Advanced Literary Excerpts Flashcards

In advanced Chinese literary excerpts, 諷刺 (fěng cì) is a frequently tested rhetorical device. An author employing 諷刺 in a TOCFL passage would most likely:

Answer: Use irony or mockery to criticize social customs or individuals indirectly

諷刺 means satire or irony — using indirect, often humorous or cutting language to expose and critique flaws.

Ba Jin's novel 'Family' (家), the first volume of the Torrent Trilogy, primarily critiques:

Answer: The oppressive nature of the traditional Confucian extended family system

Ba Jin's 'Family' powerfully depicts how the rigid Confucian extended family system stifles individual freedom and destroys the lives of its younger members.

When a TOCFL advanced passage uses the classical allusion 臥薪嘗膽 (wò xīn cháng dǎn), the author is most likely describing a character who:

Answer: Endures hardship with patient determination in order to achieve revenge or a goal

臥薪嘗膽 (sleeping on brushwood, tasting gall) refers to King Goujian of Yue who endured extreme privation to motivate himself to seek revenge — symbolizing patient endurance toward a goal.

In classical Chinese prose, 排比 (pái bǐ) is a rhetorical technique that involves:

Answer: Using a series of structurally parallel phrases or clauses for emphasis

排比 is anaphora or parallelism — using three or more structurally similar clauses in succession to build rhythm and rhetorical force.

A TOCFL reading passage describes a character using the idiom 班門弄斧 (bān mén nòng fǔ). In context, this most likely means the character is:

Answer: Displaying incompetence in front of someone far more skilled

班門弄斧 means 'wielding an axe at the gate of Lu Ban (master carpenter)' — showing off one's limited skills before an expert, implying presumptuous incompetence.

Eileen Chang's (張愛玲) writing style in works like 'Love in a Fallen City' is best characterized as:

Answer: Psychological realism with sharp, ironic observations of urban bourgeois life

Chang is renowned for her psychologically acute, often ironic portrayals of Shanghai and Hong Kong's middle-class society amid historical upheaval.

In a TOCFL advanced literary passage, the term 白描 (bái miáo) as a narrative technique refers to:

Answer: Plain, unadorned description that sketches character or scene with minimal ornamentation

白描, literally 'white sketch' (from ink-line drawing without color fill), means spare, direct description using simple language without elaborate embellishment.