美国文学期末考试样题（广东外语外贸大学）
Part One：Short Answers （30%）
Identify the author and the title of the work from which each of the following excerpts is taken. And then answer the question after each excerpt. Choose only FIVE items to do.
1. ―That it was therefore every one‘s Interest to be virtuous，who wish‘d to be happy even in this World. And I should from this Circumstance … have endeavored to convince young Persons，that no Qualities were so likely to make a poor Man‘s Fortune as those of Probity and Int egrity.‖
Question：What advice does the author give to young people？
2. ―In truth，his own antipathy to the veil was known to be so great，that he never willingly passed before a mirror，nor stooped to drink at a still fountain，lest，in its peaceful bosom，he should be affrighted by himself. This was what gave plausibility to the whispers，that Mr. Hooper‘s conscience tortured him for some great crime，too horrible to be entirely concealed，or otherwise than so obscurely intimated.‖
Question：Why is Mr. Hooper so afraid of his own reflection？
3. ―Since then-- ‘tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses‘ Heads
Were toward Eternity—‖
Question：What is the surprise in this final stanza？
4. ―When I，sitting，heard the astronomer，where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room，
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick；
Till rising and gliding out I wander‘d off by myself，
In the mystical moist night-air，and from time to time，
Look‘d up in perfect silence at the stars.‖
Question：How is the narrator‘s relationship with the stars different from the astronomer‘s？
5. ―At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning，and he buttonholed me and recommended：?Well，thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn‘t have no tail，only jest a short stump like a bannanner，and –‘ However，lacking both time and inclination，I did not wait to hear about the afflicted cow，but took my leave.‖
Question：What is the narrator‘s attitude toward Simon Wheeler and his story？
6. ―?I vill lock you oudt，‘ he declared，in strongly accented English，while she tried to slip by him each time. ?I vill show you. Du sollst come yen I say，yet. Hear now.‘ … ?Now，I‘ll never speak to you any more，if that‘s the way you‘re going to do. My father don‘t allow me to kiss boys，anyhow，‘ and then she would run，half ashamed，half smiling to herself as he would stare after her，or if she lingered，develop a kind of anger and even rage.‖Question：How does Theresa‘s language differ from her father‘s？
7. ―…Our nada who art in nada，nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada；pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing，nothing is with thee. …‖
Question：Why does the author replace some words in the prayer with ―nada‖？
8. ―Something there is that doesn‘t love a wall，
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it，
And spills the upper boulders in the sun，
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.‖
Question：What does ―Something‖ in the first line refer to？
Part Two：Short Essay （35%）
Choose ONE of the following excerpts and write an essay of about 200 words on the questions after it. Your essay should be well-developed，consisting of your argument，supporting details，and a conclusion of your ideas.
Excerpt 1.
“…I keep picturi ng all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids，and nobody’s around—nobody big，I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do，I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy，but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.”
（J. D. Salinger，The Catcher in the Rye，Chapter 22）
Question：What is Holden‘s ambition？What does he see as a danger to the kids？
Excerpt 2.
CABOT The farm needs a son.
ABBIE I need a son.
CABOT Ay-eh. Sometimes ye air the farm an‘ sometimes the farm be yew. That‘s why I clove t‘ ye in my lonesomeness. （A pause. He pounds his knee with his fist.）Me an‘ the farm has got t‘ beget a son！
ABBIE Ye‘d best go t‘ sleep. Ye‘re gittin‘ thin‘s all mixed.
CABOT（with an impatient gesture）No，I hain‘t. My mind‘s clear‘s a well. Ye don‘t know me，that‘s it. （He stares hopelessly at the floor.）
ABBIE（indifferently）Mebbe.
… … … …
ABBIE（at last—painfully）Ye shouldn‘t，Eben—ye shouldn‘t—I‘d make ye hap py！
EBEN（harshly）I don‘t want t‘ be happy—from yew！
ABBIE（helplessly）Ye do，Eben！Ye do！Why d‘ye lie？
EBEN（viciously）I don‘t take t‘ ye，I tell ye！I hate the sight o‘ ye！
ABBIE（with an uncertain troubled laugh）Waal，I kissed ye anyways—an‘ ye kissed back—yer lips was burnin‘—ye can‘t lie ‘bout that！（intensely）If ye don‘t care，why did ye kiss me back—why was yer lips burnin‘？
（Eugene O‘Neill，Desire Under the Elms，Part Two，Scene II）
Question：The second conversation in the above excerpt takes place immediately after the first one. What do you think is Abbie‘s real intention of showing affection to Eben？
Part Three：Critical Reading （35%）
Read the story ―The Use of Force‖ by William Carlos Williams，and answer the following questions in a one-paragraph essay of about 100 words. Be sure to write a topic sentence and include evidence if possible.
Questions：What conflict is presented in the story？What does the story say about the use of force in civilized life？
The Use of Force
William Carlos Williams
They were new patients to me，all I had was the name，Olson. Please come down as soon as you can，my daughter is very sick. When I arrived I was met by the mother，a big startled looking woman，very clean and apologetic who merely said，Is this the doctor？And let me in. In the back，she added. You must excuse us，doctor，we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes.
The child was fully dressed and sitting on her father‘s lap near the kitchen t able. He tried to get up，but I motioned for him not to bother，took off my overcoat and started to look things over. I could see that they were all very nervous，eyeing me up and down distrustfully. As often，in such cases，they weren‘t telling me more th an they had to，it was up to me to tell them；that‘s why they were spending three dollars on me.
The child was fairly eating me up with her cold，steady eyes，and no expression to her face whatever. She did not move and seemed，inwardly，quiet；an unusually attractive little thing，and as strong as a heifer in appearance. But her face was flushed，she was breathing rapidly，and I realized that she had a high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair，in profusion. One of those picture children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections of the Sunday papers.
She‘s had a fever for three days，began the father and we don‘t know what it comes from. My wife has given her things，you know，like people do，but it don‘t do no good. And there‘s
been a lot of sickness around. So we tho‘t you‘d better look her over and tell us what is the matter.
As doctors often do I took a trial shot at it as a point of departure. Has she had a sore throat？
Both parents answered me together，No … No，s he says her throat don‘t hurt her.
Does your throat hurt you？Added the mother to the child. But the little girl‘s expression didn‘t change nor did she move her eyes from my face.
Have you looked？
I tried to，said the mother，but I couldn‘t see.
As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria in the school to which this child went during that month and we were all，quite apparently，thinking of that，though no one had as yet spoken of the thing.
Well，I said，suppose we take a look at the throat first. I smiled in my best professional manner and asking for the child‘s first name I said，come on，Mathilda，open your mouth and let‘s take a look at your throat.
Nothing doing.
Aw，come on，I coaxed，just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look，I said opening both hands wide，I haven‘t anything in my hands. Just open up and let me see.
Such a nice man，put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on，do what he tells you to. He won‘t hurt you.
At that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn‘t use the word ―hurt‖ I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again.
As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too. In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell，though unbroken，several feet away from me on the kitchen floor.
Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You bad girl，said the mother，taking her and shaking her by one arm. Look what you‘ve done. The nice man …
For heaven‘s sake，I broke in. Don‘t call me a nice man to her. I‘m here to look at her throat on the chance that she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it. But that‘s nothing to her. Look here，I said to the child，we‘re going to look at your throat. You‘re old enough to understand what I‘m saying. Will you open it now by yours elf or shall we have to open it for you？
Not a move. Even her expression hadn‘t changed. Her breaths however were coming faster and faster. Then the battle began. I had to do it. I had to have a throat culture for her own protection. But first I told the parents that it was entirely up to them. I explained the danger but said that I would not insist on a throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility.
If you don‘t do what the doctor says you‘ll have to go to the hospital，the mother admonished here severely.
Oh yeah？I had to smile to myself. After all，I had already fallen in love with the savage brat，the parents were contemptible to me. In the ensuing struggle they grew more and more abject，crushed，exhausted while she surely rose to magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred of her terror of me.
The father tried his best，and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter，his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success，till I wanted to kill him. But his dread also that she might have diphtheria made him tell me to go on，go on though he himself was almost fainting，while the mother moved back and forth behind us raising and lowering her hands in an agony of apprehension.
Put her in front of you on your lap，I ordered，and hold both her wrists.
But as soon as he did the child let out a scream. Don‘t，you‘re hurting me. Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you. Then she shrieked terrifyingly，hysterically. Stop it！Stop it！You‘re killing me！
Do you think she can stand it，doctor！said the mother.
You get out，said the husband to his wife. Do you want her to die of diphtheria？
Come on now，hold her，I said.
Then I grasped the child‘s head with my left hand and tried to get the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. She fought，with clenched teeth，desperately！But now I also had grown furious—at a child. I tried to hold myself down but I couldn‘t. I know how to expose a throat for inspection. And I did my best. When finally I got the wooden spatula behind the last teeth and just the point of it into the mouth cavity，she opened up for an instant but before I could see anything she came down again and gripped the wooden blade between her molars she reduced it to splinters before I could get it out again.
Aren‘t you ashamed，the mother yelled at her. Aren‘t you ashamed to act like that in front of the doctor？
Get me a smooth-handled spoon of some sort，I told t he mother. We‘re going through with this. The child‘s mouth was already bleeding. Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks. Perhaps I should have been better. But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases，and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. But the worst of it was that too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it.
The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy，one says to one‘s self at such times. Others must be protected against her. It is a social necessity. And all these things are true. But a blind fury，a feeling of adult shame，bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to the end.
In the final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child‘s neck and jaws. I forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged. And there it was—both tonsils covered with membrane. She had fought valiantly to keep me from knowing her secret. She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such an outcome as this.
Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father‘s lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes.
Glossary：
heifer：young cow；calf
profusion：abundance；plenty
photogravure：photography；photo-copying tho‘t：thought
trial shot：guess
diphtheria：fatal illness
throat culture：laboratory test of the throat apprehension：nervousness
depressor：flat stick
spatula：flat stick
molars：rear teeth
diagnosis：medical opinion
membrane：infection
1.Puritanism（清教主义）: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. 1.) simply speaking , American Puritanism just refers to the spirit and ideal of puritans,who settled in the North American continent in the early part of the seventeenth century because of religious persecutions. 2.)In content it means scrupulous ,moral rigor ,eapecially hostility to social pleasure and religion . 3.)with time passing it became a dominant factor in American life , one of the most enduring shaping influences in American thought and literature .to some extentit is a state of mind , a part of the national cultural atmosphere that the American breathes ,rather than a set of tenets. 4.）Actually it is a code of values , a philosophy of life and a point of view in American minds , also a two-faceted tradition of religious idealism and level -headed in common sense . 5）Major topic:American Puritanism Introduction There were no written literature among the more than 500 different Indian languages and tribal cultures，American writing began with the work of English adventurers and colonists in the New World chiefly for the benefit of readers in the mother country. Therefore the writing in this period was essentially two kinds: （1）practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people “at home” what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration; (2) highly theoretical, generally polemical(好辩的）, discussions of religious questions. 2.The American Romanticism(浪漫主义) I. What is Romanticism a literary movement flourished as a cultural force the early period and the late period.
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). 二、Questions 1.How many characters does Poe include in The Cask of Amontillado? What are these names? Montresor, Fortunato and Luchesi 2. What drink are the French most famous for? Wine 3.Does Montresor have something of great value to him which we might consider to be his treasure? His pride and the pride of his French family heritage. Perhaps his devious plot of revenge. 4.Does Montresor seem to have much respect for Italians? Montresor does not have much respect for Italians. He feels the French are superior, especially with respect to wine. 5.What was Fortunato's insult? Poe does not tell us directly, but only implies it in the third paragraph 6.Which wine does Montresor use to lure Fortunato into the catacombs? "Amontillado" (the Spanish wine; Montresor's ruse to lead Fortunato down into the catacombs. 7.Why does Montresor entertain Fortunato with wines from his collection? Montresor wants to get Fortunato drunk enough to be able to trap him in his plan of vengeance. 8.In what two ways does Montresor imprison Fortunato? He fetters (chains and locks) Fortunato to the wall of the catacombs. He builds a wall to close Fortunato off in a small corner of the catacombs, where Montresor will leave him to die. 9.In what ways is The Cask of Amontillado grotesque? First, which of Montresor's actions are abnormal? The whole obsessive plot of vengeance. The fettering and entombment of Fortunato. Montresor's sick sense of humor. 10.Is there anything grotesque about Fortunato? His obsession with alcohol. His drunkenness. His tendency to berate Luchesi (he may have been drunk and may have insulted Montresor in a similar
Part I The Literature of Colonial America I．Historical Introduction The colonial period stretched roughly from the settlement of America in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th. The first permanent settlement in America was established by English in 1607. ( A group of people was sent by the English King James I to hunt for gold. They arrived at Virginia in 1607. They named the James River and build the James town.) II．The pre-revolutionary writing in the colonies was essentially of two kinds: 1) Practical matter-of-fact accounts of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people "at home" what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration 2) Highly theoretical, generally polemical, discussions of religious questions. III．The First American Writer The first writings that we call American were the narratives and journals of these settlements. They wrote about their voyage to the new land, their lives in the new land, their dealings with Indians. Captain John Smith is the first American writer. A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Colony (1608) A Map of Virginia: A Description of the Country (1612) General History of Virgini a (1624): the Indian princess Pocahontas Captain John Smith was one of the first early 17th-century British settlers in North America. He was one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. His writings about North America became the source of information about the New World for later settlers. One of the things he wrote about that has become an American legend was his capture by the Indians and his rescue by the famous Indian Princess, Pocahontas. IV．Early New England Literature William Bradford and John Winthrop John Cotton and Roger Williams Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor V．Puritan Thoughts 1. The origin of puritan In the mediaeval Europe, there was widespread religious revolution. In the 16th Century, the English King Henry VIII (At that time, the Catholics were not allowed to divorce unless they have the Pope's permission. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife because she couldn't bear him a son. But the Pope didn't allow him to divorce, so he) broke away from the Roman Catholic Church & established the Church of
湖州师范学院外国语学院2008— 2009学年第二学期 《美国文学》期末考试试卷（A卷）答案暨评分标准 I. Write the names of the authors. (10%) ①Walt Whitman ②Edgar Allen Poe ③Wallace Stevens ④Franklin Norris ⑤Stephen Crane ⑥William Faulkner ⑦Sinclair Lewis ⑧John Steinbeck ⑨Langston Hughes ⑩Tennessee Williams II. Fill in the following blanks with appropriate information.（10%） ①New England ②Regionalism or Local color writing ③semi-autobiographical ④anti-realism ⑤Imagist ⑥Santiago ⑦multiple narrations or points of view ⑧1930 ⑨Harlem Renaissance ⑩Eugene O’Neill III. Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer. （20%） 1－5. A D C B B 6－10. D B E B A IV. Identify the author and the title of the work from which each of the following excerpts is taken. And then answer the question after each excerpt. (20%) Passage 1 the author: Walt Whitman (1%) the title of the work : Songs of Myself (1%) Question: What is the poet celebrating? (2%) The poet is celebrating individualism and nationalism, singing of all those people who form the American nationality.
美国文学选择题及答案 1. William Faulkner is the author of ______. a. Far From the Madding Crowd b. Sound and Fury c. For Whom the Bell Tolls d. Scarlet Letter 2. Robert Frost is a famous_______. a. novelist b. playwright c. poet d. literary critic 3. The Old Man and the Sea is one of the great works by ________. a. Jack London b. Charles Dickens c. Samuel Coleridge d. Earnest Hemingway 4. _______refers to some contrast or discrepancy between appearance and reality. a. Allegory b. Conflict c. Irony d. Flashback 5. The great transcendental work by Henry David Thoreau is______. a. Nature b. Walden c. Experience d. Essays 6. Mark Twain shaped the world’s view of America and made a combination of _____and serious literature. a. American folk humor b. funny jokes c. English folklore d. American values 7. Who was the first American to achieve an international literary reputation after the Revolutionary War? a. Fennimore Cooper. b. Nathaniel Hawthorn. c. Walt Whitman. d. Washington Irving. 8. I Have a Dream is addressed by _____. a. Abraham Lincoln b. John F. Kennedy c. Martin Luther King d. Ralph Waldo Emerson 9. Which of the following is NOT a poem by Emily Dickinson? a. This is my letter to the world b. I heard a Fly buzz—when I died c. This is just to say d. Because I could not stop for death 10. Eugene O’Neil is an American ______. a. novelist b. playwright c. poet d. essayist 11. The period from 1865—1914 has been referred to as the _______in the literary history of the United States. a. Age of Realism b. Age of Classicalism c. Age of Romanticism d. Age of Renaissance 12. With “Collected Poems”, ______won the second Pulitzer Prize. a. Ezra Pond b. e. e. cummings c. Robert Frost d. William Cullen Bryant 13. Grass is a poem written by _______.
III Multiple choice (20%) 1. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan poet. When her poems were published in England, she became known as the “______” who appeared in America. A Ninth Muse B Tenth Muse C Best Muse D First Muse 2. ______ is the sometimes exaggerated use of local language, characters and customs in regional literature. A purple prose B waste-land imagery C local color D symbolism 3. The Fitzgeralds lived so extravagantly that they frequently spent more money than F. Scoot Fitzgerald earned for parties, liquor, entertaining their friends and traveling. It was this living style that nicknamed the decade of the 1920s as _______. A The Jazz Age B The Gilded Age C The Glorious Age D The Beat Age 4. ___________ was a reaction to the ideas of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment. A Romanticism B Realism C Naturalism D Modernism 5. Although only few of her poems were published in her lifetime and a complete collection of them didn’t appear until the 1950’s, _____ had a major impact on 20th century poetry. A Anne Bradstreet B Gertrude Stein C Emily Dickinson D Amy Lowell 6. Who of the following is NOT a 20th century American poet? A Henry Wordsworth Longsfellow B Amy Lowell C Ezra Pound D Robert Frost 7. Mark Twain, one of the greatest 19th century American writers, is well known for his ______. A International theme B Waste-land imagery C Local color
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题： 1.选择/对错60分（40道选择，20个对错） 2.名词解释10分（5个） 3.选段配对10分（5个） 4.问答20分（10/2） 1．历史：Father / poetess… 2. 名作家：Hemingway, Faulkner, Poe, Hawthorne, Emerson 3．作品：The W asteland/Moby Dick/Scarlet Letter 1.a)选择题（40个，40分） 1. At the age of reason and revolution, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ________. A. Chartist Movement B. Romanticist Movement C. Enlightenment Movement D. Modernist Movement 2. Which is NOT connected to Benjamin Franklin? ________ A. He was born in a poor family. B. He was a pious puritan. C. He was phrased as “Jack of all trades”. D. He was a master of diplomacy. 3. Ernest Hemingway is noted for the following EXCEPT ________. A. Lost Generation B. Iceberg theory C. American Dream D. Code Heroes 4. Which character is NOT from The Scarlet Letter? ________ A. Hester Prynne B. Roger Chillingworth C. Captain Ahab D. Pearl 5. Jack London’s semi-biographical novel ________well presents the disillusionment of American Dream. A. The American Tragedy B. The Call of the Wild C. Martin Eden D. The Grapes of Wrath b)判断对错题（20个，20分） 1. Poe’s masterpiece “To Helen” is written to memorize his deceased wife. (F) 2. The tone of “Annabel Lee” is optimistic and hopeful. (F) 3. Mark Twain's novel Jumping Frog was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the postbellum period which it attempts to satirize. (F) 4. Sister Carrie ended up in tragedy because she could not control her fate. (F)
Literary terms这部分的答案均来自星火《英美文学》一书，质量高 1.Transcendentalism: is literature，philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about 1836 to1860. It originated among a small group of intellectuals who were reaching against the orthodoxy of Calvinism and the rationalism of the Unitarian Church, their own faith centering on the divinity of humanity and the natural world instead. Transcendentalism derived some of its basic idealistic concepts from romantic German philosophy, and from such English authors as Carlyle，Coleridge, and Wordsworth. The ideas of transcendentalism were most eloquently expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in such essays as Nature and Self-Reliance and by Henry David Thoreau in his book Walden. 2.American naturalism：this term was created by Emile Zola. Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory played an important role in naturalism. In the works off naturalism，characters were conceived as complex combinations of inherited attributes and habits conditioned by social and economic forces. At the end of the 19th century，this pessimistic form of realism appeared in America. Naturalism attempted to achieve extreme objectivity and frankness. Characters in the works of naturalism were dominated by their environment and heredity. Naturalism emphasized：the world was around；men had no free will；religious “truth” were illusory；the destiny of human beings was misery in life and oblivion in death. The dominant figures in naturalism were Stephen crane，Frank Norris, Jack London and Theodore Dreiser. 3.The lost generation: included the young English and American expatriates as well as men and women caught in the war and cut from the old value and yet unable to come to terms with the new era when civilization had gone mad. These writers adopted unconventional style of writing and reacted against the tendencies of the older writers in the 1920s. The term came from Gertrude Stein who said in Hemingway's presence that “you are all a lost generation.” 4.Jazz age: the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term "Jazz Age" retroactively to refer to the decade after World War I and before the stock market crash in 1929, during which Americans embarked upon what he called "the gaudiest spree in history". Jazz Age is inextricably associated with the wealthy white "flappers" and socialites immortalized in Fitzgerald's fiction. 5.Free verse: is a poetry that has an irregular rhythm and line length and that attempts to avoid any predetermined verse structure, instead, it uses the cadences of natural speech. While it alternates stressed and unstressed syllables as stricter verse forms do, free verse does so in a looser way. Whitman's poetry is an example of free verse at its most impressive. It has since been used by Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot and other major American can poets of the 20th century. 6. The iceberg analogy: The Iceberg Theory is a writing theory by American writer Ernest Hemingway, as follows：if a writer of a prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader，if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. 这部分来自星火的为：3,7,8, 来自课本为：1,4,9 来自网络为：2,5,6大家自取之 1.Poe's Poetic Ideas A.His conviction that the function of poetry is not to summarize and interpret earthly experience, but to create a mood in which the soul soars toward supernal beauty. B.He insists that poetry must be disembarrassed of that moral sense. C.Poe believes that the elevation of excitement of the soul should be “the poetic principle” thus poetry must concern itself only with “supernal beauty”. D.Poe defines poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty” a definition gi ving unexampled emphasis upon the importance of the rhythmical or musical element in poetry.