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HomeCAASPP ELAEnglishReading Comprehension: Short Fiction › Read these lines: "Is there anything in the jung…

Read these lines: "Is there anything in the jungle too little to be killed? No. That is why I teach him these things, and that is why I hit him, very softly, when he forgets. Better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance." What is the teacher's defence of his method?

AOnly the strongest cubs deserve teaching
BThe cub learns nothing without being fed
CThe other cubs are beaten far harder
DBruises now are cheaper than danger later
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. Bruises now are cheaper than danger later
1. 1. He starts from a fact about the jungle: nothing there is too little to be killed. 2. 2. That fact makes ignorance itself deadly, which is why he teaches and corrects. 3. 3. His defence is a comparison: bruises from someone who loves him weighed against harm from not knowing. 4. 4. Neither strength, nor feeding, nor how other cubs are treated enters his argument. _Source: The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (1894)_
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