(1) During our daily bouts of pessimism, we can see its constructive role in our lives. (2) In these mild forms, pessimism serves the purpose of pulling us back a bit from the risky exaggerations of our
optimism, making us think twice, keeping us from making rash, foolhardy gestures (3) The optimistio moments of our lives contain the great plans, the dreams, and the hopes (4) Reality is gently distorted
to give the dreams room to flourish (5) Without these times we would never accomplish anything
difficult and intimidating, we would never even attempt the just barely possible, (6) Mount Everest
would remain unscaled, the four minute mile unrun; the jet plane and the computer would be blueprints
sitting in some financial vice president's wastebasket

The primary purpose of this paragraph is to
a inform readers about research on pessimism and optimism
b. persuade readers of the usefulness of both pessimism and optimism
C. entertain readers with inspiring achievements