Questions

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

The conclusion of World Trade Organization’s 11th biennial ministerial conference at Buenos Aires was worrisome. From an Indian standpoint, there was no loss as status quo continues in the most important issue: the right to continue the food security programme by using support prices. But the inability of the negotiators to reach even one substantive outcome suggests that WTO’s efficacy is under question. As a 164-country multilateral organisation dedicated to crafting rules of trade through consensus, WTO represents the optimal bet for developing countries such as India. Strengthening WTO is in India’s best interest.

Perhaps the biggest threat to WTO’s efficacy today is the attitude of the US. The world’s largest economy appears to have lost faith in the organisation and has begun to undermine one of its most successful segments, the dispute redressal mechanism. This is significant as the US has been directly involved in nearly half of all cases brought to WTO. Separately, large groups of countries decided to pursue negotiations on e-commerce, investment facilitation and removal of trade obstacles for medium and small scale industries. By itself this should not weaken WTO. But it comes at a time when there is growing frustration with gridlock at WTO.

India did well to defend its position on its food security programme. The envisaged reform package which will see a greater use of direct cash transfers to beneficiaries will be in sync with what developed countries do. But it’s important for India to enhance its efforts to reinvigorate WTO. In this context, India’s plan to organise a meeting of some countries early next year is a step in the right direction. WTO represents the best available platform to accommodate interests of a diverse set of nations. Therefore, India should be at the forefront of moves to fortify it.

According to the passage, which of the following statement is NOT true?

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which will improve the bracketed part of the sentence. In case no improvement is needed, select "no improvement".

You see a curtain of fog (hanged) low, suspended over the fresh green grass.

In the following question, out of the four alternatives, select the alternative which is the best substitute of the words/sentence.

Formally put an end to a system, practice, or institution

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

A century later, the philosophy community needs to take __________ the new challenge of moral deliberation on the most pressing issues of our difficult times. We have to revoke the suspension of ethics and morality ____________ our lives by initiating a dialogue on it. Foregrounding ethics, however, ___________ means undermining the epistemological or ontological questions that are inevitably there. One such beginning can be made by anchoring moral ________________ in fairness and justice —one founded on obligatory fairness towards the people and the planet, towards the earth and the environment, and above all justice towards one_________.

community needs to take __________ the new challenge

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.

Reminisce

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

The English language is ___________ complex in character that it can scarcely be learned by rule, and can __________ be mastered by the study of such idioms and phrases as are provided in this book; but just as care must be taken to place every accent or stress _________ the proper syllable in the ______________ of every word it contains, so must the stress or emphasis be placed on the proper word in ___________ sentence spoken.

accent or stress _________ the proper

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

One who has witnessed a debate ______ argument between two men _____________ strong intellectually, one of whom is a trained logician and the other lacking this advantage, will never forget the impression produced _________ him by the unequal struggle. The conflict is like that of a ____________ wrestler, untrained in the little tricks and turns of the science, in the various principles of applying force in a certain way at a certain time, at a certain place, with a __________ and experienced wrestler.

like that of a ____________ wrestler, untrained

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

All of us have admired some writers, ______________ their work over that of others for their writing style as much as for the content of their work. ____________ writer who has, for more than half a century, _______________ for his searing honesty is George Orwell. He is recondite, but he is never ________________. He says it as it is and yet says it as it has not been said ____________.

____________ writer who has