Question

Choose the sentence that best summarizes this passage by Samuel Johnson:

"In the romances formerly written, every transaction and sentiment was so remote from all that passes among men, that the reader was in very little danger of making any applications to himself; the virtues and crimes were equally beyond his sphere of activity; and he amused himself with heroes and with traitors, deliverers and persecutors, as with beings of another species, whose actions were regulated upon motives of their own, and who had neither faults nor excellencies in common with when an adventurer is leveled with the rest of the world, and acts in such scenes of the universal drama, as may be the lot of any other man; young spectators fix their eyes upon him with closer attention, and hope, by observing his behavior and success, to regulate their own practices when they shall be engaged in the like part." (No. 4, The Rambler)

A. In romances, actions are remote; in the universal drama, young spectators learn by observing the adventurer.
B. Readers are amused by romances where virtues and crimes are distant, but in the universal drama, young spectators learn from adventurers.
C. In romances, transactions are remote; in the universal drama, young spectators fix their eyes on adventurers to regulate their own practices.
D. In romances, virtues and crimes are beyond the reader's sphere; in the universal drama, young spectators observe adventurers to regulate their own practices.

Answer 1

The sentence that best summarizes Samuel Johnson's passage is option C: 'In romances, transactions are remote; in the universal drama, young spectators fix their eyes on adventurers to regulate their own practices.'

Step-by-step explanation:

The sentence that best summarizes Samuel Johnson's passage is option C: 'In romances, transactions are remote; in the universal drama, young spectators fix their eyes on adventurers to regulate their own practices.' Johnson is comparing romances, where the actions and sentiments are distant from reality, to the universal drama, where adventurers are relatable and observed by young spectators hoping to learn from their behavior. This passage reflects Johnson's view that the universal drama provides a more valuable and relatable experience for the audience.