People by and large are concerned with and pursue self-interest. They are unlikely to be motivated to use renewable resources in a prudent and sustainable fashion. They are unlikely to be motivated under the following conditions : if their resource catchments are vast, so that degradation of any particular portion affects them very little; or if they have open before them possibilities of substitution as any one resource element is depleted; or if their control over the resource base is tenuous, so that others may, at any time, deplete a resource they value, even if they use it in a restrained fashion. Indeed, exhaustive use is highly likely when any one of these three conditions obtains. It is only when people perceive their resource catchments as limited, possibilities of substitution of exhausted resource elements as not readily feasible, and their own control over the resource base as secure, will they be motivated to use the resources in a prudent fashion. People, rooted in a locality, and retaining control over their resource base are most likely to fulfil all three prerequisites for sustainable resource use; and therefore to behave in ways conducive to the conservation of biodiversity within their localities. The self-interest of people affects the use of renewable resources
- (a)positively
- (b)erratically
- (c)affirmatively
- (d)indifferently
Correct — B, ‘erratically’. The passage gives self-interest no single, steady effect. Under one set of conditions self-interested people strip a resource bare; under another — a limited catchment, no easy substitute, secure control — the very same self-interest makes them careful. An influence that swings with circumstances is an erratic one, and each of the other three options claims a fixed direction the passage refuses to give.
- (a)positively — The passage opens by saying self-interested people are unlikely to use renewable resources prudently, which rules out a uniformly favourable effect.
- (c)affirmatively — This says much what ‘positively’ says, and a well-set item cannot carry two options of the same meaning as its answer.
- (d)indifferently — Indifferently would mean self-interest makes no difference, yet the whole passage is about the difference it makes.
The passage argues that self-interest points in different directions depending on three conditions, so its effect on the use of renewable resources varies rather than running one way.
This is an inference item, and erratically is not a word the passage uses — reach it by elimination instead. Positively and affirmatively are near-identical, so neither can be the single answer, and indifferently contradicts a passage built entirely on self-interest mattering. If your first reading favoured something else, weigh the sentence beginning ‘It is only when people perceive their resource catchments as limited’, which ends in prudent use — the same self-interest, the opposite outcome.
- The passage first says self-interested people are unlikely to conserve, then names the conditions under which they will.
- Nothing in the passage says that self-interest has no effect on how resources are used.
- Hunting for the answer word inside the passage.
- Forcing ‘indifferently’ to fit by reading it as ‘without preference’.
Asked as a passage-based inference item — choose the word that describes the effect the passage attributes.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The passage suggests that people rooted in a locality and holding secure control over resources will
- (a)use resources exhaustively
- (b)use resources prudently
- (c)migrate in search of substitutes
- (d)abandon self-interest altogether
Answer(b) use resources prudently — they are the group most likely to meet all three prerequisites.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to the passage, self-interest leads to prudent use when
- (a)catchments are vast
- (b)substitutes are easy to find
- (c)control over the resource base is secure
- (d)others can deplete the resource at any time
Answer(c) control over the resource base is secure — one of the three perceptions the writer lists.