《英美文学选读》（课程代码：00604）I.The following passage is an extract from Letter to Lord Chesterfield by Samuel Johnson, the leading figure of British neoclassicists. In 1747, when Samuel Johnson, began his Dictionary of the English language, Lord Chesterfield had at first indicated that he could be his patron, but when Johnson came to him for concrete help, Lord Chesterfield neglected him to the point of ignoring him; Johnson was insulted and furious. In 1775 when the Dictionary was published and acclaimed, Chesterfield openly recommended, hoping to get some credit for it as Johnson’s patron. Samuel Johnson wrote as reply his famous Letter to Lord Chesterfield in which he vented his feeling of hurt pride. Read it carefully, paying special attention to the rhetorical devices used, and answer the question. (20 points)①Is not patron, my lord, one who looked with unconcernupon man struggling for a life in the water, and when he hadreached to the safety of ground, encumbered him with help?②The notice you have taken of my Labour, had it beenearly, had been kind, but it had been delayed till I amindifferent, and can’t enjoy it; till I am solitary, and can’timpart it; till I am known, and do not want it. ③I hope thatit is no very asperity not to confess obligation where nobenefit have been received, or to be unwilling that thePublic should consider me as owing that to a patron, whichProvidence had enabled me to do for myself.Question:⑴what syntactic devices the author used in sentence ? And whatare their stylistic functions? (10 points)⑵point out the figure of speech used in sentences①and ③. (10 points)II. The following critical paper is about George Bernard Shaw’s famous drama “Pygmalion”. Read it carefully and answer the questions set on it. (20 points) 1 What we discover in Pygmalion is that phonetics and correct pronunciation are systems of markers superficial in themselves but endowed with tremendous social significance. Eliza's education in the ways that the English upper classes act and speak provides an opportunity for the playwright to explore the very foundations of social equality and inequality. Higgins himself observes that pronunciation is the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul. Playwright and character differ, however, in that instead of criticizing the existence of this gulf, Higgins accepts it as natural and uses his skills to help those who can afford his services (or are taken in as experiments, like Liza) to bridge it.2“At Mrs. Higgins's ““At Home reception,” Liza is fundamentally the same person she was in Act I, although she differs in what we learnto appreciate as superficialities of social disguise (according to Mugglestone): details of speech and cleanliness. Act III of Pygmalion highlights the importance of Liza's double transformation, by showing her suspended between the play's beginning and its conclusion. In modern society, however, as Shaw illustrates, it is precisely these superficial details which tend to be endowed with most significance. Certainly the Eynsford Hills view such details as significant, as Liza's entrance produces for them what Shaw's stage directions call “an impression of ... remarkable distinction and beauty.”3 Ironically, however, Liza's true transformation is yet to occur. She experiences a much more fundamental change in her consciousness when she realizes that Higgins has more or less abandoned her at the conclusion of his experiment.At first, Liza experiences a sense of anxiety over not belonging anywhere: she can hardly returnto flower peddling, yet she lacks the financial means to makeher new, outward identity a social reality. “What am I fit for?”She demands of Higgins. “What have you left me fit for? Wheream I to go? What am I to do? What's to become of me?” Berst wrote that while Pickering is generous, Eliza is shoved intothe wings by Higgins. The dream has been fulfilled, midnighthas tolled for Cinderella, and morning reality is at hand. Lizamust break away from Higgins when he shows himself incapableof recognizing her needs. This response of Higgins is well withinhis character as it has been portrayed in the play. Indeed, fromhis first exposure to Liza, Higgins denied Liza any social oreven individual worth. Calling Liza a squashed cabbage leaf, Higgins states that a woman who utters such depressing anddisgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere no right to live. Question 1: Explain what is Liza’s Double Transformation?(10 points)Question 2: What makes Liza feel she is in an embarrassing situation when she is transformed into a lady in speechand appearance? (10 points)III.The following critical essay is about Thomas Hardy’s most well-known tragic novel “Tess of d’Urbervilles”. Peruse it and then answer the questions set on it (30 points)The social background of Tess of d’Urbervilles was in a time of difficult social upheaval, when England was making its slow, painful transition from an old-fashioned, agricultural nation to amodern, industrial one. Businessmen and entrepreneurs, or “new money,” joined the ranks of the social elite, as some families of the ancient aristocracy, or “old money,” faded into obscurit y. Tess’s family in Tess of the d’Urbervilles illustrates this change, as Tess’s parents, the Durbeyfields, lose themselves in the fantasy of belonging to an ancient and aristocratic family, the d’Urbervilles.Hardy’s novel strongly suggests that such a f amily history is not only meaningless but also utterly undesirable. Hardy’s views on the subject were appalling to conservative and status-conscious British readers and Tess of the d’Urberville s was met in England with widespread controversy. Beyond her social symbolism, Tess represents fallen humanity in a religious sense, as the frequent biblical allusions in the novel remind us. Just as Tess’s clan was once glorious and powerful but is now sadly diminished, so too did the early glory of the first humans, Adam and Eve, fade with their expulsion from Eden, making humans sad shadows of what they once were. Tess thus represents what is known in Christian theology as original sin, the degraded state in which all humans live, even when—like Tess herself after killing Prince or succumbing to Alec—they are not wholly or directly responsible for the sins for which they are punished. This torment represents the most universal side of Tess: she is the myth of the human who suffers for crimes that are not her own and lives a life more degraded than she deserves.Angel represents a rebellious striving toward a personal vision of goodness A freethinking son born into the family of a provincial parson and determined to set himself up as a farmer instead of going to Cambridge like his conformist brothers,. He is a secularist who yearns to work for the “honor and glory of man,” as he tells his father in Chapter XVIII, rather than for the honor and glory of God in a more distant world. A typical young nineteenth-century progressive, Angel sees human society as a thing to be remolded and improved, and he fervently believes in the nobility of man. He rejects the values handed to him, and sets off in search of his own. His love for Tess, a mere milkmaid and his social inferior, is one expression of his disdain for tradition. This independent spirit contributes to his aura of charisma and general attractiveness that makes him the love object of all the milkmaids with whom he works at Talbothays. As his name—in French, close to “Bright Angel”—suggests, Angel is not quite of this world, but floats above it in a transcendent sphere of his own. The narrator says that Angel shines rather than burns and that he is closer to the intellectually aloof poet Shelley than to the fleshly and passionate poet Byron.His love for Tess may be abstract, as we guess when he calls her “Daughter of Nature” or “Demeter.” Tess may be more an archetype or ideal to him than a flesh and blood woman with a complicated life. Angel’s ideals of human purity are too elevated to be applied to actual people: Mrs. Durbeyfield’s easygoing moral beliefs are much more easily accommodated to real lives such as Tess’s. Angel awakens to the actual complexities of real-world morality after hisfailure in Brazil, and only then he realizes he has been unfair to Tess. His moral system is readjusted as he is brought down to Earth. Ironically, it is not the angel who guides the human in this novel, but the human who instructs the angel, although at the cost of her own life.Question 1: Why Tess is said to be a paragon of “fallen humanity”?(15 points)Question 2: Why Tess converted the idealist Angle into a realist Angle in terms of her own tragedy? (15 points)IV.The following paragraphs are taken from chapter VIII ofbook IV in Gulliver’s Travels. This section pictures an ideal rational existence, the Houyhnhnms kingdom whose life is governed by sense and moderation of which philosopherssince Plato have long dreamed. Read them and answer thefollowing questions. (30 points)1Courtship, love, presents, jointures, settlements haveno place in their thoughts, or terms whereby to expressthem in their language. The young couple meet,and are joined, merely because it is the determinationof their parents and friends; it is what they see doneevery day, and they look upon it as one of the necessaryactions of a reasonable being.2 But the violation of marriage, or any other unchastity,was never heard of; and the married pair pass their liveswith the same friendship and mutual benevolence, thatthey bear to all others of the same species who come intheir way, without jealousy, fondness, quarrelling, ordiscontent. When the matron Houyhnhnms have produced one of each sex, they no longer accompany with their consorts, except they lose one of their issue by some casualty, which very seldom happens; but in such a case they meet again; or when the like accident befalls a person whose wife is past bearing, some other couple bestow on him one of their own colts, and then go together again until the mother is pregnant. This caution is necessary, to prevent the country from being overburdened with numbers. But the race of inferior Houyhnhnms, bred up to be servants, is not so strictly limited upon this article: these are allowed to produce three of each sex, to be domestics in the noble families3 Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is arepresentative council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain about twenty miles from our house, and continues about five or six days. Here they inquire into the state and condition of the several districts; whether they abound or be deficient in hay or oats, or cows, or Yahoos; and wherever there is any want (which is but seldom) it is immediately supplied by unanimous consent and contribution. Here likewise the regulation of children is settled: as for instance, ifa Houyhnhnm has two males, he changes one of them withanother that has two females; and when a child has been lost by any casualty, where the mother is past breeding, it is determined what family in the district shall breed another to supply the loss.Question1.The satire in this work is seen entirely in a discrepancybetween Swift and the Gulliver, the typical rational scientist in the age of enlightenment? Comment on it. (15points)Question2. In what ways does the author satirize the rationalism ofHouyhnhnms society, for example, the rational idea onmarriage, and the family-planning? (15 points)《英美文学选读》试卷参考答案I. 【20分】Answer:The author used repetition and parallelism to make this satirical prose daintier and more repugnant in tone. This piece of prose is typical of neoclassical prose which set great store by elegance of the language which was achieved by way of rhetorical richness. 【10分】The author used sarcasm in these two sentences to openly deny Lord Chesterfield’s patronage and attack his insolent and blatant behavior. The sarcasm made in a circumlocutious way renders this satirical prose more taunting and bitter. 【10分】II【20分】Question 1: What is Liza’s Double Transformation?Act III of Pygmalion highlights the importance of Liza's double transformation, by showing her suspended between the play's beginning and its conclusion. “At Mrs. Higgins's ““At Home reception,” Liza is fundamentally the same person she was in Act I, although she differs in what we learn to appreciate as superficialities of social disguise (according to Mugglestone): details of speech and cleanliness. In modern society, however, as Shaw illustrates, it is precisely these superficial details which tend to be endowed with most significance. Certainly the Eynsford Hills view such details as significant, as Liza's entrance produces for them what Shaw's stage directions call “animpression of ... remarkable distinction and beauty.” Ironically, however, Liza's true transformation is yet to occur. She experiences a much more fundamental change in her consciousness when she realizes that Higgins has more or less abandoned her at the conclusion of his experiment. 【10分】Question 2:What is Liza’s Predicament?Liza experiences a sense of anxiety over not belonging anywhere: she can hardly return to flower peddling, yet she lacks the financial means to make her new, outward identity a social reality. “What am I fit for?” She demands of Higgins. “What have you left me fit for? Where am I to go? What am I to do? What's to become of me?” While Pickering is generous, Eliza is shoved into the wings by Higgins. The dream has been fulfilled, midnight has tolled for Cinderella, and morning reality is at hand. Liza must break away from Higgins when he shows himself incapable of recognizing her needs. This response of Higgins is well within his character as it has been portrayed in the play. Indeed, from his first exposure to Liza, Higgins denied Liza any social or even individual worth. Calling Liza a squashed cabbage leaf, Higgins states that a woman who utters such depressing and disgusting sounds has no right to be anywhere no right to live. 【10分】III.【30分】Question 1: Why Tess is said to be a paragon of fallen humanity?Tess represents fallen humanity in a religious sense, as the frequent biblical allusions in the novel remind us. Just as Tess’s clan was once glorious and powerful but is now sadly diminished, so too did the early glory of the first humans, Adam and Eve, fade with their expulsion from Eden, making humans sad shadows of what they once were. Tess thus represents what is known in Christian theology as original sin, the degraded state in which all humans live, even when—like Tess herself after killing Prince or succumbing to Alec—they are not wholly or directly responsible for the sins for which they are punished. This torment represents the most universal side of Tess: she is the myth of the human who suffers for crimes that are not her own and lives a life more degraded than she deserves. 【15分】Question 2: Discuss why Tess changes the idealist Angle into a realist Angle in a tragic way?Angel is closer to the intellectually aloof poet Shelley than to the fleshly and passionate poet Byron. His love for Tess may be abstract, as we guess when he calls her “Daughter of Nature” or “Demeter.” Tess may be more an archetype or ideal to him than a flesh and blood woman with a complicated life. Angel’sideals of human purity are too elevated to be applied to actual people: Mrs. Durbeyfield’s eas ygoing moral beliefs are much more easily accommodated to real lives such as Tess’s. Angel awakens to the actual complexities of real-world morality after his failure in Brazil, and only then he realizes he has been unfair to Tess. His moral system is readjusted as he is brought down to Earth. Ironically, it is not the angel who guides the human in this novel, but the human who instructs the angel, although at the cost of her own life. 【15分】IV【30分】Question1. This work is called a satire which is seen entirely in a discrepancy between Swift and the Gulliver, the typical rational scientist in the age of enlightenment? Comment on it. 【15分】There are echoes of Plato’s Republic in the Houyhnhnms’rejection of light entertainment and vain displays of luxury, their appeal to reason rather than any holy writings as the criterion for proper action, and their communal approach to family planning.The Gulliver’s Travels is a book of subtle satire. The satire comes mainly from the discrepancy between Gulliver who is fitted out as the archetypal man of the enlightenment movement, susceptible to rationalism of 18th century. Swift on the other hand is very critical of his time, especially its rational thinking. Whereas Gulliver takes Houyhnhnm society as ideal utopia one, the author finds its rationality totally intolerable.Question2.In what ways does the author satirize the rational Houyhnhnms society, for example, the rational ideal on marriage, and the family-planning? 【15分】Paragons of virtue and rationality, the horses are also dull, simple, and lifeless. Their language is impoverished, their mating loveless, and their understanding of the complex play of social forces naïve. What is missing in the horses is exactly that which makes human life rich: the complicated interplay of selfishness, altruism, love, hate, and all other emotions. In other words, the Houyhnhnms’ society is perfect for Houyhnhnms, but it is hopeless for humans. Houyhnhnm society is, in stark contrast to the societies of the first three voyages, devoid of all that is human.But we may be less ready than Gulliver to take the Houyhnhnms as ideals of human existence. They have no names in the narrative nor any need for names, since they are virtually interchangeable, with little individual identity. Their lives seem harmonious and happy, although quite lacking in vigor, challenge, and excitement. Indeed, this apparent ease may be why Swift chooses to makethem horses rather than human types like every other group in the novel. He may be hinting, to those more insightful than Gulliver, that the Houyhnhnms should not be considered human ideals at all. In any case, they symbolize a standard of rational existence to be either espoused or rejected by both Gulliver and us.。
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