Direction: Read the following passage
carefully and answer the following questions given below it.
“No
man is an Island, entire of itself… And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; It tolls for thee”. — John Donne What are the borders of the
humanspirit, the contours which shape what we call the soul? That metaphysical
question gained viral urgency worldwide when a photograph of the corpse of a
three-year-old boy washed up on a beach spread like wildfire over the Net. The
child, whose body was picked up and carried away by an anguished border
patrolman was, together with other members of his refugee family, drowned when
he was trying to cross into Europe in an overcrowded and unsafe vessel from
war-torn Syria. The boy is just one of the many thousands of illegal migrants
from countries as disparate as Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and various parts
of Africa who are desperately — literally at the cost of their lives — fleeing
murderous civil war, rape, torture and starvation to seek sanctuary in a Europe
already besieged by a host of its own internal problems, including bitter
social and political dissension and, in many cases, dire economic distress and
unemployment. Even as individual nations and organisations try to grapple with
the problem in terms of law enforcement, emigration legalities and ethical compulsions,
a number of questions arise which go beyond those constantly mutating diagrams
, crisscrossed by arbitrary manmade lines called borders.
Borders
demarcate not just where one or more countries end and where others begin; they
divide where one definition of humanity ends and another begins. A refugee, often
called a displaced person, is one seeking entry, often unsanctioned, not just
into another country but into the common domain of all humanity. It is this
landscape of our human spirit, of the soul if you prefer, which all of us inescapably
share with one another. Geographical and political borders are the illusory
fault lines which conceal this essential oneness, this indivisibility. For
almost 70 years, generations who have lived and died on the Indian subcontinent
have been victims of a psychosomatic disorder which has yet to find mention in
any dictionary of geopolitical pharmacology, but could one day come to be
defined as border ophobia, a form of intense paranoia which makes us believe
that those who live across a line of demarcation, often drawn overnight, are to
be demonised, or at least denigrated and despised, as morally,
culturally and perhaps even genetically different from we who live on this side
of the mythical meridian which separates us. A line is drawn in the shifting
dust of history — through military might, colonialism, the rise and fall of
rulers — and one people become two antagonists; a single Earth becomes a
segregation of strife. Even as an interdependent network of electronic
communication seeks unity to make whole again a planet cruelly vivisected by
economic and environmental exploitation, the forces of a fratricidal fanaticism
gain ground through the cancerous growth of trans border organisations like al-
Qaida, IS and other unholy alliances against humanity. Such forces reveal all
too clearly that far more perilous to the human legacy than the borders marked
on our maps are those unmarked barriers etched deeply within our minds,
within our consciousness as to who and what we are and to whom and what we
belong. The first, haunting picture of a blue earth taken from outer space gave
us an enduring emblem of the fragility of our common destiny. The
photograph of a three-year-old sacrificed on the altar of mind-made borders now
shows us just how endangered that destiny has become.
Direction:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
1. What
does Mutating diagrams signify in the given passage?
a.Borders
b.Maps
c.Drawings
d.Boundary
e.None
of these
2. Which
of the following can be the suitable title of the passage?
a.Borders
of the soul
b.Political
boundaries
c.Military
disputes
d.All
the above
e.None
of these
3. Which
of the following statement is Not True according to the given passage?
a.Borders
divide not only countries but also humanity
b.With
the growth of transborder organsations,fratricidal fananticism's force faces
loss of life.
c.The
photograph of the dead body of a three-year-old boy got viral on internet.
d.Nations
and organisations are trying to deal with the problems of law enforcement,
emigration legalities and ethical compulsions.
e.None
of these
4. Which
of the following statement is/are true according to the given passage?
I.
Syria,Afghanistan,Pakistan,Iran are among the countries from where
illegal migrants move to other countries.
II.
A Europe is besieged by its own internal problems.
III.Generations
who have lived and died on the Indian subcontinent more than 70 years have been
victims of borderphobia.
a.III
b.II
& I
c.II
d.II
& III
e.I
5. What
is the central idea of the passage?
a.Terrorist
attacks create borders and boundaries
b.Borders
vilify the humanity
c.Individual
disputes among leaders create political unrest
d.All
the above
e.None
of these
Directions
(6-8); Choose the word which is most SIMILAR in meaning of the word printed in
bold as used in the passage.
6. Denigrate
a.Defame
b.indifferent
c.commend
d.applaud
e.None
of these
7. Endure
a.Halt
b.abide
c.abate
d.oppose
e.None
of these
8. Inescapable
a.avoidable
b.formal
c.inevitable
d.abjure
e.None
of these
Directions
(9-10); Choose the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning of the word printed
in bold as used in the passage.
9. Etch
a.reject
b.accept
c.contour
d.confuse
e.None
of these
10.
Anguish
a.solace
b.torment
c.tangible
d.solicit
Directions
(11-20): In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been
numbered. Find out the appropriate word/phrase in each case.
Decades
ago one noon, Radhika caught my mother teaching over a topic and reciting a
poem ...(11)... across
the airwaves. Engulfed in the block out enforce by the traditional customs, she
was ...(12)... by
Sarika's emotional rendering of love. My mother was not known to be given to
display of love and ...(13)...,
Sarika's poetry opened terrible wounds of love in her.
Five
years later, Radhika learnt that my mother and Sarika were not only relatives
but also childhood friends, lost their mothers while they were ...(14).... Their common ...(15)... of loneliness brought
them together briefly but they were ...(16)... ...(17)... by circumstances and it
took years before the two childhood friends met again. ...(18)... Radhika had arranged
that meeting, it was only when Radhika met Sarika's daughter recently then
Radhika understood the things. There was a depth of love in her poetry
irrespective of lime light and adulation, Sarika had indulged in her ...(19)... with sincerity so as to
delight and ...(20)... the
heart and mind at that time.
11.
1)
blowing
2)
floating
3)
overwhelming
4)
aggravating
5)
moving
12.
1) debouched
2)
meted
3)
stunk
4)
overwhelmed
5)
panned
13.
1)
but
2)
more
3)
if
4)
whether
5)
yet
14.
1)
standstill
2)
toddlers
3)
subtle
4)
minded
5)
strained
15.
1)
crusader
2)
spadework
3)
legacies
4)
situation
5)
choices
16.
1)
torn
2)
agile
3) heinous
4)
rushed
5)
ascertained
17.
1)
apart
2)
appellant
3)
avail
4)
crept
5)
frivolous
18.
1)
Where
2)
And
3)
Then
4)
Also
5)
Though
19.
1)
transcends
2)
stigma
3)
pursuit
4)
planning
5)
blister
20.
1)
smooth
2)
satiate
3)
reflex
4)
react
5) plank
Directions
(21-30): In the following questions, a part of the sentence is printed in bold.
Below are given alternatives to the bold part as (a), (b), (c) and (d) which
may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no
improvement is needed, your answer is (e).
21.
Vinoba Bhave was one of those Gandhians who did what he believed.
(a)
Did what be believes
(b)
Does why they believe
(c)
Did what they believed
(d)
had which them believe
(e)
No improvement
22.
His verbal apology does not absolve him for the sins.
(a)
Does not absolve him off the sins
(b)
Did not absolve him for the sins
(c)
Does not absolve him of the sins
(d)
do never absolve he of the sins
(e)
No improvement
23.
For many tourists keeping a tourist guide during tours help to satisfy
their hunger for knowledge
(a)
Help to satisfy his hunger
(b) Helps satisfy
their hunger
(c)
Help to satisfy hunger
(d)
helping to satisfy hungry
(e)
No improvement
24.
The whole idea of constructing and to decorate the puja pandals is
a part of skill and creativity.
(a)
Of decorating the puja panadals is
(b)
To decorate the puja pandals are
(c)
Of decorating the puja pandals are
(d)
of decorated the puja pandals being
(e)
No improvement
25.
I just can’t cope up with your erratic behavior.
(a)
Cope up by
(b)
Cope up of
(c)
Cope with
(d)
cope down upon
(e)
No improvement
26.
The entire blame for crime cannot be led at the doors of the
State.
(a)
Be laid at doors
(b)
Been laid at the doors
(c)
Be laid at the doors
(d)
be lain of the doors
(e)
No improvement
27.
Adversities bring in the best and worst in different human
beings.
(a)
Bring out the best and the worst
(b)
Bring about the best and worst
(c)
Bring out best and worst
(d)
brought in better and worse
(e)
No improvement
28.
During the Miss World contest in London, it was a difficult moment to decide
whether Miss India or Miss Greece is the most beautiful.
(a)
Was more beautiful
(b)
Was the most beautiful
(c)
Is more beautiful
(d)
are being most than beautiful
(e)
No improvement
29.
Manju Kapur was 55 years old when her first novel ‘Difficult Daughters’ had
been published by Harper Collins.
(a)
Was published
(b)
Got published
(c)
Had been published
(d)
did got been published
(e)
No improvement
30.
It obviously did not happen because of the Court’s order placing a
limit on noise level from crackers.
(a)
Placing a limit to noise level
(b)
To place a limit at noise level
(c)
To place a limit on noise level
(d)
doing placing on noise level
(e)
No improvement
ANSWER AND EXPLAINATIONS
1.
|
b
|
2.
|
a
|
3.
|
b
|
4.
|
c
|
5.
|
b
|
6.
|
a
|
7.
|
b
|
8.
|
c
|
9.
|
d
|
10.
|
a
|
11.
|
b
|
12.
|
d
|
13.
|
e
|
14.
|
b
|
15.
|
c
|
16.
|
a
|
17.
|
a
|
18.
|
e
|
19.
|
c
|
20.
|
b
|
21. Ans- c (pronoun ‘they’ will be used for antecedent ‘those’)
22. Ans- c (preposition ‘of’ will be used )
23. Ans- b (infinitive ‘to’ will not be used)
24. Ans- a (parallelism must be kept in mind. Use preposition
“of” in place of “to”)
25. Ans- c (‘cope with’ is correct phrasal verb)
26. Ans- c (‘laid’ is correct form of the intransitive verb)
27. Ans- a (‘bring out ‘ is correct phrasal verb)
28. Ans- b (past tense will be used )
29. Ans- a (simple past tense will be used )
30. Ans-e (No improvement is required.)