Read the passage given below

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be. We weep at what exceeds our expectations in serious matters; we laugh at what disappoints our expectations in trifles. We shed tears from sympathy with real and necessary distress; as we burst into laughter from want of sympathy with that which is unreasonable and unnecessary. Tears are the natural and involuntary response of the mind overcome some sudden and violent emotions. Laughter is the same sort of convulsive and involuntary movement, occasioned by mere surprise or contrast. The serious is the stress which the mind lays upon the expectations of a given order of events and the weight attached to them. When this stress is increased beyond its usual intensity and strains the feelings by the violent opposition of good and bad, it becomes the tragic. The ludicrous is the unexpected relaxing of this stress below its usual intensity, by an abrupt transposition of ideas that the mind by surprise and startles it into lively sense of pleasure.

We shed tears when

A) Something is tragic

B) Something is ludicrous

C) Something is surprising

D) Seriousness exceeds our expectations.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct option is A & D only.

Let us break down the passage step-by-step to understand why we shed tears in these specific scenarios:

1. Analyzing Statement D ("Seriousness exceeds our expectations"):
The passage explicitly states: "We weep at what exceeds our expectations in serious matters...". Since weeping is the act of shedding tears, this sentence directly supports the fact that we shed tears when seriousness or expectations in serious matters are exceeded.

2. Analyzing Statement A ("Something is tragic"):
The passage connects seriousness to the tragic by explaining: "The serious is the stress which the mind lays upon the expectations of a given order of events... When this stress is increased beyond its usual intensity and strains the feelings by the violent opposition of good and bad, it becomes the tragic." Since shedding tears is associated with serious matters and deep distress, the culmination of this serious stress into the "tragic" naturally leads to weeping or shedding tears.

3. Why Statements B and C are incorrect:
- Statement B ("Something is ludicrous"): The passage states that the ludicrous is the relaxing of stress that startles the mind into a "lively sense of pleasure," which is associated with laughter ("we laugh at what disappoints our expectations in trifles"), not tears.
- Statement C ("Something is surprising"): The passage states that "Laughter is the same sort of convulsive and involuntary movement, occasioned by mere surprise or contrast." Thus, surprise is linked to laughter rather than tears.

Therefore, we shed tears only when something is tragic (A) and when seriousness exceeds our expectations (D).