Humans become less selfish when :
2015
Humans become less selfish when :
Answer: A. they work in large groups — ConceptA direct-comprehension question is answered from what the passage itself asserts, not from what is generally true of the world. The method is to lift…
- A.
they work in large groups
- B.
they listen to frightening stories
- C.
they listen to cheerful stories
- D.
they work in solitude
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
A direct-comprehension question is answered from what the passage itself asserts, not from what is generally true of the world. The method is to lift the key phrase out of the stem, search the passage for the sentence that carries that same idea, and read the completion straight off that sentence.
Application
The key phrase in the stem is “less selfish”. The passage uses that idea in exactly one place, where the author criticises the rational optimists: “The rational optimists however, do not realize how humanity has progressed overtime through amiable social networks and how large groups work in less selfishness and in the process accommodate rich and poor, high and low alike.” That sentence ties the reduced selfishness to a single condition — people working in large groups. The completion the passage supports is therefore “they work in large groups”.
Contrast
they work in large groups: the sentence quoted above attaches reduced selfishness to exactly this condition, and adds that such groups accommodate rich and poor, high and low alike.
they listen to frightening stories: the passage presents frightening stories as totemic warnings meant to raise tension and spread fear (“Fail to act now and we are all doomed”); it never links them to any change in selfishness.
they listen to cheerful stories: the passage attaches the cheerful line to leaving everything to a few especially able adults and to an individualistic approach to the future, not to any reduction in selfishness.
they work in solitude: the passage frames every stage of human progress socially — story-telling between people, amiable social networks, large groups — and nowhere credits solitary work with reducing selfishness.
Cross-check
Invert the quoted sentence and it matches the stem word for word: “large groups work in less selfishness” becomes “humans become less selfish when they work in large groups”. Selfishness is mentioned nowhere else in the passage, so no alternative completion can be defended from the text.