Read the passage carefully and answer the questions from:
You and I can help handicapped people by letting them define happiness for themselves. We can make life more miserable for them if we constantly remind them of how terrible we feel because of what they are missing. When we do that we are really saying to them, "Please get rid of your handicap because it makes me so uncomfortable."
Let me illustrate how differently abled people can be happy in their ignorance. Sometimes during a long Iowa winter, I walk to class in the morning and decide, "It's a nice day because I can feel the sun warming my back". Then some sighted person comes along and says, "It's such a dull, depressing day." To him it is dull because the sun is under the clouds. That doesn't really destroy my happiness, and I do need to be aware that other people perceive the world in ways other than I do. I need to recognise that, just as I need to turn on lights in a room for the benefit of others even though I don't need them. So I will continue to be happy about the warm sun while my friend is depressed by the gray clouds. And, on other days, I will be depressed by the cold while he enjoys the bright, but cold, sunshine. We can each find happiness in our own way.
Is this so different from what happens to any of you? You are all missing out on some success or happiness. Your fathers are all disabled in some ways. Some of you are too short to be successful basketball players, and others of you are too scrawny to be professional football players. Do you cry yourselves to sleep every night because of what you are missing? I doubt it.
The author doesn't feel depressed listening to the comments of a sighted person as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Ignorance was his bliss
The writer introduces the winter-morning story with the words "differently abled people can be happy in their ignorance". He cannot see that the sun is under the clouds, so the sighted man's remark about a dull day does not spoil his mood. "Ignorance is bliss" means that not knowing about something unpleasant keeps a person happy.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: He felt the day was normal — Incorrect. Contradicted: he did not think the day ordinary; he thought it was "a nice day" because of the warm sun.
Option 3: The sighted person perceives the day differently — Incorrect. Wrong reason: the writer accepts this fact, but it explains why the two men disagree, not why he stays happy; the passage gives his ignorance of the clouds as the reason.
Option 4: He was aware of his sorrounding — Incorrect. Contradicted: he was not aware of the clouds around him, and that is why he was not depressed.