sat-dog

Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Georgi Vladimov’s novel Faithful Ruslan. In this context, “suppress” means to prevent something, such as a book, from being accessed by the public. The text indicates that the novel was circulated secretly within the Soviet Union, a stratagem that was necessary because of the government’s efforts to suppress the book, or prevent it from being circulated and read. Choice A is incorrect because in this context, “replicate” would mean to copy or reproduce a book, and this meaning wouldn’t make sense in the text’s discussion of Faithful Ruslan. If the Soviet government had attempted to replicate Vladimov’s novel, there would be no reason for copies to circulate “in secret,” since the government would be actively making more copies available, not restricting access. Choice B is incorrect. Although a repressive government might well “critique” a novel, or evaluate it negatively, simply critiquing one wouldn’t necessarily lead to copies of it circulating “in secret.” Instead, the text suggests that the Soviet government took decisive action against Faithful Ruslan that necessitated its underground circulation and did not merely offer criticism of the novel. Choice C is incorrect because “import” means to bring a product, such as a book, into a country from elsewhere. However, the text suggests that copies of Faithful Ruslan were already present in the Soviet Union and that the government was trying to restrict their circulation rather than increasing access to the novel by importing copies from another country.