Reading Passage Question

Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified by the covers of some of the old pulp magazines; the Bug-Eyed Monster, embodying every trait and feature that most people find repulsive, is about to grab, and presumably ravish, a sweet, blonde, curvaceous, scantily-clad Earth girl. This is unfortunate because it demeans and degrades a worthwhile and even important literary endeavor. In contrast to this unwarranted stereotype, science fiction rarely emphasizes sex, and when it does, it is more discreet than other contemporary fiction. Instead, the basic interest of science fiction lies in the relation between man and his technology and between man and the universe. Science fiction is a literature of change and a literature of the future, and while it would be foolish to claim that science fiction is a major literary genre at this time, the aspects of human life that it considers make it well worth reading and studying—for no other literary form does quite the same things.

What is science fiction? It is a literary subgenre which postulates a change (for human beings) from conditions as we know them and follows the implications of these changes to a conclusion. That science fiction is a literary subgenre is a point that is often overlooked. Specifically, science fiction is either a short story or a novel. There are only a few poems and plays which could be called science fiction, with Karel Capek’s RUR being the only play that is well known. To say that science fiction is a subgenre of prose fiction is to say that it has all the basic characteristics and serves the same basic functions in much the same way as prose fiction in general. Everything that can be said about prose fiction, in general, applies to science fiction. Every piece of science fiction, whether short story or novel, must have a narrator, a story, a plot, a setting, characters, language, and theme. And like any prose, the themes of science are concerned with interpreting man’s nature and experience in relation to the world around him. Themes in science fiction are constructed and presented in exactly the same ways that themes are dealt with in any other kind of fiction. They are the result of a particular combination of narrator, story, plot, character, setting, and language. In short, the reasons for reading and enjoying science fiction, and the ways of studying and analyzing it, are basically the same as they would be for any other story or novel.

“Many people seem to think that science fiction is typified” is a GMAT reading comprehension passage. The candidate needs to prepare themselves to have complete knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension. This section of GMAT Reading Comprehension comes up with a set of eight questions with a series of answers. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed to estimate the candidates’ efficiency to dissect and comprehend the facts or ideas. The candidates can boost their knowledge by practicing GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solutions and Explanation

1. Although few examples of science fiction written before 1900 exist, you can infer that it has been most popular in the twentieth century because

1. with the growth of literacy, the size of the reading public has increased.
2. competition from television and film has created a demand for more exciting fiction.
3. science fiction is easier to understand than other kinds of fiction.
4. the increased importance of technology in our lives has given science fiction an increased relevance.
5. other media have captured the large audience that read novels in the nineteenth century.

2. According to the definition in the passage, a fictional work that places human beings in a prehistoric world inhabited by dinosaurs

1. cannot properly be called science fiction because it does not deal with the future.
2. cannot properly be called science fiction because it does not deal with technology.
3. can properly be called science fiction because it is prose fiction.
4. can properly be called science fiction because it places people in an environment different from the one we know.
5. can properly be called science fiction because it deals with humans’ relation to the world around them.

3. Science fiction is called a literary subgenre because

1. it is not important enough to be a literary genre.
2. it cannot be made into dramatic presentation.
3. it has its limits.
4. it shares characteristics with other types of prose fiction.
5. to call it a “genre” would subject it to literary jargon.

4. From the passage, you can infer that science fiction films based upon ideas that have originally appeared in other media are chiefly adaptations of

1. short stories.
2. plays.
3. novels.
4. poems.
5. folk tales.

5. The author believes that, when compared to other literary genres, science fiction is

1. deficient in its use of narrators.
2. unable to be adapted to drama.
3. a minor but worthwhile kind of fiction.
4. more concerned with plot than with theme.
5. in need of a unique literary approach if it is to be properly understood.

6. The emphasis on theme in the second paragraph of the passage suggests that the author regards which of the following as an especially important reason for reading science fiction?

1. the discovery of meaning
2. the display of character
3. the beauty of language
4. the psychological complexity
5. the interest of setting

7. One implication of the final sentence in the passage is that

1. the reader should turn next to commentaries on general fiction.
2. there is no reason for any reader not to like science fiction.
3. the reader should compare other novels and stories to science fiction.
4. there are reasons for enjoying science fiction.
5. those who can appreciate other prose fiction can appreciate science fiction.

8. An appropriate title for this passage would be

1. On the Inaccuracies of Pulp Magazines
2. Man and the Universe
3. Toward a Definition of Science Fiction
4. A Type of Prose Fiction
5. Beyond the Bug-Eyed Monster

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