Read the passage given below and answer the following question by choosing the correct option:
Holidays
There is not much need of proving to most schoolboys that holidays are necessary. They are quite convinced that they are-and most desirable, too. They welcome a holiday from school with hilarious joy, and plague the headmaster on the least excuse to let them off their lessons. It would be more in place to try to convince them of the necessity of work and study. Yet it may be desirable to show that regular intervals of rest, recreation, or a change of occupation are really necessary. As the old rhyme says
"All work and no play.
Makes Jack a dull boy."
Holidays at proper intervals are especially necessary for young people, and for those engaged in hard mental work; for continuous work. without a break, will injure the health, and may cause a nervous breakdown. A short holiday, rightly used, will send us back to our work with renewed zest and vigour. "Rightly used." It all depends upon that. For holidays may be abused. If the holiday is spent in stupid idleness, or in an exhausting round of exciting amusements, or shut up in close stuffy rooms drinking and playing, or in any other unhealthy way, the boy or man will come back to his work tired, listless, and uninterested. The holiday, instead of doing good, has done harm, much more harm than steady work could ever do.
How can a holiday, then, be best used, so that at the end of it we shall come back to work with energies renewed and interest keener than ever? If we are students, or have been shut up in stuffy offices, we should get away into the pure air of the country and live a healthy life. enjoying games or sports. We should avoid unhealthy amusement, keep early hours and get plenty of refreshing sleep. And we should not be completely idle. Change of occupation is a rest. And if we have a little regular work to do, work that we take an interest in, it will make our holiday not only healthier, but more enjoyable.
Choose the correct option to complete the given sentence:
Holidays are especially necessary for young people as they ________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → save them from nervous breakdowns
The passage says that holidays at proper intervals are especially necessary for young people and for those doing hard mental work, and gives the reason at once: continuous work without a break "will injure the health, and may cause a nervous breakdown".
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: are the best excuse to let the people take off from routine — Incorrect. Wrong link: the passage mentions schoolboys who want any excuse to be let off lessons, but it does not give this as the reason holidays are necessary.
Option 2: re-energise people with renewed zest and vigour — Incorrect. Too broad: renewed zest and vigour is what a short holiday, rightly used gives anyone; it is a general benefit, not the reason the passage gives for young people in particular.
Option 4: are desirable and welcome — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the passage says schoolboys find holidays "most desirable", but that is how they feel about holidays, not why holidays are necessary for them.