Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
Breakfast in a college hostel mess in Pune is eaten in near silence, and not because anyone is sleepy. Almost every student has a white earbud in one ear. On the phones are podcasts: a history series on Spotify, two comedians arguing about cricket, a doctor explaining sleep, a long interview with a chess player. Forty years ago the same tables might have shared one radio on a shelf. Now each student carries a private station.
I find it hard to complain about this. A good podcast does what radio did at its best. It talks to you like a person, not like a textbook. Students who would never open a book on the Mughals will listen to ninety minutes about them while ironing a shirt or waiting for a bus. The format suits days that are full of small gaps, and the gaps get filled with something better than reels.
But the same ease is the trouble. A podcast asks so little that it is easy to give it almost nothing. Last month I watched a student cook dal, answer three chats and “listen” to an episode on the Indian Ocean trade, all at once. An hour later he could not recall a single point from it. His attention had been patchy, and he had not noticed. Half-heard talk can feel like learning without being learning.
The boy at the next table has just laughed out loud at something in his ear. I would like to know what it was, and whether he will still remember it by lunch.
Which of the following statements are NOT true according to the passage?
(A) The writer imagines that, forty years ago, each student at these tables had a radio of his or her own.
(B) The podcasts heard at breakfast range from history and cricket to health.
(C) Students who will not read about the Mughals also avoid long podcasts about them.
(D) The writer saw a student who could not recall an episode an hour after hearing it.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → (A) and (C) only
The question asks for the statements that are NOT true.
(A) The writer imagines that, forty years ago, each student at these tables had a radio of his or her own. — Not true.
- The writer pictures the opposite: the tables “might have shared one radio on a shelf”.
(B) The podcasts heard at breakfast range from history and cricket to health. — True.
- The passage names a history series, comedians on cricket and a doctor explaining sleep.
(C) Students who will not read about the Mughals also avoid long podcasts about them. — Not true.
- The passage says such students will listen to “ninety minutes about them”.
(D) The writer saw a student who could not recall an episode an hour after hearing it. — True.
- The passage says, “An hour later he could not recall a single point from it.”