This passage is taken from an autobiographical work written in the mid-twentieth century.
Up on the corner lived a drunk of legend, a true phenomenon, who could surely have qualified
as the king of all the world’s winos. He was neither poetic like the others nor ambitious like the singer (to
whom we’ll presently come) but his drinking bouts were truly awe-inspiring and he was not without his sensitivity.
In the throes (5) of his passion he would shout to the whole wide world one concise command,
“Shut up!’’ Which was disconcerting enough to all who heard (except, perhaps, the singer), but such were
the labyrinthine acoustics of courtyards and areaways that he seemed to direct his command at me. The writer’s
block which this produced (10) is indescribable. On one heroic occasion he yelled his obsessive command without
one interruption longer than necessary to take another drink (and with no appreciable loss of volume, penetration or
authority) for three long summer days and nights, and shortly afterwards he died. Just how many lines of agitated prose
(15) he cost me I’ll never know, but in all that chaos of sound I sympathized with his obsession, for I, too,
hungered and thirsted for quiet. Nor did he inspire me to a painful identification, and for that I was thankful. Identification,
after all, involves feelings of guilt and responsibility, and, since I could hardly hear my own
(20) typewriter keys, I felt in no way accountable for his condition. We were simply fellow victims of the madding
crowd. May he rest in peace. No, these more involved feelings were aroused by a more intimate source
of noise, one that got beneath the skin and worked
(25) into the very structure of one’s consciousness—like the “fate’’ motif in Beethoven’s
Fifth or the knocking-at-the-gates scene in Macbeth. For at the top of our pyramid of noise there was a singer who lived
directly above us; you might say we had a singer on our ceiling.
(30) Now, I had learned from the jazz musicians I had known as a boy in Oklahoma City something
of the discipline and devotion to his art required of the artist. Hence I knew something of what the singer faced. These
jazzmen, many of them now world-famous, lived for and with music intensely. Their driving motivation was
(35) neither money nor fame, but the will to achieve the most eloquent expression of idea-emotions through the technical
mastery of their instruments (which, incidentally, some of them wore as a priest wears the cross) and the give and take,
the subtle rhythmical shaping and blending of idea, tone, and imagination
(40) demanded of group improvisation. The delicate balance struck between strong individual personality and the group
during those early jam sessions was a marvel of social organization. I had learned too that the end of all this discipline
and technical mastery was the desire to express an affirmative way of life through
(45) its musical tradition and that this tradition insisted that each artist achieve his creativity within its frame.
He must learn the best of the past, and add to his personal vision. Life could be harsh, loud, and wrong if it wished,
but they lived it fully, and when they expressed their attitude toward the world it was with a fluid style
(50) that reduced the chaos of living to form. The objectives of these jazzmen were not at
all those of the singer on our ceiling, but, though a purist committed to the mastery of the bel canto style, German
lieder, modern French art songs, and a few American slave songs sung as if bel canto, she (55) was
intensely devoted to her art. From morning to night she vocalized, regardless of the condition of her voice, the weather, or
my screaming nerves. There were times when her notes, sifting through her floor and my ceiling, bouncing down the walls
and ricocheting off the building in the rear, whistled like tenpenny (60) nails,
buzzed like a saw, wheezed like the asthma of Hercules, trumpeted like an enraged African elephant—and the squeaky pedal
of her piano rested plumb center above my typing chair. After a year of noncooperation from the neighbor on my left I became
desperate enough to cool down the hot blast of his phonograph (65) by calling the cops, but the singer presented
a serious ethical problem: Could I, an aspiring artist, complain against the hard work and devotion to craft of another
aspiring artist?
1. The speaker in the passage can best be described as a person who (A) is committed to developing his skills as a
writer (B) is actually more interested in being a musician than in being a writer (C) has talent as both a musician
and a writer (D) is motivated very differently from the jazz musicians that he describes (E) aspires to greatness but
knows that he will never achieve it
2. That the speaker “sympathized with’’ the drunk’s “obsession’’ (lines 16-17)
is ironic chiefly because the drunk (A) agitated the speaker purposely and distracted him from his writing (B) was
not “poetic’’ (line 3) and had no basis for his obsession (C) actually disturbed the speaker less than
did the singer (D) had little “sensitivity’’ (line 5) and was undeserving of sympathy (E) was a major
source of the noise from which the speaker wished to escape
3. It can be inferred that the speaker and the drunk were “fellow victims’’ (line 22) in that (A)
both had lost control of their passions (B) neither received support from friends or relatives (C) each had in a different
way proven to be a failure (D) neither was any longer able to feel guilt or responsibility (E) both were tormented by
distracting disturbances
4. In context, the word “intimate’’ (lines 24-25) is best interpreted to mean (A) suggestive
and lyrical (B) tender and friendly (C) inexorably penetrating (D) sensual and charming (E) strongly private
5. The speaker mentions Beethoven’s Fifth and Macbeth (lines 27-28) as examples of which of the following? (A)
Masterly creations flawed by insidious motifs and violent scenes (B) Works of art famous for their power to annoy audiences (C)
Splendid artistic achievements often performed unsatisfactorily (D) Artistic compositions with compelling and unforgettable
elements (E) Classic masterpieces with which everyone should be familiar
6. The description of the “delicate balance’’ (line 41) achieved at jazz jam sessions contributes
to the unity of the passage in which of the following ways? (A) As a contrast to the situation in the speaker’s neighborhood (B)
As a condemnation of the singer’s lack of talent (C) As a parallel to the drunk’s attitude toward the world (D)
As an indication of the essential similarity between art and life (E) As a satirical comment on the speaker’s own
shortcomings
7. According to the speaker, the jazz musicians that he knew as a boy attempted to do all of the following EXCEPT (A)
become technical masters of the instruments on which they performed (B) blend forms such as the slave song and the spiritual
into carefully structured performances (C) achieve individuality and virtuosity within the confines of their musical tradition (D)
communicate their beliefs and attitudes in a positive manner through their performances (E) combine their talents with
those of others in extemporaneous group performances
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