Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

English

Chapter

Comprehension - (Narrative / Factual)

Question:

Read the following passage carefully and answer the question by choosing the correct option.

The great Roman orator, Cicero, in his celebrated treatise on Friendship, remarks with truth that it increases happiness and diminishes misery by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief. When we do well, it is delightful to have friends who are so proud of our success that they receive as much pleasure from it as we do ourselves. For the friendless man the attainment of wealth, power, and honour is of little value. Such possessions contribute to our happiness most by enabling us to do good to others but if all those whom we are able to benefit are strangers, we take far less pleasure in our beneficence than if it were exerted on behalf of friends whose happiness is as dear to us as our own. Further, when we do our duty in spite of temptation, the mental satisfaction obtained from the approval of our conscience is heightened by the praise of our friends; for their judgement is as it were a second conscience, encouraging us in good and deterring us from evil. Our amusements have little zest and soon pall upon us if we engage in them in solitude, or with uncongenial companions, for whom we can feel no affection. Thus in every case our joys are rendered more intense and more permanent by being shared with friends.

It is equally true that, as Cicero points out, friendship diminishes our misery by enabling us to share the burden of it with others. When fortune has inflicted a heavy unavoidable blow upon us, our grief is alleviated by friendly condolence, and by the thought that as long as friends are left to us, life is still worth living.

But many misfortunes which threaten us are not inevitable and in escaping such misfortunes, the advice and active assistance of our friends may be invaluable. The friendless man stands alone, exposed, without protection, to his enemies and to the blows of fortune; but whoever has loyal friends is thereby provided with a strong defence against the worst that fortune can do to him.

With reference to the passage above, which sentence/statements are correct :

(A) Friendship increases our misery by enabling us to share the burden.
(B) Cicero thinks that friendship can double our joy.
(C) Our amusements will have little zest if we engage in them with congenial companions.
(D) To escape many misfortunes, the advice of our friends may be invaluable.
(E) A friendless man is always firm and self confident.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Options:

(B), (D) and (E) Only

(A), (B) and (D) Only

(B), (C) and (D) Only

(B) and (D) Only

Correct Answer:

(B) and (D) Only

Explanation:

The correct statements are: (B) and (D) Only

(B) Cicero thinks that friendship can double our joy.

(D) To escape many misfortunes, the advice of our friends may be invaluable.

Statement (A) is incorrect because the passage states that friendship diminishes our misery by enabling us to share the burden, not increase it.

Statement (C) is incorrect because the passage doesn't mention that our amusements lose zest when we engage in them with congenial companions. It actually suggests the opposite, that amusements have little zest when engaged in solitude or with uncongenial companions.

Statement (E) is incorrect because the passage does not make any statements about friendless individuals being "always firm and self-confident."