考研英美文学必做9道题
长恨歌翻译-好人好事作文300字
1. What is in the book “The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn” that makes
Hemingway say
that all modern American literature comes from
this book?
(这个题找了2个小时,实在是找不到了。看看下面的会不会有所帮助)
(
海明威写的
Green Hills of
Africa
中的原文
)All modern American literature
comes
from one book by Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn. If you read it you must stop
where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys.
That is the real end. The rest is just
cheating. But it's the best book we've had.
All American writing comes from that.
There
was nothing before. There has been nothing as good
since.
The best work that Mark Twain ever
produced is, as we noted earlier on, The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It tells a
story about the United States before the
Civil
War, around 1850, when the great Mississippi
Valley was still being settled.
Here lies an
America, with its great national faults, full of
violence and even cruelty(
n.
残酷;残忍;残酷的行为
), yet still retaining the
virtues of „some simplicity, some innocence(
n.
清
白,无罪;天真无邪
), and some peace.‟ The story
takes place along the Mississippi River, on
both sides of which there was
unpopulated(
adj. 无人居住的
) wilderness(
n.
荒地
) and a dense
forest(
密林
). It
relates the story of the
escape of Jim from
slavery and, more important, how Huck Finn,
floating along with
him and helping him as
best he could, changes his mind, his prejudice
about black
people, and comes to accept Jim as
a man and as a close friend as well.
At
the heart of Twain‟s achievement(
n.
成就;完成;达到
) is his creation of Huck Finn,
who embodies(
vt. 体现
) that
mythic(
adj. 神话的;虚构的
) America,
midway(
n. 中途;娱乐场adj. 中途的
adv. 中途
)
between the wilderness and the modern super
state.
2. Is Mr. Bennett in “Pride
and Prejudice” a positive figure? Why or why not?
(这是原题答案,第一句为第一问,剩下的是第二问)
Mr. Bennet‟s
chief characteristics are an ironic
detachment(
n. 分离,拆开;超然;分遣;分遣队
) and
a
sharp, cutting wit. The distance that he creates
between himself and the absurdity(
n.
荒谬的言行;谬论;
) around him often
endears(
vt. 使…受钟爱;使…亲密
) him to the reader
and
parallels the amused detachment with which
Austen treats ridiculous(
adj. 可笑的;荒谬的
)
characters such as Mr. Collins and Lady
Catherine. To associate the author‟s point of
view with that of Mr. Bennet, however, is to
ignore his ultimate failure as a father and
husband. He is endlessly witty(
adj.
诙谐的;富于机智的
), but his distance from the events
around him makes him an ineffective parent.
Detached humor may prove useful for
handling
the Mr. Collinses of the world, but it is helpless
against the depredations(
n.
掠
夺;破坏,破坏痕迹
) of the villainous (but
likable) Wickham. When the crisis of Lydia‟s
elopement(
n. 私奔;潜逃
) strikes, Mr.
Bennet proves unable to handle the situation.
Darcy,
decent(
adj. 正派的;得体的;
) and
energetic(
adj. 精力充沛的;积极的;有力的
), and the
Gardiners, whose
intelligence, perceptiveness,
and resourcefulness(
n. 足智多谋
) make them the
strongest
adult force in the novel, must step
in. He is a likable(
adj. 可爱的
),
entertaining character,
but he never manages
to earn the respect of the reader.
3.
Discuss the theme of Fitzgerald’s
(两个主题,有上千字,我不知道怎么概括,我把对每个主题描述的第一段话写
在下面了)
1) The Decline of the American Dream in
the 1920s
On the surface, The Great Gatsby
is a story of the thwarted(
v.
挫败(thwart的过去分词);反
对adj. 挫败的
) love between a
man and a woman. The main theme of the novel,
however,
encompasses a much larger, less
romantic scope(
n. 范围;余地;视野;眼界;导弹射程vt. 审视
).
Though
all of its action takes place over a
mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is
set in a circumscribed(
adj.
外接的;局限的;受限制的
) geographical area in the
vicinity of Long
Island, New York, The Great
Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation(
n.
冥想;沉思,深思
) on
1920s America as a whole, in
particular the disintegration(
n. 瓦解,崩溃;分解
)
of the
American dream in an era of(
在…时期
) unprecedented(
adj. 空前的
) prosperity
and material
excess.
2) The Hollowness
of the Upper Class
One of the major topics
explored in The Great Gatsby is the
sociology(
n. 社会学
) of
wealth,
specifically, how the newly minted(
adj.
刚完成的;刚制作的v. 铸造;发明;铸币(mint的过去分词)
)
millionaires(
n. 百万富翁
) of the 1920s
differ from and relate to the old
aristocracy(
n. 贵族
)
of the country‟s
richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its
denizens represent the
newly rich, while East
Egg and its denizens(
n. 居民
), especially
Daisy and Tom,
represent the old aristocracy.
Fitzgerald portrays(
vt. 描绘;扮演
) the newly
rich as being
vulgar(
n. 平民,百姓adj.
粗俗的;通俗的;本土的
), gaudy(
adj. 华而不实的
),
ostentatious(
adj. 招摇的;卖弄的;夸
耀的
), and
lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for
example, lives in a
monstrously ornate
mansion(
十分华丽的豪宅
), wears a pink suit,
drives a Rolls-Royce, and
does not pick up on
subtle(
adj. 微妙的;精细的;敏感的;狡猾的;稀薄的
) social
signals, such as the
insincerity(
n.
伪善;无诚意
) of the Sloanes‟ invitation to lunch.
In contrast, the old
aristocracy possesses
grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance(
n.
典雅;高雅
), epitomized by the
Buchanans‟
tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of
Daisy and Jordan Baker.
4. Discuss
how Sister Carrie embodies Dreiser’s naturalism
belief. (at least 200
words)
In Sister
Carrie Dreiser expressed his naturalistic pursuit
by expounding the
purposelessness of life and
attacking the conventional(
adj.
符合习俗的,传统的;常见的;惯例的
)
moral standards.
Sister Carrie best embodies Dreiser‟s
naturalistic belief that men are controlled
and conditioned by heredity(
n.
遗传,遗传性
), environment and chance, but a few
extraordinary and unsophisticated(
adj.
纯洁的;不精细的;天真无邪的
) human beings refuse to
accept their fate(
n. 命运vt. 注定
)
wordlessly and instead strive(
vi.
努力;奋斗;抗争
),
unsuccessfully, to find meaning
and purpose for their existence. Carrie, as one of
such,
senses that she is merely a
cipher(
n. 密码;暗号;零
) in an uncaring(
adj.
心不在焉的
) world yet
seeks to grasp the
mysteries of life and thereby satisfies her
desires for social status
and material
comfort(
物质享受
). In Sister Carrie, Dreiser
expressed his naturalistic
pursuit by
expounding the purposelessness of life and
impotence(
n.阳萎;虚弱;无效
) of men.
As a
genre(
n. 类型;流派;
), naturalism emphasized
heredity and environment as
important
deterministic forces shaping individualized
characters who were presented
in special and
detailed circumstances. At bottom, life was shown
to be ironic, even
tragic. Dreiser described
earthly existence as “a welter of inscrutable
forces,(
一大堆的变幻
)” in which was
trapped each individual human being. In his words,
Man is a
“victim of forces over which he has
no control.” To him, life is
mysterious and so
wonder the characters in his books are often
subject to the control of the natural forces
-- especially those of environment and
heredity.
5. Say a few words about
Mrs. Deborah and Miss Bridget in
(Mrs.
Deborah就是Mrs. Wilkins?)
In the character of
Mrs. Wilkins in Tom Jones, she insists that it
would not be
tells him to leave it at the
churchwarden door
windy, and if it is wrapped
up(
结束;包起来;全神贯注于
) and put in a warm basket,
it is two to
one but it lives till it is found
in the morning (Fielding 33). To Mrs. Wilkins,
this is
infinitely more Christian than
protecting the child of a
n. 妓女
) who lays
her
sins(
n. 罪恶
) at men doors(33). When
Mr. Allworthy is dying, Mrs. Wilkins, Mr.
Twackum, and Mr. Square all
hypocritically(
adv. 伪善地
) pretend like they
care when
they are angry at what is being left
to them in Mr. Allworthy will.
Bridget
Allworthy Bridget Allworthy is the mother of
Blifil and Tom. An
unattractive lady who
resents beautiful women, Bridget marries Captain
Blifil because
he flatters(
vt.
奉承;谄媚;使高兴
) her religious views. Although
Bridget's affection wavers
between Blifil and
Tom as the boys mature(
vi. 成熟
), she
becomes devoted to Tom
before her
death—largely due to his good looks and
gallantry(
n. 勇敢;殷勤;
).
6. What
is the function of the general prologue of
The
Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is one of
the most important works
of literature ever
written. Chaucer gives us a wonderful slice of
medieval(
adj. 中世纪的
)
society as we meet
the colorful characters. Through the characters,
the author also
makes allusions(
n.
暗示;提及
) to the controversial topics of the
time.
It is the General Prologue that
serves to establish firmly the framework for the
entire
story-collection: the pilgrimage(
n.
漫游;朝圣之行
) that risks being turned into a tale-
telling
competition.
The Canterbury
Tales is a frame story, a story, or in this case,
stories, within
another story. In the
Prologue, we learn the framework of the plot that
weaves the
individual tales together: A group
of pilgrims(
n. 朝圣者;旅行者
) meet at the Tabard
Inn the
night before their trek(
n.
艰苦跋涉
) to the shrine of Thomas Becket at
Canterbury
Cathedral.
7. What
role do first impressions play in pride and
prejudice?
莫测的力量
(简要答案)The first
impressions are ironic. Darcy sees Elizabeth as
not worthy of
him and mocks her, and Elizabeth
thinks he is too arrogant(
adj. 自大的,傲慢的
)
and cold to
like him at all. In the end they
fall in love and marry, which is opposite of what
a
reader would expect; thus it is ironic.
(完全标准答案) Pride and Prejudice is, first and
foremost
(
首要的是
)
, a novel about
surmounting
obstacles
(
越过障碍
)
and achieving
romantic happiness. For Elizabeth, the
heroine, and Darcy, her eventual husband, the
chief obstacle resides in the book‟s
original
title: First Impressions. Darcy, the proud,
prickly
(
adj. 多刺的;刺痛的;易动怒的;
)
noble
woman‟s nephew
(
n. 侄子
)
, must
break free from his original dismissal(
n.
解雇;免职
) of
Elizabeth as “not handsome
enough to tempt me,” and from his class-based
prejudice
against her lack of wealth and
family connections. Elizabeth‟s first impressions,
meanwhile, catalogue Darcy as arrogant and
self-satisfied; as a result, she later
accepts
slanderous(
adj. 诽谤的;诽谤性的;中伤的
) accusations
against him as true.
Both Elizabeth and
Darcy are forced to come to grips
with(
与…争论;与…冲突;认真对待;
设法对付;开始搏斗
) their
own initial mistakes. Structurally, the first half
of the novel traces
Darcy‟s progression to the
point at which he is able to admit his love in
spite of his
prejudice. In the second half,
Elizabeth‟s mistaken impressions are
supplanted(
vt. 代替;排
挤掉
) by informed
realizations about Darcy‟s true character. Darcy‟s
two proposals(
n. 求
婚
) to Elizabeth
chart the mature development of their
relationship. He delivers the
first at the
mid-point of the novel, when he has realized his
love for Elizabeth but has
not yet escaped his
prejudices against her family, and when she is
still in the grip of
her first, negative
impression of him. The second proposal—in which
Darcy
humbly(
adv. 谦逊地;卑贱地;低声下气地
)
restates(
vt. 重申
) his love for her and
Elizabeth, now with
full knowledge of Mr.
Darcy‟s good character, happily accepts—marks the
arrival of
the two characters, each finally
achieving the ability to view the other through
unprejudiced eyes.
8. What is
Allen Poe's contribution to American literature?
A review of Edgar Allan Poe's great
contributions to literature, which includes
the invention of the modern detective
story(
现代侦探小说
) and mastery of the
psychological thriller(
n. 惊险小说
).
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allen Poe's
contributions to American literature have
become increasingly more prominent(
adj.
突出的,显著的;杰出的;卓越的
) as the years have
passed.
As short fiction has become a more accepted genre
in literary circles, Poe's
theories are
studied with more passion. Although he lived a
rather melancholy(
adj. 忧郁的
)
life, Poe
did experience moments of joy, and desired to
capture(
vt. 俘获;夺得
) the beauty
through
poetic form. Indeed, what he left behind for the
literary world was his gifted
genus, revealed
through his poetry, fiction, and criticism.
9. What does the green light at the end
of Daisy's dock symbolize in
Gatsbyhow do
symbols function in the novel?
(粗线是第1问答案,波
浪线是第2问答案)
Situated at the end
of Daisy‟s East Egg dock and barely visible from
Gatsby‟s
West Egg lawn, the green light
represents Gatsby‟s hopes and dreams for the
future.
Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and
in Chapter I he reaches toward it in the darkness
as a guiding light to lead him to his goal.
Because Gatsby‟s quest(
n. 追求;寻找
) for Daisy
is broadly associated with the American dream,
the green light also symbolizes that
more
generalized ideal. In Chapter IX, Nick compares
the green light to how America,
rising out of
the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of
the new ters
in The Great Gatsby infuse
symbols with meaning—the green light is only a
green
light, but to Gatsby it becomes the
embodiment(
n. 体现;化身
) of his dream for the
future,
and it beckons to(
召唤
) him in
the night like a vision of the fulfillment of his
desires.