the following ________.( )

A. a desire for an escape from civilized society and a return to the ennobling nature

B. the American national experience of “pioneering into the west”.

C. American type of characters speaking local dialects appeared in the fiction

D. all of the above

4. About Washington Irving, Father of American short stories, which of the following statement is right?( )

A. Many of his writings focused on American subjects, landscapes, particularly the legends of the Hudson River region of the fresh young land.

B. His writings preferred the Old World to the New.

C. As a writer, his taste remained a democratic and always exalted a disappearing past.

D. He is well-known for his international theme across the Atlantic.

5. Which of the following is not claimed by the Transcendental philosophy?( )

A. Man is capable of knowing truth intuitively.

B. Man can attain knowledge transcending the reach of the senses.

C. The individual is divine and therefore self-reliant.

D. Nature is ennobling and man is dependent on nature.

6. The following statements are usually said about Emersonian Transcendentalism except______. ( )

A. It absorbed some ideological concerns of American Puritanism and European Romanticism.

B. It affirmed man’s intuitive knowledge with which man can trust and decide himself.

C. It put forward the philosophy of the over-soul, the importance of the Individual and Nature.

D. It accepted both the formal religion of the churches and the Deistic philosophy.

7. Hawthorne’s unique gift was for the creation of ________ which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature.( )

A. romantic stories B. symbolic stories

C. gothic stories D. humorous stories

8. As a man of literary craftsmanship, Nathaniel Hawthorne is good at ________.( )

A. exploring the complexity of human psychology, especially the power of blackness deep in people’s heart

B. exploring the goodness hidden deeply in people’s heart

C. revealing the shallow complexity of human psychology, especially the romanticists’ confusion before the real world

D. both A and C

9. InMoby-Dick, the Pequod is ________ and the voyage becomes ________.( )

A. the indomitable mystery of the universe ... a search for freedom

B. an ideal human society ... a search for idealism

C. the microcosm of human society ... a search for happiness

D. the microcosm of human society ... a search for truth

10. The term “The Gilded Age” coined by Mark Twain was later used to refer to ________ in American history.( )

A. the Romantic Period B. the Realistic Period

C. the Modern Age D. the Postmodern Age

11.As to the American naturalism, which of the following statements is not right?( )

A. They usually chose their subjects from the higher ranks of society.

B. Artistically, naturalistic writings are unpolished in language and unwieldy in structure.

C. Philosophically, the naturalists believe that the real and true is partially from people’s eyes.

D. The tone in the writing more ironic and pessimistic than that of realism.

12. As a genre, naturalism emphasized ________ as important deterministic forces shaping individualized characters who were presented in special and detailed circumstances.( )

A. heredity and parentage B. the natural environment and landscapes

C. heredity and environment D. men’s strong will power

13. The desire for an escape from society and a return to nature is a permanent convention of American literature.It is evident in the following writings except________.( )

A. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

B. Cooper’s Leather-stocking Tales

C. Irving’s The Sleepy Hollow*

D. both A and B

14. In Henry James’s “The Art of Fiction” , the following statements are indicated except that ________.( )

A. the aim of the novel is to present life

B. the freedom of the artist to write about anything the concerns him, even the disagreeable, the ugly and the commonplace

C. the artist’s capability to feel the life, to understand human nature, and then to record them

D. the artistic impotence in presenting the inner life of human beings

15. Henry James’s emphasis on ________ proves to be a big breakthrough in novel writing and had great influence on the coming generations.( )

A. the characters’ psychology and the human consciousness

B. the real characteristics of the real life

C. the material life in the world

D. Both A and C

16. Which of the following statements is not right about Emily Dickinson’s view on religion? ( )

A. She didn’t believe in God, so she sometimes doubted His benevolence.

B. She desired salvation and immortality, but she denied the orthodox view of paradise.

C. In some of her poems, she expressed her doubt and belief about religious subjects.

D. Many of her religious poems concerned death and immortality.

17. About the characteristics of Emily Dickinson’s poetic writing which of the following statements is right?( )

A. Her poetry is unique and unconventional in its own way.

B. Many of her poems have titles and a particular stress pattern.

C. Her poems are usually rather long and rarely less than 20 lines.

D. Her poetic idiom is noted for its laconic complexity and difficulty.

18. A big change which took place in Mark Twain’s outlook in his later years of writing was that________. ( )

A. he turned to the belief in Catholism

B. he adopted the doctrines of Oriental philosophy

C. he became bitterly sceptical and pessimistic about human nature

D. he became more and more optimistic about the future of the world

19. About One of Dreiser’s masterpieces Sister Carrie, which of the following statements is right?( )

A. It traces the material rise of Hurstwood and Sister Carrie.

B. It portrays only the material rise of Sister Carrie.

C. It traces the tragic decline of Hurstwood and Sister Carrie.

D. It traces the tragic decline of Hurstwood and the material rise of Sister Carrie.

20. In American literature, “the second American Renaissance” usually refers to________ which took place during the first decades of the 20thcentury. ( )

A. the expatriate movement B. the Harlem Renaissance

C. the realistic movement D. the literature of cubism

21. Which of the 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 fiction 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

22. During Ezra Pound’s later period, his poetry is more concerned about ________.( )

A. the problems of the ancient culture

B. the contemporary cultural decay and the possible sources of cultural renewal

C. the familiar poetic subjects of the 19thcentury Romanticism

D. the familiar poetic subjects of the beginning of the 20thcentury

23. One of the major subjects of Robert Frost’ poems is nature. Which of the following can be said about his view of nature in his poetic creation? ( )

A. He considered nature an ennobling force to purify human soul.

B. He considered nature a contrast to human civilization.

C. He looked upon nature as a storehouse of analogies and symbols.

D. He looked upon nature as the opposite of human society.

24. Which of the following statements is right about Robert Frost?( )

A. He is easy to understand because he is easy to read.

B. His poetic world is of the rural world, the simple country life, the pastoral landscape.

C. His profound ideas are delivered through the complicated forms and difficult language.

D. He learned from the familiar conventions of realistic poetry and of classical pastoral poetry.

25. Which of the following statements can be said about the characters in O’Neill’s plays? ( )

A. They have found out the meaning in their lives in different ways and all meeting their end.

B. They have found a pastoral and romantic life but all meeting disappointment.

C. They are always seeking meaning and purpose in their lives in different ways, but all meet disappointment and despair.

D. They are always seeking rank and wealth in their own ways but all meet disappointment and despair.

26. Which of the following is right about the hero of The Great Gatsby?( )

A. The contradictions and disillusionment of the American dream is presented in him.

B. The cynicism among American veteran soldier is reflected partially in him.

C. The hypocrisy and materialism of small town life resulted in his tragedy.

D. The moral confusion and social decay of the South after the Civil War resulted in his tragedy.

27. ________ of the 1920s was characterized by frivolity and carelessness and brought vividly to life in The Great Gatsby. ( )

A. The Lost Generation B. The American Renaissance

C. The Jazz Age D. The Harlem Renaissance

28. John Steinbeck is a novelist of the 1930s. His The Grapes of Wrathis a record of the life of the dispossessed and the wretched farmers during ________. ( )

A. the Great Depression B. the Glorious Revolution

C. the Second World War D. both A and C

29. Which of the following can be said about the general situation of Hemingway’s novels? ( )

A. Human life is full of chaos while man can overcome it in the long run.

B. Human life is full of tension and tattles while man is always pursuing a place of peace and happiness.

C. Life is a losing battle, but it is a struggle man can dominate in such a way that loss becomes dignity.

D. Human life can be symbolic of man’s spiritual world though it is full of failures.

30. Which of the following can be said of the experimental features of William Faulkner’s narrative techniques are ________.( )

A. the dislocation of narrative time and the use of stream-of-consciousness techniques

B. parallel constructions and multiple use of natural symbols

C. chronological order of his narration and selective employment of the Southern dialect

D. all of the above

Part Ⅲ: Interpretation(21%)

Read the following selections and then answer the questions.

Passage 1

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I learn and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

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.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,

I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,

Nature without check with original energy,

1. What poem is this stanza extracted? Who is the writer?

2. What beliefs of the poet are set forth in this poem?

Passage 2

Because I could not stop for Death —

He kindly stopped for me —

The Carriage held but just Ourselves —

And Immortality.

We slowly drove —He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility —

We passed the school, where Children strove

At Recess —in the Ring —

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain —

We passed the Setting Sun —

Or rather —He passed Us —

The Dews drew quivering and chill —

For only Gossamer, my Gown —

My Tippet —only Tulle —

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground —

The Roof was scarcely visible —

The Cornice —in the Ground ——

Since then —’tis Centuries —and yet

Feels shorter and the Day

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity —

3. What is the symbolic meaning of the third stanza?

4. Where is the carriage driven to? What is the theme of the poem?

Passage 3

A Pact

I make a pact with you, Walt Whitman—

I have detested you long enough.

I come to you as a grown child

Who has had a peg-headed father;

I am old enough now to make friends.

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.

5. Who is the writer of poem? Why does he say he makes a pact with Walt Whitman?

Passage 4

When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral： the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years.

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. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores. And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town , dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor —he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron—remitted her taxes. The dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity . Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying. Only a man of Colonel Sartoris generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it.

6. What kind of person is Emily Grierson in this story?

7. Why was the death of Miss Emily compared to a “fallen Monument”?

Part Ⅳ: Give brief answers to the following questions. (14%)

1. Please tell about Washington Irving’s main contribution to American literature.

2. Please give a brief comment on Hemingway’s heroes.

浙江省2008年4月高等教育自学考试美国文学选读试题

课程代码：10055