Question

instructions
read the question carefully and select the best answer.
which of these inferences about the refusal is best supported by the passage below (paragraphs 7-8)?
in all important matters, however, the citizens can always count on a refusal. and now the strange fact is that without this refusal one simply cannot get along, yet at the same time these official occasions designed to receive the refusal are by no means a formality. time after time one goes there full of expectation and in all seriousness and then one returns, if not exactly strengthened or happy, nevertheless not disappointed or tired. about these things i do not have to ask the opinion of anyone else, i feel them in myself, as everyone does; nor do i have any great desire to find out how these things are connected.
as a matter of fact, there is, so far as my observations go, a certain age group that is not content—these are the young people roughly between seventeen and twenty. quite young fellows, in fact, who are utterly incapable of foreseeing the consequences of even the least significant, far less a revolutionary, idea. and it is among just them that discontent creeps in.
a. the citizens who attend the ceremony hope for a refusal, and are happy when it occurs.
b. the narrator does not seem to care one way or the other about the refusal.
c. the tax-collector is an older, stoic man with a strong allegiance to the distant capital.
d. young people, who don’t fully understand the risk of opposing the capital, are upset about the refusal.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option against the passage:

• Option A: The passage says citizens "cannot get along" without the refusal but doesn’t state they hope for it or are happy when it occurs. Eliminate A.
• Option B: The narrator states "I do not have to ask the opinion of anyone else, I feel them in myself, as everyone does; nor do I have any great desire to find out how these things are connected"—showing indifference (not caring) about the refusal. This matches.
• Option C: The passage mentions a "tax - collector" but no info about being "stoic" or having "allegiance to the distant capital." Eliminate C.
• Option D: The passage says young people are "utterly incapable of foreseeing the consequences" (not about "not fully understanding the risk of opposing the capital" or being "upset" about the refusal). Eliminate D.

Answer:

B. The narrator does not seem to care one way or the other about the refusal.