自学考试 英美文学 历年简答题,论述题及辅导书课后题.doc

2000年
41. Read the quotation carefully and then answer the questions:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Questions:
A. Scan the first line of the stanza.
Iambic pentameter with the rhyming scheme of abab
B. Find the irregular foot in the second line.
The third foot contains two accented syllables
C. Briefly explain the significance of this irregularity.
Two accented syllables slow down the pace in keeping with the literary meaning of the phrase “wind slowly.”
following is a passage taken from a dramatic work:
Had I as many souls as there be stars
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis!
By him I'll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge thorough the moving air
To pass the ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown;
The emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtained what I desire
I'll live in speculation of this art
Till Mephistophilis return again.
Questions:
A. Name the playwright and the title of the work from which the passage is taken.
Dr. Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe
B. Name the speaker of the passage quoted above.
Dr. Faustus
C. Use the above passage as a guide and write down in one or two sentences the theme of the play.
Man’s aspiration, bounding achievements, and the inevitable failure
the following passage and then answer the questions:
…I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing plete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal ge