Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: Chocoholics…
2024
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
Chocoholics no longer need to feel guilty about their desire for chocolate. They are simply the victim of the genes, scientists have found. The so called “sweet-tooth gene” has been identified by separate teams of researchers and helps explain why some find it harder to resist chocolate bars and cream cakes. It also raises the possibility of designing a drug which could “switch off” the gene and help people resist sugary foods. Children, in particular, risk their health by eating too many sweets and chocolates
To identify the gene, research teams conducted almost identical experiments using mice which have differences in their ability to taste sweet foods. One of the team members said “A sweet taste receptor recognises the sweet content of food and initiates a cascade of events which signals to the brain that a sweet food has been eaten.” He further added, “The same gene exists in humans, so it means that if your parents have a sweet tooth then you probably will as well”.
He said, ”We have always known that some people have a sweeter tooth than others. But it has also been proved that if you are gradually exposed to less sugar, then the body becomes accustomed to less. They will be satisfied with a lower level of sweetness. Doctors warn against any form of gene therapy which seeks to deactivate the sweet gene. ”We have produced this gene through evolution because sweet foods in nature are not poisonous, they give us energy. We all need to have some sugar in our diet,” claim scientists. US researchers are using this discovery to develop artificial sweeteners without any after-taste.
Doctors are not in favour of gene therapy because:
- A.
Sweet foods give energy to the body.
- B.
Sweet foods are poisonous.
- C.
People will feel guilty after going through it.
- D.
It will enhance sugar levels in the body.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
In a reading-comprehension "why" question, the correct choice is the passage’s own explicitly stated reason — not an idea that merely appears somewhere else in the passage, and not something the reader infers beyond what the text says.
The passage gives the doctors’ reason directly: they oppose any gene therapy that deactivates the sweet-sensing gene because that gene evolved for a purpose — sweet foods are not poisonous and they give the body energy, and the passage separately notes that everyone needs some sugar in their diet. The option stating that sweet foods give the body energy restates this exact reason.
Checking each remaining option against the passage:
Sweet foods are poisonous — nothing in the passage describes sweet foods this way; the text never supports characterizing them as poisonous.
People will feel guilty after going through it — this reuses the passage’s opening remark about chocoholics feeling self-conscious about their cravings, a separate point from the doctors’ later scientific objection to gene therapy.
It will enhance sugar levels in the body — the passage never claims gene therapy would raise sugar levels; this is not among the reasons the text gives for the doctors’ objection.
So the doctors’ stated reason — that sweet foods are not poisonous and give the body energy — is exactly what the correct option restates from the passage.