“Interest is essentially an attitude of continuing attentiveness, found where activity is satisfactorily self-expressive. Whenever work is so circumscribed that the chance for self-expression or development is denied, monotony is present.” On the basis of this quotation, it is most accurate to state that:

• A. Tasks which are monotonous can be made self-expressive by substituting satisfactory working conditions
• B. Interest is essentially an attitude of continuing attentiveness, found where activity is satisfactorily self-expressive. Whenever work is so circumscribed that the chance for self-expression or development is denied, monotony is present
• C. Tasks which are repetitive in nature do not permit self-expression and therefore create monotony
• D. Workers whose tasks afford them no opportunity for self-expression find such tasks to be monotonous

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is that interest at work comes from the ability to express oneself through the activity, and monotony appears when that self-expression or development is denied. The best statement follows directly: when there is no opportunity for self-expression, tasks feel monotonous. This captures the causal link in the quotation—lack of self-expression leads to monotony.

Other options don’t fit as cleanly. One suggests you can fix monotony by changing conditions, but the quote emphasizes that absence of self-expression causes monotony, not that conditions inevitably can make it expressive. Another broad claim implies repetition itself prevents self-expression, which overreaches what the quotation says. The remaining choice merely repeats the given idea without deriving the straightforward inference that no self-expression leads to monotony.