英国文学参考试题

英国文学参考试题资料

Part Ⅰ: Choose the relevant match from column B for each item in column A.(10%) Section A

A B

(1)Shakespeare a. The Pilgrim's Progress

(2)John Bunyan b. King Lear

(3)Charles Dickens c. Jane Eyre

(4)Charlotte Bronte d. Adam Bede

(5)George Eliot e. Hard Times

Section B

A B

(1) The Merchant of Venice a. Satan

(2) Paradise Lost b. Elizabeth Bennet

(3) The History of Tom Jones c. Portia

(4) Pride and Prejudice d. Angel Clare

(5) Tess of the D'Urbervilles e. Sophia Western

Part Ⅱ: Complete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook. (5%)

1. The Elizabethan_____ is the real mainstream of the English Renaissance.

2. In Milton's Paradise Lost, _____took revenge by tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

3. In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about _____.

4. The best part of Robinson Crusoe is the realistic account of his _____ against the hostile nature.

5. Henry Fielding has been regarded as "Father of the English Novel" for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the _____.

6. English Romanticism is generally said to have begun in 1798 with the publication of _____ and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads.

7. In Austen's novels, stories of love and _____ provide the major themes.

8. As a woman of exceptional intelligence and life experience, George Eliot shows a particular concern for the destiny of _____.

9. _____ is the most outstanding stream-of-consciousness novelist of the 20th century.

10. Laurence's autobiographical novel is _____.

Part Ⅲ: Each of the following statements below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement. (50%)

1. About the Renaissance humanists which of the following statements is true?

a. They thought money and social status was the measure of all things.

b. They emphasized the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life.

c. They couldn't see the human values in their works.

d. They thought people were largely subordinated to the ruling class without any freedom and independenc

e.

2. In his tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare eulogizes _____.

a. the faithfulness of love

b. the spirit of pursuing happiness

c. the heroine's great beauty , wit and loyalty

d. both a and b

3. One of the distinct features of the Elizabethan time is _____.

a. the flourishing of the drama

b. the popularity of the realistic novel

c. the domination of the classical poetry

d. the close-down of all the theatres

4. Which of the following is not John Milton's works?

a. Paradise Lost

b. Paradise Regained

c. Samson Agonistes

d. Othello

5. About reason , the enlighteners thought _____.

a. reason or rationality should be the only, the final cause of any human thought and activities

b. reason couldn't lead to truth and justice

c. superstition was above reason and rationality

d. equality and science is contrary to reason and rationality

6. According to the neoclassicists, which of the following is true?

a. All forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers.

b. They tried to delight, instruct and correct human beings as social animals.

c. They tried to develop a polite, urbane ,witty, and intellectual art .

d. all the abov

e.

7. The 18th century witnessed that in England there appeared two political parties, _____.

a. the Whigs and the Tories

b. the Senate and the House of Representatives

c. the upper House and lower House

d. the House of Lords and the House of Representatives

8. The hero in Robinson Crusoe is the prototype of _____.

a. the empire builder

b. the pioneer colonist

c. the working people

d. both a and b

9. As a representative of the enlightenment movement, Jonathan Swift thought _____.

a. human nature is simple and na?ve

b. it was possible to reform and improve human nature and human institutions

c. human nature was destined and couldn't be changed

d. to better human life, enlightenment is unnecessary

10. The social significance of Gulliver's Travels lies in _____.

a. the devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life

b. his artistic skill in making the story an organic whole

c. his central concern of study of human nature and life

d. both b and c

11. Of the eighteenth-century novelists Henry Fielding was the first to _____.

a. instruct the people through his writing

b. give the modern novel its structure and style

c. amuse the people through his works

d. adopt the third-person narration

12. In Sheridan's plays, he is much concerned with the current moral issues and lashes harshly at _____.

a. the social goodness of his time

b. the social vices of the day

c. the moral tradition of his age

d. both b and c

13. The Romantic period is an age of _____.

a. prose

b. drama

c. poetry

d. both a and c

14. The two major novelists of the Romantic period are _____.

a. William Wordsworth and John Keats

b. John Keats and Jane Austen

c. Jane Austen and Walter Scott

d. William

15. Blake's Songs of Experience paints a world of _____ with a melancholy tone.

a. misery, poverty, disease, war and repression

b. happiness and love and romantic ideals

c. misery , poverty mixed with love and happiness

d. loss and institutional cruelty with sufferings

16. Through his poems, Byron created the "Byronic hero" who is _____.

a. a brave and stubborn rebel figure of noble origin

b. a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin

c. a proud, mysterious rebel figure of lower origin

d. a brilliant, independent and romantic figure of his time

17. In her novels, Jane Austen presents the quiet , day-to-day country life of _____.

a. the upper-class English

b. the upper-middle-class English

c. the lower-class English

d. the lower-middle-class English

18. Which of the following can't be included in the critical realists of the Victorian Period?

a. Charlotte and Emily Bronte

b. Charles Dickens and William M. Thackeray

c. Thomas Hardy and George Eliot

d. D. H. Laurence and James Joyce

19. English critical realism found its expression chiefly in the form of _____. a.

novel b. drama

c. poetry

d. sonnet

20. Hardy's last two novels _____ received a lot of hostile criticisms which led to his turning to poetry.

a. The Dynasts and Jude the Obscure

b. Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure

c. The Return of the Native and Tess of the D'Urbervilles

d. The Return of the Native and Jude the Obscure

21. Thomas Hardy's heroines and heroes , those unfortunate young men and women are all depicted in_____.

a. their persistent pursuit for personal fulfillment and happiness

b. their desperate struggle for personal fulfillment and happiness

c. their desperate struggle for individual equality and freedom

d. their persistent pursuit for better life and ideals

22. The 20th century has witnessed a great achievement in English poetry, which are mainly represented by the following except _____.

a. Thomas Hardy

b. Ezra Pound

c. T. S. Eliot

d. Lord Byron

23. In his novels, Laurence made a bold psychological exploration of various human relationships, especially those between _____, with a great frankness.

a. man and nature

b. man and society

c. man and woman

d. all of the above

24. In The Man of Property, the typical Forsyte represents _____.

a. the traditional and conservative values of the contemporary society

b. the essence of the principle that the accumulation of wealth is the sole aim of life

c. the predominant possessive instinct of the society

d. both a and c

25. Which of the following is James Joyce's masterpiece?

a. Dubliners

b. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

c. Ulysses

d. Finnegans Wake

Part Ⅳ: Interpretation (20%)

Read the following selections and then answer the questions. Write your answers on the Answer Sheet.

(1)

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you t o an overwhelming question…

Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"

Let us go and make our visit.

… …

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

1.Who's the writer of this poem? Please interpret the protagonist of the poem.

(2)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet,"said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?"

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it." Mr. Bennet made no answer.

"Do not you want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.

"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see

the place, and was so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he

is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week."

"What is his name?"

"Bingley."

"Is he married or single?"

"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"

"How so? How can it affect them?"

"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."

"Is that his design in settling here?"

"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes."

2. Which novel is this passage taken from? Who is the author?

3. Please interpret this passage.

(3)

With straining eagerness Catherine gazed towards the entrance of her chamber. He did not hit the

right room directly, she motioned me to admit him, but he found it out ere I could reach the door,

and in a stride or two was at her side, and had her grasped in his arms.

He neither spoke nor loosed his hold for 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.

'Oh, Cathy! Oh, my life! How can I bear it?' was the first sentence he uttered, in a tone that did

not seek to disguise his despair. And now he stared at her so earnestly that I thought the very intensity of his gaze would bring tears into his eyes; but they burned with anguish: they did not melt.

'What now?' said Catherine, leaning back, and returning his look with a suddenly clouded brow: her humour was a mere vane for constantly varying caprices. 'You and Edgar have broken my heart, Heathcliff! And you both came to bewail the deed to me, as if you were the people to be pitied! I shall not pity you, not I. You have killed me-and thriven on it, I think. How strong you are! How many years do you mean to live after I am gone?'

Heathcliff had knelt on one knee to embrace her; he attempted to rise, but she seized his hair, and kept him down.

'I wish I could hold you,' she continued bitterly, 'till we were both dead! I shouldn't care what you suffered. I care nothing for your sufferings. Why shouldn't you suffer? I do! Will you forget me? Will you be happy when I am in the earth? Will you say twenty years hence, "That's the grave of Catherine Earnshaw. I loved her long ago, and was wretched to lose her; but it is past. I've loved many others since: my children are dearer to me than she was; and at death, I shall not rejoice that I am going to her: I shall be sorry that I must leave them!" Will you say so, Heathcliff?'

'Don't torture me till I am as mad as yourself,' cried he, wrenching his head free, and grinding his teeth.

The two, to a cool spectator, made a strange and fearful picture. Well might Catherine deem that heaven would be a land of exile to her, unless with her mortal body she cast away her moral character also. Her present countenance had a wild vindictiveness in its white cheek, and a bloodless lip and scintillating eye; and she retained in her closed fingers a portion of the locks she had been grasping. As to her companion, while raising himself with one hand, he had taken her arm with the other; and so inadequate was his stock of gentleness to the requirements of her condition, that on his letting go I saw four distinct impressions left blue in the colourless skin.

4. From which novel is this passage taken from? Who's the author?

5. What's the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff?

Part Ⅴ: Give brief answers to the following questions.(15%)

1. Please state Shakespeare's views on the Renaissance literature.

2. Why is D.H. Laurence regarded as revolutionary in novel writing?