陶洁版-美国文学选读-第三版-课后习题答案.doc

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
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 pliment 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 ing.
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
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
1.What are the stories Ismael tells about Moby Dick?
Ishmael pares 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 e 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 suggests 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
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 plicate 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 overe 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” specially 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 wele 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 mon 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 mon 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
1: Why do you think Mr.Wheeler is so eager to tell these stories?
From Mr.Wheeler’s behaviors and contents of his narration 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.
2: 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.

3: 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 plete failure according toour mon sense about munication.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 plicated 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 h