The corrido, a type of narrative folk song, comes from a region half GMAT Reading Comprehension

The corrido, a type of narrative folk song, comes from a region half in Mexico and half in the United States known as the Lower Rio Grande Border. Corridos, which flourished from about 1836 to the late 1930s, are part of a long-standing ballad tradition that has roots in eighteenth-century Spain. Sung in Spanish, corridos combine formal features of several different types of folk songs, but their narratives consistently deal with subject matter specific to the Border region. For example, “El Corrido de Kiansis” (c. 1870), the oldest corrido surviving in complete form, records the first cattle drives to Kansas in the late 1860s. A single important event is likely to have inspired several corrido variants, yet the different versions of any given story all partake of standard generic elements. When sung at social gatherings, corridos served to commemorate significant local happenings, but more importantly, their heavy reliance on familiar linguistic and thematic conventions served to affirm the cohesiveness of Border communities.

Corridos take their name from the Spanish verb correr, meaning to run or to flow, for corridos tell their stories simply and swiftly, without embellishments. Figures of speech such as metaphors are generally rare in corridos, and when metaphors are used, they usually incorporate everyday images that are familiar to the songs’ listeners. In the popular “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez,” for example, the hero Cortez, fighting off pursuers, uses the metaphor of a thunderstorm to boast that he has had harder fights than the one they gave him� “I have weathered thunderstorms� / This little mist doesn’t bother me.” Similar storm imagery is found in other corridos including “Kiansis,” which tells of stampedes caused by thunderstorms during the Kansas cattle drives. Such imagery, highly conventional and readily recognizable to corrido listeners, reflects and strengthens the continuity of the corrido tradition.

The corrido is composed not only of familiar images but also of certain ready-made lines that travel easily from one ballad to another. This is most evident in the corrido’s formal closing verse, or despedida. The despedida of one variant of “Gregorio Cortez'' is translated as follows� “Now with this I say farewell In the shade of a cypress tree� / This is the end of the ballad / Of Don Gregorio Cortez.” The first and third lines are a set convention. The second and fourth lines are variable, the fourth carrying the name of the corrido or expressing its subject, and the second varying according to exigencies of rhyme. In the despedida, perhaps the clearest marker of both the corrado's uniqueness and its generic continuity, the corrido’s maker asserts that the task of relating an authentic Border tale has been accomplished.

Question 1: Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) Corrido imagery is one of the clearest indicators of the unique cohesiveness of Border communities.
(B) The roots of the corrido in the eighteenth-century Spanish ballad tradition are revealed in corridos’ conventional themes and language.
(C) The corrido form, which depends on conventions such as ready-made lines, finds its ideal representation in “Gregorio Cortez.”
(D) Corridos are noted for their vivid use of imagery and their attention to local events.
(E) The corrido is a type of folk song that promotes cohesiveness in Border communities through the use of familiar conventions.

Question 2: According to the passage, which one of the following is characteristic of corridos?

(A) use of exaggeration to embellish Border events
(B) use of numerous figures of speech
(C) use of a formal closing verse
(D) use of complex rhyme schemes
(E) use of verses that combine Spanish and English

Question 3: Given its tone and content, from which one of the following was the passage most likely drawn?

(A) a brochure for contemporary tourists to the Lower Rio Grande Border
(B) a study focusing on the ballad’s influence on the music of eighteenth-century Spain
(C) an editorial in a contemporary newspaper from the Lower Rio Grande Border
(D) a treatise on the lives of famous natives of the Lower Rio Grande Border
(E) a book describing various North American folk song forms

Question 4: Which one of the following is mentioned in the passage as an example of the use of metaphor in corridos?

(A) cattle drives
(B) mist
(C) a cypress tree
(D) a fight
(E) stampedes

Question 5: The author discusses metaphor in the second paragraph primarily in order to

(A) elaborate on a claim about the directness of the language used in corridos
(B) counter the commonplace assertion that narrative is the main object of corridos
(C) emphasize the centrality of poetic language to corridos
(D) point out the longevity of the corrido tradition
(E) identify an element common to all variants of a particular corrido

Question 6: The passage provides the most support for inferring which one of the following?

(A) “El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez” was rarely sung at Border social gatherings.
(B) Most surviving corridors do not exist in complete form.
(C) All complete corridors have some lines in common.
(D) Most corrido variants have the same despedida.
(E) “El Corrido de Kiansis” was composed by someone not from the Border region.

Question 7: The passage most strongly suggests that the author would agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) In at least some cases, the dependence of corridos on ready-made lines hindered the efforts of corrido makers to use metaphor effectively.
(B) The corrido is unique among ballad forms because it uses language that is familiar mainly to local audiences.
(C) Much of the imagery used in corridos can also be identified in ballads from Spain.
(D) The reportorial capability of corridos was probably enhanced by their freedom from the constraints of rhymed ballad forms.
(E) A corrido without a surviving despedida would probably still be identifiable as a corrido.

“The corrido, a type of narrative folk song, comes from a region half”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension. This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 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.

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