Paragraph Summary CAT Previous Year Questions with Answer PDF

Q.1: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Physics is a pure science that seeks to understand the behavior of matter without regard to whether it will afford any practical benefit.
Engineering is the correlative applied science in which physical theories are put to some specific use, such as building a bridge or a nuclear reactor. Engineers obviously rely heavily on the discoveries of physicists, but an engineer's knowledge of the world is not the same as the physicist's knowledge. In fact, an engineer's know-how will often depend on physical theories that, from the point of view of pure physics, are false. There are some reasons for this. First, theories that are false in the purest and strictest sense are still sometimes very good approximations to the true ones, and often have the added virtue of being much easier to work with. Second, sometimes the true theories apply only under highly idealized conditions which can only be created under controlled experimental situations. The engineer finds that in the real world, theories rejected by physicists yield more accurate predictions than the ones that they accept.

CAT 2019 Slot 1

(A) Though engineering draws heavily from pure science, it contributes to knowledge, by incorporating the constraints and conditions in the real world.
(B) Engineering and physics fundamentally differ on matters like building a bridge or a nuclear reactor.
(C) The relationship between pure and applied science is strictly linear, with the pure science directing applied science, and never the other way round.
(D) The unique task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and interpret the design constraints to produce a successful result

Correct Answer is Option (A)

The passage says that pure science intends to discover without any end-goal in mind. While engineers use these benefits for practical applications. The author says that the science behind these practical applications are often considered false by pure science since they are approximated or not applied as per ideal conditions. In any case, even though they are rejected, these approximated science theories find lot of practical applications in everyday life.
Option A is correct. By diluting science, these theories are put into practical benefits. Hence, option A is correct
Option B is incorrect as no such implication can be drawn from the passage
Option C is incorrect. Linear relationship indicates that, if a certain theory is rejected by pure science, it is bound to be rejected by applied science too. This is clearly not the case as engineers use rejected theories for practical benefits.
Option D speaks only about engineers and has no reference to sciences or the main point of the paragraph. The paragraph intends to compare the functionalities of scientists and engineers while option D is specific to engineers and does not encapsulate the essence of the paragraph.
Hence, by way of elimination Option A is the most suitable summary

Q.2: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
A distinguishing feature of language is our ability to refer to absent things, known as displaced reference. A speaker can bring distant referents to mind in the absence of any obvious stimuli. Thoughts, not limited to the here and now, can pop into our heads for unfathomable reasons. This ability to think about distant things necessarily precedes the ability to talk about them. Thought precedes meaningful referential communication. A prerequisite for the emergence of human-like meaningful symbols is that the mental categories they relate to can be invoked even in the absence of immediate stimuli.

CAT 2019 Slot 1

(A) Displaced reference is particular to humans and thoughts pop into our heads for no real reason
(B) Thoughts precede all speech acts and these thoughts pop up in our heads even in the absence of any stimulus.
(C) Thoughts are essential to communication and only humans have the ability to think about objects not present in their surroundings.
(D) The ability to think about objects not present in our environment precedes the development of human communication.

Correct Answer is Option (D)
The paragraph says that humans think about past occurrences suddenly without any immediate stimuli.
The author also says that thinking/thoughts about a certain distant past is a necessity before one can speak about it.
He says that thoughts are a prerequisite before one talks about it. He also gives an example that various human-like symbols might have emerged without any immediate stimuli.
Option A and C: There is no mention of specificity to humans in the passage Option B : "All speech acts" is a false generalisation. The passage says that speaking about distant past requires thinking about it first Option D : It clearly captures the essence of the passage and says that one needs to think about distant past events before talking about them. Hence option D is correct.

Q.3: The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Vance Packard’s The Hidden Persuaders alerted the public to the psychoanalytical techniques used by the advertising industry. Its premise was that advertising agencies were using depth interviews to identify hidden consumer motivations, which were then used to entice consumers to buy goods. Critics and reporters often wrongly assumed that Packard was writing mainly about subliminal advertising. Packard never mentioned the word subliminal, however, and devoted very little space to discussions of “subthreshold” effects. Instead, his views largely aligned with the notion that individuals do not always have access to their conscious thoughts and can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their knowledge.

CAT 2019 Slot 1

(A) Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the supraliminal level, though the people targeted have no awareness of being persuaded.
(B) Packard held that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ builds on peoples’ conscious thoughts and awareness, by understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level.
(C) Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ works at the supraliminal level, wherein the people targeted are aware of being persuaded, after understanding the hidden motivations of consumers and works.
(D) Packard argued that advertising as a ‘hidden persuasion’ understands the hidden motivations of consumers and works at the subliminal level, on the subconscious level of the awareness of the people targeted.

Correct Answer is Option (A)
In this context, "Psychoanalytical analytical technique" implies that the advertising agencies are adapting methods to tap into the unconscious mind of the consumers. They are conducting detailed interviews to identify hidden motivations.
Here, subliminal advertising represents some portion of the ad being difficult to comprehend or simply put, when one of the motives of the ad is so subtle that it is difficult to be understood by a layman.
While supraliminal advertising can be clearly conceived by most people.
Packard claims that the 'Hidden persuaders' use supraliminal advertising to entice customers by tapping into consumers without their knowledge. (....can be persuaded by supraliminal messages without their knowledge.) Option B and D say that the method is subliminal, hence, it is incorrect Option C says that people are well aware about being persuaded, hence incorrect.
Option A is a wholesome summary of the method of persuation.

Q.4: Social movement organizations often struggle to mobilize supporters from allied movements in their efforts to achieve critical mass.
Organizations with hybrid identities—those whose organizational identities span the boundaries of two or more social movements, issues, or identities—are vital to mobilizing these constituencies. Studies of the post-9/11 U.S. antiwar movement show that individuals with past involvement in non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations than are individuals without involvement in non-anti-war movements. In addition, they show that organizations with hybrid identities occupy relatively more central positions in inter-organizational contact networks within the antiwar movement and thus recruit significantly more participants in demonstrations than do non hybrid organizations.

CAT 2019 Slot 2 

(A) Movements that work towards social change often find it difficult to mobilize a critical mass of supporters.
(B) Organizations with hybrid identities are able to mobilize individuals with different points of view.
(C) Post 9/11 studies show that people who are involved in non anti-war movements are likely to join hybrid organizations.
(D) Hybrid organizations attract individuals that are deeply involved in anti-war movements.
Correct Answer is Option (B)
After reading all the lines of the paragraph, it is evident that social movement organisations depend on organisations with hybrid identities because , within them they contain individuals with multiple points of views on different movements and issues. The example shows how people who are campaigning for non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organisations. It also says that organisations with hybrid identities occupy more central positions within organisations that are involved in anti-war movements.
Option A is incorrect. The passage talks more about why hybrid organisations are vital to providing participants in social movements.
Option C is just an illustration of the idea that the paragraph is trying to make. Hence, it would not be the most appropriate summary of the paragraph.
Option D is incorrect. From the paragraph we can infer that hybrid organisations attract individuals that are deeply involved in non-antiwar movements.
Option B is an appropriate summary of the passage and hence it is the correct answer.

Q.5: Privacy-challenged office workers may find it hard to believe, but open-plan offices and cubicles were invented by architects and designers who thought that to break down the social walls that divide people, you had to break down the real walls, too. Modernist architects saw walls and rooms as downright fascist. The spaciousness and flexibility of an open plan would liberate homeowners and office dwellers from the confines of boxes. But companies took up their idea less out of a democratic ideology than a desire to pack in as many workers as they could. The typical open-plan office of the first half of the 20th century was a white-collar assembly line.
Cubicles were interior designers’ attempt to put some soul back in.

CAT 2019 SLot 2

(A) Wall-free office spaces could have worked out the way their utopian inventors intended had companies cared for workers' satisfaction.
(B) Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as desired and therefore cubicles came into being.
(C) Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out the way their utopian inventors intended, as they became tools for exploitation of labor.
(D) Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as companies don’t believe in democratic ideology.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
After reading the entire paragraph, it can be inferred that the main idea of the passage is that while the inventors of the open-plan offices had the liberation of office dwellers from boxes in mind, the companies used it to pack as much people as possible inside.
Option A is incorrect as the passage makes no mentions about workers satisfaction.
Option B is incorrect as it misrepresents the timeline given in the passage. Cubicles existed earlier and only later were wall free office spaces invented.
Option D is incorrect as it could not be inferred from the passage that the companies that did not believe in democratic ideology Option C correctly encapsulates the main idea of the passage and hence it is the correct answer.

Q.6: Language is an autapomorphy found only in our lineage, and not shared with other branches of our group such as primates. We also have no definitive evidence that any species other than Homo sapiens ever had language. However, it must be noted straightaway that ‘language’ is not a monolithic entity, but rather a complex bundle of traits that must have evolved over a significant time frame….
Moreover, language crucially draws on aspects of cognition that are long established in the primate lineage, such as memory: the language faculty as a whole comprises more than just the uniquely linguistic features.

CAT 2019 Slot 2

(A) Language evolved with linguistic features building on features of cognition such as memory.
(B) Language, a derived trait found only in humans, has evolved over time and involves memory.
(C) Language is not a single, uniform entity but the end result of a long and complex process of linguistic evolution.
(D) Language is a distinctively human feature as there is no evidence of the existence of language in any other species.

Correct Answer is Option (A)
The passage states that language is only found in humans and not among any other primates. The passage also states that language is a bundle of traits such as memory that evolved over a period of time.
The passage does not talk about language that has evolved over time. Hence, option B is incorrect.
Option C does not completely summarise the passage. Hence, it is incorrect.
Option D talks only about language being a distinctive human feature. It does not talk about language having evolved from a complex bundle of traits. Hence it is incorrect.
Option A correctly summarises the main idea of the passage and is the correct answer.

Q.7: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Artificial embryo twinning is a relatively low-tech way to make clones. As the name suggests, this technique mimics the natural process that creates identical twins. In nature, twins form very early in development when the embryo splits in two. Twinning happens in the first days after egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of just a small number of unspecialized cells. Each half of the embryo continues dividing on its own, ultimately developing into separate, complete individuals. Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resulting individuals are genetically identical.

CAT 2018 Slot 1 

(A) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and mimetic of the natural development of genetically identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
(B) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech and is close to the natural development of twins where the embryo splits into two identical twins.
(C) Artificial embryo twinning is low-tech unlike the natural development of identical twins from the embryo after fertilization.
(D) Artificial embryo twinning is just like the natural development of twins, where during fertilization twins are formed.

Correct Answer is Option (A)
The author mentions that artificial embryo twinning is 'low tech' to introduce the topic. Then, he explains how the process is exactly similar to the process of development of twins. He states that the process mimics the natural development of twins. He has not highlighted any of the differences between the 2 processes.
Let us evaluate the options.
Option C states that artificial embryo twinning is 'low tech' unlike the natural development of twins. The author makes no such comparison in the paragraph and hence, option C can be eliminated.

Option D states that the twins are formed during fertilization but the paragraph mentions that the twins are formed after the process of fertilization (i.e, after the sperm and the egg join).
Option B fails to capture the fact that the twins are 'genetically' identical. Also, it states that the artificial twinning process is 'close to' the natural development of twins. Though this option is not incorrect, option A is worded in a better way. Option A states that the process is mimetic of the natural development of the twins (emphasizing that no difference has been highlighted), the twins are genetically identical and the process is similar to the process of development of twins after fertilization. Therefore, option A is the right answer.

Q.8: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
The conceptualization of landscape as a geometric object first occurred in Europe and is historically related to the European conceptualization of the organism, particularly the human body, as a geometric object with parts having a rational, three-dimensional organization and integration. The European idea of landscape appeared before the science of landscape emerged, and it is no coincidence that Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of the human body, also facilitated an understanding of the structure of landscape. Landscape which had been a subordinate background to religious or historical narratives, became an independent genre or subject of art by the end of sixteenth century or the beginning of the seventeenth century.

CAT 2018 SLot 1 

(A) The three-dimensional understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape.
(B) Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century.
(C) The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.
(D) The Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
Let us note down the main points of the given paragraph
The given paragraph describes how the study of landscape gained prominence and became an independent genre. Renaissance artists facilitated the development of the field as an independent genre.
Let us evaluate the options one by one.
Option A states that understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape. Though this option is true, it fails to capture the fact that the field evolved as an independent genre with the help of Renaissance artists.
Option B states that Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century. Again, option B fails to capture the role played by the Renaissance artists.
Option D states that Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art. The paragraph mentions that the artists facilitated in the transformation of the field into an independent genre. Option D establishes a strong relationship and holds Renaissance artists 'responsible' for the study of landscape 'as a subject of art'. The parts within the quotes disregard the fact that the artists just aided the process. They were not solely responsible for the development. Therefore, we can eliminate option D.
Only option C captures the fact that the renaissance artists 'aided' in the development of the study of landscape as an independent genre and hence, option C is the right answer.

Q.9: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Production and legitimation of scientific knowledge can be approached from a number of perspectives. To study knowledge production from the sociology of professions perspective would mean a focus on the institutionalization of a body of knowledge. The professions-approach informed earlier research on managerial occupation, business schools and management knowledge. It however tends to reify institutional power structures in its understanding of the links between knowledge and authority. Knowledge production is restricted in the perspective of the selected members of the professional community, most notably to the university faculties and professional colleges. Power is understood as a negative mechanism, which prevents the non-professional actors from offering their ideas and information as legitimate knowledge.

(A) Professions-approach focuses on the creation of institutions of higher education and disciplines to promote knowledge production
(B) The study of knowledge production can be done through many perspectives.
(C) The professions-approach has been one of the most relied upon perspective in the study of management knowledge production.
(D) Professions-approach aims at the institutionalization of knowledge but restricts knowledge production as a function of a select few.

Correct Answer is Option (D)
Let us note down the important points.
Professions-approach structures and institutionalizes knowledge but knowledge production is restricted to the select members of the community. It prevents the non-professional actors from offering their ideas.
Options A, B, and C do not capture the negative aspects of the professions-approach at all. They just focus on the advantages offered by the approach but the given paragraph places a huge emphasis on the limitations of the approach as well. Only option D captures both the advantage offered by the approach and its limitations. Therefore, option D is the right answer.

Q.10: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
Should the moral obligation to rescue and aid persons in grave peril, felt by a few, be enforced by the criminal law? Should we follow the lead of a number of European countries and enact bad Samaritan laws? Proponents of bad Samaritan laws must overcome at least three different sorts of obstacles. First, they must show the laws are morally legitimate in principle, that is, that the duty to aid others is a proper candidate for legal enforcement. Second, they must show that this duty to aid can be defined in a way that can be fairly enforced by the courts. Third, they must show that the benefits of the laws are worth their problems, risks and costs.

CAT 2018 Slot 2 

(A) A number of European countries that have successfully enacted bad Samaritan laws may serve as model statutes.
(B) Everyone agrees that people ought to aid others, the only debate is whether to have a law on it.
(C) If bad Samaritan laws are found to be legally sound and enforceable they must be enacted.
(D) Bad Samaritan laws may be desirable but they need to be tested for legal soundness.

Correct Answer is Option (D)
In the given paragraph, the author has discussed about Bad Samaritan laws and whether it is enforceable by law. While answering the question, the author puts forward three points which she deems necessary for the implementation of Bad Samaritan law. Only after crossing the three obstacles mentioned by the author, the law should be enacted. Option D is the most relevant in this context.
Option A is about implementing the law without any conditions, which is not what the author wants to convey.
Option B does not mention anything about the three obstacles.
Option C is stated with a firmness which is not the tone of the author. The author says that the law may be enacted, not must be enacted.
Hence, option D is the correct answer.

Q.11: A Japanese government panel announced that it recommends regulating only genetically modified organisms that have had foreign genes permanently introduced into their genomes and not those whose endogenous genes have been edited. The only stipulation is that researchers and businesses will have to register their modifications to plants or animals with the government, with the exception of microbes cultured in contained environments. Reactions to the decision are mixed. While lauding the potential benefits of genome editing, an editorial opposes across-the-board permission. Unforeseen risks in gene editing cannot be ruled out. All genetically modified products must go through the same safety and labeling processes regardless of method.

CAT 2018 Slot 2

(A) Excepting microbes cultured in contained environments from the regulations of genome editing is premature
(B) Creating categories within genetically modified products in terms of transgenic modification and genome editing advances science but defies laws.
(C) Exempting from regulations the editing of endogenous genes is not desirable as this procedure might be risk-prone.
(D) A government panel in Japan says transgenic modification and genome editing are not the same.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
Let us note down the important points:
The Japanese government recommends regulating GM organisms in which foreign genes are introduced, not those in which the endogenous genes have been edited. The step has drawn mixed reactions since there are some risks involved in gene editing.
Option A shifts the focus on exempting microbes. The central theme of the passage is that endogenous gene editing is not totally risk free. Therefore, we can eliminate option A.

Option B states that categorizing GM products advances science but defies laws. No such comparison has been made in the paragraph.
The legality of the issue has not been discussed and hence, we can eliminate option B.
Option D fails to capture the fact that endogenous gene editing is not devoid of risks.
Only option C captures the fact that exempting endogenous gene editing is not desirable due to the risks involved. Therefore, option C is the right answer.

Q.12: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
The early optimism about sport's deterrent effects on delinquency was premature as researchers failed to find any consistent relationships between sports participation and deviance. As the initial studies were based upon cross-sectional data and the effects captured were short-term, it was problematic to test and verify the temporal sequencing of events suggested by the deterrence theory.
The correlation between sport and delinquency could not be disentangled from class and cultural variables known. Choosing individuals to play sports in the first place was problematic, which became more acute in the subsequent decades as researchers began to document just how closely sports participation was linked to social class indicators.

CAT  2018 SLot 2 

(A) There is a direct relationship between sport participation and delinquency but it needs more empirical evidence.
(B) Statistical and empirical weaknesses stand in the way of inferring any relationship between sports participation and deviance.
(C) Sports participation is linked to class and cultural variables such as education, income, and social capital.
(D) Contradicting the previous optimism, latter researchers have proved that there is no consistent relationship between sports participation and deviance.

Correct Answer is Option (B)
The main points of the passage are that the relation between sports participation and deviation have not been established and that there is not sufficient evidence to prove the relationship.
Option A is distorted because it states that the relationship is already established.
Option B mentions all the relevant points.
Option C does not talk about the relationship and hence, ruled out.
Option D distorts what is given in the paragraph by saying that latter researchers have "proved" there is no consistent relationship. Thus, it can be eliminated.
Hence, option B is the correct answer.

Q.13: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author s position.
For each of the past three years, temperatures have hit peaks not seen since the birth of meteorology, and probably not for more than 110,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is at its highest level in 4 million years. This does not cause storms like Harvey — there have always been storms and hurricanes along the Gulf of Mexico — but it makes them wetter and more powerful. As the seas warm, they evaporate more easily and provide energy to storm fronts. As the air above them warms, it holds more water vapour. For every half a degree Celsius in warming, there is about a 3% increase in atmospheric moisture content. Scientists call this the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This means the skies fill more quickly and have more to dump. The storm surge was greater because sea levels have risen 20 cm as a result of more than 100 years of human- related global warming which has melted glaciers and thermally expanded the volume of seawater.

CAT 2017

(A) The storm Harvey is one of the regular, annual ones from the Gulf of Mexico; global warming and Harvey are unrelated phenomena.
(B) Global warming does not breed storms but makes them more destructive; the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, though it predicts potential increase in atmospheric moisture content, cannot predict the scale of damage storms might wreck.
(C) Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in seawater volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy.
(D) It is naive to think that rising sea levels and the force of tropical storms are unrelated; Harvey was destructive as global warming has armed it with more moisture content, but this may not be true of all storms.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
Let us note down the important points in the given paragraph.
Global warming does not cause storms but makes them more powerful. Due to the increase in the temperature, the air can absorb more moisture. This relationship (the change in the ability to absorb water with the increase in the temperature) is given by the Clausius-Clapeyron equation.
Let us evaluate the options.
The author provides storm Harvey as an example to illustrate how increased temperatures can arm the storms with more power. Harvey is not the central theme of the given paragraph. We can eliminate options A and D since option D places much emphasis on storm Harvey and option A states that there is no relationship between the increase in temperature and the power of storms.
Option B states that the Clausius-Clapeyron equation cannot predict the quantum of destruction that a storm might cause. This point is totally out of context with respect to what that is being discussed in the paragraph. Therefore, we can eliminate option B as well.
Option C precisely explains the mechanism through which global warming makes the modern storms more destructive. Therefore, option C is the right answer.

Q.14: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author's position.
A translator of literary works needs a secure hold upon the two languages involved, supported by a good measure of familiarity with the two cultures. For an Indian translating works in an Indian language into English, finding satisfactory equivalents in a generalized western culture of practices and symbols in the original would be less difficult than gaining fluent control of contemporary English. When a westerner works on texts in Indian languages the interpretation of cultural elements will be the major challenge, rather than control over the grammar and essential vocabulary of the language concerned. It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content. Since it is easier for an Indian to learn the English language than it is for a Briton or American to comprehend Indian culture, translations of Indian texts are better left to Indians.

CAT 2017 

(A) While translating, the Indian and the westerner face the same challenges but they have different skill profiles and the former has the advantage.
(B) As preserving cultural meanings is the essence of literary translation Indians' knowledge of the local culture outweighs the initial disadvantage of lower fluency in English.
(C) Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
(D) Westerners might be good at gaining reasonable fluency in new languages, but as understanding the culture reflected in literature is crucial, Indians remain better placed.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
Let us note down the important points put down by the author.
Indians have better knowledge of their culture. A westerner might be fluent in the language but will find it hard to relate to the culture. Indians, on the other hand, might be less fluent in the language but will be able to preserve the culture when a text is translated. Therefore, Indians should translate Indian texts.
Let us evaluate the options now.
Option A states that Indians and Westerners face the same challenges but they have different skill sets. Indians and Westerners face different challenges while translating the text. Indians face difficulty in the language and westerners face difficulty in relating to the culture. Therefore, we can eliminate option A.
Option D fails to capture the fact that the primary intention of the paragraph is not to pit Indians against westerners but to suggest that Indians should translate Indian texts. Also, it does not capture the fact that Indians will retain the advantage only when translating the Indian texts.
Therefore, we can eliminate option D.
Option B, though true, fails to capture the India-centric angle that the paragraph adopts. The paragraph places huge emphasis on the term 'Indian texts' and only option C manages to capture this fact. Also, only option C captures the fact that it is easier to remedy errors in the language than to fix errors in the interpretation of culture. Therefore, option C is the right answer.

Q.15: The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author' s position.
To me, a "classic" means precisely the opposite of what my predecessors understood: a work is classical by reason of its resistance to contemporaneity and supposed universality, by reason of its capacity to indicate human particularity and difference in that past epoch. The classic is not what tells me about shared humanity — or, more truthfully put, what lets me recognize myself as already present in the past, what nourishes in me the illusion that everything has been like me and has existed only to prepare the way for me. Instead, the classic is what gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness for any given generation of readers, and thereby expands for them the range of possibilities of what it means to be a human being.

CAT 2017 

(A) A classic is able to focus on the contemporary human condition and a unified experience of human consciousness.
(B) A classical work seeks to resist particularity and temporal difference even as it focuses on a common humanity.
(C) A classic is a work exploring the new, going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness.
(D) A classic is a work that provides access to a universal experience of the human race as opposed to radically different forms of human consciousness.

Correct Answer is Option (C)
The author states that a classic is not which puts him at the centre of the universe but one which gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness.
Let us evaluate the options.
Option A states that a classic should focus on unified human experience. The author mentions the exact opposite in the paragraph. Therefore, we can eliminate option A. We can eliminate option D too since it mentions the polar opposite of what that is mentioned in the paragraph.
The author is of the view that a classic should go beyond providing a unified human experience and expose one to radically different forms of human consciousness.
We can eliminate option B since it states that a classic focuses on common humanity. Only option C captures the essence of the given paragraph and hence, option C is the right answer.