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.

Seringalistas refers to

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.

We said to her, "Don’t give up. You are almost there."

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.

As one of the most misunderstood practices, yoga has often borne the brunt of being __________ in extremes: of yogis in pretzel-like contortions at __________ end of the spectrum, and young Instagram-led, erstwhile-overweight beach posers ____________ the other. The truth is that yoga is what you want it to be — the ultimate customisable exercise form. For a runner, it may mean lengthening muscles to gain _______________, while for someone who is hyper-flexible, it could be a way of __________core strength.

it could be a way of __________core strength.

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.

policy should be _________ and transparent,

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.

In Greek mythology, it is said that Lycurgus, the ruler of Sparta, ___________ a promise from his ____________, assuring him of the immutability of his laws till he returned from an _______________ journey. To make his laws immutable, Lycurgus _____________. Seven justices of the Indian Supreme Court on a historic day in 1973 christened themselves as modern­day Lycurguses, seeking to create, in India's constitutional context, an island of immutability, ___________ titled the "basic structure".

he returned from an _______________ journey.

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

A bone of contention

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.

Photography is the _____________ we can get to stopping time. The camera is our pause button, the cork we use to stop time from running out. And the photo album is the most potent time machine ever ____________, one that transports you to a curated past where everything exists ________ you choose to remember it,one that lets you revisit ________ just people and places and ages, but the hidden crannies of ________ own memory and the strange landscape of emotions that lies beyond.

Photography is the _____________ we can get to stopping time.

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.

Restorative justice is _______________ from mediation though it involves meetings and dialogues to fix responsibility for wrongdoing and to find a solution acceptable to ______________ three parties. More importantly, it directly addresses victim needs and ________________ emphasises the private dimensions of a public wrong. It is not a substitute _______________ the formal criminal justice system, but a good backup to reduce its workload and to increase the sense of justice in the system as a __________________.

a good backup to reduce its workload and to increase the sense of justice in the system as a __________________.