Question

Instructions: Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Passage (D. H. Lawrence, 1885-1930, from Apocalypse, 1931): “For man, the vast marvel is to be alive. For man as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive. Whatever the unborn and the dead may know, they cannot know the beauty, the marvel of being alive in the flesh. The dead may look after the afterwards. But the magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture, that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul, as my spirit is part of my nation. In my own very self, I am part of my family. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters.”

When the dead look after the afterwards, the living should look at life:

• A. forever
• B. for some months
• C. for only a short while
• D. in the past

Hint:

“Only for a time” is a general phrase about brevity, not a specific number of months.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The answer to this question sits in a specific line of the passage, so the safest approach is to locate that exact line rather than guess from the general theme.

1. The passage says life in the flesh is “ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time.”
2. Forever: Directly contradicts “only for a time”, so this is wrong.
3. For some months: Far too specific and literal; the passage never gives a numeric duration.
4. In the past: Misreads the line entirely; the passage is about the present “here and now”, not the past.
5. For only a short while: This is the natural, non-literal reading of “only for a time”, matching the passage's point that life in the flesh is brief and should be treasured now.

So the correct answer is option C, for only a short while.