Digital PSAT Reading and Writing Practice Question 269: Answer and Explanation

Question: 269

Ernest Hemingway speaks of the artistry of another culture's profanity with admiration in his celebrated novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, wherein the narrator bears witness as obscenities and insults build to a high formalism and eventually collapse upon themselves, leaving the profanities implied rather than stated.

The phenomenon described in the text is most like

  • A. an aqueduct that is constructed in ancient times only to crumble as the centuries pass.
  • B. the development of architectural technology enabling ever higher construction.
  • C. the prohibition of subversive political meetings by an authoritarian dictator.
  • D. the evolution of painting from realistic portraiture to abstract expressionism.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

D. The text refers to a process in which words become less and less literal. The evolution of painting from realism to abstraction would be a similar shift away from literal or obvious meaning to a meaning that is implied. Choice A is about gradual decay of human constructions due to time, choice B is about the development of technology, and choice C is about stopping free expression.

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