英美概况总复习_英美概况总复习资料
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名词解释:
(1)The Anglo-Saxon(盎格鲁)
They were two groups of Germanic peoples who settled down in England from the 5th century.They were regarded as the ancestors of the English and the founders of England.(2)The Good Friday Agreement(北爱和平协议)
As a result of multi-party negotiations, the Good Friday Agreement was approved on 10 April 1998.This agreement aures the loyalist community that Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom and it won’t change its political status unle the majority of the people of Northern Ireland agree.Under the terms of the agreement, Northern Ireland should be governed by three separate jurisdictions: that of the Republic of Ireland, that of Great Britain and that of its own elected executive government of ten ministers.(3)The Bill of Rights of 1689(权利法案)
In 1688, king James II’ s daughter Mary and her husband William were invited by the politician and church authorities to take the throne, on condition that they would respect the rights of Parliament.The bill of rights was paed in 1689 to ensure that the king would never be able to ignore Parliament.(4)The constitution of Britain(英国的宪法)
Britain has no written constitution.The foundation of the British state are laid out in statute law, which are laws paed by parliament;the common laws, which are laws established through common practice in the courts;and conventions.(5)The function of Parliament(议会的功能)
To pa laws, to vote for taxation, to scrutinize government policy, administration and expenditure and to debate the major iues of the day.(6)The house of commons(众议院)
The house of commons is the real center of British political life because it is the place where about 650elected representatives(members of Parliament)make and debate policy.These MPs are elected in the General Elections and should represent the interests of the people who vote for them.(7)Cla system in Britain society(英国社会的等级制度)
The cla system does exist in British society.Most of the British population would claim themselves to be either of middle-cla or working-cla, though some people would actually belong to the upper middle-cla or lower middle-cla.Cla division are not simply economic, they are cultural as well.People of different claes may differ in the kind of newspapers they read, in the way they speak and in the kind of education they receive.One of the distinctive features about the British cla system is that aristocratic titles can still be inherited.(8)Privatisation in UK economy(英国经济私有化)
The British economy went through a particularly bad period in the 1970s, with high rates of inflation and devaluation of the pound.Therefore, in the 1980s, when the conservative party under Margaret Thatcher was in power, an extensive programme of privatization was carried out.Many state-owned businees(such as steel, telecom, gas, aerospace)were turned into private companies.Privatisation was succeful in controlling inflation but at the same time unemployment rate increased rapidly.(9)Elizabethan drama(伊丽莎白一世时的戏剧)
The general flowering of cultural and intellectual life in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries is known as the renaiance.In British culture, one of the most succeful and long-lasting expreions of this development lay in drama.That was the period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth(1558-1603).The first profeional theatre in London opened in 1576, and others followed, performing the plays of many notable playwrights, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare.(10)Romanticism(浪漫主义)
Roughly the first third of the 19th century makes up English literature’s romantic period.Writers of romantic literature are more concerned with imagination and feeling than with the power of reason.A volume of poems called lyrical ballads written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is regarded as the romantic poetry’s “Declaration of Independence.” Keats, Byron and Shelley, the three great poets, brought the romantic movement to its height, the spirit of romanticism also occurred in the novel.(11)Modernism(现代主义)
Modernism refers to a form of literature mainly written before WWⅡ.It is characterized by a high degree of experimentation.It can be seen as a reaction against the 19th century forms of realism.Modernist writers expre the difficulty they see in understanding and communicating how the world works.Often, modernist writing seems disorganized, hard to understand.It often portrays the action from the viewpoint of a single confused individual, rather than from the viewpoint of an all-knowing impersonal narrator outside the action.One of the most famous English modernist is Virginia Woolf.(12)Declaration of independence(独立宣言)
The declaration of independence was mainly drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the congre on July 4, 1776, when the people of 13 English colonies in North America were fighting for their freedom and independence from the British colonial rule.The document declared that all men were equal and that they were entitled to have some unalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happine.It also explained the philosophy of government: the powers of government came from the consent of the governed and the purpose of governments was to secure the rights mentioned above.The theory of politics and the guiding principles of the American Revolution mainly came from john locks.(13)Transcendentalists(先验论者)
In his book nature, Emerson claimed that by studying and responding to nature, individuals could reach a higher spiritual state without formal religion.A circle of intellectuals who were discontented with the New England establishment gathered around Emerson.They accepted Emerson’s theories about spiritual transcendence.They are known as Transcendentalists
(14)The “lost generation”(迷失的一代)
In the aftermath of world war I, many novelists produced a literature of disillusionment.Some lived in Europe.They were known as the “lost generation.” Two of the most representative writers of the “lost generation” were Hemingway and Fitzgerald.简答题:
(1)The Magna Carta and its significance(大宪章及其意义)
(2)Glories of Revolution and its significance(光荣革命及其意义)
(3)Modernism in Britain literature writer, masterpieces, its significance(英国现代主义文学作家的杰作,它的意义)
(4)Puritanism and its significance(清教主义及其意义)
Puritanism
They follow the idea of the French reformer and theologian John Calvin
1.doctrines:
(1)Predestination: God decided everything before things occurred.(2)Original sin and total depravity: human beings were born to evil, and this original sin can be paed down from generation to generation.(3)Limited atonement 赎罪:only the “elect” can be saved.Influence of Puritanism on American Literature
(1)a group of good qualities----hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety(serious and thoughtful)
influenced American literature
(2)it led to the everlasting myth.All literature is based on a myth---Garden of Eden.(3)Symbolism: lots of American writers liked to employ symbolism in their works.To the pious Puritan the physical, phenomenal world is nothing but a symbol of God(typical ways of Puritans who thought that all the simple objects existing in the world connected deep meanings).Symbolism means using symbols in literary works.The symbol means something represents or stands for abstract deep meaning.(4)Simplicity characterizes the Puritan style of writing.With regard to their writing, the
style of fresh, simple and direct;the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.(5)Fired with a sense of miion.The Puritans looked the worst of life in the face of
tremendous optimism.The optimistic Puritan has exerted a great influence on American Literature.Early American Literature were mainly optimistic because they believed that God sent them to the new continent, to fulfill the sacred task.so they would overcome all the difficulties.They met at last.Gradually Americans found that their dreams would not be succeful, so lots of peimistic literary works were produced.(5)Transcendentalism and its significance(超越论及其意义)
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is an American literary, political and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered on Ralph Waldo Emerson.Keys:
--------the new spirit was neither social nor political, nor industrial, nor economic, nor literary, nor scientific, nor religious.It was all of them at once.It transcended every phase of life.It is a whole new way of thinking.Transcendentalism in its literal meaning is the recognition in man of the capacity of acquiring knowledge transcending the reach of the five senses, of knowing truth intuitively or reaching the divine without the need of an interceor.It was eence romantic idealism on Puritan soil.In application, American transcendentalism urged a reform in society and that such a reform may be reached if individuals resist customs and social codes, and relu rather on reason to learn what is right.Ultimately, transcendentalism believed that one should transcend society’s code of ethics and rely on personal intuition in order to reach absolute goodne, or absolute truth.Influence:
1.It served as an ethical guide to life for a young nation and brought about the idea that human can be perfected by nature.It streed religious tolerance, called to throw off shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture.2.It advocated idealism that was great needed in a rapidly expanded economy where opportunity often became opportunism, and the desire to “get on ” obscured the moral neceity for rising to spiritual height.3.It helped to create the first American renaiance-----one of the most prolific periods in American literature.(6)Norman conquer and its significance(诺曼征服及其意义)