Read the passage and answer the question that follows: Though persons of any…
2021
Read the passage and answer the question that follows:
Though persons of any age can have cancer, recent research has shown that eating fiber rich diet may reduce risk of some types of cancer. Modern lifestyle has resulted in increased consumption of junk food that is low in fiber. We should fortify junk food with fiber.
Teenagers are best reached via their favourite pastimes and hobbies – internet, music, movies, peer groups, sports, etc. It is through these very formats they can be told of things that would be good for them in the long run – decency, patriotism, honesty, hard work, fair play, community feeling, harmony and tolerance. Being natural rebels, no teenager likes to be lectured. These values must be communicated to them in palatable ways of their own choice via their own favorite communication modes. Only then will the lessons stick.
Which of these can be derived from the passage:
- A.
Everything cannot be taught in schools and colleges.
- B.
Subtlety and sensitivity would help in reaching out to teenagers.
- C.
Being young, teenagers tend to have short attention spans. Long term issues must be communicated in special ways, which they are attracted to.
- D.
Both that not everything can be taught in schools and colleges and that subtlety and sensitivity would help in reaching out to teenagers.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
A valid inference from a passage is a statement that the author's own words logically commit to — it must be supportable from what is written, not from outside knowledge the passage never supplies. Any choice that adds a new fact the text does not state is NOT derivable, even if it sounds reasonable.
Application
The relevant part of the passage argues that teenagers, being natural rebels who dislike being lectured, are best reached through their own favourite formats (internet, music, movies, peer groups, sports), and that values “must be communicated to them in palatable ways of their own choice.” Test each candidate statement against this:
“Everything cannot be taught in schools and colleges”: the passage insists values stick only when delivered through teenagers' own informal channels rather than by lecturing, which implies the classroom alone is insufficient — derivable.
“Subtlety and sensitivity would help in reaching out to teenagers”: telling values in “palatable ways of their own choice” to natural rebels who reject lecturing is precisely an appeal for a subtle, sensitive approach — derivable.
“Teenagers have short attention spans”: the passage never mentions attention span at all; this introduces an outside fact, so it is NOT derivable.
Cross-check
Two of the three single statements are genuinely supported by the text and the third smuggles in an unstated claim, so the choice that bundles both supported statements together is the complete and correct derivation.