Passage:
Passage 5 It is not luck but labour that makes men. Luck, says an American writer, is ever waiting for something to turn up; labour with keen eyes and strong will always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; labour turns out at six and with busy pen and ringing hammer lays the foundation of competence. Luck whines, labour watches. Luck relies on chance; labour on character. Luck slips downwards to self-indulgence; labour strides upwards and aspires to independence. The conviction, therefore, is extending that diligence is the mother of good luck; in other words, that a man’s success in life will be proportionate to his efforts, to his industry, to his attention to small things.
“______ labour turns out at six and with busy pen and ringing hammer lays the foundation of competence.” This statement means
- Ahard work of all kinds makes people efficient and skilled
- Bthe labour lays the foundation of the building
- Cthe writer and the labourer are the true eyes of the society
- Dthere is no worker who works so hard as the labourer who begins his day at six in the morning
Explanation
'Busy pen' (the writer) and 'ringing hammer' (the manual worker) stand for all kinds of work, which 'lays the foundation of competence' — hard work of all kinds makes people efficient and skilled (A). B takes 'lays the foundation' literally, C invents 'true eyes of the society', and D fixates on the hour rather than the meaning. Hence the answer is A.