UPSC Prelims 2012·CSAT·Reading Comprehension·Passage Comprehension

Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based on the passages only. We started pitching the highest camp that has ever been made. Everything took five times as long as it would have taken in a place where there was enough air to breathe; but at last we got the tent up, and when we crawled in, it was not too bad. There was only a light wind, and inside it was not too cold for us to take off our gloves. At night most climbers take off their boots; but I prefer to keep them on. Hillary, on the other hand, took his off and laid them next to his sleeping bag. They took a long time to finish the work because

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Last updated 23 May 2026, 3:31 pm IST
  1. Athey were very tired
  2. Bthere was not enough air to breatheCorrect
  3. Cit was very cold
  4. Dit was very dark.

Explanation

The passage states, "Everything took five times as long as it would have taken in a place where there was enough air to breathe". This directly attributes the extended time to the lack of sufficient air. Option A is incorrect because while they might have been tired, the passage explicitly gives the lack of air as the reason for the work taking longer. Option C is incorrect because the passage mentions "inside it was not too cold for us to take off our gloves," implying cold was not the primary hindrance to their work speed. Option D is incorrect as the passage does not mention darkness as a factor for the work taking a long time. Therefore, B is the correct answer as it is directly supported by the text.
Reading Comprehension: Read the following passages and answer the items that follow each passage. Your answers to these items should be based o
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