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, 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.

Faith is the only power that can inspire a human being who is in ______.

In the following question, out of the given four alternatives, select the one which is opposite in meaning of the given word.

Arraign

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.

certain place, with a __________ and experienced wrestler

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

A diamond in the rough

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.

I don’t have a big budget, I just need a place which provides bed and _______________.

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.

Worldwide, journalism and the news industry are struggling, in this digital age, to ________________ their relevance and value under profoundly changed and _________________ circumstances. In response ________________ the challenge, a strong view is forming within the profession that one way to ensure that the activities that __________________ journalism will continue to matter is to hone, strengthen, and develop its professional capabilities to perform certain __________________ tasks.

relevance and value under profoundly changed and _________________ circumstances.

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 new claim that ______________ out of misplaced confidence that all that is in education can be ______________ is that the ‘per unit cost of outcome’ is lower in private schools. Meaning that even _________ the learning outcomes of private schools are not better _____________ the public schools, the cost _______________ running private schools is much lower.

The new claim that ______________ out of misplaced