Question ID - 188257 | SaraNextGen Top Answer

Read the source given below and answer the questions that follow:

By the mid-eighteenth century, was a common conviction that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment. Many believed that books could change the world, liberate society from despotism and tyranny, and herald a time when reason and intellect would rule. Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a novelist in eighteenth-

century France, declared: "The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away." In many of Mercier's novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading. They devour books are lost in the world of books, and become enlightened in the process. Convinced of the power of print in bringing enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism, Mercier proclaimed: Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!

Answer the following MCQs by choosing the most appropriate option:
(i) What was the main reason behind the thinking that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment?
(a) Books would transfer the logical thinking of philosophers to the common people.
(b) Books would help people to develop their skills.
(c) By reading books ruling society would come to know what was right and what was wrong.
(d) Books would establish cordial relations between rulers and ruled.
(ii) What was the common conviction about books in mid-18 ${ }^{\text {th }}$ century?

(a) Books would help to increase earning.
(b) Books would help to increase knowledge.
(c) Monarchy would be changed by an accountable government.
(d) People would be able to convince the rulers that what they were doing wrong with their sublets.
(iii) Mercier wrote that printing press was the most powerful engine because:
(a) Latest technology would increase the volume of books.
(b) Printing press would solve the problem of unemployment.
(c) Printing press would help to form public opinion to draw any conclusion.

(d) Printing press would help them to know what wrong was going with them and how could it be corrected.
(iv) The following is the real meaning behind the words "Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!":
(a) Monarchy would agree with what was written in the books.
(b) Tyrants would surrender their power against the virtual writer.
(c) Books would help to convince the people about what wrong was happening with them.
(d) Virtual writer would be able to establish their supremacy over rulers through knowledge.