After several defeats in wars, Robert Bruce went in exile and wanted to commit…
201320242013
After several defeats in wars, Robert Bruce went in exile and wanted to commit suicide. Just before committing suicide, he came across a spider attempting tirelessly to have its net. Time and again, the spider failed but that did not deter it to refrain from making attempts. Such attempts by the spider made Bruce curious. Thus, Bruce started observing the near-impossible goal of the spider to have the net. Ultimately, the spider succeeded in having its net despite several failures. Such act of the spider encouraged Bruce not to commit suicide. And then, Bruce went back again and won many a battle, and the rest is history.
Which one of the following assertions is best supported by the above information?
- A.
Failure is the pillar of success.
- B.
Honesty is the best policy.
- C.
Life begins and ends with adventures.
- D.
No adversity justifies giving up hope.
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Correct answer: D
Concept: In a “best supported / most valid inference” reading task, the correct choice is the one that the events stated in the passage directly entail — nothing more and nothing less. Reject a choice that is merely a familiar proverb loosely associated with the theme, and reject a choice that generalises beyond what the text actually claims.
Application: Trace what the passage actually states:
Bruce, after repeated defeats, is on the point of giving up (suicide).
He watches a spider fail again and again yet keep trying, and finally succeed.
This sight makes him abandon the idea of giving up and return to fight, eventually winning.
The single conclusion these events compel is that being in a desperate situation is not a sufficient reason to abandon hope — i.e. “No adversity justifies giving up hope.” The passage's whole point is the restoration of hope under hardship, so this is the inference it most directly supports.
Contrast with the other choices:
“Failure is the pillar of success” — a related-sounding maxim, but the passage frames failures as obstacles that were overcome by persistence and renewed hope, not as the foundation that builds success; it is an inference about cause that the text does not assert.
“Honesty is the best policy” — introduces a theme (truthfulness) that appears nowhere in the passage, so the text gives it no support at all.
“Life begins and ends with adventures” — a sweeping claim about the whole of life; the passage reports one turning-point episode and makes no such universal generalisation.
Cross-check: Re-read the final cause-effect chain — the spider's persistence directly leads Bruce to keep hoping and keep fighting. The choice that captures exactly that chain, without adding unstated claims, is “No adversity justifies giving up hope.”