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GATE 2025 CH – Question 6

General Aptitude · Verbal Aptitude: Grammar and Vocabulary · 2 marks · Multiple choice

"Why do they pull down and do away with crooked streets, I wonder, which are my delight, and hurt no man living? Every day the wealthier nations are pulling down one or another in their capitals and their great towns: they do not know why they do it; neither do I. It ought to be enough, surely, to drive the great broad ways which commerce needs and which are the life-channels of a modern city, without destroying all history and all the humanity in between: the islands of the past."
(From Hilaire Belloc's "The Crooked Streets")

Based only on the information provided in the above passage, which one of the following statements is true?

  1. The author of the passage takes delight in wondering.
  2. The wealthier nations are pulling down the crooked streets in their capitals.
  3. In the past, crooked streets were only built on islands.
  4. Great broad ways are needed to protect commerce and history.

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Show answer and explanation

Correct answer: (B) The wealthier nations are pulling down the crooked streets in their capitals.

Explanation

The passage says that every day the wealthier nations are pulling down crooked streets in their capitals and great towns, which is statement B. The author delights in the crooked streets, not in wondering. The "islands of the past" is a figure of speech and does not mean that crooked streets were built only on islands. The broad ways are said to be needed by commerce, and building them should not destroy history.