Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows.
One day recently as I entered the park, I lifted a piece of bark from a fallen log (permission from a ranger) and saw three tiny symphylans, another group of reclusive insect like creatures on which the collembolan-hunting ants sometimes feed. These creatures, belonging to a special group of symphylans called japygid have a pair of pincers on their rear ends. Although there are many species of these worldwide, very little is known about any part of their biology. What is their preferred food, what is their life cycle, why are these pincers in such an unusual position? I have no idea. Nor can I, or any other biologist, guess what would happen if all were to disappear. What I thought at the moment was that if I had another lifetime to live, I could easily devote it to symphylans.
Consider in the same light the different kinds of flies alone you would capture in a field on a summer day by simply sweeping a butterfly net back and forth through the vegetation. (Try it; you'll be amazed.) Then ponder further, if you will, that the species are variously specialized to feed on particular kinds of fruit, or pollen, or fungi, or scat, or dead bodies, or, if you let them, your own fresh blood. Some flies are parasites on other insects_ and not just any insects, but one to several species on which they are specialized out of thousands available. When as a teenager I had this epiphany, and I almost became a dipterist, an entomologist who studies flies. I was mesmerized by delicate little flies of the family Dolichopodidae, glistening all over in metalic blues and greens as they displayed themselves on plant leaves in the summer sunshine.
The word "EPIPHANY" as used in the passage means:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → understanding
- Epiphany means a sudden moment of understanding, when something becomes clear all at once. As a teenager the author suddenly grasped how many kinds of flies there are and how each is specialised.
Example: Halfway through the lecture she had an epiphany and the whole theorem made sense. - Understanding means the grasp of what something means or how it works. An epiphany is a sudden understanding, so this is the nearest meaning.
Example: Reading the letters gave me a better understanding of my grandfather's life.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: intuition — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: intuition is knowing something by feeling, without reasoning or proof. An epiphany is a clear realisation.
Example: My intuition told me that the stranger was not telling the truth.
Option 2: instinct — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: instinct is natural, inborn behaviour that needs no learning or thought.
Example: Birds build nests by instinct.
Option 3: inspiration — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: inspiration is something that fills one with the urge or the ideas to do something creative. It is about the urge to act, not the sudden grasp of a truth.
Example: The sea was the inspiration for many of his paintings.
| Also asked in CUET (UG): intuition – 12-06-2023 Slot 2 |