1.2 考研真题与典型题详解
I. Fill in the blanks.
1．The most enduring shaping influence in American thought and American literature was ________.
【答案】American Puritanism
【解析】美国文化源于清教文化，由清教徒移民时传入北美。美国主流价值观都可以追溯到殖民地时期一统天下的清教主义，并且清教思想对美国文学有着根深蒂固的影响。
2．The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at ______, Virginia.
【答案】Jamestown
【解析】1607年在北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯敦定居的殖民者是第一批美国永久居民。
3．Among the members of the small band of Jamestown settlers was ________, an English soldier of fortune, whose reports of exploration, published in the early 1600s, have been described as the first distinct American literature written in English.
【答案】Captain John Smith
【解析】约翰·史密斯上校（1580.1-1631.6.21）因在北美弗吉尼亚州建立了英国第一个永久殖民地詹姆斯敦而扬名天下。他的《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》则是美国文学的“第一书”，其实也是整个美国历史的“第一书”。
4．Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety, these were the ______ values that dominated much of the early American writing.
【答案】Puritan
【解析】勤劳、节俭、虔诚、持重是引领早期美国文学的清教价值观。
5．The term “Puritan” was applied to those settlers who originally were devout members of the Church of ______.
【答案】England
【解析】清教徒（Puritan），是指要求清除英国国教（Church of England）中天主教残余的改革派。该词于16世纪60年代开始使用，源于拉丁文的Purus，意为“清洁”。
6．The General History of Virginia contains Smith’s most famous tale of how the Indian princess named ________ saved him from the wrath of her father.
【答案】Pocahontas
【解析】约翰·史密斯在《弗吉尼亚通史》中讲述了他与印第安公主波卡虹塔斯（Pocahontas)之间的故事。公元1608年史密斯与当地印第安部落的一位叫波瓦坦的酋长谈判，这位酋长年轻的女儿波卡虹塔斯挽救了史密斯船长的性命。
7．________ was a famous explorer and colonist. He established Jamestown.
【答案】Captain John Smith
【解析】约翰·史密斯上校，新英格兰的舰队司令，是英国军人，探险家和作家。他因在北美弗吉尼亚州建立了英国第一个永久殖民地詹姆斯敦而扬名天下。
8．The Puritan philosophy known as ________ was important in New England during colonial time, and had a profound influence on the early American mind for several generations.
【答案】Puritanism
【解析】清教主义，起源于英国,在北美殖民地得以实践与发展。清教徒构成了当时北美移民的主体，在新英格兰北部更是清一色的清教徒。清教主义奠定了美国社会的基础，塑造了美国人的性格，从各个方面影响着美国社会。
II. Multiple choices
1．Early in ________, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts started the main stream of the American national history.（北二外2007研）
A. 14th century
B. 15th century
C. 17th century
D. 16th century
【答案】C
【解析】17世纪初，英国人在弗吉尼亚和马萨诸塞定居，这也是美国历史的开端。
2．The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them ________.（北二外2008研）
A. Quakers
B. Anglicans
C. Catholics
D. Puritans
【答案】D
【解析】早期来到北美的殖民者有不少是清教徒，因而殖民时期的文学深受清教思想影响。
3．The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at ________.（北二外2009研）
A. Jamestown
B. New York
C. Boston
D. Concord
【答案】A
【解析】詹姆斯敦是英国人在北美的第一个永久定居地。
4．American Colonial literature is longer than any other literary period, which started when the first settlers kept diaries and sermons and developed till _________.（北二外2010研）
A. the mid of 18th C
B. early 17th C
C. the end of 17th C
D. the end of 18th C
【答案】D
【解析】美国殖民时期文学历经两个世纪，从17世纪初到18世纪末。
5．The ship “_____” carried about one hundred Pilgrims and took 66 days to beat its way across the Atlantic. In December of 1620, it put the Pilgrims ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
A. Sunflower
B. Armada
C. Mayflower
D. Titanic
【答案】C
【解析】1620年100多名清教徒前辈乘坐“五月花”号船到达美国马萨诸塞州的普利茅斯。
III. Explain the following term.
American Puritanism（南开大学2008研；厦门大学 2011 研）
Key：
The word Puritanism is originally used to refer to the theology advocated by a party within the Church of England. The term Puritanism is also used in a broader sense to refer to the attitudes and values considered characteristic of the Puritans. It has been employed to denote a rigid moralism, or the condemnation of innocent pleasure, or religious narrowness adhered by the early New England Puritans. The American Puritanism as a cultural heritage exerted great influence over American moral values. And this Puritan influence over American Romanticism was conspicuously noticeable. In addition, a preoccupation with the Calvinistic view of original sin and the mystery of evil marked the works by such famous writers as Hawthorne and Melville.
IV. Essay question
What is the significance of American Puritanism in American literature?
Key：
The settlement of the North American continent by the English began in the early part of the 17th century. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of the Puritans. They carried with them to America a code of values which became what is now popularly known as American Puritanism. It was one of the most enduring shaping influences in American literature. To some extent, it has become a state of mind, a part of national cultural atmosphere that the Americans breathe.
The American Puritans were idealists, believing that the Church should be restored to the “Purity” and religion was a matter of primary importance. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement. It has been a critical commonplace that the American literature—or Anglo-American literature—is based on a myth, that is, the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. Fired with such a sense of mission, the Puritans looked at even the worst of life in the face with a tremendous amount of optimism. All this went, in due time, into the making of American literature. The spirits of optimism burst out of the pages of so many American authors, such as, Emerson, Whitman, etc.
Furthermore, the American Puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. Puritan doctrine and literary practice contributed greatly to the development of an indigenous symbolism. The ever symbolizing process became, in time, part of the intellectual tradition. To Hawthorne, Melville, Howells and many others, symbolism as a technique has become a common practice. This peculiar mode of perception was an essential part of their upbringing.
With regard to technique, simplicity characterizes the Puritan style of writing. The style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. All this has left an indelible imprint on American writing. Thus American Puritanism has been, by and large, a healthy legacy to the Americans.