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.

Who among the following patented the pneumatic rubber tires?

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

India’s title triumph in the Under-19 cricket World Cup at the Bay Oval in New Zealand seemed inevitable. Prithvi Shaw’s boys, astutely coached by Rahul Dravid, maintained an unbeaten record through their three-week sojourn. The rousing campaign commenced with a 100-run win against Australia on January 14; in subsequent games, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan were all emphatically defeated. There were no big-game nerves and even in the much- hyped semifinal against Pakistan, India pocketed a facile 203-run victory. In the summit clash against Australia, Shaw’s boys followed their template of dominance.

Australia was bowled out for 216 and India cruised home in 38.5 overs with eight wickets to spare, and enjoyed the added lustre of opener Manjot Kalra’s unbeaten 101. Through the tournament India found diverse heroes. Fittingly, its batting troika of Shaw, Kalra and Shubman Gill, along with seamer Kamlesh Nagarkoti and spinner Anukul Roy, found a berth in the International Cricket Council’s Under-19 World Cup team, essentially a tribute to the best players on view in the championship. Cricketing excellence allied with the resultant celebrity status, especially during the teenage years, can be a double-edged sword and it helped that in the dressing room there was the calming presence of Dravid. As the ecstatic players leapt and photo-bombed after clinching the trophy, Dravid cut through the hype and said that this win should not be the team’s defining memory as each individual cricketer has much more to achieve in his career. Dravid has a point. India has won the Under-19 World Cup on four occasions, including the previous golden runs in 2000, 2008 and 2012. From among these champion sides, only a few graduated to the big stage. Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli came through the under-19 ranks and managed to carve a niche for themselves, but Unmukt Chand, who led the team to the Cup in 2012, and then featured in a soft drink advertisement besides writing a book, has been unable to make it to the Indian senior team.

Who was the captain of the U-19 Cricket team of India who won the 2012 World Cup?

The sentences given with blanks are to be filled with an appropriate word(s). Four alternatives are suggested for each question. For each question, choose the correct alternative and click the button corresponding to it.

The passengers were afraid but the captain ___________ them that there was no danger.

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and click the button corresponding to it.

Crude mineral oil comes out of the earth as a thick brown or black liquid with a strong smell. It is a complex mixture of many different substances, each with its own individual qualities. Most of them are combinations of hydrogen and carbon in varying proportions. Such hydrocarbons are also found in other forms such as bitumen, asphalt and natural gas. Mineral oil originates from the carcasses of tiny animals and from plants that live in the sea. Over million of years, these dead creatures form large deposits under sea­bed and ocean currents cover them with a blanket of sand and silt. As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock and effectively shuts out the oxygen, thus preventing the complete decomposition of the marine deposits underneath. The layers of sedimentary rocks become thicker, and heavier. Their pressure produces heat, which transforms the tiny carcasses into crude oil in a process that is still going on today.

What is crude mineral oil?

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.

_____________ nearly eight decades, the women's movement __________ and debated the desirability and feasibility of a Uniform Civil Code, and has ended up ___________ a simple question — what is the value of uniformity? Is it for the "integrity of the nation" that uniformity in laws is required, as some judicial pronouncements ___________? If so, who exactly is the beneficiary? Which sections of people benefit from "integrity of the nation", that abstract entity which is not exactly _______ the top of your mind as your husband throws you out on the street?

_____________ nearly eight decades

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.

____________ so long ago, virtually everyone seemed _____________ that a sizeable majority of British voters ____________ reaffirm their faith and confidence in a united Europe. Unfortunately, what was considered to be a remote possibility has actually become a very ____________ reality. A small majority of voters ____________ to take Britain out of the European Union (EU) in the referendum held on June 23.

____________ so long ago,

In the following question, the sentence given with blank to be filled in with an appropriate word. Select the correct alternative out of the four and indicate it by selecting the appropriate option.

___________ being an intangible idea, the nation is quite real because it is a shared idea. _______________ of nationhood are important for this sharing to be reliably reproduced, which is why we have familiar _____________ to memory like maps, flags, or the figure of Mother India. National symbols are extremely powerful ________________ they connect to compressed reservoirs of intense _________________.

we have familiar _____________ to memory like maps, flags, or the figure of Mother India.

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.

India’s motto has been Vasudeva Kutumbakam or that the whole world is _____ community. There are a _____ of pillars upon which India’s policy of living in peace with and _____ peace among nations of the world rests. Policies of non-alignment, peaceful co-existence, economic and cultural cooperation disarmament and peaceful _____ of nuclear energy, _____ of International disputes through negotiations and peaceful means are some of the salient features that give credence to India’s commitment to world peace.

economic and cultural cooperation disarmament and peaceful _____ of nuclear energy