广州大学外国语学院2017年硕士研究生复试试题 （命题人：肖坤学 陆道夫）

Part one: language and Linguistic (50)

Part Two: American and British Literature (50%)

I. Fill in the Blanks with the Words Chosen from the Word Blank (10%, 1 point for each blank)

A. the Presidential Medal of Freedom

B. dismay

C. renaissance

D. a special citation

E. the physical world

F. unrecognizable

G. artists

H. commencing

I. new poetic expressions

J. censored

K. defended

L. influential

Bob Dylan (1941---) is an American songwriter, singer, painter, and writer. He has been _____(1) in popular music and culture for more than five decades. As a musician, Dylan has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling ______(2) of all time. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him __________(3) for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." In May 2012, Dylan received_______ (4) from President Barack Obama. In 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created________(5) within the great American song tradition".

To the ______(6) of some of his audience, Dylan’s performances remain unpredictable as he alters his arrangements and changes his vocal approach night after night. Critical opinion about Dylan's shows remains divided. Critics such as Richard Williams and Andy Gill have argued that Dylan has found a successful way to present his rich legacy of material. Others have criticized his live performances for mangling and spitting out "the greatest lyrics ever written so that they are effectively __________ (7)", and giving so little to the audience that "it is difficult to understand what he is doing on stage at all."

Dylan's performances in China in April 2011 generated controversy. Some criticized him for not making any explicit comment on the political situation in China,


and for, allegedly, allowing the Chinese authorities to censor his set list. Others ________ (8) Dylan’s performances, arguing that such criticism represented a misunderstanding of Dylan's art, and that no evidence for the censorship of Dylan's set list existed. In response to these allegations, Dylan posted a statement on his website: "As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing. There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous 3 months. If there were any songs, verses or lines _________ (9), nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play."

At the beginning of 2017, Dylan announced his forthcoming tour of Europe, ________ (10) commencing in Stockholm on April 1, and ending in Dublin on May

11. In June and July, Dylan's tour will continue across Canada and the US.

Your Answer should be:

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-

8-

9-

10-

II. Explain Briefly the Following Terms (10%, 2 points for each term)

1. sonnet

2. Art for Art

3. American Dream

4. the lost generation

5. Imagism

III. Decide Whether the Following Statements Are True of False. Use T for True and F for False. (10%, 1 point for each)

( ) 1. Hawthorne, who seemed to be haunted by his sense of sin and veil, never showed a positive part of the life.

( ) 2. "Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?…And if God had gifted me with some beauty, and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you." This well-know passage is taken from the novel Wuthering Heights.

( ) 3. Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was about the Spanish Civil War.

( )4. Hemingway once described Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as the one book from which “all modern American literature comes.”

( ) 5. William Faulkner is generally regarded as the forerunner of the 20th century “stream-of-consciousness” novels and the founder of psychological realism.

( ) 6. In 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson made a speech entitled “The American Scholar"at Harvard, which was hailed by Oliver Wendell Holmes as "Our intellectual Declaration of Independence."

( ) 7. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is the beginning line of Shakespeare's sonnet 29 .

( ) 8. Thomas Hardy’s novels are set almost exclusively in a tract of Northwest England that he calls Wessex.

( ) 9. The Golden Notebook is Doris Lessing’s last novel to win the Nobel Prize.

( ) 10. It is generally regarded that Keats's most important and mature poems are in the form of ode.

IV. Read the Following Two Poems, and then Answer the Questions According to Your Own Understanding. (10%)

Poem 1 The Mourning Day

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;

The mourner's heart is going to break on his way.

Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?

A cowherd points to a cot 'mid apricot flowers.

Poem 2 In a Station of the Metro

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

Questions:

1. How many images can you find in these two poems? What are the uses of these images?

2. What is the theme of each poem according to your understanding?

3. Why does the poet use the same image of “flower” in the poem?

4. Does the word “rain” and “wet” suggest anything differently? Why?

5. What do you think of the style of each poem? In what way?

V. Lord Byron’s She Walks in Beauty is among the most memorable and most quoted poems in romantic poetry. Read the following poem, and then answer the

questions according to your understanding. (10%)

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

Questions:

1. What kind of lady does this poem describe? Please summarize the charm of this lady in your own words.

2. What figures of speech are used in this poem? Please list some of them.

3. Why does the poet praise her beauty “like the night of cloudless”?

4. How does this poem reflect features of romantic poetry?

5. Is Lord Byron optimistic in this poem? Why?

VI. Answer the Following Question Briefly (10%, you can choose one from the two questions)

1. How much do you know about American multiculturalism? Please use a specific example to state your points.

2. What are the differences and similarities of American literature and British literature?