Why might Irving’s literary ability have been surp

单项选择题

Passage 4 　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage: 　　Washington Irving wasAmeriea’s first man of letters to be known internationally. His works were received enthusiastically both in England and in the United States. He was, in fact, one of the most successful writers of his time in the country, and at the same time winning the admiration of fellow writers like Scott in Britain arid Poe and Hawthorne in he United States. The respect in which he was held partly owing to the man himself, with his warm friendliness, his good sense, his urbanity, his gay spirits, his artistic integrity, his love of both the Old World and the New. Thackeray described Irving as "a gentleman, who, though himself born in no very high sphere, was most finished, polished, witty ; socially the equal of the most refined Europeans." In England he was granted an honorary degree from Oxford--an unusual honor for a citizen of a young, uncultured nation--and he received the medal of the Royal Society of Literature.America made him ambassador to Spain. 　　Irving’s background provides little to explain his literary aehievements.A gifted but delicate child, he had little schooling.He studied law, but without zeal, and never did practice seriously.He was immune to his strict Presbyterian home environment, frequenting both social gatherings and the theater.

Why might Irving’s literary ability have been surprising to the English

A．They feared competition from American writers
B．They did not expect the United States to produce good writers
C．They disapproved of the language American writers used
D．They thought of theUnited States as a purely commercial power