Source: Lesson 4 | Pre-Session Test | Option Elimination Skill
Passage
The passage below is accompanied by one question. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
In today\'s sporting landscape, the obsession with winning has overshadowed ethics. The \"win at all costs\" philosophy encourages cheating, aggression, and a disregard for sportsmanship, undermining the principles of fair play. This decline is evident in the rise of violent fan behaviour, performance-enhancing drug use among athletes, and even the pressure placed on children in youth sports.
How often do we hear the statement, “Everybody cheats on his income tax, so why shouldn’t I?” Sociologists have written about the alienation felt by many Americans and one of the several kinds of alienation is ‘normlessness.’ Society’s rules are vague and hard to discern, and besides, few people follow them. In fact, only a fool would adhere strictly to rules that everyone else ignores. A recent article in Newsweek was entitled “Are you a tax CHUMP or a tax CHEAT?” Its thesis is that big companies often use tax dodges and pay little or no taxes while the average person coughs up an inordinate percentage of his or her income yearly. Newsweek says that corporate America has a gift for finding loopholes that are legal. But that doesn’t make them right. Is it any wonder that in a capitalistic society which worships competition, finding tax loopholes is considered creative, especially if such manipulations give a company or an individual an edge on their competitors? Why should sports be any different? There is one compelling difference. Sports are supposed to appeal to the ethic of fair play. Sports, both professional and amateur, are supposed to teach children sportsmanship (not gamesmanship). Sports are supposed to teach the value of honest competition, win or lose.
In our morally relativistic society, however, the so-called virtues of sports have gotten lost and seem to have been replaced with the win-at-all-cost ethic. Instead of preparing young men and women for a life that focuses on fairness, we have focused on success and getting away with whatever we can.
Questions and solutions
Question 1Multiple choiceHARD
Question 1
Among the eight options given below, which of the following best describes the main point of the passage?
Related concepts
Main idea versus supporting detail
Inference: what must be true based on the text, not what could be true
Author's tone and attitude
Structure: how paragraphs relate to each other
Option traps: out of scope, extreme wording, partial truth, reversal
