Comprehension:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:-
It is twilight. A thick wet snow is slowly twirling around the newly lighted street lamps and lying in soft thin layers on roofs, on horses’ backs, on people’s shoulders and hats. The cab driver, Iona Potapov, is quite white and looks like a phantom: he is bent double as far as a human body can bend double; he is seated on his box; he never makes a move. If a whole snowdrift fell on him, it seems as if he would not find it necessary to shake it off. His little horse is also quite white, and remains motionless; its immobility, its angularity and its straight wooden-looking legs, even close by, give it the appearance of a gingerbread horse worth a kopek. It is , no doubt, plunged in deep thought. If you were snatched from the plough, from your usual gray surroundings, and were thrown into this slough full of monstrous lights, unceasing noise and hurrying people, you too would find it difficult not to think.
Iona and his little horse have not moved from their place for a long while. They left their yard before dinner and, up to now, not a fare. The evening mist is descending over the town, the white lights of the lamps are replacing brighter rays, and the hubbub of the street is getting louder. ‘Cabby for Viborg Way!’ suddenly hears Iona. ‘Cabby!’
Iona jumps and, through his snow-covered eyelashes, sees an officer in a greatcoat, with his hood over his head. ‘Viborg Way!’ the officer repeats. ‘Are you asleep, eh? Viborg Way!’
With a nod of assent Iona picks up the reins , in consequence of which layers of snow slip off the horse’s back and neck. The officer seats himself in the sleigh, the cabdriver smacks his lips to encourage his horse, stretches out his neck like a swan, sits up and, more from habit than necessity, brandishes his whip.
The horse is lost in deep thought because____.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → he had been pushed into an alien environment
The writer explains the horse's thoughtful look: anyone "snatched from the plough, from your usual gray surroundings", and thrown into a place "full of monstrous lights, unceasing noise and hurrying people" would find it hard not to think. The horse is a country animal lost in a strange city, an alien (unfamiliar and foreign) environment.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: he was feeling cold — Incorrect. Wrong cause: the horse is covered in snow, but the writer links its thought to being "snatched from the plough" and thrown into the city.
Option 2: he was hungry — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage says nothing about hunger; the reason given is the move from "your usual gray surroundings" to the city.
Option 4: city lights were hurting his eyes — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the "monstrous lights" are part of the strange scene, but nothing is said about them hurting the horse's eyes.