Multiple choice

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

In self-conscious beings, we meet with a set of phenomena quite distinct from the physical or the vital or the merely conscious. Reflective mind is different from the unreflective mind of the infant or the animal. When the plain man protests that men are not to be confused with apes, he declares that however primitive man may be, he is still distinctly human. Man had been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years. Early specimens such as Pithecanthropus were dug up in Java and the skull of Eoanthropus was found at Piltdown. However strange and brutish they may seem, they were distinctly men. They not only used tools which were ready to hand, but made tools for their use. They had reason which was distinct from instinct, however highly developed the latter may be.

  1. Instinct is common to both man and animals.

  2. Animals’ instincts are better developed than those of men.

  3. Men historically score over animals, as they use their brains.

  4. Men historically have had an advantage over animals as they more conscious of their existence.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation
  1. The last sentence makes it clear that both animals and humans possess instinct. However, this is a fact and not the essence of the paragraph given.
    1. This cannot be said from the given paragraph.
    2. True, this is what the author wants to say. According to the author, even the primitive man was “distinctly” human, and he had made tools for his use. This shows that author has kept man at a higher pedestal than animals.
    3. This cannot be said from the given paragraph.

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