Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answers to this item should be based on the passage only. The greatest blessing that technological progress has in store for mankind is not, of course, an accumulation of material possessions. The amount of these that can be effectively enjoyed by one individual in one lifetime is not great. But there is not the same narrow limit to the possibilities of the enjoyment of leisure. The gift of leisure may be abused by people who have had no experience of making use of it. Yet the creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level. With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions. 2. Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress. Which of these assumptions is/are valid?

Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answers to this item should be based on the passage only. The greatest blessing that technological progress has in store for mankind is not, of course, an accumulation of material possessions. The amount of these that can be effectively enjoyed by one individual in one lifetime is not great. But there is not the same narrow limit to the possibilities of the enjoyment of leisure. The gift of leisure may be abused by people who have had no experience of making use of it. Yet the creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level. With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions. 2. Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress. Which of these assumptions is/are valid? Correct Answer    2 only

The correct answer is 2 only.

Key Points

• Let us look at the meaning of the keywords in the passage-
• Leisure- the time when you are not working or doing other duties; the time when you are free from work or other duties and can relax.
• Now if we look at the passage closely, it relays about a minority in societies who abuse the gift of leisure. And because of this, the progress of humans remains at the Primitive level.
• Primitive level means belonging to a society in which people live in a very simple way, usually without industries or a writing system.
  • In assumption 1:
    • People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions- This does not give a proper assumption. Because all the people do not use leisure time as a gift. Also, it has been mentioned in the first sentence of the passage "is not an accumulation of material possessions".
  • In assumption 2:
    • Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress- Here we can mark this statement as correct. Because here it is talking about 'some people'. As mentioned in the passage "The gift of leisure may be abused by people who have had no experience of making use of it. Yet the creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level."
• Hence, the correct answer is option 2.