Question 148
EasyOriginal questionMother: Your father's cousin says science is the only choice.
Aditi: He says that about everything he chose himself.
Mother: That's not fair. He's a successful man.
Aditi: He is. And he tells us every Diwali how much he hates his job.
Mother: (laughs ) He does, doesn't he.
Aditi: Amma, I'm not saying science is wrong. I'm saying it isn't mine. When I read about the Mughal for my project, I forgot to eat lunch. When I do chemistry, I watch the clock.
Mother: You can't build a life on forgetting lunch.
Aditi: Why not? People who forget lunch over their work usually end up good at it.
Mother: And what if history doesn't give you a job?
Aditi: Then I'll have tried the thing I love and learnt something. If I choose science and fail, I'll have neither.
Mother: (after a long pause) Write down three jobs you could do with history. Real ones. We'll look at them together, and then we'll talk to your father.
Aditi: That's not a yes.
Mother: It isn't a no, either.
Why does Aditi's mother laugh "despite herself"?
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
Aditi says the cousin "tells us every Diwali how much he hates his job", and her mother laughs and says "He does, doesn't he."
"Despite herself" shows she did not mean to agree, but did.
Worth noting
She had just defended him as "a successful man", which is why the laugh is "despite herself".
- Concept
- Understanding a character's reaction
- Typical timeTypical
- 30 s
- Your timeYours
- —
Ten questions from Poems and conversations, at your own pace.