Recruits arriving at basic training are often surprised to learn that the running they did to prepare was the wrong kind. Long, steady miles build endurance, but the physical test measures how fast a body recovers between hard efforts. Interval work, in which short sprints alternate with brief recovery, trains that ability directly. This is not a small distinction. Every year a number of recruits who ran regularly before enlisting still struggle, and they struggle not from a lack of effort but from months spent training a system the test does not measure.
The author's attitude toward the struggling recruits is best described as
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Correct answer to question 10 (Paragraph Comprehension): sympathetic
Method
The closing sentence is careful to say the recruits struggle not from a lack of effort, which defends them rather than blaming them. That defence is the clearest signal of the author's sympathy.
Updated: November 2026
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