Top 20 Reading Comprehension Passages with Q&A

Passage - 1

Philosophy of Education is a label applied to the study of the

purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. It can be
considered a branch of both philosophy and education. Education
can be defined as the teaching and learning of specific skills, and
the imparting of knowledge, judgment and wisdom, and is
something broader than the societal institution of education we
often speak of.

Many educationalists consider it a weak and woolly field, too far

removed from the practical applications of the real world to be
useful. But philosophers dating back to Plato and the Ancient Greeks
have given the area much thought and emphasis, and there is little
doubt that their work has helped shape the practice of education
over the millennia.

Plato is the earliest important educational thinker, and education is

an essential element in "The Republic" (his most important work on
philosophy and political theory, written around 360 B.C.). In it, he
advocates some rather extreme methods: removing children from
their mothers' care and raising them as wards of the state, and
differentiating children suitable to the various castes, the highest
receiving the most education, so that they could act as guardians of
the city and care for the less able. He believed that education
should be holistic, including facts, skills, physical discipline, music
and art.
Plato believed that talent and intelligence is not distributed
genetically and thus is be found in children born to all classes,
although his proposed system of selective public education for an
educated minority of the population does not really follow a
democratic model.
Aristotle considered human nature, habit and reason to be equally
important forces to be cultivated in education, the ultimate aim of
which should be to produce good and virtuous citizens. He
proposed that teachers lead their students systematically, and
that repetition be used as a key tool to develop good habits, unlike
Socrates' emphasis on questioning his listeners to bring out their
own ideas. He emphasized the balancing of the theoretical and
practical aspects of subjects taught, among which he explicitly
mentions reading, writing, mathematics, music, physical
education, literature, history, and a wide range of sciences, as well
as play, which he also considered important.

During the Medieval period, the idea of Perennialism was first

formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas in his work "De Magistro".
Perennialism holds that one should teach those things deemed to
be of everlasting importance to all people everywhere, namely
principles and reasoning, not just facts (which are apt to change
over time), and that one should teach first about people, not
machines or techniques. It was originally religious in nature, and it
was only much later that a theory of secular perennialism
developed.

During the Renaissance, the French skeptic Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592) was one of the first to critically look at education.
Unusually for his time, Montaigne was willing to question the
conventional wisdom of the period, calling into question the whole
edifice of the educational system, and the implicit assumption that
university-educated philosophers were necessarily wiser than
uneducated farm workers, for example.

Q1. What is the difference between the approaches of Socrates and

Aristotle?
1) Aristotle felt the need for repetition to develop good habits in
students; Socrates felt that students need to be constantly
questioned

2) Aristotle felt the need for rote-learning; Socrates emphasized

on dialogic learning
3) There was no difference

4) Aristotle emphasized on the importance of paying attention

to human nature; Socrates emphasized upon science
Q2. Why do educationists consider philosophy a ‘weak and woolly’
field?
1) It is not practically applicable

2) Its theoretical concepts are easily understood

3) It is irrelevant for education

4) None of the above

Q3. What do you understand by the term ‘Perennialism’, in the context of

the given comprehension passage?
1) It refers to something which is of ceaseless importance

2) It refers to something which is quite unnecessary

3) It refers to something which is abstract and theoretical

4) It refers to something which existed in the past and no longer

exists now

Q4. Were Plato’s beliefs about education democratic?

1) He believed that only the rich have the right to acquire education

2) Yes

3) He believed that only a select few are meant to attend schools

4) He believed that all pupils are not talented

Q5. Why did Aquinas propose a model of education which did not lay
much emphasis on facts?
1) Facts are not important

2) Facts do not lead to holistic education

3) Facts change with the changing times

4) Facts are frozen in time

Passage - 2

"I Have a Dream" is a public speech delivered by American civil

rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington
for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an
end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic
rights. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a
defining moment of the civil rights movement.
Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation,
which freed millions of slaves in 1863, King observes that: "one
hundred years later, the Negro still is not free". Toward the end of
the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly
improvised peroration on the theme "I have a dream", prompted
by Mahalia Jackson's cry: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" In
this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has
now become its most famous, King described his dreams of
freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. Jon
Meacham writes that, "With a single phrase, Martin Luther King Jr.
joined Jefferson and Lincoln in the ranks of men who've shaped
modern America". The speech was ranked the top American
speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public
address.

Q1. What issues does Martin Luther King’s speech address?

1. Continuation of racism
2. End to racism and civil and economic rights
3. Civil
rights
4.Civil War

Q2. What pushes King to speak: “I have a dream”?

1.He reads out the Emancipation
Proclamation 2.He is prompted by
Mahalia Jackson
3.he is overwhelmed by the crowd
4.Licoln had asked him to give the
speech
Q3. From the last paragraph, give one word for “to leave”
1. Departed
2. Proclamation
3. Improvised
4. Address
Q4.What is the name of martin Luther King’s famed speech?
1.The Emancipation
Proclamation 2.An
Improvisation
3. A Peroration
4.I Have a Dream
Q5. In front of whom does King speak?
1.The civil rights
supporters 2.His friends
3.Lincoln
4.The
Negroes

Passage - 3

Today I Rabindranath Tagore complete eighty years of my life .As I

look back on the vast stretch of years that lie behind me and see in
clear perspective the history of my early development, I am struck
by the change that has taken place both in my own attitude and in
the psychology of my countrymen -- a change that carries within it a
cause of profound tragedy.
Our direct contact with the larger world of men was linked up with
the contemporary history of the English people whom we came to
know in those earlier days. It was mainly through their mighty
literature that we formed our ideas with regard to these newcomers
to our Indian shores. In those days the type of learning that was
served out to us was neither plentiful nor diverse, nor was the spirit
of scientific enquiry very much in evidence. Thus their scope being
strictly limited, the educated of those days had recourse to English
language and literature. Their days and nights were eloquent with
the stately declamations of Burke, with Macaulay’s long-rolling
sentences; discussions centered upon Shakespeare's drama and
Byron's poetry and above all upon the large-hearted liberalism of
the nineteenth-century English politics.
At the time though tentative attempts were being made to gain our
national independence, at heart we had not lost faith in the
generosity of the English race. This belief was so firmly rooted in
the sentiments of our leaders as to lead them to hope that the
victor would of his own grace pave the path of freedom for the
vanquished. This belief was based upon the fact that England at the
time provided a shelter to all those who had to flee from
persecution in their own country. Political martyrs who had suffered
for the honour of their people were accorded unreserved welcome
at the hands of the English.
I was impressed by this evidence of liberal humanity in the character
of the English and thus I was led to set them on the pedestal of my
highest respect. This generosity in their national character had not
yet been vitiated by imperialist pride. About this time, as a boy in
England, I had the opportunity of listening to the speeches of John
Bright, both in and outside Parliament. The large-hearted, radical
liberalism of those speeches, overflowing all narrow national
bounds, had made so deep an impression on my mind that
something of it lingers even today, even in these days of graceless
disillusionment.

Q1. From the first paragraph, give a synonym for ‘deep’:

1.Perspecti
ve
2.Profound
3.tragedy
4.Psycholog
y

Q2. What helped the Indians to conceive of a notion of the Englishmen?

1.Their advanced
weaponry 2.Their
literature
3. Their orders
4. Their administration
Q3. Who could read and gain from English literature?
1.The educated
Indians 2.All the
Indians
3.Only writers such as Rabindranath
Tagore 4.None of the above
Q4. From the third paragraph, give an antonym for ‘victorious’
1. Victor
2.vanquishe
d 3.Belief
4.Persecuti
on
Q5. Whose speeches did Tagore listen to, as a boy?
1.Shakespeare
2. Byron
3.John
Bright
4.Macaulay

Passage - 4

Sportsmanship can be conceptualized as an enduring and relatively

stable characteristic or disposition such that individuals differ in the
way they are generally expected to behave in sports situations. In
general, sportsmanship refers to virtues such as fairness, self-
control, courage, and persistence, and has been associated with
interpersonal concepts of treating others and being treated fairly,
maintaining self-control if dealing with others, and respect for
both authority and opponents. Sportsmanship is also looked at as
being the way one reacts to a sport/game/player.

The four elements of sportsmanship are often shown being good

form, the will to win, equity and fairness. All four elements are
critical and a balance must be found among all four for true
sportsmanship to be illustrated. These elements may also cause
conflict, as a person may desire to win more than play in equity and
fairness and thus resulting in a clash within the aspects of
sportsmanship. This will cause problems as the person believes they
are being a good sportsman, but they are defeating the purpose of
this idea as they are ignoring two key components of being
sportsman like. When athletes become too self-centred, the idea of
sportsmanship is dismissed.

Today's sporting culture, in particular the base of elite sport, places

great importance on the idea of competition and winning and thus
sportsmanship takes a back seat as a result. In most, if not all
sports, sportsmen at the elite level make the standards on
sportsmanship and no matter whether they like it or not, they are
seen as leaders and role models in society.

Since every sport is rule driven, the most common offence of bad
sportsmanship is the act of cheating or breaking the rules to gain an
unfair advantage. A competitor who exhibits poor sportsmanship
after losing a game or contest is often called a "sore loser", while a
competitor who exhibits poor sportsmanship after winning is
typically called a "bad winner". Sore loser behavior includes blaming
others for the loss, not accepting responsibility for personal actions
that contributed to the defeat, reacting to the loss in an immature
or improper fashion, making excuses for the defeat, and citing
unfavourable conditions or other petty issues as reasons for the
defeat. A bad winner acts in a shallow fashion after his or her
victory, such as by gloating about his or her win, rubbing the win in
the face(s) of the opponent(s), and lowering the opponent(s)'s self-
esteem by constantly reminding the opponent(s) of "poor"
performance in comparison (even if the opponent(s)
competed well). Not showing respect to the other team is
considered to being a bad sportsman and could lead to
demoralizing effects; as Leslie Howe describes: "If a pitcher in
baseball decides to pitch not to his maximum ability suggest that
the batter is not at an adequate level, [it] could lead to the batter
to have low self-confidence or worth.
Q1. Is it necessary to strike a balance between all the four elements of
sportsmanship?
1. No
2. Yes
3. Any 2 can be balanced
4. Only 1 is sufficient

Q2. Why has sportsmanship taken a backseat today?

1. Due to lack of balance between the elements
2. Due to the emphasis on winning
3. Due to drug abuse
4. None of the above

Q3. If one does not accept responsibility for one’s defeat, one is called a:
1. Sore loser
2. Bad winner
3. Good sportsman
4. Prudent sportsman
Q4. From the last paragraph, give the opposite of the word ‘deep’:
1. Competitor
2. Pitch
3. Immature
4. Shallow

Q5. When does the spirit of sportsmanship die?

1. When the sportsman becomes too self-centered
2. When the player loses the will to play
3. When the sportsman behaves badly
4. None of the above
Passage - 5

Artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes called machine intelligence, is

intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural
intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. In computer
science AI research is defined as the study of "intelligent agents":
any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that
maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals.
Colloquially, the term "artificial intelligence" is applied when a
machine mimics "cognitive" functions that humans associate with
other human minds, such as "learning" and "problem solving".
The scope of AI is disputed: as machines become increasingly
capable, tasks considered as requiring "intelligence" are often
removed from the definition, a phenomenon known as the AI effect,
leading to the quip, "AI is whatever hasn't been done yet." For
instance, optical character recognition is frequently excluded from
"artificial intelligence", having become a routine technology.
Capabilities generally classified as AI as of 2017 include successfully
understanding human speech, competing at the highest level in
strategic game systems (such as chess and Go), autonomous cars,
intelligent routing in content delivery network and military
simulations.
Artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in
1956, and in the years since has experienced several waves of
optimism, followed by disappointment and the loss of funding
(known as an "AI winter"), followed by
new approaches, success and renewed funding. For most of its
history, AI research has been divided into subfields that often fail to
communicate with each other. These sub-fields are based on
technical considerations, such as particular goals (e.g. "robotics" or
"machine learning"), the use of particular tools ("logic" or artificial
neural networks), or deep philosophical differences. Subfields have
also been based on social factors (particular institutions or the work
of particular researchers).
The traditional problems (or goals) of AI research include reasoning,
knowledge representation, planning, learning, natural language
processing, perception and the ability to move and manipulate
objects. General intelligence is among the field's long-term goals.
Approaches include statistical methods, computational intelligence,
and traditional symbolic AI. Many tools are used in AI, including
versions of search and mathematical optimization, artificial neural
networks, and methods based on statistics, probability and
economics. The AI field draws upon computer science, mathematics,
psychology, linguistics, philosophy and many others.

Q1. What is the AI winter?

1. Loss of funding for AI projects

2. Non-functioning AI systems

3. Absence of research labs

4. None of the above

Q2. Are sub-fields based only on social factors?

1. No

2. Yes

3. They are based on machine learning

4. None of the above

Q3. Leaning and problem solving by machines is a colloquial way of
understanding artificial intelligence?
1. Yes

2. No

3. Artificial intelligence means acquiring knowledge through books

4. It cannot be defined colloquially

Q4. Are autonomous cars an example of AI?

1. Yes

2. No

3. As of 2017, they are

4. None of the above

Q5. Does AI only draw on technology and mathematics?

1. Yes

2. No

3. It also draws upon psychology

4. It only draws upon linguistics

Passage - 6

Like their ancient toga-wearing counterparts, modern philosophers

continue to disagree on the nature of freewill. Do we really have any
control over the choices we make and the things we desire, and if
so, to what degree?

Theories of freewill vary, but the ancient words of Plato still line up
with our modern perceptions of temptation and willpower. The
revered Greek philosopher argued that the human experience is
one of constant struggle between the intellect and the body,
between rationality and desire. Along these lines, true freedom is
only achievable when willpower unchains us from bodily,
emotional, instinctual slavery.

You can find similar sentiments throughout world religions, most of

which offer a particular and often difficult path to rise above our
darker natures.

And science? Well, science mostly agrees with all of this.

Willpower is all about overcoming your natural impulses to eat
cupcakes, skip your morning workout, flirt with the waiter, hit the
snooze alarm and check your e-mail during a funeral.

Your willpower, however, is limited. If life were a video game, you'd

see a glowing "willpower" or "ego" meter at the top of the screen
next to your "life" meter. Successfully resist one temptation, and the
meter depletes a little. The next temptation depletes the "willpower"
meter even more, until there's nothing left at all.

Our modern scientific understanding of willpower in large part stems

from a 1996 research experiment involving chocolate and radishes.
Psychologist Roy Baumeister led a study in which 67 test subjects
were presented with tempting chocolate chip cookies and other
chocolate-flavored treats before a persistence-testing puzzle. Here's
the catch: The researchers asked some of the participants to abstain
from sweets and snack on radishes instead.
Baumeister's results told a fascinating story. The test subjects who
resisted the sweet stuff in favor of radishes performed poorly on
the persistence test. They simply didn't have the willpower left to
resist slacking off.

The resulting paper, "Ego Depletion: Is the Active Self a Limited

Resource?" inspired more than a thousand additional studies
discussing everything from the influence of positive messages to
the ego-sapping power of daily decisions

Studies also show that cognitive capacity also affects our ability to
hold out against temptation. Cognitive capacity is essentially your
working memory, which you employ when resisting a temptation ...
or holding a string of numbers in your head. A 1999 study from the
University of Iowa professor Baba Shiv found that people tasked with
remembering a two-digit number held out better than people
remembering a seven-digit number when tempted with chocolate
cake.

Q1. What do you understand by ‘freewill’?

1)The choices we make and the things we

desire 2)The choices that philosophers

force us to make 3)Our perception of

temptation

4)Our ego

Q2. According to Plato, when is true freedom available?

1) When there is a struggle between the intellect and the body
2) When our willpower helps us to overcome our

base instincts 3)When we desire that which we cannot

achieve

4)When we have no control over our ego

Q3. In the second paragraph, what does the expression ‘line up’ signify?
1)Align with

2)disagree

with 3)Differ

from

4)In discussion with

Q4. What is meant by ‘cognitive capacity’?

1)Willpow

er 2)Our

ego

3)Our ability to overcome

temptation 4)The desire to give

in to temptation

Q5. From the RC given above, find a synonym for ‘respected’

1)Cognitive

2)Temptati

on 3)Desire
4)Revered