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Direction: In this section you have a short passage. After the passage, you will find some items based on the passage. First read the passage and then answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Why does the author not recommend too much of studies?
Explanation
The passage, which is an excerpt from Francis Bacon's essay 'Of Studies', explicitly states that 'to spend too much time in studies is sloth'. In this context, 'sloth' is synonymous with idleness or laziness. The author argues that while studies are essential for delight, ornament, and ability, an excessive devotion to them without practical application or experience leads to a lack of productivity. The text further clarifies that studies must be 'bounded in by experience' because natural abilities require pruning, much like plants. While 'crafty men' are mentioned as those who condemn studies, the author does not suggest that studying makes men crafty; rather, he emphasizes that wise men use studies through observation and judgment. Therefore, the recommendation against excessive study is rooted in the concern that it reflects a state of idleness rather than active engagement with the world.