SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 16 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

Read the following passage and answer the questions based on the passage :
To bifurcate life into immutable dichotomies of joy and sorrow is to misread its most intrinsic rhythm. Human existence unfolds not as a linear progression of happiness or despair, but as a dynamic interplay where each emotion deepens the resonance of the other. The ecstasy of triumph is never as poignant as when preceded by failure; likewise, the pang of loss finds contour only because we have once cherished the presence of what is now absent. Joy and sorrow, then, are not adversaries but co-authors of the same narrative. From antiquity to modernity, philosophical traditions have acknowledged this existential polarity. The Stoics embraced the inevitability of suffering as a precursor to tranquility, while Eastern philosophies like Buddhism anchor themselves in the impermanence of all experiences. In both frameworks, the pursuit of enduring happiness necessitates an acceptance of transience. Without sorrow, joy would be indistinct—a flat and shallow sensation lacking contrast or value. This interdependence is vividly manifest in the mundane. The delight of spring is intensified by the memory of a harsh winter; the serenity of solitude is meaningful only to one who has tasted the cacophony of crowds. Even our personal growth often emerges from crucibles of pain—grief chisels depth into our emotional landscape, refining our capacity for empathy, resilience, and gratitude. To demand unbroken happiness is to seek a monochromatic life—an existence devoid of emotional texture. The beauty of being lies not in circumventing sorrow, but in embracing it as a necessary foil to joy. These twin sentiments coalesce to form the chiaroscuro of consciousness, rendering our lives more vivid, more intricate, more human.

Based on the passage, what can be reasonably inferred about the author's perspective on human emotions?

(a)Life should be devoid of emotional pain
(b)Emotions exist in strict binaries
(c)Sorrow deepens the meaning of joy
(d)Joy is an artificial construct

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The author says it directly: each emotion 'deepens the resonance of the other'.

The passage then spells out the sorrow side: 'Without sorrow, joy would be indistinct—a flat and shallow sensation lacking contrast or value.'

If joy without sorrow is shallow, sorrow is what gives joy its depth → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Life should be devoid of emotional pain — The author argues the reverse: 'To demand unbroken happiness is to seek a monochromatic life'. The beauty of being lies in embracing sorrow, not avoiding it.
(b)
Emotions exist in strict binaries — The opening sentence rejects this. To split life into 'immutable dichotomies of joy and sorrow' is 'to misread its most intrinsic rhythm'; the author sees interplay, not strict binaries.
(d)
Joy is an artificial construct — Nothing in the passage calls joy artificial. The author treats joy as real but dependent on contrast, a feeling sorrow makes vivid rather than one that is invented.

Concept

An inference question asks what the passage supports even where it does not say it in those words. The safe answer restates a claim the author keeps making.

This author's claim is that joy and sorrow depend on each other. It appears as 'co-authors of the same narrative', as spring intensified by the memory of winter, and as grief that 'chisels depth' into us.

Options that invert the thesis (a, b) or add an idea the text never raises (d) fail.

This is a light inference: the keyed option is close to a paraphrase of 'each emotion deepens the resonance of the other', read from sorrow's side.

Key facts

The thesis for this question: 'each emotion deepens the resonance of the other'.
'Without sorrow, joy would be indistinct' states the same claim from the other side.
The opening sentence rejects 'immutable dichotomies of joy and sorrow', which rules out 'strict binaries'.

Study next

Separating inference from outside assumption in comprehension optionsSpotting options that reverse the author's thesis

Common traps

Choosing 'Emotions exist in strict binaries' because the passage keeps pairing joy with sorrow, when its first sentence rejects fixed opposites
Choosing 'Life should be devoid of emotional pain' from the everyday view that pain is bad, the opposite of this author's

15 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.17 asks the primary purpose of this same passage. A central-idea question from another sitting is 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.16, keyed 'It is contextually shaped and not always just'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Reading comprehension — all 128 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.

Read the following passage and answer the questions based on the passage :
To bifurcate life into immutable dichotomies of joy and sorrow is to misread its most intrinsic rhythm. Human existence unfolds not as a linear progression of happiness or despair, but as a dynamic interplay where each emotion deepens the resonance of the other. The ecstasy of triumph is never as poignant as when preceded by failure; likewise, the pang of loss finds contour only because we have once cherished the presence of what is now absent. Joy and sorrow, then, are not adversaries but co-authors of the same narrative. From antiquity to modernity, philosophical traditions have acknowledged this existential polarity. The Stoics embraced the inevitability of suffering as a precursor to tranquility, while Eastern philosophies like Buddhism anchor themselves in the impermanence of all experiences. In both frameworks, the pursuit of enduring happiness necessitates an acceptance of transience. Without sorrow, joy would be indistinct—a flat and shallow sensation lacking contrast or value. This interdependence is vividly manifest in the mundane. The delight of spring is intensified by the memory of a harsh winter; the serenity of solitude is meaningful only to one who has tasted the cacophony of crowds. Even our personal growth often emerges from crucibles of pain—grief chisels depth into our emotional landscape, refining our capacity for empathy, resilience, and gratitude. To demand unbroken happiness is to seek a monochromatic life—an existence devoid of emotional texture. The beauty of being lies not in circumventing sorrow, but in embracing it as a necessary foil to joy. These twin sentiments coalesce to form the chiaroscuro of consciousness, rendering our lives more vivid, more intricate, more human.