Question

Common people consider some of the questions asked by scholars as unimportant

• A. since they are not worth asking of answering
• B. because the question is related to new machines and gadgets
• C. because the common man doesn’t understand questions without years of explanations.
• D. scholars ask very minute, specialized questions beyond the comprehension of the common man.
• A. parents refusal to answer questions.
• B. children’s curiosity that survives parents structures.
• C. questions not worth answering.
• D. the aim and scope of the university to provide an opportunity to curious minds to find out the answers to their questions.
• A. new inventions.
• B. any useful invention.
• C. any invention that makes life easier for them.
• D. a scientist who invents gadgets and machines for them.
• A. a historian and mountain climber.
• B. a historian
• C. a mountain climber.
• D. a scholar
• A. the answers to the scholar’s question have no consequence unlike the results of the research involving a cure for cancer.
• B. the answer sought by the scholar is selfish unlike the consequences of cancer research which are for the common weal.
• C. the primary function of a scholar is satisfaction of his mental curiosity, while research involving a cure for cancer demands a constant, systematic and planned pursuit by several scholars.
• D. several scholars work for a cancer cure while a single scholar works with a selfish motive.
• A. curiosity is lazy.
• B. idle people are curious.
• C. curiosity is apt
• D. casual curiosity.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked why common people consider some of the questions asked by scholars as unimportant. The answer lies in the contrast between how scholars view their work and how ordinary people perceive it.

Step 2: Recall the relevant part of the passage
The passage states: "Some of the questions that scholars ask seem to the world to be scarcely worth asking let alone answering. They ask questions too minute and specialized for you and me to understand without years of explanation."
This means that ordinary people dismiss such questions because they look trivial or incomprehensible, even though for scholars, they are vital to knowledge and curiosity.

Step 3: Interpret the meaning
- Common people value practical utility and visible results, not the pursuit of abstract or highly specialized knowledge.
- Scholars, however, often ask detailed, technical, and very narrow questions that require years of study to understand. Since common people cannot follow the reasoning or appreciate the intellectual challenge, they find such questions unimportant.

Step 4: Conclusion
Therefore, common people consider some scholarly questions unimportant because they are extremely minute, highly specialized, and lie beyond the easy comprehension of the general public.

Final Answer: The correct option is (D): scholars ask very minute, specialized questions beyond the comprehension of the common man.

Answer 2

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked what the word ‘that’ refers to in the statement: "that is mainly what a university is for." To answer, we need to look at the sentences leading up to this phrase in the passage.

Step 2: Recall the relevant lines
The passage says: "Children whose curiosity survives parental discipline are invited to join our university. Within the university, they go on asking their questions and trying to find the answers. In the eyes of a scholar, that is mainly what a university is for."

Step 3: Interpret the context
Here, the sentence immediately before ‘that’ explains what happens in the university: students continue to ask their questions and try to find the answers. Thus, ‘that’ clearly refers to the process of encouraging and supporting curiosity by allowing scholars to ask questions and search for answers.

Step 4: Conclusion
Therefore, the word ‘that’ refers to the central aim and scope of the university, namely, providing a place for curious minds to freely pursue their questions and find answers.

Final Answer: The correct option is (D): the aim and scope of the university to provide an opportunity to curious minds to find out the answers to their questions.

Answer 3

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked what the general public respects, according to the passage. The answer lies in how scholars justify their questions to the outside world versus to the university audience.

Step 2: Recall the relevant lines from the passage
The passage explains: "If the world inquires of one of them why he wants to know the answer to a particular question he may say, especially if he is a scientist, that the answer will in some obscure way make possible a new machine or weapon or gadget. He talks that way because he knows that the world understands and respects utility."

Step 3: Interpret the meaning
The passage makes it clear that the common public does not care about abstract curiosity but respects inventions or outcomes that have practical usefulness. These include machines, gadgets, or weapons that demonstrate visible utility.

Step 4: Conclusion
Therefore, according to the passage, the general public respects any invention or discovery that has obvious utility or usefulness.

Final Answer: The correct option is (B): any useful invention.

Answer 4

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked: The writer compares the scientist to whom? To answer, we need to recall the examples given in the passage about curiosity-driven work.

Step 2: Recall the relevant parts of the passage
The passage says that when questioned by the outside world, a scientist may justify his research in terms of practical results (machines, gadgets, weapons). But in reality, to fellow scholars, he admits that he seeks answers simply because he does not know them. The writer then compares this motivation to the way "a mountain climber wants to climb a mountain simply because it is there." Similarly, the passage later explains that historians too pursue history not just to shape the future, but because "something happened, and he would like to know what."

Step 3: Interpret the meaning
Thus, the scientist’s pure curiosity is compared to the mountain climber’s instinct to climb and the historian’s instinct to study events just to know what happened. All three are driven by curiosity rather than utility.

Step 4: Conclusion
Therefore, the writer compares the scientist to both a historian and a mountain climber, because all three act out of curiosity rather than for practical reasons.

Final Answer: The correct option is (A): a historian and mountain climber.

Answer 5

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked why the primary function of a scholar is different from the search for a cure for cancer. The key lies in distinguishing between curiosity-driven scholarship and consequence-driven research.

Step 2: Recall the relevant passage lines
The passage explains: "It is true that scholars can be put to work answering questions for the sake of the consequences as thousands are working now, for example, in search of a cure for cancer. But this is not the primary function of the scholar, for the consequences are usually subordinate to the satisfaction of curiosity."

Step 3: Interpret the meaning
- The main function of a scholar is to satisfy curiosity, to ask and answer questions because they want to know. - In contrast, research like the search for a cure for cancer is pursued not only for curiosity but mainly because of its practical consequences. It is systematic, planned, and involves the efforts of many scholars working towards a tangible result. - Thus, the distinction is that curiosity-driven work is inwardly motivated (knowledge for its own sake), whereas cancer research is outwardly motivated (knowledge for a direct and critical purpose).

Step 4: Conclusion
Therefore, the primary function of a scholar differs from cancer research because the former seeks satisfaction of mental curiosity, while the latter is a deliberate, planned, and collective pursuit motivated by the consequences of finding a cure.

Final Answer: The correct option is (C): the primary function of a scholar is satisfaction of his mental curiosity, while research involving a cure for cancer demands a constant, systematic and planned pursuit by several scholars.

Answer 6

Step 1: Understand the question
We are asked what the expression "idle curiosity" means in the context of the passage. The phrase appears in the very beginning, where the world dismisses curiosity as "idle curiosity." To answer, we need to analyze how the passage uses the term.

Step 2: Recall the relevant lines
The passage says: "The world dismisses curiosity by calling it idle, or mere idle curiosity - even though curious persons are seldom idle." This shows that ordinary people consider curiosity to be casual, pointless, or not serious, even though in reality curiosity is active and productive.

Step 3: Interpret the meaning
- "Idle curiosity" in the eyes of the general public means a kind of casual curiosity that doesn’t serve an obvious purpose. - It implies curiosity that is not directed toward practical utility, and therefore seems trivial to outsiders. - However, the author argues that such curiosity is far from idle because it drives scholars to discover and expand knowledge.

Step 4: Conclusion
Thus, in the context of the passage, "idle curiosity" refers to casual or seemingly purposeless curiosity, which the world dismisses but scholars value.

Final Answer: The correct option is (D): casual curiosity