Reading Passage Question
Scepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of scepticism. To be content with what we at present know is, for the most part, to shut our ears against conviction. From the very gradual character of our education, we must continually forget and emancipate ourselves from knowledge previously acquired; we must set aside old notions and embrace fresh ones; and, as we learn, we must be daily unlearning something which it has cost us no small labour and anxiety to acquire.
And this difficulty attaches itself more closely to an age in which progress has gained a strong ascendency over prejudice, and in which persons and things are, day by day, finding their real level, in lieu of their conventional value. The same principles which have swept away traditional abuses, and which are making rapid havoc among the revenues of sinecurists, and stripping the thin, tawdry veil from attractive superstitions, are working as actively in literature as in society. The credulity of one writer, or the partiality of another, finds as powerful a touchstone and as wholesome a chastisement in the healthy scepticism of a temperate class of antagonists, as the dreams of conservatism, or the impostures of pluralist sinecures in the Church.
“Scepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is of scepticism.” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.
This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.
Solution and Explanation
- The primary purpose of the passage is to:
(A) Doubt the credulity of writers who question established knowledge
(B) Discuss the revenues traditionally generated by the Papal sinecurist
(C) Discuss the consequences of the affiliation of knowledge with skepticism
(D) Critique the traditional methods of acquiring knowledge
(E) Discredit old notions and traditional conservatism
Answer: C
Explanation: The passage starts and discusses the results of affiliation of knowledge with skepticism. This is literally what the whole passage talks about. Hence, C is the correct answer.
- Each of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT:
(A) Our learning is acquired with labor and anxiety.
(B) The Church has its share of sinecures.
(C) Traditional abuses have thrived under the onslaught of progress.
(D) Scepticism has had a concurrent presence with knowledge.
(E) Unlearning is an integral component of acquiring knowledge.
Answer: C
Explanation: The statement in the passage states "The same principles which have swept away traditional abuses". The author does not say in the passage that traditional abuses never thrive. Since the question asks about the option that cannot be inferred from the passage, C is the correct answer. .
- From the passage, it can be stated that the author views skepticism:
(A) as beneficial
(B) with contempt
(C) impassively
(D) as having both positive and negative aspects
(E) as the means to end the supremacy of sinecurists
Answer: A
Explanation: The author in the passage talks about scepticism. The author also mentions how skepticism goes side by side with knowledge. We also find the credulity of the writer and "healthy scepticism" from the passage. The author seems beneficial and hence, A is the correct answer.
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