Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions (185 - 189) on it. It is perhaps no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past were excep tionally versatile men. Right up until comparatively recent times, it was possible for an intelli gent person to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge. Thus men of genius like Leonardo da Vinci or Philip Sidney, engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course. Da Vinci was so busy with his generous inventions, that he barely found the time to complete his paintings. Sidney, who died in battle when he was only thirty-two years old was not only a great soldier, but a brilliant scholar and poet as well. Both these men came very near to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the ‘universal man’, the man who was proficient at everything. Today we rarely hear that a musician has just invented a new type of submarine. Knowl edge has become divided and sub-divided into countless narrowly defined compartments.menecialist is venerated. The versatile person, far from being admired, is more onene Waded with suspicion. The modern world is a world of highly-skilled 'experts' who have hide to devote the greater part of their lives to a very limited field of study in order to compare with their fellows. With this high degree of specialization, the frontiers of knowledge are steadily bens nushed back more rapidly than ever before. But this has not been achieved without considera able cost. The scientist, who outside his own particular subject is little more than a moron, is a modern phenomenon as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides that have been made in technology. Similarly, specialization has indirectly affected quite ordi nary people in every walk of life. Many activities which were once pursued for their own coke are often given up in despair; they require techniques, the experts tell us, which lanca lifetime to master. Why learn to play piano, when you can listen to the world's greatest pianist in your own drawing room? Little by little, we are becoming more and more isolated from each other. It is almos impossible to talk to your neighbour about his job, even if he is engaged in roughly the same work as you are. The Royal Society in Britain includes, among its members only the most eminent scientists in the country. Yet it is highly disconcerting to find that even here, as one of its fellows puts it, at a lecture only 10 per cent of the members can't understand 50 per cent of what is being said. 185. Author calls Da Vinci and Sidney versatile because

• A. they did not acquaint themselves with any branch of knowledge.
• B. they acquainted themselves with almost every branch of knowledge.
• C. None
• D. they were interested in only one branch of knowledge.