Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
This is a story from long ago, when the last remaining traces of the British still lurked in their old haunts among the pristine Himalayan hills of Darjeeling. These were the early fifties, in other words.
I would spend entire days at a small, dusty bookshop with a faded, green sign over it- a sign painted with gold letters that said: "Mr Mun-Chee's Books." The paint was chipped at many places; you could barely see the second 's'. The shabby old shop was located in a cul-de-sac, a few hundred meters away from my own home. But inside, it was another world. On the floor stood staggering, towering piles of books, yellowed and aged, and the shelves lining all the walls were crammed with journals, lexicons and biographies, dramas, each laboriously cataloged and meticulously arranged. Mr Mun-Chee dealt mostly in antique books; first editions of books, long forgotten, books one hardly ever encountered anymore. There were sixteen editions of Jane Eyre, twenty-two of The Pickwick Papers, and fifty of The Pilgrim's Progress. It was not famous, but it was unique; customers barely ever walked in, as it was so hidden away in a run-down neighborhood. Tabby, the black Tom, my only possession, and I, were only disturbed five times that we spent there. And we spent nearly an entire year at the shop.
The shop was my sanctuary. After the daily ordeal of school, I invariably called out to Tabby and set out for the shop, to read, read, read, with Tabby curled up around my legs.
The author felt 'at home' in the shop as it _____.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → was his sanctuary
To feel at home is to feel comfortable and at ease in a place. The passage says in plain words, "The shop was my sanctuary." A sanctuary is a safe, peaceful place of refuge; after "the daily ordeal of school" the boy went there every day to read with his cat, so the shop was where he felt at peace.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: had all varieties of books — Incorrect. Contradicted: the shop dealt mostly in antique books, not all varieties, and the passage never gives the books as the reason he felt at ease.
Option 2: was unique — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the shop was unique, but this describes the shop itself, not what it meant to the author.
Option 3: was situated near his house — Incorrect. Wrong reason: it was a few hundred metres from his home, but nearness is only its location; it does not explain his feeling of comfort there.