1、2007 年武汉大学英语专业（英美文学）真题试卷及答案与解析一、分析题1 Write a short essay to tell what you know about essayists in British and American literatures. Name at least two well-known essayists, respectively, in UK and US. Write out their names and give a brief introduction to them.(1 x 10 =10 points)2 Identify the follow
2、ing two poems and make a brief summary of their main points to compare their attitudes toward death.(1 x20 =20 points)Poem 1Death be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for, thou art not soe:For those whom thou think st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst th
3、ou kill me.From rest and sleepe, which but thy picture be,Much pleasure: then from thee much more must flow,And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones, and soul s delivery.Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and Sickness dwell,And pop
4、py, or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke: why swell st thou then?One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die.Poem 2Death is a Dialogue betweenThe Spirit and the Dust.“Dissolve“ says DeathThe Spirit “SirI have another Trust“ Deat
5、h doubts itArgue from the GroundThe Spirit turns awayJust laying off for evidenceAn Overcoat of Clay.3 Charles Dickens and Mark Twain are both well-known literary realists. Name one of the masterpieces by each of them and make a brief comparison and/or contrast so as to tell the similarities and/or
6、differences between British and American realism.(1 x 20 =20 points)2007 年武汉大学英语专业（英美文学）真题试卷答案与解析一、分析题1 【正确答案】 Charles Lamb(1775 - 1834)was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children s book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb(1764 - 1
7、847). Lamb has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, as the most lovable figure in English literature. And his influence on the English essay form surely cannot be overestimated. The most striking feature of Lamb s essays is his humor. He is a master of puns and jokes. His style
8、 is touched with archaisms, interspersed with quotations from his favorite authors but always faithful to his own personality. It is highly artistic but inimitable. Lamb is a romanticist, seeking a free expression of his own personality and weaving romance into the daily life.Ralph Waldo Emerson(180
9、3 - 1882)was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society. Emerson gradually moved away from the religious
10、and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which was considered to be Americas “Intellectual Declaration of Indepe
11、ndence“.【试题解析】 (本题要求至少各列举一位英国散文家和美国散文家，并对他们进行简短介绍。)2 【正确答案】 “Death Be Not Proud“ is among the most famous and most beloved poems in English literature. Its popularity lies in its message of hope couched in eloquent, quotable language. Donne s theme tells the reader that death has no right to be prou
12、d, since human beings do not die but live eternally after “ one short sleep. “ Although some people depict death as mighty and powerful, it is really a lowly slave that depends on luck, accidents, decrees, murder, disease, and war to put men to sleep. But a simple poppy(whose seeds provide a juice t
13、o make a narcotic)and various charms(incantations, amulets, spells, etc.)can also induce sleep-and do it better than death can. After a human being s soul leaves the body and enters eternity, it lives on; only death dies.The second poem is written by Emily Dickinson who pays much attention to life a
14、nd death, time and eternity. For Dickinson, death is a dialogue between the spirit and the dust- the spirit and the dust argue over what should happen to the person. Death says that man dissolves in the ground after his death(the body will be buried in the ground)while the spirit says that it believ
15、es in something different(man s spirit will go to Heaven). Death doubts it and they begin to argue. Then the spirit turns away and leaves the evidence(the dead corpse)so that the spirit goes to heaven and the only remembrance of the person is their corpse buried in the ground.These two poems compare
16、 different attitudes toward death. In Donne s poem, human spirit will leave the body and enter eternity while Emily thinks that the spirit will go to heaven. They two both believe in a free soul after death. The difference is that the former also believe in a free body while the latter argues that t
17、he body will be buried in the ground.【试题解析】 (本题要求总结和对比两首诗中关于死亡的观点。第一首是约翰 多恩的死亡，不要骄傲，第二首是艾米莉狄金森的死亡是一场对话。参考译文：1死神，你莫骄傲死神，你莫骄傲，尽管有人说你如何强大，如何可怕，你并不是这样；你以为你把谁谁谁打倒了，其实，可怜的死神，他们没死；你现在也还杀不死我。休息、睡眠，这些不过是你的写照，既能给人享受，那你本人提供的一定更多；我们最美好的人随你去得越早，越能早日获得身体的休息，灵魂的解脱。你是命运、机会、君主、亡命徒的奴隶，你和毒药、战争、疾病同住在一起，罂粟和咒符和你的打击相比，同样，
18、甚至更能催我入睡；那你何必趾高气扬呢?睡了一小觉之后，我们便永远觉醒了，再也不会有死亡，你死神也将死去。(杨周翰译)2死亡是一场对话死亡是一场对话在灵魂和尘土之间。“分解吧。”死亡说。灵魂回答，“先生，我有另外的信念。”死亡对此怀疑，争辩从头开始。灵魂转身离开，为了证明，只留下一件/黏土的外衣。)3 【正确答案】 In the nineteenth century, many progressive writers wrote excellent works to unveil the dark society. Charles Dickens(1812 1870)and Mark Twain
19、(1835 1910)were the most outstanding representatives of them. Oliver Twist is the masterpiece of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain s masterpiece is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The two books share the theme of a corrupt adult society, and the irony in both works is often centered on racism and r
20、eligion. Both novels are adventures of children.Oliver Twist is based on real life materials such as the New Poor Law of 1834 and the current trial of a notorious fence and thief-trainer. By following the most unfortunate experience of a poor orphan boy, Oliver, the author means to give a vivid pict
21、ure of the underworld with all kinds of thieves, prostitutes and murderers as well as the horrible cruelty of the workhouse system of the time. Oliver is the first of that brilliant group of child characters who are the very images of innocence, love and honesty. The novel leads to a happy ending. D
22、ickens lives and writes in the Victorian age when English society began to feel the impact of change but still managed to keep the old values intact. Industrialization and capitalism had begun to bring wretchedness into the country, but life had not become totally impossible. So, English realist wri
23、ters like Dickens were basically optimistic. They were aware of modern ills which they lost no time to castigate, but still wrote with the notion that the world was basically good and could become better.The adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells a story about the United States before the Civil War, a
24、round 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, yet still retaining the virtues of “some simplicity, some innocence, some peace. “ Here is a “hymn“ to that ante bellum America, the moral v
25、alues of which vanished with the war. The machine and the worship of money were on their way in, but the river-god, with its “ sunlight, space, uncrowded time, stillness, and danger,“ has not been forgotten. Similar to English realists, American realist novelists took the side of the defenseless or oppressed, and fought corruption, privilege and abuse of the society , but the Civil War and the American Dream played important roles in their writing.【试题解析】 (本题要求分别列举出狄更斯和马克 吐温的各一部著作，通过对二者的对比谈一谈英国现实主义和美国现实主义的相同点或不同点。)
