GRE Reading Comprehension

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Source: NO8

Traditional research has confronted only Mexican and United States interpretations of Mexican-American culture. Now we must also examine the culture as we Mexican Americans have experienced it, passing from a sovereign people to compatriots with newly arriving settlers to, finally, a conquered people—a charter minority on our own land.

When the Spanish first came to Mexico, they intermarried with and absorbed the culture of the indigenous Indians. This policy of colonization through acculturation was continued when Mexico acquired Texas in the early 1800's and brought the indigenous Indians into Mexican life and government. In the 1820's, United States citizens migrated to Texas, attracted by land suitable for cotton. As their numbers became more substantial, their policy of acquiring land by subduing native populations began to dominate. The two ideologies clashed repeatedly, culminating in a military conflict that led to victory for the United States. Thus, suddenly deprived of our parent culture, we had to evolve uniquely Mexican-American modes of thought and action in order to survive.

Question List: 1 2 3 4

The author most probably uses the phrase "charter minority" (line 9) to reinforce the idea that Mexican Americans

  • A are a native rather than an immigrant group in the United States
  • B played an active political role when Texas first became part of the United States
  • C recognized very early in the nineteenth century the need for official confirmation of their rights of citizenship
  • D have been misunderstood by scholars trying to interpret their culture
  • E identify more closely with their Indian heritage than with their Spanish heritage

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