Part III Culture

I.                   Multiple Choice

 

1.      In America the academic year lasts nine months, from September to _____, with winter and spring vocations.

A. July                          B. June                        C. August

2.      In elementary schools, courses for children include the following except _____.

A. reading, writing B. social courses          C. foreign languages

D. sciences, art and music                                E. cooking or other manual skills

3.      The American teachers’ pay and prestige are _____ in comparison with the general standard of living.

A. high                         B. low                         C. almost the same

4.      There are over _____ universities, colleges and other institutions in the United States.

A. 2,000                      B. 2,500                      C. 3,000

5.      Today more than _____ of all the private colleges have some kind of church connection.

A. 1/3                          B. 1/2                          C. 1/5

6.      The library in _____ was the first private library in the US.

A. Harvard College      B. Yale College            C. College of New Jersey

7.      The first public library was founded in 1731 in _____.

A. Boston                     B. Philadelphia             C. Chicago

8.      At present America has more than _____ free public libraries.

A. 6,000                      B. 5,000                      C. 7,000

9.      VOA Radio Station was established in _____.

A. 1924                       B. 1934                       C. 1894

10.  All the newspapers and magazines in America are _____ owned.

A. publicly                    B. privately                  C. locally

11.  _____ is the winter sport in American schools and colleges.

A. Football                   B. Basketball        C. Baseball

12.  It was the _____ immigrants in the mid-19^th century who introduced skiing into the United States.

A. Scandinavian            B. Dutch               C. French

13.  101 American people won the Nobel Prize after _____.

A. WWI                       B. Civil War                C. WWII

14.  At the end of WWII the art centre of the world moved from _____ to the new world.

A. Paris                        B. London                   C. Berlin

15.  The famous story _____ helps Washington Irving earn great fame in the literary world.

A. “Rip Van Winkle”                                        B. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

C. “The Adventures of a German Student”

16.  _____ is regarded as the father of detective stories.

A. Mark Twain             B. Edgar Allan Poe      C. Herman Melville

17.  _____ is the first writer in America to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

A. Sinclair Lewis          B. Saul Bellow             C. Ernest Hemingway

18.  Yale University was founded in _____.

A. 1701                       B. 1746                       C. 1749

19.  The greatest American playwright is _____.

A. Arthur Miller            B. Eugene O’Neil C. Robert Frost

20.  _____ belonged to the Lost Generation.

A. Ernest Hemingway   B. Wilt Whitman          C. Tennessee Williams

21.  The most popular sport in America is _____.

A. baseball                   B. basketball               C. football

22.  After his death a bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was placed in the poet’s corner of _____.

A. Westminster Abbey                              B. camp of Cambridge University

C. Oxford University

23.  For his work, _____ was honoured “The Harlem Laureate”.

A. Robert Frost            B. Langston Hughs      C. Walt Whitman

24.  Arthur Miller’s Masterpiece is _____.

A. Death of a Salesman                                   B. The Crucibe

C. The Price

25.  _____ is the earliest university in America.

A. Harvard                   B. Yale                        C. Rhode Island

26.  _____ serves as a bridge which connects secondary schools and universities.

A. Four-year college     B. Two-year college    C. College of arts and science

27.  Junior college in America is _____.

A. two years                 B. three years              C. four years               D. five years

28.  _____ is closely associated with the Rockefeller Interest Group.

A. New York Times      B. Washington Post     C. Los Angeles Times

29.  The tuition in a private college is _____.

A. high                         B. rather high        C. quite low                 D. tolerable

30.  In America about _____ of the universities and colleges are private.

A. 1/2                          B. 1/3                          C. 1/4                         D. 1/5

31.  Hawthorne is a famous American writer in _____ fiction.

A. romantic                  B. realistic                   C. Jewish                    D. southern

32.  The most influential newspapers are the following except _____.

A. New York Times                                         B. Washington Post

C. Los Angeles Times                                      D. Wall Street Journal

33.  Readers’ Digest is a _____ magazine which is published in 15 languages and 39 editions.

A. weekly                     B. monthly                   C. biweekly                 D. triweekly

34.  The major wire services in America are the following except _____.

A. the Associated Press                                   B. the United Press International

C. the Columbia Broadcasting System

35.  From 1901 to 1978, 117 Americans won the Nobel Prize, holding _____ of the world Nobel Prize winners.

A. half                          B. one-third                 C. one-fourth

36.  Blues is a music of strong rhythm, which was originally sung by _____.

A. Negroes                  B. Indians                    C. Europeans

37.  The Father of American literature was _____.

A. Mark Twain             B. Washington Irving    C. Walt Whitman  D. Jack London

 

II.                Fill in the Blanks

 

1.      American children usually begin their school at the age of _____.

2.      An elementary school teacher must have a _____ degree of arts with a major in education.

3.      _____, one of the most famous universities in the world, was founded in 1686.

4.      About _____ percent of the high school graduates can be admitted by universities or colleges.

5.      There are four grades in universities. They are freshmen, _____, junior and senior.

6.      About _____ of all the colleges and universities are private.

7.      A department consists of faculty members raging from full professors to _____.

8.      The tuition in a _____ college is very high.

9.      The Library of _____ is the largest public library in the U.S.

10.  The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library is in _____ Park, New York.

11.  The academic degrees in America are the Bachelor’s, the _____ and the Doctor’s degrees.

12.  VOA Radio Station is in the city of _____.

13.  In 1965 the U.S.A launched the first communication space satellite “_____ _____”.

14.  The major wire services in America are the _____ Press and the United Press International.

15.  The popular magazine _____ _____ has the largest circulation in the world.

16.  VOA now sends news to the whole world in _____ languages day and night.

17.  _____ is the most popular game in autumn.

18.  Wrestling, boxing, horseracing are called _____ sports.

19.  The Dutch introduced _____ into the New York areas in the 17^th century.

20.  In the year _____ the first satellite was launched in America.

21.  From 1901 to 1978 there are 117 people in America won the _____ Prize for the research of natural science.

22.  The Metropolitan Museum and other two museums located in the city of _____ _____.

23.  Gilbert Stuart is considered America’s first great _____.

24.  _____ is the earliest and the best film studio in America.

25.  Gone with the Wind was the best known of all _____ films.

26.  In 1915 the first major feature film Birth of a _____ was made.

27.  Before the 1960’s many _____ had not been given the right to receive education.

28.  The American children usually graduate from high school at the age of _____.

29.  A high school teacher usually has majored in the field of his special interest and in addition, he must have a _____ arts degree in education.

30.  The University of _____ has more than 128,000 students.

31.  The students who are working for a bachelor degree are called _____.

32.  Today about 5 million men and more than 3 million women attend colleges and universities, of which about _____ percent are coeducational.

33.  Two-year college were originally called “_____ colleges”, but now they are called “_____ colleges”.

34.  A four-year college is often called a “_____ _____ college” or a “college of _____ and _____”.

35.  One of the measurements for an undergraduate in academic progress is credit or “credit hours”, or “_____”.

36.  VOA has _____ broadcasting stations, sending news to the whole world in _____ languages day and night.

37.  The first music in the American colonies was _____ music.

38.  Jazz music developed out of the music of the early American _____.

39.  _____ _____ was considered the father of American literature.

40.  Hawthorne’s best novel is The _____ _____.

41.  _____ _____ is the pen name of Samuel L. Clements.

42.  Whitman is remembered for his poems The _____ of _____.

43.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered _____ _____’s masterpiece.

44.  Ernest Hemingway belonged to the _____ generation.

45.  The best novel written by Theodore Dreiser is “_____ _____ _____”.

46.  The novel Martin Eden was written by _____ _____.

47.  _____ _____ became pessimistic and committed suicide at the age of 40.

48.  The two main successful novels written by Sinclair Lewis are “_____ _____” and “_____”.

49.  “_____ _____ _____ _____ _____” earned Ernest Hemingway a Nobel Prize in literature.

 

III.             Define the Following Terms

 

1.      credit

2.      The Library of Congress

3.      spectator sports

4.      Jazz music

5.      VOA

 

IV.              Answer the Following Questions

 

1.      What do American schools lay emphasis on?

2.      What are the characteristics of American literature during the 17^th and 18^th centuries?