5.2　考研真题与典型题详解

I. Fill in the blanks.

1．In his autobiography, ________creates the image of a self-made man and demonstrates his belief that the new world of America was a land of ________which might be met through hard work and wise management.（天津外国语学院 2011研）

【答案】Benjamin Franklin, opportunities

【解析】富兰克林是美国启蒙时期与独立战争时期的代表人物。他的《自传》是美国第一部成功的传记体作品，文中树立的主人公形象激励了一代又一代的美国人去追求美国梦。

2．If we say Jonathan Edwards represents the upper levels of the American mind, ________ represents the lower levels.

【答案】Benjamin Franklin

【解析】美国文学评论家范·威克·布鲁克斯（Van Wyck Brooks）在《美国的成年》(America’s Coming of Age) 中指出乔纳森·爱德华兹和本杰明·富兰克林是美国18世纪的两位重要的哲学家，他们是不同层次思想的代表。

3．Franklin’s claim to a place in literature rests chiefly on his ________and ________.

【答案】Poor Richard’s Almanac，The Autobiography

【解析】富兰克林在文学上的地位主要取决于《穷查理历书》和《自传》。

4．In American literature, the eighteenth century was an Age of ________ and Revolution.

【答案】Reason

【解析】18世纪的美国处于理性与革命时期。这一时期的美国深受法国启蒙思想的影响，且处于独立革命时期。

5．Franklin was the epitome of the ____, the versatile, practical embodiment of national man in the 18th century.

【答案】Enlightenment

【解析】富兰克林是启蒙思想的缩影，是18世纪理性的代表。

6．Benjamin Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece ________.

【答案】The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

【解析】本杰明·富兰克林文学上最大的成就体现在他的作品《本杰明. 富兰克林自传》上。该书以平易的文风叙述了富兰克林艰苦创业、自学成才、坚持不懈的奋斗历程。

7．Benjamin Franklin also edited the first colonial magazine, which he called ________.

【答案】the General Magazine

【解析】本杰明.富兰克林 (1706-1790)——十八世纪美国最伟大的科学家和发明家，著名的政治家、外交家、哲学家、文学家和航海家以及美国独立战争的伟大领袖。他编辑了美国殖民时期第一份杂志the General Magazine。

II. Multiple Choices

1．Benjamin Franklin is not merely an outstanding politician, a talented inventor but also a famed literary giant. His autobiography set the example of practicing ________ moral disciplines which gave profound influences as the national spirit.（北二外2007研）

A. Quaker’s

B. Puritan

C. Anglican Christian

D. Easter’s

【答案】B

【解析】富兰克林是一位虔诚的清教徒，他的《自传》是奉行清教道德标准的典范，对塑造美国精神产生了重大影响。

2．The first symbol of self-made American man is ________.（北二外2009研）

A. George Washington

B. Washington Irving

C. Thomas Jefferson

D. Benjamin Franklin

【答案】D

【解析】富兰克林是第一个自力更生、白手起家的美国人的标志。

3．The English colonies in North America rose in arms against their parent country and the Continental Congress adopted ________ in 1776.

A. the Declaration of Independence

B. the Sugar Act

C. the Stamp Act

D. the Mayflower Compact

【答案】A

【解析】1776年13个英属北美殖民地奋起反击英国的殖民统治，并且1776年7月4日，大陆会议通过了一份由托马斯·杰斐逊起草的《独立宣言》（Declaration of Independence）。

4．During the Reason and Revolution Period, Americans were influenced by the European movement called the ________.

A. Chartist Movement

B. Romanticist Movement

C. Enlightenment Movement

D. Modernist Movement

【答案】C

【解析】18世纪的美国处于理性与革命时期，这时的美国深受同时期欧洲启蒙运动的影响。

5．“God help those who help themselves” is found in ________’s work.

A. Paine

B. Franklin

C. Freneau

D. Jefferson

【答案】B

【解析】“自助者天助之”出自富兰克林的作品。

6．The secular ideals of the American Enlightenment were exemplified in the life and career of ________.

A. Thomas Hood

B. Benjamin Franklin

C. Thomas Jefferson

D. George Washington

【答案】B

【解析】作为美国财富和智慧的象征，美国人民把富兰克林的头像印在100美元纸钞的正面。200多年来，这位智者的思想一直被那些希望拥有美德并过上富足生活的人们所遵循和实践着。他的个人生活和职业生涯代表了美国启蒙运动中世俗化的理想。

7．From 1732 to 1758, Benjamin Franklin wrote and published his famous ________, an annual collection of proverbs.

A. The Autobiography

B. Poor Richard’s Almanac

C. Common Sense

D. The General Magazine

【答案】B

【解析】《穷理查历书》（Poor Richard’s Almanac）它是由美国资本主义精神最完美的代表——本杰明·富兰克林所写。该出版物从1732年至1758年不断出现。它幽默、睿智、形式奇特，通篇贯彻着人类的智慧精华，书中的名言警句与人生箴言即使在现在看来也具有很积极的作用。

8．Which statement about Benjamin Franklin is not true?

A. He instructed his countrymen as a printer.

B. He was a scientist.

C. He was a master of diplomacy.

D. He was a Puritan.

【答案】A

【解析】本杰明·富兰克林有一连串的头衔——作家，发明家，出版商，科学家，外交家。他没有显赫的家世，没有富裕的生活，仅仅靠自己对宗教的虔诚，对教育的重视，生活的简朴，以及不屈的奋斗获得了在各个领域的成功，他是美国“清教主义”的杰出代表。所以选项A对本杰明·富兰克林的陈述显然是不对的。

9．Benjamin Franklin shaped his writing after the ________ of the English essayists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele.

A. Spectator

B. Walden

C. Nature

D. The Sacred Wood

【答案】A

【解析】本杰明·富兰克林的作品深受英国散文家约瑟夫·艾迪生（Joseph Addison）和理查德·斯蒂尔（Richard Steele）的《旁观者》的影响。

III. Explain the following term.

The literary form of autobiography（北二外2008研）

Key：

The literary form of autobiography: An autobiography is a person’s account of his or her life. It is generally written in the first person, with the author speaking as “I”. Autobiography presents life events as the writer views them, and offers insights into the beliefs and perceptions of the author. Representative writer is Benjamin Franklin and his work, is The Autobiography.

IV. Read the following quotation and answer the questions.

It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon found I had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct. For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.

In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalog more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and ambition. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning.

Questions:

1．Which work is this passage taken from?

2．Who is the author of this book?

3．What is your understanding of the book?

Key：

1．The Autobiography

2．Benjamin Franklin

3．①the book is probably the first of its kind in literature. It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity in which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of America’s first self-made man. The book contains four parts, written at different times.

②It is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. It is also a convincing illustration of the Puritan ethic that in order to get on in the world, one has to be industrial, frugal, and prudent.

③it is also an eloquent elucidation of the fact that Franklin was spokesman for the new order of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free by nature, endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Through telling a success story of self-reliance, the book celebrates, in fact, the fulfillment of the American dream.

④The style of the book is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision. The lucidity of the narrative, the absence of ornaments in wording and complex, involved structures in syntax, and the Puritan abhorrence of paradox are all well graphically demonstrated here and in the whole of the book. Taken as a whole, it is safe to say that the book is an exemplary illustration of the American style of writing.

V. Short answer questions

1．What is a proverb? Which writer in this period liked to use proverbs?

Key：

①A proverb is a short popular saying expressing some general truth or superstition. As expressions of basic principles of folk wisdom drawn from the daily experiences of a group of people, proverbs exist in all societies. They reflect a particular culture’s view of the world and convey feelings about fate, the seasons, the natural world, work and effort, love, death, and other universal experiences. These memorable bits of wisdom have survived for centuries; perhaps they reflect unchanging truths about human nature.

②Most of Benjamin Franklin’s aphorisms are adapted from anonymous traditional or folk sayings, known as proverbs. Franklin, who believed that clarity and brevity were two of the most important characteristics of good prose, rewrote many proverbs, crafting short, direct, witty sayings that taught a lesson.

2．Analysis of Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Key：

Benjamin Franklin created a character, Poor Richard, in whose name the work appeared, and whose real existence was debated humorously and seriously. For almost a quarter of a century, he kept publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac, expanding its literary part to the intense delight of its readers.

Apart from poems and essays, he managed to put in a good many adages, and commonsense witticisms which became household words and many mottos of the most typical kind. He did not always write the maxims himself. He borrowed from others and made good use of his own wit and wisdom to simplify and enrich their axiom. There are many similar statements filled almanac, and taught as much as amused. The practical wisdom of Franklin shone forth rays of grandeur from its pages.

VI. Essay question

What are the characteristics of Benjamin Franklin’s literary work?

Key：

The predominant quality in all of Benjamin Franklin’s writing is its genuine humanness; this is what brought the Almanac into instant popularity, and what makes the Autobiography an enduring American classic. It is a quality that had been extremely rare in the earlier colonial literature. A keen sense of humor, also, homely and blunt but true, is constant in Franklin’ s work and one of the essential factors in its success.

Franklin’s literary work was thoroughly typical of himself. To him the matter of “getting on” in the world was a duty; and to enable others to see the advantages of integrity, application, and thrift was his self-appointed task. The absence of ideality is obvious in all his compositions. He never reached the high levels of imaginative art, but on this lower plane of material interest and everyday life he was, and is, without a peer among writers. The works which have been mentioned possess a universal charm.