With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made: 1. People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions. 2. Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress. Which of these assumptions is/are valid?

Passage

The greatest blessing that technological progress has in store for mankind is not, of course, an accumulation of material possessions. The amount of these that can be effectively enjoyed by one individual in one lifetime is not great. But there is not the same narrow limit to the possibilities of the enjoyment of leisure. The gift of leisure may be abused by people who have had no experience of making use of it. Yet the creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level."

Question

CSATEasyPrelims 2017Comprehension

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

People always see the leisure time as a gift and use it for acquiring more material possessions.
Use of leisure by some people to produce new and original things has been the chief source of human progress.

Which of these assumptions is/are valid?

Explanation

Assumption 1 is invalid. The passage does not suggest that people use leisure time to acquire material possessions. It highlights that leisure can be abused by those without experience, but does not equate it to acquiring material possessions.

Assumption 2 is valid. The passage states that the "creative use of leisure by a minority in societies has been the mainspring of all human progress beyond the primitive level," which supports this assumption.