What is the main idea of the passage?

A Gettier-style case suggests that a justified true belief may still fail to be knowledge when its truth depends on luck. (Mara has belief, truth, and an ordinary reason, yet the accidental match creates doubt about knowledge.)

Why do people hesitate to say Mara knows the time?

The stopped clock matches the real time only by coincidence, not because it tracks the time. (The clock's failure disconnects her evidence from the fact even though the final belief is true.)

What does “justified” mean in the third paragraph?

supported by a reasonable basis or evidence (Mara's history of seeing a reliable clock supplies the apparent reasonable basis.)

How long has the clock been stopped?

exactly twelve hours (The opening paragraph states the exact duration.)

The Clock That Was Right by Accident: Level 3 Reading Comprehension Questions

Mara enters the library and sees a wall clock showing 8:15. The clock has always been reliable, so she believes it is 8:15. It really is 8:15. Unknown to her, however, the clock stopped exactly twelve hours earlier.

Mara's belief is true, and she appears to have a good reason for it. Yet many people hesitate to say she knows the time. Her belief succeeds by coincidence, through luck: the broken clock happens to display the correct reading at that instant.

This is a Gettier-style problem. A traditional account described knowledge as justified true belief. Examples like Mara's suggest that truth, belief, and ordinary justification may all be present while knowledge is missing. Philosophers disagree about what additional condition can exclude the luck.

The puzzle does not show that reasons are useless. It asks whether a reason must connect to truth in the right way. Mara looks at evidence that normally works, but the evidence is not tracking time. Being correct and arriving correctly are not always the same achievement.

Comprehension questions