Questions

A passage is given with five questions following it. Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

The saddest part of life lies not in the act of dying, but in failing to truly live while we are alive. Too many of us play small with our lives, never letting the fullness of our humanity see the light of day. I’ve learned that what really counts in life, in the end, is not how many toys we have collected or how much money we’ve accumulated, but how many of our talents we have liberated and used for a purpose that adds value to this world. What truly matters most are the lives we have touched and the legacy that we have left. Tolstoy put it so well when he wrote: “We live for ourselves only when we live for others.” It took me forty years to discover this simple point of wisdom.

Forty long years to discover that success cannot really be pursued. Success ensues and flows into your life as the unintended yet inevitable byproduct of a life spent enriching the lives of other people. When you shift your daily focus from a compulsion to survive towards a lifelong commitment to serve, your existence cannot help but explode into success. I still can’t believe that I had to wait until the “half-time” of my life to figure out that true fulfillment as a human being comes not from achieving those grand gestures that put us on the front pages of the newspapers and business magazines, but instead from those basic and incremental acts of decency that each one of us has the privilege to practice each and every day if we simply make the choice to do so.

Mother Teresa, a great leader of human hearts if ever there was one, said it best: “There are no great acts, only small acts done with great love.” I learned this the hard way in my life. Until recently, I had been so busy striving, I had missed out on living. I was so busy chasing life’s big pleasures that I had missed out on the little ones, those micro joys that weave themselves in and out of our lives on a daily basis but often go unnoticed. My days were overscheduled, my mind was overworked and my spirit was underfed.

Suggest a suitable title for the passage?

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".

Gilbert de Lafayette's father and grandfather and great-grandfather (have all been) brave and noble men.

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

Poignant

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.

Irony. __________________word captures our response to the ongoing nationwide drought in more ways than one. We have woken _________ the reality of drought a full six months after the end of monsoon. After waking up, we focus ____________ the drinking water __________ in urban centres and not the multidimensional crisis of life and livelihood in _______________ hinterland.

drinking water __________ in urban centres

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.

"What makes you so sad?" she asked Manoj.

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.

Most __________________ of all to the rambler on avian lore intent is the fact that there are many species and genera that are peculiar to the West, and ______________ new to him, keeping him constantly on the 'qui vive'. _____________ Colorado you will look in vain for the common blue jay, so abundant in all parts of the East; but you will be more _______________ compensated by the presence of seven other species _____________ the jay household.

presence of seven other species _____________ the jay household.

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

To sell (stocks or other securities or commodities) in advance of acquiring them, with the aim of making a profit when the price falls.

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.

Targeting inflation comes from a belief that policy should be _________ and transparent, so that the private sector can factor this ___________ their decision-making. The question that this ________ is: are there more "complicated" policies which _________ better? I just note that one such policy is called "nominal income targeting". _____________ it is more complicated and the private sector is deemed to be intellectually challenged.

_____________ it is more complicated