CSAT Solved Papers/ 2022/Q42
2022 CSAT — Q42
Passage
For two or three generations past, ever-increasing numbers of individuals have been living as workers merely, not as human beings. An excessive amount of labour is rule today in every circle of society, with the result that man’s spiritual element cannot thrive. He finds it very difficult to spend his little leisure in serious activities. He does not want to think; or he cannot even if he wants to. He seeks not self-improvement, but entertainment which would enable him to be mentally idle and to forget his usual activities. Therefore, the so-called culture of our age is dependant more on cinema than on theatre, more on newspapers, magazines and crime stories than on serious literature.
Man does not seek self-improvement because he
Thinking pathway
Locate. This is a locate-the-detail question — find the exact line giving the reason, don’t reason from the world. The passage: “He seeks not self-improvement, but entertainment which would enable him to be mentally idle and to forget his usual activities.”
Test — find the line, then match it. The reason is preference for entertainment and mental idleness. (d) “loves amusement and is mentally idle” maps directly. Test the rest: (a) “not intellectually capable” leans on “he cannot even if he wants to,” but that line is hedged and is about thinking, not a flat incapacity for self-improvement; (b) “no time” — not stated; (c) “materialism” — not stated.
Eliminate by anatomy. (a) over-states the case — it turns a hedged “cannot even if he wants to” into a categorical “not intellectually capable.” (b) and (c) make claims the passage never actually makes — neither time nor materialism is given as the reason. The transferable rule: the answer to “because he ___” is the clause the passage attaches to the behaviour (“seeks… entertainment… to be mentally idle”), not a plausible reason from outside. Key: (d).
Evidence in the text
“He seeks not self-improvement, but entertainment which would enable him to be mentally idle and to forget his usual activities.” — the stated reason is that man prefers amusement and mental idleness. (d) “loves amusement and is mentally idle” restates it. (a) “not intellectually capable” overstates a hedged line (“cannot even if he wants to”); (b) “no time” and (c) “materialism” are not in the passage → (d).
Worked rationale
The passage states man’s choice plainly: he wants not self-improvement but entertainment that lets him stay mentally idle.
- (d) restates “loves amusement and is mentally idle.” Correct.
- (a) overstates the hedged “cannot… if he wants to.”
- (b)/(c) introduce time and materialism, neither in the passage.
Answer: (d).
Why the other options miss
- A too strong for what the passage says: “not intellectually capable” hardens the passage’s hedged “he does not want to think; or he cannot even if he wants to” into a flat incapacity.
- B out of scope: “no time” is a plausible real-world reason the passage never gives.
- C out of scope: “distracted by materialism” is not mentioned in this passage.
Specialist insight
The tempting wrong answer is (a) — it borrows the passage’s “cannot… if he wants to.” But that line is doubly hedged (“does not want to… or cannot”) and concerns thinking, whereas the question asks why he doesn’t seek self-improvement, which the passage answers directly: he prefers amusement and mental idleness. Match the reason the passage explicitly attaches to the behaviour, and refuse to harden a hedge into a categorical incapacity. (d).
The passage says man prefers amusement and mental idleness (d); (a) hardens a hedged "cannot if he wants to" into a flat incapacity.