Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
Breakfast in a college hostel mess in Pune is eaten in near silence, and not because anyone is sleepy. Almost every student has a white earbud in one ear. On the phones are podcasts: a history series on Spotify, two comedians arguing about cricket, a doctor explaining sleep, a long interview with a chess player. Forty years ago the same tables might have shared one radio on a shelf. Now each student carries a private station.
I find it hard to complain about this. A good podcast does what radio did at its best. It talks to you like a person, not like a textbook. Students who would never open a book on the Mughals will listen to ninety minutes about them while ironing a shirt or waiting for a bus. The format suits days that are full of small gaps, and the gaps get filled with something better than reels.
But the same ease is the trouble. A podcast asks so little that it is easy to give it almost nothing. Last month I watched a student cook dal, answer three chats and “listen” to an episode on the Indian Ocean trade, all at once. An hour later he could not recall a single point from it. His attention had been patchy, and he had not noticed. Half-heard talk can feel like learning without being learning.
The boy at the next table has just laughed out loud at something in his ear. I would like to know what it was, and whether he will still remember it by lunch.
The writer wonders whether the boy at the next table “will still remember it by lunch”. This suggests that the writer
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → doubts that enjoying an episode means much of it will stay.
The boy laughs out loud, so he is enjoying the podcast.
- The writer wonders if he will remember it “by lunch”, only a few hours later.
- Just before this, the writer told of a student who forgot a whole episode within an hour.
- So the writer is not sure that pleasure in listening means the content stays in the mind.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: is annoyed that the boy laughs so loudly in a quiet mess. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The writer shows no anger. The writer only wants to know what made the boy laugh.
Option 2: thinks that funny podcasts teach students nothing at all. — Incorrect. Overstated: The writer only wonders whether the boy will remember. The writer does not say that funny podcasts teach nothing.
Option 4: believes that the boy should be studying instead of listening. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The writer never asks students to stop listening. Earlier, the writer even says it is hard to complain about podcasts.