GMAT Reading Comprehension - Maria Helena P.T. Machados’s Bilingual Edition of Brazil Through the Eyes

Reading Passage Question

Maria Helena P.T. Machados’s bilingual edition of Brazil Through the Eyes of William James expertly gathers and examines James’s sketches, written correspondence, and diaries produced during the Thayer Expedition to the Amazon basin in 1865 and 1866, offering a fascinating glimpse into the formative voyage of one of North America’s preeminent thinkers. While adding to an important body of travel literature set in Brazil that spans from the early colonial era (Hans Staden) to the 20th century (Claude Levi-Strauss), the handsomely illustrated volume offers a comprehensive cultural and historical critique of the expedition and its participants, contributing to a greater understanding of U.S.–Brazilian relations amid the contentious political climate of the U.S. Civil War era.

James’s letters and journal entries are both typical of the era in which they were written and, as Machados argues in her lengthy introduction (comprising half the volume), highly idiosyncratic documents to the point of being mildly subversive. Consisting primarily of correspondence to his parents, brother Henry, and sister Alice, James’s missives raise considerable doubts about the expedition’s defining goals, namely, to find evidence supporting the creationist agenda of leader and Harvard luminary Louis Agassiz. As Machados points out, Agassiz was one of Charles Darwin’s most formidable and charismatic critics as well as one of the foremost U.S. public intellectuals of the period. As such, the Swiss-born scientist received a great deal of financial backing and accolades from both the U.S. South and the imperial Brazilian government.

Although on a number of occasions, James, in his letters, declares admiration for his professor, in his journal entries he reveals the full range of his sentiments: that he abhors the tedious work of collecting species after new species, each new discovery evidence, in Agazziz’s mind, of the stasis of nature and therefore a repudiation of evolutionary theory. James clearly considers his mentor intellectually impressive and physically tireless yet something of a self-righteous blowhard. “Never,” he writes, “did a man utter a greater amount

of humbug.” James’s amusing caricatures of Agazziz and fellow voyagers reinforce his irreverent attitude toward their central mission, and provide a clear indication as to why he chose to abort the Thayer Expedition after 8 months of travel.

‘Maria Helena P.T. Machados’s bilingual edition of Brazil Through the Eyes’ is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding James’s communication with his family?

1. James, for fear of criticism from Agassiz, had to be implicit about the contents of his journal entries.
2. James used correspondence with his family to voice his disillusion with his work.
3. It was necessary for James to create the illusion that he admired Agazziz so as not to raise his professor’s suspicions.
4. James was secretly a critic of Darwin’s theory of evolution.
5. James, unlike his creationist professor, was a staunch atheist.

2. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

1. summarizing the results of a study
2. analyzing the reasoning behind an argument
3. considering an opinion
4. speculating about a set of circumstances
5. defining categories

3. In the context in which it appears, “body” most nearly means

1. organism
2. carcass
3. trunk
4. consistency
5. collection

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