Choose the option that best explains the idiom "rat race" as used in modern English.

Introduction / Context:
The idiom "rat race" is widely used in discussions about modern urban life, work culture, and materialism. It typically carries a negative connotation, suggesting an endless, exhausting competition where people struggle for success, money, or status, often without deeper satisfaction. The question asks which option best expresses this meaning.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Idiom: "rat race".
• Options describe various harsh or manipulative behaviours in competitive environments.
• We assume standard contemporary English usage, where "rat race" describes systemic competition, not individual cruelty.

Concept / Approach:
Idioms must be interpreted as fixed expressions whose meaning cannot be obtained simply by translating each word literally. "Rat race" evokes an image of rats running endlessly in a maze or wheel, symbolising tiring, repetitive competition. Therefore, the best paraphrase should capture the idea of a relentless, often meaningless struggle for success, typically in a corporate or urban context, not personal sadism or manipulation.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recall the idiomatic meaning of "rat race": a competitive struggle for wealth, status, or power, especially in modern society.Step 2: Examine option (a): "Make others fight for scraps and get sadistic pleasure out of it." This focuses on enjoying others suffering, which is not an essential part of the idiom.Step 3: Examine option (b): "Be an oppressive boss and treat employees like animals." This is about behaviour of a single person in power, not about the overall lifestyle of many people competing.Step 4: Examine option (c): "A way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth or power." This directly describes a lifestyle characterised by intense competition for success, matching the idiom.Step 5: Examine option (d): "Play games with the lives of other people and see them run aimlesly." Although it includes the image of people running, it emphasises manipulation rather than general societal competition.Step 6: Conclude that option (c) is the most accurate and complete explanation of the idiom.

Verification / Alternative check:
Consider typical usage: "He left the rat race to live in a quiet village" or "Many people feel trapped in the corporate rat race." In these sentences, "rat race" refers to a lifestyle of constant striving and competition, not to one person deliberately mistreating others. Option (c) fits naturally in such contexts, while the other options would not substitute without changing the meaning significantly.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Option (a): Focuses on cruelty and taking sadistic pleasure, which is not inherent in the idiom.
• Option (b): Describes an oppressive boss; this is one pattern of behaviour, but "rat race" describes the competitive environment for everyone, not just a boss.
• Option (d): Suggests manipulation and playing with other people lives, which again is not the core sense of "rat race".

Common Pitfalls:
Students may take the idiom too literally and associate "rat race" with any situation involving animals or cruelty. Others may focus on individual bad behaviour instead of systemic competition. To avoid such mistakes, always recall that in exam contexts, "rat race" nearly always refers to the stressful, competitive nature of modern work and life, particularly in big cities.

Final Answer:
The idiom "rat race" best matches option (c): "A way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle for wealth or power."