1、Rip Van Winkles1. Compare the different situations in the village for Rip Van Winkle before and after his 20-year sleep. Before: peaceful, phlegm (冷静) drowsy tranquility, quiet little inn After: populous, large, their dress altered; hustling; busy; bustling disputatious; 2. Do you think Rips wife is
2、 also a well-developed figure? How does this figure impress you? Yes, Rips wife is diligent, hard-working, shrew, responsible, but she loves his families and full of responsibilities.Scarlet LetterA. Natural symbols present things for the idea people commonly associate with them. i. Eg, a star for h
3、ope, night for death, rain often for fertility or the renewal of life.B. Conventional symbols present thing for the meanings people within a particular group have agreed to give them. C. Literary symbols sometimes build upon natural or conventional symbols, adding meanings appropriate primarily with
4、 the work at hand, but sometimes they also create meanings within a work for things that have no natural or conventional meaning outside it.Eg, a Christian cross for the association it evokes in people familiar with the religion.1. What symbols have you found in the selection? Explain. A：sin, adulte
5、ry(通奸)；Adam; apostle; ambivalence(矛盾心理， 矛盾情绪 ); Abba (father); Arthur (Dimmesdale); Hester: Adultery; Anguish; Agony; Alone; Alienation（疏远）; Able; Aid; Angle2. Who empowers Dimmesdale to stand on the scaffold? God/Strong guilty/love3. Why does Dimmesdale want to reveal? His sin was forgiven. He want
6、ed to be sowed, selwared, live innocent and without sin. He wanted to get rid of the womans husband. He wanted to be forgiven by god.4. Why does Chillingworth try desperately to stop Dimmesdale from confessing his sins on the scaffold? He wants to torture Dimmesdale again and kill him slowly. Compar
7、e with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth is more sinful.Song of Myself1. What does “I” and “You” stand for? “I”which serves as narrator, who should not be limited to or confused with the person of the historical. You: Reader.2. Explain the symbolic meaning of “a spear of summer grass”. “Grass” is a symbol o
8、f hope and youth, “spear” is a symbol of male energy, and “summer” is the hot season. All the three images put together form an energetic and hopeful picture, which indicates Whitman s optimism and experience.3. What does “Creeds and schools in abeyance” refer to? A state of being temporarily set as
9、ide the religion.The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn1. Read the first paragraph carefully, especially the last sentence and detect its language features. A. Full of mistakes. B. The last sentence is so long with wrong grammatical structure.2. How does Huck, a boy with rebellious spirit, come to be a r
10、eal hero in the readers mind? All of Huck s heroic virtues come from his good heart and his sense of humanity.A. He loves freedom. When he is adopted by a widow, in fact, he doesnt like the well-behaved life and he prefers the free and easy life.B. He is a smart boy who devises an illusion which is
11、about his drown death, as his father is a drunk who always beats him. Finally, he manages to escape from his father with his intelligence.C. He is an upright and friendly boy who helps Jim, a Black slave, to escape for freedom. He changes his social prejudice and discrimination to believe that Jim i
12、s not only a man, but also a good man.D. He is an honest and brave boy who meets two frauds called the King, and the Duke, but still keeps an honest heart in difficulties.E. He is keen on the individualism. After he saved Jim, he refuses to be adopted again but to choose an individual life.3. Elabor
13、ate on Mark Twains use of language in the story. A. In his story, his words are colloquial, concrete and direct in effect, and his sentence structure are simple, even ungrammatical, which is typical of the spoken language with a series of “thens” and semi-colons serving as connectives. B . He makes
14、full use of comic jargon and dialect. Furthermore he intentionally deviates from classical literary tradition and creates genuine. American style-easy, informal, and unaffected.4. Why do we say it is a realist novel? A.This novel touches on all kinds of people who are from different ranks along the
15、Mississippi River. Huck, his father, Jim(from the lower class) the swindlers( the Duke and the Dauphin), Colonel Sherburn(from the upper class) and the drunkard Boggs, all these characters has prototypes in real life. The fact of the wilderness juxtaposed with civilization, the people along the Rive
16、r half wild and half civilized, many of whom are coarse, vulgar, and brutal. Such as the Blacks being sold in the market places like animals.B. It touches on various social problems which include slavery, education, religion and hatred between families.C. The truthfulness of details. Such as Hucks f
17、ather who is a drunk abused Huck and wants to get Hucks money. Such as the Black slave, Jim who aspires freedom and equality very much and becomes free with the help of Huck in the adventure. Such as the two frauds, claim themselves as the noble man but actually are swindlers fraud Huck and sale Jim
18、.Indian Camp1. Why did Nicks father apologize to him after the husband was found dead? A. Because Nick is a sensitive little boy, Nicks father fears that the husband death would be a trauma to him.B. But the trauma really happened.2. Why did the husband kill himself? A. The miserable experience of h
19、is wife giving birth, makes the husband fell more painful.B. The doctors attitude towards his wife is so indifferent and cold. For example, when his wife cried out, the doctor said he hasnt any anaesthetic and doesnt hear them because they are not important. These words indicate the poor living cond
20、ition of Indians and life is so difficult for them.C. The process, his wife is going to have a baby, is seen by many men. He doesnt want to bear to life, because it is very insufferable to him.D. He had cut his food very badly with an ax three days before. The two huge pain is so painful. 3. What do
21、es the last sentence mean? Nick thinks about many things after witnesses the husband death.A. He thinks about humanity, men and women, and what led people to death.B. He thinks Uncle George may also kill himself, realizing life is uncertain when you fell uncertain after suffering the huge trauma.C. He realizes that death is possible to everyone and human beings is fragile.D. Nevertheless, he will be tough enough when he grown up and never kill himself.
