Section A
Part 4 - Behaviour
“It is a pathetic sight and a striking example of
the complexity introduced into the emotions by a high state
of civilisation – the sight of a fashionably dressed
female in grief. From the sorrow of a Hottentot to that
of a woman in large buckram sleeves, with several bracelets
on each arm, an architectural bonnet and delicate ribbon
strings – what a long series of gradations! In the
enlightened child of civilisation the abandonment characteristic
of grief is checked and varied in the subtlest manner,
so as to present an interesting problem to the analytic
mind. If with a crushed heart and eyes half blinded by
the mist of tears, she were to walk with too devious a
step through a door-place, she might crush her buckram
sleeves too, and the deep consciousness of this possibility
produces a composition of forces by which she takes a line
that just clears the door post. Perceiving that the tears
are hurrying fast, she unpins her strings and throws them
languidly backwards – a touching gesture, indicative,
even in the darkest gloom, of the hope in future dry moments
when cap strings will once more have a charm. As the tears
subside a little and with her head leaning backward at
the angle which will not injure her bonnet, she endures
that terrible moment when grief, which has made all else
a weariness, has itself become weary, and looks down pensively
at her bracelets and adjusts their clasps with that pretty
studied fortuity which would be gratifying to her mind
if it were once more in a calm and healthy state”.
Source: George Eliot, “The Mill on the Floss” 1860
Question 10
Which of the following assertions is closest
to the main idea in the passage above?
A Appearances are deceptive.
B You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
C We need to control emotion.
D Rational behaviour is acquired
at a certain price. E Social behaviour and inner emotions
are often in conflict.
Question 11
Which one of the following assertions, if true,
would be most damaging to the argument of the passage?
A Hypocrisy is a factor in both “primitive” and
contemporary societies.
B Behaviour is always a mirror of emotion.
C Women find it difficult to control
their emotions.
D Civilised behaviour is often in
conflict with natural feeling.
E Grief is a particularly irrational
emotion.
Question 12
Which one of the following best reveals the
underlying assumption of the passage?
A Fashion is a tyrannical master.
B Emotion in relation to behaviour is
extremely complex.
C In matters of emotion, civilisation
has advanced comparatively little.
D Hypocrisy deserves to be ridiculed.
E Emotional control is a difficult,
sophisticated skill.
Answers
for part 4
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