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The following text is from Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar’s 1961 novel The Time Regulation Institute (translated from the Turkish in 2014 by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe). The narrator was once involved with the Time Regulation Institute, a fictional bureaucracy that regulates the time of Turkey’s clocks.
I may be the most humble and absurd man in the world and, as my wife says, the most slovenly creature you may ever meet—that is, before the founding of our institute—but I did come to know a truly great man who possessed a natural genius for invention. I spent years at his side. I watched the way he worked. I witnessed how an idea would suddenly catch fire in his mind and take shape, like a tree sprouting shoots and branches, before coming into being.
©2014 by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it most accurately describes the main idea of the text: a person appreciates the extensive time he passed in the company of a man he deeply admired. The speaker says that he spent "years" (a long period of time) in the company of a "truly great man" with "a natural genius for invention." These phrases indicate the speaker’s feelings of admiration.
Choice A is incorrect because though the text indicates that the speaker feels professional admiration for the "truly great man," the text does not indicate that the speaker feels love for him; nor does the text indicate that the speaker’s humility, absurdity, and slovenly nature proved to be an obstacle to this professional relationship. Choice B is incorrect because though the speaker describes himself as humble, the text does not indicate that he is exceptionally talented; nor does the text indicate that the "truly great man" professes humility or is concerned with whether he intimidates others. Choice D is incorrect because the text does not indicate how either the speaker or the "truly great man" express their ideas.