浙江省2008年10月高等教育自学考试
英国文学选读试题
课程代码：10054
Part I. Choose the relevant match from Column B for each item in Column A. (10%)
Section A
A B
(1) Shakespeare ( ) A. Adam Bede
(2) Charlotte Brontë ( ) B. The Rainbow
(3) George Eliot ( ) C. King Lear
(4) D.H. Lawrence ( ) D. The Waste Land
(5) T. S. Eliot ( ) E. Jane Eyre
Section B
A B
(1) The Pilgrim's Progress ( ) A. Alec
(2) Oliver Twist ( ) B. Mr. Earnshaw
(3) Wuthering Heights ( ) C. Soames Forsyte
(4) The Man of Property ( ) D. Christian
(5) Tess of the D'Urbervilles( ) E. Bill Sikes
Part II. Complete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook. (5%)
1. In his life, Shakespeare created altogether 38 plays, 154 ______ and 2 long poems, with which he has established his giant position in world literature.
2. The modern ______, a newly rising literary form around the middle age of the 18th century, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people.
3. As one of the most influential romantic poets, Shelley made his greatest achievement in his poetic drama, ______.
4. Henry Fielding has been regarded as "______ of the English Novel" for his contribution to the establishment of the form of the modern novel.
5. In Lawrence's novels , Sons and Lovers is usually considered an ______ novel.
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. Which of the following can be said of the essence of the Renaissance? ( )
A. humanism
B. capitalism
C. feudalism
D. enlightenment
2. In Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, which of the following is the typical characteristic the heroes share in common? ( )
A. They have a strong lust for power and finally go into incessant crimes.
B. They are perfect heroes without any weakness.
C. They face the injustice of human life but are never caught in a difficult situation.
D. They have a fate which is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation.
3. In Hamlet, the hero's trouble mainly lies in ( )
A. his pride in refusing to acknowledge his mother's second marriage
B. his hesitation in carrying out his plan of revenge
C. his suspicion that his father was murdered by his uncle
D. his ambition to gain quick access to the throne
4. Which of the following statements about the metaphysical poets is true? ( )
A. They tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.
B. John Donne is the leading figure of the metaphysical school.
C. They are not as rebellious as the sentimentalist.
D. Both a and b
5. In the Enlightenment Movement, the progressive representatives intended ( )
A. to call the people to fight against poverty and hardship
B. to tell people to economize and to accumulate wealth
C. to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas
D. to instruct people to obtain their present social status through hard work
6. In the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about the tendency of ( )
A. realism
B. puritanism
C. neoclassicism
D. romanticism
7. Britain witnessed two major romantic poets in the latter half of the 18th century. They are ( )
A. John Milton and William Blake
B. Robert Burns and John Keats
C. George Herbert and John Donne
D. Robert Burns and William Blake
8. The hero in Robinson Crusoe is the prototype of ( )
A. the then progressive bourgeoisie
B. the empire builder
C. the pioneer colonist
D. all of the above
9. In the book Gulliver's Travels the hero traveled to the following places except ( )
A. the Indian Island
B. Brobdingnag
C. Lilliput
D. the Houyhnhnm land
10. Richard Brinsley Sheridan was the only English dramatist of the ______ century. ( )
A. sixteenth
B. seventeenth
C. eighteenth
D. nineteenth
11. Compared with the Enlightenment, Romanticism constitutes a change of direction( )
A. from emphasis on the writing of poetry to that of prose
B. from emphasis on the writing of prose to that of poetry
C. from attention to the inner world of the human spirit to the outer world of social civilization
D. from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit
12. Which of the following statements is true about John Keats' poetry? ( )
A. His poetry is always sincere, somber and grander.
B. His poetry write about sight , sound, scent, taste and feeling separately.
C. His poetry is very original, never drawing imagery from others.
D. His poetry is always sensuous, colorful and rich in imagery.
13. According to William Blake, life is ( )
A. a continual struggle of give-and-take, a pairing of opposites
B. a continual conflict of good and evil, of innocence and experience
C. a continual compromise between body and soul
D. an everlasting harmony between love and happiness
14. As to John Keats' poetry, which of the following statements is true? ( )
A. It is sensuous, colorful but poor in imagery.
B. It is melancholy, pessimistic but beautiful.
C. It is sensuous, colorful and rich in imagery.
D. It expresses the sufferings of his senses.
15. Jane Austen's main literary concern is about the following except ( )
A. human beings in their personal relationships
B. love and marriage of the young people
C. the relationship between men and women in love
D. the heroic life of the young people
16. Which of the following groups is not written by Charles Dickens? ( )
A. The Man of Property and The Silver Box
B. A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times
C. Dombey and Son and David Copperfield
D. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations
17. Which of the following is not written by George Eliot?( )
A. Silas Marner
B. Ulysses
C. Middlemarch
D. Adam Bede
18. In many of Hardy's novels, the fate of the characters is always driven by ( )
A. the traditional social morality and values
B. the natural environment and the social environment
C. their own inherent nature and hereditary traits
D. the high competition and pressure in the modern life
19. 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
20. In his novels, Lawrence made a bold psychological exploration of various human relationships and believed that ( )
A. human sexuality was a symbol of Life Force.
B. the sexual impulse was an unhealthy way of the psychological development.
C. it was impossible to break the taboo in traditional morality.
D. the harmony of human relationships was not related to the psychic health of an individual.
21. In The Man of Property, which of the following statements is true about the typical Forsyte?( )
A. It symbolizes the traditional and conservative values of the contemporary society.
B. It represents the essence of the new rising bourgeoisie.
C. It refers to the predominant possessive instinct of the upper class
D. It represents the essence of the principle that the accumulation of wealth is the sole aim of life.
22. Which of the following is written by James Joyce? ( )
A. The Widowers
B. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
C. The Hollow Man
D. The Waste Land
23. Which of the following is the most outstanding stream-of-consciousness novelist?( )
A. James Joyce
B. Virginia Woolf
C. William Thackery
D. John Galsworthy
24. Which of the following statements is true about Thomas Hardy's heroines and heroes? ( )
A. They were persistent in their pursuit for an ideal life.
B. They struggled desperately for individual equality and freedom.
C. They struggled desperately for personal fulfillment and happiness.
D. They were fortunate young men and women in pursuit of personal fulfillment.
25. In her works, George Eliot is deeply concerned with the people and life of her time and tries to pursue ( )
A. the fundamental moral truth about human life
B. the secrets of inward propensity and outward circumstances
C. the perfect love between men and women
D. the inner contradictions in people's heart
Part IV. Interpretation (20%)
Read the following selections and then answer the questions.
(1)
My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the Emperor and his court, and indeed upon the army and people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this favourable disposition. The natives came, by degrees, to be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand; and at last the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair. I had now made a good progress in understanding and speaking the language. The Emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope- dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the reader's patience, to enlarge a little.
This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for great employments, and high favour at court. They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education. When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens,) five or six of those candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the court with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office. Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the Emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap, the Treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him do the summerset several times together, upon a trencher fixed on a rope which is no thicker than a common pack-thread in England.
1. Describe the inhabitants in the country briefly.
2. What do you know about the government of the country according to this passage?
(2)
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
3. Which collection of poems is this poem taken from? Who is the author?
4. How do you interpret the image of the lamb in the fifth stanza?
(3)
"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 come 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 — 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.
"Are you possessed with a devil," he pursued savagely, "to talk in that manner to me when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded on my memory, and eating deeper eternally after you have left me? You know you lie to say I have killed you: and, Catherine, you know that I could as soon forget you as my existence! Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?"
5. What can be revealed about the love between Heathcliff and Catherine according to the passage?
Part V. Give brief answers to the following questions. (15%)
1. Give a brief comment on the hero in The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
2. Give a brief analysis of the character-portrayal in Charles Dickens' novels.
