Reading Comprehension Test Series 1

PASSAGE-1

WORD COUNT: 600

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Our methods are based on principles of learning. Reading is assimilation-learning- and

all learning is a digestive process. But the mind can digest only so much at a time and
no more. If the reader goes twice as fast, he assimilates half as much. If he reduces his
speed by half, he assimilates twice as much. What, one might ask then, is the point of
reading faster? It seems to take as long, in the end, in relation to the amount of
information that is assimilated, unless we skim through our reading matter.
Any approach which emphasis speed and ignores efficiency has no effective answer to
this. But let us consider the position in the light of efficiency. As there is no possibility of
increasing the rate at which the brain can clear Information, the aim must be to
increase the efficiency of reading; to make the fullest possible use of the readers
capacity and to avoid wasting it. The evidence is unmistakable; there is an enormous
waste of capacity; some of the most able people are among the least efficient readers.
This is largely the result of a technical problem of communication between author and
reader by means of the printed word; and from this problem come the main obstacles to
efficient reading. This is what happens:
First- the problem of communication. The writer, or for that matter, the speaker,
conceives his thought whole, as a unity, but must express it in a line of words; the
reader, or listener must take this line of symbols and from it reconstruct the original
wholeness of thought. There is little difficulty in oral communication, because the
listener receives innumerable cues from the physical expressions of the speaker; there
is a dialogue, and the listener can out in at any time. The advantage of group discussion
is that people can overcome linear sequences of words by examining ideas from
different perspectives; which makes for wholeness of thought. But the reader is
confronted by line upon line of printed symbols, without benefit of physical tone and
vocal emphasis or the possibility of dialogue or discussion. In his very eagerness to
master the technical problem, he is prone to memorise, concentrating on the words
themselves, looking at them instead of looking for their meaning: and to the extent that
he uses this most inefficient method of learning, his capacity is wasted.
Second assimilation is an active process of relating new information to existing
knowledge. If, by memorising, the reader turns his mind into a passive receptacle for
printed words, he cannot use his existing knowledge and his capacity is wasted.
Third because the rate at which the brain can clear information is limited, the reader
must, if he is to read efficiently, vary his reading speed, taking more time where the
work is heavy and less time where it is light. Reading, therefore requires a wide range
of speed. Readers in general seem to become subdued by the printed word and are not
nearly flexible enough in their speed: some appear to have only one speed, whatever
their knowledge of the subject or the difficulty of the material. This inflexibility wastes
capacity.

Last, if the reader becomes passive, he is inclined to mistake or ignore his purpose. Lack
of purpose is a great waste of capacity.
Our aim, therefore, is efficient reading. It is, perhaps, comforting for the reader to know
that his eyes need no training: quick results would certainly not be possible if he had to
increase his visual capacity. Although the purpose of everyday reading is complex, the
requisite skills are not difficult to acquire and the reader can expect quick
improvements.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. According to the author, efficient reading implies all the following, except:
(a) purposeful reading.
(b) varying reading speed.
(c) increasing visual capacity.
(d) spending more time on difficult reading matter.
2. Passivity in reading is frequently the cause of:
(a) lack of purpose.
(b) difficulty in assimilation.
(c) technical problem caused by communication.
(d) attempting to memorise communication.
3. The essence of assimilation is:
(a) varying the reading speed.
(b) overcoming the technical problems caused by the printed word.
(c) taking as much information as the brain can clear.
(d) relating new information to existing knowledge.
4. According to the author, people efficient in other spheres of activity, generally:
(a) read efficiently.
(b) are inefficient as readers.
(c) are slow readers.
(e) none of the above.
5. The technical problems of communication in conversation are fewer than those that
exist between the author and the reader because:
(a) spoken words are live while printed ones are mare symbols.
(b) the listener does not have to reconstruct the original wholeness of thought
(c) the listener can easily establish are linear sequence of ideas
(d) the listener gets many cues from the physical expressions of the speaker.

PASSAGE-2

WORD COUNT: 650

aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

For many Europeans, India evoked a picture of Maharajas, snake-charmers, and the
rope-trick. This has lent both allure and romanticism to things Indian. But in the last
couple of decades, with the increasing reference to India as an economically
underdevelopment country, the image of India as a vital, pulsating land has begun to
emerge from the fog of Maharajas, snake-charmers, and the rope-trick. The Maharajas

are now fast disappearing and the rope-trick was at best a hallucination. Only the snakecharmers remains: generally an ill-fed man who risks his life to catch a snake, remove
its poisonous fangs, and make it sway to the movement of the gourd pipe; and all this
in the hope of the occasional coin to feed him, his family, and the snake.
In the imagination of Europe, India had always been the fabulous land of untold wealth
and mystical happenings, with more than just a normal share of wise men. From the
gold-digging ants to the philosophers who lived naked in the forests, these were all part
of the picture which the ancient Greeks had of the Indians and this image persisted
throughout many centuries. It might be more charitable not to destroy it, but to
preserve it would mean the perpetuation of myth.
Wealth in India, as in every other ancient culture was limited to the few. Mystical
activities were also the preoccupation of but a handful of people. It is true; however,
that acceptance of such activities was characteristic of the majority. Whereas in some
other cultures the rope-trick would have been ascribed to the promptings of the devil
and all reference to it suppressed, in India it has regarded with amused benevolence.
The fundamental sanity of Indian civilization has been due to an absence of Satan.
The association of India with wealth, magic, and wisdom remained current for many
centuries. But this attitude began to change in the nineteenth century when Europe
entered the modern age, and the lack of enthusiasm for Indian culture in certain
circles became almost proportionate to the earlier over-enthusiasm. It was now
discovered that India had none of the qualities which the new Europe admired. There
was apparently no stress on the values of rational thought and individualism. Indias
culture was a stagnant culture and was regarded with supreme disdain, an attitude
perhaps best typified in Macaulays contempt for things Indian. The political
institutions of India, visualized largely as the rule of the Maharajas and Sultans, were
dismissed as despotic and totally unrepresentative of public opinion. And this, in an age
of democratic revolutions, was about the worst of sins.
Yet, a contrary attitude emerged from amongst a small section of European scholars
who had discovered India largely through its ancient philosophy and its literature in
Sanskrit. This attitude deliberately stressed the non-modern, non-utilitarian aspects of
Indian culture, where the existence of a continuity of religion of over three thousand
years was acclaimed; and where it was believed that the Indian pattern of life was so
concerned with metaphysics and the subtleties of religious belief that there was no
time for the mundane things of life. German romanticism was the most vehement in
its support of this image of India: a vehemence which was to do as much damage to
India as Macaulays rejection of Indian culture. India now became the mystic land for
many Europeans, where even the most ordinary actions were imbued with symbolism.
India was the genesis of the spiritual East, and also, incidentally, the refuge of European
intellectuals seeking escape from their own pattern of life. A dichotomy in values was
maintained, Indian values being described as spiritual and European values as
materialistic, with little attempt at placing these supposedly spiritual values in the
context of Indian society (which might have led to some rather disturbing results). This
thing was taken up by a section of Indian thinkers during the last hundred years and

became a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its inability to compete with the
technical superiority of Britain.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. A suitable title of the passage would be
(a) How India has lost its glory?
(b) Ancient India: A mere hallucination.
(c) Changing approaches to Indian History.
(d) Only the snake -charmer remains.
2. With the passage which set of contrasting ideas we can best relate to?
(a) East :West
(b) Modern : Ancient
(c) Myth : Modernity
(d) Materialism: Spiritualism
3. The
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

author maintains that

The West is justified in its views about India
India is a land of uncountable riches
India is a land of snake-charmers
In ancient India wealth was in the hands of a lucky few.

4. In the phrase Only the snake charmer remains ,the author suggests that
(a) Indian mysticism is going down to its bottom level
(b) Due to entering in the modern age and independently forming a democratic
political system, India has lost its great Maharajas; and from the past its only the snake
charmer that remains.
(c) Economically, from the ancient age to the modern era, India is under a decadence.
(d) An ill-fed man in India still risks his life for living.
5. The author personally feels that
(a) India can compete western materialism and technical superiority with its divine
spiritualism.
(b) Indian mysticism and rituals which was greatly associated with black magic, had a
divine image in the peoples mind, because Indian mythology never had a distinct face
of an evil-supremo.
(c) Due to the great background of magic in its history, India always has the best
magician on earth.
(d) Indian metaphysics and philosophy is the ultimate refuge for the war-stricken
materialistic modern Europe.
6. The passage says
(a)
(b)
the
(c)
(d)

Indian Maharajas and Sultans were very popular among the masses.
Romanticism always has been the feature which motivates the interest in India to
Europeans.
Sanskrit is still a relevant language.
Europeans are generally escapists.

EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-3

WORD COUNT: 110

aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he
keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men and one should always
live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men. A good book may be among
the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is
the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times
of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and
interesting us in youth, comforting and consoling us in age.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. According to the writer, A man may usually be known by the books he reads, because
(a) His reading habits shows that he is a scholar.
(b) The books he reads affect his thinking and character.
(c) Books provide him a lot of knowledge.
(d) His selection of books generally reveals his temperament and character.
2. Which of the following statements is not true?
(a) Good books as well as good men always provide the finest company.
(b) A good book never betrays us.
(c) We have sometimes to be patient with a book as it may bore us.
(d) A good book serves as a permanent friend.
3. The statement, A good book may be among the best friends, in the middle of the
passage means that
(a) There cannot be a better friend than a good book.
(b) Books may be good friends, but not better than good men.
(c) A good book can be included among the best friends of mankind.
(d) Our best friends read the same good books.
4. Which of the following is opposite in meaning to the word adversity occurring in the
passage?
(a) happiness
(b) prosperity
(c) progress
(d) misfortune
5. Which one of the following would be the most suitable title for the passage?
(a) Books show the readers character.
(b) Books as mans abiding friends.
(c) Books are useful for our youth.
(d) The importance of books in old age.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-4

WORD COUNT: 120

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

The same high mental faculty which first led man to believe in unseen spiritual
agencies, then in fetishism, polytheism, and ultimately in monotheism, would
infallibly lead him, as long as his reasoning power remained poorly developed, to
various strange superstitions and customs. Many of them are terrible to think of,
such as the sacrifice of human beings to a blood-loving God; the trial of innocent
persons by the ordeal of poison or fire, witchcraft, devil worship, necromancy- yet it is
well occasionally to reflect on these superstitions, these conjurations of diabolic
occult powers, for they show us what an infinite debt of gratitude we owe for the
improvement of our reasons to science, and to the accumulated knowledge science
has granted us.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1.

The author of the passage would most likely agree with which one/two or three of
the following statements?
A.
Monotheism motivated people to the sacrifice of human beings.
B.
Monotheism evolved with the development of the intellect.
C.
Polytheism preceded the belief in unseen spiritual forces.
(a) Only A
(b) Only B
(c) Only C
(d) A and B only
(e) All the three
2.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers the kind of
underdeveloped reasoning described in the passage to be a cause of
(a) apathy.
(b) spontaneity.
(c) barbarity.
(d) skepticism.
(e) lethargy.

3.
Human belief in superstitions can effectively be countered only by
(a) the high mental faculties.
(b) underdeveloped reasoning powers.
(c) sympathy for the innocents.
(d) witchcraft and devil worship.
(e) None of these.
4.
If the above passage is the core part of an article, the best title of that could be
(a) Witchcraft.
(b) Theology.
(c) Scientific method.
(d) Anthropology.
(e) Organic Evolution.
5.
According to the passage, we are indebted to science for our
(a) original intellectual capacity.
(b) belief in fetishism.
(c) development of laws to protect the innocent.
(d) liberation from irrational primitive beliefs.
(e) powers of conjurations.
6.

According to the passage, mans belief in unseen spiritual powers can largely be
attributed to

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

Monotheism.
Polytheism.
Fetishism.
Witchcraft.
Under-developed reasoning power

Directions (Qs. 7-8): Pick out the word which is nearly SAME in meaning as the word
printed in the capitals as used in the context of the passage.
7.

CONJURATIONS
(a) invoking
(b) appeasement
(c) withdrawal
(d) sentiments
(e) demands

8.

LED
(a) forced
(b) desired
(c ) appealed
(d) made
(e) followed
Directions (Qs 9-10): Pick out the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning as the
word printed in capitals as used in the context of the passage.

9.
INFALLIBLY
(a) erringly
(b) certainly
(c) indefinitely
(d) uncompromisingly
(e) clearly
10. ORDEAL
(a) trial
(b) felicitation
(c) calamity
(d) endowment
(e) gift
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-5

WORD COUNT: 120

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Throughout recorded history, India was celebrated for her fine textiles, her muslins and
brocades of silver and gold. As a matter of fact, there is evidence that her textile
industry goes back at least five thousand years, for Indian muslins were found wrapped

around mummies in Egyptian pyramids dating back to 3000 BC. The ancient Indian iron
and steel industry was equally famous. The well-known Damascus steel for swords and
armour used in the Crusades came from India. Thus in countless industries and crafts,
the Indian craftsman, worker, builder and artist created and prospered, and their found
favour both at home and abroad. And then political disintegration and foreign conquest
closed the long golden chapter of Indians advancement and creative achievement.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. That India had a flourishing textile industry in the past is proved by the fact that
(a) India produced muslins and brocades of silver and gold.
(b) The country was already famous for its fine textiles.
(c) The industry claims it be five thousand years old.
(d) Indian muslins were used for covering Egyptian mummies in3000 BC.
2. According to the writer, the ancient Indian iron and steel industry was famous because
(a) Indian supplied swords and armour to Damascus.
(b) India provided steel with which swords and armour were made for Crusaders.
(c) Indian steel was famous among those fighting the Crusades.
(d) Products of iron and steel were shipped to Damascus from India.
3. Which one of the following statements is not true?
(a) There is a long history of excellence that the Indian craftsman had achieved in
various crafts.
(b) Creations of Indian craftsman brought to them prosperity.
(c) Even after foreign conquest, these crafts ensured Indias industrial progress.
(d) Indian crafts died out due to political division of the country.
4. Which of the following is opposite in meaning to the word advancement occurring
in the passage?
(a) Deterioration
(b) backwardness
(c) Poverty
(d) failure
5. Which one of the following would be the most suitable title for the passage?
(a) The Rise and Fall of Indian Crafts.
(b) Indias Textile Industry.
(c) Indian Iron and Steel Industry in the Past.
(d) Indian Exports in the Ancients Times.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-6

WORD COUNT: 155

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Until he was ten, young Alexander Fleming attended the nearby Loudoun Moor School.
Ha was then transferred to Darvel School which he attended with his brothers.
Alexander learned a good deal about nature during that four-mile downhill hike to
school and the four-mile uphill return trip. He was a quick student and at twelve, the age
limit prescribed for Darvel School, he was sent to Kilmarmock Academy. Two years later,
he joined his brothers John and Robert at the home of his elder brother Thomas, who
was to become a successful oculist in London. However, the economic success of the
family was yet to be, and Alexander was forced to leave school for economic reasons.
When he was sixteen, he obtained a job in a shipping company. Good fortune, however,
was on his side and on the side of humanity. In 1901, he received a share in a legacy
which made it possible for him to return to school. He decided to study medicine.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. Alexander trekked.. miles every day to attend Darvel School.
(a) four
(b) eight
(c) twelve
(d) unknown.
2.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

He was a quick student. This means that Alexander

reached school before his brothers
reached the school-leaving age.
was a lively student too soon.
was a fast learner

3.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Alexander became rich

by working in a shipping company
when his brother became a successful oculist
because he studied medicine
by receiving his share in a legacy

4. .and at twelve, the age limit prescribed for Darvel School This, in the
context, means that children were
(a) not admitted to the school before they are twelve
(b) admitted to the school at the age of twelve
(c) allowed to remain in the school only up to the age of twelve
(d) admitted to the school any time after the age of twelve
5. The world legacy in the context means
(a) lottery.
(b) goodwill money.
(c) inheritance.
(d) legal payment.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-7

WORD COUNT: 235

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

My first duty is to congratulate those who, by hard work and disciplined effort, obtained
their degrees today. I will be unfair to myself and to you if I should promise you
glittering prizes or comfortable positions. The times ahead of us are of a very difficult
character. The movements which took place in other countries during a span of
centuries have all occurred here more or less simultaneously telescoped, so to say,
in these few years in our country. We have won political independence. But it is not to
be regarded as giving us complete freedom. There are ever so many other things which
required to be fulfilled if this first step is to be regarded as a preparation for the
liberation of this great land. If we wish to follow up political revolution by a social and
economic one, our universities must sent out batches of scientists, technicians,
engineers, agriculturists, etc. These are essential for changing the face of our country,
the economic character of our society. But we should not believe that science and
technology alone are enough. There are other countries, much advance countries in the
world, which have achieved marvelous progress in the scientific and technological site,
but yet they are torn by strife and they are unable to bring about peace, safety and
security of their own people. It only shows that other qualities are also necessary
besides those develop by science and technology.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. The word simultaneously in the context means
(a) in a confused manner
(b) in a jumbled way
(c) at the same time
(d) one after another
2. The speaker makes no promises because
(a) no one wants comfortable positions
(b) there is going to be a political revolution
(c) he cannot afford to give them prizes
(d) the future is not very easy
3. The word telescoped in the context means
(a) happened together in a short time.
(b) as if seen through a telescope.
(c) Put out of sight.
(d) Put one against the other.
4. A social and economic revolution is possible if
(a) we understand the full implications of political revolutions.
(b) universities send our scientists and technologists.
(c) students learn sociology and economics.
(d) we want to change of the face of the country.
5. The experience of advanced countries shows that
(a) peace and security are unnecessary.
(b) Engineers and technicians are a must.
(c) Something more than scientific progress is necessary.
(d) Something other marvelous advancement is necessary.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

10

PASSAGE-8

WORD COUNT: 120

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

I must find a hiding place, he thought, and in the next few seconds or I am done for.
Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind than the lane took a sudden turning so that
he found himself hidden from his pursuers. There are circumstances in which the least
energetic of man- kind learn to act with speed and decision; and the most cautious
forget their care. This was such an occasion for Rehmat Ali and those who knew him
best would have been the most astonished at the lads boldness. He stopped dead,
threw the box of jewellery over a garden wall and, leaping upwards with incredible
lightness, he seized the top of the wall with his hands and tumbled headlong into the
garden.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. The passage shows Rehmat Ali to be
(a) bold and active.
(b) lazy and indecisive.
(c) slow and steady.
(d) a person of reflective nature.
1. There are circumstances in which the least energetic of mankind learn to act with
speed and decision, and the most cautious for get their care. Rehmat Ali illustrates this
(a) by jumping into the garden.
(b) by running away from his pursuers.
(c) by stopping dead.
(d) by turning into a lane.
2. In this passage, Rehmat Ali could be
(a) a policeman.
(b) a burglar.
(c)
a jogger
(d) a hunter.
4. Rehmat Ali found himself hidden from his pursuers because
(a) he had acted with speed and decision.
(b) he had gone round an unexpected bend.
(c) he had stopped dead.
(d) his pursuers could not run fast enough.
5. The expression to stop dead means
(a) to die suddenly
(b) to be close to death
(c) to be paralyzed
(d) to stop suddenly
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

11

PASSAGE-9

WORD COUNT: 110

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the stand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains, round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. From the poem, one can infer that Ozymandias was:
(a) A tyrant.
(b) A megalomaniac.
(c) A benign ruler.
(d) A visionary.
2. Which of the following expressions could be considered as the central theme of the
poem?
(a) Pride goes before a fall.
(b) Time and tide wait for no man.
(c) Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
(d) None of the above.
3. Why are Ozymandias works no longer there for all to see?
(a) Ozymandias never constructed any great monuments or structures.
(b) Construction in a desert is never permanent.
(c) His works could not stand the vagaries of time.
(d) Like his statue his other creations were demolished by his opponents.
4. The attitude of the traveller towards Ozymandias is one of:
(a) Pity.
(b) Deference.
(c) Derision.

12

(d) Indifference.
5. The term visage implies:
(a) Image.
(b) Vision.
(c) Face.
(d) Bust.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-10

WORD COUNT: 670

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Then the British came. They came not simply as men but as the symbol of the new spirit
of Europe. The British advent is a strange episode in our history. On the personal plane
these newcomers remained farther away from us than the Muslims, but as emissaries
of The European spirit they made a contact with us wider and deeper than that of all
their predecessors. The dynamism of Europe made a vigorous assault on our stagnant
minds- it acted like the torrents of rain that strike into the dry under- earth, give it vital
stirrings and bring forth new life. There had been the same kind of dynamism in the
immense surge of the Renaissance washing out of Italy, overflowing the whole
continent. Its rich, varied effects were nowhere regarded as hurtful to national prestige.
Receptive minds must absorb the richness of new thought; the cross currents of giveand-take flow fast at the points where the intellect is alive and awake.
The spirit of the modern age has cast its radiance from the western horizon
illuminating the entire span of world history. The mind of Europe, under some
tremendous urge, has projected itself into every corner of the earth. Wherever it has
gone it has made conquests. And what is the secret of its power? The answer is to be
found in the integrity of its pursuit of truth. It has not been deluded by the intellectual
lethargy, illusive fancy, superficial resemblances, or the echoing of the age-old wisdom.
It has sternly controlled the easy temptation to accept what instinct urges man to
believe. It has not tried to adapt truth to the needs of individual thinking. With stern
avowal of reason, with freedom from personal bias, it has annexed new areas to its
domain of knowledge, day by day.
Here in India we are still conditioned by our surrender to the fatalism of the almanac,
but there are gaps in our walls through which the European spirit has forced itself to our
inner yard. It has brought us the great gift of knowledge in its universal aspects. It has
wakened us to the all pervasive inquiry of the intellect, keenly seeking to probe into the
innermost nature of whatever is near at hand or far away, whether big or small, whether
of practical or of theoretical value. It has demonstrated that knowledge is indivisible and
the one unbreakable thread that runs through all phenomena. For it, no prevalent
dictum, even if hoary with age and sanctity, can override the testimony of even the
least of natural happenings.
As with the physical world, so with the moral. Among the doctrines of the new age that
have come to us is the one that makes all men equal before the law. Whether a Brahmin
kills a low-caste Sudra or a Sudra kills a Brahmin, it is murder all the same, and calls for
the same punishment. No ancient injunction in this regard can sway the scales of
justice.
Revolutionary changes have come in our thoughts and attitudes. This is evident in the
proposition that those whom social usage has decreed to be untouchables should be
given the right to enter temples. There is still a section of the orthodox who seek to

13

justify the temple entry of the casteless on scriptural sanctions, and not moral grounds:
but such lopsided advocacy makes little impression. The inner voice of the people has
begun to tell them that neither the scriptures nor tradition nor the force of personality
can set a wrong right; the moral standpoint alone counts.
The suddenness with which we stepped out of one era into another with its new
meaning and values! In our own home, in our neighborhood and community, there was
still no deep awareness of human rights, human dignity, and class-equality. Amid the
contradictions of the day there was our ambiguous attitude to science. Even while
science knocked at our door, the scared almanac with its star readings held its ground.
All the same, the impact on us of the western cult of region was real.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

1. According to the author:

(a) The British, as emissaries of the European spirit, made a vigorous assault on our
stagnant minds; similar to the dynamism of the events surge of the Renaissance
washing out of Italy, overflowing the whole continent.
(b) The Britishers, on the personal plane came very close to us, like the Muslims did
and made wider and deeper contact with us than did any other predecessors.
(c) The British influence, however, was regarded by thoughtful minds as harmful to
national prestige.
(d) The British influence acted like the torrents of rain that strike into the dry underearth and wash away whatever lies in the path of its current.
1) a & b

2) a only

3) b& c

4) b only

2. The author says that:

(a) Wherever the West has gone, it has made conquests through power.
(b) The mind of Europe followed its pursuit of truth with integrity and has not tried
to adapt truth to the needs of individual thinking.
(c) In India we are still conditioned by our surrender to the fatalism of the almanac
and the European spirit could not force itself to our inner yard.
1) a only

2) b only

3) c only

4) a, b & c

3. According to the passage:

(a) Europe has brought us a great gift of knowledge in its universal aspects.
(b) Europe has demonstrated that knowledge is indivisible and the one unbreakable
thread that runs through all phenomenon.
(c) Europe has wakened us to all pervasive inquiry of the intellect , keenly seeking
to probe into the innermost nature of whatever is near at hand or far away whether of
practical or of theoretical value.
1) a only

2) b only

3) c only

4) a , b & c

4. According to the passage:

(a) In our own home there was no deep awareness of human rights, human dignity
and class equality.
(b) Even while science knocked at outdoor, the scared almanac with its starreadings held its ground.
(c) The impact on us of the western cult of region was real.

14

1) a only

2) a, b & c

3) a & b

4) b & c

5. Those who seek to justify measures like temple entry on scriptural grounds,
according to the author tend to ignore:
(a) Scriptures.
(b) Tradition
(c) Human dignity
(d) Moral grounds
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-11

WORD COUNT: 380

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Just over a decade ago, project Tiger was hailed as the success story for the
preservation of not just the big cats but also all other wildlife. When the project was
launched in 1973, the tiger population in the wilds had dropped to an alarming figure of
just 1,800 as compared to the estimates of 40,000 before Independence. Apart from
passing a stringent law banning the hunting of tigers, nine wildlife reserves were
established. A scientific management plan saw, among other things, core areas, free of
all human activity, being earmarked in each sanctuary. Regular patrolling by forest
guards dissuaded poachers. Most important was the level of political commitment, with
the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi personally taking interest and even hauling up
Forest Department officials for non-performance. More tiger reserves were soon
established and today there are 27 of them in the prime forests of India. Tiger
population in such reserves has grown from 268 when the project began to over 1,500
now. The overall tiger population in the wilds is put at 3,500.
Now all this is being undone rapidly. The missing tigers of Sariska are an ominous signal
that things are going terribly wrong in our wildlife preserves. Former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh rightly termed it as the biggest crisis in the management of our
wildlife, when he wrote to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje last week about
Sariska. He asked her to institute a high-level independent inquiry to identify the causes
and fix responsibility for the disappearance of the tigers. The prime minister did well to
focus the searchlight on the Union Ministry of Environment apart from the other state
ministries involved in the management of wildlife. Political commitment at all levels is
the key and any revamp must begin from the top. Like Indira, the former prime
minister should make preserving wildlife his personal mission and get the chief
ministers of concerned states to get the massage. Also as wildlife conservationist Ullas
Karanth says, What needs to change is the self-denial approach by ministry and forest
officials who continue to maintain that nothing is wrong. The prime minister should call
for a total review of all wildlife preserves on an urgent basis and take remedial
measures. If we dont do this soon enough the roar of the tiger in Indian forests may
echo only in Kiplings books.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

15

1. According to the passage, preserving wildlife as a personal mission was taken by:
(a) Vasundhara Raje.
(b) Indira Gandhi.
(c) Manmohan Singh.
(d) Officials of the Ministry of Forest, India.
2. Project Tiger was a success story in the beginning because of
(a) Passing a stringent law banning the hunting of tigers.
(b) Political commitment.
(c) Scientific management plan.
(d) All the above.
3. The number of prime forest of India is
(a) 268.
(b) 1500.
(c) 27.
(d) None of the above.
4. Things are going terribly wrong in the wildlife preserves mainly because of
(a) Miss-management of the forest department and political aloofness.
(b) Poaching.
(c) Massive de-forestation.
(d) Wildlife is not supposed to survive in modern age.
5. According to the passage tiger population is maximum
(a) In Sariska.
(b) In the natural forests of India.
(c) In the reserve forest of India.
(d) In the natural forests of India in 1970s.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-12

WORD COUNT: 825

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

Just-in-time (JIT), a production method developed in Japan, has assumed some of the
mystique of an oriental philosophy. Much of it is plain common sense- as more
American and European companies are discovering to their benefit.
General Motors, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, and Black & Decker are among
the big American companies that have adopted Just-in-Time production methods.
European companies are joining them, Britains state-owned Rover Group is the latest
recruit. Its car division has announced that preferred suppliers will get long-term
contracts to prove the bits which make up more than half of its production costs.
A close relationship with suppliers- often called co-manufacturing- is one of about 40 JIT
techniques, not all of which are made-in-Japan. Marks & Spencer, a successful British
retailing group, has been closely tied to its suppliers since the 1920s, when it
recognized that mass manufacturing and mass retailing had somehow to be linked
together.

16

But Toyota is accredited with systematizing JIT. The Japanese carmaker defines it as the
reduction of cost through the elimination of waste. It spread throughout Japan in the
1970s as a logical way to manage a large flow of materials. Materials do not increase in
value unless they are being processed. So profits are increased when inventory and
safety buffer stocks are reduced or replaced by small, frequent deliveries.
Unlike automation, JIT is not capital intensive, Mr. Chris Voss, the professor of
manufacturing policy and strategy at Britains University of Warwick, reckons that the
average manufacturing company puts three-quarters of its effort into reducing labour
costs, which often represent no more than 10 percent of its total costs, instead of
concentrating on materials, which can represent more than half its costs.
One of JITs core techniques is called kanban- Japanese for shop sign. Suppliers identify
their materials by attaching cards showing their particulars signs. When a card is
returned from a factory, the supplier knows it is time to make another delivery.
Many companies claim that the development of JIT into a powerful management system
has brought them rapid success. A small but typical example is Tektronix, a leading
American manufacturer of oscilloscopes. It introduced JIT two years ago at its British
plant. Last year, Tektronix UK launched a low-cost oscilloscope designed in-house to
compete with cheap machines imported from Asia. It can make the new oscilloscope in
seven hours with JIT, compared with the 35 hours it takes with the pre-JIT approach. The
value of the work in progress flowing through its factory at Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire
is down from 2.4 mn ($ 3.9 mn) to 400,000; the lead time of suppliers is down from
25 weeks to 12 weeks. Mr. Guan Tan, Tektronix UKs general manager , says this
revolution involved a lot of tem work.
JIT does more than reduce inventory. It requires some companies fundamentally to
change their ways. Rather than maximize output and machine performance to produce
as much as possible, JIT involves making only as much as is needed, when it is required.
It is a demand pull rather than a supply push system.
A factory may have to be physically reorganized around machines working in clusters.
As this suits robots and automated assembly cells , JIT can ease the introduction of new
manufacturing technology. At IBMS Havant plant in Britain , JIT and computer-integrated
manufacturing built large disc-file storage systems .The plant claims an eightfold
increase in revenue per employee and a five fold reduction in manufacturing time. BM
has made the plant its worldwide supplier.
Employees have to take on greater responsibilities, particularly for quality, with
authority to stop the production line-something that would have been anathema to the
first Henry Ford. Toyota workers stop their line up to 18 times in an eight-hour ship to
prevent shoddy workmanship passing through.
Quality is improved by infecting suppliers with the JIT philosophy. At the Buick City plant
of General Motors at Flint in Michigan, near by suppliers are encouraged.The plant has
cut the number of its suppliers by about half to 560. Deliveries are made to 22 receiving
locations, none of which is more than 300 feet away from any part of the assembly line.
Technology makes orders fast and paperless. Electronic Data System, a subsidiary of
GM, has 98%of its suppliers shipping locations linked into the plants computer.
Simplicity is essential Standardization and reducing components saves materials and
makes automation easier. At Hewlett-Packards Colorado plant, circuit boards are

17

designed with JIT ( and robots) in mind. It is then easier and quicker when using the
boards to introduce new products and maintain a flexible manufacturing system.
The volume of materials through a factory is reduced by JIT, making bottlenecks and
other problems more visible .A favorite analogy is with water in a river. When the level
of water falls, rocks start to appear. The rocks can then be removed rather than hit. It
can, for instance, become plain that it is pointless automating a warehouse because the
warehouse itself is unnecessary.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. The primary purpose of the passage is:
(a) To laud the Japanese for giving the JIT concept to the world.
(b) To stress the importance of Japanese information technology in modern industry.
(c) To make the third world aware of the benefits of the Japanese information
technology.
(d) To describe Just-in-time technique and its effectiveness in practice.
2. According to the passage, JIT operates through each of the following techniques
except by:
(a) Co-manufacturing.
(b) Reducing the industrys dependence on suppliers.
(c) The shop sign technique.
(d) Standardization.
3. The main reason why JIT has become successful is that:
(a) It has assumed some of the mystique of an oriental philosophy.
(b) It focuses on materials, instead of labour and paves the way for automation.
(c) Under JIT, employees have to take on greater responsibility.
(d) It simplifies communication procedures and introduces innovations in information
technology.
4. Stopping the production line would have been an anathema to Henry Ford and his
likes because:
(a) They did not like employees to take independent decisions.
(b) They were not at all bothered about quality.
(c) Their main objective was efficient production.
(d) At that time industrial labor was not organized.
5. Of the following, the most obvious result of the successful introduction of JIT is:
(a) Maximization of output.
(b) A closer relationship with suppliers.
(c) Reduced inventories.
(d) Improved quality.
6. It can be inferred that a supply push method of production is likely to lay the most
emphasis on:
(a) Producing just about enough to meet the demand.
(b) Maximized production.
(c) Use maximum capacity.
(d) Cut labor costs.
7. Which of the following best illustrates the point of the analogy mentioned in the
concluding part of the passage? When the material flow is less you can:

18

(a) Solve the problems

(b) See the problems clearly.
(c) Implement the JIT more effectively
(d) Do away with unnecessary facilities.
8. Which one of the following is the least conspicuous benefits of the introduction of JIT?
(a) Less paper work
(b) Increased production
(c) Increased quality consciousness.
(d) Fewer number of components.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE 13

WORD COUNT: 470

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

MARK HUGHES is a master of fine art of survival. His Los Angeles-based Herbal life
International Inc. is a pyramid outfit that paddles weight-loss and nutrition concoctions
of dubious value. Bad publicity and regulatory crackdowns hurt his US business in the
late 1980s. But Hughes, 41, continues to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle in a $ 20 million
Beverly Hills mansion. He has been sharing the pad and a yacht with his third wife, a
former Miss Petite U.S.A. He can finance his lavish lifestyle just on his salary and bonus,
which last came to $7.3 million.
He survived his troubles in the U.S while moving overseas, where regulators are less
jealous and consumers even more nave, at least initially. Today 77% of Herbal life retail
sales derived from overseas. Its new prowling grounds: Asia and Russia. Last year herbal
lifes net earnings doubled, to $45 million , on net sales of $632 million .Based on Herbal
lifes Nasdaq-traded stock, the company has a market capitalization of $790 million,
making Hughes 58% worth $454 million.
There is a warm, though, in Hughess apple. Foreigners are not stupid .In the end day
they know when they have been had. In France, for instance, retail sales rose to $97
million BY 1993 and then plunged to $12 million last year. In Germany sales hit $159
million in 1994 and have since dropped to $54 million.
Perhaps aware that the world may not provide an infinity supply of suckers, Hughes
wanted to unload some of his shares. But in March, after Herbal lifes stock collapsed,
he put off a plan to dump about a third of his holdings on the public.
Contributing to Hughes woes, Herbal lifes chief counsel and legal attack dog, David
Addis, quit in January. Before packing up he reportedly bellowed at Hughes, I cant
protect you anymore. Addis, who says that he wants to spend more time with his
family, chuckles and claims attorney-client privilege.
Trouble on the home front, too. On a recent conference call with distributors, Hughes
revealed hes divorcing his wife, Suzan, whose beaming and perky image adorns much
of Herbal lifes literature.
Meanwhile in a lawsuit thats been quietly moving through Arizonas Superior Court,
former Herbal life distributor Daniel Fallow of Sandpoint, Idaho charges that Herbal
lifes arbitrarily withholds payment to distributors and marks up its products over 7
times the cost of manufacturing. Fallow also claims Hughes wanted to us the Russian
mafia to gain entry to that nations market.

19

Fallow himself is no angel, but his lawsuit, which was posted on the internet, brought
out other complaints. Randy Cox of Lewiston, Idaho says Herbal life destroyed my
business after he and his wife complained to the company that they were being
cheated out of their money by higher ups in the pyramid organization.
Will Hughes survive again? Dont count on it this time.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Herbal life Inc. is based in:

Los Angeles
Columbus
New York
Austin

2.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Daniel Fallow:
Was a former attorney for Hughes
Was a former distributor of Herbal life
Co-founded Herbal life
Ran Herbal lifes German unit

3.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Which of the following countries is mentioned where Hughes operated Herbal life?
India
China
Germany
Ukraine

4.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

The complaint of Randy Cox of Lewiston, Idaho against Herbal life was:
The company did not pay them their dues
The products supplied by Hughes were inferior.
Their higher-ups in the pyramid cheated them
Hughes had connections with the Russian mafia

5.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

Which of the following countries is not mentioned in the passage?

Russia
USA
France
Italy

6.
the
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)

In the year which Hughes salary and bonuses came to US $7.3 million, what were
retail sales for?
$12 million
$632 million
$54 million
$97 million

7.
At the time when this article was written, if Herbal life had had a market
capitalization of $1 billion, what would have been Hughes share?
(a) $420 million
(b) $580 million
(c) $125 million
(d) $500 million

20

EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-14

WORD COUNT: 870

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

India has opened its legs and shut its mind. Now here is this phenomenon more
reflected than in contemporary films, television and theatre where the portrayal of
women has come a long way from the weeping mother and the doormat wife to the
bold, less-clothed heroine indulging premarital sex. The change, unfortunately, is just
superficial.
Self sacrificing, idealized virgins villainised whores. Tulsi or Komolika.Kareena Kapoor in
Aitraaz or Priyanka Chopra in Aitraaz .We have not moved beyond uni-dimensional
caricatures of unreal women in mainstream entertainment. The women is either
annoyingly self-righteous with a single-minded dedication to the well-being of the great
Indian family or wanton beast dressed in skimpy nothings and sleeping around with
married men. We cant seem to move beyond the bland archetypes to portray a
complex, living, breathing human trying to find a way to make the most of her one
chance at life at this earth.
To add insult to injury the portrayal of women in the contemporary arts has become
terribly unsophisticated. Remix videos with grotesque gyrations, sloppy onscreen
vulgarity and having an extramarital affair are not signs of evolution or the changing
Indian woman. If anything she is more of an object now than before because she is
constantly being used to sell everything from haute couture to washing machines. But
come time to talk about rape, dowry, AIDS, forced female circumcision, prostitution and
all sorts of violence meted out to women, and we clam up. We refuse to talk. We censor
ourselves. Worse, we censor others.
Globalization has exposed us to several influences. While we cold bloodedly steal plots,
scenes and even music from Hollywood, it will be decades before we make a movie like
Erin Brookovich or Million Dollar Baby. Sadly enough, even when women are offered
powerful roles, they prefer to stick to floozy, vacuous scraps. When we brought The
Vagina Monologues to India, the production team approached some well-known actors
and celebrities to play a part in the adaptation Eve Enslers path-finding play. These are
the women who wear skirts short enough to expose their private parts but refused to
act in a play that addresses the very essence of being a woman. The problem is the
stereo types are so deeply entrenched in popular culture that we have internalized
them long before we even realized it. The rare exceptions of films breaking all barriers
of conventional portrayal like Rajkumar Santoshis Lajja and Ajai Sinhas weekly show on
Zee TV Astitva are too few and far between.
Bollywood excuses itself claiming it is the agent of fantasy, but what excuse does
television have? One expects it to be true to life. While reality TV has made its way into
India, there is nothing real about the women on Indian television. Why are women in our
serials named after outdated mythological characters like Tulsi & Parvati ? Why does
every so called good woman have to be a Sita reincarnate and every ambitious woman
a force of destruction to be abhorred?
Every battle for equality, time and again, has proved that sometimes the worst
enemies come from within. Often women are the only ones holding other women back.
Someone like Ekta Kapoor has immense power to decide TV content. But she chooses to
continue with retrograde depictions of the Indian women. Whats worse? She belongs to

21

the young generation whose vivacity could have so much of an impact in leading the
change. People who have the power to change the thinking are not doing it as nobody
wants t take the risk because success, however shallow it may be, has to be emulated.
The result is an assembly line of soaps that piggy back on slugfests of wallflowers and
vamps.
While Bollywood and television have absolved themselves of any responsibility except
being moneymaking machines, theatre too is suffering from a dearth of good ideas.
Most plays are adaptations of old classics as there are few original screenplays. Theatre
has become sleazier with an abundance of frivolous, vulgar plays riddled with double
entendres .This is because corporate houses would rather give Rs 30 lakh for a fashion
show featuring anorexic models in undersized and overpriced clothes but will not give
Rs 6 10 lakh to put up 20 shows of a good play.
If art imitates life then something is definitely amiss here. Indian woman in real life are
progressing rapidly. Yet our contemporary arts do not reflect this progress at all. In fact,
we seem to be running away from life. It might have something to do with the fact that
the Indian Woman has evolved much faster than the Indian male post-liberalisation.
Hence the urge to rein her in and relegate her to the spot by the kitchen sink.
Ultimately, art becomes historya record of a particular place and time. It is sad that
through this record we continue to perpetuate the archetypal Indian woman as a
titillating showpiece. This may seem like a bleak picture of woman in contemporary art.
There are stray signs of hope but it will take many more years before we will
consistently see real and evolved woman in cinema, television and theatre. We may
have come a long way, baby. But oh, the distance we still have to go.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. The author believes
(a) Indian cinema is true to the Indian society
(b) Indian theatre is highly sensitive to the social awareness
(c) Indian TV serials are very much static and anti-revolutionary in their format
(d) Ekta Kapoor is an emblem of modern Indian woman
2. In the passage the authors tone is
(a) Against the Indian culture
(b) Against globalization
(c) Against vulgarity and obscenity in contemporary Indian arts
(d) Against money-oriented and money-seeking contemporary popular Indian Arts.
3. The author maintains that
(a) Globalization brings the good to Indian Art and Culture.
(b) Globalization has nothing to do with Indian Cinema.
(c) Globalization helps show Indian Cinema the path to make money in a cheap way.
(d) Globalization influences the Indian small screen producers to make soap operas like
Tulsi or Astitva.
4. According to the passage
(a) Astitva and Tulsi are in the same kind of TV serials.
(b) Popular art forms in India use Woman as an object to sell and make money.
(c) Bollywood movies are very popular in Europe.
(d) Contemporary Indian Art represents the generation next of India.

22

5. A suitable title for the passage would be:

(a) Unreel realty.
(b) The postmodern Indian Cinema.
(c) Tradition and Globalization.
(d) Contemporary Indian Art: An Imitation of Life.
6. According to the passage:
(a) The women in Indian mainstream cinema do not represent the Indian women in
realty.
(b) The corporate houses are more eager to invest money for the carnal exposure of
women-flesh than a good realistic drama.
(c) There is a very rare hope that the position of women in Indian cinemas would
change.
(d) All the above.
7. The tone of the author in the passage
(a) Charming and optimistic.
(b) Completely depressing.
(c) Critical and anxious.
(d) Cynical and critical.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-15

WORD COUNT: 720

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

aprx

The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other
philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that
the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! What does this mad myth signify?
Putting it negatively, the myth of eternal return states that a life which disappears once
and for all, which does not return, is like a shadow, without weight, dead in advance,
and whether it was horrible, beautiful, or sublime, its horror, sublimity and beauty mean
nothing. We need take no more note of it than of a war between two African kingdoms
in the fourteenth century, a war that altered nothing in the destiny of the world, even if
a hundred thousand blacks perished in excruciating torment.
Will the war between two African kingdoms in the fourteenth century itself be altered if
it recurs again and again, in eternal return?
It will: it will become a solid mass, permanently protuberant, its inanity irreparable.
If the French Revolution were to recur eternally, French historians would be less proud of
Robespierre. But because they deal with something that will not return, the bloody years
of the Revolution have turned into mere words, theories and discussions- have become
lighter than feathers, frightening no one. There is an infinite difference between a
Robespierre who occurs only once in history and a Robespierre who eternally returns,
chopping of French heads.
Let us therefore agree that the idea of eternal return implies a perspective from which
things appear other than as we know them: they appear without the mitigating
circumstance of their transitory nature. This mitigating circumstance prevents us
from coming to a verdict. For how can we condemn something that is ephemeral, in

23

transit? In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of

nostalgia, even the guillotine.
Not long ago, I caught myself experiencing a most incredible sensation. Leafing through
a book on Hitler, I was touched by some of his portraits: they reminded of my childhood.
I grew up during the war; several members of my family perished in Hitlers
concentration camps: but what were their deaths compared with the memories of a lost
period in my life, a period that would never return?
This reconciliation with Hitler reveals the profound moral perversity of a world that
rests essentially on the nonexistence of return, for in this world everything is pardoned
in advance and therefore everything cynically permitted.
If every second of our lives recurs an infinite number of times, we are nailed to eternity
as Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross. It is a terrifying prospect. In the world of eternal
return the weight of unbearable responsibility lies heavy on every move we make. That
is why Nietzsche called the idea of eternal return the heaviest of burdens (das
schwerste Gewicht).
If eternal return is the heaviest of burdens, then our lives can stand out against it in all
their splendid lightness.
But is heaviness truly deplorable and lightness splendid?
The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But ion
the love poetry of every age, the women longs to be weighed down by the mans body.
The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of lifes most intense
fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real
and truthful they become.
Conversely , the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air , to
soar into the heights , take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only
half real , his movements as free as they are insignificant.
What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?
Parmenides posed this very question in the sixth century before Christ. He saw the
world divided into pairs of opposites: light/darkness, fineness/coarseness, warmth/cold,
and being/non being. One half of the opposition he called positive (light, fineness,
warmth, being), the other negative. We might find this division into positive and
negative poles childishly simple except for one difficulty: which one is positive, weight or
lightness?
Parmenides responded: lightness is positive, weight negative.
Was he correct or not? That is the question. The only certainty is: the lightness or weight
opposition is the most mysterious, most ambiguous of all.
READING END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. The word Robespierre is related to
(a) A firing squad
(b) A hang till death order
(c) A guillotine

24

(d) Hitler
2. The style of the passage is
(a) Narrative
(b) Argumentative
(c) Abstract
(d) Lyrical
3. In the passage the author reflects
(a) History really repeats itself
(b) Carried away by the great love for the past we often glorify even those events which
were intact horrifying in realty.
(c) Hitlers cruelty during the 2nd world war can never be pardoned.
(d) We are nailed to eternity as Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross
4. According to the passage
(a) The idea of eternal return leads us to a comfortable lightness.
(b) It is better to choose lightness than weight.
(c) Lightness is related to nonexistence while weight belongs to existence.
(d) Parmenides preferred cold than warmth.
5. Which of the following statements is false?
(a) The author of the above passage and Parmenides share the same views.
(b) The French revolution is not always acceptable.
(c) The idea of eternal return is a mad myth.
(d) The war between the African kingdoms in the fourteenth century is insignificant to
the history of the world.
6. In the passage the word ephemeral means:
(a) A thing which is not permanent, short lived or passing.
(b) A thing which is permanent, lasting.
(c) Lightness.
(d) Dangerous.
EXERCISEEND TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

25

Questions compiled and edited by: Abhranil Das (abhranil.d@gmail.com; Ph: 9832376051)

26