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PART TWO (60 POINTS)
Ⅱ. Reading Comprehension ( 16 points in all, 4 for each)
Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet.
41.Read the quotation carefully and then answer the questions:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
A.Scan the first line of the stanza.
Iambic pentameter with the rhyming scheme of abab.
B.Find the irregular foot in the second line.
The third foot contains two accented syllables.
C.Briefly explain the significance of this irregularity.
Two accented syllables slow down the pace in keeping with the literary meaning of the phrase "wind slowly."
42.The following is a passage taken from a dramatic work:
Had I as many souls as there be stars
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis!
By him I'll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge thorough the moving air
To pass the ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown;
The emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtained what I desire
I'll live in speculation of this art
Till Mephistophilis return again.
A.Name the playwright and the title of the work from which the passage is taken.
Dr.Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe.
B.Name the speaker of the passage quoted above.
Dr.Faustus.
C.Use the above passage as a guide and write down in one or two sentences the theme of the play.
Man's aspiration, bounding achievements, and the inevitable failure.
43.Read the following passage and then answer the questions:
…I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.
A.Identify the author and the title of the novel from which this passage is taken.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
B.The passage describes the end of an event. What is it?
It is a description of the end of a big party.
C.What implied meaning can you get from reading this passage?
The passage hints at the meaninglessness, spiritual emptiness and vanity of such a lift of pleasure-seeking. There is a tragic sense that the "party" will be over.
44.Read the following part of a poem and then answer the questions:
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
A.Identify the poet and the title of the poem.
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
B.What do "soil" and "air" represent in the first line?
America, his country, his native land.
C.What does the poet try to say in the above four lines?
I was born and nurtured by this land and shall from now on devote my whole life to the country.
Ⅱ. Reading Comprehension ( 16 points in all, 4 for each)
Read the quoted parts carefully and answer the questions in English. Write your answers in the corresponding space on the answer sheet.
41.Read the quotation carefully and then answer the questions:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
A.Scan the first line of the stanza.
Iambic pentameter with the rhyming scheme of abab.
B.Find the irregular foot in the second line.
The third foot contains two accented syllables.
C.Briefly explain the significance of this irregularity.
Two accented syllables slow down the pace in keeping with the literary meaning of the phrase "wind slowly."
42.The following is a passage taken from a dramatic work:
Had I as many souls as there be stars
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis!
By him I'll be great emperor of the world,
And make a bridge thorough the moving air
To pass the ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore
And make that country continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown;
The emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any potentate of Germany.
Now that I have obtained what I desire
I'll live in speculation of this art
Till Mephistophilis return again.
A.Name the playwright and the title of the work from which the passage is taken.
Dr.Faustus, a play by Christopher Marlowe.
B.Name the speaker of the passage quoted above.
Dr.Faustus.
C.Use the above passage as a guide and write down in one or two sentences the theme of the play.
Man's aspiration, bounding achievements, and the inevitable failure.
43.Read the following passage and then answer the questions:
…I glanced back once. A wafer of a moon was shining over Gatsby's house, making the night fine as before, and surviving the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.
A.Identify the author and the title of the novel from which this passage is taken.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
B.The passage describes the end of an event. What is it?
It is a description of the end of a big party.
C.What implied meaning can you get from reading this passage?
The passage hints at the meaninglessness, spiritual emptiness and vanity of such a lift of pleasure-seeking. There is a tragic sense that the "party" will be over.
44.Read the following part of a poem and then answer the questions:
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
A.Identify the poet and the title of the poem.
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"
B.What do "soil" and "air" represent in the first line?
America, his country, his native land.
C.What does the poet try to say in the above four lines?
I was born and nurtured by this land and shall from now on devote my whole life to the country.