CSAT Solved Papers/ 2022/Q52
2022 CSAT — Q52
Passage
If presents bring less thrill now that we are grown up, perhaps it is because we have too much already; or perhaps it is because we have lost the fullness of the joy of giving, and with it the fullness of the joy of receiving. Children’s fears are poignant, their miseries are acute, but they do not look too forward nor too far backward. Their joys are clear and complete, because they have not yet learnt always to add ‘but’ to every proposition. Perhaps we are too cautious, too anxious, too sceptical. Perhaps some of our cares would shrink if we thought less about them and entered with more single-minded enjoyment into the happiness that come our way.
With reference to the passage, which one of the following statements is correct?
Thinking pathway
Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference — find the line and match the option that stays inside it. The passage: “If presents bring less thrill now that we are grown up, perhaps it is because we have too much already; or perhaps it is because we have lost the fullness of the joy of giving…”
Test — find the line, then watch the qualifier. The “perhaps… or perhaps…” structure offers two candidate reasons — so the supportable inference is that more than one reason is possible. (b) says exactly that. Test the others: (a) “not possible to feel thrilled” hardens “less thrill” into “no thrill”; (c) “author does not know” misreads tentative proposing (“perhaps”) as ignorance — he does propose reasons; (d) “less capacity to feel the joy of loving” overstates a hedged remark.
Eliminate by anatomy. (a) is too strong — “less” inflated to “not possible.” (c) changes the passage’s level of certainty — “perhaps these reasons” misread as “doesn’t know.” (d) is too strong and unsupported — a categorical capacity claim from a hedged musing. The transferable rule: when an author lists “perhaps A or perhaps B,” the safe inference is “more than one possible reason,” not a single hardened claim. Key: (b).
Evidence in the text
“If presents bring less thrill now that we are grown up, perhaps it is because we have too much already; or perhaps it is because we have lost the fullness of the joy of giving, and with it the fullness of the joy of receiving.” — the author offers TWO possible reasons (“perhaps… or perhaps…”), so more than one reason is in play. (b) “there can be more than one reason” matches. (a) “not possible” overstates “less thrill”; (c) the author DOES propose reasons (tentatively, not ignorantly); (d) overstates a hedged remark about lost joy of giving/receiving → (b).
Worked rationale
The author tentatively gives two reasons adults feel less thrill — having too much already, and losing the fullness of the joy of giving/receiving — joined by “or perhaps.”
- (b) “there can be more than one reason” matches the two-reason structure. Correct.
- (a) hardens “less thrill” into “not possible.”
- (c) misreads tentative reasons as not knowing.
- (d) overstates the joy-of-giving remark into a categorical capacity deficit.
Answer: (b).
Why the other options miss
- A too strong for what the passage says: “not possible for adults to feel thrilled” converts the passage’s comparative “less thrill” into an absolute impossibility.
- C changes the passage’s level of certainty: the author’s “perhaps… or perhaps…” is tentative proposing, not an admission of ignorance; (c) reads the hedge as not-knowing.
- D too strong: “less capacity to feel the joy of loving or being loved” overstates a hedged remark about lost fullness of the joy of giving and receiving.
Specialist insight
The whole item rewards reading the hedges as hedges. “Perhaps A or perhaps B” is built to support (b) — “more than one reason can be in play.” Each distractor mishandles a hedge: (a) drops the “less”/comparative, (c) reads “perhaps” as ignorance, (d) hardens a tentative musing into a capacity claim. The measured option that preserves the author’s tentativeness is the answer. (b).
"Perhaps A or perhaps B" supports "more than one reason" (b); (a)/(d) harden the hedges and (c) misreads tentative reasons as not knowing.