问答题
It seemed as if he thought a while, for now he arose and turned the gas out, standing calmly in the blackness, hidden from view. After a few moments, in which he reviewed nothing, but merely hesitated, he turned the gas on again, but applied no match. Even then he stood there, hidden wholly in that kindness which is night, while the uprising fumes filled the room. When the odor reached his nostrils, he quit his attitude and fumbled for the bed. "What"s the use?" he said, weakly, as he stretched himself to rest.And now Carrie had attained that which in the beginning seemed life"s object, or, at least, such fraction of it as human beings ever attain of their original desires. She could look about on her gowns and carriage, her furniture and bank account. Friends there were, as the world takes it—those who would bow and smile in acknowledgment of her success. For these she had once craved. Applause there was, and publicity—once far off, essential things, but now grown trivial and indifferent. Beauty also—her type of loveliness—and yet she was lonely. In her rocking-chair she sat, when not otherwise engaged—singing and dreaming.[…]Oh, the tangle of human life! How dimly as yet we see. Here was Carrie, in the beginning poor, unsophisticated, emotional; responding with desire to everything most lovely in life, yet finding herself turned as by a wall. Laws to say; " Be allured, if you will, by everything lovely, but draw not nigh unless by righteousness. " Convention to say: "You shall not better your situation save by honest labor. " If honest labor be unremunerative and difficult to endure; if it be the long, long road which never reaches beauty, but wearies the feet and the heart; if the drag to follow beauty be such that one abandons the admired way, taking rather the despised path leading to her dreams quickly, who shall cast the first stone? Not evil, but longing for that which is better, more often directs the steps of the erring. Not evil, but goodness more often allures the feeling mind unused to reason.
问答题
Identify the author and the work from which the passage is selected.(2 points)
【正确答案】正确答案:Theodore Dreiser"s Sister Carrie.
【答案解析】
问答题
Define the literary school/trend to which the author belongs?(4 points)
【正确答案】正确答案:Dreiser belongs to the school of Naturalism.
【答案解析】
问答题
Compare and contrast the ends of two protagonists.(4 points)
【正确答案】正确答案:The above passage is excerpted from the last chapter of the novel, telling the different endings of its two protagonists—Carrie Meeber and George Hurstwood. The fates of the two seem to be exchanged in the end. Carrie was once a "poor, unsophisticated, emotional" country girl going to Chicago to pursue American dream, and finally she survives and is rewarded, receiving the career on the stage of New York. Hurstwood was an " ambassador" sent from the world of wealth, fashion and fine manners, but as Carrie unexpectedly rises to wealth and fame, Hurstwood loses his ability to maintain his status and gradually sinks into the depth of poverty and despair. The endings of Carrie and Hurstwood are quite divergent. This determinism is a typical feature of the naturalistic novel. Carrie and Hurstwood are unable to assert their wills against natural and economic forces. They are pathetic in their inability to escape their fates.