But man is not destined to vanish. He can be killed, but he

Question

But man is not destined to vanish. He can be killed, but he cannot be destroyed, because his soul is deathless and his spirit is irrepressible. Therefore, though the situation seems dark in the context of the confrontation between the superpowers, the silver lining is provided by amazing phenomenon that the very nations which have spent incalculable resources and energy for the production of deadly weapons are desperately trying to find out how they might never be used. They threaten each other, intimidate each other and go to the brink, but before the total hour arrives they withdraw from the brink.   1 
 E 
 1.The main point from the author's view is that

A. Man's soul and spirit can not be destroyed by superpowers.
B. Man's destiny is not fully clear or visible.
C. Man's soul and spirit are immortal.
D. Man's safety is assured by the delicate balance of power in terms of nuclear weapons.
E. Human society will survive despite the serious threat of total annihilation.

2 
 C 
 2.The phrase 'Go to the brink' in the passage means

A. Retreating from extreme danger.
B. Declare war on each other.
C. Advancing to the stage of war but not engaging in it.
D. Negotiate for peace.
E. Commit suicide.

3 
 D 
 3.In the author's opinion

A. Huge stockpiles of destructive weapons have so far saved mankind from a catastrophe.
B. Superpowers have at last realized the need for abandoning the production of lethal weapons.
C. Mankind is heading towards complete destruction.
D. Nations in possession of huge stockpiles of lethal weapons are trying hard to avoid actual conflict.
E. There is a Silver lining over the production of deadly weapons.

4 
 D 
 4.'Irrepressible' in the second line means

A. incompatible
B. strong
C. oppressive
D. unrestrainable
E. unspirited

5 
 B 
 5. A suitable title for the above passage is

A. Destruction of mankind is in evitable.
B. Man's desire to survive inhibits use of deadly weapons.
C. Mounting cost of modern weapons.
D. Threats and intimidation between super powers.
E. Cowardly retreat by man

siyer · Answer

1. C.Man's soul and spirit are immortal.
2. C.Advancing to the stage of war but not engaging in it.
3 D.Nations in possession of huge stockpiles of lethal weapons are trying hard to avoid actual conflict.
4 B.strong
5 B.Man's desire to survive inhibits use of deadly weapons.

pritish2301 · Answer

Hi,

For the first question, I selected the answer as 'D' too.

From the OA I would assume that "Nuclear Weapons" is reading too much in to the passage.
The author surely suggests how human is not destined to vanish...(meaning total annihiliation). So best choice is 'E'. Though we can classify 'D" as second best.

Any other thoughts are welcome.

visheshsahni · Answer

Hello,

I got all correct. For me the reasoning for 1st is as below:

Author did mentioned about man that he can not be fully killed indeed. But that isn't author's main concern. He tells us about the nuclear weapons etc that all nations have in their stockpile but none actually uses it. perfect example would be, we recently saw Trump's tweet on launching a nuclear strike on Iran. Even though man is close to annihilation, the mention of him being someone who can't be fully killed helps us infer option E but only if we carefully see that the start of passage supports the end of it. Not the other-way round like in general passages.

if you have a better explanation, please tag me. I would be happy to learn a better approach to analyse this.

anse · Answer

Hi,
 workout  : I need help in Question-3.

Though I answered it correct but for a moment while answering this question I was tempted to mark E. I have observed that in questions like these in other RCs as well I tend to mark the wrong one. What do you suggest I should do in order to avoid this mistake.

My reasoning for E was that Author might say that indeed if all countries produce N-weapons then probably all of them fear each other and hence avoid war. Hence this can be a silver lining.

Thanks.

Nikhil · Answer

anse

For every question, after you answer it, make sure to go through the explanation and see whether you marked it correct for the right reason. For the trap answer choice, see what you've missed out on since there must be atleast one reason an option can be eliminated.

Answers to the questions must be present in the passage. Your thinking about option E is not stated in the passage. Out of scope error.

LauraOrion · Answer

Hey  psahoo  --

Good question! Both of these come down to the same idea: that in the end people aren't actually using the "deadly weapons" on which they've "spent incalculable resources and energy." You can get that all from the word "brink," which means "edge". The people involved are going to the edge of war, but they aren't engaging in it. That's what's wrong with 2B.

For 5A, because they never go to war, you can't say that the destruction of mankind is inevitable because mankind isn't doing the thing that would presumably lead to its destruction (war).

LauraOrion · Answer

Hey  manjot123

The key to any question that asks for a title is that it's a main idea question. In this case, the main idea of the passage is all about the fact that even though countries/mankind spends so many resources to look for ways to kill one another, they are also looking for ways to make sure that these ways of killing are never used and pull themselves back from the brink of destruction.

This best matches (B). They don't want to die, so they don't use the weapons.

Look at the other answers to get there by process of elimination. (A) is out because this runs counter to the first line, which states that "Mankind is not destined to vanish." (C) is out because even though the passage talks about the cost of the weapons, the point is whether or not they are used. (D) is because the purpose of talking about the superpowers is to explain why mankind isn't going to destroy itself. and (E) is out because while the countries do "retreat," this is seen as a good thing rather than a cowardly thing.

emma4490 · Answer

3.In the author's opinion
A.Huge stockpiles of destructive weapons have so far saved mankind from a catastrophe.
B.Superpowers have at last realized the need for abandoning the production of lethal weapons.
C.Mankind is heading towards complete destruction.
D.Nations in possession of huge stockpiles of lethal weapons are trying hard to avoid actual conflict.
E.There is a Silver lining over the production of deadly weapons.

For this question I marked the answer as E. I did not understand why this is wrong.

4.'Irrepressible' in the second line means
A.incompatible
B.strong
C.oppressive
D.unrestrainable
E.unspirited

For this I marked B based on the context because I didn't know the meaning of the word "irrepressible"

menonrit · Answer

Hi,

Could you please explain why the answer to Question 3 is D.

jaisrajat · Answer

Hello Everyone,

I Got this question wrong

.The main point from the author's view is that
A.Man's soul and spirit can not be destroyed by superpowers.
B.Man's destiny is not fully clear or visible.
C.Man's soul and spirit are immortal.
D.Man's safety is assured by the delicate balance of power in terms of nuclear weapons.
E.Human society will survive despite the serious threat of total annihilation.

I selected option C as the passage states - "He can be killed, but he cannot be destroyed, because his soul is deathless and his spirit is irrepressible. "

After reading various replies and discussion I do realize my mistake and understood why option E is more adept.
I would like to know how can I avoid the same /similar mistake again.

Harsh9676 · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja ,  SajjadAhmad ,

I need help with with Q2.

I selected B for this because, the question specifically asked about the phrase 'go to the brink', but the author said that the nations withdraw from the brink when the time actually arrives only later.

I think the question should be like "What is the purpose of the word 'Brink' (instead of Go to the Brink) in the passage?"

Thanks in Advance.

Harsh

bM22 · Answer

Hi  Harsh9676 ,

Let me know if this helps.

The answer to Question 2 is correct, since the phrase: "Go to the brink" in general means on the verge of or at the edge, now this wr.t passage doesn't mean that the war actually happens, it simply means that the nations move towards the possibility of war, the rest is clear from the next lines :"go to the brink, but before the total hour arrives they withdraw from the brink.", making C a better choice than B.

Thanks.

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But man is not destined to vanish. He can be killed, but he

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But man is not destined to vanish. He can be killed, but he

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