Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that…
2023
Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. We weep at what exceeds our expectations in serious matters; we laugh at what disappoints our expectations in trifles. We shed tears from sympathy with real and necessary distress; as we burst into laughter from want of sympathy with that which is unreasonable and unnecessary. Tears are the natural and involuntary response of the mind overcome by some sudden and violent emotions. Laughter is the same sort of convulsive and involuntary movement, occasioned by mere surprise or contrast.
The serious is the stress which the mind lays upon the expectations of a given order of events and the weight attached to them. When this stress is increased beyond its usual intensity and strains the feelings by the violent opposition of good and bad, it becomes the tragic. The ludicrous is the unexpected relaxing of this stress below its usual intensity, by an abrupt transposition of ideas that takes the mind by surprise and startles it into lively sense of pleasure.
We shed tears when
A. Something is tragic
B. Something is ludicrous
C. Something is surprising
D. Seriousness exceeds our expectations
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer: C. A & D only — ConceptIn a passage-based combination question, classify each statement by the relation explicitly assigned to it in the passage. Keep causes of weeping…
- A.
C & D only
- B.
A & B only
- C.
A & D only
- D.
A, B & D only
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
In a passage-based combination question, classify each statement by the relation explicitly assigned to it in the passage. Keep causes of weeping separate from causes of laughter, then select the set containing only the statements that match the asked category.
Application
Statement A is associated with the tragic: serious stress rises beyond its usual intensity and strains the feelings. This is the weeping side of the passage’s contrast.
Statement B is associated with the ludicrous: stress relaxes unexpectedly and produces lively pleasure. This belongs to the passage’s account of laughter.
Statement C mentions surprise. The passage says mere surprise or contrast occasions laughter, whereas tears arise from sudden, violent emotion and serious distress.
Statement D compresses the source sentence: the passage says we weep when events exceed our expectations in serious matters. In the source paper, D expresses that serious-expectation condition.
Cross-check / Contrast
The passage pairs the tragic and exceeded expectations in serious matters with tears, while it pairs the ludicrous and mere surprise with laughter. Reading D in that source-paper sense, the accepted combination is A and D only.