Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. A certain…
2020
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
A certain king was travelling from one place to another in disguise because he wanted to check on his officers.
One day he was resting under a tree near a house which belonged to a goldsmith. He overheard a conversation between the father and the son in that house. The son was saying, "Father, don't worry, I shall cheat my customers fully." The king wanted to test him.
The next day the King sent for the son and said, "Make a gold crown for the temple goddess. Come to the palace every day and work on the crown."
The son agreed. He went every day and worked on the gold crown. In the evening when he returned home, he closed his room and used to work on something. He would go to bed late at night.
After some days he finished the work. On the last day before he went to the palace, he went to the river early in the morning to do puja. Then he went to the palace. After finishing the work he took the gold crown to the river to wash it. The soldiers went with him. He came back with the crown. The king was pleased at the work and also that the young man could not cheat him. He said, "You promised your father that you would cheat people fully. But now you know that you cannot." After some silence the young man replied, "I did cheat you fully, my lord."
What is the main idea of the passage?
- A.
The cleverness of the goldsmith's son
- B.
The goodness of the King in finding out his people's problems
- C.
The cleverness of the King in moving in disguise
- D.
The King's clever trick to prevent cheating by the goldsmith's son
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
CONCEPT: In a reading-comprehension "main idea / central theme" question, the correct choice is the option that captures the passage's overall point, not a single supporting detail, a minor plot device, or a plan that the passage itself later undercuts. The safest way to find it is to trace the story to its climax or resolution, because that is where a narrative passage usually reveals what it was really about.
APPLICATION: Trace this passage to its resolution.
The son tells his father he will cheat his customers fully; the king overhears this and decides to test him.
The king sets up a controlled task: the son must make a gold crown at the palace every day, and soldiers escort him when he takes the finished crown to the river to wash it — a deliberate arrangement meant to stop any cheating.
The king is satisfied with the crown and remarks that the son has now proved he cannot cheat, believing his precautions worked.
The son's reply — "I did cheat you fully, my lord" — is the passage's punchline: despite every precaution the king took, the son still found a way to deceive him.
Because the story is built around this final reversal, its central idea is the son's cleverness in still managing to cheat even under close supervision.
CONTRAST: Each near-miss option mistakes a supporting detail for the passage's actual point.
"The goodness of the King in finding out his people's problems" over-reads the opening line about travelling in disguise to "check on his officers" as the whole story's point, when it is only the setup that lets the king overhear the father-son conversation; the passage never returns to any idea of the king solving people's problems.
"The cleverness of the King in moving in disguise" also fixes on that same opening device; the disguise plays no further role once the crown episode begins, so it cannot be what the passage as a whole is about.
"The King's clever trick to prevent cheating by the goldsmith's son" describes only the king's plan and stops at his intention — but the son's closing admission shows the plan did not actually stop the cheating, so the passage's real focus is on the son outwitting the plan, not the plan itself.