Read the text below. For questions (1-10) choose the correct answer ( A,B,C, or D).

Martin Eden ( after Jack London)

   Back from sea Martin Eden came,  homing for California.

  When his store of money was exhausted, he had shipped on a treasure-hunting schooner; and after eight months of failure to find treasure, the expedition had (1)_____.

  The men had been paid off in Australia, and Martin had immediately returned to San Francisco. Not only had those eight months earned him enough money to stay on land for many weeks, but they had (2)______ him to do a great deal of studying and reading.

   He (3)_____ the grammar he had taken again and again, until his brain had mastered it. He noticed the bad grammar used by his shipmates. Now a double negative jarred him like a discord. After he had mastered the grammar book, he (4)_____ the dictionary, and added twenty words a day to his vocabulary.

   The captain of the schooner had somehow (5)____ possession of a complete Shakespeare, which he never read, and Martin had washed his clothes for him, and in return he had been permitted access to the precious volumes.

  The eight months had been well spent, and, (6)____ to what he had learned of right speaking and high thinking, he had learned much of himself. (7) ____  his humbleness, because he knew so little, there arose a conviction of power. He decided that he would describe many of the bits of South Sea beauty to Ruth. The creative spirit in him flamed up and then he came to the great idea. He would write-everything- poetry and prose, fiction and description, and plays like Shakespeare. There was career and the way to win Ruth. He would begin as soon as he (8)___  . He would not tell Ruth anything about it, and she would be surprised and pleased  when she saw his name in print. While he wrote he could (9)____ studying. There were twenty-four hours in each day. He knew how to work, and the citadels would (10)____ before him.

Listen to the text and choose the right answer to the questions

Jack London     Martin Eden

1. Why did Martin Eden need more than one membership cards at the libraries?

a) He could afford a dictionary.                  

b) His sisters also wanted to draw books.

c) He could obtain free glasses of beer.    

d) He could take out more books.

2. What proved that Martin had undergone moral revolution?

a) He stopped smoking and taking strong drinks.   

b) He fell in love with Ruth.

c) He learned to keep him clean and press his clothes.

d) He prided himself on scrubbing his hands with nail- brush.

3. What was the result of a week of Martin’s heavy reading?

a) He began to find beauty in poetry.   

b) He learned to distinguish between ultra-modern and antiquated books on philosophy.

c) He left behind the old life and outlook.   

d) He spent much time with the dictionary.

4. Which of the following is not true?

a) Martin managed to understand grammar himself.

b) Martin learned much from books but his grammar was poor.

c) Ruth helped him to improve his grammar.

d) Martin gulped down the books which caught his fancy.

Read the text about Jack London’s biography and find the correct ending to each of the following sentences.

1. London is _______

a) the author’s real name    

b) the writer’s pen- name   

c) the name of Jack’s step father.

2. Cannery, oyster ship, laundry are the places______

a) described in his first stories      

b) where young Jack worked

c) where Jack worked with his foster father

3. After a year of hard work in Alaska Jack London returned home and brought _____

a) much gold      

b) enough money to be able to write books      

c) subjects for many stories

4. Martin Eden is Jack London’s best ______

a) collection of stories        

b) autobiographical novel       

c) play  

American Literature Test

Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, Francis Scott Fitzgerald

1 Match the names of the authors  with the titles of their books

                                                                             a)Great Gatsby

 1) Jack London                                                b) An American Tragedy

                                                                            c) Martin Eden

2) Theodore Dreiser                                       d) Tender Is the Night                                                                                                 e) The Financier

3) Francis Scott Fitzgerald                            f) The White Fang

                                                                           g) Sister Carri                                                                                                               h) Love of Life

ІІ. Match the characters and the books

1. Daisy Fay                                            a) Martin Eden
2. Frank Cowperwood                          b) Great Gatsby
3. Clyde Griffiths                                    c)The  White Fang
4. Ruth Morse                                        d) The Financier
5. Seneca Davis                                      e) Sister Carrie

ІІІ. Which of the authors did that?

1) Jack London          2. Theodore Dreiser       3. Francis Scott Fitzgerald

a) belonged to the ” lost generation”

b) said, “My first memories of life were pinched by poverty”

c) hated religion

d) took his foster-father’s name

e) began his literary career at the university

f) went to Alaska to search for gold

g) joined the Communist party at the end of his life

h) ruined his talent trying to organize an expensive fashionable life for his wife

i) began writing his best novel on the deck of his yacht

j) visited the Soviet Union

IV.  Finish the similes

a) as drunk as a                                  c) as white as a

b) as easy as                                        d) as stubborn as a

V.  Hand and arm actions. Choose the correct verb in the following sentences

1. He slapped/punched/grabbed me on the nose.
2. The nurse pointed/ saluted/ beckoned to her to come into the room. 
3. She  rubbed/ stroke/ wiped the cat as it sat on the sofa.
4. It was dark and he had to grope/ scratch/ grab  for the light switch.
5. He groped/ scratched/ stroked his head as he wondered what to do.