GRE填空

AustinTUID：3828623

It is a testimony to Roth’s ________ that he could not quite bring himself to
write a book as dull and flat as his original conception for his novel Everyman
seemed to demand.

persistence
deterioration
talent
ambition
decline
genius
有大神帮忙翻译一下这个句子吗？还有解释中quite表示讽刺怎么看出来的？

LXcopporUID：3903416

Roth不咋愿意写出一本和他先前的Everyman小说一样枯燥平淡的书，这体现了他的__（有点意译在里面，没有很准确）。
首先GRE填空尽量不要去完整的翻译句子，因为GRE填空的句子是人为造出来考人逻辑思维的，而不是自然的语言表述，所以每次我们尝试去翻译都会很别扭。
那既然不能翻译，要做到高效理解GRE填空的题干，就需要我们提取题干中的逻辑框架，并且精准地找到片段对应（而不是通读句子去抠所有细节）。
这句话中，It is a testimony（证据） to Roth’s ________ that，说明that 引导的从句能体现我们所要填的空的特质。因此找到后面的句子中能够体现特质的单词，我们就可以看到dull and flat，同时这两个形容词是在说Roth不愿做的事情，那么Roth愿意做的事情就应该是和dull and flat取反的内容。
最后在选项中找同义词，BE，CF是近义的，很容易就想到应该是CF.
最后quite的意思，表示我可以但我不想，是有点讽刺的意味。我摘了下WordReference论坛里网友的解释：
Normally, "I can't quite..." means "I can almost... (but I can't)"

For example:
I can't quite reach the ball =

I can almost reach the ball (but I can't)
or
The ball is just out of my reach.

However, in the context of "I can't quite understand him" (assuming that you're referring to "him" in terms of his personality or manner) the word quite doesn't change the meaning as such, but it makes the sentence seem gentler or more polite compared to "I really can't understand him" or "I just can't understand him".