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美国文学选读
第三版
课后习题答案
陶洁
(
部分
)
Unit 1 Benjamin Franklin
Questions
did Franklin
write his Autobiography?
Franklin says
that because his son may wish to know about
his
life,
he
is
taking
his
one
week
vacation
in
the
English
countryside to record his past. He also
says that he has
enjoyed his life and
would like to repeat it
made Franklin decide to leave the brother to whom
he had been apprenticed?
His
brother was passionate, and had often beaten him.
The
aversion to arbitrary power that
has stuck to him through
his whole life
.After a brush with the law, Franklin left
his brother.
did he arrive in Philadephia?
First he
set out in a boat for Amboy, the boat dropped him
off
about
50
miles
from
Burlington,
the
next
day
he
reached
Burlington
on
foot,
in
Burlington
he
found
a
boat
which
was
going
towards Philadelphia, he arrived there about eight
or nine o’clock, on the Sunday morning
and landed at the
Market Street wharf.
features
do you find in
the
style
of
the
above
selection?
It is the pattern of Puritan
simplicity, directness, and
concision(
言简意赅
).
The narrative is lucid(
易懂的
),
the
structure is simple, the imagery is
homely(
朴素的
).
Unit
2 Edgar Allen Poe
is
the
narrator?
What
wrong
does
he
want
to
redress?
Montresor.
Fortunato, one of wine experts insulted
him, so he wanted
to murder him.
is
the
pretext
he
uses
to
lure
Fortunato
to
his
wine
cellar?
He
baits Fortunato by telling him he has obtained
what he
believes to be a cask of
Amontillado a rare and valuable
sherry
wine.
Fortunato
is
anxious
to
determine
whether
or
not
it
is
truly
Amontillado, so he goes to the vault
with Montresor.
happens to
Fortunato in the end?
He was walled up
alive behind bricks in a wine cellar.
be briefly how Poe characterizes
Montresor and
Fortunato as contrasts?
Poe
uses
color
imagery
to
characterize
them.
Montresor
face
is
covered in a black silk mask, In contrast,
Fortunato
dresses the motley-colored
costume of the court fool, who
gets
literally
and
tragically
fooled
by
Montresor's
masked
motives.
The color schemes here represent the
irony of Fortunato's
death sentence.
Through the acts, words, and thoughts
of??Fortunato,we
know He is greedy, he
was lured into the dark and somber
vaults just because a cask of
Amontillado.
This
is
also
due
to
his
bad
habit
of
bibulosity(
酗酒)
.
He
lost himself on hearing
the wine.
At
the
same
time,
he
was
cheated
by
his
enemy,
which
reflected his ignorance.
When he heard the pretended compliment
from Montresor, he
became very boastful
and arrogant.
He was easily confused by
the superficial phenomena and
failed
to
watch
out
for
others.
He
couldn’t
tolerate
that
others were stronger
than him.
For
example,
Montresor
always
stimulated
him
with
Luchresi
who
was good at connoisseur
(鉴赏)
in wine.
Under the i
mpulse
of vanity, he fell into Montresor’s
terrible trap.
In
fact,
he
was
careless
and
foolish
and
didn’t
find
that
the danger was approaching him.
He looked down upon Montresor and
others.
He didn’t realize his
foolishness until the death was
coming.
Talking
from
the
appearance,
Monstresor
was
a
well-
educated and “kind”
businessman.
He
enjoyed
the
honor
and respect in the city. But in fact,
he was an evil and awful person.
His
inner
feelings
were
so
cruel
that
they
even
made
people
tremble.
Under
his
rich
appearance
was
the
dirty
soul
and
despicable
character.
We
couldn’t
see
any
glorious
virtues
in
his
mind.
Instead,
his heart was cold
and dark.
It
was
the
revenge
that
threw
Montresor
into
the
deep
evil
valley.
unit 4 Nathaniel Hawthorne
is the prison the setting of Chapter 1 ?
No matter how optimistic the founders
of new colonies may
be, they
are
quick to
establish
a
prison
and
a
cemetery
in
their
“Utopia,”
for
they
know
that
misbehavior,
evil,
and
death are unavoidable.
This belief fits into the larger
Puritan doctrine, which
puts
heavy
emphasis
on
the
idea
of
original
sin
—
the
notion
that all people are
born sinners because of the initial
transgressions of Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. he
is therefore using
the prison building to represent the
crime
and
the
punishment
which
are
aspect
of
civilized
life
What is the implication of the
description of the roses?
The
rosebush
symbolizes
the
ability
of
nature
to
endure
and
outlast man's
activities.
The
narrator
suggests
that
roses
offer
a
reminder
of
Nature's
kindness
to
the
condemned;
for
his
tale,
he
says,
it will
provide either a “sweet moral blossom” or else
some relief in the face of unrelenting
sorrow and gloom.
be
the
appearance
of
Hester
Prynne
and
the
attitude
of
the people towards her.
The second
paragraph on page 30.
The
crowd
in
front
of
the
jail
is
a
mixture
of
men
and
women,
all maintaining
severe looks of disapproval.
Several
of the women begin to discuss Hester Prynne, and
they soon vow that Hester would not
have received such a
light sentence for
her crime if they had been the judges.
One woman, the ugliest of the group,
goes so far as to
advocate death for
Hester.
has happened to
Hester?
As
a
young
woman,
Hester
married
an
elderly
scholar,
Chillingworth, who sent her ahead to
America to live.
While waiting for
him, she had an affair with a Puritan
minister named Dimmesdale, after which
she gave birth to
Pearl.
The scarlet letter is her punishment
for her sin and her
secrecy.
Why
does
she
make
the
embroidery
of
the
letter
A
so
elaborate?
It
seems
to
declare
that
she
is
proud,
rather
than
ashamed,
of
her sin.
In
reality,
however,
Hester
simply
accepts
the
“sin”
and
its symbol as part of herself, just as
she accepts her
child.
And
although
she
can
hardly
believe
her
present
“realities,”
she
takes
them
as
they
are
rather
than
resisting them or
trying to atone for them.
How does this
tell us about her character?
Throughout
The Scarlet Letter Hester is portrayed as an
intelligent,
capable.
It
is
the
extraordinary
circumstances
shaping her that make her such an important
figure.
Unit5 Herman
Melville
are the stories
Ismael tells about Moby Dick?
Ishmael
compares
the
legend
of
Moby
Dick
to
his
experience
of the whale.
He notes that sperm whale attacks have
increased recently
and that
superstitious sailors have come to regard these
attacks
as
having
an
intelligent,
even
supernatural
origin.
In
particular,
wild
rumors
about
Moby
Dick
circulate
among
whalemen,
suggesting
that
he
can
be
in
more
than
one
place
at the
same time and that he is immortal. Ishmael remarks
that
even
the
wildest
of
rumors
usually
contains
some
truth.
Whales,
for
instance,
have
been
known
to
travel
with
remarkable speed from the Atlantic to
the Pacific; thus,
it
is
possible
for
a
whale
to
be
caught
in
the
Pacific
with
the
harpoons of a Greenland ship in it.
Moby
Dick,
who
has
defied
capture
numerous
times,
exhibits
an
“intelligent
malignity”(狠毒)
in
his
attacks
on
men
does
Ahab
react
so
violently
against
the
white
whale?
First,
he
lost
one of
his
legs because
of the white
whale.
Second,He
considers
Moby
Dick
the
embodiment
of
evil
in
the
world,
and
he
pursues
the
White
Whale
,
because
he
believes
it
his inescapable fate to destroy this evil.
Ishmael suggests that Ahab is
“crazy”and
call him “a
raving lunatic.” Do you agree with him?
Why or why not?
Ishmael
describes
Ahab
as
mad
in
his
narration,
and
it
does
indeed
seem
mad
to
try
to
fight
the
forces
of
nature
or
God.
3. What narrative features can you find
in the selected
chapter?
In
the selected
charpter,
Melville employed
the technique
of multiple view of his narrative to
portray Moby Dick to
achieve the effect
of ambiguity and let readers judge the
meaning.
Unit 6 Henry David
Thoreau
indeed did Thoreau
live, both at a physical level
and at a
spiritual level?
He
lived
in a
cabin
on
Walden Pond, which belonged to
Emerson’s property.
Thoreau ever
bought a farm? Why
did
he enjoy the
act
of buying?
No, he hadn’t.
He avoided purchasing a
farm because it would inevitably
tie
him down financially and complicate his life.
Thoreau didn’t see the acquisition of
wealth as the goal
for human existence,
he saw the goal of life to be an
exploration
of
the
mind
and
of
the
magnificent
world
around
us.
He
regarded
the
places
as
an
existence
free
of
obligations
and full of
leisure.
it significant
that Thoreau mentioned the Fourth of
July
as
the
day
on
which
he
began
to
stay
in
the
woods?
Why?
Yes,
it is.
Because
The
Fourth
of
July
is
known
as
Independence
Day,the
birthday ot the United States.
Here
Thoreau
uses
the
day
to
express
his
beginning
of??regeneration
at Walden.
It also means a symbol of
his conquest of being.
could you answer the question Thoreau asked at the
end of this selection?
Unit 7 19th Century American Poets
1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1) I Shot an Arrow…
1. Why did the speaker
lose sight of his arrow and song?
The
arrow flies too swiftly and too far away to be
seen by
the speaker; whereas the song
is naturally invisible.
2. In what
circumstances did he find them again?
He finds them unexpectedly years later from the
trunk of
a tree and the heart of a
friend.
3. What do arrow and song
stand for in this poem?
The
images
of
arrow
and
song
here
may
stand
for
friendship.
(2) A Psalm of
Life
1. What kind of person is the
speaker of this poem?
The
speaker
is
a
man
of
action,
always
optimistic
and
cheerful,
trying
to
achieve
as
much
as
possible
in
the
short
span of life.
2. According to the poem, how should
our lives be led to
overcome
the
fact
that
each
day
brings
us
nearer
to
death?
We should work
harder and live happier.
3. Interpret
the metaphor of
time
The
metaphor refers to human deeds in real life.
2. Walt Whitman
(1)One's
Self I Sing
1. What is the
significance of singing about one's self?
It is an exaltation of the individual
spirit, which is
typical of American
people.
2.
What
is
the
difference
between
physiology
and
physiognomy?
Physiology is a science that deals with
the functions and
life process of human
beings, whereas physiognomy refers
to
an
art
of
judging
character
from
contours
of
face
itself
or
the appearance of a person.
3.
What does
Whitman mean
by the term of
He means that
a
man should
be free from any
prejudice
and
pride,
totally
different
from
the
traditional
one,
that
is
full of bias.
(3) O
Captain! My Captain!
1. Why is the
word
poem?
In
this poem the word “Captain” specially refers to
Abraham Lincoln, president of the
United States.
2.
What
overall
metaphor
does
the
poet
employ
in
this
poem?
Life is a journey.
3.
Why
do
people
on
the
shores
exult
and
bells
ring,
while
the speaker remains so sad?
They
welcome
the
ship
returning
from
its
hard
trip,
whereas the speaker is
sad because the captain fails to
receive his own honor.
Dickinson
(1) To Make a
Prairie …
1. What things
are needed to
sense can one really do
it?
Some
grass
and
insects
and
small
animals.
People
can
make
a prairie with their imagination.
2. How can
The prairie
stays in one's mind.
(2) Success Is
Counted Sweetest
1. Why is success
succeed
Those
who
have
tasted
the
bitterness
of
failure
would
have
a keener desire for
success.
2. Who are
The
so-called successful people in the world.
3. Who is
Anyone who is
pursuing his success.
(3) I'm Nobody!
1. Who are the
of
us
refers
to
the
speaker
in
the
poem
and
the
reader,
and
refers
to
the
public,
especially
those
in
power.
2.
What does
It
Implies
the
vain
and
empty
common
people,
who
are
always
admiring and pursuing
the celebrities.
3. What is the theme
of this poem?
The real admirable life
is a secluded and common one.
4. Do
you want to be
reasons.
Different persons would have different answers to
this
question. Personally, I prefer to
be nobody.
Unit 8 Mark Twain
1: Why do you think r is so eager to
tell these
stories?
From
r’s
behaviors
and
contents
of
his
narration
we
can
know
he
is
so
eager
to
tell
these
,
when
“
backed
me
into
a
corner
and
blockaded
me
with
his
chair,
and
then
sat
down
and
reeled
off
the
narrative”.
And
during
the
process
of
telling
his
stories,
he
never
paid
any