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CSAT 2026 paper

UPSC CSE CSAT 2026 · Question 62 · Reading comprehension

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

Directions for the next 2 (two) items: Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers should be based solely on the passage.

Passage

Was it the sun-dappled ambience, the strawberries and cream, the frustration of Flavio Cobolli’s unforced errors against Serbian Novak Djokovic on Centre Court or simply the crushing weight of being a 64-year-old man in the third act of a very public life? Whatever the reason, Hugh Grant, the actor, deserves empathy. There he was, in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, flanked by Britain’s well-dressed and well-rested spectators, watching the men’s singles quarterfinals, when the actor did something quietly radical: head at a tilt, eyes closed, utterly unbothered, he took a nap. So praise be to Grant for serving up an unexpected ace. In that small, delicious moment, he didn’t merely catch forty winks, he made an elegant case for surrender. Not to laziness, but to limits. To the body’s quiet wisdom over society’s relentless performance metrics. Wimbledon had its tennis. The perpetually sleep-deprived discovered a leading man, not of action, but of rest.

CSAT 2026 · Q62

Reading comprehension Medium Provisional key

Which of the following statements is/are correct?

  1. 1.Hugh Grant was watching, from the Royal Box, the men’s semifinal match on Centre Court between Flavio Cobolli and Novak Djokovic.
  2. 2.The phrase ‘unexpected ace’ in the context uses a term from the game of tennis to highlight Hugh Grant’s somewhat uncharacteristic act of catching ‘forty winks’; an act that is viewed with opprobrium.
  3. 3.Grant subjects the demands of society to the wisdom of his body.

Select the answer using the code given below.

Answer & explanation

Answer: (b) 3 only

Grant was watching the men's singles quarterfinals, not a semifinal, and the writer praises the nap rather than condemning it. Statement 3 restates the passage: the body's quiet wisdom was placed over society's performance demands.

  • ✗ 1. He was 'watching the men's singles quarterfinals', not a semifinal.
  • ✗ 2. 'Ace' is indeed a tennis term, but the writer says 'praise be to Grant' — the nap is admired, not viewed with opprobrium (strong disapproval).
  • ✓ 3. He chose 'the body's quiet wisdom over society's relentless performance metrics'.

Remember · Check factual details (round, venue, names) exactly, and check the author's tone before accepting words like 'opprobrium'.

Question and answer: UPSC's provisional GS Paper II (2026, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·

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