target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_a0884015-3935-5504-bcd6-0fb693387d41.png" alt="OD"/> Explain why a Japanese man chose to specialize in English literature
After rereading the first paragraph, you know that in a nutshell it introduces Nishiwaki as one who worked to bridge the literature gap separating Japan from Europe and America. It also summarizes Nishiwaki’s interest in art through college and his early career years afterward. Most importantly, the first paragraph sets the stage for the rest of the essay. Armed with this perspective, only one possible answer remains: Choice (B).
15. Select the sentence in the third paragraph that explains why Nishiwaki stopped writing poetry during World War II.
Like most select-a-sentence questions, look for the correct sentence buried in the passage. Correct answer: “Angered by the Japanese government’s fascist policies, Nishiwaki refused to write poetry during the Second World War.”
16. The passage is primarily concerned with
The key words in this question are primarily concerned with. The passage may suggest some of the points listed, but its primary concern is more explicit. Choice (A) is wrong because the author doesn’t mention the work of other Japanese poets. Choice (B) is wrong because although the avant-garde movement was influential to Nishiwaki’s writing, this point is hardly the primary concern. Choice (C) looks about right, but check the others just in case. Choice (D) is wrong because the author doesn’t mention the benefits of studying foreign literature. Choice (E) is wrong because the passage doesn’t mention changes in Japanese poetic style after the war. Correct answer: Choice (C).
17. According to the passage, which one of the following types of literature did not greatly interest Nishiwaki? Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.
From the first paragraph, you know that Nishiwaki’s real love was English literature. From the second paragraph, you know that Nishiwaki spent his time at Oxford reading Old and Middle English and classical Greek and Latin. However, even though he may have had some interest in Japanese literature, it didn’t greatly interest him as the question states. Only one correct answer: Choice (C).
18. Select the sentence in the second paragraph that explains why Nishiwaki chose to write his first published poems in English.
Though many sentences in the passage mention Nishiwaki’s interest in English literature, in only one sentence does the passage provide Nishiwaki’s explanation of why he chose to write his first published poems in English. Correct answer: “He explained that English offered him much more freedom of expression than traditional Japanese poetic language.”
The social sciences passage redux
The previous three passages are good segues to the way the GRE thinks and phrases its questions. However, not all the passages are as accessible (easy) as these. Practice your chops on this challenging social sciences passage.
This passage is an excerpt from The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology, edited by George Ritzer (Wiley-Blackwell).
Ritzer (2009) has recently argued that the focus on either production or consumption has always been misplaced and that all acts always involve both. That is, all acts of production and consumption are fundamentally acts of prosumption. The assembly-line worker is always consuming all sorts of things (parts, energy, tools) in the process of production, and conversely the consumer in, for example, a fast food restaurant is always producing (garnishes for a sandwich, soft drinks from the self-serve dispenser, the disposal of debris derived from the meal). This suggests a dramatic reorientation of theorizing about the economy away from production or consumption and in the direction of prosumption.
Prosumption is not only a historical reality, but it is becoming increasingly ubiquitous with the emergence on the internet of Web 2.0. Web 1.0 (e.g., AOL) typically involved sites that were created and managed by producers and used more or less passively by separable consumers. The latter not only did not produce the websites, but usually could not alter their content in any meaningful way. In contrast, Web 2.0 is defined by sites (e.g., Facebook, blogs) the contents of which are produced, wholly (blogs) or in part (Facebook), by the user. While everything about some 2.0 sites (a blog, for example) is likely produced by those who also consume them, on others (the Facebook page) the basic structure of the site is created by the producer, while all of the content comes from the consumer(s). Even though something of the distinction between producer and consumer remains in the latter case, it is clear that Web 2.0 is the paradigmatic domain of the prosumer. As the internet continues to evolve, we can expect to see more and more user-generated content and therefore an even greater role for the prosumer.
Of course, this shift to prosumption does not mean that sociological theorists should ignore production (the production end of the prosumption continuum) or consumption (the consumption end of that continuum). On the production side, there is certainly no end of issues to concern the theorist. Among others, there is David Harvey’s (2005) interest in, and critique of, neoliberalism, as well as Hardt and Negri’s (2000) interest in the transformation of the capitalist and proletariat into Empire and Multitude in the global age.
