Directions: In this section, you have two short passages. After each passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based solely on the contents of the passage and the opinion of the author, and indicate your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly. Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question : When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed-love and honour and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labours under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands. Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there I will still be one more sound : that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe man will not merely endure : he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice.
The word 'puny' means
tiny
Decoding the Meaning of 'puny' in the Passage
The question asks for the meaning of the word 'puny' as used in the provided passage. To understand its meaning, we need to look at the context in which it appears.
Contextual Analysis of 'puny'
The passage describes a future scenario where "the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening." In this bleak setting, the author imagines one final sound: "that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking."
Here, 'puny' is used to describe the human voice that continues to speak even at the supposed end of everything. The author contrasts this small, persistent voice with the vastness of cosmic finality. The term 'inexhaustible' highlights that the voice doesn't run out, but 'puny' suggests something small in size, scale, or significance. It implies that despite its persistence, the voice is diminutive when measured against the immense backdrop of the end of time and the destruction of the world.
Evaluating the Options for 'puny'
Let's examine each option to see which best fits the context:
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Option 1: brave
The word 'puny' does not mean brave. While the voice might be considered brave for continuing, the word itself describes size or importance, not courage.
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Option 2: daring
'Daring' is similar to brave and also does not fit the meaning of 'puny'. 'Puny' refers to physical size or significance, not boldness.
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Option 3: tiny
'Tiny' means very small. This fits the context perfectly, describing the human voice as small or insignificant in scale amidst the vastness of the end described in the passage. The contrast between 'puny' and the final moments of existence makes 'tiny' a suitable choice.
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Option 4: doomed
The passage describes the voice as 'inexhaustible', which is the opposite of doomed. 'Doomed' implies certain destruction or failure, whereas 'inexhaustible' means it will not run out. Therefore, 'puny' cannot mean doomed.
Conclusion on the Meaning of 'puny'
Based on the contextual usage in the passage, where 'puny' contrasts with the immense scale of the end of the world and describes a small but persistent sound, the most appropriate meaning is 'tiny'.
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