UPSC Prelims 2022 CSAT Paper II · Q62 of 78 Comprehension easy

Passage

Directions for the following 3 (three) items : Read the following two passages and answer the items that follow the passages. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only. Passage—1 The majority of people who fail to accumulate money sufficient for their needs, are generally, easily influenced by the opinions of others. They permit the newspapers and the gossiping neighbours to do their thinking for them. Opinions are the cheapest commodities on the earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon by anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by opinions when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking.

What is the main idea of the passage?

  1. (a) People should not be influenced by the opinions of others. ✓ UPSC's answer
  2. (b) People should accumulate as much money as they can.
  3. (c) People should neither give nor accept the opinions.
  4. (d) People will succeed in any undertaking if they do not accept any opinion at all.

Why the answer is (a)

• The passage opens by stating that people who fail to accumulate sufficient money are generally easily influenced by the opinions of others.

• It further explains that allowing newspapers and neighbors to do one's thinking leads to a lack of success in any undertaking.

• The core argument is that being influenced by external opinions is a primary cause of failure in financial and general endeavors.

• Therefore, the main idea is a warning against letting others' opinions dictate one's decisions.

• Option (a) accurately summarizes this central theme by stating that people should not be influenced by the opinions of others.

Why the other options are wrong

(b) People should accumulate as much money as they can.
The passage mentions money accumulation only as a context for failure, not as the main advice to accumulate as much as possible.
(c) People should neither give nor accept the opinions.
The passage focuses on the negative impact of accepting others' opinions, not on the act of giving opinions or a total ban on exchanging them.
(d) People will succeed in any undertaking if they do not accept any opinion at all.
The passage states that being influenced leads to failure, but it does not claim that rejecting all opinions guarantees success in any undertaking.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2022, held on 5 June 2022. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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