Read the passage and answer the question that follows: Though persons of any…

Concept

A statement is a valid inference only if it MUST follow from what the passage actually states. A claim the passage neither asserts nor logically entails is not a valid inference, however plausible it may sound on its own. So each statement has to be checked strictly against the text, not against outside knowledge.

Applying it to the passage

Test each statement against the text:

1. Statement I (“Cancer is a modern disease”): The passage never says cancer is new, originated recently, or is limited to the modern era — it only notes that persons of any age can have it and that some risk factors are modern. Treating cancer itself as a modern disease adds a claim the text simply does not make, so it is not a valid inference.

2. Statement II (“Modern lifestyle and eating habits may have increased the risk of cancer”): The passage says a fibre-rich diet may reduce cancer risk, and that modern lifestyle has raised consumption of low-fibre junk food. Less fibre means losing that risk-reducing effect, so the modern, low-fibre eating pattern may raise cancer risk. The hedged ‘may’ even matches the passage’s own tentative tone. This does follow from the text.

Cross-check

One statement adds an unstated claim and the other is built directly from the fibre–risk link in the text, so “Only II can be logically inferred” is the answer. The line “we should fortify junk food with fibre” is a recommendation, not an inference, and is set aside when judging I and II.