Questions

Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

The Amazon basin has been continuously inhabited for at least 10, 000 years, possibly more. Its earliest inhabitants were stone-age peoples, living in hundreds of far-flung tribes, some tiny, others numbering in the tens of thousands. It was from the west that Europeans explorers first arrived. In 1541 a Spanish expedition from Quito, led by Gonzalo Pizarro, ran short of supplies while exploring east of the Andes in what is today Peru. Pizarro’s cousin Francisco de Orellana offered to take 60 men along with the boats from the expedition and forage for supplies. De Orellana floated down the Rio Napo to its confluence with the Amazon, near Iquitos (Peru), and then to the mouth of the Amazon. Along the way his expedition suffered numerous attacks by Indians; some of the Indian warriors, they reported, were female, like the Amazons of Greek mythology, and thus the world’s greatest river got its name. No one made a serious effort to claim this sweaty territory, however, until the Portuguese built a fort near the mouth of the river at Belém in 1616, and sent Pedro Teixeira up the river to Quito and back between 1637 and 1639. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Portuguese bandeirantes (groups of roaming adventurers) penetrated ever further into the rain forest in pursuit of gold and Indian slaves, exploring as far as present-day Rondônia, and the Guaporé and Madeira river valleys. Amazonian Indians had long used the sap from rubber trees to make waterproof bags and other items. European explorers recognized the potential value of natural latex, but were unable to market it because it tended to grow soft in the heat, or brittle in the cold, and thus had limited appeal outside the rain forest. However, in 1842 American Charles Goodyear developed vulcanization (made natural rubber durable) and in 1890 Ireland’s John Dunlop patented pneumatic rubber tires. Soon there was an unquenchable demand for rubber in the recently industrialized USA and Europe, and the price of rubber on international markets soared. As profits skyrocketed, so did exploitation of the seringueiros, or rubber tappers, who were lured into the Amazon, mostly from the drought-stricken northeast, by the promise of prosperity only to be locked into a cruel system of virtual slavery dominated by seringalistas (owners of rubber-bearing forests). Rigged scales, hired guns, widespread illiteracy among the rubber tappers, and monopoly of sales and purchases all combined to perpetuate the workers’ debt and misery. In addition, seringueiros had to contend with jungle fevers, Indian attacks and all manner of deprivation.

From where did the Europeans explorers first arrive?

In the following question, a sentence / a part of sentence is underlined. Below are given alternatives to the underlined part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is required, choose "No Improvement" option.

Herself saw the thief.

In the following passage some of the words have been left out. Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer for the given blank out of the four alternatives.

The nation has been _____as a relatively extensive, territorial relation of nativity. We have further formulated the_____of the nation as a territorially_____, yet bounded, social relation for the generation, transmission, and ____of life. When the nation is a national state, it is also a_____for the protection of life. The nation is often ______by the metaphor of familial relations and, indeed, has sometimes been considered as some kind of_____family. This is understandable because both the nation and the family are relations of_____. Nonetheless, there is an important difference, and to understand this will _____a more detailed examination of the_____ between territory and bonding.

a more detailed examination of the______ between territory and bonding.

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the word similar in meaning to the word given.
Vacillate

The question below consists of a set of labelled sentences. Out of the four options given, select the most logical order of the sentences to form a coherent paragraph.
P: Practical farming includes knowledge of fruit and vegetable farming.
Q: These schools need not necessarily have their own farms because the village itself will provide ample field work facilities.
R: Agriculture should be made compulsory in higher secondary schools; alternatively, the urban students can be taught town-planning, industrial planning etc.
S: Therefore, at this stage, only theoretical education for the village students would suffice.

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

On thin ice

Read each sentence to find out whether there is an error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. If there is no error, the answer will be “No Error”.

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Active/Passive voice. Out of four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Passive/Active voice.
I will write an essay.