CSAT Solved Papers/ 2024/Q72
2024 CSAT — Q72
Passage
The flower was not invented to please us. It flaunted its petals and spread its perfume to attract an insect. The insect carries the pollen from flower to flower so that pollen is not carried away by wind and thus not wasted. What we call a flower’s beauty is merely a by-product and a human invention. The perfume is not there to please us, it pleases us because it is there and we have been conditioned to it.
Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:
-
The author of the passage believes that flowers are creations of Nature’s luxury.
-
The author of the passage does not believe in the usefulness of flowers except as things of beauty.
Which of the assumptions given above is/are valid?
Thinking pathway
Locate. Pin the author’s actual view before testing any assumption. The passage is emphatic and functional: “The flower was not invented to please us. It flaunted its petals and spread its perfume to attract an insect”; the insect “carries the pollen from flower to flower so that pollen is not wasted”; “What we call a flower’s beauty is merely a by-product and a human invention”; “The perfume is not there to please us.” The author’s view: the flower’s features serve a function (pollination); its beauty is an incidental by-product of that function.
Test (negation test + the three-boundary check). Statement 1 — flowers are “creations of Nature’s luxury.” This reverses the author, for whom the flower is a functional device, not a luxury or ornament; “luxury” is the opposite of “not invented to please us.” MECHANISM/direction boundary crossed (REVERSED) → invalid. Statement 2 — the author “does not believe in the usefulness of flowers except as things of beauty.” The author does believe in the flower’s usefulness (its function in pollination) and treats beauty as the incidental by-product — so the statement inverts his view (he prizes function, not beauty). REVERSED → invalid. Negate either and you recover the author’s real position.
Eliminate by anatomy. (a)/(c) admit Statement 1 — it gets the direction backwards, making the flower a luxury creation when the author calls it functional. (b)/(c) admit Statement 2, also getting the direction backwards — it makes beauty the only value when the author treats beauty as a by-product and function as the point. The transferable rule on this passage: the author’s repeated move is purpose over appearance — any statement that elevates appearance/luxury over function has reversed him. Key: (d).
Evidence in the text
Statement 1: the passage says “The flower was not invented to please us. It flaunted its petals and spread its perfume to attract an insect” and “What we call a flower’s beauty is merely a by-product” — the author’s view is that the flower is FUNCTIONAL, the opposite of “creations of Nature’s luxury” (REVERSED). Statement 2: the author plainly values the flower’s usefulness (pollination) and calls beauty a by-product, so “does not believe in the usefulness except as things of beauty” reverses the author’s view (REVERSED). Both invalid → (d).
Worked rationale
The author argues the flower is built for function: petals and perfume evolved to attract pollinating insects; “beauty” is a by-product and a human projection.
Statement 1 — flowers are creations of Nature’s luxury. “Luxury” implies ornament-for-its-own- sake, the very thing the author denies (“not invented to please us”). It reverses his functional view. Negate it and you recover the author’s position. Invalid (reversed).
Statement 2 — the author does not believe in the usefulness of flowers except as things of beauty. The author plainly believes in the flower’s usefulness — its pollination function — and calls beauty merely a by-product. The statement makes beauty the sole value, inverting him. Negate it and you recover his view. Invalid (reversed).
Both reverse the author. Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2.
Why the other options miss
- A gets the direction backwards: “Nature’s luxury” is a poetic-sounding phrase that flatters the flower, pulling a reader who skims the lyrical surface — but the author insists the flower is functional, not luxurious.
- B gets the direction backwards: tempts a reader who notes the author “demotes” beauty and over-concludes that beauty is therefore the only value — exactly backwards; the author values function and demotes beauty.
- C half right, half wrong: combines both reversals; appeals to a reader who treats the passage as romantic appreciation of flowers rather than a debunking of their “beauty.”
Specialist insight
The passage is a debunking — beauty is a by-product, function is the point — and both wrong statements smuggle the romantic reading back in (flowers as luxury; flowers valued only for beauty). The scoring reflex is direction: identify the author’s actual stance (purpose over appearance) and reject any assumption that flips it. Both statements flip it, so neither is a valid assumption — (d).
The author calls the flower functional and its beauty a mere by-product; both statements re-romanticise it (luxury / valued only for beauty) — reversing him — (d).