Question 112
MediumOriginal questionSomu had come to the city from his village for an interview at a bank. The bank was on the eleventh floor of a glass building, and in the a guard pointed him towards a steel door with buttons beside it.
Somu had never been in a lift. He had seen them in films, where people stepped in and out without thinking. But when the doors opened and he saw the small bright box, with a mirror on one wall and four strangers already standing inside, his feet would not move.
The doors began to close. A woman in a blue saree put her hand out and held them open.
"Coming?" she asked.
Somu stepped in. The doors shut, and the floor pushed gently up under his feet. His stomach seemed to stay behind on the ground floor. He held the rail so tightly that his went pale, and stared at the numbers changing above the door: 3, 4, 5.
The woman in the blue saree seemed to understand. "My first time, I closed my eyes," she said quietly. "It helps. Eleven floors is not far."
At the eleventh floor the doors opened, and Somu stepped out onto the as carefully as if it might move too.
The interview went well. When it ended, the manager shook his hand, and Somu saw that she was the woman in the blue saree. "You were nervous in the lift," she said, "but you came in anyway. That is what I look for."
That evening, he took the stairs down. All eleven floors. He was smiling the whole way.
Why did Somu's feet "not move" when the lift doors opened?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
"Somu had never been in a lift", and the small box full of strangers made him freeze.
Worth noting
There were four people inside, but there was room, since the woman invited him in.
- Concept
- Inferring feelings from behaviour
- Typical timeTypical
- 40 s
- Your timeYours
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Ten questions from Narrative passages, at your own pace.