Read the passage carefully and answer the questions: The true role of our…
2020
Read the passage carefully and answer the questions:
The true role of our energy is to gain personal power and operate from it at all times. Today, in many situations, people lose their personal power in relationships between boss-subordinate, client-customer, colleague-colleague, teacher-student, husband-wife, parent-child, friend-friend, etc. Often in these relationships someone plays the role of the oppressor while the other plays the role of the oppressed. But this is a great weakness in the relationship and it undermines people's capacity to be their authentic selves and accomplish what they want in their lives. We need personal power to hold our self-esteem and go forward to succeed in our pursuits. Human relationships often deteriorate through these power struggles and ultimately both, whether they are playing the role of an oppressor or the oppressed, lose their personal power. Personal power can be seen as the result of an interplay between masculine and feminine forms of power. Both these forms of power can co-exist in both men and women. Both feminine and the masculine forms of power need to be honoured and expressed for a beautiful presence and creation in the world. We have to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of masculine and feminine forms of power.
The power relations in a society tend to
- A.
Hinder people from achieving their personal goals
- B.
Improve the people's abilities
- C.
Increase self-esteem
- D.
Have more oppressors than the oppressed
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
In reading-comprehension inference questions, the correct choice must be a conclusion that follows directly from statements made across the passage, not merely a general plausible idea, and not a reversal or an unstated comparison. The right answer restates or logically follows from what the passage itself asserts.
The passage explains that in the relationships it lists, one party plays the oppressor and the other the oppressed, and states plainly that this dynamic undermines people's capacity to be their authentic selves and accomplish what they want in their lives, adding that both sides ultimately lose their personal power. So the passage's own conclusion about what power relations in a society tend to do is: damage individuals' ability to achieve their own personal goals — exactly the claim that power relations hinder people from achieving their personal goals.
Each of the other readings introduces something the passage does not support:
'Improve the people's abilities' reverses the passage's claim — the text says power struggles undermine capacity, not improve it.
'Increase self-esteem' inverts the passage's causal direction — the passage says personal power is needed to hold self-esteem, implying power struggles threaten self-esteem rather than raise it.
'Have more oppressors than the oppressed' introduces a numerical comparison the passage never makes — the passage only notes that individuals often occupy one role or the other in a given relationship, without quantifying how many people fall into each role overall.
Therefore, the passage supports the conclusion that power relations in a society tend to hinder people from achieving their personal goals.