英美文学第一部分练习

英美文学第一部分练习

文艺复兴时期练习及答案

Exercis of the First Part of the British Literature

Section One: Multiple-choice questions

1. “Upon a great adventure he was bond, / That greatest

Gloriana to him gave.” The two lines are taken f rom

[A] Milton's Samson Agonistes [B] Spenr's The Faerie

Queene

[C] Beowulf [D] Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

2. "O prince, O chief of many throned powers,

That led th' embattled Seraphim to war

Under thy conduct, and in dreadf ul deeds

Fearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King. "

In the f irst line of the above passage quoted f rom Milton's

Paradi Lost, the phra "O prince, O chief of many throned

powers”refers to________.

[A] Satan [B] God [C] Adam [D] Eve

3. Shakespeare claims through the mouth of Hamlet that the

"end" of the dramatic creation is to give________ of the social

realities of the time.

[A] f aithf ul ref l ection [B] instructive reprent ation

[C] imaginative narration [D] allegorical description

4. Humanists of the Renaissance turned to the spirit of

________ culture for inspiration.

[A] Anglo-Saxon [B] Italian and French

[C] Greeek and Roman [D] medieval

5. Paradi Lost is compod in blank ver, which permits

the ________ Milton needed f or his subject.

[A] epic grandeur [B] narrative sweep

[C] descriptive subtlety [D] intellectual grasp

6. Donne’s f amous analogy of parting lovers to a drawing

compass aff ords a prime example of________

[A] dramatic style [B] exaggeration

[C] paradox [D] conceit

7. ________ is a study of the lust f or wealth, which centers on

Barabas, the Jew, a terrible old money lender.

[A] The Jew of Malta [B] The Merchant of V enice

[C] Tamburlaine the Great[D] The Tempest

8. In his conception of tragedy, Marlowe perceived that tragic

action must issue f rom, and be ref lected in, ________.

[A] the Renaissance hero [B] endless aspiration f or

knowledge

[C] the individual [D] human dignity and capacity

9. In The Faerie Queene, the Red Cross Knight, who stands f

or true religion of ________ , ts out on the orders of Queen of

Faeri e, who reprents ________.

[A] the Anglican Church, Queen Elizabeth [B] the Roman

[C] I would give anything f or f ul f illing my bond [D] I

derve what I demand

12. The line "When we have shuff led off this mortal coil" be,

or not to be" soliloquy means________.

[A] when we have got rid of this coil that is doomed to die

[B] when we have unloaded this heavy burden like a coil

[C] when we have taken off this coat made of coils

[D] when we are relived f rom the trouble of mortal life

wound around us like coils

13. What does the word "humour" mean in the f ollowing

quotation f rom "Of Studies": "to make judgment wholly by their

rules is the humor of“a scholar”?

[A] f unniness [B] Wit

[C]charact er [D] A sudden whim

14. The Spenrian stanza is a group of eight lines of iambic

pentameter f ollowed by a six-stress line, with a rhyme scheme

ababbcbcc.

[A] trochai c [B] iambic

[C] anapestic [D] dactylic

15. In Satan’s speech: …if he, whom mutual league, / United :

thoughts and .counls, equal hope / And hazard in the glorious

enterpri, /.joined with me once . . . " What does "the glorious

enterpri ref er to?

[A] The f ormer scheme to overthrow God.

[B] stealing the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

[C] Finding means of evil out of good.

[D] corrupting Adam and Eve.

16. What is the tone in the f ollowing lines: " Saucy

pedantic .go wretch, go chide / Late school-boys, and sour

prentices"?

[A] Ironic [B] Sarcastic [C]Humorous [D] Underst ated

17. In the best metaphysical poetry, f eeling and ________ f u

in an image that is always ingenious and appropriate, though it

may be disconcert ed at f irst in the shock of bringing

incongruities together.

[A] imagery [B] conceit[C] thought [D] colloquialism

18. The sonnet "Death Be Not Proud" is written in the

strict______ pattern. It reveals the poet's belief that _________.

[A] Shakespearean, death is only a sleep, af ter which we live

eternally

[B] Petrarchan, death is but momentary while hal v death is

eternal

[C] Elizabethan, death is not as strong as people think he is

[D] Portugue, death is like a long sleep that off er, f or the

soul

19. In the line "And every f air from fair sometime decline

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18), what does the f irst and cond “f air”

mean?

[A] Light complexion; beauty. [B] Loveliness; beautif ul

women.

[C] The beautif ul person or thing; beauty. [D] Sound reason;

justice.

20. In the court scene of The Merchant of Venice, when says

to Shylock: "We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. punning on the

word "gentle". He means a merci f ul but also means ______.

[A] an amiable and tender answer [B] a noble answer

[C] a Gentile's as oppod to a Jew's answer [D] a generous

answer

21. In his "To be, or not to be" soliloquy, Hamlet gives the

why he wants to commit suicide. Apart from his personal revenge,

that he________ is another reason.

[A] is unable to restore his earlier idealized image of his

mother

[B] thinks the next world is f ar better than this one

[C] is mentally tormented by his f ather's words

[D] cannot bear the social injustice and grievances

22. By advancing the theory of＿＿＿＿＿, Bacon shows the

empirical attitudes toward truth about nature and bravely

challenges the medieval scholasticists.

[A] inductive reasoning [B] deductive reasoning

[C] education [D] scienti f ic experimentation

23. The central f igure of Tamburlaine, the Great reprents f

or inf inite _________.

[A] knowledge and happiness [B] power and authority

[C] ambition and conquest [D] success and adventure

24. The shepherd's Calender t the ________ f ashion in

English literature, and inaugurated the great 16th century.

[A] rustic [B] ornate [C] rustic [D] pastoral

25. In King Leur, Shakespeare has shown to us the two-f old

exerted by the f eudalisi corruption and __________ gradually

corroded the ordered society.

[A] Anarchy and rebellion [B] supernatural f orces

[C] super natural f orces[D] tyranny

[B] power and authority success and adventure f ashion in

English lyrical poetry of the last

Section Two(Reading comprehension)

pure and innocent, as that same lambe,

She was in lif e and every vertuous lore,

And by descent f rom royall lynage came

Of ancient Kings and Queenes, that had of yore

Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore,

Some that are mad if they behold a cat,

And others, when bagpipe sings i' th' no,

Cannot contain their urine f or affection,

Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood

Of what it likes or loathes. "

Questions:

A. the author and the work.

B. Who is the speaker of the quoted passage?

C. What idea does the quotation express?

5. “If her eyes have not blinded thine,

Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,

Whether both the Indias of spice and mine

1. Comment on Hamlet's inaction.

2. What are the main characteristics of metaphysical poetry?

第一章练习答案Key to the exercis

Key to Exercis for Chapter I(文艺复兴时期)

A. Multiple-choice questions

1-25 BAACB DACAC BDCBA BCBCC DABDC

11. Reading comprehension:

1. A. Edmund Spenr: The Faerie Queene.

B. The Red Cross Knight.

C. It is a description of V irgin Una, who stands f or the divine

truth and accompanies the Red Cross Knight on his adventures.

She is as pure and innocent in lif e and all moral knowledge as

the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ ). She descended of a royal line,

which in old days governed the land

from east to west and made the whole world subject to the

rule (which suggests she derives her lineage f rom the Church

Universal, not from the Papacy), until the dragon ( which

reprents the powers of Spain and Rome) with wicked tumult

devastated all their land and drove them out. So she has

summoned the Knight f rom a remote place to avenge her

imprisoned parents.

2. A. Christopher Marlowe : The Tragic History of Doctor

Faustus.

B. God.

C. This is a description of Dr. Faustus practicing black magic

in

order to ek knowledge and power over the kingdom of this

world. He has drawn a magic circle on the ground, within which

the spirits are compelled to ri by using the name of God with

the letters mixed up, the abbreviated names of holy saints, f

igures o f every heavenly body and signs of the zodiac and

wandering stars. Faustus' conjuring techniques illustrate his

denial and rejection of religi on, which is a sin of pride and

presumption and thus allows the devil to take posssion of his

soul. On the other hand, by portraying Faustus trying through

the exerci of f orbidden knowledge to transcend the bounds of

his nature, Marlowe celebrates the Renaissance hero's endless

aspiration f or knowledge, power and happiness.

3: A. William Shakespeare: Hamlet. ,

B. Hamlet .

C The lines mean: thus meditation does turn all of us into

cowards; and thus over the natural color of resolution (which is

believed of red color) , is thrown the pale and sickly color of

melancholy thought; and actions of great importance, on this

account, deviate f rom their original purpo and no longer can

put into action. Here Hamlet is not only talking about actual

suicide--he's also talking about "li f elong suicide" by doing

nothing, choosing the easy passive approach to lif e.

4. A. William Shakespeare: The Merchant of V enice.

B. Shylock says that just as there is no rational explanation of

why one man hat es a pig, why another cannot tolerat e a

harmless cat, and why a third cannot cont ain his urine when

listening to a bagpipe, he cannot and will not give a reason f or

his action other than the deep-ated hatred and loathing that

he bears Antonio. Here, Shylock makes himlf ridiculous by

comparing the unreasoning hatred he feels f or Antonio with the

irrational and inexplicable impuls f ound in all men. The

examples he gives of human nature mastered by strange and

powerful passions are such as to excite disgust and contempt in

his hearers.

5. A. John Donne, "The Sun Rising".

B. The Sun.

C. The speaker says that his lover's eyes are more blinding

than the sun's mighty rays. If the sun would look cloly he would

e that even the wealth of all the earth lies in their bed. And

should he not be convinced by what his eyes tell him, could look

again to India and the West Indies to e if the spices and gold

even exist there any more or whether they indeed "lie here with

me". The king-image is a happy one. The lovers are as happy as

the queen and the king on one throne. The poet brings "spice",

"gold" and "kings" into one bed in order to show that their love

is as f ragrant spice, as pure as gold and as happy as kings.

C. Q uestions and answers

1. In the court scene Shylock has emphasized the justice and

legality to his claim to Antonio's f lesh. Now, Portia insists that

mercy is a higher good than justice, f or it enables the giver and

receiver. She puts f orward a familiar Elizabethan argum ent on

justice versus mercy, i.

e. if God himlf insisted on justice, no one would be f

orgiven f or their sins and thus be able to enter the Kingdom of

Heaven. But as God shows mercy to mankind, man can theref ore

be redeemed. What is most admirable in a king is not his power

but the humanity wit h which he exercis this power. This speech

of Portia is undoubtedly the most f amous in the play and justly

so, f or in lyrical ver that is beautif ul in itlf it clearly states the

moral and implies the doctrinal themes of the play: that courtesy

teaches the heart to be gen tle, that the gentle heart cures

greatest epic poem in the English language. The theme of the

poem is the tragedy of the "Fall of Man" (f rom whi ch Christ

redeems him) against the backdrop of Satan's rebellion against

God and expulsion f rom heaven. The poet's announced aim was

to "asrt eternal Providence (that is, God) and justif y the ways

of God to men". Despite its biblical story content and its declared

purpo, the epic at places ref lects Milton's revolutionary spirit,

chief ly through his sympathetic treatment of the revolt of Satan

and his f ollowers against God in the f irst two books. Here we

e the dual role as a Puritan and as a republican, f or in

accordance with his religious convictions the poet was naturally

on the side of God, but with his revolutionary ntiments he

could not refrain f rom uttering f iery words of hatred and

rebellion against the restored monarch at the time, even in the

outcries of Satan and his adherents against God. Y et we must

not believe that Milton as a Puritan could actually share Satan's

accusations

of God f or holding "the tyranny of heaven", nor should we

obliterate the thoroughly religious temper of the epic as a whole,

in which the characters of Satan and his f ollowers are

condemned.

3.(a) Renaissance refers to the period of transition f rom the

medieval to the modern world. It was sparked off by a

combination of historical factors.

(b) Humanism is the esnce of the Renaissance. "The new

humanistic learning that resulted from the rediscovery of

classical literature is frequently taken as the beginning of the

Renaissance on its conscious, intellectual side.

(c) The great 16th-century religious revolution in Europe

resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches.

(d) The continuing development of trade, the growth of the

middle class, the education f or lay people, the centralization of

power and of much intellectual lif e in the court, and the

widening horizons of exploration gave a new impetus and

direction to literature.

4. This poem is an almost startling put-down of poor death

Staunchly Christian in its pure expectation of the resurrection.

Donne's poem personi f ies death as an adversary swollen with f

al pride and unworthy of being called "mighty and dreadf ul.

Donne gives various reasons in accusing death of being little m

than a slave bosd about by fate, chance, kings and desperate

men--a craven thing that keeps bad company, such as poison war

and sickness. Death is not something we should f ear, f or is part

of a natural cycle. It is the pref ace to our f inal sleep, which offers

“f r eedom” (and f inal delivery) f or the soul. Finally, Donne

taunts death with a paradox: "death, thou shalt die. " The sonnet

is written in the strict Petrarchan pattern. It reveals the poet’s

belief

reveals the poet's belief in lif e af ter death: death is but

momentary while happiness af t er death is eternal.

5. Bacon's contribution to English literature lies chief ly in the

Essays, the f irst collection of essays as such in the English

language and considered an important landmark in the

development of English pro. Bacon wrote the f or the young

men of his class and tradition, who were intent upon the

completest lf-realization in public lif e. The subjects cover a

wide range: philosophy, religion, politics and conduct of lif e.

Down's practicality is shown in most of his essays. He employs

what may be called the dialectical method by balancing opposing

arguments bef ore drawing his conclusions. Dif f erent from the

elaborate language of euphuism, his essays are known f or their

language of euphuism, his essays are known f or their

consciousness and brevity, simplicity and f orcefulness. Epigrams

frequently employed, yet they are always ordered judiciously

appropri ately. In addition, the essays are enriched by Biblical

allusions, metaphors and cadence.

D. Topic discussion

1. (a)Hamlet has none of the single-minded blood lust of the

earlier revengers. It is not becau he is incapable of action, but

becau the cast of his mind is so speculative, so questioning,

and so contemplative that action, when it f inally comes, almost

like def eat, diminishing rather than adding to the stature of the

hero.

(b)Trapped in a nightmare world of spying, testing and plot

and apparently bearing the intolerable burden of the to revenge

his f ather's death, Hamlet is obliged to inhabit a shadow world,

to live suspended between f act and f iction, language and action.

His lif e is one of constant role playing, examining the nature of

action only to deny its possibility; f or he is too sophisticated to

degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger.

(c) For such a f igure, soliloquy is a natural medium, a

necessary relea of his anguish; and some of his questioning

monologues poss surpassing power and insight, which have

survived centuries of being torn f rom their context.

2. (a) The term metaphysical poetry is ud to describe a

school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold and

ingenious conceits, incongruous imagery, complexity of thought,

f requent u of paradox, and of ten by deliberate harshness or

rigidity of expression. (b) In metaphysical poetry emotions are

shaped and expresd by logical reasoning. The logical

elements are typical characteristics of the best metaphysical

poetry. But, sometimes the logic argument and conceits become.

pervasive, going to preposterous dimensions. (c) The main

themes of the metaphysical poets are love, death and religion.

According to them, all things in the univer no matter how

dissimilar they are to each other, are cloly unif ied in God.

(d) The diction is simple as compared with that of the

Elizabethan or the Neocl assical Period, and echoes the words

and cadences of common speech.

(e) The imagery is drawn f rom the commonplace or the

remote actual lif e or erudite sources, the f igure itl f:

elaborated with lf-conscious ingenuity.

(f) The f orm is f requently that of an argument with the

poet’s beloved with God or with himlf.

(g) Metaphysical poem is of ten intentionally rough.

(h) Metaphysical poetry is marked by a crisp pointed wit that

may f ind its f ocus in conceits of a special type, which are ud

to connect the abstract with the concrete, the remote with the

near, and the sublime with the commonplace.

(i) Chief reprentative of this school was John Donne.