Read the following passage.
A. Gabrielle Roy wrote her novels and stories in French, and much of her work drew on two places she knew well: Montreal and the Manitoba of her childhood. Her first novel, Bonheur d'occasion, was published in June 1945. Set in the Saint-Henri district of Montreal in 1940, it follows the Lacasses, a working-class family struggling against unemployment and poverty. Critics in Montreal and Toronto praised its realism. In 1947 the book won the Prix Femina in France, and its English translation, The Tin Flute, won a Governor General's Award. An American book club, the Literary Guild, chose the translation and printed 700,000 copies.
B. Roy was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, on March 22, 1909. After a one-year course at the Provincial Normal School in Winnipeg, she became a teacher. She taught at a rural school in Cardinal and then, from 1930, at the Institut Collégial Provencher in St. Boniface. She also acted with the Cercle Molière, an amateur theatre group. In 1937 she gave up her teaching job and went to Europe, where she studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. During almost two years abroad, she accepted that she lacked the talent to become an actress and found that her true vocation was writing.
C. Roy returned to Canada in April 1939 and settled in Montreal, where she earned her living as a freelance journalist. Between 1941 and 1945 she wrote four series of articles for the magazine Le Bulletin des agriculteurs. The series were based on some research, but mostly on her own personal observation. The first described life in Montreal, and the second covered the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec. The third was a set of sketches of small communities she visited on a trip to western Canada, and the last looked at the social and economic life of regions across Quebec.
D. A Hollywood company bought the film rights to her first novel for $75,000, yet that film was never made. She married Marcel Carbotte, a doctor, and the couple lived in France for about three years before settling in Quebec City. Her later books include Rue Deschambault (1955), set in the house where she grew up. Her work was somewhat out of fashion in the 1960s and early 1970s. Even so, her standing has held steady since her first novel, and she remains one of the most widely read and studied authors of Canada and Quebec.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: she wrote four series of articles for a magazine. The third was a set of sketches of small communities she visited on a trip to western Canada.
Passage Reference: The third was a set of sketches of small communities she visited on a trip to western Canada, and the last looked at the social and economic life of regions across Quebec.
Tips: Find her work 'as a magazine writer'. Check which part of it was about small towns she saw while travelling in the West.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about her first novel, set in one Montreal district. No trip or small towns appear in it.
- B: The second paragraph covers her birth in Manitoba, her teaching and her theatre work, not writing about towns she visited.
- D: Notice that paragraph D moves from the film rights to her marriage, her later books and her reputation. There is no journey through western Canada.
- E: In paragraph C, the writer names the third magazine series. It says the series sketched small communities in western Canada, so the passage covers this.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: A Hollywood company bought the film rights to her first novel for $75,000, yet that film was never made.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D says a Hollywood company bought the film rights to her first novel, yet that film was never made. 'Came to nothing' means it did not happen.
Tips: Her first novel is mentioned more than once. Find the Hollywood plan and check that it never happened.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes the novel, its prizes and its book club edition, but it never mentions a film.
- B: Notice that paragraph B is about her training, her teaching and her drama studies in London, not about any film.
- C: Her work as a magazine journalist fills paragraph C. Movies are not part of it.
- E: In paragraph D, the writer reports that the Hollywood company bought the rights. It still did not make the film, so the failed plan is in the text.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: The series were based on some research, but mostly on her own personal observation.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says her magazine series were based on some research, but mostly on her own personal observation. 'Depended more on' matches the word 'mostly'.
Tips: Find the sentence that weighs research against another source. Ask which of the two counted more.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph says critics praised the realism of her novel, but it does not explain how she gathered material for articles.
- B: Notice that paragraph B tells us how she discovered her wish to write, not how she did her reporting.
- D: Paragraph D mentions a later book set in her family home. But it says nothing about how she did her reporting.
- E: Her way of gathering material appears in Paragraph C, which weighs research against what she observed.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: An American book club, the Literary Guild, chose the translation and printed 700,000 copies.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A gives one figure: the book club printed 700,000 copies of the English translation. It gives no sales figure for the French edition, so the passage cannot tell us which sold more.
Tips: A comparison needs two numbers. Count how many sales figures the passage really gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The English print run is in paragraph A. But there is no French figure, so the comparison in the statement cannot be made from it.
- B: The second paragraph covers her life before 1939 and mentions no book sales.
- C: Paragraph C deals with her magazine articles. Sales of her novel, in either language, are not discussed.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it names later books and a change in her reputation. But it gives no sales numbers for either edition.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: After a one-year course at the Provincial Normal School in Winnipeg, she became a teacher.
Why this is correct: Her training is in paragraph B: she took a one-year course at the Provincial Normal School in Winnipeg. Then she became a teacher in Cardinal and St. Boniface. A one-year course before teaching is a year of training.
Tips: Find where her teaching life starts. Then read the phrase just before it, which tells you what she did first.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A mentions the Manitoba of her childhood only in general. Her schooling in Winnipeg is not there.
- C: The third paragraph begins in 1939, after her teaching years, and describes her journalism.
- D: Notice that paragraph D lists later events such as her marriage and a book about her childhood home, but no teacher training.
- E: In paragraph B, the writer names the one-year course in Winnipeg that came before her teaching, so her training is described.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: She married Marcel Carbotte, a doctor, and the couple lived in France for about three years before settling in Quebec City.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D tells us her husband was a doctor and that the couple lived in France for about three years. It does not say why they went, so any reason for the move is missing.
Tips: Two facts sit side by side in one sentence. Ask whether the writer links them with a reason.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it mentions France only because the novel won the Prix Femina there, not because of her husband.
- B: The second paragraph describes her own time in Europe as a drama student, long before she married.
- C: The third paragraph is about her magazine work in Canada. Her husband and France are not mentioned.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it tells us her husband was a doctor and that they lived in France. But it stops before giving any reason.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Critics in Montreal and Toronto praised its realism.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, the writer says critics in Montreal and Toronto praised the novel's realism. Montreal and Toronto are the two cities, and realism means the story feels true to life.
Tips: Her first novel got attention in several places. Ask which part is about Canadian reviewers, not prizes abroad, and check what they admired.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B names St. Boniface and Winnipeg, but only as places where she studied and taught.
- C: The third paragraph names Montreal as her home from 1939, not as a city where critics judged her book.
- D: Notice that paragraph D talks about how her reputation changed over the decades, not about the first reviews in two cities.
- E: In paragraph A, the writer reports the critics' view: reviewers in Montreal and Toronto praised the novel's realism.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Her work was somewhat out of fashion in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: it says her work was somewhat out of fashion in the 1960s and early 1970s. 'Out of fashion' means less popular than before, and that lasted for a period of years.
Tips: Look at paragraph A: it is about success. Find the paragraph that tracks how opinion of her changed over time.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes early praise from critics and big prizes, which is the opposite of a quiet period.
- B: Notice that paragraph B covers her life before she published anything, so her popularity is not discussed.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it says her magazine series covered many regions, but it does not judge how popular she was.
- E: In paragraph D, the writer names the 1960s and early 1970s as the time when her work was out of fashion.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: An American book club, the Literary Guild, chose the translation and printed 700,000 copies.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: it says an American book club, the Literary Guild, chose the English translation and printed 700,000 copies. That is a huge printing of the English version.
Tips: Several big numbers appear. Find the one tied to 'a book club' and the English version.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Notice that paragraph B says she found her true vocation in writing, but no translation or book club appears there.
- C: A magazine she wrote for is named in paragraph C. That is not a club that printed her book.
- D: Paragraph D gives a dollar figure for film rights, which is money paid for a movie, not copies of a book.
- E: The book club's name and the number of copies it printed are both in paragraph A.
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