美国文学选读-第三版-课后习题答案-陶洁

美国文学选读第三版课后习题答案陶洁(部分)

Unit 1 Benjamin Franklin

Questions

1.Why 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

2.What 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.

3.How 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.

4.What 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

Questions

1.Who is the narrator? What wrong does he want to redress?

Montresor.

Fortunato,one of wine experts insulted him, so he wanted to murder him.

2.What 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.

3.What happens to Fortunato in the end?

He was walled up alive behind bricks in a wine cellar.

4.Describe 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 impulse 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 comin g.

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

Questions :1.Why 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.

2.Describe 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.

3.What 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

Questions

1.What 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

2.Why 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 sugge sts 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

Questions

1.Where 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.

2.Had 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.

3.Is 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.

4.How 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 "Footprints on the sand of time" (line 28).

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 "the Modern Man"?

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 "Captain" capitalized throughout the poem?

In this poem the word “Captain” s pecially 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.

3.Emily Dickinson

(1) To Make a Prairie …

1. What things are needed to "make" a prairie? In what sense can one really do it?

Some grass and insects and small animals. People can make a prairie with their imagination.

2. How can "revery alone" create a prairie?

The prairie stays in one's mind.

(2) Success Is Counted Sweetest

1. Why is success "counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed"?

Those who have tasted the bitterness of failure would have a keener desire for success.

2. Who are "the purple host"?

The so-called successful people in the world.

3. Who is "he" in the last stanza?

Anyone who is pursuing his success.

(3) I'm Nobody!

1. Who are the "pair of us" and "they" in this poem? The "pair of us" refers to the speaker in the poem and the reader, and "they" refers to the public, especially those in power.

2. What does "an admiring bog" really mean?" (line 28).

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 "nobody" or "somebody"? Explain your reasons.

Different persons would have different answers to this question. Personally, I prefer to be nobody. Unit 8 Mark Twain

Questions1: Why do you think Mr.Wheeler is so eager to tell these stories?

From Mr.Wheeler’s behaviors and contents of his narratio n we can know he is so eager to tell these stories.First, when "I" asked him to tell "me" something about W.Smiley, he “ 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 attention to others'response to his story and just went on telling what amused him. At last when the listener felt boring and wanted to leave, Mr.Wheeler even didn't notice it and still asked him to sit there listening to him.

Question2: Does his audience share his enthusiasm in telling the stories? No. the audience does not show any interest in Mr.Wheeler’ stories. In fact, the narrator was very feverish about his stories, but ,in the eyes of the listener,the stories were very boring and had nothing to do with his preoccupation. As an educated man, the listener couldn't understand the way of laborers for joy, and he would never bother himself to understand it. So after the long time of Mr.Wheeler’ solo narration and when the audience got a chance, he fled away.

Question3: Do you think the narrator and his listener ever suspect the presence of humor? Why? How do you interpret their interactions? The narrator and his listener never noticed or suspected the presence of humor.During the intercourse,the narrator went vigorously on his monotonous narrative "wihout a little smiling" talking about the animals and the things like ,while the listener felt rather puzzled or bothered by his stories.It seemed to be kind of coarse things. So the two different scenes go on separately without a intersection.And their interaction was a complete failure according toour common sense about communication.But it in this sense produced the effect of humor which can be tasted by our readers due to the skills adopted by Mark Twain .

Unit 14 F·Scott Fitzgerald

1.Do you think Gatsby deserves to be called “the great”? Why?

（1）I think it is too complicated to simply say Gatsby deserves to be ―great‖or not.For one thing, Gatsby was ambitious, hardworking, generous and passionate. He was so extremely loyal to his love and Daisy that he could do anything to get Daisy back: he did shady business to earn money and social position; he threw luxurious parties just to draw Daisy’s attention; he could take the blame for a death that he did not cause.

（2）In this respect, he is much ―greater‖than his contemporaries. For another thing, Gatsby never realized that Daisy wasn’t the girl he loved anymore. Gatsby was so innocent that he staked everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. He wasn’t sober enough to be great.

2.Does “the green light”Gatsby believed in exist in reality? Why or why not ?

（1）I think ―the green light‖does not exist in reality. Because the green light which situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely vis ible from West Egg lawn represents Gatsby’s unattainable dream. Although the color itself can be seen as hope and bright future, Gatsby’s quest for Daisy back is doomed to be impossible. Daisy lived in ―a material world without being real, where poor ghost s, breathing dream like air‖.

（2）After five years when Gatsby met Daisy again, the miracle Daisy had lost her original glory. Therefore, there is no delaying that Gatsby’s dream would not come true. In the novel, the green light not only represents that innocent Gatsby looked forward to the future, but also means his longing for the history –his happy past with Daisy. The distinction between ideal and reality was huge. As if American dream between golden past and golden future always suffered from the realistic betrayal and crush.

3.What does Gatsby’s Schedule reveal about him and how does it relate to the American Dream?

（1）The schedule is a reflection of Gatsby’s determination and ambition. It reveals that he is hard on himself in pursuit of his goal—to be an upper-class man.

（2）On one hand, we can know that he is persistent in pursuing his American Dream-- to attain wealth and happiness through his struggle. On the other hand, he is too idealistic and naive.

（3）He tries his best to make money and learns everything required to be an upper-class man so that he can get access to his beloved girl.Money is important，but there are other barriers difficult to penetrate. The girl he loves is as vulgar and superficial as others in her circle, she is unable to meets Gatsby’s romantic fantasy. So his dream is destined to shatter, which indicates the disillusion of American Dream.

4.When you read the line “He (the man with owl-eyed glasses) took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in ,” what images does it create in your mind, given the novel’s numerous references to the strikingly strange scene of the spectacled eyes?

（1）From this line , superficially, owl-eyes is a person with thick and blurry glasses who can not see clearly all the things in the world. However, we know he is actually an owl-wise observer and sees more clearly than anyone else in the novel. Owl-Eyes, except Nick, is the only friend to appear at the rain-soaked burial of Gatsby, when others are unwilling to come. He feels sympathy for Gatsby’s tragedy.

（2）After reading this line, I cannot help thinking of the Dr.Eckleburg billboard with its huge yellow spectacles in this novel. In many rainy days, Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes are also dimmed and seem blind. But in fact this is a pair of "all-seeing" eyes. The Owl-Eyed Man is similar to Dr. Eckleburg, sadly looking at the people’s life and idealism of this time. Both of them symbolize an uninvolved spectator god. They watch a ll the activities of the humans. Owl-eyes is the avatar of the sightless Dr. Eckleburg.

Unit 16 Ernest Hemingway

1. How do you interpret the irony of the title after reading the story?

（1）The title ―A Clean Well-Lighted Place‖refers to the caféin the text. The caféwas very clean and well- lighted. From the literary meaning, we may feel this place was very warm and comfortable, was a place where people need warmth wanted to go. So the old man, who was rich but deaf and lonely came here to find warmth and avoided nada. It was the only place he could go and could find some comfort.（2）However, the younger waiter was very selfish. As his wife was waiting him on the bed, he wanted to go home early. Therefore, he refused to offer the old man another cup of wine by the excuse that the business was finished. In fact, there was still an hour from closing time. The younger thought an hour was more important to him than to the old man. The old man needed to leave the only place where he could get far away from nada/ nothing. This café should be warm but the younger waiter forced the lonely and deaf to leave without any sympathy. This is the irony of the title.

2. Do you think youth and confidence can help one withstand the metaphorical dark？Why or why not? （1）I don’t think so.In our opinion, the metaphorical dark means nada，nothing in one’s inner heart. In the article, the younger waiter had both youth and confidence; however, he never made full use of them. As we can see, he didn’t understand the old man’s suicide and excessive drinking, and failed to see his tomorrow through the old man’s present situation.

（2）What’s more, he had no idea that youth is not permanent, which cannot guarantee love and work. From above, there is no denying that he didn’t realize his nada. Therefore, his youth and confidence never contributed to withstanding his metaphorical dark.

（3）I think that, nowadays, youth and confidence do can help to withstand the metaphorical dark, for one can bravely face the reality and overcome the nada with youth and confidence. But they only serve as two main factors. In fact, we need some other factors such as courage, dignity and so on if we want to withstand the metaphorical dark successfully.

3.The older waiter said to the younger waiter:“We are of two different kinds.”In what way do you think they are different?

（1）I think they are different from each other in the following four aspects：In the beginning, they are in different ages.The older waiter was in his middle age; while the other was much younger.

（2）Then, they have different attitudes towards the old man. From the article, we know the older waiter had suffered a lot. He had maintained a clean and well-lighted place in his heart, and he could understand the old man and show sympathy to him. However, the young man was very selfish. He wanted to go home early so that he finished the business one hour earlier and forced the old man to leave. He showed hatred rather than sympathy to the old man.

（3）Next, they have different attitudes towards life. The older waiter had a deep sense of life. He was brave and wanted to fight again nada. Besides, he cared about others. The younger one was totally different; he has a shadow understanding of life. He satisfied with his present love and work, he only care about himself and was reluctant to take others into consideration. He even never thought of his future.（4）Finally, they have different attitudes towards nada. The older waiter had realized that it is impossible to avoid nada in one’s whole life. The onl y thing he can do is to keep a kind of clearness in his own mind. So he was willing to work late for the lonely old man and was pleased to help those who are suffering nada. But out of youth and confidence, he failed to overcome nada. On the contrary, the younger waiter had the two most important factors for withstanding nada; however, he didn’t realize the nada in his heart at all. Then his youth and confidence became useless.

Unit 17 20th -Century American Poets

1. Ezra Pound In A Station of the Metro

1. Why does the poet call the faces of pedestrians "apparition"?

These pedestrians are all walking in a hurry amidst the drizzling rain.

2. What do "petals" and "bough" stand for? Petals refer to the faces while the bough stands for the floating crowd.

2. Wallace Stevens Anecdote of the Jar

1. What does the jar in poem symbolize? Why does the speaker place it on top of a hill? The jar here symbolizes a certain perspective on looking at this world. If the perspective of the viewing is creative and unique, it will change the conventional order of the old world. When a new perspective comes out, it will certainly hold attention from the rest.

2. The jar is "round" and "of a port in air," meaning that it has a stately importance. What effect does it have on surroundings when placed on the ground? Maybe the round jar assumes the air of a domineering figure, which helps to form a certain order out of the disordered surrounding.

3. How did the wilderness of Tennessee characterized? What words or phrases does the poet use to describe it? Tennessee seems to a place full of life and energy. “Slovenly,” “sprawl” and “wild” are some of the words used to describe the place. (See Anecdote of the Jar )

4.Robert Frost

(1)Fire and Ice

1. What are the symbolic meanings of fire in this poem? Fire symbolizes natural disaster, human passion, as well as war.

2. Why does the speaker say that ice is also great for destruction? Explain what ice stands for here. Ice, oppose to fire, is also a dreadful natural disaster in this world, and ice is always related to indifference, coldness, hatred, and the other negative sentiments of human beings.

3. What is your opinion about fire and ice? Which one is more destructive? Both fire and ice can destroy this beautiful world if they are beyond control of human beings. Therefore we should be open-minded and reduce our prejudice and pride so as to keep this world in peace.

(2)Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening

1. In your opinion, what was the reason that made the speaker stop by the woods on a snowy evening? The poet was deeply attracted by the natural beauty of the scene at that very moment.

2. Why did the horse give the harness bell a shake? The horse grew impatient by stopping in the middle of the dark, cold woods at midnight. It was eager to go home.

3. Why couldn't the speaker stay longer by the woods to appreciate its mysterious beauty? He realized that it was late at night and he would have to hurry home to get some food and sleep, because the next morning he would have a lot of work to do.

4. What is the effect of repetition in the last two lines? The refrain-like repetition in the last two lines reminds the reader a simple fact of life: whatever happens, one must go forward in the journey of his or her life.

(3) The Road Not Taken

1. What is the speaker's initial response to the divergence of the two roads? The speaker is at a loss which road he should choose, and he feels sorry that he cannot explore both roads at the same time.

2. Describe the similarities and differences of these two roads. Which one does the speaker take? Two roads are similar except one of them is more “grassy,” which implies that it is less traveled by people. The speaker prefers the less traveled one, because he likes adventure.

3. What might the two roads stand for in the speaker's mind? One road stands for the traditional one and the other is unconventional one and full of challenges and difficulties. To follow other people's footsteps or to open a new road for himself is really not an easy decision for us to make in our lives.

Unit22 Allen Ginsberg

All through the poem, the speaker is addressing to Walt Whitman. Is this poem about Walt Whitman or about modern America?

-----from Allen Ginsberg A Supermarket in California

The author in this poem wanted to emphasis his theme about showing his respect to the passed age and showing his worry about the corrupt in the part of spirit and society. As we all know, Walt Whitman’s poetry was a revolution in American literature can be seen in the first publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855. His poetry is “free verse” in that the lack of meter and rhyme is known as his major technical innovation. Allen Ginsberg had a highly praise on him. As the movement of Beat Generation, Allen Ginsberg used poetry as weapon to express his own understanding of Beat---beatific and beat down.

In this poem, the author wrote the sentence “shopping for images”. What he wanted to buy is the things which were listed by Walt Whitman many years ago. What is in the supermarket? The fresh fruits on the shelf fit the needs of customers and the families. We across a strange statement: shopping for images. How can we shop for images? What he refers to us is still the pure image---“dreaming of your enumeratio ns”. The things on the shelf are the images of languages in Walt Whitman’s poetry. The language in Walt Whitman’s poetry and the spirit in his poetry are the things which Allen Ginsberg dreamed of. A young America which is full of energy is worth being praised. Allen Ginsberg found the song of himself, the song full of courage and the echo of the real world among Walt Whitman’s work. The meaning of age in this poem is that the nation or the race opens the age which belongs to them and

creates the history of them own. To a certain extend, the age singer equals the national singer. The world is the world which has its features of timing and events. This means that the link of combining the world is not the same as the goods on the shelf but the things which contain the world and individual spirits.

There is a difference between Walt Whitman’s poetry and the successor’s poetry.

The former poetry focused on the point of the combing of the poetry and the real world. It extended the full of fruit of the history through he understood the meaning of lives living on earth.

The latter’s poetry showed that the nature of material has been deprived from the former world. Our moral and spirit has become the goods in the supermarket or the desire in every family in the capitalism nations. Allen Ginsberg recalled the dream of poetry and moral in Walt Whitman’s age.

In this poem, Allen Ginsberg imaged Walt Whitman passing through the death to come to the age which was so called the Golden Age of America. What he can see? How can he do? Would he care about the price and market’s conditions as the American middle-aged women? Allen Ginsberg follows Walt Whitman in the supermarket, but never reached the collection office. They did not like the goods which had been deprived the nature of them but pursuit the things which existed front their eyes and enjoyed the pleasure of nature.