Unit-3 Comprehension

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Unit – 3 [ Comprehension ]

PDF Notes Academy

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PDF Notes Academy Comprehension

READING COMPREHENSION

Reading Comprehension is the ability to read the text, process it, and understand its meaning. In
addition, Reading Comprehension is aimed at testing a candidate's knowledge of two elements i.e.,
Vocabulary and Text Comprehension.
And it is interesting to note that both these elements play a crucial role in a better understanding
of the passage i.e., for understanding a text, one must have a better knowledge of Vocabulary.
But what is more complex and varied out of the above two elements is the Text Comprehension.
The current trend of questions that come in the RC are inference based i.e. the questions are not
direct, but one has to infer from the given passage. Also, there can be one or more conclusions
given in the question which are true/false depending on what is asked in the question.

Approaches to Solve Reading Comprehension


Now let’s move towards the Approach that one should follow while performing a RC in the
exam.
The most common suggestion and approach is first read the entire passage and then answer the
question that follows. Firstly, let’s discuss this approach in detail.
Try to make notes while solving/ reading RCs. It is crucial for locating the appropriate information
and also acts as a mental bookmark, thus helping in better understanding of the topic.

While making notes, one must look towards and identify following things:

i) Subject of the passage – which/what is the precise thing the author, is talking about.
ii) Main idea of the passage – what the author is saying about the subject.
iii) Tone of the author of the passage – which is manner author has adopted in the passage.
As soon as one figure out the above three things and central point of the passage, one will be
familiar with the gist (GI – general Idea + S – Structure + T- Tone) of the passage. This will
also help you to build a thematic composition and logical sequence of the passage. Thus enable
you to answer questions from particular parts of the passage.
But this sole approach is beneficial for the ones who generally read very fast. Then what approach
should one follow in a RC, below are the some of the approaches that one must try.

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1. Instead of reading the entire passage, read critically the first and last paragraph of the RC.
Generally what the author is saying can be identified in the first few lines of the passage, which in
case of longer passages becomes roughly 1/3rd of the passage. For the rest passage examine
hastily, what the author has said about the subject.
Also, for longer passages, try to put down in 10-15 words, for each paragraph, what you feel are
the central points of the passage.

2. The next thing in this approach is to identify the structural words that tell you the important
Ideas or Transitions in a passage. These structural words play a specific role in a sentence and
paragraph. The most common structural words are given below:

These three kinds of words describe three roles that words can play in a paragraph.
For e.g.
Continuity words: The author would support his point of view further.
Contrast words: The author would introduce a contrarian point of view.
Conclusion words: The author would sum up his argument so far.
3. Further try to recognize the words that represent positive and negative role in the passage. These
words will let you decide whether the author is for or against the subject. A few examples of such
words are given below:

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Thus, these words help you establish the motive of the author.

4. Whenever a question is asked on a phrase given in the passage, just read the three lines above
and below that phrase to have an idea of what is implicit from that phrase.
5. There are around 4-6 questions based on Synonyms and Antonyms, these questions can be
answered if you have good vocabulary and if your vocabulary is not good, then read the sentence
in which the word is used to get a rough idea of the meaning of the word.
Now let’s discuss how one should attempt Reading Comprehension (RC) questions in the
Exam. Generally, there are 2 ways in which a RC can be attempted which are given below:
1. P-Q Approach (passage first, then the questions)
• Read the entire passage thoroughly first and then read the questions
• Skim & Scan through the passage and keep going back and forth with questions and
passage
• Read the first 2 paragraphs, scan all the questions and see what you can answer, then read
Para 3 & 4, scan the questions and see what you can answer, then read Para 5& 6!!
2. QP approach (questions first, then the passage)
• Read all the questions with their answer options first and then the passage
• Read question 1 with all the options, then go through the entire passage to answer it. Then
read question 2, go through the entire passage. Then question 3!
• Just read all the question stems, without reading the answer options. Then read the passage
and try answering the questions by reading them with the options.

Some Examples for Theory Clarification

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1. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question. Answer
the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in this passage.

Experienced truck drivers often travel in a convoy--a group of trucks that are traveling to the
same part of the country. Convoys can help truckers to stay alert.

The author implies that professional long-distance truck drivers may avoid traveling alone
because:

A) They might drive too fast.


B) They want to arrive before anyone else.
C) Accidents happen more frequently to lone truck drivers than to car drivers who travel
alone.
D) Long-distance travel can cause drowsiness.

2. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question.

Huge beasts such as the dinosaur have never really become extinct. Mothra, a giant caterpillar
who later becomes a moth, destroys Tokyo, and stars in the 1962 Japanese film named for him.
Mothra is born, dies, and reborn regularly on classic movie channels. In Japan Mothra is one of
the most popular films ever made. Mothra has survived the creation of more current scary
creatures such as giant apes, extraterrestrial beings and swamp creatures. More than 30 years
after his creation, Mothra still lives.

The main subject of the passage is:

A) the reasons that fads do not endure


B) the lasting appeal of Mothra
C) the difficulty of marketing good horror movies
D) old models for creatures are still used because making new monsters is expensive

3. Two underlined sentences are followed by a question or statement. Read the


sentences, and then choose the best answer to the question or the best completion of the
statement.

Anxious to ensure that America would depart from European traditions regarding religion and
royalty, the early U.S. could be described as a place that focused more on work than on the
entertainment offered by spectacle and ceremony in the Old World.

However, national celebrations such as the lighting of the White House Christmas Tree and
the ceremonies used to swear in new federal officials give the American people some
experiences that are based upon national tradition.

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What does the second sentence do?

A) It cancels the meaning of the first.


B) It provides an example of the first sentence.
C) It adds more detail to the first sentence.
D) It offers an exception to the information given in the first sentence.

4. Read the passage below and choose the best answer to the question.

The Earthʹs past climate--including temperature and elements in the atmosphere--has recently
been studied by analyzing ice samples from Greenland and Antarctica. The air bubbles in the
ice have shown that, over the past 160,000 years, there has been a close correlation between
temperature changes and level of natural greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane. One
recent analysis from Greenland showed that at the end of the last glacial period (when the great
ice sheets began to retreat to their present position), temperatures in southern Greenland rose
from 5 to 7 degrees in about 100 years.

Air bubbles are not the only method of determining characteristics of the Earthʹs ancient
climate history. Analysis of dust layers from ancient volcanic activity is another such method;
as is the study of ice cores, which interpret past solar activity that may have affected our
climate.

This passage states that:

A) the Greenhouse effect is destroying the planetʹs atmosphere.


B) temperatures in Greenland have been unusually stable over the past 100 years.
C) there is more than one kind of information that scientists can use to determine the
characteristics of the Earthʹs early climate.
D) solar energy is the wave of the future.

5. Two passages are followed by a question or statement. Read the passages, then
choose the best answer to the question or the best completion of the statement.

Before video cameras were widely used, home and business owners had to rely only on written
reports and photos as a way to document their valuables for insurance purposes. This form of
documentation was difficult for some insurance policy holders. They found it was easy to lose
lists, forget to add new items they purchased, or delete items they no longer had. As a result
these insurance inventories were often inaccurate.

While videotaping is not an option for every home or business owner, this kind of insurance
documentation is helpful for some.

How are these passages related?

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A) They repeat the same idea.


B) They contradict one another.
C) They compare two forms of written documentation.
D) They present a problem and a solution.

6. Two underlined sentences are followed by a question or a statement. Read the


sentences, and then choose the best answer to the question or the best completion of the
statement.

Public speaking is very different from everyday conversation.

First of all, speeches are much more structured than a typical informal discussion.

How are these sentences related?


A) Sentence two offers support for the statement made in the first sentence.
B) Sentence two contradicts the statement made in the first sentence.
C) Sentence two shows an exception to the first sentence.
D) Sentence two compares two kinds of speeches.

7. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in these passages.

French physicist Charles Fabry found ozone gas in the atmosphere in 1913. At room
temperature, ozone is a colorless gas; it condenses to a dark blue liquid at -170 F. At
temperatures above the boiling point of water, 212 F, it decomposes.

Ozone is all around us. After a thunderstorm, or around electrical equipment, ozone is often
detected as a sharp odor. Ozone is used as a strong oxidizing agent, a bleaching agent, and to
sterilize drinking water. This gas is also highly reactive. For example, rubber insulation around
a carʹs spark plug wires will need to be replaced eventually, due to the small amounts of ozone
produced when electricity flows from the engine to the plug.

These passages imply that:

A) Ozone is the result of pollution.


B) High ozone levels in the atmosphere will cause large numbers of people to buy new
car batteries.
C) Ozone has no practical uses.
D) Ozone is a natural part of the Earthʹs atmosphere.

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8. Read the passages below and then choose the best answer to the question. Answer
the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in these passages.

Many people who have come close to death from drowning, cardiac arrest or other causes have
described near-death experiences--profound, subjective events that sometimes result in dramatic
changes in values, beliefs, behavior, and attitudes toward life and death. These experiences often
include a new clarity of thinking, a feeling of well being, a sense of being out of the body, and
visions of bright light or mystical encounters. Such experiences have been reported by an
estimated 30 to 40 percent of hospital patients who were revived after coming close to death
and about 5 percent of adult Americans in a nationwide poll. Near-death experiences have been
explained as a response to a perceived threat of death (a psychological theory); as a result of
biological states that accompany the process of dying (a physiological theory); and as a foretaste
of an actual state of bliss after death (a transcendental theory).

The primary purpose of this passage is to:

A) entertain
B) persuade
C) inform
D) express disbelief in the afterlife

9. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question on the basis
of what is stated or implied in these passages.

In most cases little birds lay little eggs. The kiwi is an astonishing exception to this rule--it is a
smallish bird that lays a big egg. The kiwi, a flightless bird found in New Zealand, weighs about
four pounds, and its egg weighs, believe it or not, about one pound. That is one-fourth of the
birdʹs body weight! If an ostrich laid an egg that was in the same
proportion to the ostrich as the kiwi egg is to the kiwi, an ostrich egg would weigh a whopping
seventy-five pounds instead of the usual three pounds.

Which statement below best describes the organizational method used in this passage?

A) description
B) comparison/contrast
C) chronological
D) cause/effect

10. Jazz is a peculiarly American contribution to Western culture. It was born out of the
unique experience of American Blacks. Although its history is not entirely clear, jazz
obviously has roots in the rhythm patterns and melodic lines of Africa, the tradition of
Christian spirituals as sung by slave communities, the music of the blues as developed in the

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Deep South, and ragtime.

According to this passage, one can conclude that:

A) Jazz is the sole Black contribution to Westernculture.


B) There is some difficulty tracing the origin of jazz.
C) Jazz is most closely related to spiritual music.
D) Jazz is not a complex musical form.

11. Read the statements below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Sometimes when we donʹt get enough sleep we become very short-tempered. It is important to

set a time to go to bed that is realistic.

How are these two sentences related?

A) The first sentence explains the meaning of thesecond.


B) The second sentence explains why a lack of sleep affects us.
C) The second sentence proposes a solution.
D) The second sentence contradicts the first.

12. Read the statements below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Most people collect Star Wars toys for sentimental reasons. Some people collect them strictly to

make money.

What is the relationship between the two sentences?

A) cause and effect


B) contrast
C) repetition
D) statement & example

13. Answer the question based on what is stated or implied.

There are two kinds of jewelry that I do. There is commercial jewelry--class rings, necklaces,
the kinds of things most people wear. I sell these items to meet my expenses for raw materials,
supplies, and to make my living. The other, more creative work I do makes me feel that I am
developing as a craftsperson.

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The author of this passage implies that:


A) Artists are poor.
B) There is no market for creative work.
C) Commercial and creative work fulfills different needs for the artist.
D) Rings and necklaces can not be creative.
14. Some actors and rock stars are paid almost 100 times as much per year as school teachers.
Not to downgrade the role of entertainment in our lives, but these people are not the valuable
social resource that educators are. As another example, professional athletes earn vastly more
than the nation’s firefighters. Again, there is little doubt that the lower paid group contributes a
more vital function to communities. Finally, dress designers, who can make up to $50,000 for
a gown, far out-earn police officers, whose very presence makes our cities and towns livable.

Based on this passage, the earning power in our society:

A) is subject to staggering inflation.


B) does not relate to one’s usefulness in society.
C) is highest among those whose achievements are the greatest.
D) should be highest among actors and rock.

15. Read the statements below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Jenny does not like cake. She does not like to bake it, to ice it, or to eat it.

What does the second sentence do?

A) It states the cause of the first.


B) It compares the three things Jenny does not like about cake.
C) It draws a conclusion about Jenny.
D) It emphasizes what is stated in the first.

16. Read the sentences below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

When we write a check that we know is going to ʺbounceʺ we are in fact performing a criminal
act. It is a crime to knowingly write a ʺhotʺ check, one we know we donʹt have sufficient funds
to cover.
What does the second statement do?

A) It provides supporting evidence for the first statement.


B) It restates the central idea of the first sentence.

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C) It draws a conclusion from the first sentence.


D) It provides a contradictory point of view.

17. Read the statements below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

The new Dance Tunes CD has proved to be very popular. It has sold 80,000 copies over the
last year.

How are these two sentences related?

A) The first sentence explains the meaning of the second


B) The second sentence provides evidence of the first.
C) The second sentence explains why the CD is popular.
D) The first sentence contradicts the second.

18. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Before the invention of automobiles and airplanes travel was a slow process. When traveling
long distances families would be out of communication until the travelers reached their
destination. Sometimes people lost touch with each other permanently.
The author would most likely continue the passage with which of the following sentences?

A) Airplanes make travel more fun.


B) Driving a car helps families stay in touch.
C) Cars can be used to travel comfortably.
D) Advances in communication have helped travelers stay in communication.

19. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Scuba diving is the most exhilarating experience I have ever had. The first time I went, the dark
mirror of the water beckoned me to drop from the side of the boat. I jumped feet first and entered
a brightly colored world populated with fish, plants, and objects I had never dreamed of.

Which of the following best describes the mood of the author after having this
experience?

A) bored
B) excited
C) anxious

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D) serene

20. Read the passage below and then choose the best answer to the question from the
list of lettered choices that follows.

Did you know that a half-gallon milk container holds about $50.00 in pennies? While all
investment counselors realize that we must accumulate money in order to save, most
recommend different kinds of investments for people who are in different stages of life. Older
investors, those with limited funds to invest, or people with greater financial and family
commitments, should take fewer risks. Younger, wealthier, and unmarried investors can afford
to venture into the unknown.

Which of the following best describes the main idea of this passage?

A) A penny saved is a penny earned


B) Old people have the most money.
C) Our ages and stage of life are part of what determines the investments that are best for
us.
D) Young people should concentrate on collecting pennies.

Answers:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
– – – – – – – – – 0
D B D C D A D C B –
B
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
- - - - - - - - - -
C B C B D B B D B C

For Practice

Read the following passage and answer the questions 1 to 5:

Knowledge creation in many cases requires creativity and idea generation. This is especially
important in generating alternative decision support solutions. Some people believe that an
individual’s creative ability stems primarily from personality traits such as inventiveness,
independence, individuality, enthusiasm, and flexibility. However, several studies have found
that creativity is not so muck a function of individual traits as was once believed, and that
individual creativity can be learned and improved. This understanding has led innovative
companies to recognise that the key to fostering creativity may be the development of an idea-

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nurturing work environment. Idea- generation methods and techniques, to be used by individuals
or in groups, are consequently being developed. Manual methods for supporting idea generation,
such as brainstorming in a group, can be very successful in certain situations. However, in other
situations, such an approach is either not economically feasible or not possible. For example,
manual methods in group creativity sessions will not work or will not be effective when : (1)
there is no time to conduct a proper idea-generation session; (2) there is a poor facilitator (or
no facilitator at all); (3) it is too expensive to conduct an idea-generation session; (4) the
subject matter is too sensitive for a face-to-face session; or (5) there are not enough participants,
the mix of participants is not optimal, or there is no climate for idea generation. Insuch cases,
computerised idea-generation methods have been tried, with frequent success.
Idea-generation software is designed to help stimulate a single user or a group to produce new
ideas, options and choices. Take user does all the work, but the software encourages and pushes,
something like a personal trainer. Although idea-generation software is still relatively new, there
are several packages on the market. Various approaches are used by idea-generating software to
increase the flow of ideas to the user. Idea Fischer, for example, has an associate lexicon of the
English language that cross-references words and phrases. These associative links, based on
analogies and metaphors, make it easy for the user to be fed words related to a given theme.
Some software packages use questions to prompt the user towards new, unexplored patterns of
thought. This helps users to break out of cyclical thinking patterns, conquer mental blocks, or
deal with bouts of procrastination.

1. The author, in this passage has focused on


(A) knowledge creation (B) idea-generation
(C) creativity (D) individual traits

2. Fostering creativity needs an environment of


(A) Decision support systems (B) idea-nurturing
(C) Decision support solutions (D) alternative individual factors

3. Manual methods for the support of idea-generation, in certain occasions,


(A) are alternatively effective (B) can be less expensive
(C) Do not need a facilitator (D) require a mix of optimal participants

4. Idea-generation software works as if it is a:


(A) Stimulant (B) knowledge package

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(C) User-friendly trainer (D) climate creator

5. Mental blocks, bouts of procrastination and cyclical thinking patterns can be won when:
(A) Innovative companies employ electronic thinking methods
(B) Idea-generation software prompts questions
(C) Manual methods are removed
(D) Individuals acquire a neutral attitude towards the software

Read the following passage and answer the questions 6 to 10:

After almost three decades of contemplating Swarovski-encrusted navels on increasing flat abs,
the Mumbai film industry is on a discovery of India and itself. With budgets of over 30 crore
each, four soon to be released movies by premier directors are exploring the idea of who we are
and redefining who the other is. It is a fundamental question which the bling-bling, glam-sham
and disham-disham tends to avoid. It is also a question which binds an audience when the lights
go dim and the projector rolls : as a nation, who are we ? As a people, where are we going? The
Germans coined a word for it, zeitgeist, which perhaps Yash Chopra would not care to pronounce.
But at 72, he remains the person who can best capture it. After being the first to project the
diasporic Indian on screen in Lamhe in 1991, he has returned to his roots in a new movie. Veer
Zaara, set in 1986, where Pakistan, the traditional other, the part that got away, is the lover and
the saviour. In Subhas Ghai’s Kisna, set in 1947, the other is the English woman. She is not a
memsahib, but a mehbooba. In Ketan Mehta’s The Rising, the East India Englishman is not the
evil oppressor of countless cardboard characterisations, which span the spectrum from Jewel in
the Crown to Kranti, but an honourable friend. This is Manoj Kumar’s Desh Ki dharti with a
difference : there is culture, not contentious politics; balle balle, not bombs : no dooriyan
(distance), only nazdeekiyan (closeness). All four films are heralding a new hero and heroine.
The new hero is fallible and vulnerable, committed to his dharma, but also not afraid of failure -
less of a boy and more of a man. He even has a grown up name : Veer Pratap Singh in Veer-Zaara
and Mohan Bhargav in Swades. The new heroine is not a babe, but often a bebe, dressed in
traditional Punjabi clothes, often with the stereotypical body type as well, as in Bride and
Prejudice of Gurinder Chadha.

6. Which word Yash Chopra would not be able to pronounce?


(A) Bling + bling (B) Zeitgeist
(C) Montaz (D) Dooriyan

7. Who made Lamhe in 1991 ?


(A) Subhash Ghai (B) Yash Chopra
(C) Aditya Chopra (D) Sakti Samanta

8. Which movie is associated with Manoj Kumar ?


(A) Jewel in the Crown (B) Kisna
(C) Zaara (D) Desh Ki dharti

9. Which is the latest film by Yash Chopra ?


(A) Deewar (B) Kabhi Kabhi
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(C) Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (D) Veer Zaara

10. Which is the dress of the heroine in Veer-Zaara ?


(A) Traditional Gujarati Clothes
(B) Traditional Bengali Clothes
(C) Traditional Punjabi Clothes
(D) Traditional Madrasi Clothes

Read the following passage and answer the questions 11 to 15:

The superintendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct
of, elections to Parliament and State Legislatures and elections to the offices of the President
and the Vice - President of India are vested in the Election Commission of India. It is an
independent constitutional authority.
Independence of the Election Commission and its insulation from executive interference is
ensured by a specific provision under Article 324 (5) of the constitution that the chief Election
Commissioner shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on like grounds
as a Judge of the Supreme Court and conditions of his service shall not be varied to his
disadvantage after his appointment.
In C.W.P. No. 4912 of 1998 (Kushra Bharat Vs. Union of India and others), the Delhi High
Court directed that information relating to Government dues owed by the candidates to the
departments dealing with Government accommodation, electricity, water, telephone and
transport etc. and any other dues should be furnished by the candidates and this information
should be published by the election authorities under the commission.

10. The text of the passage reflects or raises certain questions:


(A) The authority of the commission can not be challenged.
(B) This would kelp in stopping the criminalisation of Indian politics.
(C) This would reduce substantially the number of contesting candidates.
(D) This would ensure fair and free elections.

11. According to the passage, the Election Commission is an independent constitutional authority.
This is under Article No.:
(A) 324 (B) 356 (C) 246 (D) 161

12. Independence of the Commission means:


(A) have a constitutional status (B) have legislative powers
(C) have judicial powers (D) have political powers

13. Fair and free election means:


(A) transparency (B) to maintain law and order

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(C) Regional considerations (D) role for pressure


groups

14. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from his office under Article:
(A) 125 (B) 352 (C) 226 (D) 324

Read the following passage and answer the questions 16 to 20:

Gandhi’s overall social and environmental philosophy is based on what human beings need
rather than what they want. His early introduction to the teachings of Jains, Theosophists,
Christian sermons, Ruskin and Tolstoy, and most significantly the Bhagavad Gita, were to have
profound impact on the development of Gandhi’s holistic thinking on humanity, nature and their
ecological interrelation. His deep concern for the disadvantaged, the poor and rural population
created an ambience for an alternative social thinking that was at once far-sighted, local and
immediate. For Gandhi was acutely aware that the demands generated by the need to feed and
sustain human life, compounded by the growing industrialisation of India, far outstripped the
finite resources of nature. This might nowadays appear naïve or commonplace, but such
pronouncements were as rare as they were heretical a century ago. Gandhi was also concerned
about the destruction, under colonial and modernist designs, of the existing infrastructures wick
had more potential for keeping a community flourishing within ecologically-sensitive traditional
patterns of subsistence, especially in the rural areas, than did the incoming Western alternatives
based on nature-blind technology and the enslavement of human spirit and energies.

Perhaps the moral principle for wick Gandhi is best known is that of active non-violence, derived
from the traditional moral restraint of not injuring another being. The most refined expression
of this value is in the great epic of the Mahabharata, (c. 100 BCE to 200 CE), where moral
development proceeds through placing constraints on the liberties, desires and acquisitiveness
endemic to human life. One’s action is judged in terms of consequences and the impact it is
likely to have on another. Jainas kad generalised this principle to include all sentient creatures
and bio communities alike. Advanced Jaina monks and nuns will sweep their path to avoid
harming insects and even bacteria. Non-injury is a non-negotiable universal prescription.

15. Which one of the following have a profound impact on the development of Gandhi’s
holistic thinking on humanity, nature and their ecological interrelations?

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(A) Jain teachings (B) Christian sermons


(C) Bhagavad Gita (D) Ruskin and Tolstoy

16. Gandhi’s overall social and environmental philosophy is based on human beings’:
(A) need (B) desire
(C) Wealth (D) welfare

18. Gandhiji’s deep concern for the disadvantaged, the poor and rural population created an
ambience for an alternative:
(A) rural policy (B) social thinking
(C) urban policy (D) economic thinking

19. Colonial policy and modernisation led to the destruction of:


(A) Major industrial infrastructure (B) irrigation infrastructure
(C) Urban infrastructure (D) rural infrastructure
20. Gandhi’s active non-violence is derived from:
(A) Moral restraint of not injuring another being
(B) Having liberties, desires and acquisitiveness
(C) Freedom of action
(D) Nature-blind technology and enslavement of human spirit and energies

Read the following passage and answer the questions 21 to 25:

All political systems need to mediate the relationship between private wealth and public power.
Those that fail risk a dysfunctional government captured by wealthy interests. Corruption is one
symptom of such failure with private willingness-to-paytrumping public goals. Privateindividuals
and business firms pay to get routine services and to get to the head of the bureaucraticqueue. They
pay to limit their taxes, avoid costly regulations, obtain contracts at inflated prices and get
concessions and privatised firms at low prices. If corruption is endemic, public officials -both
bureaucrats and elected officials - may redesign programmes and propose public projects with
few public benefits and many opportunities for private profit. Of course, corruption, in the sense
of bribes, pay-offs and kickbacks, is only one type of government failure. Efforts to promote‘good
governance’ must be broader than anti-corruption campaigns. Governments may be honest but
inefficient because no one has an incentive to work productively, and narrow elites may capture
the state and exert excess influence on policy. Bribery may induce the lazy to work hard and permit
those not in the inner circle of cronies to obtain benefits. However, even in such cases,corruption
cannot be confined to ‘functional’ areas. It will be a temptation whenever private benefits are
positive. It may be a reasonable response to a harsh reality but, over time, it can facilitate a spiral
into an even worse situation.

21. The governments which fail to focus on the relationship between private wealth and public
power are likely to become:

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(A) Functional (B) Dysfunctional


(C) Normal functioning (D) Good governance

22. One important symptom of bad governance is:


(A) Corruption (B) High taxes
(C) Complicated rules and regulations (D) High prices

23. When corruption is rampant, public officials always aim at many opportunities for:
(A) Public benefits (B) Public profit
(C) Private profit (D) Corporate gains

24. Productivity linked incentives to public/private officials is one of the indicatives for:
(A) Efficient government (B) Bad governance
(C) Inefficient government (D) Corruption

25. The spiraling corruption can only be contained by promoting:


(A) Private profit (B) Anti-corruption campaign
(C) Good governance (D) Pay-offs and kick backs

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 26 to 30:

Radically changing monsoon patterns, reduction in the winter rice harvest and a quantum increase
in respiratory diseases all part of the environmental doomsday scenario which is reportedly
playing out in South Asia. According to a United Nations Environment Programme report, a
deadly three-kilometer deep blanket of pollution comprising a fearsome, cocktail of ash, acids,
aerosols and other particles has enveloped in this region. For India, already struggling to cope
with a drought, the implication of this are devastating and further crop failure will amount to a
life and death question for many Indians. The increase in premature deaths will have adverse
social and economic consequences and a rise in morbidities will place an unbearable burden on
our crumbling health system. And there is no one to blame but ourselves. Both official and
corporate India has always been allergic to any mention of clean technology. Most mechanical
two wheelers roll of the assembly line without proper pollution control system. Little effort is
made for R&D on simple technologies, which could make a vital difference to people’s lives and
the environment.

However, while there is no denying that South Asia must clean up its act, skeptics might question
the timing of the haze report. The Kyoto meet on climate change is just two weeks away and the
stage is set for the usual battle between the developing world and the West, particularly the Unites
States of America. President Mr. Bush has adamantly refused to sign any protocol, which would
mean a change in American consumption level. U.N. environment report will likely find a place
in the U.S. arsenal as it plants an accusing finger towards controls like India and China. Yet the
U.S.A. can hardly deny its own dubious role in the matter of erasing trading quotas.

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Richer countries can simply buy up excess credits from poorer countries and continue to pollute.
Rather than try to get the better of developing countries, who undoubtedly have taken up
environmental shortcuts in their bid to catch up with the West, the USA should take a look at the
environmental profigacy, which is going on within. From opening up virgin territories for oil
exploration to relaxing the standards for drinking water, Mr. Bush’s policies are not exactly
beneficial, not even to America’s interests. We realize that we are all in this together and that
pollution anywhere should be a global concern otherwise there will only be more tunnels at the
end of the tunnel.

26. Both official and corporate India is allergic to:


(A)Failure of Monsoon (B) Poverty and Inequality
(C)Slowdown in Industrial Production (D) Mention of Clean Technology

27. If the rate of premature death increases it will:


(A)Exert added burden on the crumbling economy (B)Have adverse social and economic
consequences
(C)Make positive effect on our effort to control population (D) Have less job aspirants in the
society

28. According to the passage, the two-wheeler industry is not adequately concerned about:
(A)Passenger safety on the roads (B) Life cover insurance of the vehicle owner
(C)Pollution control system in the vehicle (D) Rising cost of the two wheelers

29. What could be the reason behind timing of the haze report just before the Kyoto meet?
(A) United Nations is working hand-in-glove with U.S.A.
(B) Organizers of the forthcoming meet to teach a lesson to the U.S.A.
(C) Drawing attention of the world towards devastating effects of environment degradation.
(D) U.S.A. wants to use it as a handle against the developing countries in the forthcoming meet

30. Which of the following is the indication of environmental degradation in South Asia?
(A)Social and economic inequality (B) Crumbling health care system
(C)Inadequate pollution control system (D) Radically changing monsoon pattern

Read the following passage and answer the questions 31 to 35:


The fundamental principle is that Article 14 forbids class legislation but permits reasonable
classification for the purpose of legislation which classification must satisfy the twin tests of
classification being founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things
that are grouped together from those that are left out of the group and that differentia must have
a rational nexus to the object sought to be achieved by the Statute in question. The thrust of Article
14 is that the citizen is entitled to equality before law and equal protection of laws. In the very
nature of things the society being composed of unequal a welfare State will have to strive by both
executive and legislative action to help the less fortunate in society to ameliorate their condition
so that the social and economic inequality in the society may be bridged. This would necessitate
a legislative application to a group of citizens otherwise unequal and amelioration of whose lot is
the object of state affirmative action. In the absence of the doctrine of classification such
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legislation is likely to flounder on the bed rock of equality enshrined in Article 14. The Court
realistically appraising the social and economic inequality and keeping in view the guidelines on
which the State action must move as constitutionally laid down in Part IV of the Constitution
evolved the doctrine of classification. The doctrine was evolved to sustain a legislation or State
action designed to help weaker sections of the society or some such segments of the society in
need of succour. Legislative and executive action may accordingly be sustained if it satisfies the
twin tests of reasonable classification and the rational principle correlated to the object sought to
be achieved.
The concept of equality before the law does not involve the idea of absolute equality among
human beings which is a physical impossibility. All that Article 14 guarantees is a similarity of
treatment contra-distinguished from identical treatment. Equality before law means that among
equals the law should be equal and should be equally administered and that the likes should be
treated alike. Equality before the law does not mean that things which are different shall be as
though they are the same. It ofcourse means denial of any special privilege by reason of birth,
creed or the like. The legislation as well as the executive government, while dealing with diverse
problems arising out of an infinite variety of human relations must of necessity have the power
of making special laws, to attain any particular object and to achieve that object it must have the
power of selection or classification of persons and things upon which such laws are to operate.

31. Right to equality, one of the fundamental rights, is enunciated in the constitution under Part
III, Article:
(A) 12 (B) 13
(C) 14 (D) 15

32. The main thrust of Right to equality is that it permits:


(A) Class legislation (B) Equality before law and equal protection under the law
(C) Absolute equality (D) Special privilege by reason of birth

33. The social and economic inequality in the society can be bridged by:
(A) Executive and legislative action (B) Universal suffrage
(C) Identical treatment (D) none of the above

34. The doctrine of classification is evolved to:


(A)Help weaker sections of the society (B) Provide absolute equality
(C)Provide identical treatment (D) none of the above

35. While dealing with diverse problems arising out of an infinite variety of human relations,
the government:
(A) Must have the power of making special laws (B) Must not have any power to make
special laws
(C) Must have power to withdraw equal rights (D) none of the above

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Read the following passage and answer the Question Nos. 36 to 41:

The decisive shift in British Policy really came about under mass pressure in the autumn and
winter of 1945 to 46 – the months which Perderel Moon while editing Wavell’s Journal has
perceptively described as ‘The Edge of a Volcano’. Very foolishly, the British initially decided
to hold public trials of several hundreds of the 20,000 I.N.A. prisoners (as well as dismissing from
service and detaining without trial no less than 7,000). They compounded the folly by holding the
first trial in the Red Fort, Delhi in November 1945, and putting on the dock together a Hindu, a
Muslim and a Sikh (P.K. Sehgal, Shah Nawaz, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon). Bhulabhai Desai,
Tejbahadur Sapru and Nehru appeared for the defense (the latter putting on his barrister’s gown
after 25 years), and the Muslim League also joined the countrywide protest. On 20 November, an
Intelligence Bureau note admitted that “there has seldom been a matter which has attracted so
much Indian public interest and, it is safe to say, sympathy … this particular brand of sympathy
cuts across communal barriers.’ A journalist (B. Shiva Rao) visiting the Red Fort prisoners on the
same day reported that ‘There is not the slightest feeling among them of Hindu and Muslim … A
majority of the men now awaiting trial in the Red Fort is Muslim. Some of these men are bitter
that Mr. Jinnah is keeping alive a controversy about Pakistan.’ The British became extremely
nervous about the I.N.A. spirit spreading to the Indian Army, and in January the Punjab Governor
reported that a Lahore reception for released I.N.A. prisoners had been attended by Indian soldiers
in uniform.

36. Which heading is more appropriate to assign to the above passage?


(A) Wavell’s Journal (B) Role of Muslim League
(C) I.N.A. Trials (D) Red Fort Prisoners

37. The trial of P.K.Sehgal, Shah Nawaz and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon symbolises
(A) Communal harmony (B) threat to all religious persons
(C) Threat to persons fighting for the freedom (D) British reaction against the natives

38. I.N.A. stands for


(A) Indian National Assembly (B) Indian National Association
(C) Inter-national Association (D) Indian National Army

39. ‘There has seldom been a matter which has attracted so much Indian Public Interest and, it
is safe to say, sympathy … this particular brand of sympathy cuts across communal barriers.’
Who sympathises to whom and against whom?
(A)Muslims sympathised with Shah Nawaz against the British
(B)Hindus sympathised with P.K. Sehgal against the British
(C)Sikhs sympathised with Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon against the British
(D)Indians sympathised with the persons who were to be trialled

40. The majority of people waiting for trial outside the Red Fort and criticising Jinnah were the
(A) Hindus (B) Muslims

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(C) Sikhs (D) Hindus and Muslims both

41. The sympathy of Indian soldiers in uniform with the released I.N.A. prisoners at Lahore
indicates
(A)Feeling of Nationalism and Fraternity (B) Rebellious nature of Indian soldiers
(C)Simply to participate in the reception party (D) none of the above

Read the following passage and answer the questions 42 to 46:


Each day at the Shantiniketan School starts with the Saraswati Vandana. When painting
competitions are held in the school, images of Hindu gods and goddesses are most common.
Sanskrit is a favourite subject of many student. Nothing new about it except that the 1,200 - odd
students studying in the Hindu - run school are Muslims.
In 1983, when Ranchodbhai Kiri started Shantiniketan in the all - Muslim Juhapura area of
Ahmedabad in Gujarat, only 20 percent of the students were Muslims. But when riots involving
the Muslims of Juhapura and the Hindus of nearby Jivrajpark - Vejalpur affected the locality,
Hindus started migrating. Today, all the students are Muslims and the school is an unparalled
example of harmony. In the 2002, when a section of inflamed Muslims wanted the school closed,
the parents of the students stood like a wall behind it.
Shantiniketan’s principal says, “We never thought of moving the school out of the area because
of the love and affection of the local Muslims. Indeed they value the high standard of education
which we have set.” Such is the reputation of the school that some of the local Muslim strongmen
accused of involvement in communal riots are willing to protect the school during the riots.
The parents of Shantiniketan’s students believe that it’s the best school when it comes to the
quality of the teaching. A large number of students have gone for both graduation and post-
graduation studies. Significantly, the only Muslim teacher in the 40 - member teaching staff,
Husena Mansuri, teaches Sanskrit. In fact, she is so happy at the school that she recently declined
the principal skip of another Muslim - run school.
Some of the students’ entries in a recent school painting competition mere truly moving. One
drew a picture of Bharat Mata with a mosque and temple, while another portrayed a boy tying
rakhi to his sister. Truly, Shantiniketan is a beacon of hope that, despite the provocations from
both communities, Hindus and Muslims can live side-by-side with mutual respect.

42. How the Shantiniketan school starts the day ?


(A) National anthem (B) Prayer
(C) Saraswati Vandana (D) Puja

43. Write the subject which is preferred by most of the students


(A) Hindi (B) English
(C) Sanskrit (D) Gujarati

44. Who protects the school during the riot times?

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(A) Local Muslims (B) Hindus


(C) Politicians (D) Christians

45. Who is the teacher of Sanskrit?


(A) Ranchodbhai Kiri (B) Manisha Vakil
(C) Husena Mansuri (D) Husena Kkatoon

46. What is the hope despite the communal riots?


(A) Hindus and Muslims cannot live side by side
(B) Hindus and Muslims can live side by side
(C) Only Hindus can live
(D) Only Muslims can live

Read the following passage carefully and answer questions from 47 to 52:
It should be remembered that the nationalist movement in India, like all nationalist movements,
was essentially a bourgeois movement. It represented the natural historical stage of development,
and to consider it or to criticise it as a working-class movement is wrong. Gandhi represented that
movement and the Indian masses in relation to that movement to a supreme degree, and he became
the voice of Indian people to that extent. The main contribution of Gandhi to India and the Indian
masses has been through the powerful movements which he launched through the National
Congress. Through nation-wide action he sought to mould the millions, and largely succeeded in
doing so, and changing them from a demoralised, timid and hopeless mass, bullied and crushed
by every dominant interest, and incapable of resistance, into a people with self-respect and self-
reliance, resisting tyranny, and capable of united action and sacrifice for a larger cause.

Gandhi made people think of political and economic issues and every village and every bazaar
hummed with argument and debate on the new ideas and hopes that filled the people. That was
an amazing psychological change. The time was ripe for it, of course, and circumstances and
world conditions worked for this change. But a great leader is necessary to take advantage of
circumstances and conditions. Gandhi was that leader, and he released many of the bonds that
imprisoned and disabled our minds, and none of us who experienced it can ever forget that great
feeling of release and exhilaration that came over the Indian people.

Gandhi has played a revolutionary role in India of the greatest importance because he knew how
to make the most of the objective conditions and could reach the heart of the masses, while groups
with a more advanced ideology functioned largely in the air because they did not fit in with those
conditions and could therefore not evoke any substantial response from the masses.

It is perfectly true that Gandhi, functioning in the nationalist plane, does not think in terms of the
conflict of classes, and tries to compose their differences. But the action he has indulged and
taught the people has inevitably raised mass consciousness tremendously and made social issues
vital. Gandhi and the Congress must be judged by the policies they pursue and the action they
indulge in. But behind this, personality counts and colours those policies and activities. In the
case of very exceptional person like Gandhi the question of personality becomes especially
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important in order to understand and appraise him. To us he has represented the spirit and honour
of India, the yearning of her sorrowing millions to be rid of their innumerable burdens, and an
insult to him by the British Government or others has been an insult to India and her people.

47. Which one of the following is true of the given passage?


(A) The passage is a critique of Gandhi’s role in Indian movement for independence.
(B) The passage hails the role of Gandhi in India’s freedom movement.
(C) The author is neutral on Gandhi’s role in India’s freedom movement.
(D) It is an account of Indian National Congress’s support to the working-class movement.

48. The change that the Gandhian movement brought among the Indian masses was
(A)Physical (B) Cultural
(C)Technological (D) Psychological
49. To consider the nationalist movement or to criticise it as a working-class movement was
wrong because it was a
(A) Historical movement (B) Voice of the Indian people
(C) Bourgeois movement (D) Movement represented by Gandhi

50. Gandhi played a revolutionary role in India because he could


(A) Preach morality (B) Reach the heart of Indians
(C) See the conflict of classes (D) Lead the Indian National Congress
51. Groups with advanced ideology functioned in the air as they did not fit in with
(A) Objective conditions of masses (B) The Gandhian ideology
(C) The class consciousness of the people (D) The differences among masses

52. The author concludes the passage by


(A) Criticizing the Indian masses (B) The Gandhian movement
(C) Pointing out the importance of the personality of Gandhi
(D) Identifying the sorrows of millions of Indians

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 53 to 58.

The phrase “What is it like?” stands for a fundamental thought process. How does one go about
observing and reporting on things and events that occupy segments of earth space? Of all the
infinite variety of phenomena on the face of the earth, how does one decide what phenomena to
observe? There is no such thing as a complete description of the earth or any part of it, for every
microscopic point on the earth’s surface differs from every other such point. Experience shows
that the things observed are already familiar, because they are like phenomena that occur at home
or because they resemble the abstract images and models developed in the human mind.
How are abstract images formed ? Humans alone among the animals possess language; their
words symbolize not only specific things but also mental images of classes of things. People can
remember what they have seen or experienced because they attach a word symbol to them.

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During the long record of our efforts to gain more and more knowledge about the face of the earth
as the human habitat, there has been a continuing interplay between things and events. The direct
observation through the senses is described as a percept; the mental image is described as a
concept. Percepts are what some people describe as reality, in contrast to mental images, which
are theoretical, implying that they are not real.
The relation of Percept to Concept is not as simple as the definition implies. It is now quite clear
that people of different cultures or even individuals in the same culture develop different mental
images of reality and what they perceive is a reflection of these preconceptions. The direct
observation of things and events on the face of the earth is so clearly a function of the mental
images of the mind of the observer that the whole idea of reality must be reconsidered.
Concepts determine what the observer perceives, yet concepts are derived from the
generalizations of previous percepts. What happens is that the educated observer is taught to
accept a set of concepts and then sharpens or changes these concepts during a professional career.
In any one field of scholarship, professional opinion at one time determines what concepts and
procedures are acceptable, and these form a kind of model of scholarly behaviour.

53. The problem raised in the passage reflects on


(A) thought process (B) human behaviour
(C) Cultural perceptions (D) professional opinion

54. According to the passage, human beings have mostly in mind


(A) Observation of things (B) Preparation of mental images
(C) Expression through language (D) to gain knowledge

55. Concept means


(A) A mental image (B) A reality
(C) An idea expressed in language form (D) All the above

56. The relation of Percept to Concept is


(A) Positive (B) Negative
(C) Reflective (D) Absolute

57. In the passage, the earth is taken as


(A) The Globe (B) The Human Habitat
(C) A Celestial Body (D) A Planet

58. Percept means


(A) Direct observation through the senses (B) A conceived idea
(C) Ends of a spectrum (D) An abstract image

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions 59 to 64:

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The catalytic fact of the twentieth century is uncontrollable development, consumerist society,
political materialism, and spiritual devaluation. This inordinate development has led to the
transcendental ‘second reality’ of sacred perception that biologically transcendence is a part of
human life. As the century closes, it dawns with imperative vigour that the ‘first reality’ of
enlightened rationalism and the ‘second reality’ of the Beyond have to be harmonised in a worthy
state of man. The de facto values describe what we are, they portray the ‘is’ of our ethic, they are
est values (Latin est means is). The ideal values tell us what we ought to be, theyare esto
values (Latin esto ‘ought to be’). Both have to be in the ebb and flow of consciousness. The ever-
new science and technology and the ever-perennial faith are two modes of one certainty,that is the
wholeness of man, his courage to be, his share in Being.
The materialistic foundations of science have crumbled down. Science itself has proved that
matter is energy, processes are as valid as facts, and affirmed the non-materiality of the universe.
The encounter of the ‘two cultures’, the scientific and the humane, will restore the normal vision,
and will be the bedrock of a ‘science of understanding’ in the new century. It will give new
meaning to the ancient perception that quantity (measure) and quality (value) coexist at the root
of nature. Human endeavours cannot afford to be humanistically irresponsible.

59. The problem raised in the passage reflects overall on


(A) Consumerism (B) Materialism
(C) Spiritual devaluation (D) Inordinate development

60. The ‘de facto’ values in the passage means


(A) What is (B) What ought to be
(C) What can be (D) where it is?

61. According to the passage, the ‘first reality’ constitutes


(A) Economic prosperity (B) Political development
(C) Sacred perception of life (D) Enlightened rationalism

62. Encounter of the ‘two cultures’, the scientific and the human implies
(A) Restoration of normal vision (B) Universe is both material and non-material
(C) Man is superior to nature (D) Co-existence of quantity and quality in
nature

63. The contents of the passage are


(A) Descriptive (B) Prescriptive
(C) Axiomatic (D) Optional

64. The passage indicates that science has proved that


(A) universe is material (B) matter is energy
(C) Nature has abundance (D) humans are irresponsible

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Read the following passage carefully and answer questions 65 to 70:


All historians are interpreters of text if they be private letters, Government records or parish birth
lists or whatever. For most kinds of historians, these are only the necessary means to
understanding something other than the texts themselves, such as a political action or a historical
trend, whereas for the intellectual historian, a full understanding of his chosen texts is itself the
aim of his enquiries. Of course, the intellectual history is particularly prone to draw on the focus
of other disciplines that are habitually interpreting texts for purposes of their own, probing the
reasoning that ostensibly connects premises and conclusions. Furthermore, the boundaries with
adjacent sub disciplines are shifting and indistinct: the history of art and the history of science
both claim a certain autonomy, partly just because they require specialised technical skills, but
both can also be seen as part of a wider intellectual history, as is evident when one considers, for
example, the common stock of knowledge about cosmological beliefs or moral ideals of a period.

Like all historians, the intellectual historian is a consumer rather than a producer of ‘methods’.
His distinctiveness lies in which aspect of the past he is trying to illuminate, not in having
exclusive possession of either a corpus of evidence or a body of techniques. That being said, it
does seem that the label ‘intellectual history’ attracts a disproportionate share of
misunderstanding.
It is alleged that intellectual history is the history of something that never really mattered. The
long dominance of the historical profession by political historians bred a kind of philistinism, an
unspoken belief that power and its exercise was ‘what mattered’. The prejudice was reinforced
by the assertion that political action was never really the outcome of principles or ideas that were
‘more flapdoodle’. The legacy of this precept is still discernible in the tendency to require ideas
to have ‘licensed’ the political class before they can be deemed worthy of intellectual attention,
as if there were some reasons why the history of art or science, of philosophy or literature, were
somehow of interest and significance than the history of Parties or Parliaments. Perhaps in recent
years the mirror-image of this philistinism has been more common in the claim that ideas of any
one is of systematic expression or sophistication do not matter, as if they were only held by a
minority.

Answer the following questions:

65. An intellectual historian aims to fully understand


(A) the chosen texts of his own (B) political actions
(C) historical trends (D) his enquiries

66. Intellectual historians do not claim exclusive possession of


(A) conclusions (B) any corpus of evidence
(C) distinctiveness (D) habitual interpretation

67. The misconceptions about intellectual history stem from


(A) a body of techniques (B) the common stock of knowledge
(C) the dominance of political historians (D) cosmological beliefs

68. What is philistinism?

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(A) Reinforcement of prejudice (B) Fabrication of reasons


(C) The hold of land-owning classes (D) Belief that power and its exercise matter

69. Knowledge of cosmological beliefs or moral ideas of a period can be drawn as part of
(A) literary criticism (B) history of science
(C) history of philosophy (D) intellectual history

70. The claim that ideas of any one is of systematic expression do not matter, as if they were held
by a minority, is
(A) to have a licensed political class (B) a political action
(C) a philosophy of literature (D) the mirror-image of philistinism

ANSWER KEY

1 – A, 2 – B, 3 – A, 4 – A, 5 – B, 6 – B, 7 – B, 8 – D, 9 – D, 10 – C, 11 – D, 12 – A, 13 – A, 14
– B, 15 – D, 16 – C, 17 – A, 18 – B, 19 – C, 20 – A, 21 – B, 22 – A, 23 – C, 24 – A, 25 – C, 26
– D, 27 – B, 28 – C, 29 – C, 30 – D, 31 – C, 32 – B, 33 – A, 34 – A, 35 – A, 36 – C, 37 – A, 38
– D, 39 – D, 40 – B, 41 – A42 – C, 43 – C, 44 – A, 45 – C, 46 – B, 47 – B, 48 – D, 49 – C, 50 –
B, 51 – A, 52 – C, 53 – C, 54 – A, 55 – A, 56 – C, 57 – B, 58 – A, 59 – C, 60 – A, 61 – D, 62 –
A, 63 – A, 64 – B, 65 – A, 66 – B, 67 – C, 68 – D, 69 – D, 70 - D

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