100 RC-2

Reading Comprehension
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iv. Solve all the Questions provided on your own and then refer to the solutions at
the end so as to verify if you have solved the questions correctly or is there a better
smarter approach for the same question.
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step of preparation by taking the Topic-wise Tests.
vi. Once you are done with a good set of 4 - 5 Topics, give the Sectional and Full-
length Mocks and see where you stand.
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Reading Comprehension Reading Comprehension
Table of Contents Questions

S.1-5) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
The word empathy first appeared in the English language over 100 years ago; from
the German word ‘Einfühlung’, which means “feeling into”. Originally, it was used
to refer to the ability to mentally “get inside” works of art, to have a first-person
experience from the object’s perspective. Today, it’s more commonly used to
describe our ability to connect with another person’s experience — to understand
it and feel it as if it were our own. Our capacity for empathy is one of the features
that defines us as human so, as one would expect, it plays a central role in design
thinking, which is founded on understanding and responding to the needs of users.
Whilst user research is the obvious place to leverage the power of empathy, there
are other important points in the creative process where it can be harnessed, from
Content Page driving creativity to influencing internal decision-making.
There are three distinct psychological processes that come together to produce the
Questions 1 empathic state: The ability to understand what is going through someone else’s
mind (mentalizing). The ability to imagine the experience as if it were our own
Solutions 61 (affect matching). The desire to act — for example, to get insights about the needs
of the users and to respond to them.
Design researchers spend a lot of time with users, where empathy is key to gain a
deeper understanding of a user’s mental and emotional state. Being empathetic
helps to establish rapport and trust and helps us dig deeper into more emotional
and/or sensitive subjects by knowing which questions to ask and how to ask them.
In this scenario, we’re predominantly using the Mentalizing process. Understanding
is the core aim, and any emotional response we have as researchers (during affect
matching) needs to be checked to make sure we are mirroring the respondent’s
state of mind and not projecting our own interpretation. Asking more questions to
explore our assumptions and hypotheses is important here to build the full picture.
Design research also has an important role to play in inspiring creativity. Being able
to imagine the experience of a user as if it were our own (the affect matching
component), is a powerful way of connecting with user needs whilst indirectly
Let’s get started… experiencing them for ourselves and therefore driving a more relevant creative
response.
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There are also more subtle techniques we can use to encourage creative teams to Q.2) Which application of being empathetic has been primarily dealt with
build empathy with a particular user group at a subconscious level which is often throughout the passage?
called as empathy by stealth! For example, during a creative workshop, we can A) It can be used to understand the thought process of masses and anticipate
supplement techniques such as persona building with more subtle cues that prime their responses to situations.
people to subconsciously get into the mindset of the target user. The workshop B) It can be used to hone the psychological skill of mentalism and subsequently
setting, the pace of the session, the language we use and the behavioural rules we control others.
set can all contribute to making the creative team behave more like the target user C) It can be used in the field of design thinking to understand and respond to the
without realising it. needs of users.
The third psychological component — empathic motivation, leads us to emotively D) It can be used to inspire researchers to explore creative ways of studying user
respond or act directly as a result of our empathy. Ensuring insights from user behaviour.
research are acted on, and that ideas are progressed through the business are key
challenges for many clients. Gaining a better understanding of internal stakeholders Q.3) What picture is the author referring to at the end of the third paragraph?
can help us devise effective strategies to influence decision-making, including more A) A complete background knowledge about the user covering their state of mind
emotive arguments which drive decision-makers to act. This strategy of using and emotional responses.
empathy to influence decision-making is also known as instrumental empathy, an B) A user profile of the users consisting of their personal details and past actions.
approach widely used by campaigners and activists to influence the beliefs of people C) A pictographic data base which relies on assumption to make decisions on
and groups who have very different, and sometimes opposing views. behalf of the users.
D) A wide framework of analysis aimed at understanding the core emotions of the
Q.1) What is the key difference between the original usage of word ‘empathy’ and users.
how it is used today?
A) It was earlier used to describe the German point of view on entities but now it Q.4) What does the author mean to imply by the phrase, ‘empathy by stealth’?
is a universal phenomenon. A) The user emulating the behaviour of the creative team.
B) Originally it was used to analyse art but today it has pervaded into every walk B) Setting up such behaviour rules which compel the users to share their personal
of life. details.
C) Earlier it was used to cater to personal needs but now it is employed to satisfy C) Being empathetic to the user without actively trying to do so through subtle
the expectations of customers. changes.
D) Originally it was used to indicate the ability of perceiving inanimate objects in D) Making symbolic changes to put the users at ease and in a comfortable
first person but now it usually refers to the ability of feeling for others. environment.
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Q.5) Which of the following most accurately captures the structure of writing of “There’s the potential that melanin didn’t evolve for colour at all,” she said. “That
the passage? role may actually be secondary to much more important physiological functions.”
A) Intuitive, expositional and lucrative. Her research indicates that it may have an important role in homeostasis, or
B) Adventurous, controversial and offending. regulation of the internal chemical and physical state of the body, and the balance
C) Tenacious, generic and appalling. of its metallic elements. “A big question now is does this apply to the first, most
D) Bifurcated, categorical and practical. primitive vertebrates?” said McNamara. “Can we find fossil evidence of this? Which
function of melanin is evolutionarily primitive—production of colour or
S.6-10) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. homeostasis?”
What colour were the dinosaurs? If you have a picture in your head, fresh studies At the same time, the findings imply that we may need to review our understanding
suggest you may need to revise it. New fossil research also suggests that pigment- of the colours of ancient animals. That’s because fossil melanosomes previously
producing structures go beyond how the dinosaurs looked and may have played a assumed to represent external hues may in fact be from internal tissues, especially
fundamental role inside their bodies too. The latest findings have also paved the if the fossil has been disturbed over time. McNamara says her research has also
way for a more accurate reconstruction of the internal anatomy of extinct animals, shown that melanosomes can change shape and shrink over the course of millions
and insight into the origins of features such as feathers and flight. of years, potentially affecting colour reconstructions.
Much of this stems from investigations into melanin, a pigment found in structures Further complicating the picture is that animals contain additional non-melanin
called melanosomes inside cells that gives external features including hair, feather, pigments such as carotenoids and what is known as structural colour, which was
skin and eyes their colour—and which, it now turns out, is abundant inside animals’ only recently identified in fossils. In 2016, a study by McNamara’s team on the skin
bodies too. “We’ve found it in places where we didn’t think it existed,” said Maria of a 10-million-year-old snake found that these could be preserved in certain
McNamara, a paleobiologist at University College Cork, in Ireland. mineralized remains. “These have the potential to preserve all aspects of the colour-
The discoveries in her team’s newest research, published in mid-August, were made producing gamut that vertebrates have,” she said. She hopes over time that these
using advanced microscopy and synchrotron X-ray techniques, which harness the findings and techniques will together help us to interpret the colours of ancient
energy of fast-moving electrons to help examine fossils in minute detail. Using organisms much more accurately — though in these early days, she doesn’t have
these, the researchers found that melanin was widespread in the internal organs of examples of animals for which this has already changed.
both modern and fossil amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals—following up a
finding they made last year that melanosomes in the body of existing and fossil frogs Q.6) As per the passage, which of the following can be inferred about melanin?
in fact vastly outnumbered those found externally. What’s more, they were A) Its evolutionary role has changed over the course of history.
surprised to discover that the chemical make-up and shape of the melanosomes B) Its impact on the internal structure of animals has now been revealed.
varied between organ types, thus opening up exciting opportunities to use them to C) Its structural and evolutionary importance is now under question.
map the soft tissues of ancient animals. D) Its role in the development of colours is not very significant.
These studies also have further implications. For one, the finding that melanosomes
are so common inside animals’ bodies may overhaul our very understanding of
melanin’s function, says McNamara.
Q.7) Which of the following is the thematic highlight of the passage? S.11-14) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
A) An analysis of the reconstruction of the internal anatomy of extinct animals. In 70,000 years, Homo sapiens have grown from thousands of hunter-gatherers
B) An evaluation of research done to better understand the evolutionary purpose teetering on the brink of extinction to a global population of 7.7 billion. In Growth,
of dinosaurs. Vaclav Smil explains how we have peopled the planet through our growing capacity
C) A description of certain internal anomalies in the structure of extinct animals. for harvesting energy from our environment: food from plants, labour from animals
D) An analysis of certain new findings regarding the structural makeup of and energy from fossil fuels. Civilization has developed by dominating Earth’s
dinosaurs. resources. Smil, whose research spans energy, population and environmental
change, drives home the cost of growth on a finite planet. It is high: polluted land,
Q.8) Why does the author say that we need to revise our mental image of air and water, lost wilderness and rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
dinosaurs? He argues that most economic projections predict growth by ignoring the
A) Because a new research has disputed the perceived belief that dinosaurs had biophysical reality of limited resources. Economists emphasize that efficient use
any colour. enables growth without pumping up energy consumption. Smil does not deny that
B) Because researchers have found evidence that dinosaurs may have looked energy efficiency has increased. For example, he details how agriculture now
different from what we thought. extracts ten times as much food energy from each parcel of land as it did a century
C) Because researchers now speculate that the internal structure of dinosaurs ago. But the 10-fold increase in yield has been driven by a 90-fold boost in energetic
might be more complicated than previously thought. inputs — caused by fossil-fuelled farm machinery, and electricity for irrigation and
D) Because a new research has raised new questions about pigment producing fertilizer production. When this complexity is accounted for, the story of efficiency
structures in animals. is turned on its head: we now put more fossil-fuel energy in for each unit of food we
get out.
Q.9) Which of the following is not true regarding the research cited in the passage? On a crowded Earth, we mostly address this challenge by eating up more land. As
A) It used techniques to examine fossils in a more detailed manner. grasslands and forests are converted to agriculture, the land is no longer available
B) It expanded upon the finding of a previous related study. for carbon storage or biodiversity-sustaining wilderness. Human history is a story of
C) Some of the researchers found an exciting way to recreate soft tissues of innovation and increased efficiency, but also of relentless depletion of Earth’s
animals. resources. Is there a path to prosperity and well-being that does not rely on
D) Some findings of the research surprised the researchers. overconsumption?
Smil is not optimistic. There are no solutions to reconcile our species’ burgeoning
Q.10) As per the passage, the result of the study cited can: consumption with a viable future. Instead, he focuses on simple equations that can
A) Change our comprehension of melanin’s function. be used to model (but rarely predict) growth and the energetic, physical and
B) Make melanin an obsolete element in terms of colour studies. biological principles that are its foundations. He amasses examples of seemingly
C) Dispute the role of homeostasis or regulation of internal chemical. disparate systems that start small, enter a phase of exponential increase and then
D) Implicate the primitive role attached to evolution. plateau.
In some cases, the trajectories tip into dramatic decline, as happened with video Q.11) Which of the following measures is Smil most likely to support to address
tapes and CDs. In others, a decline can rebound. US oil production, for instance, was the problem of over-consumption of resources?
in decline from 1970; with the expansion of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a A) Increasing the funding for research in energy, population and environmental
decade ago, it rebounded. In 2018, it surpassed its 50-year-old peak. Smil shows change
repeatedly how beautifully fitting models have failed to predict the future. B) Targeted technological innovation that focuses on maximum utilization of
As energy use has increased, per capita gross domestic product and life spans have finite agricultural land
risen while birth rates and infant mortality have fallen. Smil admits that C) Optimal resource utilization planning in tandem with research to predict
disentangling cause from effect and fundamental drivers from correlative future outcomes
happenstance is enormously difficult. However, he argues that energy is essential D) Using elementary equations to model growth, and the biophysical principles it
to the growth of our immensely complex modern civilization because it is required depends upon
to do work. Every baby born, bit transmitted, material moved demands energy.
Smil is sceptical of the “techno-optimists” who envision solutions to our immense Q.12) According to the author, Smil is sceptical about the “techno-optimists”
challenges coming from greater efficiency, shrinking material inputs to economic because:
production, or information technology. He looks at technologies such as A) Human history is a story of innovation and increased efficiency, but also of
smartphones, laptop batteries and supercomputers, in which growth follows relentless depletion of Earth’s resources.
Moore’s Law — computing capacity doubles approximately every two years. In that B) More computing capacity at lower cost and mere reduction in material inputs
exponential growth, he sees no hope of solving environmental crises. will not solve the environmental crises.
As for the cost of computing, it has, in Smil’s estimate, fallen an astonishing 100 C) Technological innovations often start small, enter a phase of exponential
billion times since the days of vacuum tubes. But again, he sees little evidence that increase and then plateau.
the ‘saving’ will save us from planetary crises, quipping that social media proves D) We have increased our capacity to harvest energy from the planet using
“convincingly that the volume of communication must be inversely related to its technological advancements.
quality”. Our most spectacular technological achievements have, thus far, done
little to abate our impact on the planet. Many have exacerbated it. Q.13) Smil shows repeatedly how beautifully fitting models have failed to predict
the future in order to:
A) Discredit the steady growth attributed to certain industries like CDs and video
tapes.
B) Explain the benefits of adopting simple equations to model growth rather than
using complex models.
C) Argue against making economic predictions while ignoring the paucity of
available resources.
D) Show how oil production which had fallen in the US has risen again, which
highlights the increase in demand for oil.
Q.14) Which of the following statements best expresses the overall argument of In the Annenberg Court of the Barnes Foundation (the large space where people line
this passage? up to see the permanent collection), Steir’s monumental black-and-white paintings
A) We must use simple equations to model growth for proper utilization natural — all seven feet tall and ranging from about five to seventeen feet wide—cover
resources while maintaining equilibrium in nature, three walls. These eleven “Silent Secret Waterfalls” enact the falling of water, and
B) To minimize environmental degradation and to better human lives requires the idea of water as having its own internal power; but they also enact the falling of
more than just technology and resource efficiency strategies. paint—the great, luminous whiteness that Steir allows to have its own inner life. She
C) There are no solutions to reconcile our species’ excessive and increasing is more concerned with essences than with experiences, more interested in what
capacity for consumption with a viable future. the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins called inscape than she is in landscape.
D) Using economic projections to predict and forecast growth while overlooking While it should be possible for someone looking at these paintings to feel that they
the biophysical reality of limited resources is unsustainable. depict or suggest the flowing of water downward over rock or stone, that is to miss
the point of works that are concerned much more with the potential of paint than
S.15-19) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. the need to represent something in nature. They are, to a large extent, autonomous
In Veronica Gonzalez Peña’s fascinating new documentary about the painter Pat spaces, powered by the visual possibilities of chance and flow. This may connect
Steir, which premiered at the New York Jewish Film Festival earlier this year, Steir them to nature: they do what a waterfall does. They have some of the same force.
recalls an interview with the philosopher Sylvère Lotringer in which he remarked: But as paintings, they are dynamic rather than completed; they happened by an
“When I look at your work closely, I feel that your entire career has been a long arranged accident, the surface is not settled, it is often fully free, moving beyond
effort to disappear.” “It’s true,” Steir says in the film, adding that she has been the natural phenomenon of the exhibition’s title and reaching into the realm of the
“trying to take my ego out of the art and my body out of the art. I want the paintings visionary.
to express something in the will of nature.”
“In much of her work,” writes Colm Tóibín, “Steir—whose latest paintings are on Q.15) Lotringer’s observation that Steir’s entire career has been a long effort to
view in the exhibition “Pat Steir Silent Secret Waterfalls,” at the Barnes Foundation disappear is best explained by:
in Philadelphia until mid-November—applies a mass of oil paint to the upper part of A) Steir ‘paints’ but without touching the canvas, she pours the paint to allow it
her canvases, many of which are taller than herself, then lets it drip. Or she throws to make the picture.
paint at the surface, letting the marks happen by accident or by a process we might B) Steir’s method is to step away physically and not let her ego have any control
call random design. “My idea,” she says in the documentary, “was not to touch the over the paintings
canvas, not to paint, but to pour the paint and let the paint itself make a picture. I C) Steir excluding both her ego and her body from her work allows the potential
set the limitations. The limitations, of course, are the colour, the size, the wind in of paint to express nature’s will.
the room, and how I put the paint on. And then everything outside of me controls D) Steir paints by disassociating herself from her canvas by throwing paint at its
how that paint falls. It’s a joy to let the painting make itself. It takes away all kinds surface, or by allowing applied paint to drip.
of responsibility.”
Q.16) According to the author, Steir’s works move beyond the exhibitions title Q.19) Looking at Steir’s paintings to feel that they depict flowing water over stone,
“Pat Steir Silent Secret Waterfalls” because: is to miss the point of the works because:
A) They enact the falling of water, and the idea of water as having its own internal A) They are more like literal depictions of the force of waterfalls and they seek to
power; but they also enact the falling of paint. communicate the true essence of experiencing a waterfall.
B) In them the paint takes over, thus creating a work that depicts nature but is B) Unlike photos or other paintings, they are more than basic copies of waterfalls,
also both subjected to and created by nature itself. they communicate the true essence of waterfalls.
C) They depict nature without merely mimicking it, which allows the viewer to go C) They are not literal depictions, but they are autonomous spaces that explore
beyond and experience even the sounds of the waterfall. the potential of paint and flow to communicate essence.
D) They are interpretative, evocative and dynamic and have ‘some of the same D) Steir paints to communicate the true essence of things and to express the true
force as the waterfall’ and are hence more than just ‘silent’. reality of nature.
Q.17) The author mentions ‘inscape’ to refer to: S.20-24) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
A) The paintings of Steir which enact the falling of water and are accurate On November 16th, 1949, Nash sent a note barely longer than a page to the
representations of waterfalls. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in which he laid out the concept
B) Steir’s concern for essence rather than expression which shines through her that has since become known as the “Nash equilibrium”. This concept describes a
works. stable outcome that results from people or institutions making rational choices
C) The luminous whiteness in Steir’s paintings that focuses on the true essence based on what they think others will do. In a Nash equilibrium, no one is able to
of things. improve their own situation by changing strategy: each person is doing as well as
D) Ideas like that of water having its own internal power, that allow Steir to create they possibly can, even if that does not mean the optimal outcome for society. With
works that are based in essence. a flourish of elegant mathematics, Nash showed that every “game” with a finite
number of players, each with a finite number of options to choose from, would have
Q.18) Steir’s process of painting can most accurately be described as: at least one such equilibrium.
A) Applying or throwing paint on a large canvas, and letting the paint tell its own His insights expanded the scope of economics. In perfectly competitive markets,
story, such that it takes away all kinds of responsibility. where there are no barriers to entry and everyone’s products are identical, no
B) Setting limitations and allowing the thrown or applied paint to paint itself a individual buyer or seller can influence the market: none need pay close attention
picture to express something in the will of nature. to what the others are up to. But most markets are not like this: the decisions of
C) Not touching the canvas, not painting but rather pouring paint, so that rivals and customers matter. From auctions to labour markets, the Nash equilibrium
everything outside of Steir controls how the painting forms. gave the dismal science a way to make real-world predictions based on information
D) Applying or throwing a mass of oil paint onto the upper part of her canvases, about each person’s incentives.
many of which are taller than herself, and then channelling the drip. One example in particular has come to symbolise the equilibrium: the prisoner’s
dilemma. Nash used algebra and numbers to set out this situation in an expanded
paper published in 1951, but the version familiar to economics students is
altogether more gripping.
It involves two mobsters sweating in separate prison cells, each contemplating the Q.21) Which of the following, if true, is not a valid example of what is best for the
same deal offered by the district attorney. If they both confess to a bloody murder, individual can be disastrous for the group?
they each face ten years in jail. If one stays quiet while the other confesses, then the A) Overhunting by an individual negatively affects the ecological balance of a
confessor will get a reward, while the other will face a lifetime in jail. And if both region.
hold their tongue, then they each face a minor charge, and only a year in the clink. B) Two competing companies dump their industrial waste underground which
There is only one Nash-equilibrium solution to the prisoner’s dilemma: both confess. contaminates groundwater.
Each is a best response to the other’s strategy; since the other might have spilled C) A person misses their job interview in order to save the life of an accident
the beans, confessing avoids a lifetime in jail. The tragedy is that if only they could victim.
work out some way of coordinating, they could both make themselves better off. D) All countries will benefit from a stable climate, but any single country is
The example illustrates that crowds can be foolish as well as wise; what is best for hesitant to curb CO2 emissions.
the individual can be disastrous for the group. This tragic outcome is all too common
in the real world. Left freely to plunder the sea, individuals will fish more than is best Q.22) Based on the prisoner’s dilemma as explained in the passage, which of the
for the group, depleting fish stocks. Employees competing to impress their boss by following is correct?
staying longest in the office will encourage workforce exhaustion. Banks have an A) It assumes that the prisoners are not rational individuals.
incentive to lend more rather than sit things out when house prices shoot up. B) If one prisoner betrays the other by confessing, he is rewarded for that
The Nash equilibrium thus helped economists to understand how self-improving decision.
individuals could lead to self-harming crowds. Better still, it helped them to tackle C) If the prisoners had each taken the decision to not confess, they’d be free to
the problem: they just had to make sure that every individual faced the best go.
incentives possible. If things still went wrong—parents failing to vaccinate their D) If the prisoners could coordinate with each other they would still confess.
children against measles, say—then it must be because people were not acting in
their own self-interest. In such cases, the public-policy challenge would be one of Q.23) Based on the information provided in the last paragraph, which of the
information. following statements can be inferred:
A) Despite a massive campaign highlighting the benefits of online banking, most
Q.20) The author lists all of the following as aspects of Nash Equilibrium EXCEPT: people still prefer the traditional form as there are several benefits that are
A) One cannot improve one’s situation by changing strategy. given to customers that come to the bank.
B) Each person doing as well as they possibly can, will not always benefit society. B) After intensive campaign and outreach programs, the people are aware of the
C) In a perfectly competitive market, individuals and society both stand to benefits of vaccination.
benefit. C) Fishing of endangered species has increased even after severe penalties.
D) Self-improving individuals can lead to self-harming crowds. D) Instances of crime have gone down in the capital.
Q.24) The author lists all of the following as impacts of the Nash Equilibrium The result of all this is that thoughts put on paper are nothing more than footsteps
EXCEPT: in the sand: you see the way the man has gone, but to know what he saw on his
A) It helped economists to understand how self-improving individuals could lead walk, you want his eyes. There is no quality of style that can be gained by reading
to self-harming crowds. writers who possess it; whether it be persuasiveness, imagination, the gift of
B) It gave science the ability to make real-world predictions based on information drawing comparisons, boldness, bitterness, brevity, grace, ease of expression or wit,
about each person’s incentives. unexpected contrasts, a laconic or naive manner, and the like. But if these qualities
C) It extended the scope of economics. are already in us, exist, that is to say, potentially, we can call them forth and bring
D) It gave science the ability to understand decisions made by individual not them to consciousness; we can learn the purposes to which they can be put; we can
acting in self-interest. be strengthened in our inclination to use them, or get courage to do so; we can
judge by examples the effect of applying them, and so acquire the correct use of
S.25-27) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. them; and of course it is only when we have arrived at that point that we actually
When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process; possess these qualities. The only way in which reading can form style is by teaching
the greater part of the work of thought is already done for us. This is why it relieves us the use to which we can put our own natural gifts. We must have these gifts
us to take up a book after being occupied with our own thoughts. And in reading, before we begin to learn the use of them. Without them, reading teaches us nothing
the mind is only the playground of another’s thought. So it comes about that if but cold, dead mannerisms and makes us shallow imitators.
anyone spends almost the whole day in reading, and by way of relaxation devotes
the intervals to some thoughtless pastime, he gradually loses the capacity for Q.25) We can absorb what we read only when
thinking; just as the man who always rides, at last forgets to walk. This is the case A) We comprehend what we read
with many learned persons: they have read themselves stupid. For to occupy every B) We can see things through the writer’s eyes
spare moment in reading, and to do nothing but read, is even more paralyzing to C) We put our thoughts on paper
the mind than constant manual labour, which at least allows those engaged in it to D) We ponder over what we read
follow their own thoughts. A spring never free from the pressure of some foreign
body at last loses its elasticity; and so does the mind if other people’s thoughts are Q.26) Which of the following statements ECHOES the author’s opinion?
constantly forced upon it. Just as you can ruin the stomach and impair the whole A) A fondness for reading changes the inevitable dull hours of our life into
body by taking too much nourishment, so you can overfill and choke the mind by exquisite hours of delight
feeding it too much. The more you read, the fewer are the traces left by what you B) Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to
have read: the mind becomes like a tablet crossed over and over with writing. There stretch your own
is no time for ruminating, and in no other way can you assimilate what you have C) Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body
read. If you read on and on without setting your own thoughts to work, what you D) Reading furnishes the mind with the materials of knowledge; it is thinking that
have read cannot strike root, and is, generally, lost. makes what we read ours.
Q.27) Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage? Oral history is a particularly valuable source for rectifying this scholarly lacuna since
1. An overdose of reading can make a man foolish. right-wing, reactionary, and racial hate groups tend to be secretive and highly
2. Physical work stunts our thinking. transient, limiting the availability and usefulness of traditional documentary
3. Reading helps us in cultivating our style of writing. sources. But there are few guidelines for using oral history to study the non-elite
4. We should not imitate a writer’s style. Right. Traditionally, oral historians have emphasized caution, distance, and
5. Writing is an inherent skill and can’t be learnt. objectivity in interviews with members of elites and egalitarianism, reciprocity, and
6. Reading and writing go hand in hand: good writing comes out of wide authenticity in interviews with people outside elites. However, this epistemological
reading. dichotomy reflects implicit romantic assumptions about the subjects of history from
A) 2 and 3 the bottom up – assumptions that are difficult to defend when studying ordinary
B) 1, 4 and 5 people who are active in the politics of intolerance, bigotry, or hatred.
C) 2, 4, 5 and 6 The use of oral history to study the far Right also raises more general issues of
D) 3 and 5 historical interpretation. The ability of oral history to provide new and accurate
insights into the lives and understandings of ordinary people in the past depends on
S.28-30) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. a critical approach to oral evidence and to the process of interviewing. Thus, efforts
Many contemporary oral histories are rooted in principles of progressive and to formulate an approach to oral history that recognizes the range and complexities
feminist politics, particularly in a respect for the truth of each informant’s life of narratives garnered from people outside elites and helps us judge these sources
experiences and a quest to preserve the memory of ordinary people’s lives. Feminist critically can assist historians working with other sources and methods.
scholars have been in the forefront of efforts to elaborate these ideals as
methodological principles, seeking ways to dissolve the traditional distinction
between historian-as-authority and informant-as-subject and to create what the
sociologist Judith Stacey calls “an egalitarian research process characterized by
authenticity, reciprocity, and intersubjectivity between the researcher and her
subjects.”
Such oral history practices have been designed primarily to study and record the
lives of “people who, historically speaking, would otherwise remain inarticulate.”
From this tradition of history from the bottom up has come a rich and sensitive body
of interviews with union organizers, feminist activists, civil rights workers, and
others whose experience progressive and feminist scholars share and whose life
stories and world views they often find laudable.
Historians have paid less attention to the life stories of ordinary people whose
political agendas they find unsavoury, dangerous, or deliberately deceptive.
Q.28) Consider the following statements in the light of the passage. S.31-35) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
I. The “scholarly lacuna” is best defined as one that should be filled by creating a Eulogies are our gifts to the dead. The late James Alan McPherson wrote one such
distorted image of racial hatred and religious intolerance and uncritically eulogy for his student at the University of Virginia, Breece D’J Pancake. Pancake was
studying racism and extremism. an eccentric West Virginian, a “constitutional nonconformist.” A “lonely and
II. The “scholarly lacuna” is best defined as one that should be filled by melancholy man” who loved to drink and owned guns “of every possible kind,” he
empowering a political vision of racial and religious hatred and establishing felt most at home outdoors. He wanted an independent study with McPherson and
rapport with racist and bigoted informants. likely got it through sheer force of will and personality: “In an environment reeking
III. The “scholarly lacuna” is best defined as one that should be filled by tapping a with condescension, he was inviting me to abandon my very small area of
vein of racism, intolerance or bigotry. protection.”
IV. The historian-as-authority and informant-as-subject served oral historians well McPherson’s eulogy is the foreword for The Stories of Breece D’J Pancake, the only
to study the “non-elite right”. book from the writer, posthumously published. Pancake’s suicide at 26 still feels like
V. The historian-as-authority and informant-as-subject served oral historians well a shock to McPherson, whose eulogy is calm, not breathless; pensive, not certain.
to study the “elite”. “Whatever the cause of his desperation,” McPherson writes, “he could not express
Which of the following can be INFERRED from the passage? it from within the persona he had created. How does one explain the contents of a
A) Only I is true secret room to people who, though physically close, still remain strangers?”
B) Only III is true The differences between elegies and eulogies have often struck me as being both
C) Both I and II are true contextual and formal; and, ultimately, those differences are incidental. Forget that
D) Only III and V are true an elegy is supposed to be a lament and that a eulogy is supposed to contain praise;
McPherson’s eulogy transcends the genre. Some of that might be owed to
Q.29) According to the passage, which of the following BEST describes the “bottom McPherson’s own literary genius; the rest we might ascribe to a careful teacher
up” approach to history? speaking about his student. His eulogy feels honest; it cuts through Pancake’s
A) Studying social groups that were not famous literary legend.
B) Writing about people who do not have a chance to voice their opinion Yet many eulogies are not the result of mentorships, friendships, or family. They are
C) Fortifying the political agendas of ordinary people the product of intimations of closeness. The recent deaths of David Bowie,
D) Pulling down of the historiographically mighty Muhammad Ali, Harper Lee, Prince, and other well-known figures have resulted in
a multitude of remembrances and memorials. Grief pulls us even closer to the
Q.30) The passage points to the study of which of the following groups? writers, performers, and other celebrities that we adore but don’t personally know.
A) Union workers In their new book Dead People, Morgan Meis and Stefany Anne Golberg complicate
B) Right-wing elites our understanding of the public action of eulogy. They offer eulogies for a unique
C) Racial hate groups cast, including Chinua Achebe, Osama bin Laden, Susan Sontag, and Kurt Cobain.
D) Bigoted politicians Although the origin of the word “eulogy” is “to speak well,” Golberg and Meis
interrogate that idea, and instead see how the “death of a fellow human being can
be the opportunity to enter into that person’s life.”
The traditional Aristotelian method of eulogy is to step back and consider Q.33) Which of these statements is not true about the Dead People?
someone’s life from a distance. Instead, the authors of Dead People dig in: “We’ve A) The Dead People is a book that extols a wide variety of cast, ranging from
chosen to wear our bias on our sleeve. We’ve chosen to take these lives personally”. Chinua Achebe to Kurt Cobain.
Golberg and Meis pen alternating eulogies, some of which were published B) Dead People is a work that got inspired from a thesis, which is fictitious in
previously as standalone essays. The result is a book that is very much an nature.
anthology. Dead People is not a single narrative, thesis-driven, work of non-fiction. C) In this book, Meis and Golberg claim that the death of a fellow human being
In fact, the writers’ introduction to the work is their only action of framing, which can present on opportunity to get an insight into their lives.
results in the book having many different entry points. You don’t need to D) ‘Dead People’ is a collection which includes some of the eulogies of Meis and
read Dead People front to back; its value lies within its stylish and substantive Golberg that were published as essays.
reconsideration of an ancient form.
Q.34) McPherson’s eulogy is
Q.31) How did Golberg and Meis differ from the traditional Aristotelian method A) Serene and pondering
of eulogy? B) Choking and certain
A) They opposed the whole idea of eulogizing the dead in opposition to the C) Quiet and rigid
Aristotelian trend D) Smooth and assertive
B) They stood against the idea of eulogising contemporary politicians that existed
in the Aristotelian era. Q.35) According to the passage, which of the statements is true about the term
C) They deviated from the usual trend of considering a dead person’s life from a ‘eulogy’?
distance and instead, observed them with subjective views. A) The differences between eulogy and elegy is not incidental
D) They took upon the idea of praising the dead, instead of the Aristotelian B) Usually, eulogy is supposed to contain praise
method of lamenting the dead C) The contextual meaning of the word ‘eulogy’ is ‘to speak well
D) Eulogies are generally objective in nature which tags them as a product of
Q.32) Who has been referred to as solitary and sad in nature, in the passage? intimations of strangeness
A) Morgan Meis
B) James Alan McPherson S.36-40) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
C) Stefany Anne Golberg In 2012, a linguist at the University of Southern California decoded a famous
D) Breece D’J Pancake medieval manuscript written in a cipher, using software designed to translate
remote languages, and based on algorithms that matched the frequency of
unknown sounds with the frequency of word-use in known tongues. An Italian
engineer might have located a long-lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci after shooting
gamma rays through a fresco by Giorgio Vasari to reveal a hidden painting on a false
wall behind it.
By similar means, a copy of the Mona Lisa was found to contain identical But since the late 1990s, with the ubiquity of inexpensive, high-quality digital
alternations to the under-drawing as the original, demonstrating that it had been photography, and universal access to images via the internet, the most dramatic
painted alongside it. Meanwhile, archaeologists are using satellite photographs to breakthroughs have come through forensics. Call it ‘CSI: Art History.’
identify unexcavated sites in Egypt, map terrorist looting in the Middle East, and Hieronymus Bosch, best known for his imaginative depictions of Hell populated with
even locate a previously unknown Viking settlement in North America. playfully grotesque monsters, has been at the centre of art-historical controversy
Each discovery relies on digital investigative techniques that complement traditional this year – the 500th anniversary of his death. After a sell-out exhibition at the
close-reading of artworks and artifacts. Each story is a dramatic quest with a ‘big Noordbrabants Museum, in the artist’s hometown of s’-Hertogenbosch, a new
reveal’ at its climax, and each has required that art history as we know it be blockbuster exhibition at the Prado in Madrid took up the commemorative reins.
rewritten. The Noordbrabants exhibited 17 extant paintings, recognizing that Bosch painted 24
Examining under-drawings via infrared spectroscopy is especially revealing. Most in total, while the Prado now exhibits 24 extant Bosch paintings, recognising a total
artists drew on their panel or canvas prior to painting, changing or finessing the of 27. Both exhibitions claim to be definitive, featuring almost all the very few extant
positioning or numbers of figures, then painting only the final version of their works by Bosch. But they have also become rival exhibits, due to that numerical
design. The all-important under-drawing thus reveals the thought processes and discrepancy – the result of digital discoveries, first revealed at the Noordbrabants
conceptual development of an artist. The Museo del Prado in Madrid had, for many show that have divided scholars and rankled storied institutions.
decades, what they thought was a decent copy of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, but when
the under-drawing was examined using infrared spectroscopy, it was found to be Q.36) By examining the under-drawings of artists via infrared spectroscopy,
identical to the original. Had the painting been a copy, the copyist would simply have A. one would be able to calculate the age of the paintings.
painted the finished version, and could not have known of the changes in B. one would be able to extract the thought process of the artist.
composition that Leonardo executed prior to painting. The Prado version must C. one would be able to perceive how an artist worked on a specific concept or an
therefore have been made, step by step, alongside the original, likely by one of idea.
Leonardo’s workshop assistants. A) Only (a)
Art history is an inexact science, with an element of mysticism behind the theories B) (a) and (b)
of some of its most prominent practitioners. Take Walter Benjamin: C) (b) and (c)
in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1939), he argued that D) All of the above
what makes certain authentic works of art great is that they contain an inexplicable
‘aura’. This inexplicability is part of what makes it wonderful. For all its cinematic Q.37) A long-lost painting of Da Vinci was revealed by an Italian engineer, after
eureka moments, the clinical precision of forensic testing is less romantic than shooting gamma rays through a fresco by Giorgio Vasari. What does the word
traditional art-historical research, where scholars in tattered tweeds spend months ‘fresco’ imply?
thumbing brittle-paged archives in mouldy libraries under the insect hum of tubular A) Screen
lighting, looking closely with the naked eye, or perhaps a magnifying glass, and B) Shade
fleshing out the story behind the artwork with scraps of information culled from old C) Hole
documents. D) Device
Q.38) Which of the statements is not true according to the passage? S.41-46) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
A) Art history indicates the scientific exploration of the lineage and history of Giving has long been a part of Indian culture. Strong ties in local communities create
various artworks based on certain precise and accurate theorems. socio-economic ecosystems, where well-to-do families have traditionally supported
B) Each discovery of the archaeologists relies on the traditional close-reading of those in need of aid. Over a period, these charitable contributions from families
artworks and artifacts that are complemented by investigative techniques have shifted from charity i.e., giving for an immediate need or to solve the current
C) A linguist at the University of Southern California deciphered a popular problem, to philanthropy i.e., giving to drive a more permanent change and to deal
medieval manuscript written in a cipher, using software designed to translate with the root cause of a problem.
remote languages A major part of the funds donated to social development comes from family
D) Before the late 19th C, the traditional way of conducting art-historical research philanthropic initiatives. A recent report by Dasra and Bain and Company titled
by sitting amidst dusty shelves of libraries and poring over tattered books were ‘India Philanthropy Report (IPR) 2021’ reveals that the corpus of family philanthropy
considered more romantic and exciting than the clinical forensic testing has tripled, growing to nearly ₹12,000 crores in FY 20. This shows the catalytic role
that philanthropic families can play in driving positive social change. The concept is
Q.39) How do you link the phrase ‘an inexplicable ‘aura’’ and art in the light of not new in India and remains deeply ingrained in the country’s customs and
Walter Benjamin’s argument? traditions. Philanthropic families continue to create economic opportunities, invest
A) Every art work possesses a veil of mystery around it in initiatives, and chart a course that is central to India achieving its potential.
B) The greatness of a work of art depends upon the façade of enigma it owns However, most of these initiatives remain fragmented and skewed towards certain
C) The authenticity of an artwork lies in its complexity. sectors. The report further points out that education [47 per cent] where India has
D) Art should be shrouded in a cloak of mystery. a strong score on sustainable development goals (SDG) attracts most of the
philanthropic funding. On the other hand, healthcare [27 per cent], disaster relief
Q.40) What was the cause for a controversy that broke in the 500th death [12 per cent], and vulnerable sectors like gender equality [1 per cent] get bare
anniversary of Hieronymus Bosch? minimum funding.
A) The cause was one of Bosch’s paintings – an imaginative depiction of Hell Also, most of the funding is spread across beneficiaries and ends up having little
which was accused of misinterpreting Biblical facts impact on the ground. A study by the Central Bureau of Investigation found that
B) The event that triggered a controversy was an exhibition hosted in memory of India has at least 31 lakh NGOs. That’s double the number of schools and 250 times
Bosch, on his 500th death anniversary the number of government hospitals in the country. Family philanthropic funding or
C) A painting which had been considered as Bosch’s best known work was taken even the mandatory 2 per cent CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) donations
away from his credit and was proclaimed as a work of one of his students in directed to these NGOs often end up dispersed.
an exhibition in his hometown, Hertogenbosch The COVID-19 pandemic has once again turned the spotlight on the critical need for
D) A numerical discordance that occurred regarding the number of paintings by organised philanthropic interventions to rebuild lives and mitigate potential risks to
Bosch, between two painting exhibitions hosted in his memory lives and livelihoods. The pandemic has brought to sharp focus the vulnerabilities of
groups like women, adolescents, and workers in the informal sector. We’ve all heard
the horror stories of abuse, violence, and desperation during the lockdown.
People lost livelihoods and lacked funds to even buy essentials or get access to basic Q.42) What of the following forms the yardstick throughout the passage against
healthcare. Children, especially girls, lost significant ground on education and which India’s achievements and limitations have been measured?
nutrition. A) The India Philanthropy Report 2021
What the pandemic did was highlight the chinks in India’s socio-economic B) Sustainable Development Goals
infrastructure. What we need is a holistic social support architecture catering to C) Past performance of the country itself
marginalised populations. However, India’s complex socio-economic development D) The plight of the marginalized community
challenges cannot be managed by any individual entity. India is expected to have a
shortfall of $60 billion per year to achieve even 5 of the 17 SDGs. Development Q.43) Which of the following is not the cause behind the inefficient impact of
requires large and sustained funding with continuous effort — something that is philanthropic funding in India?
only truly achievable through multi-party collaboration. This is where family A) Excessive focus on funding the education sector through philanthropy at the
philanthropy could act as a catalyst of change. cost of other sectors.
Given their unique circumstances, family foundations have the potential to catalyse B) Skewed prioritization in fund allocation across various socio-economic
social impact at a scale that far eclipses the financial resources they invest. Free of problems.
political pressures faced from the government and foreign funding agencies, as well C) Excessive dispersal of funds among the innumerable NGOs dotting the nation.
as shareholder pressures faced by corporations, family foundations have the D) None of the above
potential to influence systemic factors by encouraging innovation, funding proof-of-
concept projects, influencing public policy, building institutional capacity, and Q.44) Which of the following has been given special importance throughout the
experimenting with new forms of funding. passage?
A) The limits of the benefits that India derives from its corporation’s generosity.
Q.41) In which of the following ways is problem solving catered by philanthropy B) The shortcomings in India’s healthcare and education sector.
and charity respectively? C) The role and contribution of family philanthropy in India’s progress.
A) The former helps in solving the current crisis whereas the latter mends the D) The cultural habit of philanthropy and charity prevalent in ancient India.
root cause of problems.
B) The latter aims to solve persistent problems while the former aspires for Q.45) How is the potential impact of philanthropy by family foundations different
immediate gratification. from other sources?
C) The latter caters to immediate problems while the former seeks permanent A) The social benefits of their philanthropic investments far supersede its
solutions. financial worth.
D) The latter is diverted towards solving chronic problems while the former looks B) They possess the space to experiment with new forms of funding.
for immediate relief. C) They have to seek the validation of their company shareholders.
D) They are free of political pressures on multiple occasions.
Q.46) The Author thinks family foundations have the potential to catalyse social Big banks and investors backed Wirecard and kept the faith, in some cases doubling
impact at a scale because of all the following reasons except? down, even as more and more red flags popped up. Many did scant due diligence,
A) Free of political pressures faced from the government and foreign funding instead relying on puff pieces churned out by sell- side analysts right to the end: half
agencies a dozen still had buy recommendations on the stock when Mr. Braun resigned.
B) Shareholder pressures faced by corporations Wirecard’s auditor, EY, faces scrutiny, too. Germany’s media, for the most part,
C) Family foundations have the potential to influence systemic factors by swallowed Wirecard’s line that it was the victim of a nefarious plot by Anglo-Saxon
encouraging innovation marauders.
D) Family foundations have better Management techniques than any other When so many clever people can get it wrong, anything that injects scepticism is
organisations. welcome. Such counterweights to market consensus are especially helpful when
politicians and central banks are boosterish on asset prices, as they are now, and in
S.47-51) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. countries with a corporatist mindset.
Germans consumed by tech envy of America allowed themselves a flush of pride Those who bet against companies have long been eyed with suspicion; short-selling
when Wirecard won a place in the day index in 2018, and its stock market value bans date back to 17th-century Amsterdam. But claims that shorting causes
surged above €24 Bn. Here, it seemed, was a European fintech champion: a digital- instability do not hold water: financial crises are more often caused by investors
payments firm headed for global glory. Today, faces are red again—with borrowing to go long, not short. Sometimes short-sellers are up to no good, as when
embarrassment. Wirecard has admitted it has a €1.9bn hole in its accounts. Its they engage in speculative “naked” shorting (placing bets without first borrowing
founder and boss, Markus Braun, once lauded as a visionary, quit on June 19th and stock). More often than not, though, they are on to something. Over the past year
was arrested and bailed this week on suspicion of false accounting and market they have uncovered several big frauds.
manipulation. The firm faces bankruptcy or a fire-sale. Shorting does more than just root out funny business. It also helps sharpen price
Wirecard’s rise and fall is a case study in the carnage possible when a firm’s discovery when legitimate firms are overvalued. Short-sellers tend to do their
accounting goes awry but national regulators and big investors are so seduced by homework because they have a lot at stake. Stocks can rise by more than they can
the company’s narrative that they cannot, or will not, see it. It fall and shorts can bleed money if a target’s shares remain buoyant for years. They
is also a reminder of how markets stand to benefit from short-sellers—who try to have to face writs and illegal tactics, too—Wirecard is suspected of ordering cyber-
make money betting against listed firms, by selling borrowed shares and buying attacks on its critics.
them back later at a lower price. Had the warnings from Cassandras who detected More’s the pity, then, that as protectionism mounts, governments are becoming
a bad smell around Wirecard years ago been heeded, billions of dollars of losses, more tempted to cuddle up to home-grown corporate stars. Typically, frauds have
could have been avoided. a global element. But the trade war and fracturing of global regulation make it
Questions about the firm’s accounting began to swirl in 2015. They have intensified harder for sceptics to work their magic. More Chinese firms may eventually shift
in the past 18 months with a series of articles in the Financial Times, informed by their main listing from New York to China, where short-selling is less tolerated.
short-sellers and whistle-blowers. Instead of taking these seriously, Germany’s Professional naysayers will never be popular, profiting as they do from the misery
markets regulator, BaFin, seemed keener to shore up confidence in Wirecard and of others. But if they cannot keep markets honest, nobody wins.
attack the attackers.
Q.47) Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage? S.52-54) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
A) The German government was blinded by the success of Wirecard. There is a tendency in today’s world to think and to say that Gandhi’s ideal of non-
B) Germany’s market regulator did not listen to the informers about the frauds violence is a noble idea but impractical and unrealistic. The odd thing about this
in the Wirecard. affirmation is that it tends to sanctify Gandhi while rejecting his principles. However,
C) Cooperative mindset countries tend to undercount the threats from the Gandhi was not a saint; nor was he a religious leader. He was, first and foremost, an
sceptics. original thinker and an acute political strategist, who believed profoundly in the
D) Short selling refers to the placing of bets without buying the stock. possibility of introducing humanity to the principle of non-violence.
Gandhi’s idea of non-violence was not a dream; it was a realistic hope, armed with
Q.48) Which of the following best summarizes the passage? a dose of practical idealism; that of the global welcoming of the law of love. By
A) Wirecard’s scandal shows the need for more sceptics. saying this, he presented himself, at the same time, as an Asian who was influenced
B) Wirecard’s scandal shows the benefits of short-sellers. by Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, and as a person who was deeply influenced by
C) Governments should not ignore the sceptics. the teachings of Jesus Christ, Socrates, Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau. Thomas Merton
D) Short selling may be bad at times, but it can open up the fraudsters. once wrote that Mahatma Gandhi was “an alienated Asian”. Maybe so, but it is not
because Gandhi learnt many things from the West that he had necessarily become
Q.49) Short sellers seem to be more active in the trade practices because? a stranger to his own culture and to the traditions of the East. On the contrary, his
A) They are aware of which groups of institutions are frauds. proximity to the East and the West proved to be very fruitful and made of him, what
B) They lose heavily when the things do not go in their favour. we can call, “an intercultural Indian”. Gandhi was endowed with an intellectual
C) They want to gain arbitrage by selling big and buying less. openness, which helped him to learn from others, and, as a result, live up to his
D) They bet against the market trends. ideals. As such, he was not only an Indian political and moral leader but also the
founding father of modern non-violence as it has been practised for the past 100
Q.50) The author mentions all the benefits of short-sellers/selling except? years around the globe.
A) They help to determine the correct value of a share. As such, with Gandhi, the philosophy of non-violence turned into an instrument of
B) They can help to bring the scandals to the market light. public dissent and a pragmatic tool of the powerless against the powerful. However,
C) They tend to act as whistle-blowers when the markets pursue capitalism. in the eyes of Gandhi, while being an instrument of conflict resolution and universal
D) None of the above. harmony, non-violence was also an essentially moral exercise. What Gandhi called
the “soul force” was actually an ethical mode of conduct. As a matter of fact, he
Q.51) The author is suggesting which of the following through the last sentence of viewed non-violence essentially as an ethical commitment and a constructive
the passage? political action. For Gandhi, the ethical and the political were the same. Therefore,
A) Whatever tactics a country may opt for, ingenuity against the traders may not for him, the struggle against violence and fanaticism was at the same moral level as
benefit them. disobeying unjust laws: it was expressed by the soul force and the pursuit of truth
B) Short selling is important to uncover the frauds. to uplift others.
C) Excess leverage may have a counter impact on a country itself.
D) All of the above
Gandhi had a profoundly ethical view of life: he recognised neither the infallible Q.52) Which of the following options would best summarise the second
authority of texts nor the sanctity of religious traditions, but he was also the paragraph?
foremost critic of modern politics and its authoritarian practices. That is why reading A) Gandhi was a political and moral leader who had a firm belief in his idea of
Gandhi today is unavoidably to rethink modern politics as a new relation between non-violence (though totally unrealistic it was) and was equally inspired by
power and violence and as a way of transcending the conventional distinction both Eastern & Western cultures.
between citizens and the state. It is also a move towards an inter-cultural B) Gandhi was an intellectual political and moral leader who had a firm belief in
democracy, where solidarity of differences is not compromised by mere his idea of non-violence to be implemented and was equally inspired by both
nationalism, and democratic action is not limited by mere constitutionalism and Eastern & Western cultures.
representation. Working in this perspective, the Gandhian philosophy of non- C) Gandhi was a political & moral figure who had a firm belief in his idealistic idea
violence finds the conventional meaning of politics as incomplete, while of non-violence and was a true ‘Alienated Asian’ as he believed more in the
problematising democratic politics as a way of assigning a duty to citizens to be ideas of the west.
vigilant about the abuses of power by the state and to struggle against the D) was a political & moral figure who founded the entire concept of non-violence
“Sultanization” of political power in our contemporary societies. and was a true ‘Alienated Asian’ and was deeply influenced by the teachings
On the social level, Gandhi envisioned an ideal society where social justice is done, of Jesus Christ, Socrates, Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau.
including for the last person. This is a common world in which institutions aim to get
the best out of the individual. The entire Gandhian thought in the realm of Q.53) According to the passage, which among the following is in line with the ideal
citizenship and democracy revolves around the establishment of a just society. As society as imagined by Gandhi?
such, Gandhi’s idea of democracy hinges on moral growth in humankind, where an A) Development of a just society
undisciplined and unrestrained individualism gives its place to an empathetic B) Humans need to appreciate and accept diversity
humanism. Moreover, while speaking on non-violence and democracy, Gandhi C) Humans should care for each other
believed that humanity had to develop certain qualities such as fearlessness, non- D) All of the above
possession and humility. The main aim was to restructure humans to suit to an inter-
cultural and pluri-dimensional democracy. Gandhi’s repeated emphasis on service Q.54) Why does the author say that it is imperative to read Gandhi in today’s
to all human beings from all traditions of thought was the essence of his non-violent times?
democratic theory. A) To rethink the changed relation of power and violence in today’s politics
B) To understand and acknowledge the changed roles of the citizens and the
state
C) It’ll help us understand the need of inter-cultural democracy, where
democratic action is not limited by the representatives and the constitutional
books.
D) All of the above
S.55-59) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. There are hidden rules not just in grammar, but at every level of language
Who can say what order should be used to list adjectives in English? Mark Forsyth, production. Take pronunciation. The –s that marks a plural in English is pronounced
in “The Elements of Eloquence”, describes it as: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, differently depending on the previous consonants: if the consonant is “voiced” (i.e.,
origin, material, purpose and then Noun. “So, you can have a lovely little old the vocal cords vibrate, as in “v”, “g” and “d”), then the –s is pronounced like a “z”.
rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order If the consonant is “unvoiced” (like “f”, “k”, and “t”), then the –s is simply
in the slightest you’ll sound like a maniac.” Mr Forsyth may have exaggerated how pronounced as an “s”. Every native English-speaker uses this rule every day. Children
fixed adjective order is, but his little nugget is broadly true, and it has delighted master it by three or four. But nobody is ever taught it, and almost nobody knows
people to examine something they didn’t know they knew. they know it.
Clearly, then, the discipline of linguistics needs a marketing overhaul, because this Because linguists spend their careers trying to tease out what people actually do say
is exactly what linguistics consists of: describing the rules, many of them hidden and and why, they get cross when people equate “grammar” with a host of rules that
not obvious, of the human language ability. Given how eagerly word-nerds recently most people don’t actually observe. Take the so-called rule against ending
shared this tit-bit about adjective order on social media, the lecture-halls for sentences with a preposition. In fact, saying things like: “What are you talking
linguistics classes should be crammed to the rafters. about?” is deeply embedded in the grammar of English. “About what are you
Instead, as most linguists only too ruefully admit, upon confessing their profession talking?” strikes real speakers of English as absurd. So it annoys linguists no end to
at cocktail parties they tend to be told: “Oops, better watch my grammar around hear the latter “rule” associated with “grammar”, while the real, intricate grammar
you.” Just as many psychologists moan that outsiders think the discipline is mainly already embedded in the mind is ignored.
about abnormal psychology, linguists haven’t sufficiently spread the word that they Sometimes our mental grammars don’t know what to do with unusual cases. Take
are not out to ban split infinitives or correct the misuse of “whom”. They consider the newish verb “to greenlight”, meaning to approve a project. What is its past
themselves scientists (in a discipline that overlaps with psychology, cognitive tense? “Light” has the past tense “lit”. But some people go for “greenlighted”
science and others) in trying to learn how the human mind works. whereas others go for “greenlit”. Why the confusion? It’s because “to greenlight”
They’ve found out many wonderful things about rules you know, but don’t know was formed anew from a noun phrase, “a green light”. One mental rule is that new
you know. For example, a question can be formed from a statement by turning the words are always regular; hence “greenlighted”. But other people’s mental
questioned element into a question-word (like “where”) and moving it to the front grammars see “greenlight” as a form of the verb “to light”, an existing irregular verb
of a sentence. “Steve went to Toronto. Where did Steve go?” But that doesn’t work with the past tense “lit”; hence “greenlit”.
when the element in question is itself a clause: in “John wonders where Steve went This implicit grammatical knowledge overwhelms, in its intricacy and depth, the
to university” “went” can’t become “Where does John wonder that Steve went to relatively few rules that people must be consciously taught at school. But since the
university?” Everyone knows that the latter is awkward or even unacceptable, but implicit stuff is hidden in plain sight, it gets overlooked. It is cheering to see that
very few people outside the world of linguistics know why. In fact, it took linguists things like the adjective-order rule can go viral on social media. Perhaps it can make
themselves quite a while to work out the details. people more likely to associate “grammar” not with drudgery, but with fascinating
self-discovery.
Q.55) Which of the following options best explains the meaning of the last line of Q.58) The main purpose of the passage is to show that
para one? A) Linguistics is an essential aspect of grammar.
A) People are happy to realize that they actually know a lot of grammar. B) The aspects of grammar are actually implicit in the human mind but we are
B) People are pleasantly surprised to realize that they are indeed familiar with unaware that we are actually aware of these rules.
certain rules of grammar and language production which they thought they C) The aspects of grammar are actually implicit in the human mind but we are
did not know. ignorant of this fact.
C) People are pleased to know that grammar is not as complicated as they D) Implicit grammatical knowledge is astounding by its sheer complexity and
assumed it to be. profundity.
D) People are glad to know that learning grammar is not painstaking but, on the
contrary, it can be an enriching experience. Q.59) All of the following statements are validated by the passage EXCEPT:
A) Mark Forsyth’s rigidity of adjective order is rather overblown and not quite
Q.56) Sharing of information pertaining to adjective order, on social media, should valid.
lead to cramming of lecture halls in linguistics classes because B) Linguistics is akin to psychology because linguists try to learn how the mind
A) The understanding that learning grammar is essential for speaking and writing works in the sense that they find out how many things about the rules of
effectively, would lead people to learn more about linguistics. language, people are familiar with but don’t know that they know them.
B) The realization that the rules of grammar are implicit in their mind would be C) There are covert rules not only in grammar but in every aspect of language
gratifying for people, generating in them a new found interest in grammar. production.
C) The cognizance of the fact that they know more grammar than they actually D) Even linguists had to make a considerable effort in working out the details of
think they know, would motivate people to familiarize themselves with the grammar.
other aspects of language.
D) The knowledge that grammar is not as overwhelming as they thought it was, S.60-65) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
would goad people to learn the technicalities in grammar. Among 20-something readers, Tao Lin is an established phenomenon, a kind of
literary typhoon and tycoon. He seems to be writing for the best reason, the only
Q.57) The word “they” in para 4 of the passage refers to reason – because he’s a writer. He may well be one of those crazy, splendid people
A) Psychologists who, as Charles Bukowski put it, if marooned on a desert island would use a stick to
B) Word-nerds scratch stories in the sand.
C) Grammarians But it’s the Internet age, and that’s where Lin has made his mark. He’s one of the
D) Polyglots kings of that empire of online bootstrappers. I don’t know his work through the Web
– I still buy books with paper pages – but I started following him through the
irresistibly bland, almost silent, but oddly frightening miniatures he’s been
publishing in the literary journal Noon. His writing is weird, upsetting, memorable,
honest – and it’s only getting better.
But I didn’t anticipate “Taipei,” his latest, which is, to put it bluntly, a gigantic leap Q.60) What does the author mean by, “if marooned on a desert island, would use
forward. Here we have a serious, first-rate novelist putting all his skills to work. a stick to scratch stories in the sand”?
“Taipei” is a love story, and although it’s Lin’s third novel, it’s also, in a sense, a A) No matter what circumstances are, Tao loves writing stories
classic first novel: it’s semi-autobiographical and it’s a bildungsroman, a coming-of- B) Tao doesn’t know anything else other than writing stories
age story about a young man who learns, through love, that life is larger than he C) Tao likes to document things
thought it was. D) Cannot be answered
As in most accounts of self-education, Lin’s hero, Paul, is a traveller, moving from
the debilitating boredom of Brooklyn — depicted, accurately or not, as the most Q.61) Which of the following can be inferred about Tao Lin from the last sentence
bourgeois place on the planet — to Las Vegas (where he marries the love interest of of the first paragraph?
the novel, Erin) and Toronto and Baton Rouge, to his parents’ home in Taiwan and A) He tends to use unconventional writing implements for writing his novels
to many places in between. In fact, traveling is Paul’s way of being, much more than B) He will keep writing novels irrespective of the hardships that he may face in
his pill-popping (which is also nonstop but doesn’t seem to have much influence on his life
his way of thinking). C) He is passionate about writing and adverse environment will not faze him
Paul’s existence depends on walking, sitting in cabs, flying on planes, riding in the D) The style of his writing suggests the desperation of a man marooned on an
backs of cars. Like his constant presence online — Lin shows us Paul and his friends island
G-chatting, e-mailing, tweeting, checking Facebook — he’s always either
somewhere other than where he just was, or on his way to somewhere else. Here Q.62) According to the passage, online bootstrappers are most probably
Lin is reminding us of an interesting fact about contemporary life: physical travel has A) Authors who predominantly use the internet to publish their books
become almost as effortless and commonplace as cyber travel. Which might mean B) Authors who publish books on topics which are not mainstream
we aren’t so much distracted as we are always running away from home. C) Authors who have a distinct writing style which is weird and memorable
Travel has traditionally been a way for people to realize that their own perspectives D) People who use the internet to earn their livelihood
are limited, that there’s more to the world and other people than they’d assumed.
Travel helps you to mature; thus the tradition of the “wander-year,” on which this Q.63) Which of the following can be understood from the statement “he’s always
novel depends. And for a time we worry that nothing will break through the icy either somewhere other than where he just was, or on his way to somewhere
superficiality that characterizes the lives of Paul and his friends — not so dissimilar else”?
from the superficiality of Jake and his crowd in “The Sun Also Rises,” but here Xanax A) Paul always stays online to mentally remove himself from the place that he is
and Ecstasy take the place of Burgundy, Champagne and gin. Yet by the time Paul physically present
and Erin are in Taipei, we notice that something different is happening to them. B) Paul exists by virtue of travelling and never stays in the same place for long
Rather than talking about, they start talking to. They start listening. During a long C) Paul is always lost in his own thoughts and does not concentrate on the people
and intimate discussion of their sex lives, Paul finds himself focusing on their around him
“conversation, which was producing its own, unmediated emotions.” D) Paul is frequently running away from his parents’ home to other cities
Q.64) From the passage, it can be understood that, in the novel Taipei, Paul We have an efficient system of oversight. Our universities are also among the best
A) Falls in love with Erin in Taipei – we have ten institutions among the top fifty in the world.
B) Consumes copious quantities of Burgundy, Champagne and gin Nor should it be forgotten that our research base and our universities are vital parts
C) Resolved to stop using Facebook and Google at the end of the novel of the economic, political and cultural life blood of this country and have been for
D) Is portrayed as a superficial character at the beginning of the novel but hundreds of years. But this bill, in its present form, threatens to undermine them
towards the latter part of the novel, he becomes an authentic character both.
The reputations of our universities and our research base are already under threat
Q.65) All of the following are mentioned in the passage as a benefit of travelling because of the fallout from the EU referendum result, which is making the UK an
EXCEPT? unfriendly place for overseas students, as well as cutting off access to an important
A) Travelling facilitates meeting new people stream of research funding and to a vibrant and well-developed ecosystem for
B) Travelling helps in realizing the limitations of one’s perspectives collaborative work.
C) Travelling makes people more mature The Higher Education and Research Bill creates a powerful new body, the Office for
D) Travelling challenges the assumptions that people hold Students (OfS) with the power to override university Royal Charters and remove the
right of institutions to award degrees or even to call themselves universities. All of
S.66-70) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. this the OfS will be able to do without parliamentary scrutiny. The change is
Buried in the 113 subsections and 12 schedules of the 2016 Higher Education and motivated by the government’s desire to enable new providers to enter the market
Research Bill that is currently before parliament are massive constitutional changes – by lowering the threshold requirements – and to be able to regulate that market
that will undermine the autonomy and vigour of Britain’s universities and its by excluding providers that don’t perform to the required standard.
research base. The issues are complex, and involve perturbations of the difficult But this bill is a blunt and dangerous instrument for enacting that policy because
balance of power, democracy, expertise, and academic freedom that will seem alongside the power granted to the OfS to control the very existence of universities,
intangible to many. it confers unprecedented powers on the Secretary of State to give instruction on
As it stands the bill envisages far-reaching changes to the organisation of universities what courses universities may teach.
and research. It establishes the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), an Over the past 100 years the UK has developed a complex and supple system of
assessment exercise based heavily on a variety of simple metrics with questionable oversight in which robust lines of communication operate across different levels,
relationships to teaching quality; it lowers the threshold that private providers must from researchers on the ground, through research council chiefs, and all the way up
meet to become degree-awarding universities; and it will create a super-research to the secretary of state.
council – UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – led by a powerful chair and chief But this bill legislates for a downgrading of the research councils. They are no longer
executive to oversee the near-totality of publicly funded research in the UK. councils but committees. They will lose the protection of their Royal Charters. And
Of course, it is healthy to seek to review and improve how we do things, and the their chief executives will not, ex officio, have a seat on the board of the powerful
government has mandate to deliver manifesto commitments to introduce the TEF new over-arching council, UKRI.
and the revamp of the research councils. At the same time, it should be borne in The bill does not even provide for the creation of an executive forum that would
mind that Britain is an established world-leader in research. allow the heads of the new research committee to communicate the views of their
researcher communities to the CEO of UKRI.
Q.66) Which of the following about the proposed 2016 Higher Education and Q.70) Based on the passage, which of the following do you consider a prospective
Research Bill is NOT true, according to the passage? course of action for a person interested in upholding the position of UK’s
A) The bill will deprive Britain’s universities and research centres of their self- universities?
governing power. A) Seek legal redress.
B) The bill will deprive Britain’s universities and research centres of their self- B) Contact MP’s and convince them of his/her concerns and persuade them to
governing power. amend the bill.
C) The bill will enable private providers an easy entry to become independent C) Help organize protests by the public.
universities. D) Get the views of students and teachers and act accordingly.
D) UKRI will be administered by two officers, a chairman and a chief executive.
S.71-75) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
Q.67) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? The war in Yemen seems to play on an endless loop. Atrocity follows atrocity. The
A) The author wants the bill to be amended. government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition that bombs civilians; the Houthi
B) The author wants the bill to be withdrawn. rebels are backed by Iran, and recruit children and fire shells indiscriminately into
C) EU referendum result contradicted the author’s expectations. cities. Efforts to make peace go nowhere. A swap of 1,081 prisoners, agreed on at
D) UK’s universities and research base require no improvement the end of September, raised only faint hopes. A similar exchange, involving 15,000
detainees, was arranged in 2018 but never fully implemented. The loop is unbroken.
Q.68) The passage implies all the following EXCEPT: In the past six years, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and gravely
A) UK’s universities depend on funds from EU countries. harmed millions more. Now, it is escalating again. Civilians died in August in greater
B) Brexit will adversely affect Britain’s universities. numbers than in any other month this year. The economy is collapsing, COVID-19 is
C) UK’s universities and research base are the best in the world. spreading unchecked and a rusting tanker off the western coast, laden with roughly
D) UK’s universities receive support in their work from EU countries. 1.1 Mn barrels of oil, risks causing an ecological catastrophe.
Amid this litany of suffering, Yemen’s most pressing problem is famine. About two-
Q.69) The sentence, ‘And their chief executives will not, ex officio, have a seat on thirds of its 30 Mn people need food aid. Many millions, the UN says, are on the
the board of the powerful new over-arching council, UKRI,’ means: brink of starvation. It should be possible to feed them. International bodies have
A) Their chief executives will not have an official position on the board of UKRI. sounded the alarm; relief groups know what to do. The question is whether Yemen’s
B) Their chief executives will be denied the status required to have a seat on the rich neighbours, who have sustained the fighting with arms and money, will have
board of UKRI. the decency also to sustain the country’s people with food and medicine—and
C) Their chief executives will not have a seat on the board of UKRI by virtue of whether the war’s stubborn and self-interested combatants will allow the aid to get
the position they are holding. through.
D) Ex-chief executives will not have a seat on the board of UKRI. Two years ago, the UN requested billions of dollars for the relief effort. It was a good
time to ask. The Saudis were eager to repair their image, tarnished by the war and
the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which led the coalition’s ground war in Yemen until Q.72) Which among the following challenges is related to the most critical issue of
last year, was also on a publicity drive. Along with Kuwait, they both gave Yemen?
generously. As a result, countless lives were saved. A) The attention of the international organisations towards the issue.
Lately the Saudis, Emiratis and Kuwaitis have had other priorities. Saudi Arabia B) If the rich neighbours of Yemen would have the courtesy to provide food and
hosted an international pledging conference in June after it vowed to give $500 Mn medicine for the hungry and the sick.
this year (down from $750 Mn last year). The kingdom has since lowered its C) Whether the fighters will allow the aid to reach the needy in war laden
commitment to $300 Mn — better than the UAE, which so far this year has pledged country.
nothing. “It is particularly reprehensible to promise money, which gives people hope D) All of the above
that help may be on the way, and then to dash those hopes by simply failing to fulfil
the promise,” says Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency-relief co-ordinator. Q.73) “Alas if the belligerents were…………………………., the war would have ended
The resulting decline in Yemenis receiving food aid is being aggravated by the long ago.” Who is the author probably referring to as belligerents in this
coalition, which has cut off fuel supplies to Houthi-controlled areas. Its blockade has statement?
pushed up prices and shut down vital services for lack of fuel. Saudi Arabia deposited A) The Houthis
$2bn in Yemen’s central bank in 2018. Now it is nearly all gone, and the currency is B) The common people of Yemen
collapsing, making food, most of which is imported, even less affordable. Neither do C) The Saudis
Saudi Arabia’s alleged airstrikes on farms help Yemen’s harvest. D) The government, the Houthis and the gulf states
Saudi Arabia, desperate for a face-saving way out of the war, maybe turning the
screws on the Houthis. Starving the north is unlikely to work. But the Houthis will Q.74) What sort of attitude has the author condemned in the given passage?
not like the loss of revenue — they themselves divert aid and sell it for profit. They A) To be on a publicity drive
even tried to impose a 2% levy on aid shipments. To ensure food reaches the right B) Cutting off the fuel supplies
people, the UN wants to introduce a biometric id system. The Houthis, though, are C) Not fulfilling the promise given
loath to cede control. D) Imposing a levy on aid
Neither the government nor the Houthis seem to care about the people they hope
to rule any more than their backers do. To prevent famine would not take much— Q.75) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
more money from the Gulf states, a lifting of the blockade and co-operation from A) Alongside the prevalent atrocities, Yemen is also facing an environmental
the Houthis. Alas, if the belligerents were at all moved by the suffering of Yemenis, disaster.
the war would have ended long ago. B) Saudi was driven by vested interest and sought redemption of its wrongdoings
through material means.
Q.71) Why does the author say that “The loop is unbroken”? C) Amid the financial turmoil, the available food has become less costly but the
A) The war is never-ending and follows unsuccessful attempts of truce. currency, too, has fallen.
B) The food famine in Yemen comes every winter season. D) All of the above
C) Saudi led coalition in the middle-east is continuously bombing the civilians.
D) The swap of 1081 prisoners with Houthis couldn’t be completed.
S.76-80) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. Meyer was in Sweden at the time and Sweden was dull, Orwell thought. Duller than
Fiction is one influence on Nineteen Eighty-Four, his greatest work, George Orwell’s Norway or Finland, although these were dull too – welfare states so sterile they
own life experiences are another. His wartime career, for instance, when he worked bored you to death.
for the BBC as a propagandist, critics note this and its likely influence on the novel
although they give it, I think, less of a role it merits. In late 1939, as is now well- Q.76) The passage is primarily concerned with
known, Orwell privately reneged on his earlier (qualified) pacifism and became a A) Discussing a political ideology and its relevance.
committed supporter of the war. B) Depicting the effect of a literary work on the political situation.
Which will sound better in the days to come, C) Explicating the effect of political milieu on literature.
“Blood, toil and sweat” or “Kiss the Nazi’s bum” … D) Delineating the factors influencing a particular author.
As the critics put it, Orwell, in effect, unpersoned his former pacifist self – acting and
commenting as though he had never been anywhere except with the war party. A Q.77) Which of the following best describes the paradoxical nature of Orwell’s
pacifist pamphlet he had been drafting around this time went down a memory hole, thinking?
almost certainly because Orwell put it there. “The long drilling in patriotism … had A) He wanted to protect the state so that he could successfully fight against it
done its work,” he wrote in “My Country Right or Left”. “[O]nce England was in a later.
serious jam, it would be impossible for me to sabotage …” Shades here perhaps of B) He rejected the pacifist stance, still embraced the socialist ideal.
the of the final paragraph of Nineteen Eighty-Four where Winston Churchill listens C) He embraced socialist philosophy, still argued for gruelling interim in the form
to the latest war news and realizes that he loves Big Brother. of struggle for socialism.
This break with the pacifism left did not imply any break with socialism. Orwell D) He sincerely desired socialism but expected very short span of time for it.
remained a socialist the rest of this life, advocating to the end a radical program of
state ownership and income equality. In the war years, this took on a revolutionary Q.78) All of the following can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT
fervour – fantasies of red militias billeted in the Ritz and so on – and had a distinctive A) Nazism necessitated war due to its actions.
and characteristic puritan touch. Like most socialists, Orwell reckoned that socialism B) Initially, Orwell offered unconditional support to pacifism.
would eventually deliver enough to meet all needs. And like most socialists, he C) Orwell publicly supported the cause of socialism in England.
believed that there would be a gruelling interim before this happened. In advocating D) Orwell had doubts about the sustenance of socialism, if at all it was achieved
socialism, Orwell lingers almost lovingly on the hardships this struggling transitional
phase will surely bring hard work and plenty of it, a steady diet of herrings and Q.79) In the last paragraph, the author mentions technology primarily in order to
potatoes. It did not faze him that the tough times before socialism eventually A) Hint at Orwell’s attitude towards it.
delivered might last a century. Technology appalled him. Mechanization would bring B) Emphasize the relation between technology and socialism.
leisure, leisure decadence, a debasement of taste, the manly ideal of the Yorkshire C) Bring out its negative impact on society.
miner negated. “I have never been able to like these model countries with D) Imply its significance for some countries.
everything up to date and hygienic and an enormous suicide rate,” wrote Orwell to
Ibsen scholar Michael Meyer in 1949.
Q.80) From the passage, it can be deduced that the author is influenced by The cause for which he may now be best known – an unstinting defence of the
A) Only political influences British Empire – is no less controversial. But Ferguson’s claims about British
B) Only literary influences imperialism aren’t merely nostalgia; he has a serious argument to make about the
C) Both A and B role of empires in the expansion of global capital. For Ferguson, the British Empire
D) None of these was largely a force for good. “No organization in history has done more to promote
the free movement of goods, capital, and labour than the British Empire in the 19th
S.81-86) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. century and early 20th centuries,” he wrote in his 2003 book Empire: How Britain
It is too soon for an account of the global economic crisis, but Niall Ferguson’s Made the Modern World. Ferguson says that the United States is the rightful heir to
publishers may be quietly grateful for the recent unpleasantness. Whether it will Britain’s role as a tribune of “Anglobalisation” but remains an “empire in denial”.
boost sales remains to be seen. Still, few are as well-equipped as Ferguson, one of (Ferguson supported the Iraq war but has criticized the occupation). Not
the most numerate, economically literate historians working today, to explain the surprisingly, such notions earned Ferguson the scorn of the postcolonial studies
rise – and fall – of the modern financial system. crowd – one British academic called the historian “the Leni Riefenstahl of George’s
At 44, Ferguson is already perhaps the most accomplished historian of his Bush new imperial order.”
generation. A brash, telegenic and media-savvy Scotsman, Ferguson is as Ferguson’s historiography tends to discount the role of independence movements
comfortable in front of the camera – he has presented a number of television and colonial revolts in the Empire’s demise. Britain lost its Empire; Ferguson argues
documentaries – as he is with the arcana of economic history. Ferguson is a number because it lacked the will to maintain it. The Empire, he has argued, was undone by
cruncher: his work bristles with charts, graphs and tables, but his prose is readable, under stretch, not overstretch. Britain, he contends, failed to present a convincing
fluent, even brisk. In his several books, he has tackled the very biggest themes of threat – a larger army – to deter German ambitions, and thus had to fight two
history – war, money and Empire. Ferguson, in some ways, looks back to the grand, enormously costly wars, conflicts that drastically accelerated imperial decline.
synthesizing tradition of a Macaulay. He works in broad strokes, but his arguments Deterrence was the far cheaper option: in his most recent book, The War of the
are backed up by cutting-edge economic research and an almost bewildering array World, Ferguson suggested that Britain could have crushed the Wehrmacht by
of data. And he’s not afraid to cause a stir. launching a pre-emptive strike against Hitler’s undermanned armies in 1938.
Like an impish, if clever schoolboy, Ferguson seems to take delight in overturning Ferguson doesn’t excuse the brutalities of imperialism so much as he looks past
conventional wisdom. In The Pity of War, a provocative study of the First World War, them: he tends to view the Empire as a giant balance sheet. Where others see
he argued that Britain, not Germany, turned a regional crisis in the Balkans – the exploitation, Ferguson sees investment opportunities and capital flows. However,
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo – into a global cataclysm. for all his concern with cash transactions, Ferguson is not an economic determinist.
Ferguson, noting that Germany is now Europe’s dominant power, argued that had Money, as he sees it, does not make the world go round, though it certainly helps it
Britain sat out the war and let the Kaiser win, “continental Europe could therefore spin. In his account, the rise of finance – the development of increasingly
have been transformed into something not wholly unlike the European Union we sophisticated instruments to multiply money – accompanied the ambitions of
know today.” Ferguson likes to ponder alternative historical scenarios – he even modern states for territorial expansion.
edited a collection of essays on counterfactual history – but this particular
provocation struck many of his critics as ludicrous.
The institutions of modern economic life – a strong central bank to print and manage Q.84) From the above passage, which of the following options can definitely be
currency; government fiscal policy; stock and bond markets – emerged in the 17th inferred?
and 18th centuries to make it possible for revenue-hungry states to wage war, an A) Besides all said and done, at the end of the day Ferguson can be considered a
idea Ferguson outlined in his densest, most theoretical work, The Cash Nexus, a mere British mouthpiece
study of money and power in the modern world. B) Ferguson’s views about the British Empire are offensive in nature
C) British Imperialism is seriously contempt, according to Ferguson
Q.81) According to the author of the passage, ‘The recent unpleasant is welcome’ D) In regard to the expansion of global capital, Ferguson has an optimistic feel.
because of which of the following reasons:
A) Thanks to the recent unpleasant, the global economic crisis has now been Q.85) Which of the following can be considered as a reason for the Imperial
exposed to the forefront. decline?
B) Because Ferguson is the best and economically the most literate historian of A) Refusal of the empires to stay within their limits
today’s time. B) Lack of support of a bigger army, to support in times of need
C) The recent unpleasant is welcome because it will further help in increasing the C) The let down in putting off Germany
sales of Ferguson’s books. D) Incapability to judge the reach of the Germans
D) The recent unpleasant explains the rise and fall of the modern financial system
in detail. Q.86) Which of the following best describe the way of working of Ferguson?
A) He tries to stir the status quo by a data driven approach.
Q.82) According to the passage, which of the following reasons will help support B) He has an empirical approach in his work.
the claim that Ferguson is the most accomplished historian in his generation? C) He uses graphs and tables to crisply represent the data he emphasizes upon.
A) His comfort level with economic history as well as the camera is very good D) He heavily researches about his topic and provides clear evidence why the
B) The arguments that he puts forth are always backed by data and economic older things were wrong.
research
C) All of the biggest themes during his generation are tackled by him S.87-89) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
D) All of the above are reasons to support this claim It’s now been nearly four decades since Neil Armstrong took his “giant leap for
mankind” — if, that is, he ever set foot off this planet. Doubters say the U.S.
Q.83) Ferguson seems to attack the conventional wisdom in ‘Pity of War’. From government, desperate to beat the Russians in the space race, faked the lunar
the options given below, which one provides the correct testimony to his landings, with Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin acting out their mission on a secret film
aggressive thought process? set, located (depending on the theory) either high in the Hollywood Hills or deep
A) When he mentions that Germany is dominating Europe’s power in the society within Area 51. With the photos and videos of the Apollo missions only available
B) Britain’s negligence in the First World War through NASA, there’s no independent verification that the lunar landings were
C) The possibility of containment of the Sarajevo conflict anything but a hoax.
D) All the above reasons are correct.
The smoking gun? Film of Aldrin planting a waving American flag on the moon, which S.90-95) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it.
critics say proves that he was not in space. The flag’s movement, they say, clearly More than two centuries after readers first met them, Elizabeth and Darcy have yet
shows the presence of wind, which is impossible in a vacuum. NASA says Aldrin was to grow old. Their story has inspired erotic spinoffs, murder mysteries and a retelling
twisting the flagpole to get the moon soil, which caused the flag to move. (And never from the servants’ point of view. The much-loved and mostly faithful 1995 Andrew
mind that astronauts have brought back hundreds of independently verified moon Davies screen adaptation, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, helped birth Bridget
rocks.) Theorists have even suggested that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick may have Jones’s Diary. Then came the “Hollywood-meets-Bollywood” movie Bride and
helped NASA fake the first lunar landing, given that his 1968 film 2001: A Space Prejudice and even a genre mashup with zombie hordes menacing Pemberley.
Odyssey proves that the technology existed back then to artificially create a This last was more apt than it sounds, and not only because Andrea Leadsom briefly
spacelike set. And as for Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee — resurrected Jane Austen last month, the bicentenary of her death, describing her as
three astronauts who died in a fire while testing equipment for the first moon one of “our greatest living authors”. Pride and Prejudice is the novel that simply will
mission? They were executed by the U.S. government, which feared they were not die. Twenty million copies on, Mr Darcy has become so synonymous with the
about to disclose the truth. Far-fetched as the hoax theory may seem, a 1999 Gallup romantic hero that when researchers found a pheromone in male mouse irresistible
poll showed that it’s comparatively durable: 6% of Americans said they thought the to female mice, they named it “darcin”.
lunar landings were fake and 5% said they were undecided. Even that indignity has not diminished his allure. So the announcement this month
of yet another TV adaptation was entirely predictable. So too was the accompanying
Q.87) What reason has been provided by NASA for the waving flag? reassurance that the novel is “less bonnet-y” than people imagine. One oddity is
A) Presence of wind that those rejecting accusations of “smallness” and gentility keep picking Austen’s
B) Earth’s gravity best-loved book over harsher works such as Mansfield Park or Persuasion. Another
C) Twisting of the flagpole is their fixation on clothes-as-shorthand, promising us mud on the petticoats and
D) The absence of vacuum Mr Darcy in a wet shirt – though the author wrote a great deal more about money
than muslin.
Q.88) One aspect that debunks the hoax moon-landing theory is: It does not take an especially careful reader to discern the underlying message:
A) lack of independent verification of the photos and videos of the Apollo distaste for the very people they are commissioned to attract. Much as Austen’s
mission. heroes save her heroines from poverty or reliance on grim relations, so respectable
B) Independently verified moon rocks. admirers must rescue the author from the Janeites. This strain has strengthened in
C) The cinematic genius of Stanley Kubrick. reaction to “Austen-inspired scented candles” and paint-by-numbers novels like The
D) The death of three astronauts in a possible case of arson. Jane Austen Book Club. But it is evident much further back, in the grudging praise of
Henry James, whose condescension is so much more deadly than Mark Twain’s
Q.89) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? desire to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shinbone.
A) Majority of the Americans believe that lunar landings were staged. No one imagines that Shakespearmints or the Gnomeo and Juliet movie tell us
B) Technology to create a space like set existed in 1961. anything useful about the Bard.
C) People continue to believe conspiracy theories surrounding NASA.
D) The moon-landing hoax theory has survived over the years.
There is more than a tinge of sexism and snobbery in the idea that Austen’s enduring Q.92) Which of the following can be inferred from the penultimate paragraph?
popularity is evidence of something wrong rather than something right – it is, to be A) Movies on Shakespeare fail to capture the message intended by the writer.
blunt, the sense that she is read by too many women, or at least the wrong kind of B) Jane Austen is a victim of sexism, snobbery, and much more.
women. It’s manifested, equally, in the implication that she must be OK because C) There is an inherent flaw in the way Jane Austen is perceived through her
Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan turned to her in moments of darkness. work.
Austen herself deemed Pride and Prejudice “rather too light and bright and D) The longevity of Jane Austen’s appeal has underlying implications.
sparkling”; to read it alongside other works does her more justice. She is merciless
in dissecting human folly, of course, but also in her honesty. Her heroines often face Q.93) Which of the following would have been the most likely reaction of Mark
grim choices, only lightly concealed by the gallantry and their happy endings. She Twain, if he were alive, regarding the enduring popularity of Pride and Prejudice?
writes about the bleakness of ill-matched marriages, and the pain of living with the A) Amazement mixed with a hint of revilement.
knowledge that you have made a terrible mistake. It is not a cosy environment, B) Indignation coupled with a sense of impuissance.
merely a contained one. Other writers, on a broader canvas, have shown us much C) Blatant criticism with an amalgamation of vitriol.
less of the world than we see on what she termed her “little bit of ivory”. There is D) Prejudice with a generous amount of condescension.
absolutely no need to apologise for Austen.
Q.94) Which of the following is not true, as per the passage?
Q.90) Which of the following is an oddity that the author mentions in the passage? A) The announcement of the latest adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was not
A) People who like Jane Austen are repelled by the TV adaptations. surprising.
B) The makers give undue importance to garments, a rather narrow part of B) It is sexist that no one questions the merits of Shakespeare’s works.
Austen’s work. C) The fascination of readers with Elizabeth and Darcy has not waned.
C) People who should not apologise for Austen continue to read Pride and D) Mr. Darcy is considered to be a romantic icon.
Prejudice while neglecting her other more serious works like Persuasion.
D) These filmmakers deliberately try to make the adaptation ‘less bonnet-y’. Q.95) Which of the following is the reason behind Darcy’s unceasing appeal?
A) He doesn’t grow old.
Q.91) Which of the following can be inferred about Jane Austen’s work? B) Colin Firth immortalized Darcy by wearing ‘the white shirt’.
A) Her heroines manage to find happiness despite their terrible choices. C) Readers continue to find Pride and Prejudice fascinating.
B) Her works should be read together in order to be truly appreciated. D) The incessant adaptations of Jane Austen’s work don’t let him go out of
C) The endings of her work don’t necessarily hide the bleak streak of reality. fashion.
D) The cosy environments of her novels seldom do justice to her brutal honesty.
S.96-100) Read the passage and answer the questions that follow it. Even in the 18th century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had already observed that elections
Brexit is a turning point in the history of western democracy. Never before has such alone were no guarantee of liberty: “The people of England deceive themselves
a drastic decision been taken through so primitive a procedure – a one-round when they fancy they are free; they are so, in fact, only during the election of
referendum based on a simple majority. Never before has the fate of a country – of members of parliament: for, as soon as a new one is elected, they are again in
an entire continent, in fact – been changed by the single swing of such a blunt axe, chains, and are nothing.”
wielded by disenchanted and poorly informed citizens. Referendums and elections are both arcane instruments of public deliberation. If
But this is just the latest in a series of worrying blows to the health of democracy. It we refuse to update our democratic technology, we may find the system is beyond
would appear that people like the idea of democracy but loathe the reality. Trust in repair.
the institutions of democracy is also visibly declining. Although a certain scepticism
is an essential component of citizenship in a free society, we are justified in asking Q.96) As per the passage, all of the following are true about the author’s opinion
how widespread this distrust might be and at what point healthy scepticism tips on referendums and elections, except:
over into outright aversion. A) These tools have become outmoded in the current world.
There is something explosive about an era in which interest in politics grows while B) These tools may not protect people against political manipulation.
faith in politics declines. What does it mean for the stability of a country if more and C) These tools have failed to elect a government that reflects the will of the
more people warily keep track of the activities of an authority that they increasingly majority.
distrust? How much derision can a system endure, especially now that everyone can D) These tools need to be updated and made in sync with the current manner of
share their deeply felt opinions online? public communication.
Fifty years ago, we lived in a world of greater political apathy and yet greater trust
in politics. Now there is both passion and distrust. These are turbulent times, as the Q.97) Which of the following is true about scepticism in democracy?
events of the past week demonstrate all too clearly. And yet, for all this turbulence, A) It is a feature of a free society.
there has been little reflection on the tools that our democracies use. It is still a B) It is necessary for the liberation of the people’s voice.
heresy to ask whether elections, in their current form, are a badly outmoded C) It is the inevitable precursor to overt scorn for democratic institutions.
technology for converting the collective will of the people into governments and D) It is a corollary of citizenship.
policies.
We discuss and debate the outcome of a referendum without discussing its Q.98) Which of the following can be inferred about the significance of the opening
principles. This should be surprising. In a referendum, we ask people directly what sentence of the passage?
they think when they have not been obliged to think – although they have certainly A) The Brexit referendum has changed democracy in the West forever.
been bombarded by every conceivable form of manipulation in the months leading B) The Brexit referendum has exposed certain loopholes in the Western
up to the vote. But the problem is not confined to referendums: in an election, you democracy.
may cast your vote, but you are also casting it away for the next few years. This C) The Brexit referendum is a manifestation of all that is wrong with today’s
system of delegation to an elected representative may have been necessary in the Western civilization.
past – when communication was slow and information was limited – but it is D) The Brexit referendum has far reaching consequences for the entire world.
completely out of touch with the way citizens interact with each other today.
Reading Comprehension
Q.99) Why does the author ask the two questions at the end of the third
paragraph?
A) To highlight the negative consequences of lack of trust in one’s government
B) To showcase the lack of trust people have in the democratic tradition
C) To emphasise on the inevitable consequences of a world with unfettered
communication
D) To stress the point that the current democratic fabric may not survive
pervasive distrust
Q.100) From the passage, what can be inferred about the current status of
democracy?
A) People hate it.
B) Its tools are superfluous.
C) Technology has impacted it.
D) It is stricken by discussion, debates, and questions.
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