Question

Which sentence in this excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt's "Citizenship in a Republic" speech conveys his central opinion about cynical people?                                          A: With you here, and with us in my own home, in the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average women, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues. B: The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation.
C: Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. D:There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. E: The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

Answer 1

D:There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement.

Even though option “C” mentions the word “cynic,” what is communicated in that excerpt is a warning to people not to become cynical. In response “D,” what is being communicated is the true sentiment toward cynical people. For instance, it is communicated that there is no one less worthy of respect than a cynic.