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Read these lines: "He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise? It is not that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. The happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune." What gives the old employer his worth?
AThe sum of money he laid out on the evening
BThe effect he has on how the work itself feels
CThe number of guests he managed to gather in
DThe years he had kept the business running on
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. The effect he has on how the work itself feels
1. The Spirit prices the evening at three or four pounds and asks whether that buys such praise.
2. The answer refuses the question as put, since it is not that.
3. The reply then names the real thing: a power to make service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil.
4. That power works through words and looks rather than through spending.
5. The last sentence says the happiness given is as great as if it had cost a fortune, which separates the gift from its price.
6. So the worth lies in how the work is made to feel, option B.
7. The first choice is exactly the measure the speaker sets aside, which is the trap here.
8. No count of guests is given, and a crowd is not what the reply praises.
9. The length of time the business has run is never mentioned at all.
_Source: Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843), Stave II The First of the Three Spirits_
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