美国文化试题(基础题)
Culture Knowledge Contest
（American Culture）
August 31, 2014
Part I Single-Choice Questions
Directions: Read the following unfinished statements or questions carefully. For each unfinished statement or question, four suggested answers marked [A], [B], [C] and [D] are given. Choose the one that you think best completes the statement or answers the question.
1. The strong American belief in individualism can be divided into idealism and ____________.
[A ] realism [B] protestantism
[C] materialism [D] volunteerism
3. “Priesthood of all believers” means ____________.
[A] every priest must be a devoted believer
[B] every believer should confess to God through the priest
[C] every believer is his or her own priest
[D] every priest should be responsible for the believers
4. Which of the following statements about American education is TRUE?
[A] The majority of the private schools are associated with particular churches.
[B] Religious schools that serve middle-class students receive money from the national government.
[C] After twelve years of school, American students receive a bachelor’s degree diploma at graduation.
[D] American schools attach the greatest importance to developing students’ academic skills.
5. Which of the following statements about American Frontier
is TRUE?
[A] The frontier experience began in about 1890 and is still continuing in the American West today.
[B] There are two types of heroic rugged individualists: man against wilderness and man against man.
[C] The settling of the frontier did little to affect the lives of the American Indians.
[D] The can-do spirit came from the willingness of the pioneers to work together on a cooperative project for the good of all.
6. Most American people strongly believe in individual freedom, and therefore they do NOT like ____________.
[A] being self-reliant [B] making a lot of money
[C] a big government[D] religious freedom
7. The American saying “Say what you mean and mean what you say” re flects that American people value ____________.
[A] competition [B] optimism
[C] performances [D] assertiveness
8. American culture is also a culture of its own and above everything else ____________ is most important.
[A] diversity [B] individuality
[C] nationality [D] unity
9. One of the most important values associated with American Protestantism is the value of ____________.
[A] self-improvement [B] equality of opportunity
[C] optimism [D] rugged individualism
11. The strong American belief in individualism has strengthened American’s ____________ and hard work.
[A] inventiveness [B] promptness
[C] frankness [D] assertiveness
12. In the U.S., the president can ____________ a bill from Congress, but the bill can still become law if at least
____________ of the members in each house vote for it when it is voted on again.
[A] void, 1/3 [B] void, 2/3 [C] veto, 1/3 [D] veto, 2/3
13. Scholars who see the United States as a “salad bowl” emphasize ____________.
[A] the great extent of racial and ethnic assimilation
[B] the distinct differences between racial and ethnic groups
[C] the rapid growth of population
[D] the great diversity in religious beliefs
14. In American society, the “boomerang kids” refers to
____________.
[A] the children living with the single parent
[B] the children born in 1950s
[C] the children returning home after graduation from college
[D] the children living separately from their parents
16. The presidential election in the United States is held every ____________ years.
[A] 2 [B] 4 [C] 6 [D] 8
17. ____________ was American’s first president.
[A] George Washington[B] Thomas Jefferson
[C] James Madison [D] Andrew Jackson
18. The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed after World War II. On the one side were the ____________ and its satellites, and on the other were the powers of the Western world under the leadership of the United States.
[A] Germany [B] Cuba
[C] the Soviet Union [D] Britain
19. Child education in the United States is compulsory. The ages for compulsory education vary by state beginning at ages ____________ and ending at the ages of fourteen to eighteen.
[A] four to five [B] five to six
[C] six to eight [D] five to eight
20. According to the US Constitution, Congress’s essential function is to ____________.
[A] declare laws [B] pass laws
[C] make laws[D] execute laws
21. The Senate is the upper chamber of Congress. It consists of 100 members, with ____________ senators elected from each state, regardless of the size of the state’s population..
[A] one [B] two [C] three [D] four
22. The history of the English language is divided into three periods. The period from 1150 to 1500 is known as the ____________.
[A] Old English period [B] Anglo-Saxon period
[C] Middle English period [D] Modern English period
23. The first permanent English settlement in North America was ____________.
[A] Philadelphia [B] Plymouth
[C] Jamestown [D] Boston
24. ____________ is the symbol of the American Democratic Party.
[A] The donkey [B] The bull
[C] The bald eagle [D] The elephant
25. Who is the only American president to have served more than two terms?
[A] Bill Clinton [B] George Washington
[C] Franklin D. Roosevelt[D] Abraham Lincoln
27. ____________ are the two major political parties in the United States.
[A] The Labor Party and the Independence Party
[B] The Independence Party and the Republican Party
[C] The Republican Party and the Labor Party
[D] The Democratic Party and the Republican Party
28. The upper chamber of the American Congress is called ____________.
[A] the House of Commons [B] the Parliament
[C] the House of Representatives [D] the Senate
31. ____________ a popular tourist destination in Hollywood. It comprises more than 2,500 five-pointed stars which bear the
names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.
[A] Hollywood Walk of Fame [B] Hollywood Boulevard
[C] Universal Studios [D] Disneyland
32. “A man is not made for defeat … A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” From which novel is this passage taken?
[A] In Our Time [B] A Farewell to Arms [C] The Old Man and the Sea[D] For Whom the Bell Tolls
33. The national anthem of the United States is ____________.
[A] The Battle Hymn of the Republic [B] God Save the Queen
[C]The Star-Spangled Banner [D] American Soldier
34. ____________ was a singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, businessman, and philanthropist. He was called the King of Pop. He popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk.
[A] Michael Joseph Jackson [B] Bob Dylan
[C] Beetles [D] Elvis Presley
35. ____________ is a street in Manhattan, New York. There are
a lot of theatres at both sides of the street and it has become a synonym of musicals.
[A] the 5th Avenue [B] Avenue de New-York
[C] Park Avenue. [D] Broadway
36. ____________ is often regarded as the greatest American woman poet and she wrote over 1,700 short lyric poems in her life time.
[A] Anne Bradstreet [B] Robert Frost
[C] Emily Bronte [D] Emily Dickinson
40. ____________ is an American syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from 1986 to 2011 and remains the highest-rated talk show in American television history. [A] Daily Show [B] Oprah Winfrey Show
[C] Talent Show [D] Ellen Show
41. In America, ____________ are given to recognize outstanding work in the television industry.
[A] Grammy Awards [B] Tony Awards
[C] Academy Awards [D] Emmy Awards
42. ____________, located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the ten largest in the world.
[A] The Metropolitan Museum of Art
[B] National Museum of American Art
[C] Hirshhorn Museum
[D] National Museum of Air and Space
45. ____________ is a film about a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. [A] The Pianist [B] Schindler's List
[C] Sophie’s Choice [D] Pearl Harbor
46. When is Halloween celebrated every year?
[A] On October 31 [B] On February 14
[C] On May 30 [D] On November 11
47. American Independence Day falls on ____________.
[A] May 30 [B] October 31
[C] March 20 [D] July 4
48. Thanksgiving Day is originated in ____________.
[A] England [B] America [C] Scotland [D] Canada
49. April Fool's Day began in ____________.
[A]America [B] Germany [C] France [D] Italy
50. When first introduced to someone, one should address and be addressed as Miss, Ms., Mrs. or Mr. followed by the ____________.
[A] first name [B] surname
[C] nick name [D] middle name
51. Among the five Great Lakes, only ____________ is wholly within the United States.
[A] Erie [B] Superior [C] Michigan [D] Huron
52. If you are invited to a business lunch, ask ____________ what he or she recommends before placing your order, so that you will have an idea as to an appropriate price range for your meal.
[A] the restaurant owner [B] the waiter
[C] the chef [D] the host
53. How many dimes is a US dollar?
[A] 10 [B] 5 [C] 25 [D] 4
54. How many cents is a US quarter?
[A] 10 [B] 5 [C] 25 [D] 4
55. Marriage in America is considered ____________.
[A] more important to the parents [B] a pure religious affair
[C] rather burdensome [D] a pure individual matter
56. When was Coca-Cola first created?
[A] In 1765 [B] In 1885 [C] In 1925 [D] In 1995
57. The KFC (chain restaurants from the United States) is the abbreviation of which of the following?
[A] Kentucky Fried Cake
[B] Kentucky Fried Chicken
[C] Kentucky Frying Cake
[D] Kentucky Frying Chicken
58. Which number is unlucky in Western culture?
[A] 7 [B] 8 [C] 13 [D] 14
60. Handshaking is a popular tradition among professionals in America. Handshaking should be ____________ and last between 3-5 seconds.
[A] extended [B] interrupted
[C] light [D] firm
61. There are ____________ states in the United States of
America.
[A] 46 [B] 48 [C] 50 [D] 52
62.____________ is the largest state in area in the U.S.A.
[A] Florida [B] Louisiana [C] Alaska[D] California
63. ____________ is known as the nation's "breadbasket" because of its abundant production of oats, wheat, and corn.
[A] The North [B] The South
[C] The Midwest [D] The Mideast
64. ____________ is the coldest and deepest of the five Great Lakes.
[A] Superior [B] Huron
[C] Michigan [D] Ontario
65. Washington, the capital of the US, is on the ____________ river.
[A] Delaware [B] St. Laurence
[C] Hudson [D] Potomac
66. The highest mountain in the U.S. is Mount ____________.
[A] Appalachian [B] Mekinley
[C] Rocky [D] Great Smoky
67. The 1970s and early 1980s saw the onset of stagflation. After his election in 1980, President ____________ responded
美国文学史及选读期末复习题
1.Captain John Smith became the first American writer. 2.The puritans looked upon themselves as a chosen people. is an annual collection of proverbs written by Benjamin Franklin. 4.Thomas Paine’s famous pamphlet Common Sense boldly advocated a “Declaration for Independence”. 5.Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
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大四美国文学期末考试题型及例题
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美国文学选读试题
美国文学史及作品选读模拟试题一 ) '×15=15I.Multiple Choice (1'______was the first colony in American history. C1. D.Georgia C. Virginia A. Massachusetts B. New Jersey War. the before Revolutionary only good American author 2. _B_____ was the
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美国文学期中测试卷Mid–termExamination
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名词解释： Imagism: It’s a poetic movement of England and the U.S. flourished from 1909 to 1917.The movement insists on the creation of images in poetry by “the direct treatment of the thing” and the economy of wording. The leaders of this movement were Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell. Beat generation: The term was coined by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to refer to a group of disillusioned writers following World War Two. Later, this literary and cultural movement continued into the 1960s. The Beat Generation must not be confused with the Lost Generation of writers. Spokesmen and representatives of the Beat Generation were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and others. They revolted against an America that was materialistic, belligerent and frustrating. Social, intellectual and sexual freedom was advocated. Traditional culture and normal social behavior were attacked and violated. Many of them were drug addicts wearing long hair and dirty clothes. They were fond of slangs and jazz. Masterpieces created by writers of this g roup include Kerouac’s On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems, which were regarded as pocket Bibles of that generation. Other prominent Beats include William S. Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Michael McClure, and Neal Cassady. The Beat Generation, had greatly influenced the countercultural movements of the 1960s and the adolescents and adults in other countries. In England, the “angry young men” made an echo and imitated the American “beatnik.” 二、1. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature: it is generally regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism. The American Scholar:it has been regarded as “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”. 2. Henry David Thoreau: Walden 3. Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter: 主题：Hawthorne focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects or consequences of the sin on the people in general and those main characters in particular, so as to show us the tension between society and individuals. To Hawthorne, everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature. 4. Herman Melville: Moby Dick A. 作品分析： （1）Moby Dick represents the sum total of Melville’s bleak view of the world in which he lived. It is at once godless and purposeless. The loss of faith and the sense of futility and meaningless which characterize modern life of the West were expresse d in Melville’s work so well that the twentieth century has found it both fascinating and great. (2) One of the major themes of this novel is alienation, which exists in the life of Melville on different levels, between man and man, man and society, and man and nature. Melville also criticizes New England Transcendentalism of its emphasis on individualism and Oversoul. Another theme of this novel is “rejection and quest.” (3) The novel is highly symbolic. The voyage itself is a metaphor for “search and discovery, the search for the ultimate truth of experience.” Moby Dick is the most conspicuous symbol in the book and it is capable of many interpretations. It is a symbol of evil to some, one of goodness to others, and both to still others. Its whiteness is a paradoxical color, signifying as it does death and corruption as well as purity, innocence, and youth. It represents the final mystery of the universe which man will do well to desist from pursuing. (4) Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple views of his narratives. He tends to write periodic sentences. His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised. B. what does the white whale in Moby Dick symbolize? Why do you think so? For Captain Ahab, the white whale represents evil. After the loss of his leg in his encounter with the white whale, Ahab begins to hate Moby Dick and tries his best to kill the whale. It seems that he embodies all of the evil he once consigned to the white whale. For other members on the whaling ship, the white whale symbolizes the unknown, mysterious natural force of the universe. For the readers, the white whale is capable of many interpretations, for it is “paradoxically benign an d malevolent, nourishing and destructive,” “massive, brutal, monolithic, but at the same time protean, erotically beautiful, infinitely variable.” C. Major themes: obsession, religion, and idealism versus pragmatism, revenge, racism, sanity, hierarchical relationships, and politics. D. the Pequod is the microcosm of human society and the voyage becomes a search for truth. Moby Dick is a mystery, an ultimate mystery of the universe, and the voyage of the mind will forever remain a search, not a discovery, of the truth. The whole story turns out to be a symbolic voyage of the mind quest of the truth and knowledge of the universe, a spiritual exploration into man’s deep reality and psychology. 5. Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass.It has been praised as “Democ ratic Bible”, and as American Epic. 主题：(1)he shows concern for the whole hard-working people and the burgeoning life of cities. (2) realization of the individual value. (3) pursuit of love and happiness. (4) Before and during the Civil War, Whitman expressed much mourning for the sufferings of the young lives in the battlefield and showed a determination to carry on the fighting dauntlessly until the final victory. 写作风格：(1) Whitman wrote “free verse”, that is, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. (2) There is a strong sense of the poems being rhythmical. Parallelism and phonetic recurrence at the beginning of the lines contribute to the musicality of his poems. (3) Most of the pictures he painted with words are honest, undistorted images of different aspects of America of the day. (4) Whitman’s language is relatively simple and even rather crude. Another characteristic in Whitman’s language is his strong tendency to use oral English. Whitman’s vocabulary is amazing. He would use powerful, colorful, as well as rarely-used words. Leaves of Grass的分析： (1). Grass, the most common thing with the greatest vitality, is an image of the poet himself, a symbol of the then rising American nation and an embodiment of his ideals about democracy and freedom. (2). In this giant work, openness, freedom, and above all, individualism are all that concerned him. (3). In this book he also praises nature, democracy, labor and creation, and sings of man’s dignity and equality, and of th e brightest future of mankind. Most of the poems in Leaves of Grass sing of the “en-masse” and self as well. 6. Emily Dickinson: 诗歌的主要内容：love, nature, death and immortality. 7. Edgar Allen Poe: 短篇小说家和诗人。 Poe is the father of psychoanalytic criticism and the father of detective story. 主题：death of one’s beloved lover of great intelligence and beauty. He also writes about horror (Gothic) stories, murder, and insanity. 8. Henry James: The turn of the screw The founder of psychological realism. He was the first American writer to conceive his artistic work in international themes. 9. Mark Twain:The adventures of Huckleberry Finn Hemingway described it as the book from which “all modern American literature comes”. The style of this book is quite simple. The book is written in the colloquial style. Though a local book, it touches upon the human situation in a general, indeed universal way: humanitarianism ultimately triumphs. It tells a story about the United States before the Civil War, around 1850, when the great Mississippi Valley was still being settled. Here lies an America, wit its great national faults, full of violence and even cruelty, yet still retaining the virtues of “some simplicity, some innocence, some peace.” 10. Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dreiser: 自然主义的代表人物。 11. F. Scott Fitzgerald:The Great Gatsby 迷惘一代的代表人物 12. Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms; For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Old Man and the Sea The title of For Whom the Bell Tolls comes from John Donne’s Meditation. 13. William Faulkner: stream of consciousness的写作手法 14. Ezra Pound: 意象派代表人物。 意象派基本主张： (1) Direct treatment of the “thing”, whether subjective or objective. (2) To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation (3) As regarding rhythm, to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of a metronome. 15. Robert Frost: natural poet. 16. Eugene Glastone O’Neill: Desire Under the Elms Long Days Journey into Night: Mark Twain H. L. Mencken considered "the true father of our national literatu re” Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884) and Life on the Mississippi(1883) Twain shaped the world's view of American and made a more extensive combination of American folk humor and serious literature than previous writers had ever done. Mark Twain’s sty le 1) Twain is also known as a local colorist, who preferred to present social life through portraits of the local characters of his regions 2) Another fact that made Twain unique is his magic power with language, his use of vernacular. His words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect, and his sentence structures are simple, even ungrammatical, which is typical of the spoken language 3) Mark Twain's humor is remarkable, too. Most of his works tend to be funny, containing some practical jokes, comic details, witty remarks. 4) Paid more attention to the "life" of the Americans, Concerned with the life of a small, well-defined region and the lower-class people 5) Nostalgic in a vanishing way of life and recorders of a present that faded before their eyes Adventures of Huckleberry Fin The character analysis and social meaning of Huck Finn Huck is a typical American boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience”. He appears to be vulgar in language and in manner, but he is honest and decent in es sence. His remarkable raft’s journey down on the Mississippi river can be regarded as his process of education and his way to grow up. Huck is the son of nature and a symbol for freedom and earthly pragmatism. Through the eye of Huck, the innocent and reluctant rebel, we see the pre-Civil War American society fully exposed. Twain contrasts the life on the river and the life on the banks, the innocence and the experience, the nature and the culture, the wilderness and the civilization. Ernest Hemingway A Nobel Prize winner for literature His style, the particular type of hero in his novels, and his life attitudes have been widely recognized, not only in English-speaking countries but all over the world Hemingway shot himself with a hunting gun In Our Time (1925)is the first book to present a Hemingway hero--Nick Adams The Sun Also Rises(1926) is Hemingway's first true novel. A vivid portrait of "The Lost Generation," -- a group of young Americans who left their native land and fought in the war and later engaged themselves in writing in a new way about their own experiences. Hemingway's second big success is A Farewell to Arms, telling us a story about the tragic love affair of a wounded American soldier with a British nurse -- emphasizes his belief that man is trapped both physically and mentally, but goes to some lengths to refute the idea of nature, man is doomed to be entrapped For Whom the Bell Tolls clearly represents a new beginning in Hemingway's career as a writer, which concerns a volunteer American guerrilla Robert Jordan fighting in the Spanish Civil War, this work Caps his career and leads to his receipt of the Nobel Prize The Old Man and the Sea, Men Without Women(1927), Death in the Afternoon(1932), The Snows of Kilimanjaro, To Have and Have Not (1937) Hemingway develops the style of colloquialism initiated by Mark Twain Hemingway was highly praised by the Nobel Prize Committee for "his powerful style-forming mastery of the art" of creating modern fiction. Indian Camp The title indicates that the material is contemporary and to some extent, representative of the early twentieth-century experience A reference to the well-know phrase from the Book of Common Prayer:" Give us peace in our time, O Lord," the title is very ironic because there is no peace at all in the stories In a chronological order, introduces Nick Adams to readers from his childhood to adolescence and manhood Nick watches his father deliver an Indian woman of a baby by Caesarian section, with a Jack-knife and without anesthesia. This incident brings the boy into contact with something that is perplexing and unpleasant, and is actually Nick's initiation into the pain and violence of birth and death. Most of Hemingway's later works are merely variations of the Nick Adams stories in In Our Time The Hemingway code heroes and grace under pressure They have seen the cold world, and for one cause, they boldly and courageously face the reality. They have an indestructible spirit for his optimistic view of life. Whatever the result is, they are ready to live with grace under pressure. No matter how tragic the ending is, they will never be defeated. Finally, they will be prevailing because of their indestructible spirit and courage. The iceberg technique Hemingway believes that a good writer does not need to reveal every detail of a character or action. The one-eighth is presented will suggest all other meaningful dimensions of the story. Thus, Hemingway’s language is symbolic and suggestive.