2023 CSAT — Q61

Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference: the keyed option is the inference the passage’s lines force. The passage’s organising idea is the paradox of choice: Buridan’s ass, given two equally appealing options, can’t decide and starves; modern technology “exacerbate[s] our glut of choices”; people “overwhelmed with attractive life choices” end up “unhappy and anxious.” The forced message is the paradox itself — choice cuts both ways.

Test (find-the-line-then-match + scope-fit). (d) “having too few choices may not be a good thing, but having too many can be equally as difficult” captures the full paradox — the donkey’s predicament (too few / indistinguishable) and the modern glut (too many). It fits the whole passage’s scope. Test others: (b) “modern life is full of uncertainties and endless difficult choices” keeps only the too-many half and misses the paradox; (a) “technology enfeebles societal structure” over-states technology’s role (the passage says it exacerbates choice, not that it enfeebles society); (c) “influenced by others’ opinion… no courage to follow our convictions” introduces a peer-pressure theme absent from the passage.

Eliminate by anatomy. (b) is half right, half wrong — one side of a two-sided paradox; (a) is too strong and a claim the passage never makes — “enfeebles societal structure” overclaims; (c) is a claim the passage never makes — the opinion-of-others theme is never raised. The transferable rule on best-inference questions over a paradox passage: the best inference captures both poles; an option that keeps only one is incomplete. Key: (d).

The passage uses Buridan’s ass (a donkey starving between two equally appealing hay stacks) to illustrate the “paradox of choice,” then says technology “only exacerbate[s] our glut of choices” and “many people are overwhelmed with attractive life choices, yet find themselves unhappy and anxious.” The message is the paradox: too few choices (the donkey with two identical options) is paralysing, and too many is equally difficult — exactly (d). (b) keeps only the “too many” half; (a) over-strengthens technology’s role; (c) imports an “opinion of others” theme the passage never raises → (d).

The passage illustrates the paradox of choice: Buridan’s ass starves between two equal options (too few / undifferentiated choices paralyse), while modern technology multiplies choices until people are overwhelmed and anxious (too many also paralyse).

(d) states the full paradox — too few is bad, too many is equally difficult. (b) captures only the “too many” pole. (a) overstates technology’s effect (“enfeebles societal structure”). (c) imports a conformity/peer-opinion theme the passage doesn’t raise.

Answer: (d).

The passage is built as a paradox, and the best inference must hold both ends. Buridan’s ass shows that too few (or indistinguishable) choices paralyse; the modern glut shows too many do too. (b) is the seductive near-miss because it correctly describes modern life — but only half the passage. (d) is the only option that keeps both poles, which is exactly what “the paradox of choice” means. Reading the structure (paradox = two-sided) is the move. (d).