美国文学试题库
注：试题库内容仅作为学习参考使用，并不代表考试内容。任何一道题均可能变
化为其它形式的试题。
I. Each of the following below is followed by four alternative answers. Choose the one that would best complete the statement.
1. All of the following are the features of Puritans EXCEPT _____.
A. wanting to make pure their religious beliefs and practices B. looking upon themselves as a chosen people
C. tolerating others‘ beliefs and sought for a happy and an easy life
D. wishing to restore simplicity to church serves and emphasized the image of a wrathful God
2. The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in _____.
A. James Fennimore Cooper B. Thomas Paine C. Benjamin Franklin D. Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. Of the following works, ______ was not written by Thomas Paine.
A. Rights of Man B. Civil Disobedience C. The Age of Reason D. Common Sense
4. The ―Father of American Poetry‖ is ____.
A. William Cullen Bryant B. Philip Freneau
C. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow D. Allan Poe
5. The most outstanding writer of the Post-Revolutionary period, who wrote in his poems the indigenous wild life and other native American subjects, is _____. A. William Cullen Bryant B. Philip Freneau
C. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow D. Allan Poe
6. The Romantic writers would focus on all the following issues EXCEPT the _____ in the American literary history. A. individual feelings
B. idea of survival of the fittest C. strong imagination D. return to nature
7. Cooper‘s story of the ―frontier saga‖ is made up of 5 famous novels that comprise the ________ Tales, in which the main character is Natty Bumppo. A. Leaterstoking
B. The Deer Slayer C. Sea Adventure D. The Romantic
8. Most of Herman Melville‘s novels are based on sea voyages and sea adventures. But in the following ______is NOT the case. A. Typee B. Moby Dick C. Omoo
D. The Confidence Man
9. The following are correct for transcendentalism EXCEPT _____.
A. It is a systematized philosophical and literary movement.
B. It exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraints of law and custom.
C. It spoke for cultural rejuvenation against the materialism of American society. D. It appealed to those who scorned the pale deity of New England Unitarianism. 10. Henry David Thoreau‘s work, ______, has always been regarded as a masterpiece of New England Transcendentalism. A. Walden
B. The pioneers C. Nature
D. Song of Myself
11. Which essay of Emerson is regarded as an unofficial manifesto for the ―Transcendental Club‖? A. Self-reliance B. Nature
C. The American Scholar D. The Oversoul
12. Emerson based his religion on an intuitive belief in an ultimate unity, which he called ________. A. the Spirit B. the Over-lord C. the oversoul D. the Self
13. _______ is not a fictional character in The Scarlet Letter.
A. Hester
B. Arthur Dimmersdale C. Roger Chillingworth D. Ishmael 14. Hester Pryme，Dimmesdale，Chillingworth and Pearl are most likely the names of the characters in_____. A. The Scarlet Letter
B. The House of the Seven Gables C. The Portrait of a Lady D. The Pioneers
15. The giant Moby Dick may symbolize all EXCEPT________.
A. mystery of the universe B. sin of the whale C. power of nature D. evil of the world
16. Most of Herman Melville‘s novels are based on sea voyages and sea adventures. Which of the following is NOT the case? A. Typee
B. Moby Dick C. Omoo
D. The Confidence Man
17. Ahab‘s ship, the Pequod, may symbolize all EXCEPT________.
A. a miniature of the world B. a society
C. the United States D. evil of the world
18. Of the following works _____ concerns most concentratedly about the Calvinistic view of original sin. A. The Wasteland B. The Scarlet Letter C. Leaves of Grass D. As I Lay Dying
19. The New England transcendentalism was from the very beginning a local phenomenon restricted only to those people living in New England, who carried out the movement as a reaction against the cold, rigid rationalism of _____ in Boston.
A. Puritanism B. Calvinism C. Classicism D. Unitarianism
20. The period before the American Civil War is commonly referred to as ____.
A. the Romantic Period B. the Realistic Period C. the Naturalist Period D. the Modern Period
21. Realism supported by William Dean Howells, ________, was described as ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.‖ A. the major advocate of the 19th century American realism B. the major advocate of the 20th century American realism C. the major advocate of the 19th century British realism D. the major opponent of the 19th century American realism
22. The first American writer of local color to achieve wide popularity in the 1860s was ___. A. Bret Harte
B. Mark Twain C. Beecher Stowe D. O‘Henry
23. The period ranging from 1865 to 1914 has been referred to as _____.
A. the Age of Colonialism B. the Age of Romanticism C. the Age of Realism D. the Age of Modernism
24. Statement _______ is NOT true in describing American naturalists.
A. They were deeply influenced by Darwinism.
B. They were identified with French novelist and theorist Emile Zola. C. They chose their subjects from the lower ranks of society.
D. They used more serious and more sympathetic tone in writing than realists. 25. ―When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed‖ is most probably a poem ______.
A. that celebrates the burgeoning life of cities B. that sings highly freedom and democracy C. that condemns violence and bloodshed D. that mourns for the death of Lincoln
26. ______ is not among the artistic features of Whitman's writing.
A. The use of the poetic ―I‖ B. Free verse
C. Musicality or rhythm D. Allegory
27. Walt Whitman was a pioneering figure of American poetry. His innovation first of all lies in his use of _______，poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme.
A. blank verse B. heroic couplet C. free verse
D. iambic pentameter
28. We can perhaps summarize that Walt Whitman‘s poems are characterized by all the following features EXCEPT _______. A. conversational and casual B. lyrical and well-structured C. simple and rather crude D. free-flowing
29. Emily Dickinson wrote many short poems on various aspects of life. Which of the following is NOT a usual subject of her poetic expression？ A. Religion and immortality. B. Life and death. C. Love and marriage. D. War and peace.
30. Emily Dickinson‘s verse is most aptly characterized as _______.
A. exposing the evils of the society
B. paving the way for the following generation of free verse poets C. sharing the same poetic conventions as Walt Whitman
D. exhibiting a sensitiveness to the symbolic implications of experience, such as love, death, immortality, etc.
31. _____ describes realism as ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of martial.‖ A. Frank Norris
B. William Dean Howells C. Mark Twain D. Henry James
32. The arbiter of the 19th century American realism was _____, who ddfined realism as ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of martial.‖ A. Frank Norris
B. William Dean Howells C. Mark Twain D. Henry James
33. _______ is not a dominant figure of the Realistic Period.
A. William Dean Howells B. Mark Twain C. Henry James D. James F. Cooper
34. With Howells，Henry James，and Mark Twain active on the literary scene，____ became the major trend in American literature in the seventies and eighties of the 19th century.
A. sentimentalism B. romanticism C. realism D. naturalism
35. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his________.
A. international theme B. waste-land imagery C. local color D. symbolism
36. Who exerts the single most important influence on literary naturalism, of which Theodore Dreiser and Jack London are among the best representative writers? A. Freud B. Darwin
C. W.D. Howells D. Emerson
37. _____ exerts the single most important influence on literary naturalism, of which Theodore Dreiser and Jack London are among the best representative writers? A. Freud B. Darwin