| GyanCentral - The hub for engineering and law students - IIT-JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT, CLAT, AILET - 2012: Reading comprehension ....CLAT, AILET, and SET 2013 Oct 5th 2012, 16:22 | GyanCentral - The hub for engineering and law students - IIT-JEE, AIEEE, BITSAT, CLAT, AILET - 2012 | | The most comprehensive career education and test preparation forums in india. | | | Reading comprehension ....CLAT, AILET, and SET 2013 Oct 5th 2012, 16:17 Passage – 1 Directions for Questions 1 to 14 : Read the following passage and choose the answers to the questions 1-14 from the given options: The great chariot of society, which for so long had run down the gentle slope of tradition, now found itself powered by an internal combustion engine. Transactions and gain provides a new and startlingly powerful motive force.What forces could have been sufficiently powerful to smash a comfortable and established world and institute in its place this new unwanted society? There was no single massive cause. The new way of life grew inside the old, like a butterfly inside a chrysalis, and when the stir of life was strong enough it burst the old structure asunder. It was not great events, single adventures, individual laws, or powerful personalities which brought about the economic revolution. It was a process of internal growth. First, there was the gradual emergence of national political events in Europe. Under the blows of peasant wars and kingly conquest, the isolated existence of early feudalism gave way to centralized monarchies. And with the monarchies came the growth of the national spirit; in turn this meant royal patronage for favored industries, such as the great French tapestry works, and the development of armadas and armies with all their necessary satellite industries. The infinity of rules and regulations which plagued sixteenth century merchants gave way to common laws, common measurements, and common currency. An aspect of the political change which was revolutionizing Europe was the encouragement of foreign adventure and exploration. In the thirteenth century, the brothers Polo went as unprotected merchants on their daring journey to the land of the great Khan; in the fifteenth century Columbus sailed for what he hoped would be the same destination under the royal auspices of Isabella. The change from private to national explorations was part and parcel of the change from private to national life. And in turn the great national adventures of the English and Spanish and Portuguese sailor-capitalists brought a flood and treasure and treasure-consciousness back to Europe. "Gold," Christopher Columbus had said, "is a wonderful thing! Whoever possesses is a master of everything he desires. With gold one can even get souls into heaven." The sentiments of Christopher Columbus were the sentiments of an age and hastened the advent of a society oriented towards gain and chance and activated by the chase after money. Be it noted, in passing, that the treasures of the East were truly fabulous. With the share received as a stockholder in Sir Francis Drake's voyage of the Golden Hind, Queen Elizabeth paid off all England's foreign debts, balanced its budget, and invested abroad a sum large enough, at compound interest, to account for Britain's entire overseas wealth in 1930! A second great current of change was to be found in the slow decay of the religious spirit under the impact of the skeptical, inquiring, humanist views of the Italian Renaissance. The world of Today elbowed aside the world of Tomorrow, and as life on earth became more important, so did the notion of material standards and ordinary comforts. Behind the change in religious tolerance was the rise of Protestantism, which hastened a new attitude toward work and wealth. The Church of Rome had always regarded the merchant with a dubious eye and had not hesitated to call usury a sin. But now this merchant was every day climbing in society, now that he was no longer a mere useful appendage but an integral part of a new kind of world, some re-evaluation of his function became necessary. The protestant leaders paved the way for an amalgamation of spiritual and temporal life. Far from eulogizing the life of poverty and spiritual contemplation, as separate from worldly life, they preached that it was pious to make the most of one's God-given talents in daily business. Acquisitiveness became a recognized virtue-not immediately for one's private enjoyment, but for the greater glory of God. From here it was only a step to the identification of riches with spiritual excellence, and of rich men with saintly ones. Still another deep current lies in the slow social changes that eventually made the market system possible. We are accustomed to thinking of the Middle Ages as a time of stagnation and lack of progress. Yet in five hundred years, the medieval period fathered one thousand towns (an immense achievement), connected them with rudimentary but usable roads, and maintained their populations with food bought from the countryside. All this developed the familiarity with money and markets and the buying and selling way of life. In the course of this change, power naturally began to gravitate into the hands of those who understood money matters – the merchants – and away from the disdainful nobility, who did not. Progress was not only a matter of this slow monetization. There was technical progress too, of a vastly important sort. The commercial revolution could not begin until some form of rational money accounting had developed, although the Venetians of the twelfth century were already using sophisticated accounting devices, the merchants in Europe were little better than schoolboys in their accounting ignorance. It took time for the recognition of the need for bookkeeping to spread; not until the seventeenth century was double entry a standard practice. And not until all money was rationally accounted for could large-scale business operations run successfully. Perhaps most important of all in the pervasiveness of its effect was a rise in scientific curiosity. Although the world would wait until the age of Adam Smith for its cataclysmic burst of technology, the industrial revolution could not have taken place had not the ground been prepared by a succession of basic sub-industrial discoveries. The pre-capitalist era saw the birth of the printing press, the paper mill, the windmill, the mechanical clock, the map, and a host of other inventions. The idea of invention itself took hold; experimentation and innovation were looked on for the first time with a friendly eye. No single one of these currents, acting by itself, could have turned society upside down. Indeed, many of them may have been as much the effects as the causes of a great convulsion in human organization. History turns no sharp corners, and the whole vast upheaval sprawled out over time. Evidences of the market way of life sprang up side by side with older traditional ways, and remnants of the former day persisted long after the market had for all practical purposes taken over as the guiding principle of economic organization. 1. The phrase used to describe the new change in society is a. Chariot of Society b. Butterfly inside a chrysalis c. Flood of treasure d. Paved the way. 2.Feudalism refers to a. Any patriarchal society b. Decentralized monarchy c. A society that is organized according to rank d. A rural society. 3.Which of the following causes is NOT responsible for the economic revolution? a. Foreign adventure and exploration b. The humanistic spirit of the renaissance c. Rise of religious tolerance d. The rise of roman Catholicism. 4.Which of the following statements is TRUE? a.Protestantism yoked the mundane world with the spiritual b.Protestantism praised the life of poverty and spiritual contemplation c.The Church of Rome encouraged the growth of merchants d.Protestantism was critical of an acquisitive society. 5.Which of the following words means "A large group of warships"? a.Tapestry b. Amalgamation c. Auspices d. Armada. 6. Which of the following is NOT a term from Economics and Commerce? a.Transaction b. Appendage c. Book keeping d. Monetization. 7.Which of the following periods of history is NOT specifically mentioned in the passage? a. The Middle Ages b. Thirteenth Century c. Renaissance d. Twentieth Century. 8.Which of the following sentences employs personification? a.The great chariot of society, which for so long had run down the gentle slope of tradition, now found itself powered by an internal combustion engine. b.The sentiments of Christopher Columbus were the sentiments of an age and hastened the advent of a society oriented towards gain and chance and activated by the chase after money. C. Although the worlds would wait until the age of Adam Smith for its cataclysmic burst of technology, the industrial revolution could not have taken place had not the ground been prepared by a succession of basic sub-industrial discoveries. d.History turns no sharp corners, and the whole vast upheaval sprawled out over time. 9.The antonym of eulogize is a.Criticize b. Mishandle c. Misbehave d. Man oeuvre. 10.Which of the following statements is implied in the passage? a. Any one change could have turned society upside down. b. The market system was made possible by gradual social changes. c. Rise in scientific curiosity was tied up to a general decline in acquisitiveness. d. Historical changes are often very swift. 11.Evidences of the market way of life sprang up side with older traditional ways, and remnants of the former day persisted long after the market had for all practical purposes taken over as the guiding principle of economic organization." What does Heilbroner mean by this? a.Traditional methods flourished in equal measure as the market way of life. b.Convulsions in human organization are due to the market way of life. c.Traditional methods continued to be the guiding principle of economic organization. d.Traces of the older traditional ways persisted even after the market way of life had begun to take over. 12.A cataclysm may be defined as a.A great destructive event or sudden violent change b. A gradual, benign change c.A device which can throw objects at a high speed d. Use of clever arguments to trick people. 13.Gold is a metaphor for a.Sir Francis Drake's voyage of the Golden Hind b. Souls in heaven c.Treasure-Consciousness d. Treasures of the East. 14.Which of the following is NOT classified under sub-industrial discoveries? a.Mechanical Clock b. Automobile c. Printing Press d. Wind Mill Passage – 2 Directions for questions 15 to 24: Read the following passage and choose the answers to the questions 15-24 form the given options: Rational knowledge is derived from the experience we have with objects and events in our everyday environment. It belongs to the realm of the intellect whose function it is to discriminate, divide, compare, measure and categorize. In this way, a world of intellectual distinctions is created; of opposites which can only exist in relation to each other, which is why Buddhists call this type of knowledge 'relative'. Abstraction is a crucial feature of this knowledge, because in order to compare and to classify the immense variety of shapes, structures and phenomena around us we cannot take all their features into account, but have to select a few significant ones. Thus we construct an intellectual map of reality in which things are reduced to their general outlines. Rational knowledge is thus a system of abstract concepts and symbols, characterized by the linear, sequential structure which is typical of our thinking and speaking. In most languages this linear structure is made explicit by the use of alphabets which serve to communicate experience and thought in long lines of letters. The natural world, on the other hand, is one of infinite varieties and complexities, a multidimensional world which contains no straight lines or completely regular shapes, where things do not happen in sequences, but all together; a world where—as modern physics tells us—even empty space is curved. It is clear that our abstract system of conceptual thinking can never describe or understand this reality completely. In thinking about the world we are faced with the same kind of problem as the cartographer who tries to cover the curved face of the Earth with a sequence of plane maps. We can only expect an approximate representation of reality from such a procedure, and all rational knowledge is therefore necessarily limited. The realm of rational knowledge is, of course, the realm of science which measures and quantifies, classifies and analyses. The limitations of any knowledge obtained by these methods have become increasingly apparent in modern science, and in particular in modern physics which has taught us, in the words of Werner Heisenberg, 'that every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability.' For most of us it is very difficult to be constantly aware of the limitations and of the relativity of conceptual knowledge. Because our representation of reality is so much easier to grasp than reality itself, we tend to confuse the two and to take our concepts and symbols for reality. It is one of the main aims of Eastern mysticism to rid us of this confusion. Zen Buddhists say that a finger is needed to point at the moon, but that we should not trouble ourselves with the finger once the moon is recognized; the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu wrote: "Fishing baskets are employed to catch fish; but when the fish are got, the men forget the baskets; snares are employed to catch hares; but when the hares are got, men forget the snares. Words are employed to convey ideas; but when the ideas are grasped, men forget the words." In the West, the semanticist Alfred Korzybski made exactly the same point with his powerful slogan, 'The map is not the territory.' 15.A semanticist is a.A person who studies the meanings of words b.A person who studies communication using symbols to represent different positions c.A person with mystical powers d. A person who studies Zen Buddhism. 16.A cartographer is a. A person who studies rocks and other substances that make up the earth's surface b.A person who uses radio waves to locate the position of objects c. A person who studies the environment d. A person who makes or draws maps. 17."Abstraction is a crucial feature of this knowledge…" The world "abstraction" I this context means a.Shortened form giving only the most important facts b.Inattention to the immediate situation c.A general representation of the real or imagined qualities of objects or persons d.Sharpness of vision. 18.Which of the following statements is FALSE? a.Rational knowledge is 'relative' according to science b.Rational knowledge employs linear structures of language c.Rational knowledge prioritizes the intellect d.Rational knowledge is experiential. 19.According to Fritjof Capra, the "natural world" contains a.Only sequential spaces b. Myriad dimensions c.Only straight lines d. Only regular shapes. 20.Which of the following words means "the belief that there is hidden meaning of life"? a. Mysticism b. Zen Buddhism c. Phenomenology d. Symbolism. 21.The phrase "conceptual knowledge" refers to a. Intuitive knowledge b. Holistic knowledge c. Knowledge arising out of non-linear thinking d. Representational knowledge. 22.In this passage, "a finger (that) is needed to point at the moon" refers to a.The study of philosophy b. The teachings of the Taoist sage Chuang Tzu c. Concepts and symbols d. Eastern mysticism. 23.The fishing baskets in Chuang Tzu's story are. a.A simile for the unrelenting nature of life b.A metaphor for the ideational and representational aspects of language c.An allergy representing life and death d. A pathetic fallacy about forgetting. 24."The map is not the territory". What is Alfred Korzybski referring to? a.The usefulness of maps b. The sequence of plane maps c.The difficulty in mapping geo-political terrains d.The limitations of conceptual knowledge. Directions—In the following question select from among st the four alternatives, the word most opposite in meaning to the word given in capitals. 25 LACKADAISICAL a. careful b. apathetic c. concerned d. dreamy. Directions—(Q. 26-30) Read the following passage carefully and answer questions on the basis of the information given in the passage. Each of these questions is followed by four alternative answers out of which only one is correct. Indicate your correct answer. If you cast a thoughtful glance around you, you will become conscious of God's infinite grace. God has given us firm earth to put our feet on; He has given us oxygen enough to inhale as much of it as we like; He has created the sun to give us light and heat to illumine and warm the world; He has given us water in plenty to quench our thirst with; He has given us space enough to fly into if we can; He has created so many animals to serve us in a variety of capacities; He has given us trees and plants to provide us food, fuel and medicines; and he has given us rich soil to grow crops in.But what is of utmost importance is the fact that he has given us our existence. We are able to avail ourselves of the universe because we exist. Had we had no existence, the whole phenomenon would have had no meaning for us. Yet these rich gifts of God fail to satisfy us: we want more. And we want more because we feel others have more. We want God to do for us all that we wish to happen. Should we not thank God for what he has given us even without our asking for it? I would like everyone of us to say to God every-day: "God ! I thank you for bringing me and my near and dear ones into existence, giving me the capacity to dream, and providing me this universe to realize my dreams in." 26.When do we become conscious of God's unlimited grace? a. When we recover from illness b. When we get jobs c. When we look around thoughtfully d. When God gives us light. 27.What is the purpose of animals in the world? a. They are there to serve mankind b. They are there to live in their own ways c. They are there to be slaughtered d. They are there to realize their own selves. 28.In which situation would the whole world have been rendered meaningless for us? a.If there had been no Sun b. If there had been no animal c.If there had been no tree d. If there had been no human. 29.Why is man not satisfied with what he has been given by God? a.His life is full of misfortunes b. He wants more c.He does not always succeed d. He likes to live forever. 30.For what does the author want man to feel grateful to God? a.Only for giving him capacity to dream b. Only for giving him capacity to dream c.Only for creating the universe d. for bringing him into existence, for giving him capacity to dream and for creating the universe for him to live in. Answers shall be soon posted,.....:(nod): | | | |  | |
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