请阅读Passage 2，完成小题。
Passage 2
The subject of ballads,books and films, Robin Hood has proven to be one of popular culture's mostenduring folk heroes. Over the course of 700 years, the outlaw fromNottinghamshire who robs the rich to give to the poor has emerged as one of themost enduring folk heroes in popular culture-and one of the most versatile. Buthow has the legend of Sherwood Forest's merry outlaws evolved over time? Did areal Robin Hood inspire these classic tales?
Beginning in the 15thcentury and perhaps even earlier, Christian revelers in certain parts ofEngland celebrated May Day with plays and games involving a Robin Hood figurewith near-religious significance. In the 19th century, writer-illustrators likeHoward Pyle adapted the traditional tales for children, popularizing them inthe United States and around the world. More recently, bringing Robin to thesilver screen has become?a rite of passage?for directors ranging fromMichael Curtiz and Ridley Scott to Terry Gilliam and Mel Brooks.
Throughout Robin'sexistence, writers, performers and filmmakers have probed their imaginationsfor new incarnations that resonate with their respective audiences. In14th-century England, where agrarian discontent had begun to chip away at thefeudal system, he appears as an anti-establishment rebel who murders governmentagents and wealthy landowners. Later variations from times of less socialupheaval dispense with the gore and cast Robin as a dispossessed aristocrat witha heart of gold and a love interest, Maid Marian.
Academics, meanwhile,have combed the historical record for evidence of a real Robin Hood. Englishlegal records suggest that, as early as the 13th century, “Robehod,” “Rabunhod”and other variations had become common epithets for criminals. But what hadinspired these nicknames: a fictional tale, an infamous bandit or an amalgam ofboth? The first literary references to Robin Hood appear in a series of 14th-and 15th-century ballads ab
A.Quotation
B.Contrast and comparison
C.Classification
D.Rhetorical question