Read the following passage and mark the letter (A, B, C, or D) on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions
Read the following passage and mark the letter (A, B, C, or D) on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
There is always a tension between those attempts by the individual writer to explain him or herself, to retain the integrity or the purity of what is to be communicated, and the endeavour to create a mass appeal. Those who remain too arcane, or too self-enclosed, or even self-indulgent have no audience. Those who seek solely to please the audience have nothing original to say. The idea that the great work of literature will always find an audience is the result of wishful thinking or a romantic dream that even a quick history of publishing would dispel. However intensely thought out or felt, a book will not convey its message until, by fortunate circumstances, it finds an audience willing to listen.
Popular fiction, nevertheless, is based on the assumption that the audience is understood. Whilst it takes certain kinds of people to produce it, and whilst many try and fail, the appeal rests on having designs on the response of the reader. Given the recognition of what the readers seek, the idea is to gratify them as simply and unselfconsciously as possible. This suggests that there is nothing sacrosanct about the text. If it succeeds in its own terms, this is enough. Its own terms are only that, by its very lack of uniqueness, it fulfills a certain formula of popularity.
Question 19: According to the text, which belief would past events show to be a misconception?
A. A book's merit will guarantee a readership.
B. Books are written with a particular audience in mind.
C. There are very few books that communicate new ideas.
D. Highly specialised books have limited interest for most people.
Question 20: According to the text, a popular novel is one that _______________ .
A. appeals to people with a range of different outlooks
B. avoids any issue that generates controversy
C. is written in a style that is easily acquired
D. conforms to the reader's expectations
There is always a tension between those attempts by the individual writer to explain him or herself, to retain the integrity or the purity of what is to be communicated, and the endeavour to create a mass appeal. Those who remain too arcane, or too self-enclosed, or even self-indulgent have no audience. Those who seek solely to please the audience have nothing original to say. The idea that the great work of literature will always find an audience is the result of wishful thinking or a romantic dream that even a quick history of publishing would dispel. However intensely thought out or felt, a book will not convey its message until, by fortunate circumstances, it finds an audience willing to listen.
Popular fiction, nevertheless, is based on the assumption that the audience is understood. Whilst it takes certain kinds of people to produce it, and whilst many try and fail, the appeal rests on having designs on the response of the reader. Given the recognition of what the readers seek, the idea is to gratify them as simply and unselfconsciously as possible. This suggests that there is nothing sacrosanct about the text. If it succeeds in its own terms, this is enough. Its own terms are only that, by its very lack of uniqueness, it fulfills a certain formula of popularity.
Question 19: According to the text, which belief would past events show to be a misconception?
A. A book's merit will guarantee a readership.
B. Books are written with a particular audience in mind.
C. There are very few books that communicate new ideas.
D. Highly specialised books have limited interest for most people.
Question 20: According to the text, a popular novel is one that _______________ .
A. appeals to people with a range of different outlooks
B. avoids any issue that generates controversy
C. is written in a style that is easily acquired
D. conforms to the reader's expectations