Directions: Read the following
passage and answer the questions below.
- Most people—even those who've never read Daniel Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe—are familiar with the strange story of
the sailor shipwrecked on a far-flung Pacific island.
Relatively few of them, however, know that Crusoe's (1)
story. It was actually based on the real-life
adventures of a Scottish seaman, Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk
came to the Pacific as a member of a 1703 privateering
expedition led by a captain named William Dampier. During the
voyage, Selkirk became dissatisfied with conditions aboard the
ship. (2) After a bitter quarrel with his captain, he put
Selkirk ashore on tiny Mas a Tierra, one of the islands
of Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chile. Stranded, Selkirk
lived there alone—in much the (3) same manner as
Defoe's Crusoe—until 1709, when he was finally rescued by
another English privateer.
- Upon his return to England, Selkirk found himself a (4)
celebrity, his strange tale had already become the
talk of pubs and coffeehouses throughout the British Isles. The
story even reached the ears of Richard Steele, who featured it
in his periodical, The Tatler. Eventually, (5) he
became the subject of a best-selling book, A
Cruizing Voyage Round the World, by Woodes Rogers. (6)
And while there is some evidence that Defoe, a
journalist, may actually have interviewed Selkirk personally,
most literary historians believe that it was the reprinting of
the Rogers book in 1718 that served as the real stimulus for
Defoe's novel.
- In Crusoe, which (7) has been
published in 1719, Defoe took substantial liberties
with the Selkirk story. For example, while Selkirk's presence
on the island was of course (8) known for many
people (certainly everyone in the crew that stranded
him there), no one in the novel is aware of Crusoe's survival
of the wreck and presence on the island. Moreover, while
Selkirk's exile lasted just six years, Crusoe's goes on for a
much more dramatic, though less credible, twenty-eight (9)
(over four times as long). But Defoe's most blatant
embellishment of the tale is the invention of the character of
Friday, for whom there was no counterpart whatsoever in the
real-life story.
- (10) Because of its basis in fact,
Robinson Crusoe is often regarded as the first major
novel in English literature. (11) Still popular today,
contemporary audiences enjoyed the book as well. In
fact, two sequels, in which Crusoe returns to the island after
his rescue were eventually (12)published. Though
to little acclaim.
- Meanwhile, Selkirk himself never (13) gave a hoot
about returning to the island that had made him famous.
Legend has it that he never gave up his eccentric living
habits, spending his last years in a cave teaching alley cats
to dance in his spare time. One wonders if even Defoe himself
could have invented a more fitting end to the bizarre story of
his shipwrecked sailor.
Questions:
1. A. NO CHANGE
B. story: was
C. story, was
D. story was
2. F. NO CHANGE
G. Quarreling with his captain, the boat
was put ashore
H. Having quarreled with his captain,
Selkirk was put ashore
J. Having quarreled with his captain,
they put Selkirk ashore
3. A. NO CHANGE
B. same manner that
C. identical matter that
D. identical way as
4. F. NO CHANGE
G. celebrity, but his
H. celebrity. His
J. celebrity his
5. A. NO CHANGE
B. Selkirk became
C. his became
D. he becomes
6. F. NO CHANGE
G. But since
H. And therefore
J. OMIT the underlined portion and start
the sentence with "There."
7. A. NO CHANGE
B. was published
C. had been published
D. will have been published
8. F. NO CHANGE
G. widely known
H. known about many for people
J. known to many people
9. A. NO CHANGE
B. (much longer)
C. (a much longer time, of course)
D. OMIT the underlined portion
10. F. NO CHANGE
G. Despite
H. Resulting from
J. As a consequence of
11. A. NO CHANGE
B. Still read today, Defoe's
C. Viewed by many even then as a
classic, the book is still popular to this day.
D. Read widely in its day, modern people
still like the book.
12. F. NO CHANGE
G. published, though
H. published although
J. published; although
13. A. NO CHANGE
B. evinced himself as desirous of
returning
C. could whip up a head of steam to
return
D. expressed any desire to return
