Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
A forager bee that finds a field of mustard in flower has a problem, and it is not a problem of flying. She must tell her sisters where the field is. She must do it inside a hive that is nearly dark, on an upright wall of wax, with no map and no words.
Her answer is the waggle dance. She runs a short straight line across the comb, shaking her body from side to side, then loops back and repeats it. Two details carry the message. Straight up on the comb stands for the direction of the sun outside, so a run tilted forty degrees to the right of straight up means forty degrees to the right of the sun. The length of the run stands for distance: the farther the field, the longer the waggle. Her followers see very little in the dark, so they keep close and read the figure through their antennae. It is a remarkable piece of compression, a direction and a distance packed into a few seconds of shaking.
The Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch worked this out over years of patient experiments, and in 1973 he shared a Nobel Prize for his studies of animal behaviour. In some quarters his account was met with incredulity. A few researchers argued that the recruits simply followed the scent of flowers clinging to the dancer, and that the dance was mere excited fuss. The objection was fair, and it led to sharper tests. Decades later, scientists fitted bees with tiny radar tags and tracked their flights. The recruits flew off in the direction the dance had shown, though scent helped them over the last stretch to the flowers.
The writer’s attitude towards the bees’ dance and the study of it can best be described as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Admiring interest tempered by a regard for testing and evidence
The writer admires the dance but also cares about how the idea was tested.
- The writer calls the dance “a remarkable piece of compression”. Compression means packing a lot into a small space. Here, a direction and a distance fit into a few seconds. This shows admiring interest.
- The writer calls the doubters’ objection “fair” and says it “led to sharper tests”. The radar results are then reported. This is a regard for testing and evidence.
- Tempered by means made milder or balanced by. The writer’s admiration is balanced by this care for proof.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Sceptical distance tempered by a grudging acceptance of the radar findings — Incorrect. Contradicted: Sceptical means doubtful, and grudging means given unwillingly. The writer is not doubtful. The writer calls the dance “remarkable”.
Option 3: Sentimental wonder tempered by regret at how little science can explain — Incorrect. Contradicted: Sentimental means led by soft feelings rather than reason. The writer explains the dance in clear steps and shows that science did explain it.
Option 4: Detached neutrality tempered by mild impatience with the doubters — Incorrect. Contradicted: Detached neutrality means taking no side and showing no feeling. The writer shows admiration, and calls the doubters’ objection “fair”, not tiresome.