Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions by…
2019
Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
The other day I received an unusual and very gratifying gift : I was given a tree. Or rather, I was given half-a-dozen trees, which would be planted on my behalf. I had been invited to give a talk to an organisation. After such events, the speaker is usually given a token gift. Sometimes the gift is that of a pen, or something useful. Often, the gift is in the form of a plaque or similar commemorative token. However well-meant, such gifts are destined to gather dust in forgotten corners. Which is why I was agreeably surprised to be given a scroll which attested that, in a designated plantation established for the purpose, six trees would be added in my name, as part of ‘green’ movement being sponsored by the organization.
In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, the gift of a living tree or plant makes for a perfect present. The tradition of giving and receiving gifts has increasingly become a highly evolved marketing exercise. Apart from festivals like Diwali, Holi, Christmas, Eid and others, a whole new calendar of celebratory events has been created to promote the giving of gifts : Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Valentine’s Day and so on and on.
What do you give to people – friends, relatives, spouses, children, parents, employees, clients, well-wishers who have more or less everything, or at least everything that you could afford to give them as a gift ? Another shirt or kurta ? Another bottle of scent or after shave ? Another box of chocolates ? Another any other ?
The writer was thrilled when he was given
- A.
a tree
- B.
six trees
- C.
a plaque
- D.
a pen
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept: A literal-comprehension question is answered by locating the exact detail the passage states — including any correction the writer makes to an earlier statement — rather than stopping at a provisional opening description.
Application: The writer opens with a provisional description, ‘I was given a tree,’ then immediately revises it in his own next sentence: ‘Or rather, I was given half-a-dozen trees, which would be planted on my behalf.’ The passage closes the loop later, specifying that the scroll attested that six trees would be added in his name as part of a plantation drive. Both the writer’s own correction and this closing detail point to the same precise gift.
Cross-check / contrast:
‘a tree’ is only the writer’s provisional opening description, revised by his own very next sentence.
‘a plaque’ is named only as an example of the routine, forgettable token gift (‘destined to gather dust in forgotten corners’) that the writer contrasts his actual gift against — it is not what he received.
‘a pen’ is likewise offered only as an example of the ordinary token gift typically given after such a talk, not the gift described in this passage.
Result: the gift that thrilled the writer, precisely stated by the passage itself, is six trees.