Sunday, May 19, 2013

QUESTIONS 71-80

Closing in on 100 Plus Original High Qualtiy Questions!!
Passage 1 (Questions 71-73)
**If misfortunes never come singly, who should know it better than a party and government whose fate through the past four years has been to lurch from scam to scam, crisis to crisis?

Not only have the scandals around the Congress and Team Manmohan acquired a Terminator-like ability to morph and resurface, each new day seems to bring fresh allegations — against one or another minister with the Prime Minister barely escaping the heat.

 All of last week, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar was in the dock for interfering in the CBI’s status report on coal block allocations. The government was still fending off the Opposition and Supreme Court onslaught on that accusation, when corruption charges hit, of all people, the soft-spoken Pawan Kumar Bansal. Although there is no direct evidence connecting the Railway Minister to a bribe allegedly received by his nephew to facilitate a key Railway Board appointment, the relationship is close enough to raise questions. More so because the nephew, Vijay Singla, who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation, oversaw the minister’s constituency interests in Chandigarh.

The ruling establishment has brushed off the Bansal bribery charge with typical nonchalance. But the denials have become too routine and too practised for anyone to buy them. Indeed, it is not so much this case as the fact that it has been raining scams in the Congress-government backyard that has allowed any and every new accusation to stand in the face of refutations. The reconvened Budget session of Parliament had started riotously enough with explosive new angles emerging in the handling of 2G and coal block allotments. The Bansal case has added further to the image of a government corrupt beyond redemption and arrogant to boot. To be sure, the government has been able to weather the storms partly because the Opposition offensive has not resulted in the ruling numbers being tested on the floor of the Lok Sabha. So much so, Parliament has been reduced to a charade with the Bharatiya Janata Party incessantly demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation, and the latter treating the warnings and threats as if they were of no consequence. Sushma Swaraj recently went on record to say that the government had no business to stay even one more day in power. That very day the BJP walked out of the two Houses, allowing the passage of the Finance Bill. Regardless of how events turn out for Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal, one thing seems certain: The BJP has too much on its own plate — for which read Narendra Modi and alliance troubles — to bother with dispatching a government it claims is on its way out.


71) What is the purpose of the author to write the above piece?
a)      to bother with dispatching a government it claims is on its way out.
b)      To warn the opposition of its problems
c)      To remind the opposition that one should not throw stones at the hose of others if one’s own house is made of glass.
d)      To tell the reader that the opposition can only win after resolving its own troubles
e)      None of the above


72) What is the Author’s warning to the Opposition party? 
a)      To not bother with dispatching a government it claims is on its way out.
b)      To warn the opposition of its problems
c)      To remind the opposition that one should not throw stones at the hose of others if one’s own house is made of glass.
d)      To tell the reader that the opposition can only win after resolving its own troubles.
e)      None of the above
 
73) What do the words nonchalant, refutations and incessantly mean?

a)      Negligent, confutation, in perpetuum

b)      confutation, in perpetuum,Negligently

c)      consistently, non-plussed, ramble

d)      sincere, wilful, petulant

 

Passage 2 (Questions 74-77)

This is a title under the Issues in History series which ‘begins with the premise that history is both about writing the past and about the re-examination of the sources as stated by series editors. The book contains articles by different authors grouped together under four distinct parts which are, I the Marine worlds, II Maritime worlds, III Maritime world as space, Europe and Indian Ocean and IV Formal and informal networks in Maritime Worlds : the Indian Ocean.

The collection is a departure from the normal selection of papers on a particular subject, in the sense that the articles embrace subjects that are even distantly connected to make an integrated study of the subject of Ocean and its ability to connect civilisations and people across the oceans. In the introduction the subtle difference between marine worlds and maritime worlds is explained by the editor along with the arrangements of papers under different groups. In fact the entire treatment is fresh in approach.

In an elaborate introduction the editor explains the purpose and intent of the book. Among the various subjects the chapter dealing with maritime world as space, the article by Picazo Muntaner is a departure from the usual treatment of the subject. The late middle ages that saw the mappae mundi and discoveries develop, showed “an emerging desire … the need to gain access to those centres and networks, reducing costs and increasing profits derived from the trade” says the editor. In a paper “Jumping Frontiers, Crossing Barriers”, Amelia Polonia talks about the First Global Age. “The Portuguese ‘revolution’ in nautical science was in actual fact an evolution and showed a very successful process of an ongoing empirical adaptation to new needs and technical demands” says the author. At that time Portuguese vessels were far superior to any other nation’s and very large in size as well. So the maritime economics came into vogue during this time, replacing mere adventure.

The author continues, “The positioning of the central rudder on the sternpost of the keel in the caravel was already known in the Baltic sea for many centuries … The potolan chart with compass or wind roses was used by Italian seamen by the early 1300s.” However there is no mention of the Tamil sailors who had known about wind roses and currents as early as Chola period, though rudder was not used (except central drop board) since their sailing was always parallel. In the portion explaining the cross-cultural flows some very valid points are made out. “The well known fact that the Europeans tried to replicate, as much as possible, their way of life in the new territories, suggests an intense projection of European influence in the territories where they settled, by consent or by force” says the author, and makes an important point, “However in Asia, Africa and the Americas the survival of settlers depended upon the efficacy of their adaptation to new environment and cultures.” This paper assumes importance in its analysis of cultural transfers and religious conversions, from a fresh point of view.

74) What is the tone of the passage?
a)      narrative

b)      analytical

c)      descriptive

d)      poignant

e)      admirable

f)       none of the above

 

75) Why does the author consider the book fresh in its approach? 

a)      the articles embrace subjects that are even distantly connected to make an integrated study of the subject of Ocean and its ability to connect civilisations and people across the oceans.

b)      In the portion explaining the cross-cultural flows some very valid points are made out.

c)      the subtle difference between marine worlds and maritime worlds is explained by the editor

d)      None of the above

 

76) What according to the author the book misses to acknowledge?

a)      Tamil sailors

b)      The Portuguese ‘revolution’
c)      This paper assumes importance in its analysis of cultural transfers and religious conversions, from a fresh point of view.
d)      the cross-cultural flows
e)      None Of the above

 
77) What is the meaning of the word efficacy?

a)      Efficiency

b)      Tendency

c)      Probability

d)      Effectiveness

e)      None Of the above

78) Liberty and security are the two most fundamental ingredients of human life. While democracies irrespective of their credentials claim that that is indeed the case, Conor Gearty’s latest book Liberty and Security (Polity Press, UK) reveals the inconvenient truth that liberty and security in practical terms are enjoyed by only the advantaged few.

Instead of becoming a cheerleader of democracy, the author cuts through its veneer of unqualified success, and separates the real from the manifest. In doing so, he produces a profoundly moral work that is rooted in sound________ analyses rather than driven by _______________ beliefs.

a)      Empirical, ideological

b)      Experimental, dogmatic

c)      Theoretical, bombastic

d)      Divagate, devious

e)      None Of The above

 

79) Management is not anything new to this land, which has a long history of culture, tradition, and ethos. Ancient India led in overseas trade and commerce. Considering that it has now become imperative in the current scenario to identify __________and creative tools and techniques to beat the competition, it is worthwhile to _______deep into the Indian mythology fishing for a fresh framework in management. It is in this context, that the book under notice is breaking new ground.

a)      Innovative, delve

b)      Ingenious, dwell

c)      Novel, Look

d)      Charismatic, dig

e)      None of the above

 
 
80) Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan’s Cold Feet started off with a bachelorette party with a bunch of reluctant guests who had nothing better to do than get drunk and stumble home. The book _______ along as the characters — all girls — drink their way and sleep around in the hope of finding happiness. Meenakshi is no Helen Fielding so the book reads more like a series of blog posts. And it has sex. Not the descriptive erotic kind, but the ______sort where people get drunk and sleep together, with some random sex thrown in.

a)      Amble , Casual

b)      Ramble, nonchalant

c)      Moves, boring

d)      None of the above

 



** The Above Passage has been taken from THE Hindu for Educational Purposes. The questions have been ingeniously developed.
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