In each question below is given a statement followed by two assumptions…

Concept: An assumption is implicit in a statement only when the statement's own reasoning depends on it — the test is to ask whether negating the assumption would make the speaker's logic fall apart. If the statement still makes complete sense without a given assumption, that assumption is not implicit, no matter how reasonable it sounds in general.

Application: Here the speaker rejects becoming an engineer specifically because it is easy. That refusal only makes sense if the speaker values goals that are hard to achieve — which is exactly assumption II's claim, so it is implicit. Assumption I, on the other hand, is about aspiring to a profession, but the statement never touches professional status at all — it is entirely about the difficulty of the path, so the statement's logic holds up fully without assuming anything about professional aspiration.

• Only assumption I is implicit — requires reading a professional-status motive into a statement that only talks about ease versus difficulty; nothing supports that reading.

• Either assumption I or II is implicit — leaves the choice open only if the statement can't be tested for each assumption separately; here the difficulty-versus-ease link resolves each one independently, so there's nothing left undecided.

• Neither assumption I nor II is implicit — would require the speaker's stated reason for refusing to rest on no preference at all, which contradicts giving a reason in the first place.

Cross-check: Testing each assumption on its own shows that the preference for a hard-earned achievement is implicit while the professional-aspiration idea is not — so only assumption II is implicit.