Read the following passage and answer questions from questions 46 to 50: The…
2022
Read the following passage and answer questions from questions 46 to 50:
The conceptions and treatment of poverty were quite different before 1940. In colonial times the concern with poverty was conditioned by the belief that even if the natives could be somewhat enlightened by the presence of the coloniser, not much could be done about their poverty. It was because their economic development was pointless. The natives’ capacity for science and technology, the basis for economic progress, was seen as nil. However, within Asian, African and Latin or Native American societies, vernacular societies had developed ways of defining and treating poverty that accommodated visions of community, frugality, and sufficiency. It is true that massive poverty in the modern sense appeared only when the spread of market economy broke down the communities. As a result, it deprived millions of people from access to land, water and other resources. With the consolidation of market economy, systemic issues became inevitable.
It is important to know the break that occurred in the conceptions and management of poverty first with the emergence of capitalism in Europe, and later with the advent of development in the Third world. The first break is described in terms of the advent in the nineteenth century of systems for dealing with the poor, based on assistance provided by impersonal institutions. Philanthropy occupied an important place in this transition. The transformation of the poor into the assisted had a profound consequence. The modernisation of poverty invariably affected vernacular relations.
Before 1940, colonisers believed that poor countries
Answer: C. Cannot be changed — CONCEPTLiteral reading-comprehension questions are answered from the passage’s explicit claim, not from outside opinion. When an option changes the scope or…
- A.
Can be changed
- B.
Can be totally enlightened
- C.
Cannot be changed
- D.
Do not need their presence
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
CONCEPT
Literal reading-comprehension questions are answered from the passage’s explicit claim, not from outside opinion.
When an option changes the scope or degree of a statement, compare it with the author’s exact wording and select the closest supported meaning.
APPLICATION
The passage says that colonisers believed natives could be somewhat enlightened, yet not much could be done about their poverty because their economic development was considered pointless. The completed sentence therefore carries their pessimistic belief that poor countries could not be changed.
CONTRAST
“Can be changed” introduces confidence in improvement, while the passage presents a strongly limited prospect.
“Can be totally enlightened” expands “somewhat enlightened” into a complete effect that the passage does not state.
“Cannot be changed” captures the practical force of “not much could be done about their poverty.”
“Do not need their presence” shifts the issue to whether colonisers were needed, whereas the passage discusses what colonisers believed their presence could achieve.
CROSS-CHECK
Placing “cannot be changed” after the stem preserves the contrast between limited enlightenment and the belief that poverty could not be materially altered.
Therefore, the supported completion is “Cannot be changed.”