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COMPREHENSION

  The incessant announcements from various banks for different kinds of posts have filled the unemployed youth with full of zeal and hope. They have started preparing for the targeted posts like Pos, and special officers. Many of the examinees worry about the General English part because it seems to be a hard rock. In fact, this English part itself is easier and more scoring than any other component of the test. It is because, unlike the other segments of the test, the syllabus of the English part is limited and fixed. All the questions of the test move around only two skills of language learning - reading and writing. To test the candidate's ability to read faster and better there is a reading comprehension passage with 15 questions attached and of course, five questions are on Vocabulary. To test the writing ability of test taker there are a few questions on Grammar and Composition.
Here are a few questions from previous papers:
(I)

 

Directions (Q.1-15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

  We should recognize the indebtedness of the country to its farm families who toil to safeguard national food security. Loan waiver is the price we have to pay for the neglect of rural India over the past several decades.  There has been a gradual decline in investment in key sectors related to agriculture such as infrastructure, marketing, post harvest technology etc. The four crore farmers whose debt is to be relieved will be eligible for institutional credit for their cultivation expenses during Kharif 2008. The challenge is to prevent them from getting into the debt trap again. For this purpose the Central and various State governments should set up an Indebted Farmers' Support Consortium, comprising scientists, panchayat raj officials and others relevant to assisting farmers to improve the profitability and productivity of their farms in an environmentally sustainable manner. The smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus to reduce indebtedness.
 The Indebted Farmers' Support Consortium should aim to get all the four crore farmers all the benefits of the government schemes such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Irrigation Benefit Programme and others. If this is done, every farm family released from the debt trap should be able to produce at least an additional half tonne per hectare of food grains. This should help increase food production by about 20 million tonnes by 2008-10. At a time when global and national food stocks are dwindling and prices are rising, this will be a timely gain for our national food security. We need to ensure that the outcome of the debt waiver has enhanced farmers' income and production. The prevailing hiatus between potential and actual yields in the crops of rain-fed areas such as pulses and oil seeds is over 200 per cent even with the necessary technologies on the shelf. We are now importing without duty large quantities of pulses and oil seeds. If helped, farmers can produce these at a lower cost.

  Opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing are essential if loan waiver is not to become a recurring event leading to the destruction of the credit system. This is why the Minimum Support Price is necessary for all, not just for a few crops which is the case at present. This is the single most effective step to make loan waivers history. There is another urgent step which needs to be taken. The loan waiver does not cover those who borrow from money lenders.
It will not be possible for the government to scrutinize the veracity of such private deals but steps can be taken such as giving them Smart Cards which will entitle them to essential inputs like seeds and fertilizers. The gram sabha can be entrusted with the task of identifying these farmers so that there is transparency in the process and elimination of the chances for falsification and corruption. Fear of occasional misuse should not come in the way of enabling millions of poor farmers who have borrowed from informal sources if we are to achieve the goal of four per cent growth in agriculture.

 

Questions:

 

1. What is the likely impact of ensuring farmers' benefit from government schemes?
       1. They can use the credit from these schemes to repay money lenders.
       2. The government can control the price rise.
       3. Increased agricultural production.
A) Both 1 and 2            B) 1, 2 and 3      C) Only 3    D) Both 2 and 3   E) None of these

Ans:  B.

 

2. Why does the author feel that rural India has been overlooked in the past?
     1. Institutional credit was only made available for Kharif crops.
     2. Drop in investment in central areas related to agriculture.
     3. Records of those eligible for loan waivers have not been maintained over time.
          A) Only 2            B) Both 1 and 2        C) Only 3    D) All 1, 2 and 3     E) None of these

 

3. How can small farmers avoid debt?
     A) They need to acquire additional land holdings
     B) They need to take advantage of both government schemes as well as credit from money lenders
     C) They have to ensure that a sufficient amount of their farm produce is sold
     D) The Government should provide periodic loan waivers
     E) None of these

Ans:    2. A;        3. E.

 

4. What is the objective of the Indebted Farmers' Support Consortium?
     A) It is a support group for the families of indebted farmers
     B) It has to devise new government schemes for farmers
     C) It has to track farmers eligible for government schemes
     D) It has to evaluate government schemes and weed out the inefficient ones
     E) None of these

 

5. What does the author mean by the phrase 'indebtedness of the country to its farm families'?
     A) If farmers are in debt it impacts the entire country
     B) Citizens should be grateful to farmers and their families for the hardships borne by
them to cultivate crops
     C) India's food production has fallen causing it to be in debt since it has to import food
     D) The number of farmers' descendants taking up agriculture has fallen.
     E) None of these

Ans:    4. A;         5. B.

 

6. What is the author's opinion of recurring loan waivers?
         A) They are beneficial to farmers
         B) They are detrimental to the system of lending.
         C) They will reduce the need for a Minimum Support Price for agricultural products
         D) Farmers will no longer be in debt to money lenders
         E) None of these

 

7. Which of the following is TRUE in the context of the passage?
         A) The Minimum Support Price for agricultural products is yet to be implemented
         B) Loan waiver is a permanent solution to indebtedness of farmers
         C) Current agricultural growth is below four per cent
         D) India's food production has increased in 2008
         E) Money lenders benefit from loan waivers

Ans:    6. B;    7. C.

 

8. Why does the loan waiver not cover credit taken from money lenders?
        1. It is difficult to verify these contracts between farmers and money lenders.
        2. It will increase the deficit in the budget.
        3. There is a risk that the funds may be misappropriated.
        A) Both 1 and 3         B) All 1, 2 and 3        C) Only 2         
        D) Both 1 and 2        E) None of these

 

9. Why is there a vast gap in actual and potential yields of crops in rain-fed areas?
        A) The government prefers to import these crops at a lower rate
        B) No technological advances have been made to improve the growth of crops in these areas
        C) There is no Minimum Support Price available for these crops
        D) Farmers are forced to sell these crops at a low rate
        E) None of these

Ans:     8. A;       9. C.

 

10. How does the government intend to ensure transparency in the Smart card issuance process?
       A) Screening private players involved in the scheme
       B) Granting access to those farmers who register with their local money lenders
       C) Providing cards which cannot be forged
       D) Regularly rotating members of the gram sabha so there is no corruption
       E) None of these
Ans:   E

 

Directions (Q.11-13): Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

 

11. assured
          (A) insured          (B) definite    (C) doubted    (D) confident    (E) reliance

 

12. relieved
          (A) exempted          (B) backed         (C) supported              (D) calmed   (E) substituted

 

13. hiatus
          (A) hole               (B) break         (C) pause        (D) difference    (E) interruption
Ans: 11. B;    12. A;    13. D.

 

Directions (Q.14-15): Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

 

14. timely
      (A) young        (B) lately       (C) overdue     (D) aged   (E) slowly

 

15. elimination
      (A) authority       (B) forgiveness     (C) attack     (D) provision   (E) protection

Ans:  14. B;    15. E.
(II)

 

Directions (Q. 1–15): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
 

  According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), plastic bags are a better option than paper bags from the environment’s point of view. Many studies comparing plastic versus paper show that plastic bags have less net environmental effect than paper bags, requiring less energy for transport, production and recycling and because of all these, plastic generates less greenhouse gases. They cause less air and water pollution and can get compressed to a small size in landfills. Plastic bags are sterile and thus are a better option for the transportation of eatables and medicines. 

  However there is another side of using plastic. Plastics are manufactured from petroleum. This brings a host of other issues e.g. destruction of habitat. Their manufacturing involves chemicals, many of which have not been sufficiently tested for their toxicological impact on humans and animals. Exacerbating the problem is that science has only advanced to detect plastic components in human bodies and then link it to human ailments and diseases.
Where science has been unable to help is that it has largely failed to invent a solution to the hazards caused by it. Making the situation dismal is the fact that the hazard is closer than it appears. Teflon, PVC, Polyethylene, polystyrene in utensils and various silicones in hair and body care products accumulate in the body and lead to serious diseases. Plastic producing companies are often chemical companies or subsidiaries of chemical companies, both with poor track records when it comes to their adherence to regulatory compliance and their willingness to perform toxicological analysis on the products that they make. 

  Plastics often drain component chemicals, including hazardous chemicals when temperature changes beyond a certain point. It is for this reason that toxicologists do not recommend storing very cold food in plastics or heating food (microwaving especially) in plastics. Also, plastics are durable materials. Thus, they are hard to eliminate once used and create tremendous waste. While some common plastics can be recycled the vast majority cannot be recycled. Scientists suggest the use of Biodegradable plastics as an alternative to this persisting problem. These are the plastics that can decompose in the natural environment. Biodegradation of plastics can be achieved by enabling microorganisms in the environment to metabolize the molecular structure of plastic films to produce an inert humus-like material that is less harmful to the environment.
They may be composed of either bio-plastics, which are plastics whose components are derived from renewable raw materials, or petroleum-based plastics. The use of bio-active compounds compounded with swelling agents ensures that, when combined with heat and moisture, they expand the plastic’s molecular structure and allow the bio-active compounds to metabolize and neutralize the plastic. Various countries have been adopting different methods to discourage the use of plastic. Growing awareness in the UK of the problems caused by indiscriminate use of plastic bags is encouraging retailers to reward customers who bring their own bags or who reuse or recycle existing bags. This is called the ‘Green Bag Scheme’. In other countries retailers have stopped providing free plastic bags with purchases and have been selling cloth bags for very minimalistic prices.

 

1. What alternative do the scientists suggest for the problem associated with the use of plastics?
   (A) Use of biodegradable plastics
   (B) Treatment of hazards caused by the use of plastics
   (C) Strict compliance of the chemical companies to toxicological tests of their products
   (D) Banning the use of plastic throughout the world   (E) None of these
Ans: A.

 

2. Why don’t toxicologists recommend the heating of food and storing of cold food in plastic?
        (A) Food stuff spoils faster in plastic containers
        (B) The Teflon coating in such utensils is harmful
        (C) Plastic containers do not undergo recommended toxicology tests
        (D) Plastic releases harmful chemicals at very high and low temperature
        (E) None of these

 

3. According to the author, what is the problem with manufacturing plastic products?
        (A) These products are not energy efficient
        (B) These products produce greenhouse gases which are harmful to environment
        (C) The chemicals involved in their production are not tested for impact on living beings
        (D) It swells as soon as it comes in contact with heat and moisture
        (E) None of these

Ans: 2. D;     3. C.

 

4. What are the author’s views about the companies producing plastic products?
      (1) These companies are mainly responsible for the hazards caused to the environment due to plastics.
      (2) Such companies are chemical companies themselves or a subsidiary of such companies.
      (3) Such companies do not perform toxicological tests on their products.
       (A) Only (1)       (B) Both (2) and (3)       (C) Both (1) and (3)      
       (D) Only (2)       (E) None of these

 

5. What does the author mean by ‘another side of using plastic’?
       (A) These are disadvantages of using plastic
       (B) Using biodegradable plastic instead of non-biodegradable plastic
       (C) Paper bags are better option than plastic bags
       (D) Many retail stores sell cloth bags at lower price
       (E) None of these

Ans: 4. B;   5. A.

 

6. Why does USEPA suggest that plastic bags are a better option than paper bags?
    (A) The plastic bags are inexpensive
    (B) Plastic bags can be tested for toxic chemicals
    (C) Paper bags do not generate greenhouse gases
    (D) Plastic bags require less energy as compared to paper for transportation, production and recycling
    (E) None of these

 

7. According to the passage, in which of the following fields has science failed?
    (A) To produce biodegradable plastic
    (B) To popularize the use of cloth and paper bags instead of plastic
    (C) To strictly implement the compliance of the chemical companies to toxicological tests of their products
    (D) To make plastic – free hair and body care products
    (E) None of these

Ans: 6. D;   7.

 

8. Which steps have been taken in UK to encourage the use of alternatives to plastic bags?
        (A) The UK government has banned the use of plastic throughout the country
        (B) The retailers in UK have been selling cloth bags at very low prices
        (C) The retailers reward the customers who bring their own bags or use the recycled bags
        (D) The government imposes heavy fine on those using plastic bags
        (E) None of these

 

9. Which of the following is not true in context of the passage?
        (A) Some countries have stopped providing free plastic bags to customers to discourage the use of plastic
        (B) The bio-active compound along with swelling agents ensure that plastic is neutralized in the presence of heat and moisture
        (C) Many plastic products do not undergo toxicological test
        (D) Being durable, plastic creates a lot of waste
        (E) All are true

Ans:  8. C   9. E.

 

10. Although harmful at extreme temperature, why does USEPA recommend transport of eatables and medicines in plastic bags?
         (A) Plastic bag generate less greenhouse gases which would react chemically with medicines, thus producing adverse effect in body
          (B) Plastic bags are more sterile than other available options
          (C) Plastic products pass through a number of toxicological testings
          (D) Plastic bags are easily degraded and thus cause less harm to environment
          (E) None of these
Ans:  A.

 

Directions (Q. 11–13): Choose the word/group of words which is/ are most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

 

11. persisting
(A) troubling        (B) enduring       (C) resisting    (D) damaging   (E) harassing

 

12. exacerbating
(A) executing        (B) influencing   (C) worsening (D) addressing   (E) declining
Ans: 11. B;   12. C.  

 

13. drain
(A) sewer          (B) waste        (C) deplete    (D) give out (E) outlet
Ans:  13.  D.

 

Directions (Q. 14–15): Choose the word which is most opposite in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

 

14. dismal
(A) Encouraging       (B) Prosperous    (C) Glad    (D) Generous   (E) Respectful

 

15. compressed
(A) Extended           (B) Amplified        (C) Diffused    (D) Intensified    (E) Expanded

Ans:   14.  A.        15. E.

Posted Date : 09-03-2023

గమనిక : ప్రతిభ.ఈనాడు.నెట్‌లో కనిపించే వ్యాపార ప్రకటనలు వివిధ దేశాల్లోని వ్యాపారులు, సంస్థల నుంచి వస్తాయి. మరి కొన్ని ప్రకటనలు పాఠకుల అభిరుచి మేరకు కృత్రిమ మేధస్సు సాంకేతికత సాయంతో ప్రదర్శితమవుతుంటాయి. ఆ ప్రకటనల్లోని ఉత్పత్తులను లేదా సేవలను పాఠకులు స్వయంగా విచారించుకొని, జాగ్రత్తగా పరిశీలించి కొనుక్కోవాలి లేదా వినియోగించుకోవాలి. వాటి నాణ్యత లేదా లోపాలతో ఈనాడు యాజమాన్యానికి ఎలాంటి సంబంధం లేదు. ఈ విషయంలో ఉత్తర ప్రత్యుత్తరాలకు, ఈ-మెయిల్స్ కి, ఇంకా ఇతర రూపాల్లో సమాచార మార్పిడికి తావు లేదు. ఫిర్యాదులు స్వీకరించడం కుదరదు. పాఠకులు గమనించి, సహకరించాలని మనవి.

 

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