高级英语MarkTwain课后练习.doc

EXERCISES 9
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I. Give brief answers to the following questions, using your own words as much as possible:
1) Why is Mark Twain one of America's best-loved authors?
2) Give a brief account of Mark Twain's experience before he became a writer.
3) Why did the author adopt 'Mark Twain' as his pen name?
4) When did Mark Twain become a pilot on a steamboat? How long did he stay there? What did he learn there? What effect did this experience have on his writing?
5) Why did Twain leave the river country? What did he do then?
6) What story did he write that made him known as "the wild humorist of the Pacific slope”?
7) Why did the book, the Innocents Abroad, become an instant best-seller?
8) Why is Tom Sawyer as sure to be studied in American schools today as is the Declaration of Independence?
9) Why did Twain become bitter late in life?

Ⅱ. Paraphrase:
1) A man who became obsessed with the frailties of the human race
2) Mark Twain digested the new American experience before sharing it with the world as writer and lecturer.
3) The cast of characters set before him in his new profession was rich and varied-- a cosmos.
4) Broke and discouraged, he accepted a job as reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise
5) Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist.
6)"and when she projects a new surprise, the grave world smiles as usual, and says 'Well, that is California all over’ '"
7) Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh.

Ⅲ. Translate the following into Chinese:
1) From them all Mark Twain gained a keen perception of the human race, of the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are.
2) Tom's mischievous daring, ingenuity, and the sweet innocence of his affection for Becky Thatcher are almost as sure to be studied in American schools today as is the Declaration of Independence.
3) Mark Twain suggested that an ingredient was missing in the American ambition when he said: "What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges."
4) In The Mysterious Stranger, he insisted that man drop his religious illusions and depend upon himself, not Providence, to make a better world.
5) "... they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and foolishness; where they have left no sign that they had existed -- a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever. "

Ⅳ. Pick out the compound nouns and compound adjectives fry the text and explain their formation.

Ⅴ. Give the antonyms of the words listed below:
1) optimist
2) savage
3) keen 4) to rebuff
5) diligently
6) sluggish
7) to acknowledge
8) colossal
9) tedious
10) dreary

Ⅵ. Pick out all the words and phrases connected with boats and rivers.

VII. In this text, a lot of nouns are used as attributes. Pick them out.
Models: 1) tramp printer2) steamboat days

VIII. Explain how the meaning of the following sentences is affected when the italicized words are replaced with the words in brackets. Pay attention to the shades of meaning of the words.
1) Indeed, this nation's best-loved author was every bit as adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined. (sentimental) (witty)
2 ) Tramp printer, river pilot, Confederate guerrilla, prospector, starry-eyed optimist, acid-tongued cynic(critic)
3) Lumber, corn, tobacco, wheat, and furs moved dove stream to the delta country (timber
4) From them all Mark Twain gained a keen perception of the human race, of the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are. (proclaim oneself)
5) When railroads began drying up the demand for steamboat pilos and the Civil War halted commerce (need) (stop)
6) Attacks on the city government, concerning such issues as mistreatment of Chinese, so angered officials that he fled to the gold-fields (ill-treatment)
7) It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises... and a recklessness of cost or consequences. (results)
8) In the dreary winter of 1864-65 in Angels Camp, he kept a notebook. ( tedious)
9) In New York City the steamship Quaker City prepared to sail on a pleasure cruise to Europe and the Holy Land. (pleasant)
10) Twain was assigned to accompany them, as correspondent for a California newspaper. (reporter)
11) What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be (healthy)
12) He commented with a crushing sense of despair on man's final release from earthly struggles (desperation)

IX. The italicized words are used metaphorically. Explain their meanings in your own words and comment on the suitability of the metaphors in each case.
1) Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finn's idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyer's endless summer of freedom and adventure.
2) The geographic core, in Twain's early years was the great valley of the Mississippi River, main artery of transportation in the young nation's heart.
3) The cast of characters set before him in his new profession was rich and varied -- a cosmos
4) Steamboat decks teemed not only with the main current of pioneering humanity, but its flotsam of hustlers, gamblers,and thugs as well.
5) He went west by stagecoach and succumbed to the epidemic of glod and silver fever in Nevada's Washoe region.
6) For eight months he flirted with the colossal wealth available to the lucky and the persistent, and was rebuffed.
7) From the discouragement of his mining failures, Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist.
8) Mark Twain honed and experimented with his new writing muscles.

X. Besides metaphors and hyperboles, the writer used many other figures of speech to make his writing more vivid and powerful. Point out the figures used in the following sentences:
1) From them all Mark Twain gained a keen perception of the human race, of the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are.
2) He tried soldiering for two weeks with a motley band of Confederate guerrillas who diligently avoided contact with the enemy.
3) But for making money, his pen would prove mightier than his pickax.( )
4) “It was a splendid population – for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home” ( )
5) "It was that population... and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences” ( )
6) Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh.( )
7) He commented with a crushing sense of despair on man's final release from earthly struggles ( )
8) a world which will lament them a day and forget them for-ever ( )

XI. Make sentences using the following words in a figurative sense:
1) heart2) artery3) current
4) Hotbed5) to dry up6) to hone

XII. In some places the author uses hyperboles (exaggerations for effect) to emphasize his meaning. Try to pick them out.
Models: 1) eternal boyhood
2) America laughed with him.

XIII. Replace the italicized words and phrases with more formal words or expressions:
1) Indeed, this nation's best-loved author was every bit as adventurous... as anyone had ever imagined. ( )
2) Broke and discouraged, he accepted a job as reporter ( )
3) That gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises ( )
4) and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring ( )
5) "Well, that is California all over." ( )
6) "Coleman with his jumping frog -- bet stranger $50."( )
7) Casually he debunked revered artists and art treasures. ( )
8) He insisted that man drop his religious illusions ( )

ⅩⅣ. Translate the following into English (using the following words or expressions: to find expression in, to shape ... into, to have no choice but, to succumb, not until, to acquaint ... with, that's ... all over, to be obsessed with, to teem with, every bit as ... as, acquaintance, to sb.’s horror, to sb. 's satisfaction):
1）对贫困的担心使他忧虑重重。
2）洞庭湖盛产鱼虾。
3）汤姆的聪明丝毫不亚于班上的第一名学生。
4）我认识他，但我们说不上是朋友。
5）在压力下，他别无办法，只好离职。
6）最后他被她说服了，决定改变原计划。
7）那时许多儿童死于天花。
8）他发现船舱里进了很多水，十分惊恐。
9）孩子们考试成绩优异，家长和教师都很满意。
10）彼得的特点真是如此。
11）直到半夜医生才做完手术。
12）历史课使我对古代文明有所了解。
13）老作家根据这个民间故事写成了一个电影剧本。
14）新上演的那出话剧充分表现了中国人民大无畏的革命精神。

XV. Topic for oral work
Why does the writer consider Mark Twain a mirror of America?

XVI. Write a summary of the life to Mark Twain within 200 words.

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习题全解
I .
1)Because his literary works such as two novels about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are loved by Americans, who imagine he was adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous.
2) Before he became a writer, he worked as a tramp printer, river pilot, Confederate guerrilla, prospector, and reporter. He had done varied jobs.
3) He adopted his pen name from the cry heard in his steamboat days, signaling two fathoms of water.
4) He became a pilot on a steamboat in 1857 and stayed there for four and a half years. There he learned a lot about human nature and gained a keen perception of the human race. This experience immensely enriched his writing.
5) He left the river country because the development of railroad, rendered steamboat pilots less necessary and the Civil War began, stopping commerce. Then he became a Confederate guerrilla.
6) The celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
7) Because it was a book centered on satirizing Europe and the Holy Land, arousing intense interest among Americans.
8) Because it is a classic tale of American boyhood describing Tom's mischievous daring, ingenuity, and the sweet innocence of his affection for Becky Thatcher.
9) Personal tragedy made him become bitter late in life.

Ⅱ.
1) a man who became constantly preoccupied by the moral weaknesses of mankind
2) Mark Twain first observed and absorbed the new American experience, and then introduce it to the world in his books or lectures.
3) In his new profession he could meet people of all kinds.
4) With no money and a frashated feeling, he accepted a job as reporter with Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, ...
5) Mark Twain began working hard to became well known locally as a newspaper reporter and humorist.
6)and when California makes a plan for a new surprise, the solemn people in other states of the U.S. smile as usual, making a comment "that's typical of California"
7) The man who had made the world laugh was himself consumed by bitterness.

Ⅲ. See the translation of the text.

IV.
1) compound nouns
a) n. + n.: steamboat, pilothouse, keelboat, waterside, railroad, stagecoach, pickax, gold-fields, notebook, milestone, newspaper, bathtub, etc.
b) adj. (adv., prep. ) + n. : flatboat, hotbed, best-seller, rough-country, everything, downstream, etc.
c) Gerund +n. : mining-camp
2) Compound adjectives
a)adj. +n. (-ed) :starry-eyed, acid-tongued, etc.
b)adv. +past participle: best-loved
c)n. +present participle: energy-sapping
d)v. +adv. :runaway

V.
1)pessimist 2)civilized 3)dull 4)to accept 5)lazily 6)energetic, alert 7)to deny 8)small, tiny9)interesting 10)cheerful

VI.
river pilot, valley of the Mississippi River, main artery of transportation, keelboat, flatboat, large raft, downstream, steamboat, steamboat deck, stream.

Ⅶ.
1)tramp printer 2)river pilot 3)pen name 4)steamboat days 5)Mississippi River 6)delta country 7)cub pilot 8) pilothouse talk 9)medicine shows lO)waterside slums ll)steamboat decks 12)steamboat trade 13)river country 14)gold and silver fever 15)Virginia city 16)newspaper reporter 17) city government 18) Sacramento Valley 19) rough-country settlers 20) mining-camp meals 21) Calaveras County 22) pleasure cruise 23) United States citizens 24)California newspaper 25)art treasures 26) book version 27)boyhood adventures 28)stage play 29) town drunkard 30)raft flight 31)steamboat explosion32)heart attack

Ⅷ．
1)romantic意为“浪漫的”；sentimental意为“伤感的”或“易感伤的”；humorous意为“幽默的”或“风趣的”；witty意为“机智的”或“聪颖的”。
2)cynic意为“愤世嫉俗者”；critic意为“批评家”或“评论家”。
3)lumber指已加工成条、块、板等的木料；timber往往指未经加工的木头。在美语里，timber指适用于建房造船等的木头，无论是加过工的还是未加过工的树都包括在内；而在英国英语里，这两个词意思相同。
4)proclaim指正式宣布或宣称；claim表示对一项权利的要求和维护。
5)demand本为经济术语，与supply相对，即常说的“供需”；need为通用词，意为“需要”。 halt比stop更具体，暗指短暂的停止。
6)mistreatment指错误地对待；ill-treatment指虐待。
7)consequence常指不良后果或结果；result为常用词。
8)dreary指使人情绪低落，精神萎糜不振；tedious指单调，持续时间长，从而使人厌倦。
9)a pleasure cruise指旅游者乘船观光游览，不一定船上的人都玩得高兴；a pleasant cruise指乘船玩得很高兴，不一定是旅游。
10)correspondent指某报纸杂志电台等驻外地甚至外国的记者(reporter)。注意，correspond本指通信联系。
11)robust指身强体壮、精力充沛的；healthy仅指健康无病。
12)desperation指因失望(despair)而表现出气急败坏的状态。

Ⅸ．
1)father：author，creator cruise through eternal boyhood：journey through lasting boyhood endless summer of freedom and adventure：long summer full of free and adventurous activities
2)artery：main route or channel
3)cast of characters：people of various sorts cosmos：a place where one can find all sorts of characters
4)current: stream (here not a good choice for the verb team)
5)succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever: gave way to (yielded to, submitted to) the gold and silver rush prevailing in that area
6)flirted with the colossal wealth "" and was rebuffed: did not try hard or persistently enough to get the colossal wealth "" failed
7)digging his way to regional fame: working hard to gain regional fame
8)honed: sharpened (It is not suitable to say "to sharpen one's muscles". )

X.
1)antithesis 2)euphemism 3)metonymy 4)alliteration 5)alliteration 6)personification 7)euphemism8)antithesis

XI.
1)The article does not touch the heart of the subject under discussion.
2)The newly completed railway is the main artery for traffic in the southwest of that country. 3)That problem produced two different currents of opinion among the Congressmen.
4)The overcrowded slum areas were a hotbed of diseases and vices.
5)Twain's source of inspiration never dried up.
6)Living in the enemy camp honed his wits.

Ⅻ.
1)eternal boyhood
2)endless summer
3)a cosmos
4)a memory that seemed phonographic
5)the epidemic of gold and silver fever
6)a milestone in a country's development
7)America laughed with him.
8)… almost as sure to be studied in American schools today as is the Declaration of Independence.
9)… a moving panorama for exploration of American society
10)Twain found the ultimate expression of escape from…
ll)Personal tragedy haunted his entire life ...
12)Bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh.

XIII.
l)completely, entirely
2)bankrupt, penniless
3)organizing
4)developing, carrying them out at high speed
5)as its characteristic is
6)wagered $ 50 with a stranger
7)exposed the falsehood of
8)cast away

XIV.
1)He was obssessed with fear of poverty.
2)Dongting Lake teems with fish and shrimps.
3)To