Read the passage and answer the questions that follow on the basis of the…
2024
Read the passage and answer the questions that follow on the basis of the information provided in the passage.
The last half of my life has been lived in one of those painful epochs of human history during which the world is getting worse, and past victories which had seemed to be definitive have turned out to be only temporary. When I was young, Victorian optimism was taken for granted. It was thought that freedom and prosperity would speed gradually throughout the world by an orderly process, and it was hoped that cruelty, tyranny, and injustice would continually diminish. Hardly anyone was haunted by the fear of great wars. Hardly anyone thought of the nineteenth century as a brief interlude between past and future barbarism.
The world 'definitive' as used in the passage means
- A.
incomplete
- B.
defined
- C.
temporary
- D.
final
Attempted by 22 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Answer: final
"Definitive" in the passage means conclusive or final; the author says past victories that seemed conclusive proved to be only temporary.
final — Correct: matches the meaning "conclusive" or "occurring at the end."
temporary — Incorrect: means short-lived; the passage contrasts this with "definitive."
defined — Incorrect: means specified or clearly described, not conclusive.
incomplete — Incorrect: means not finished; does not convey the sense of being conclusive.