GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: 93年

The outpouring of contemporary American Indian literature in the last two decades, often called the Native American Renaissance, represents for many the first opportunity to experience Native American poetry. The appreciation of traditional oral American Indian literature has been limited, hampered by poor translations and by the difficulty, even in the rare culturally sensitive and aesthetically satisfying translation, of completely conveying the original's verse structure, tone, and syntax.

By writing in English and experimenting with European literary forms, contemporary American Indian writers have broadened, their potential audience, while clearly retaining many essential characteristics of their ancestral oral traditions. For example, Pulitzer-prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday's poetry often treats art and mortality in a manner that recalls British romantic poetry, while his poetic response to the power of natural forces recalls Cherokee oral literature. In the same way, his novels, an art form European in origin, display an eloquence that echoes the oratorical grandeur of the great nineteenth- century American Indian chiefs.

Question List: 1 2 3 4

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about written translations of oral Native American poetry?

  • A They were less widely read than are the works of contemporary Native American poets writing in English.
  • B They were often made by writers who were intimately familiar with both English and Native American languages.
  • C They often gave their readers aesthetic satisfaction, despite their inaccuracies.
  • D They usually lacked complex verse structure.
  • E They were overly dependent on European literary models.

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