The Beginning of American Literature

    American has always been a land of beginnings. After Europeans “ discovered” Americain the fifteenth century, the mysteriousNew Worldbecame for many people a genuine hope of a new life, an escape from poverty and persecution, a chance to start again. We can say that, as nation,Americabegins with that hope. When, however, does American literature begin?

    American literature begins with American experiences. Long before the first colonists arrived, before Christopher Columbus 1, before the Northmen who foundAmericaabout year 1,000, Native Americans lived here. Each tribe"s literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of lining with the land 2. Another kind of experience, one filled with fear and excitement, found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home inSpain, French and English. In addition, the journals of the people who lived and died in theNew Englandwilderness 3 tell unforgettable tales of hard end sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years.

    Experience, then, is the key to early American literature. TheNew Worldprovided a great variety of experiences, and experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers. These writers included John Smith, who spent only two-and-a-half year: on the American, continent. They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrdwho thought of themselves as British subjects, never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own. American Indians, explorers,

    Puritan ministers, frontier wives, plantation ownerthey are all the creators of the first American literature.

 

词汇:

colonist [ˈkɒlənɪst] n.殖民者    

subject ["sʌbdʒɪkt] n.臣民          

puritan [ˈpjʊərɪtən] n.清教徒的

 

注释:

1Christopher Columbus:克里斯托弗·哥伦布,美洲新大陆的发现者

2.  Each tribe"s literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of lining with the land.每个部落的文学都紧密地交织到日常生活的架构中去,反映了和土地密切相连的确凿无疑的美洲生活经历。

3New England wilderness:新英格兰的荒原,新英格兰指如今美国东北部的几个州,为来自欧洲的殖民者最早定居的地区。

What does "that hope" in the first paragraph refer to?

A:The hope that Americawould be discovered. B:The hope to start a new life. C:The hope to see the mysteries of the New World. D:The hope to find poverty here.

W: I do hope Peter do well in his 'studies this semester.
M:______

A:Yes. I hope so. B:Yes. Dear. But I am afraid the school is not nice enough. C:Neither doI. I don' t think his words would be as good as gold. D:Yes. Although we believe our son is honest, he may not work hard enough as he says.

—I hope that John will not play football tomorrow.
—Yes, I______.

A:hope it too B:hope too C:hope that too D:hope so too

W: I do hope Peter do well in his ’studies this semester.
M:()

A:Yes. I hope so. B:Yes. Dear. But I am afraid the school is not nice enough. C:Neither doI. I don’ t think his words would be as good as gold. D:Yes. Although we believe our son is honest, he may not work hard enough as he says.

W: I do hope Peter do well in his 'studies this semester.M:______

A:Yes. I hope so. B:Yes. Dear. But I am afraid the school is not nice enough. C:Neither do I. I don' t think his words would be as good as gold. D:Yes. Although we believe our son is honest, he may not work hard enough as he says.

—I hope that John will not play football tomorrow. —Yes, I______.

A:hope it too B:hope too C:hope that too D:hope so too

Good ______! I hope you'll win the race.

A:fortune B:luck C:chance D:fate

I hope that the good weather______ for the rest of our trip.

A:holds up B:holds down C:holds out D:holds in


? ?下面有3篇短文,每篇短文后有5道题,每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文,并根据短文回答其后面的问题,从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

{{B}}Tipping{{/B}}

? ?Everybody loathes it, but everybody does it. A recent poll showed that 40% of Americans hate the practice. It seems so arbitrary, after all. Why does a barman get a tip, but not a doctor who saved lives?
? ?In America alone, tipping is now a $16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip.
? ?Such explanations no doubt explain the purported origin of tipping—in the 16th century, boxes in English taverns carried the phrase "To Insurance Promptitude" (later just "TIP"). But according to new research from Cornell University, tipping no longer serves any useful function. The paper analyses data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The correlation between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated a meal as "excellent" still tipped anywhere between 8% and 37% of the meal price.
? ?Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom has become institutionalized: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New York restaurant, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers can expect to get 15-20%, the man who delivers your groceries $2. In Europe, tipping is less common; in many restaurants, discretionary tipping is being replaced by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all.
? ?How to account for these national differences? Look no further than psychology. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper’s co-author, countries in which people are more extrovert, sociable or neurotic tend to tip more. Tipping relieves anxiety about being served by strangers. And, says Mr. Lynn, "in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off." Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip a measure of their introversion, no doubt.
? ?While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does not work. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actually incentivise the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. Service people should "just be paid a decent wage" may actually make economic sense.

According to the author, the primary cause of tipping is that ______.

A:the word "tip" comes from the phrase "To Insure Promptitude" B:tipping well is a chance to get admiration from others C:people hope to receive good service from the service people D:tipping can shorten the income gap of the service people

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