Question map
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. According to the author, why should one study?
Explanation
According to the passage, studies serve three primary purposes: delight, ornament, and ability. 'Delight' refers to personal pleasure found in private reflection; 'ornament' refers to the enhancement of one's discourse or conversation; and 'ability' refers to the improved judgment and disposition of business. The author emphasizes that studies 'perfect nature' but must be 'perfected by experience,' suggesting a holistic growth where natural abilities are pruned and bounded by practical wisdom. While crafty men condemn studies and simple men admire them, wise men use them effectively by integrating learning with observation. Therefore, the author advocates for studying not just for information or worldly status, but for a combination of personal pleasure, enhanced professional capability, and the holistic refinement of one's natural character through the synergy of learning and experience.