History of Cheerfulness

CAT 2022 Slot 2 · VARC · Medium · Verbal Ability

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The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4) below, when properly sequenced, would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:

  1. The trajectory of cheerfulness through the self is linked to the history of the word 'cheer' which comes from an Old French meaning 'face'.
  2. Translations of the Bible into vernacular languages, expanded the noun 'cheer' into the more abstract 'cheerful-ness', something that circulates as an emotional and social quality defining the self and a moral community.
  3. When you take on a cheerful expression, no matter what the state of your soul, your cheerfulness moves into the self: the interior of the self is changed by the power of cheer.
  4. People in the medieval 'Canterbury Tales' have a 'piteous' or a 'sober' cheer; 'cheer' is an expression and a body part, lying at the intersection of emotions and physiognomy.
Answer

1423

Explanation

Sentence 1 introduces the origin of 'cheer' from Old French meaning 'face'. Sentence 4 builds on this original physical meaning ('expression and a body part' as seen in Canterbury Tales). Sentence 2 details how Bible translations broadened 'cheer' into the abstract 'cheerful-ness'. Sentence 3 connects how taking on this expression alters the inner self.

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