南京大学2011年硕士研究生入学考试试题
英语语言文学专业
文学部分（150分）
Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.（20 points）
1._____，a nineteenth-century literary critic，describes literary criticism as“a disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.”
2.At the turn of the twentieth century，there arose a more deliberate kind of realism called_____which aimed to provide a precise description of actual circumstances of human life in minute details.
3.Poets usually create a_____，or fictitious“character”to express feelings and thoughts.
4.For a time American poetry imitated the traditional verse of England.It was_____who brought a new American voice to the world.
5.For the generation who had lived through the wars，the problem of communication in an increasingly complex and terrifying world became the major issue.Their response to the spiritual and material impoverishment，and the ultimate threat of total annihilation was put clear in_____.
6.James Joyce styled_____in his fiction，each being shaped around a moment of revelation as“a sudden spiritual manifestation.”
7.E.M.Forster makes a distinction between_____and_____characters.The former are simple and unchanging；the latter are complex and dynamic.
8.Many writers who figured prominently in the 1920s，belong to the group which Gertrude Stein dubbed the“_____.”
9.In the 1960s and 1970s there appeared_____that explicitly concerns itself with the process of narration，writing，and composition.
Ⅱ.Read the following excerpts and identify their authors and titles from which they are excerpted.Give full name of the author and full title of the work.（50 points）
1.Author_____Title_____
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
2.Author_____Title_____
I relinquished the intention he had detected，for I knew him！Even yet I could not recall a single feature，but I knew him！If the wind and the rain had driven away the intervening years，had scattered all the intervening objects，had swept up to the churchyard where we first stood face to face on such different levels，I could not have known my convict more distinctly than I knew him now，as he sat in the chair before the fire.
3.Author_____Title_____
Heard melodies are sweet，but those unheard
Are sweeter；therefore，ye soft pipes，play on；
Not to the sensual ear，but，more endear’d，
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone：
4.Author_____Title_____
He felt that his luck was better than usual today.When he had reported for work that morning he had expected to be shut up in the relief office at a clerk’s job，for he had been hired downtown as a clerk，and he was glad to have，instead，the freedom of the streets and welcomed，at least at first，the vigor of the cold and even the blowing of the hard wind.But on the other hand he was not getting on with the distribution of the checks.It was true that it was a city job；nobody expected you to push too hard at a city job.
5.Author_____Title_____
He was an odd old guy，my grandfather，and I am told I take after him.It was he who caused the trouble.On his deathbed he called my father to him and said，“Son，after I’m gone I want you to keep up the good fight.I never told you，but our life is a war and I have been a traitor all my born days，a spy in the enemy’s country ever since I give up my gun back in the Reconstruction.Live with your head in the lion’s mouth.I want you to overcome’em with yeses，undermine’em with grins，agree’em to death and destruction，let’em swallow you till they vomit or bust wide open.”
6.Author_____Title_____
What I must do is all that concerns me，not what the people think.This rule，equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life，may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.
7.Author_____Title_____
It was father’s idea that both he and mother should try to entertain the people who came to eat at our restaurant.I cannot now remember his words but he gave the impression of one about to become in some obscure way a kind of public entertainer.
8.Author_____Title_____
Honey，I told you I thoroughly checked on these stories！Now wait till I finished.The trouble with Dame Blanche was that she couldn’t put on her act any more in Laurel！They got wised up after two or three dates with her and then they quit，and she goes on to another，the same old line，same old act，same old hooey！
9.Author_____Title_____
I placed a jar in Tennessee，
And round it was，upon a hill.
It made the slovenly wilderness
Surround that hill.
10.Author_____Title_____
When the young woman—the mother of this child—stood fully revealed before the crowd，it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom；not so much by an impulse of motherly affection，as that she might thereby conceal a certain token，which was wrought or fastened into her dress.
11.Author_____Title_____
I wake to sleep，and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.
We think by feeling.What is there to know？
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep，and take my waking slow.
12.Author_____Title_____
When the correspondent again opened his eyes，the sea and the sky were each of the gray hue of the dawning.Later，carmine and gold was painted upon the waters.The morning appeared finally，in its splendor with a sky of pure blue，and the sunlight flamed on the tips of the waves.
13.Author_____Title_____
I was seated by the shore of a small pond，about a mile and a half south of the village of Concord and somewhat higher than it，in the midst of an extensive wood between that town and Lincoln，and about two miles south of that our only feed known to fame，Concord Battle Ground；...
14.Author_____Title_____
A succession of loud and shrill screams，bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form，seemed to thrust me violently back.For a brief moment I hesitated，I trembled.Unsheathing my rapier，I began to grope with it about the recess；but the thought of an instant reassured me.I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs and felt satisfied.I reapproached the wall.I replied to the yells of him who clamoured.
15.Author_____Title_____
Summertime，oh，summertime，pattern of life indelible，the fade-proof lake，the woods unshatterable，the pasture with the sweetfern and the juniper forever and ever，summer without end；...
16.Author_____Title_____
Arise，fair sun，and kill the envious moon，
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
17.Author_____Title_____
The earth seemed unearthly.We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster，but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free.It was unearthly，and the men were—No，they were not inhuman.Well，you know，that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman.It would come slowly to one.They howled，and leaped，and spun，and made horrid faces；that what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity...
18.Author_____Title_____
Nor did wild rumors of all sorts fail to exaggerate，and still the more horrify the tale histories of these deadly encounters.For not only do fabulous rumors naturally grow out of the very body of all surprising terrible events，—as the smitten tree gives birth to its fungi；but，in maritime life，far more than in that of terra firma，wild rumors abound，wherever there is any adequate reality for every other sort of maritime life，in the wonderfulness and fearfulness of the rumors which sometimes circulate there.
19.Author_____Title_____
Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Aegean，and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery；we
Find also in the sound a thought，
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
20.Author_____Title_____
I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through tile throng of foes.Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand.My eyes were often full of tears（I could not tell why）and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom.I thought little of the future.I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or，if I spoke to her，how I could tell her of my confused adoration.But my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.
21.Author_____Title_____
The artist spends a lifetime in pursuing the things that haunt him，in having his mind“teased”by them，in trying to get these conceptions down on paper exactly as they are to him and not in conventional poses supposed to reveal their character；trying this method and that，as a painter tries different lightings and different attitudes with his subject to catch the one that presents it more suggestively than any other.And at the end of a lifetime he emerges with much that is more or less happy experimenting，and comparatively little that is the very flower of himself and his genius.
22.Author_____Title_____
At this point the woman，still lying prone，brought her two hands up behind her shoulders with the ends of a scarf in them，tied it behind her back，and sat up.She wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants.This being the first day of the sun she was white，flushing red.
23.Author_____Title_____
I have already thought of ending Charles’s career here and now；of leaving him for eternity on his way to London.But the conventions of Victorian fiction allowed on place for the open，the inconclusive ending；and I preached earlier of the freedom characters must be given.
24.Author_____Title_____
Butter sunk under
More than a hundred years
Was recovered salty and white.
The ground itself is kind，black butter
Melting and opening underfoot.
Missing its last definition
By millions of years.
They’ll never dig coal here，...
25.Author_____Title_____
I really don’t see anything romantic about proposing.It is very romantic to be in love.But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal.Why，one may be accepted.One usually is，I believe.Then，the excitement is all over.The very essence of romance is uncertainty.If ever I get married，I’ll certainly try to forget the fact.
Ⅲ.For the following two sections，you are required to choose ONE from each and give your answer to it.（30 points）
SectionⅠ（15 points）
1.Briefly review the contributions that Washington Irving made to the history of American literature.
2.Write a short comment on the Jazz Age.
3.Write a summary of ANY story of the following：“Looking for Mr.Green，”“A Clean，Well-Lighted Place，”“Barn Burning.”
SectionⅡ（15 points）
1.Tess of the D’Urbervilles is subtitled“a pure woman faithfully represented.”Why is Tess，a fallen woman who commits felony，considered by the author a pure woman？
2.Robert Browning is noted as a writer of dramatic monologues，in which a single“actor”speaks to an implied auditor.Explain the special effects of the literary form in relation to poetic themes.
3.Write a summary of EITHER of the following stories：“Araby”and“Rose-Colored Teacups.”
Ⅳ.Read the following poem and fulfill the tasks.（20 points）
Touch it；it won’t shrink like an eyeball，
This egg-shaped bailiwick，clear as a tear.
Here’s yesterday，last year—
Palm-spear and lily distinct as flora in the vast
Windless threadwork of a tapestry.
Flick the glass with your fingernail：
It will ping like a Chinese chime in the slightest air stir
Though nobody in there looks up or bothers to answer.
The inhabitants are light as cork，
Every one of them permanently busy.
At their feet，the sea waves bow in single file.
Never trespassing in bad temper；
Stalling in midair，
Short-reined，pawing like parade ground horses.
Overhead，the clouds sit tasseled and fancy
As Victorian cushions.This family
Of valentine faces might please a collector；
They ring true，like good china.
Elsewhere the landscape is more frank.
The light fails without letup，blindingly.
A woman is dragging her shadow in a circle
About a bald hospital saucer.
It resembles the moon，or a sheet of blank paper
And appears to have suffered a sort of private blitzkrieg.
She lives quietly.
With no attachments，like a foetus in a bottle，
The obsolete house，the sea；flattened to a picture
She has one too many dimensions to enter.
Grief and anger，exorcised，
Leave her alone now.
The future is a grey seagull
Tattling in its cat-voice of departure.
Age and terror，like nurses，attend her，
And a drowned man，complaining of the great cold，
Crawls up out of the sea.
1.Identify its author；（2 points）
2.Try to give it a suitable title；（3 points）
3.Write a short essay to discuss its thematic concerns.（15 points）
Ⅴ.Write a critical essay in response to the following questions about Shakespeare’s Hamlet.（30 points）
1.Is Hamlet a“a sweet prince”or an“arrant knave”？（4 points）
2.Why does Hamlet delay in killing Claudius？（4 points）
3.Is Hamlet mad？（2 points）
4.To what extent is it right to call Hamlet a revenge play？（10 points）
5.How important are politics and comedy in Hamlet？（10 points）
参考答案与解析
Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.（20 points）
1.Mathew Arnold
2.naturalism
3.persona
4.Walt Whitman
5.the theatre of the absurd
6.epiphany
7.flat，round
8.lost generation
9.the self-reflective fiction
Ⅱ.Read the following excerpts and identify their authors and titles from which they are excerpted.Given full name of the author and full title of the work.（50 points）
1.Thomas Stearns Eliot，The Waste Land
2.Charles Dickens，Great Expectations
3.John Keats，Ode on a Grecian Urn
4.Saul Bellow，Looking for Mr.Green
5.Ralph Ellison，Invisible Man
6.Ralph Waldo Emerson，Self Reliance
7.Sherwood Anderson，The Triumph of the Egg
8.Tennessee Williams，A Streetcar Named Desire
9.Wallace Stevens，Anecdote of the Jar
10.Nathaniel Hawthorne，The Scarlet Letter
11.Theodore Roethke，The Waking
12.Stephan Crane，Open Boat
13.Henry David Thoreau，Walden
14.Edgar Allen Poe，The Cask of Amontillado
15.Elwyn Brooks White，Once More to the Lake
16.William Shakespeare，Romeo and Juliet
17.Joseph Conrad，Heart of Darkness
18.Herman Melville，Moby Dick
19.Mathew Arnold，Dover Beach
20.James Joyce，Araby
21.Willa Cather，Miss Jewett
22.Doris Lessing，A Woman on a Roof
23.John Fowls，The French Lieutenant’s Woman
24.Seamus Heaney，Bogland
25.Oscar Wilde，The Importance of Being Earnest
Ⅲ.For the following two sections，you are required to choose ONE from each and give your answer to it.（30 points）
SectionⅠ
1.Briefly review the contributions that Washington Irving made to the history of American literature.
Washington Irving was the central figure in the American literary world between 1809 and the Civil War.He was a good example of an American romantic.He proved that authorship was a possible profession in the new country as he was the first American man of letters to support himself as a professional writer.In his Sketch Book appeared the first modern American short stories and first great American juvenile literature.Irving was the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame.So Washington Irving is often considered as“The Father of American Literature”or“The Father of American letters.”
2.Write a short comment on the Jazz Age.
The Jazz Age is the period from 1918 to 1929，the years after the end of World War I，continuing through the Roaring Twenties and ending with the rise of the Great Depression in America.Among the prominent concerns and trends of the period are the public embrace of technological developments as well as new modernist trends in social behavior，art and culture.The Jazz Age is well described in F.S.Fitzgerald’s representative novel The Great Gatsby.Fitzgerald portrays the Jazz Age as a generation of“the beautiful and damned”drowning in their pleasure.
3.Write a summary of ANY story of the following：“Looking for Mr.Green，”“A Clean，Well-Lighted Place，”“Barn Burning.”
Looking for Mr.Green
“Looking for Mr.Green”recounts the efforts of George Grebe to deliver relief checks to handicapped residents of the South Side of Chicago.Although Grebe’s desire to do well at this job is hampered by difficulty，the realistic depiction of Grebe’s dedicated attempt to search for an unemployed，crippled black in the slums symbolizes the quest to create the value of survival.
A Clean，Well-Lighted Place
The story of“A Clean，Well-Lighted Place”is set in a clean，well-lighted café.It details an evening’s interaction between two waiters and their perspectives of life.Their views are shown as they talk about an old man in the café，who enjoys drinking late at night in this café，because this clean and light place is the escaping from the rest of the world for the old man.
Barn Burning
“Barn Burning”tells the story of a needy Southern-American family after the American Civil War.The young boy Sarty has a dilemma：He can be loyal to his father Abner，his blood relative，or he can do what he innately senses are right.He knows that his father is wrong when he burns barns，but his father constantly reminds him of the importance of family blood.At the end of the story，he cut himself off from his family and must face the world by himself，possessing nothing but his own integrity and a strong sense of justice.
SectionⅡ
1.Tess of the D’Urbervilles is subtitled“a pure woman faithfully represented”.Why is Tess，a fallen woman who commits felony，considered by the author a pure woman？
Tess is an immoral woman，because she is seduced，impregnated，and even commits felony.She represents fallen humanity in a religious sense.But Tess is mined by circumstances.At the beginning of the story，she is sweet-natured，innocent，simple and diligent，although Hardy depicts the process in which she turns from a simple girl to a woman who commits supposedly criminal or immoral actions，we can see the“degeneration”of Tess is the consequence of her poor economic condition and the suppression from which she suffers morally，physically and spiritually.She is the victim herself，and her innate purity remains intact to the very last of the story.
2.Robert Browning is noted as a writer of dramatic monologues，in which a single“actor”speaks to an implied auditor.Explain the special effects of the literary form in relation to poetic themes.
Browning’s principal achievement lies in his introducing of dramatic monologue.A dramatic monologue is a piece of spoken verse that offers great insight into the feelings of the speaker.Let’s take his My Last Duchess to analyze the effects of this form.In this poem，a duke speaks about his dead wife.We may sense that the duke kills his wife or causes her death，but no evidence is shown.The use of dramatic monologue works to separate the speaker from the poet，which forces the reader to work hard to understand the words of the speaker and thus，hopefully，get a grasp on what the poet is saying.We learn about the duke by what he says and how he says it.Through him，we also learn about his wife，the last duchess.We sense how their relationship stand，what his expectations are，how she responds，etc.In short，we learn a great deal about his characters by hearing how he thinks and feels about her.The duke is possessive，filled with family pride and a feeling of ownership over even the memory of his deceased wife.Ultimately，the monologue helps us to understand the main themes of the poem：power，patriarchy，marriage and egoism.
3.Write a summary of EITHER of the following stories；“Araby”and“Rose-Colored Teacups”.Araby
The story of Araby is set in a dark，gloomy background in Dublin.It is a story about a boy’s first love.In the process of his seeking for ideal love，the boy finally awaked the cruelty of the reality and great discrepancy between the real world and the ideal world in his mind.At last，the boy waked up from his dream and got the epiphany from the reality and was on his way toward maturity.
Rose-Colored Teacups
Rose-Colored Teacups is a story of three generations of women and the gaps among them.Veronica，the mother，is angry with her daughter Jane，because Jane broke the sewing-machine which was Veronica’s wedding present from her mother.But Veronica abruptly remembered her own mother’s voice when she broke the pink teacup of her mother，then she can understand her mother’s anger and her daughter as well.
Ⅳ.Read the following poem and fulfill the tasks.（20 points）
1.Identify its author；（2 points）
The author of this poem is Sylvia Path.
2.Try to give it a suitable title；（3 points）
The original title of this poem is A Life.I would like to title this poem as Pain or Picture，because the author describes a picture she sees and this poem also tells the readers her painful and depressed feeling.
3.Write a short essay to discuss its thematic concerns.（15 points）
In this poem，the speaker is staring at a picture of the seaside.The comparison between the beauty and constancy in the picture and the pain and ugliness of the reality implies the speaker’s fear of the future and change.At the beginning of the poem，she envies the life portrayed in the painting because it is so easily controlled“at their feet the sea waves bow in single file.”The time is also still in the painting as“here’s yesterday，last year”and the waves are“stalling in midair”.Even the family in the painting all has good-looking faces.This detached way of living appeals to the speaker.Compared with the painting，the speaker’s real life or“elsewhere the landscape is more frank”is filled with grief，anger and loneliness.The poem reflects the speaker’s fear for growing old.
Ⅴ.Write a critical essay in response to the following questions about Shakespeare’s Hamlet.（30 points）
In the play，Hamlet more often presents himself as an“arrant knave”than as a“sweet prince.”Because he does certain things throughout the play which we may consider as unreasonable.For instance，his treatment of Ophelia and his two old schoolmates，Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.But I’d rather see him as a“sweet prince.”It is true that Hamlet does not act like a complete gentleman throughout the play.However，his actions can be explained by the circumstances in which he commits them.Hamlet is on the battlefront of his own war，a war to avenge his father，and he also has a duty to Denmark to ensure his country the best leader possible.The way Hamlet treats certain people throughout the play can be explained by his actions.Hamlet reacts appropriately.Overall，it is apparent that Hamlet is acting in a way that makes sense for a good man in such a situation.
Hamlet delayed in killing Claudius，as he passed by the king’s chamber and saw Claudius praying.If he killed Claudius when he was praying for his guilt，then he would help Claudius to enter the heaven.Readers’views differ about the reason to the delay.Some consider the delay as Hamlet’s flaw in personality.But I think he delays because of his social and political ideal.Because Hamlet engages himself in a personal revenge and at the same time attempts to set right the“time”that is“out of joint.”He is an idealist and what he wants is not a secret revenge but an open punishment to the killer.
Hamlet certainly displays a high degree of mania and instability throughout much of the play，but“madness”is perhaps too purposeful and pointed for us to conclude that he actually loses his mind.His language is erratic and wild，hut beneath his mad-sounding words often lie acute observations that show the sane mind working bitterly beneath the surface.Most likely，Hamlet’s decision to feign madness is a sane one，taken to confuse his enemies and hide his intentions.He may not be mad，but he is close to the edge of sanity during many of the most intense moments in the play.
Hamlet fits into the revenge category，as in this play there is a secret murder，a ghostly visitation of the murder victim，a period of disguise，intrigue and so on.But what separates Hamlet from other revenge plays is the way in which it complicates themes and deepens the psychology of its models，the straightforward duty of revenge for Prince Hamlet is both factually and morally ambiguous.So Hamlet is a revenge tragedy，and it is much more than a revenge play.
Politics and comedy play an inseparable role in complicating the play.Hamlet’s objective is personal revenge，and he also thinks of eliminating the social evil of the day and social reforms.This play has been read as enacting a thematic conflict between the Roman values of martial valor and blood-right on the one hand，and Christian values of humility and acceptance on the other hand.The comedy of Hamlet contributes to the play’s uniqueness；Hamlet’s sharp wit and his puns add to his complexity and convey his intellectual brilliance.The comic character in the play，such as Polonius，Osric，direct the audience’s attention to the deeper issues and darker aspects of the play.