The Library That Adopted Its Books
Read this passage, then answer. At the edge of the village, the old library opened only on Sundays. Its keeper, a retired teacher named Sripati, had catalogued 1,200 books on index cards, but the roof leaked above shelf D. Last June, a storm soaked 60 books. Instead of asking the panchayat for money, Sripati began a 'book adoption' scheme: each donor paid ₹50 to repair one book and wrote his name inside the cover. By December, 480 books had been adopted, but the leak remained. When the panchayat finally offered ₹15,000 for new books, Sripati asked for a new roof instead. In the exam, you have 8 minutes and 10 marks. The question reads: 'What does the episode reveal about Sripati's priorities?' Two classmates offer answers. A: 'He cared more about books than about the building.' B: 'He put lasting protection of the collection above expanding it.' You must decide which is better supported and why.
1. Which answer, A or B, is better supported? Give two pieces of textual evidence and explain why the other answer is a misreading.
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B is better supported.
- Evidence 1: Sripati asks for 'a new roof instead' when offered ₹15,000 for new books. He refuses extra stock in order to stop the cause of the damage.
- Evidence 2: the adoption scheme repaired individual books, yet 'the leak remained'. The passage shows that piecemeal rescue did not solve the problem, so his later request for a roof is consistent with protecting the collection long-term.
Why A misreads: A treats 'books' and 'building' as opposites. The passage does not say Sripati neglected the building; it says he wanted the building fixed so that books would survive. His priority is not 'books over building' but 'preservation over expansion'. A is a half-truth that misses the word 'instead'.
2. The word 'adoption' is used in a special sense. Explain what it means here and why the ordinary meaning (legal adoption of a child) would mislead a reader.
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Here, 'adoption' means sponsorship or rescue of a single book: a donor pays ₹50 towards its repair and writes his name inside the cover. The context clues are the price, the act of repair, and the name inside the book.
The ordinary legal meaning involves permanently taking another person's child into one's family. That meaning would mislead because the passage is about objects, not children, and because the donor does not take the book away; the book stays in the library. In a vocabulary question, always test the word against the words immediately around it, not against its most familiar dictionary sense.
3. What can be inferred about the panchayat's offer? Write one sentence that uses evidence and does not overstate.
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Inference: The panchayat assumed the library needed more books rather than structural repair, so its offer shows that it had not identified the leak as the central problem.
Why this is not overstatement: The passage says the offer was 'for new books' and that Sripati had to redirect it to 'a new roof'. That supports the idea of a mistaken diagnosis. It does not support saying 'the panchayat was careless' or 'the panchayat did not care about the library', because the passage never gives the panchayat's motives. A good inference stays inside what the words can prove.