Read the passage carefully. Attempt Question:
At the table, a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it. His hair was already streaked with silver, and seeing his emaciated, aged-looking face, no one would have believed that he was only forty. He was asleep. In front of his bowed head, there lay on the table a sheet of paper on which there was something written in fine handwriting.
"Poor creature!" thought the banker, "he is asleep and most likely dreaming of the millions. And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert would find no sign of a violent death. But let us first read what he has written here..."
The banker took the page from the table and read as follows:
Tomorrow at twelve o'clock, I regain my freedom and the right to associate with other men, but before I leave this room and see the sunshine, I think it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world.
Choose the best option:
Why did the narrator decide to kill the MAN?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Because he wanted to avoid paying the man
The banker thinks the prisoner is "dreaming of the millions": the money is what the banker must pay him when he comes out the next day. Killing him quietly the night before would free the banker from paying that sum.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Because the MAN was his enemy. — Incorrect. Contradicted: nothing shows hatred; the banker even pities him as a "poor creature".
Option 2: Because the MAN wanted to die. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the man is about to regain his freedom; nothing suggests he wants to die.
Option 3: Because he wanted to steal his money. — Incorrect. Misread: the prisoner has no money of his own to steal; the millions are still the banker's and are only due to the man. Killing him would save the banker's money, not take the man's.