Explanation
Discussion
The opening paragraph of this passage introduced the Topic through some critics’ view and the Scope through the author’s contentious response. The Topic is Maxine Hong Kingston’s work. The critics’ view is that it shows no influence from Chinese American heritage. The author’s response (and the introduction of the Scope) is introduced with the Contrast Keyword “but” (line 5). The author argues that the critics have “overlooked” (line 8) the influence of talk-story, a traditional Chinese oral literature style.
The long, final sentence of the first paragraph actually functions as the passage’s thesis statement, giving us the author’s Purpose and Main Idea at the outset: to argue against critics who deny Kingston’s inheritance of Chinese American heritage by showing how she used “talk-story.” The remainder of the passage offers support for this contention.
Paragraph 2 tells the story of talk-story. The author gives details of the genre’s origins in order to establish (as indicated by the Logic Keyword “thus” in line 16) that Chinese immigrants to the United States would have been familiar and comfortable with talk-story. Immigrants “simply” (line 20) applied the events of their new lives to this oral narrative style, and “the case of” Maxine Hong Kingston shows this process applied in writing.
We learn in Paragraph 3 that Kingston identifies herself as an inheritor of talk-story. This paragraph is anchored by Kingston’s contrast—signaled by the Contrast Keyword “distinguishes” in line 25—between the personal nature of memory in the oral tradition and the linear, sequential nature of memory in print cultures. The author supports this point with an example: Kingston continues to think of “writer” as a synonym of “singer” or “performer.”
In the final paragraph, the author details how one of Kingston’s books—China Men—exemplifies the passage’s thesis. The author cites four similarities between China Men and talk-story: fixed themes, stock characters, symmetrical structures, and repetition. It is all but inevitable that the testmakers will ask us a question or two about such a list. Additionally—the author uses the Continuation Keyword “also” in line 52 to indicate the function of what follows—the writing in China Men has an oral tradition “sound” to it.
1. Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?
Difficulty Level: 650
Explanation
An author may sum up the main point early or late in a passage.
While we are always prepared to tackle Global questions immediately after completing our passage Roadmap, we especially welcome them in cases where the author has stated the Main Idea explicitly. Here, the author gave us the main point as a thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph. Our paraphrase of that sentence provides the ideal prediction: The critics who say Kingston’s work shows no Chinese heritage are wrong because her work shows the influence of talkstory. The correct answer, (A), paraphrases this in only slightly different words.
(B) By eliding the dispute with the critics over the role (or lack thereof) of Chinese heritage in Kingston’s work, this answer is too narrow to reflect the passage’s main point. Kingston’s beliefs about authors are in the passage to support the author’s contention that she has inherited a Chinese literary tradition.
(C) The author could agree with this answer choice, but it distorts the main point expressed in the passage, which is that Kingston’s work shows the influence of a traditional genre, not that a new kind of literary analysis should be done.
(D) This answer goes wrong on two counts. First, it misses the dispute with the critics. Second, the word “especially” distorts the author’s reference to the retention of the texture and qualities of Chinese speech in China Men. This retention was one of several features that demonstrated the book’s affinity with talk-story, and not necessarily the most noteworthy.
(E) Here’s another answer that misses the author’s Purpose of rebutting the critics. The notion that Kingston’s writing has “rekindled interest” in talk-story is well outside the Scope of this passage.
Answer: A
2. Which one of the following can be most reasonably inferred from the passage?
Difficulty Level: 700
Explanation
Here we have an Inference question with no clear referent reading clue in the stem. This is always an indication that the question could be time consuming and that we should consider coming back to it after getting the easier points from the passage. Usually, we would attack such a question by eliminating answers in conflict or outside the scope of the author’s Purpose and Main Idea. Unfortunately, that won’t get us terribly far here because the answer choices refer us back to details in the passage. The good news is that this means we can treat the answer choices as we would question stem Content Clues and research them in turn. This approach would establish (D) as the correct answer. (D) paraphrases Kingston’s distinction between the personal nature of memory in oral cultures and the linear, sequential memory of print cultures (lines 25–30). A good Roadmap would have a margin note on this important contrast.
(A) contains an irrelevant comparison. The only “written” talk-story we read about is in Kingston’s work.
(B) Here is a classic Faulty Use of Detail answer. Chinese ethnic enclaves are mentioned in Paragraph 2 as the location of talk-story’s origin, not to support any claim about that tradition’s uniqueness.
(C) This answer distorts Paragraph 2. Talk-story originated in China and came to the New World with Chinese immigrants. Kingston’s writing in English was influenced by the tradition. The paragraph says nothing about development through combination with other storytelling forms.
(E) This answer distorts Paragraph 1, where it seems more likely that the critics are simply unaware of (the author says they have “overlooked” the role of talk-story as an influence on Kingston’s writing.
Answer: D
3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author uses the phrase “personally remembered stories” (Highlighted) primarily to refer to
Difficulty Level: 750
Explanation
Question 3 has a particularly rich question stem. The main thrust of the question asks for the Purpose (“the author uses…to refer to”) of a quoted phrase (“‘personally remembered stories’”) and even gives us the line number for our research. The best test takers will also notice the word “inferred” near the beginning of the question and will say, “That means that the answer to this question follows ineluctably from what was written in the passage.” So, convoluted though the stem may be, our research should be very straightforward. We need to determine what the author used “personally remembered stories” to refer to and base that answer firmly on the passage text. A quick check of our Road map and margin notes tells us Kingston associated personal memory with oral traditions and distinguished it from the precise, sequential memory favored in print cultures. The correct answer must reflect this distinction as well. That leads us to choice (C). It’s unlikely we would have predicted the exact wording “partially idiosyncratic,” but it contrasts nicely with “precise sequences.”
(A) Distortion. Nowhere in the passage does the author say that talk-story is first-person narrative. Many oral stories are in the third person.
(B) This answer distorts the notion of personal memory by limiting it to “one’s own past,” where the context of the passage implies memories of other’s stories—indeed a whole tradition of them—as well.
(D) 180. This answer reflects exactly the opposite side of Kingston’s contrast.
(E) Out of Scope. The author makes no mention about how easily literary themes can be identified.
Answer: D
4. In which one of the following is the use of cotton fibers or cotton cloth most analogous to Kingston’s use of the English language as described in lines 42–46?
Difficulty Level: 750
Explanation
Whether we are in the Logical Reasoning or the Reading Comprehension section, we have to know what we are looking for in the correct answer of a Parallel Reasoning question before evaluating the answer choices. Our failure to have a prediction or a specific way of testing answer choices will lead us to confusion and inefficiency. In this question, then, good research is the most important step we can take. To paraphrase lines 42-46: in China Men, Kingston used written English in a special way to sound like a spoken Chinese talk-story. So, we must be looking for an answer that has cotton fabric being used in a special way to feel or appear like some other kind of cloth or fabric. That prediction should lead us right to (B).
(A) misses the idea of making the original material (English language, cotton cloth) appear to be like something else (spoken Chinese, woolen cloth).
(C)Lines 42-46 would have had to discuss how written English and spoken Chinese couldn’t be used in the same ways.
(D) misses the point of how the original material (written English, cotton cloth) needs to be used in a special way in order to appear like something else. This answer asserts that the original material and the substitute material are already similar.
(E) The first part of this answer is analogous to a book or story where the author goes back and forth between languages; the second part, about price savings, seems to miss the Scope of lines 42-46
Answer: B
5. The passage most clearly suggests that Kingston believes which one of the following about at least some of the stories contained in her writings?
Difficulty Level: 700
Explanation
The phrase “the passage…suggests” tells us that this is an Inference question. But here, we are not asked to find an answer that the author is likely to agree with (although likely she would), but what Kingston would say about her own work. We hear Kingston’s opinions in Paragraph 3, and the focus of her self-evaluation is that she’s part of the talk-story tradition, elaborating the past (lines 24–25), creating work in the present (lines 34–38), and setting the stage for those who will build on the work she’s done (lines 35–36). Evaluating our answer choices, only (C) fits. (C) corresponds to Kingston’s last point—that others will “grow both around and from” her current work.
(A) In this passage, Kingston never expresses frustration about being unable to adequately perpetuate the traditionally Chinese talk-story genre in written English. She simply talks about herself as working within that tradition and her medium is the English novel.
(B) Kingston identifies herself with the talk-story tradition, but doesn’t go so far as to suggest that critics view her work through any specific ethnic lens.
(D) The Extreme language “best” doesn’t fit with Kingston’s self-analysis, which imposes no hierarchy on the ways to present history.
(E) Kingston works in written text.
Answer: C
6. The author’s argument in the passage would be most weakened if which one of the following were true?
Difficulty Level: 700
Explanation
When we’re asked to Strengthen or Weaken an argument (usually, but not always, the author’s) in Reading Comprehension, we usually cannot be as methodical as we would be in Logical Reasoning, where we can literally bracket the conclusion and pinpoint the relevant evidence. In Reading Comprehension, where arguments may be spread out over more than one paragraph, we need to paraphrase the conclusion (or main point) and remind ourselves of the evidence the author used. In this passage, the author’s conclusion is: Kingston’s work does reflect the Chinese American literary tradition. “Why do you say so?” we ask the author, “What’s your evidence?”
Our author would answer: Because her work adapts the talk-story genre as she herself says and as evinced in the book China Men. So, to be an effective weakener, the correct answer must either attack Kingston’s own self-evaluation (which doesn’t seem likely) or make China Men a poor example of her writing. If we attack the answer choices with that prediction, (D) is demonstrably the correct answer. (D) attacks the value of China Men as an exemplar of Kingston’s work.
(A) Out of Scope. Finding out that, say, Twain or Faulkner were inheritors of Irish or Appalachian oral traditions wouldn’t make Kingston any less an inheritor of the Chinese American tradition.
(B) If the fact in (B) were true, it would neither strengthen nor weaken the author’s argument. Work done within the same tradition can be quite different. Moreover, there could be other Chinese American authors who do not work within the Chinese American literary tradition while Kingston does.
(C) contains another irrelevant fact. Similarities between two different traditions in no way undermine the claim that a particular individual is working within one of them.
(E) This is a tricky answer. It would complicate our author’s position if the fact in (E) were that critics generally acknowledge that Kingston’s work reflects her connection to the Chinese American literary tradition. That would make us wonder, perhaps, why our author was writing in the first place. (E)’s vague statement that the critics “appreciate [Kingston’s] authenticity” however, doesn’t even rise to that level.
Answer: D
7. The author’s specific purpose in detailing typical talk-story forms (lines 36–42) is to
Difficulty Level: 650
Explanation
One of the great advantages of Logic Function questions is that the stem always includes a clear reference to the text—either a particular detail or a certain paragraph. The trick is to check the Road map to determine the author’s Purpose, which we can determine from the context of the reference or the Keywords surrounding it. In question 7, the reference asked about is tailor-made for the strategic reader. It calls our attention to the list of similarities between China Men and the talk-story genre. As we were initially Road mapping, we noted that this list is included to show how China Men exemplified the author’s thesis that Kingston did work within the Chinese American literary tradition. Using this prediction, we spot (B) as the correct answer. (B) is a bit wordy, but it boils down to saying that the features in China Men show Kingston as working within the talk-story tradition.
(A) According to the first two lines of the passage, critics already recognize Kingston as a major literary figure. The author has no reason to show this.
(C) This answer contains a clever distortion. The critics do not doubt the existence of a Chinese American literary tradition; they doubt that Kingston’s work shows her as working in it.
(D) Here’s a Faulty Use of Detail wrong answer. Kingston did, indeed, characterize writers as “privileged keeper[s]”, but proving that is not our author’s reason for giving us the list of similarities,
(E) This answer is filled with distortions. As far as we can tell, everyone considers Kingston’s work literature and no one is making recommendations for how it should be judged. The argument is over whether her work is recognizably influenced by the Chinese American literary tradition.
Answer: B
8. Which one of the following most accurately identifies the attitude shown by the author in the passage toward talk-story?
Difficulty Level: 750
Explanation
This question asks us to choose an answer that describes the author’s attitude toward talk-story. This might initially strike us as odd since the author uses few Opinion/Emphasis Keywords to describe talk-story (or anything else, for that matter). Near the end of the first paragraph, the author describes talk-story as a “highly developed genre” with a “long…tradition”. Beyond this, almost everything we learn about talk-story is dryly factual. In fact, this lack of opinion and emotion help us pinpoint (A) as the correct answer. “Scholarly appreciation” fits the author’s attitude toward talk-story perfectly and “longstanding artistic sophistication” fit the description.
(B) “Mild disappointment” misses the mark badly. Our author has nothing negative to say about talk-story.
(C) “Approval,” tentative or otherwise, distorts our author’s Purpose in introducing talk-story. No one in the passage is judging it as a genre.
(D) This answer tempts us with the word “respect,” which doesn’t seem particularly strong or opinionated. But, nothing in the passage indicates that the “diversity of…sources and cultural derivations” are the reasons for our author’s respect.
(E) “Open admiration” is too strong to find any support in the passage.
Answer: A
Hope it helpsKanvi wrote:
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Updated on: 30 Oct 2019, 00:22
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