Question about Critical Reading

Test Preparation
1

<p>I had a question about the March 2005 QAS test…</p>

<p>“Mrs. Deverell felt slighted and wounded; going home she was so preoccupied that she passed the wife of the landlord of The Volunteer without seeing her. “I wouldn’t expect Alderhurst people to speak to a barkeep’s wife,” the woman told everyone in the saloon bar. “Even though it was our Gran who laid her husband out when he died.” All of their kindnesses were remembered and brooded over; any past kindness Mrs. Deverell had done - and they were many - only served to underline the change which had come over her.”</p>

<p>The question was:</p>

<p>The bolded lines suggest which of the following about the customers in the saloon bar?</p>

<p>(A) They do not recall those occasions when Mrs. Deverell was kind to them.
(B) They feel that Mrs. Deverell is essentially the same person that she has always been.
(C) They are not especially well acquainted with Mrs. Deverell.
(D) They are more generous towards themselves than they are towards Mrs. Deverell
(E) They do not generally share the opinions of the barkeeper’s wife.</p>

<p>I picked A. The answer was D. Can someone please explain this to me?</p>

2

<p>A is incorrect because the passage clearly indicates that the customers of the saloon bar do recall the occasions that Mrs. Deverell was kind to them: “any past kindness Mrs. Deverell had done - and they were many - only served to underline the change which had come over her.” D is correct because the customers are being more generous towards themselves in the regard that they feel offended by Mrs. Deverell’s recent behavior and value their own previous acts of kindness more so than hers in the process.</p>