One of the commonest forms of madness is the desire to be noticed, the

Question

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Passage # 92, Date: 16-May-2020
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One of the commonest forms of madness is the desire to be noticed, the pleasure derived from being noticed. Perhaps it is not merely common, but universal. In its mildest form it doubtless is universal. Every child is pleased at being noticed; many intolerable children put in their whole time in distressing and idiotic effort to attract the attention of visitors; boys are always "showing off"; apparently all men and women are glad and grateful when they find that they have done a thing which has lifted them for a moment out of obscurity and caused wondering talk. This common madness can develop, by nurture, into a hunger for notoriety in one, for fame in another.

It is this madness for being noticed and talked about which has invented kingship and the thousand other dignities, and tricked them out with pretty and showy fineries; it has made kings pick one another's pockets, scramble for one another's crowns and estates, slaughter one another's subjects; it has raised up prize-fighters, and poets, and village mayors, and little and big politicians, and big and little charity-founders, and bicycle champions, and bandit chiefs, and frontier desperadoes, and Napoleons. Anything to get notoriety; anything to set the village, or the township, or the city, or the State, or the nation, or the planet shouting, "Look—there he goes—that is the man!"   1  
 B 
 Q1) What is the passage primarily concerned with?

A. Providing conflicting definitions of a phrase
B. Discussing a human desire and its impact
C. Analysing the positive and negative aspects of a phenomenon
D. Arguing that all famous men have one thing in common
E. Concluding that people will do anything to get noticed

2  
 D 
 Q2) Each of the following can be concluded from the passage EXCEPT:

A. The desire to be noticed is a common desire amongst people
B. Negative acts can at times be a means to attract attention
C. The desire to be noticed does not only have a negative impact
D. In the past, kings have tricked their subjects using the desire to get noticed
E. At least some people would prefer to be noticed for the wrong reason than not be noticed at all

3  
 A 
 Q3) Which of the following would the author most likely agree with, based on the information in the second paragraph?

A. Charities are not always founded out of purely altruistic motives
B. The desire to be noticed can be a motivator for children as well
C. Bicycle champions want to become notorious
D. There would be no wars if people did not want to become famous
E. The desire to be noticed can be characterised as madness

Gmatsaiyan · Answer

Topic and Scope 
The passage discusses the inherent desire in people to be noticed and how this can have both positive and negative outcomes
 Passage map 
Para 1 introduces the desire to be noticed as an all pervasive form of madness and concludes that this desire can make some people famous for the right reasons and some for the wrong reasons
Para 2 provide several examples of people whose actions and personalities were an outcome of the desire to be noticed

Gmatsaiyan · Answer

Official Answers and Explanations  Q1) What is the passage primarily concerned with?
A. Providing conflicting definitions of a phrase
B. Discussing a human desire and its impact
C. Analysing the positive and negative aspects of a phenomenon
D. Arguing that all famous men have one thing in common
E. Concluding that people will do anything to get noticed
The passage mainly discusses the desire amongst humans to be noticed and the impact of this, which could be both good and bad, with several examples. (B) states this best and should be the correct answer.
A – The passage does not contain any conflicting definitions
C – ‗Phenomenon‘ is the wrong term to refer to a human desire, and the passage does not contain any analysis either
D – The passage never states that the desire to be noticed is common among ‗all‘ famous men
E – Extreme option, not supported by the passage
Q2) Each of the following can be concluded from the passage EXCEPT:
A. The desire to be noticed is a common desire amongst people
B. Negative acts can at times be a means to attract attention
C. The desire to be noticed does not only have a negative impact
D. In the past, kings have tricked their subjects using the desire to get noticed
E. At least some people would prefer to be noticed for the wrong reason than not be noticed at all
The passage never states that kings tricked their subjects. The first sentence of the second para actually states that it was the kings who were tricked by others using the desire to get noticed. Hence (D) should be the best answer.
A – True from the information the passage
B – The passage supports this as well
C – The passage clearly states that the desire to be noticed can have both positive and negative impact
E – This can also be concluded from the information in the passage
Q3) Which of the following would the author most likely agree with, based on the information in the second paragraph?
A. Charities are not always founded out of purely altruistic motives
B. The desire to be noticed can be a motivator for children as well
C. Bicycle champions want to become notorious
D. There would be no wars if people did not want to become famous
E. The desire to be noticed can be characterised as madness
Note that the question is only asking about the second para so options related to the first para can be immediately eliminated. The author concludes in the second para that, amongst other things, the desire to get noticed gives rise to charity founders so he is concluding that these charities could not have been founded for any other reason such as altruistic ones. Hence (A) is the correct answer.
B – This is mentioned in the 1st para and not in the 2nd
C – The 2nd para does not state or imply this. The bicycle champion becomes a champion because of his desire to be noticed
D – The 2nd para does not state what causes or leads to wars.
E – This is mentioned in the 1st para and not in the 2nd

KeyurJoshi · Answer

Q1) What is the passage primarily concerned with? A. Providing conflicting definitions of a phrase. - Irrelevant. No conflicts against any definitions B. Discussing a human desire and its impact. - Correct. 1st para -> Description of a universal desire 2nd para -> Results of it in the history and today. C. Analysing the positive and negative aspects of a phenomenon - Out of scope. Not a concern D. Arguing that all famous men have one thing in common - Not a concern E. Concluding that people will do anything to get noticed - Although this may seem correct, think of the passage as extraction of a bigger one where it follows 2nd one as some people know their boundaries and won't just do something awful. Then we cannot conclude this. Q2) Each of the following can be concluded from the passage EXCEPT: A. The desire to be noticed is a common desire amongst people - Explicitly stated. Can be concluded. B. Negative acts can at times be a means to attract attention - Yes. Slaughter is mentioned

C. The desire to be noticed does not only have a negative impact - Yeah.Can be inferred If the desire turns into a something dreadful then it does have negative impacts. D. In the past, kings have tricked their subjects using the desire to get noticed - Correct. This cannot be concluded. It's the madness that tricked them. We don't know if the kings tricked the subjects but sure as hell slaughtered them. E. At least some people would prefer to be noticed for the wrong reason than not be noticed at all - Yeah that can be concluded "Desperadoes and bandit chiefs" Q3) Which of the following would the author most likely agree with, based on the information in the second paragraph? A. Charities are not always founded out of purely altruistic motives - Correct. True. Explicitly Stated. B. The desire to be noticed can be a motivator for children as well - Uhh. Yeah it can be but author won't MOST LIKELY agree with this. C. Bicycle champions want to become notorious - Out of Scope. D. There would be no wars if people did not want to become famous - No. There may be other wars caused by something else. E. The desire to be noticed can be characterised as madness - Yes but not every form of desire of being noticed.

SiffyB · Answer

Took a total of 4 mins 38 seconds and got 3/3 correct.

(02:23)
 Q1) What is the passage primarily concerned with?
 
A. Providing conflicting definitions of a phrase
  B. Discussing a human desire and its impact 
 C. Analysing the positive and negative aspects of a phenomenon
D. Arguing that all famous men have one thing in common
E. Concluding that people will do anything to get noticed

The first paragraph talks about a human desire to get noticed and the second paragraph talks about the consequences of this desire - what has it led to? This is encapsulated in option (B). 
 
(01:47)
 Q2) Each of the following can be concluded from the passage EXCEPT:
 
A. The desire to be noticed is a common desire amongst people
B. Negative acts can at times be a means to attract attention
C. The desire to be noticed does not only have a negative impact
  D. In the past, kings have tricked their subjects using the desire to get noticed 
 E. At least some people would prefer to be noticed for the wrong reason than not be noticed at all

(A) The opening sentence of the passage states this clearly.
(B) "This common madness can develop, by nurture, into a hunger for notoriety in one, for fame in another." Notoriety means to be famous for a bad deed - negative action.
(C) The formation of charities, bicycle champions are definitely not negative things. Thus, this statement can be inferred from the second paragraph.
(D) Nowhere stated in the passage.
(E) The final sentence of the passage states that some people can do "anything" to get others talking about them - even if it is for the wrong reasons.

(00:28)
 Q3) Which of the following would the author most likely agree with, based on the information in the second paragraph?
 
  A. Charities are not always founded out of purely altruistic motives 
 B. The desire to be noticed can be a motivator for children as well
C. Bicycle champions want to become notorious
D. There would be no wars if people did not want to become famous
E. The desire to be noticed can be characterised as madnes

The second passage states that madness for being noticed has led to big and little charities being founded. This means that the founders of these charities did not found them for selfless reasons. They wanted to be noticed and therefore instituted these organizations. Altrusim means self selflessness. To answer this question correctly, one must know the meaning of this word. 
(E) is incorrect because this question is solely concerned with the second paragraph. Choice E can be inferred from paragraph 1, most specifically from the first sentence of the passage. Paragraph 2 does not state that desire to be noticed = madness.

Hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

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