What is the main idea of the passage?
It is sometimes said that critics are people who could not create. The jibe is old and unfair. Criticism asks for a different skill: to see what a work is attempting, to judge how far it succeeds and to explain the judgement so that others can test it. A good critic makes us look again, and may change our view of a work we thought we knew. A critic also provides a service that artists cannot supply for themselves, a view from outside. But critics are fallible. Reputations have been made, and unmade, by judgements that later generations found absurd. The wise reader treats a critic as a guide whose reasons are worth weighing, and not as an authority whose verdicts must be accepted.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: B. Criticism is a real skill whose reasons deserve to be weighed, though critics can be wrong
- Step 1: The author defends criticism as a skill, notes fallibility and recommends weighing reasons.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "Criticism is a real skill whose reasons deserve to be weighed, though critics can be wrong".
Answer
Criticism is a real skill whose reasons deserve to be weighed, though critics can be wrong.
Why not the others: The author rejects the jibe, denies infallibility and rejects deference.
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