Read the following passage and answer the questions based on it.
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. The general recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase, ‘It is the busiest man who has time to spare.’ Thus, an elderly lady at leisure can spend the entire day writing a postcard to her niece. An hour will be spent in finding the postcard, another hunting for spectacles, half an hour to search for the address, an hour and a quarter in composition and twenty minutes in deciding whether or not to take an umbrella when going to the pillar box in the street. The total effort that would occupy a busy man for three minutes, all told, may in this fashion leave another person completely exhausted after a day of doubt, anxiety and toil.
1. What happens when the time to be spent on some work increases?
(a) The work is done smoothly
(b) The work is done leisurely
(c) The work consumes all the time
(d) The work needs additional time
2. Explain the sentence: ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion’.
(a) The more work there is to be done, the more the time needed.
(b) Whatever time is available for a given amount of work, all of it will be used.
(c) If you have more time, you can do more work.
(d) If you have some important work to do, you should always have some additional time.
3. Who is the person likely to take more time to do work?
(a) A busy man
(b) A man of leisure
(c) An elderly person
(d) An exhausted person
4. What is the total time spent by the elderly lady in writing a postcard?
(a) Three minutes
(b) Four hours and five minutes
(c) Half an hour
(d) A full day
5. What does the expression ‘pillar box’ stand for?
(a) A box attached to the pillar
(b) A box in the pillar
(c) Box office
(d) A Pillar-type post box
1. (c) Here the method of elimination applies and simple inference confirms it. A and D are eliminated at the first reading. The description that the lady who has enough leisure time takes the entire day in writing the postcard gives us the clue that the correct answer is C, This again is complex inference.
2. (b) The answer here is B. This can be found out through simple inference. A statement is made right in the beginning of the passage and the story of the lady illustrates the fact that whatever time is available for a work, people tend to use all of it.
3. (b) Here, the answer is B. It requires inference. The answer is to be inferred from the facts given in the passage that more the time you have, the more you will need. Therefore, the answer is arrived at through complex inference.
4. (d) The answer is D and it is based on the information given in the passage.
5. (d) The answer is D. It can be derived through implied information. The lady has to go to the pillar box to drop her letter.
