READING PRACTICE DRILL 8 CRACKING TOEFL IBT 2019

 

CRACKING TOEFL IBT 2019 READING PRACTICE DRILL 8

 

LANGSTON HUGHES, THE HEART OF HARLEM   In a very real sense, Langston Hughes was the poet laureate of Harlem during its famous   Renaissance; having come there after living in cities such as Paris, he was able to view Harlem   against a backdrop of broad experience. His signal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to   further the development of a poetic language that recorded the voices he heard around him in all 5 their variety. He was concerned with the Black metropolis—that is, with those elements that unified   Black urban communities despite the differences in the specific places they were found. Returning   to this theme again and again, he wrote about Harlem more often and more fully than any other   poet. As Hughes wrote about himself, “I live in the heart of Harlem.” He said of its people, “I love the   color of their language and, being a Harlemite myself, their problems and interests are my problems 10 and interests.” Despite the many places he had lived, Hughes came to be associated almost   exclusively with Harlem as his career developed.       → When Hughes’s first publication, The Weary Blues (1926), appeared, the New Negro Movement   was in full swing; Harlem, as the intellectual center of the movement, had become the Mecca 15 of all aspiring young Black writers and artists. In the early 1920s, Harlem was a newly created   Manhattan suburb north of Central Park where thousands of African-American families had settled.   Settlements there had originally been founded by the Dutch, but a real estate bust there created   openings for new residents just as a huge black population was migrating from the South. By 1925   there were around 200,000 African-Americans living in Harlem. Black political organizations and 20 churches opened next door to black theaters and dance halls, which led to a fantastic melting   pot of poets, musicians, intellectuals, and entrepreneurs, a development that in turn gave rise to   the Harlem Renaissance. This so-called Renaissance not only encouraged and inspired the Black   creative artist, but it served also to focus as never before the attention of America upon the Black   artist and scholar. As a result of this new interest, Harlem became a gathering place for downtown 25 intellectuals and bohemians—many of them honestly seeking knowledge of Black art and culture.       → For a period of about ten years, the most obvious and sensational aspect of the New Negro   Movement for downtown New York was the nightlife of Harlem, and in particular the cabaret scene.   In fact, Langston Hughes was first drawn to New York by the massive success of the first all-black 30 musical, Shuffle Along, composed by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. One of Hughes’s favorite   methods of composition—whether in New York, Washington, DC, or Paris—was to write poetry   while sitting in a club listening to jazz or the blues. In Washington in 1925, he wrote, “I tried to write   poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street (these songs) had the pulse beat of the people   who keep on going.” The 1925 Renaissance, of course, was not just a cabaret boom, and it would 35 be decidedly unfair to give the impression that it was. But the Harlem cabaret life of the period   was definitely an important by-product of the new interest in Afro-American culture created by the   movement, and this life strongly influenced the early poetry of Langston Hughes.       Langston Hughes died in 1967 at the end of a prolific career that saw the publication of sixteen 40 books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of “editorial” and   “documentary” fiction, twenty plays, children’s poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a   dozen radio and television scripts, and dozens of magazine articles, in addition to seven anthologies   of poetry that he edited.   1 Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information. A Hughes was an important poet of his time, partly because he had a wide array of experiences that helped him better understand Harlem. B Hughes lived in many places before he moved to Harlem. C Harlem was of particular interest to Hughes because he had lived in many other cities prior to moving there. D Hughes was an important poet of his time, partly because he lived in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. 2 The word signal in the passage is closest in meaning to A streetlight B major C indication D action 3 Why does the author mention that Hughes wrote, “I love the color of their language and, being a Harlemite myself, their problems and interests are my problems and interests”? A To give an example of Hughes’s writing style B To show that he understood the struggles that African-Americans faced C To emphasize that he was interested in the Black Metropolis D To explain why Hughes wrote about Harlem so frequently 4 The word their in the passage refers to A African-Americans B residents of Harlem C the places Hughes had lived D the poems Hughes had written 5 What can be inferred about the New Negro Movement mentioned in paragraph 2? (Paragraph 2 is marked with an arrow →) A It was solely a movement among poets and authors. B It was caused by an influx of African-Americans moving to the area from the south. C It began before Hughes published his first book. D It started in 1926. 6 The word Mecca in the passage is closest in meaning to A a city in Saudi Arabia B an ancient city C an area of Harlem D somewhere that artists wanted to visit 7 The word cabaret in the passage is closest in meaning to A a club that played jazz or the blues B a kind of wine C a scene in a movie D a successful musical 8 Click on the sentence in paragraph 3 that describes the people who congregated downtown. Paragraph 3 is marked with an arrow → 9 It can be inferred from the passage that Langston Hughes was first attracted to New York by A New York’s cabaret scene B a successful musical C other African-American families settling there D a desire to write poetry at cabarets 10 According to the passage, Langston Hughes A was the most successful African-American author of his time B attained massive amounts of wealth from his poetry C achieved recognition only after his death D wrote several different types of publications 11 The word it in the passage refers to A Harlem B a cabaret room C the 1925 Renaissance D Seventh Street 12 The word prolific in the passage is closest in meaning to A productive B argumentative C chaotic D verbose

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