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UPSC CSE 2026 · PYQ · Reading Comprehension / Inference · medium

Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer should be based solely on the passage. Was it the sun-dappled ambience, the strawberries and cream, the frustration of Flavio Cobolli's unforced errors against Serbian Novak Djokovic on Centre Court or simply the crushing weight of being a 64-year-old man in the third act of a very public life? Whatever the reason, Hugh Grant, the actor, deserves empathy. There he was, in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, flanked by Britain's well-dressed and well-rested spectators, watching the men's singles quarterfinals, when the actor did something quietly radical : head at a tilt, eyes closed, utterly unbothered, he took a nap. So praise be to Grant for serving up an unexpected ace. In that small, delicious moment, he didn't merely catch forty winks, he made an elegant case for surrender. Not to laziness, but to limits. To the body's quiet wisdom over society's relentless performance metrics. Wimbledon had its tennis. The perpetually sleep-deprived discovered a leading man, not of action, but of rest. Which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Radical action can also be attributed to mild surrender where one acts against societal expectations. 2. Submitting to one's limitations, given the effect of age and other factors, ought not to be conflated with laziness. 3. 'Leading man' usually refers to one who plays the lead role in a movie; in this instance the implication is that Hugh Grant is performing the role of not an action hero, but that of a resting one! Select the answer using the code given below.

  1. A.1 and 2 only
  2. B.2 and 3 only
  3. C.1, 2 and 3✓ Correct
  4. D.3 only

Explanation

Statement 1 is supported — the passage calls Grant's nap 'quietly radical' which equates a mild act of surrender (sleeping) with radical action, going against societal expectations of attentiveness. Statement 2 is supported — the passage explicitly distinguishes 'Not to laziness, but to limits', meaning submitting to age-related limits is not laziness. Statement 3 is supported — the passage plays on 'leading man' from cinema and reframes Grant as a leader of 'rest' rather than 'action'. Hence all three statements are correct.
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