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23 Apr 2025, 06:16
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Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
24% (02:51) correct
76%
(02:36)
wrong
based on 42
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I Saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.
The narrator believes that choosing any single “fig” (life path) will result in the irrevocable loss of all the others, leading to despair. Which of the following most seriously undermines the reasoning behind this belief?
A. The illusion of permanence in life choices often leads individuals to misjudge how definitive or irreversible their decisions actually are.
B. Empirical studies show that decision paralysis is more likely to occur when choices are framed as mutually exclusive, regardless of actual exclusivity.
C. Some individuals achieve a high level of fulfillment by sequentially pursuing varied interests across different life stages.
D. People who commit early to a single path often report a stronger sense of identity but also higher levels of fear when facing change later.
E. The perception that unchosen paths are forever lost intensifies regret, regardless of whether those paths were realistically attainable
The narrator believes that choosing any single “fig” (life path) will result in the irrevocable loss of all the others, leading to despair. Which of the following most seriously undermines the reasoning behind this belief?
A. The illusion of permanence in life choices often leads individuals to misjudge how definitive or irreversible their decisions actually are.
B. Empirical studies show that decision paralysis is more likely to occur when choices are framed as mutually exclusive, regardless of actual exclusivity.
C. Some individuals achieve a high level of fulfillment by sequentially pursuing varied interests across different life stages.
D. People who commit early to a single path often report a stronger sense of identity but also higher levels of fear when facing change later.
E. The perception that unchosen paths are forever lost intensifies regret, regardless of whether those paths were realistically attainable
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23 Apr 2025, 08:55
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My reasoning: Choosing one life path = irrevocably losing all the others, which leads to paralysis and despair.
What would undermine the belief?
Choice A directly undermines the narrator’s belief, because it suggests that people often wrongly assume that their choices are permanent. Therefore, the belief that choosing one “fig” means forever losing the rest is based on a misconception.
What would undermine the belief?
Choice A directly undermines the narrator’s belief, because it suggests that people often wrongly assume that their choices are permanent. Therefore, the belief that choosing one “fig” means forever losing the rest is based on a misconception.
