Question

During the course of the first paragraph, the narrator's focus shifts from ________

• A. Recollection of past confidence to acknowledgment of present self-doubt.
• B. Reflection on his expectations of life as a tradesman to his desire for another job.
• C. Generalisation about job dissatisfaction to the specifics of his own situation.
• D. Evaluation of factors making him unhappy to identification of alternatives.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Generalisation about job dissatisfaction to the specifics of his own situation.

The paragraph in question begins with and continues for a while listing the general reasons that are usually behind one's dissatisfaction with one's job-

The thing itself - the work of copying and translating business-letters - was a dry and tedious task enough, but had that been all, I should long have borne with the nuisance; .... I should have endured in silence the rust and cramp of my best faculties;.... which my heart might have ventured to intimate its distress under the closeness, smoke, monotony, and joyless tumult of Bigben Close, ..."

Towards the end of the paragraph, however, the writer states the main reason behind his job dissatisfaction - the antipathy that existed between him and his employer. If this antipathy had been absent, he probably would have endured the other job related frustrations. Only option C fits into this context. So, C is the answer.