Multiple Choice(40 points in all, 1 for each)

Select from the four choices of each item the one that best answers the question or completes the statement. Write the corresponding letter A,

B, C or D on the answer sheet.

One of Shelley’ s greatest political lyrics is ________, which was later to become a rallying song of the British Communist Party.

A. “Ode to Liberty”                                         

B. “Ode to Naples”

C. “Sonnet: England in 1819”                           

D. “Men of England”

In Charles Dickens’ work ________, the Utilitarian principle rules over the English education system and destroys young hearts and minds.

A. Little Dorrit                                                

B. Hard Times

C. Great Expectations                                      

D. Bleak House

The tragic sense turns into despair in Thomas Hardy’s ________, where cornered by the traditional social morality, the hero and the heroine

have to kill their own will and passion and return to their former destructive way of life.

A. The Return of the Native                              

B. The Mayor of Casterbridge

C. Tess of the D’ Urbervilles                              

D. Jude the Obscure

The typical representatives of G. B. Shaw’ s early plays are ________.

A. Man and Superman; The Apple Cart

B. Widowers’ House; Mrs. Warren’ s Profession

C. Candida; Mrs. Warren’ s Profession

D. The Apple Cart; Widowers’ House

As a critic of music and drama, ________ held that art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life, revealing social contradictions

and educating the common people.

A. T. S. Eliot                                                  

B. Oscar Wilde

C. George Bernard Shaw                                  

D.W. B. Yeats

Symbolism and complex narrative are employed more richly in D. H. Lawrence’s ________, which are generally regarded as his masterpieces.

A. Women in Love; Sons and Lovers

B. The Rainbow; Women in Love

C. Sons and Lovers; Lady Chatterley’s Lover

D. Lady Chatterley’ s Lover; The Rainbow

T. S. Eliot won the Nobel Prize of Literature in ________.

A. 1945                                                          

B. 1948

C. 1952                                                          

D. 1956

Thomas Hardy’s pessimistic view of life predominates most of his later works and earns him a reputation as a ________ writer.

A. realistic                                                      

B. naturalistic

C. romantic                                                     

D. stylistic

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? ... And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and

much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. ” The quoted lines are most probably taken

from ________.

A. Great Expectations                                      

B. Wuthering Heights

C. Jane Eyre                                                   

D. Pride and Prejudice

The most distinguishing feature of Charles Dickens’ works is ________.

A. the vernacular and large vocabulary              

B. his humor and wit

C. character-portrayal                                      

D. pictures of pathos

 G. B. Shaw’ s play ________ established his position as the leading playwright of his time.

A. Widowers’ Houses                                        

B. Too True to Be Good

C. Mrs. Warren’ s Profession                             

D. Candida

Jane Austen’ s first novel ________ tells a story about two sisters and their love affairs.

A. Sense and Sensibility                                   

B. Pride and Prejudice

C. Northanger Abbey                                       

D. Mansfield Park

 “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” the quoted line comes from ________.

A. Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind”                 

B. Walt Whitman’ s Leaves of Grass

C. John Milton’s Paradise Lost                         

D. John Keats’“ Ode on a Grecian Urn”

All of the following poems by William Wordsworth are masterpieces on nature EXCEPT ________.

A. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”                   

B. “An Evening Walk”

C. “Tinter Abbey”                                            

D. “The Solitary Reaper”

William Blake’s ________ marks his entry into maturity.

A. Poetical Sketches                                        

B. Songs of Innocence

C. Marriage of Heaven and Hell                        

D. Songs of Experience

 Henry Fielding’ s ________ brings him the name of “Prose Homer”.

A. The History of Jonathan Wild the Great

B. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

C. The History of Amelia

D. The History of Joseph Andrews

Among the three major poetical works by John Milton, ________ is the most perfect example of verse drama after the Greek style in English.

A. Samson Agonistes                                        

B. Paradise Lost

C. Paradise Regained                                      

D. Areopagitica

T.S. Eliot’ s ________ not only presents a panorama of physical disorder and spiritual desolation in the modern Western world, but also

reflects the prevalent mood of disillusionment and despair of a whole post- war generation.

A. The Hollow Men                                         

B. The Waste Land

C. Murder in the Cathedral                               

D. Ash Wednesday

In ________, Shakespeare has not only made a profound analysis of the social crisis in which the evils can be seen everywhere, but also

criticized the bourgeois egoism.

A. Hamlet                                                       

B. Othello

C. King Lear                                                   

D. Macbeth

John Milton’s greatest poetical work ________ is the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf.

A. Areopagitica                                               

B. Paradise Lost

C. Lycidas                                                      

D. Samson Agonistes

The work ________ by William Blake is a lovely volume of poems, presenting a happy world, though not without its evils and sufferings.

A. Songs of Innocence                                      

B. Songs of Experience

C. Poetical Sketches                                         

D. Lyrical Ballads

 The plays known as “the Lawrence trilogy” are all the following EXCEPT ________.

A. A Collier’ s Friday Night                             

B. Lady Chatterley’ s Lover

C. The Daughter - in - Law                              

D. The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyed

Greatly and permanently affected by the ________ experiences, Hemingway formed his own writing style, together with his theme and hero.

A. mining                                                       

B. farming

C. war                                                            

D. sailing

“The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one -eighth of it being above water. ” This “iceberg” analogy about prose style was put forward by ________.

A. William Faulkner                                        

B. Henry James

C. Ernest Hemingway                                      

D. F·Scott Fitzgerald

In Go Down, Moses, ________ illuminates the problem of black and white in Southern society as a close- knit destiny of blood brotherhood.

A. William Faulkner                                        

B. Jack London

C. Herman Melville                                         

D. Nathaniel Hawthorne

In Death in the Afternoon ________ presents his philosophy about life and death through the depiction of the bullfight as a kind of microcosmic

tragedy.

A. William Faulkner                                        

B. Jack London

C. Ernest Hemingway                                      

D. Mark Twain

William Faulkner once said that ________ is a story of “lost innocence,” which proves itself to be an intensification of the theme of

imprisonment in the past.

A. The Great Gatsby                                        

B. The Sound and the Fury

C. Absalom, Absalom!                                     

D. Go Down, Moses

Walt Whitman believed, by means of “________,” he has turned poetry into an open field, an area of vital possibility where the reader can

allow his own imagination to play.

A. free verse                                                   

B. strict verse

C. regular rhyming                                          

D. standardized rhyming

Herman Melville’s second famous work, ________, was not published until 1924, 33 years after his death.

A. Pierre                                                        

B. Redburn

C. Moby-Dick                                                 

D. Billy Budd

In 1920, ________ published his first novel This Side of Paradise which was, to some extent, his own story.

A. F·Scott Fitzgerald                                     

B. Ernest Hemingway

C. William Faulkner                                        

D. Emily Dickinson

Unlike his contemporaries in the early 20th century, ________ did not break up with the poetic tradition nor made any experiment on form.

A. Walt Whitman                                            

B. Robert Frost

C. Ezra Pound                                                 

D.T. S. Eliot

While Mark Twain seemed to have paid more attention to the “life” of the Americans, ________ had apparently laid a greater emphasis on the

“inner world” of man.

A. William Howells                                         

B. Henry James

C. Bret Harte                                                  

D. Hamlin Garland

At the age of eighty -seven, ________ read his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

A. Robert Frost                                               

B. Walt Whitman

C. Ezra Pound                                                 

D.T. S. Eliot

Of all Herman Melville’s sea adventure stories, ________ proves to be the best.

A. Typee                                                         

B. Redburn

C. Moby – Dick                                                

D. Omoo

Man is a “victim of forces over which he has no control. ” This is a notion held strongly by ________.

A. Robert Frost                                               

B. Theodore Dreiser

C. Henry James                                               

D. Hamlin Garland

With the publication of ________, Theodore Dreiser was launching himself upon a long career that would ultimately make him one of the most

significant American writers of the school later known as literary naturalism.

A. Sister Carrie                                               

B. The Titan

C. An American Tragedy                                  

D. The Stoic

Nathaniel Hawthorne was affected by ________’s transcendentalist theory and struck up a very intimate relationship with him.

A. H. W. Longfellow                                       

B. Walt Whitman

C. R. W. Emerson                                           

D. Washington Irving

Among the following writers ________ is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th -century “stream - of - consciousness” novels and

the founder of psychological realism.

A. T. S. Eliot                                                  

B. James Joyce

C. William Faulkner                                        

D. Henry James

Walt Whitman wrote down a great many poems to air his sorrow for the death of President ______, and one of the famous is “When Lilacs

Last in the Dooryard Bloom’ d. ”

A. Washington                                                

B. Lincoln

C. Franklin                                                     

D. Kennedy

 The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a romance set in______, is concerned about the dark aberrations of the human spirit.

A. France                                                       

B. Spain

C. England                                                     

D. Italy

Reading Comprehension ( 16 points in all, 4 for each)

Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer

sheet.

“Shah I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:”

Questions:

A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem?

B. What figure of speech is employed in the poem?

C. What is the theme of the poem?

 “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 ?”

Questions:

A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem?

B. Whom does the “he” refer to?

C. What does the “Lamb” symbolize?

“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”

Questions:

A. Who’s the poet of the quoted stanza, and what’s the title of the poem?

B. What do “soil” and “air” represent in the first line?

C. What does the poet try to say in the above quoted lines?

 “ ‘Is dying hard, Daddy?’

‘No, I think it’s pretty easy, Nick. It all depends. ’”

Questions:

A. Who’s the author of the quoted part, and what’s the title of the work?

B. What was Nick preoccupied with when he asked the question?

C. Why did the father add “It all depends” after he answered his son’s question?

Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each)

Give a brief answer to each of the following questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer

sheet.

What’s the theme of Emily Bronte’ s Wuthering Heights?

 It is said that B. Shaw’ s play Mrs. Warren’ s Profession, has a strong realistic theme, which fully reflects the dramatist’s Fabianist idea. What’s the theme of the work?

What’s the theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’ s Young Goodman Brown?

Daisy Miller brought Henry James international fame for the first time. What’s the character of Daisy Miller, the protagonist?

Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each)

Write no less than 150 words on each of the following topics in English in the corresponding space on the answer sheet.

Make a comment on the character of Jane Eyre, the heroine of the novel by Charlotte Bronte.

Why are naturalists inevitably pessimistic in their view?