The rule of the road means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at a road-crossing steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny but of liberty. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality. We have both liberties to preserve — our individual liberty and our social liberty. That is, we must have a judicious mixture of both. I shall not permit any authority to say that my child must go to this school or that, shall specialize in science or arts. These things are personal. But if I say that my child shall have no education at all, then society will firmly tell me that my child must have education whether I like it or not. The author thinks that when a policeman signals you to stop on a road-crossing, he is
- (a)behaving in a whimsical manner
- (b)interfering with your freedom to use the road
- (c)protecting the liberty of all to use the road
- (d)mischievously creating hurdles in your way from some personal motive
Correct — C, protecting the liberty of all to use the road. The passage says of him in so many words that 'he is the symbol not of tyranny but of liberty'. His raised hand halts one person for a moment so that everyone else may cross or drive in safety, which makes him an instrument of everybody's freedom rather than a check on yours.
- (a)behaving in a whimsical manner — A whim is an act done for no reason. The author gives the policeman a clear reason and treats him as a symbol of an idea, which is the opposite of caprice.
- (b)interfering with your freedom to use the road — This stops at the surface. The passage does grant that private liberty is curtailed, but its point is that the curtailment is what makes your liberty real, and the sentence about the policeman names him a symbol of liberty, not of interference.
- (d)mischievously creating hurdles in your way from some personal motive — The passage gives the policeman no motive of his own at all, and mischief is exactly the tyranny the author says he does not stand for.
A comprehension item on the author's attitude to a figure in the passage, answered by the sentence that names what he symbolises.
The trap here is option (b), because it is half true and the passage itself admits the other half. The way out is to notice what the stem asks: not what the policeman does, but what the author thinks he is. On that the passage is explicit — 'not of tyranny but of liberty' — so the answer must be the option that puts him on the side of everyone's freedom.
- 'Tyranny' is cruel or arbitrary rule, and the author raises it only to deny that the policeman represents it.
- The construction 'not X but Y' rejects the first term and asserts the second, so the sentence settles the question by itself.
- The policeman appears as an example of the general rule stated in the first sentence, not as a subject in his own right.
- Choosing the option that describes the curtailment, which the passage admits, instead of the one that describes its purpose, which the passage asserts.
- Importing an everyday irritation with traffic policing into a passage that praises it.
Asked as a comprehension item where the wrong option is a fact the passage concedes and the right one is the point it makes.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen," said the conjuror, "having shown you that the cloth is absolutely empty, I will proceed to take from it a bowl of goldfish. Presto !" All around the hall people were saying, "Oh, how wonderful ! How does he do it?" But the Quick Man on the front seat said in a big whisper to the people near him, "He-had-it-up-his-sleeve." Then the people nodded brightly at the Quick Man and said, "Oh, of course"; and everybody whispered round the hall, "He-had-it-up-his-sleeve." "My next trick," said the conjuror, "is the famous Hindostanee rings. You will notice that the rings are apparently separate; at a blow they all join (clang, clang, clang)—Presto !" There was a general buzz of stupefaction till the Quick Man was heard to whisper, "He-must-have-had-another-lot-up-his-sleeve." Again everybody nodded and whispered, "The-rings-were-up-his-sleeve." The brow of the conjuror was clouded with a gathering frown. "I will now," he continued, "show you a most amusing trick by which I am enabled to take any number of eggs from a hat. Will some gentleman kindly lend me his hat? Ah, thank you—Presto !" He extracted seventeen eggs, and for thirty-five seconds the audience began to think that he was wonderful. Then the Quick Man whispered along the front bench, "He-has-a-hen-up-his-sleeve," and all the people whispered it on. "He-has-a-lot-of-hens-up-his-sleeve." The egg trick was ruined. It went on like that all through. It transpired from the whispers of the Quick Man that the conjuror must have concealed up his sleeve, in addition to the rings, hens, and fish, several packs of cards, a loaf of bread, a doll's cradle, a live guinea pig, a fifty-cent piece, and a rocking chair. According to the Quick Man, the conjuror
- (a) had everything bought for production
- (b) produced things with the magic he knew
- (c) had things in the large sleeves of his coat
- (d) created an illusion of things with his magic
Answer(c) had things in the large sleeves of his coat
Both items test whose view you are being asked for. There the answer must be the Quick Man's explanation rather than the truth about the tricks; here it must be what the author thinks the policeman is, not what a driver stopped at the crossing would feel.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'He is the symbol not of tyranny but of liberty.' In this line, 'tyranny' means
- (a)cruel and arbitrary use of power
- (b)careful regulation of traffic
- (c)service to the public
- (d)freedom from restraint
Answer(a) cruel and arbitrary use of power — the author denies that the policeman represents it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to the passage, the policeman's raised hand is best described as
- (a)an act of personal authority
- (b)a device that makes everyone's use of the road possible
- (c)a punishment for careless drivers
- (d)an unnecessary formality
Answer(b) a device that makes everyone's use of the road possible — he is called a symbol of liberty.