UPSC Prelims 2015·CSAT·Reading Comprehension·Passage Comprehension

I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been of no disadvantage whatever. In fact I can see that, on the contrary, it has been all to my advantage. My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. I do not recollect ever having had to regret anything in my speech or writing. I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time. Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. We find so many people impatient to talk. There is no chairman of a meeting who is not pestered with notes for permission to speak. And whenever the permission is given the speaker generally exceeds the time- limit, asks for more time, and keeps on talking without permission. All this talking can hardly be said to be of any benefit to the world. It is so much waste of time. My shyness has been in reality my shield and buckler. It has allowed me to grow. It has helped me in my discernment of truth. The most appropriate reason for the author to be spared many a mishap is that

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  1. Ahe hardly utters or writes a thoughtless wordCorrect
  2. Bhe is a man of immense patience
  3. Che believes that he is a spiritual person
  4. Dhe is a votary of truth.

Explanation

The passage states, "And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. I do not recollect ever having had to regret anything in my speech or writing. I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time." This directly links the absence of thoughtless words to being spared mishaps. Option A is correct because it directly restates the author's claim that hardly uttering or writing a thoughtless word is the reason for being spared mishaps. Option B is incorrect. While the author's shyness might imply patience, the passage explicitly attributes being spared mishaps to the absence of thoughtless words, not primarily to patience. Option C is incorrect. The author discusses silence as part of spiritual discipline, but being a spiritual person is not presented as the direct cause of avoiding mishaps. The mechanism is the careful use of words. Option D is incorrect. Being a votary of truth is a broader characteristic, but the immediate and most appropriate reason given for avoiding mishaps is the carefulness with words, specifically avoiding thoughtless ones. The passage establishes a direct cause-and-effect between "thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen" and "spared many a mishap."
Reading Comprehension: I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been of no disadvantage what
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