南京大学2012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.（10%）

1._____’s poetry stands up for the civil liberties of the Self in the New World.

2.Toward the end of the nineteenth century：the_____writers committed themselves to the premise of“absolute determinism，”and wrote novels in which conditions dictated events.

3._____is best known for his international novels in which protagonists arrive in Europe with dreams of cultural possession and end with disillusionment.

4.The epic_____is the oldest surviving works in Old English.

5.From the 1790s to the 1830s in Britain，there was a sweeping literary shift known as_____whose chief emphasis was upon freedom of individual self-expression.

6.In the Poetics，Aristotle set down a detailed analysis of_____whose heroes are high-born individuals whose personalities develop out of moral choices under extreme pressures.

7.“Life’s but a walking shadow，a poor player/that struts and frets his hour upon the stage，/and then is heard no more；it is a tale/told by an idiot，full of sound and fury，/signifying nothing.”The quote above is excerpted from William Shakespeare’s play_____.And_____took the phrase“sound and fury”to be the title of one of his novels.

8._____is the position from which the events seem to be observed and presented to the reader.

9.The phrase_____was coined by William James in 1890 as a description of the flow of thought within the human mind.It is a phrase much used in the criticism in the new fiction of the 1920s and the 1930s.

Ⅱ.Read the following excerpts and identify their authors and the titles from which they are excerpted.Give full name of the author and full title of the work.（30%）

1.Author_____Title_____

I stand on top

Of our back steps and breath the rich air—

A mother skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail.

2.Author_____Title_____

I am going to take just one little tiny nip more，sort of to put the stopper on，so to speak...Then put the bottle away so I won’t be attempted.I want you to look at my figure！You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years，Stella？

3.Author_____Title_____

I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury，in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose.

4.Author_____Title_____

If I were a dead leaf though mightest bear；

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee；

A wave to pant beneath thy power，and share

5.Author_____Title_____

The darkness drops again；but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle，

And what rough beast，its hour come round at last.

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born？

6.Author_____Title_____

Some books are to be tasted，others to be swallowed，and some few to be chewed and digested；that is，some books are to be read only in parts；others to be read，but not curiously；and some few to be read wholly，and with diligence and attention.

7.Author_____Title_____

Though use make you apt to kill me，

Let not to that，self-murder added be，

And sacrilege，three sins in killing three.

8.Author_____Title_____

She could see the tablecloth，white linen with a drawn thread-work border，and thick embroidered flowers spilling in swags deepening and paler shades of the same color.She mostly saw the flowers as roses，though many of them，looked at more closely，were hybrid or imaginary creations.She was overdoing the pink.

9.Author_____Title_____

Moving the lamp as the man moved，I made out that he was substantially dressed，but roughly；like a voyager by sea.That he had long iron-grey hair.That his age was about sixty.That he was a muscular man，strong on his legs，and that he was browned and hardened by exposure to weather.

10.Author_____Title_____

Mr.Lucas was almost breathless with excitement.When he stood within the tree，he had believed that his happiness would be independent of locality.But these few minutes’conversation had undeceived him.

11.Author_____Title_____

A succession of loud and shrill screams，bursting suddenly from the throat the chained form，seemed to thrust me violently back.For a brief moment I hesitated，I trembled.

12.Author_____Title_____

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

13.Author_____Title_____

I couldn’t work toady.I couldn’t take no interest.T’hell with the farm！I’m leaving it！I’ve turned the cows an’other stock loose！I’ve druv’em into the woods whar they kin be free！

14.Author_____Title_____

Leaving behind nights of tenor and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrous clear

I rise

15.Author_____Title_____

Out of that again the question sprang at him，making his eyes，as he felt，half-start from his head，as they had done，at the top of the house，before the sign of the other door.If he had left that one open，hadn’t he left this one closed，and wasn’t he now in most immediate presence of some inconceivable occult activity？

Ⅲ.Answer the following questions.（60%）

1.Pay special notice to the setting in the story“A Woman on a Roof.”How does weather help account for the behavior of the characters？Comment on the effectiveness of the descriptions of the heat wave；of the final rain.Do you find the story a comment on any familiar attitudes of men towards women？Explain your answer.（20%）

2.What is the point of view in Hemingway’s story“A Clean，Well-Lighted Place”？Discuss its appropriateness.（20%）

3.Choose ANY TWO from the following list of authors and write a comparative essay focusing on ONE of the following elements：literary style，writing techniques，and thematic concerns.（20%）

List of Authors：William Wordsworth，Oscar Wilde，E.M.Forster，James Joyce，Nathaniel Hawthorne，Emily Dickinson，Mark Twain，Arthur Miller.

Ⅳ.Read the following poem and answer the questions.（20%）

Late Air

By Elizabeth Bishop

From a magician’s midnight sleeve

the radio-singers

distribute all their love-songs

over the dew-wet lawns.

And like a fortune-teller’s

Their marrow-piercing guesses are whatever you believe.

But on the navy-yard aerial I find

better witnesses

for love on summer nights.

Five remote red lights

keep their nests there；Phoenixes

burning quietly，where the dew cannot climb.

1.In the first stanza，what suggestions do you find in the magician and the fortune-teller？What do the two have in common？（5%）

2.Does Line 4 contain a literal fact，a meaningful suggestion，or both？Comment also on the poet’s reference to dew in the last line.（5%）

3.Discuss this comment：“In‘Late Air’Elizabeth Bishop doesn’t like vague，soggy language can mean just any old thing the hearer wants it to—the language of pop songs and penny-in-the-slot fortune tickets.She likes language to be precise and mechanical，like an aerial.She doesn’t want language to be rich in suggestions.”（10%）

Ⅹ.Write a critical essay in response to the quote and questions below.（30%）

Raymond Williams observed in his The Long Revolution（1961）that“the ordinary Victorian novel ends…with a series of settlements，of new engagements and formal relationships，whereas the ordinary twentieth-century novel ends with a man going away on his own，having extricated himself from a dominating situation，and found himself in so doing.”

1.Does Williams’observation bear out your reading of English novels？Why or why not？（10%）

2.If you agree with Williams，what leads to the difference in denouement？If you disagree，how does the ordinary twentieth-century novel differ from the ordinary Victorian novel in the way they end themselves？Use concrete examples to support your argument.（20%）

参考答案及解析

Ⅰ.Fill in the blanks.（10%）

1.Roger Williams

2.naturalist

3.Henry James

4.Beowulf

5.Romanticism

6.tragedy

7.Macbeth　William Faulkner

8.Point of view

9.stream of consciousness

Ⅱ.Read the following excerpts and identify their authors and the titles from which they are excerpted.Give full name of the author and full title of the work.（30%）

1.Robert Lowell，Skunk Hour

2.Tennessee Williams，A Streetcar Named Desire

3.Oscar Wilde，The Importance of Being Earnest

4.Percy Bysshe Shelly，Ode to the West Wind

5.William Butler Yeats，The Second Coming

6.Francis Bacon，Of Studies

7.John Donne，The Flea

8.Antonia Susan Byatt，Rose Colored Teacups

9.Charles Dickens，Great Expectations

10.E.M.Foster，The Road From Colonus

11.Edgar Alan Poe，The Cask of Amontillado

12.Langston Hughes，Dreams

13.Eugene O’Neil，Under the Elms

14.Maya Angelou，Still I Rise

15.Henry James，The Jolly Corner

Ⅲ.Answer the following questions.（60%）

The major theme in Doris Lessing’s short story“A Woman on the Roof”is about a woman’s power struggle.Lessing uses symbolism such as the weather to help show the power struggles the woman goes through to gain freedom in an unequal，sexist，and male-dominating society.

Throughout the story，the weather，particularly heat waves play an important role in bringing about the story.The hot weather，as the backdrop of the story which makes all that happens possible，also carries a hint of men’s passion or lust for the woman.As the weather gets hotter and more irritating each day，so does the tension between the three men’s desperate attempts to get attention from the woman.In the denouncement，the weather gets cooler with the final rain，which brings the story to a natural end.With the rain，the sunbathing woman disappears too and her total disappearance leaves the three heroes in particular endless emptiness and sense of failure.

Doris Lessing’s“A Woman on the Roof”demonstrates that there is a definite inequality in power among men and women.Whether it is in a relationship，in so far as gender and emotional involvement are concerned；or in a social role，in that there are always safeguards preventing women from having an equal stance in the social structure of society.The idea of men being domineering and women being viewed as secondary is slowly but surely changing.The woman on the roof was a symbolic goddess.She stood for a woman’s right to equal treatment of power by ignoring the three workmen，wearing red，and holding her head up high as she took a journey through a non-traditional role.The feminist movement may not be as strong as the 1960s，but women already have a foot in the door to equality.No longer shall women be seen as submissive，timid，overmatched or inferior but as equal，because unequivocally as this story demonstrates，it is the woman who asserts her power and wins.

2.What is the point of view in Hemingway’s story“A Clean，Well-Lighted Place”？Discuss its appropriateness.（20%）

Hemingway begins by narrating this story in the“Third Person Omniscient Author”point of view but soon switches over to the dramatic method.Most of the story is presented as a play in two scenes which is being enacted right in front of our eyes.

The first scene begins with“‘Last week he tried to commit suicide，’one waiter said”and ends with“one waiter watched him go down the street，a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.”

The second scene is the conversation between the married waiter whose wife is waiting for him at home and the older but lonely waiter.This scene begins as soon as the old drunken customer leaves the restaurant.It begins thus，“‘Why didn’t you let him slay and drink？’the unhurried waiter asked.They were pulling up the shutters.‘It is not half-past two.’”and ends with“‘No，thank you，’said the waiter and went out.”

The middle of this second scene is the most interesting portion which Hemingway foregrounds by resorting to the technique of“Stream of Consciousness”to dramatise the consciousness and thoughts of the older and lonely waiter who is under tremendous amount of stress because of his realization of the futility and meaninglessness of old age.Hemingway has foregrounded the bitterness of the older waiter by parodying two of the most important daily prayers of Christians all over the world by the repeated repetition of“nada”meaning“nothing”to highlight the fact that in old age even religion does not provide the necessary comfort for the older waiter.

Hemingway concludes his story by once again resorting to the“Third Person Omniscient Author”method narration which begins with“he disliked bars and bodegas”till the end“many must have it.”

Thus Hemingway has used three“points of view”in his short story：

（1）The“Third Person Omniscient Author”point of view which is functionally more narrative and descriptive.

（2）The dramatic point of view in which the readers themselves are able to see the story being enacted right in front of their eyes.

（3）Perhaps the most important，“the Stream of Consciousness”method which takes us deep into the mind of the old and lonely waiter so that we get to know his innermost thoughts from his own point of view.The irony of situation is，of course，that only the readers and the old and lonely waiter know what is going on within the mind of the old and lonely waiter and not the married waiter who is impatient to go home soon.

3.Choose ANY TWO from the following list of authors and write a comparative essay focusing on ONE of the following elements：literary style，writing techniques，and thematic concerns.（20%）

List of Authors：William Wordsworth，Oscar Wilde，E.M.Forster，James Joyce，Nathaniel Hawthorne，Emily Dickinson，Mark Twain，and Arthur Miller.

Emily Dickson vs.Nathaniel Hawthorne in terms of theme.

Dickinson’s poetry is a dear illustration of her religious-ethical and political-social ideas，the same way as Hawthorne’s novels are.Calvinism with its doctrine of predestination and its pessimism pressured the two persons during their childhood and adolescence and colored their work so that their basic tone was tragic.Dickinson，with a strict father who did not join the Congregational Church until his middle age，and who had a heart pure and terrible，was literally strangled no less than Hawthorne whose puritan ancestors were notorious for their misdeeds in the Salem witchcraft trails.Both of them revealed perplexed feelings when in search of love and God’s help.Yet the loss of faith，the religious uncertainty was apparently assailing them so much that they could not bring themselves to reconcile a belief in“our”Father’s benevolence with an almightiness which permitted evil to exist.

By far，the largest portion of Dickinson’s poetry concerns death and immortality yet she remained skeptical and ambivalent about the possibility of achieving immortality.Hawthorne，on the other hand，with his trademark“black vision”，focused more on evil than anything else.This illustrates the influence that the Calvinist doctrine of“original sin”and“total depravity”had upon his mind.To him，sin will get punished.One way or another though it might take generations to happen.While Dickinson welcomed Transcendentalism mildly with regard to the function of body and soul with her conviction of the latter’s sovereignty over the former，Hawthorne stayed aloof from Transcendentalist optimism and he seemed to extol flesh over soul（as in The Scarlet Letter）.

Ⅳ.Read the following poem and answer the questions.（20%）

1.In the first stanza，what suggestions do you find in the magician and the fortune-teller？What do the two have in common？（5%）

In the first stanza，both the magician and the fortune-teller give the readers mysterious，supernatural and magical feelings since their power is sometimes beyond rationality.

2.Does Line 4 contain a literal fact，a meaningful suggestion，or both？Comment also on the poet’s reference to dew in the last line.（5%）

“Dew”in Line 4 carries a literary fact with no suggestions but the one in the last line carries another meaning which symbolizes shiny，sparkling yet touch-and-go beauty of the earthly things.

One basic feature of Bishop’s poetry lies in its material portrayal of life and immaterial suggestion about it.The readers are often plied with an abundance of naked details but invited to relish a subtler taste.This feature of her art stems in a way from her Catholic vision of life itself.This vision，large and all-inclusive，sees the world as one of joy and sorrow，physical and metaphoric，which the poet embraces and tries to represent so that life never becomes totally impossible.Bishop never theorizes about life.To her the physical，ephemeral setting，against which we live out our lives，is impersonal，amoral，non-judgmental，and there is nothing we humans could do about it but observe it faithfully and accept it.

Ⅴ.Write a critical essay in response to the quote and questions below.（30%）

1.Does Williams’observation bear out your reading of English novels？Why or why not？（10%）

Victorian novel or Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria（1837–1901）.It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century.

Victorian novels tend to be idealized portraits of difficult lives in which hard work，perseverance，love and luck win in the end；virtue would be rewarded and wrongdoers are suitably punished.They tend to be of an improving nature with a central moral lesson at heart.

Most Victorian novels end up with a definite denouement，that is，either the good winning over the wicked as some of Dickens’novels，or the wretched hero or heroine gaining his or her happiness over a long and difficult time of torture and torment，as in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.However，this does not mean that all the Victorian novels end in happy endings but a sure ending.

On the other hand，the stories of the 20th century seem to lose their preference for a definite ending.As literature undergoes a series of experimentations，more and more modern writers opt for an open ending with the hero or heroine，going away but finding nowhere to settle down.Modernist novelists，such as Woolf and Joyce whose stories even do not follow a chronological narration.That is to say，since they adopt the stream of consciousness as their major writing technique，the stories carry with them no beginning，no plot，no development and certainly no denouement in the traditional sense.

The Victorian period witnessed the soaring development of England.The growth of the middle class，the development of a very conservative morality，the predominance of the moral aesthetic，the wide currency of utilitarianism，the advent of the theory of evolution of faith in progress and a sense of earnestness，all these produced a yearning for something definite and controllable in the literary expression.So a sure denouement is，doomed to some degree by the demand of the society.However，when Queen Victoria died in 1901，an era was formally over.The new century began with its own particular set of problems.The crisis of faith，first clearly felt with Darwin’s theory of evolution，Nietzsche’s sentence of the death of God and rejection of Christian morality，and Russell’s advocating of the helpless mankind in the universe，were prevalent.Then the British Empire was declining；British imperialism was losing its hold upon the imagination of the people as well as the intellectually thinking segment of the society.Furthermore，the status of the arts and literature was beginning to undergo a process of redefining.The alienation of the artist now became a widely felt impulse among the artistically minded people.Important developments in psychology，anthropology and philosophy were exerting a far-reaching influence on literary creation.All these contributed to the forthcoming artistic and literary experimentation among which a sure ending was abandoned.Instead，an open one was more likely to justify to catch the mood of the whole era.