Question

[Lê Quỳnh Anh]

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.

        Herman Melville, an American author best known today for his novel Moby Dick, was actually more popular during his lifetime for some of his other works. He traveled extensively and used the knowledge gained during his travels as the basis for his early novels. In 1837, at the age of eighteen, Melville signed as a cabin boy on a merchant ship that was to sail from his Massachusetts home to Liverpool, England. His experiences on this trip served as a basis for the novel Redburn (1849). In 1841 Melville set out on a whaling ship headed for the South Seas. After jumping ship in Tahiti, he wandered around the islands of Tahiti and Moorea. This South Sea island sojourn was a backdrop to the novel Omoo (1847). After three years away from home, Melville joined up with a U.S. naval frigate that was returning to the eastern United States around Cape Horn. The novel White-Jacket (1850) describes this lengthy voyage as a navy seaman.

        With the publication of these early adventure novels, Melville developed a strong and loyal following among readers eager for his tales of exotic places and situations. However, in 1851, with the publication of Moby Dick, Melville's popularity started to diminish. Moby Dick, on one level the saga of the hunt for the great white whale, was also a heavily symbolic allegory of the heroic struggle of man against the universe. The public was not ready for Melville's literary metamorphosis from romantic adventure to philosophical symbolism. It is ironic that the novel that served to diminish Melville's popularity during his lifetime is the one for which he is best known today.

The main subject of the passage is _________.

A. Melville’s travels 

B. Moby Dick

C. Melville’s personal background 

D. the popularity of Melville’s novels

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án D

Câu đầu tiên của đoạn văn cho ta biết chủ đề của bài: Herman Melville, an American author best known today for his novel Moby Dick, was actually more popular during his lifetime for some of his other works. (Herman Melvile, một tác gia người Mỹ, ngày nay nổi tiếng vì cuốn tiểu thuyết Moby Dick, thực ra lại được biết đến nhiều hơn nhờ những tác phẩm khác trong thời mà ông còn sống).

Và các đoạn sau, bài viết nói về các tác phẩm của ông. Các chuyến đi dù có được nhắc đến nhưng chỉ được nhắc đến như là cơ sở để ông viết văn, chứ không phải đoạn văn miêu tả hay kể về chuyến đi đó.

Nếu lấy nhan đề là Moby Dick, một tác phẩm của ông, thì đây chỉ là một chi tiết nhỏ, không đủ bao quát tác phẩm. Nếu lấy nhan đề là nền tảng cá nhân thì cũng không được vì trong bài không nhắc đến những tính chất này ngoài những chuyến đi.