YEVGRAF IVANOVITCH SHIRYAEV, a small farmer, whose father, a parish priest, now deceased, had received a gift of three hundred acres of land from Madame Kuvshinikov, a general’s widow, was standing in a corner before a copper washing-stand, washing his hands. As usual, his face looked anxious and ill-humoured, and his beard was uncombed.
“What weather!” he said. “It is not laid upon us. It’s raining again!”
He grumbled on, while his family sat waiting at table for him to have finished washing his hands before beginning dinner. Fedosya Semyonova, his wife, his son Pyotr, a student, his eldest daughter Varvaram and three small boys, has been sitting waiting a long time. The boys – Kolka, Vanka and Arhipka – grubby, snub-nosed little fellows with chubby faces and tousled hair that wanted cutting, moved their chairs impatiently, while their elders sat without stirring and apparently did not care whether they ate their dinner or waited…
From the given option choose the one which is correct according to the passage.
The family described in the passage is a:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Small time agrarian family
The passage opens by calling Yevgraf a small farmer. Agrarian means connected with farming and land, and small time means working on a small scale. His family is a farming family of modest means, so it is a small time agrarian family.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Small trader's family — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Yevgraf farms; there is no mention of buying and selling goods.
Option 3: Highly educated scholarly family — Incorrect. Too broad: only one son, Pyotr, is described as a student; that does not make the whole family scholarly.
Option 4: Aristocratic and noble — Incorrect. Contradicted: Aristocratic means belonging to the highest social class. The land came as a gift from a general's widow, and Yevgraf is a small farmer, so the family is not of noble birth. Waiting at the table for the head of the house shows family discipline, not nobility.