Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting…
2023
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies (grasslands) with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon from many miles afar. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking stove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds.
Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar — except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trapdoor in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the ploughed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of long blades until they were the same gray colour to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
Which one of the following statements is true ?
- A.
Uncle Henry’s house was freshly painted.
- B.
Dorothy’s parents were rich farmers.
- C.
Uncle Henry had a big farm.
- D.
She lived in a small and shabby house.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In literal (factual) reading comprehension, a statement counts as “true” only when it is directly supported by wording actually present in the passage — stated fact or a close, faithful paraphrase of it. A statement that adds a detail the passage never mentions, contradicts what the passage says, or requires an unsupported guess must be rejected, even if it sounds plausible in general.
Application: The first paragraph states directly, “Their house was small,” and describes its bare, worn contents — a rusty cooking stove, a plain cupboard, a table, a few chairs. The third paragraph adds that although the house had once been painted, “the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away,” so that “the house was as dull and gray as everything else.” Combining the explicit “small” with the rusty stove and the faded, weather-worn paint gives a house that is both small in size and shabby in condition.
Cross-check (why the other statements fail the same test):
“Freshly painted” directly contradicts the passage, which says the paint was blistered by the sun and washed away by rain.
“Rich farmers” as Dorothy’s parents is unsupported — the passage names Uncle Henry and Aunt Em as the people she lives with, not her parents, and nothing in the text suggests wealth; the small, worn house points the other way.
“A big farm” for Uncle Henry is never stated — the passage describes the surrounding prairie and ploughed land in general, not the size of his particular farm, so this is an assumption the text does not confirm.
Result: Only the statement that the house was small and shabby is directly and fully supported by the passage’s own wording, so it is the true statement.