Read the text and answer the question by choosing all the correct responses. More than one responses are correct. Answers are provided at the bottom of the page.
1) Until the mid-20th century, scientists believed that the chest cavity would implode at around 115 feet. Water pressure, they argued, reaches 65 pounds per square inch at that depth, which is enough to shrink lungs to the size of grapefruits and collapse rib cages like empty soda cans. Their theory went out the window in the 1950s and early 1960s, however, when divers like Enzo Maiorca returned from beyond 115-feet with rib cages intact. We now know that water pressure forces blood vessels in the chest to swell, filling the void left by the lungs with an incompressible fluid. Among the dangers of free diving, the most disconcerting is shallow-water blackout—the brains frightening tendency to shut down within 15 feet of the surface during the ascent. As you descend, water pressure squeezes your lungs, condensing the oxygen and giving you what feels like a second breath. During the return trip, however, your lungs re-expand, dissipating what's left of your oxygen. If levels drop too low, not enough will move into the bloodstream, and the lights go out. Fortunately, the body’s laryngospasm reflex kicks in to tighten the throat and keep water out for up to a minute—just enough time for your dive buddy to drag you to the surface, tilt your head back, and beg, “Breath, baby.” Knowing Johnston will be there watching my eyes as I ascend (seeing them roll back in the head is a red flag), I dip below the surface. Staying in the syringe—dive speak for a tight hydrodynamic column—I kick down to 30 feet, my point of neutral buoyancy, and then sink effortlessly to the bottom. I feel good—surprisingly good—thanks to the densely packed oxygen molecules in my lungs. Lingering a moment, I peer up at the mirrored surface that separates this liquid world from mine. Diving to 55 feet was no sweat. I figure I could dive twice that with a little practice, reaching what scientists thought, not 50 years ago, was the body’s depth limit. Today, however, that boundary has been pushed to at least 531 feet (the current no-limits world record), which begs the question: Just how deep can humans go? “We don’t know that yet,” says Lundgren, adding ominously. “But one day someone will find out."
Which of the following is true in respect to the effect of water pressure on humans?
a) Scientists believed that the chest cavity would blow up at a depth of about 115 feet.
b) Rib cages will collapse at the water pressure of 65 pounds per square inch.
c) Blood vessels of the chest enlarge and fill the empty space left by lungs that have been compressed.
d) It is now known that the lungs will not shrink with the increase in water pressure.
e) It is no longer believed that the chest cavity will cave in at a depth of about 115 feet.
2) Using infant mortality as a key indicator of the status of children, we now begin to have the broad features of a hypothesis as to the causes of higher or lower mortality rates. One aspect is the complex of factors involving the access of mothers to trained personnel and other facilities for child delivery, the nutritional status of pregnant and nursing mothers and the quality of health care and nourishment which babies receive. The other aspect, indicated by rural-urban differentials, is the possible importance of human settlement patterns in relation to the availability of health care and related facilities such as potable water, excreta disposal systems, etc. Thus, in a special sense, it is much cheaper to make health and other basic services available to a community when it is densely settled rather than widely dispersed. It is possible to argue, however, that both these sets of factors are closely related to a third one, namely, income levels. Poorer mothers and babies have less access to health-care facilities and nourishment than those who are better off; urban communities are on an average much better off than rural communities. That economic condition plays a crucial role in determining the status of both mother and child, is beyond dispute. But the question really is whether this is the only decisive factor or whether factors such as the availability of medical facilities, healthcare programs, and nutritional programs have an independent role. If so then the settlement patterns which affect service delivery to the mother and child target groups become a relevant consideration. These are clearly issues of some importance for policy and program planning.
Which among the following statements are correct?
a) It is easy and economical to provide health care facilities in dense settlements.
b) The fact that income has an important role to play in health care is arguable.
c) A densely settled community has to be supplied with health and basic services after bearing a large cost.
d) Mothers from well to do families can provide better care and facilities to their babies.
e) The settlement conditions, income levels, and health facilities are the only influencing factors behind the varying mortality rates.
3) When we accept the evidence of our unaided eyes and describe the Sun as a yellow star, we have summed up the most important single fact about it-at this moment in time. It appears probable, however, that sunlight will be the color we know for only a negligibly small part of the Sun’s history. Stars, like individuals, age and change. As we look out into space, We see around us stars at all stages of evolution. There are faint blood-red dwarfs so cool that their surface temperature is a mere 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, there are searing ghosts blazing at 100, 000 degrees Fahrenheit and almost too hot to be seen, for the great part of their radiation is in the invisible ultraviolet range. Obviously, the “daylight” produced by any star depends on its temperature; today(and for ages to come) our Sun is at about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and this means that most of the Sun’s light is concentrated in the yellow band of the spectrum, falling slowly in intensity toward both the longer and shorter light waves. That yellow “hump” will shift as the Sun evolves, and the light of day will change accordingly. It is natural to assume that as the Sun grows older, and uses up its hydrogen fuel which it is now doing at the spanking rate of half a billion tons a second- it will become steadily colder and redder.
Which of the following statements can be supported by this text?
a) The passage is mainly about the evolutionary cycle of the Sun.
b) Hot stars are referred to as “ghosts because they are nearly invisible.
c) The important thing about the Sun at the present time is that it appears yellow.
d) As the Sun continues to age, it is likely to become colder and redder in color.
e) Sun has a short history and it always remains the same.
4) The Western alphabet, which is used in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand as well as in other countries, originated in the Middle East. The people who gave the world this alphabet were the Phoenicians, a people who established colonies all over the Mediterranean, including Carthage in Africa and Gades in Spain. In their alphabet, the letters were represented by little pictures which represented sounds. The Phoenician A was Aleph, which means “bull”. and it was made from a little picture of a bull’s head. The letter B was Beth which meant “house”, and showed the round-roofed buildings which you can still see today in Syria. The Phoenicians had contact with another nation of sailors, the Greeks, with whom they fought and traded. The Greeks also started to use the Phoenician alphabet. They changed the names so aleph and beth became alpha and beta. The shapes of the letters are the same but they have been turned sideways. Of course, the first two letters of the alphabet give it its name. Over the years there have been changes. Latin developed an alphabet with some different letters to the Greeks, and other letters have been added since. But really westerners are using the same system of writing which has served them so well for thousands of years.
Which of the following are true statements in accordance with the information given in the above passage?
a) The purpose of this text is to tell something of the Phoenician history.
b) The Greeks turned the letters in a different direction.
c) The Phoenicians came from Carthage.
d) The Phoenician alphabet was composed of individual signs.
e) Our modern system of writing is similar to the Phoenician alphabet.
5) In terrestrial affairs we think of “big” as being complicated; a city is more intricate than a village, an ocean more complicated than a puddle. For the universe, the reverse seems to be the case bigger is simpler Galaxies have some puzzling features, but on the whole, they are scarcely more complicated than the stars that compose them Beyond the galaxies, in the hierarchy of the cosmos, there are clusters of galaxies; these clusters are loosely bound by the gravity of their largest members and tend to look very much the same in all directions. Simplest of all is the universe at large, it is far less complicated than the Earth, one of its most trivial members. The universe consists of billions of galaxies flying apart as if from an explosion that set it in motion, it is not lopsided, nor does it rotate. The more thoroughly scientists investigate the universe, the more clearly its simplicity shines through.
Which of the following statements can be supported by the text?
a) The universe is a relatively simple phenomenon.
b) Billions of galaxies are predicted to explode, adding to the universal complexity.
c) Galaxy clusters are an illusion.
d) Clusters of galaxies are held together by gravity.
6) Given the record of our political class, the proposal to give tax rebates for political donations will likely meet a similar fate. Instead of cleaning up political life then, the bill runs the risk of being a godsend for fly-by-night middlemen and fixers, and unscrupulous businessmen. The other objection to the bill is a more traditional one, namely that rather than private donations, the solution is in state funding of parties. This not only ensures that there is some sense of proportion and fairness in the quantum of funding available to different parties, but also that funding does not become a means of determining the political agenda. Private funding, in this argument, is an unacceptable form of political lobbying which promotes the specific demands of donors apart from generally favoring conservative, mainstream parties, squeezing out those representing minority voices. Whatever its merits, the most serious obstacle to this kind of reasoning comes from the precarious nature of public finance in the country. At a time when the Indian state is already hard-pressed to find resources for education, health, and other social security activities, can there be a case for it to burden itself with a new category of expenses? In purely economic terms too, the proposed tax breaks do not augur well for the savings sector; and this when the sagging savings graph in the economy is already a matter of increasing anxiety.
Which demands according to the writer of the passage deserve better attention than the political funds?
a) To provide better education opportunities to the citizens.
b) Serving the health-related requirements of the people.
c) Educational donations to institutions.
d) Taking care of the safety and security of the citizens.
e) The funds for the proper functioning of transport systems.
7) The first English attempts to colonize North America were controlled by individuals rather than companies. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was the first Englishman to send colonists to the New World. His initial expedition, which sailed in 1578 with a patent granted by Queen Elizabeth was defeated by the Spanish. A second attempt ended in disaster in 1583 when Gilbert and his ship were lost in a storm. In the following year, Gilbert’s half brother, Sir Water Raleigh, having obtained a renewal of the patent, sponsored an expedition that explored the coast of the region that he named “Virginia.” Under Raleigh’s direction efforts were then made to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in 1585 and 1587. The survivors of the first settlement on Roanoke returned to England in 1586, but the second group of colonists disappeared without leaving a trace. The failure of the Gilbert and Raleigh ventures made it clear that the tasks they had undertaken were too big for anyone colonizer. Within a short time, the trading company had supplanted the individual promoter of colonization.
Which of the following statements can be supported by this text?
a) The first English settlement on Roanoke Island was established in 1587.
b) Sir Humphrey Gilbert never settled in North America.
c) Members of the first Roanoke settlement explored the entire coastal region.
d) Sir Walter Raleigh’s initial expedition set out for North America in 1584.
e) The first English people established colonies in North America because they were requested to do so by Queen Elizabeth.
8) The crisis begins in the womb with unplanned parenthood. Women with unplanned pregnancies are less likely to seek prenatal care. In the U.S. 80% of teenage pregnancies and 56% of all pregnancies are unplanned. The problems continue after birth where unplanned pregnancies and unstable partnerships often go hand in hand. Since 1950, the number of single-parent families has nearly tripled. More than 25 percent of all births today are to unmarried mothers. As the number of single-parent families grows and more women enter the workforce, infants and toddlers are increasingly in the care of people other than their parents. Most disturbingly, recent statistics show that American parents are increasingly neglecting or abusing their children. In only four years from 1987-1991, the number of children in foster care increased by over 50 percent. Babies under the age of one are the fastest growing category of children entering foster care. The crisis affects children under the age of three most severely, the report says. Yet, it is this period from infancy through preschool years that set the stage for a child’s future.
What can be the possible reasons for the increasing neglect and abuse of children?
a) The immaturity and overburdening of parents.
b) The babies being left in foster care where a stranger looks after them.
c) The children being ill-mannered and not respecting their parents.
d) The parents being busy with meeting the financial aspects of the family and not having enough time for the children.
9) Exposure to high levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss. Neither surgery nor a hearing aid can help correct this type of hearing loss. Short-term exposure to loud noise can also cause a temporary change in hearing (your ears may feel stuffed up) or a ringing in your ears (tinnitus). These short-term problems may go away within a few minutes or hours after leaving the noise. However, repeated exposures to loud noise can lead to permanent tinnitus and/or hearing loss. Loud noise can create physical and psychological stress, reduce productivity, interfere with communication and concentration, and contribute to workplace accidents and injuries by making it difficult to hear warning signals. The effects of noise-induced hearing loss can be profound, limiting your ability to hear high-frequency sounds, understand speech, and seriously impairing your ability to communicate. When sound waves enter the outer ear, the vibrations impact the eardrum and are transmitted to the middle and inner ear. In the middle ear, three small bones called the malleus (or hammer), the incus (or anvil), and the stapes (or stirrup) amplify and transmit the vibrations generated by the sound to the inner ear. The inner ear contains a snail-like structure called Cochlea which is filled with fluid and lined with cells with very fine hairs. These microscopic hairs move with the vibrations and convert the sound waves into nerve impulses–the result is the sounds we hear. Exposure to loud noise can destroy these hair cells and cause hearing loss!
Which of the following statements about health can be supported by the text?
a) Even after long exposure, the sound is unlikely to cause hearing loss.
b) The cochlea is responsible for the transfer of sound waves into nerve impulses.
c) Exposure to noise at work can harm the worker’s health.
d) Three small bones of the outer ear – malleus, incus, and stapes are attached like a chain to the tympanic membrane and convert sound waves.
10) Forces other than damaging winds are also at work inside tornadoes. Sometimes, as the writing, twisting funnel passes over a house, the walls and ceiling burst apart as if a bomb had gone off inside. This explosion is caused by the low air pressure at the center of a tornado. The pressure at the center of a tornado is usually 13 pounds per square inch. However, inside the house, the air pressure is normal, about 15 pounds per square inch. The difference of 2 pounds per square inch between the inside and outside pressure may not seem like much. But suppose a tornado funnel passes over a small building that measures 20 by 10 by 10 feet. On each square inch of the building, there is 2 pounds of pressure from the inside that is not balanced by air pressure outside the building. On the ceiling, that adds up to an unbalanced pressure of 57, 600 pounds. The pressure on the four walls adds up to 172,800 pounds. If windows are open in the building, some of the inside air will rush out through them. This will balance the pressure inside and outside the building. But if the windows are shut tightly, the enormous inside pressure may cause the building to burst. Unfortunately, heavy rain and hail often occur in thunderstorms that later produce tornadoes. So people frequently shut all windows to protect their property. This may cause far worse damage later. For the same reason, tornado cellars must have an air vent. Otherwise, the cellar door might be blown out when a tornado passes over it.
Which of the following statements can be supported by the information given in the passage?
a) The difference per square inch between the air pressure inside a building and the air pressure inside a tornado is of 2 pounds.
b) Tornadoes can destroy a building because the air pressure inside the tornado is less than the air pressure inside the building.
c) The pressure on a building during a tornado can be relieved by closing the cellar.
d) The passage talks about as how tornadoes can be prevented.
11) A rain forest is a thick jungle which gets an unusually large amount of rain. Rainforests cover about 6% of the earth’s surface. They hold about one-half of the world’s plant and animal types. The four layers of a rain forest are the emergent layer, canopy layer, understory layer and forest floor. The emergent layer is made up of very tall trees up to 200 feet high. They are usually evergreens. There is good sunlight there. The canopy layer forms a roof over the 2 remaining layers. Animals like snakes, toucans, and tree frogs live in this layer. Not much sun reaches the next layer, the understory layer. Plants then have to grow larger leaves to try to reach the sun. Jaguars, leopards and many insects live here. The final layer, the forest floor, has almost no plants. Many leaves decay quickly there due to the darkness. Giant anteaters live in this layer. Rainforests are found in five major areas of the world. Central America is famous for its brightly colored birds. The Amazon jungle in South America is the world’s largest rain forest. It has the greatest variety of plants and animals of any other place on earth. Central Africa contains the world’s second largest rainforest. The rainforests of Asia stretch from India in the west to the islands of Java and Borneo in the Pacific Ocean in the east. Australia’s rainforests are very dense and lush. The plants that live in the rainforests provide shelter and food for the animals. They also participate in gas exchanges and provide much of the world’s oxygen supply. Plants compete for sunlight on the ground so some plants live on the branches of other plants. Aerial plants can get food from the air itself using air roots. Some interesting animals live in the rain-forest. Toucans are colorful birds with short and thick necks. The bright colors on their bill help attract a mate. Their bills are sharp and can tear off pieces of big fruit. They eat lizards and small birds and live in holes in trees. Toucans live in the canopy layer in South and Central America. They are important because they help to scatter the seed from the fruit they eat.
Which of the following statements are supported by the information given in the text?
a) The rain forests are only found in Central Africa and Australia.
b) There is no sunlight in the emergent layer of the rain forest.
c) Some plants live on the branches of other plants.
d) Toucans scatter seeds from fruits and berries.
12) In Asia and much of the Third World, trees are still destroyed in an old-fashioned way: they are cut down for fuel and cropland. In Europe, there is a new and potentially more deadly culprit. The German call it ‘Waldsterben’, the dying forest syndrome. But the disease is far more than a German phenomenon. Since it was first observed by German scientists in the autumn of 1980, the mysterious malady has raced across Europe, blighting woods in countries as far apart as Sweden and Italy. Explanations for the epidemic range from a cyclic change in the environment to a baffling form of tree cancer. But the most convincing evidence points to air pollution. Indeed, saving the rapidly deteriorating forests of Europe will probably require a two-pronged strategy: an offensive campaign that includes the breeding of pollution-immune trees and a defensive scheme that calls for reductions in toxic emissions. But both will require more money than is currently being spent on such measures, as well as a total commitment to protecting the environment.
Why do you think the narrator calls the reasons for cutting the trees in the third world countries, ‘old fashioned’?
a) As the countries he is referring to are known as the third world, or under-developed countries.
b) Since science has made available modern and much-developed methods to satisfy these requirements.
c) As the reasons for which the trees are cut are no longer valid in today’s scenario.
d) It is a biased comment on the part of the narrator as it seems he belongs to a highly developed nation or society.
e) As there are modern solutions for the requirement of fuel and cropland available to us now.
13) Opera refers to a dramatic art form, originating in Europe, in which the emotional content is conveyed to the audience as much through music, both vocal and instrumental, as it is through the lyrics. By contrast, in musical theater an actor’s dramatic performance is primary, and the music plays a lesser role. The drama in opera is presented using the primary elements of theater such as scenery, costumes, and acting. However, the words of the opera, or libretto, are sung rather than spoken. The singers are accompanied by a musical ensemble ranging from a small instrumental ensemble to a full symphonic orchestra.
Which of the following statements about?Opera?can be supported by this text?
a) Opera is a drama sung with the accompaniment of an orchestra.
b) Orchestras in operas can vary considerably in size.
c) Music in musical theater is not as important as it is in opera.
d) There is an argument over whether the music is important or the words in opera.
e) Many people find musical theater more captivating than opera.
14) Adaptations enable living organisms to cope with environmental stresses and pressures. Adaptation can be structural or behavioral. Structural adaptations are special body parts of an organism that help it to survive in its natural habitat (e.g., skin color, shape, body covering). Behavioral adaptations are the ways a particular organism behaves to survive in its natural habitat. Physiological adaptations are systems present in an organism that allow it to perform certain biochemical reactions (e.g. making venom, secreting a slime, being able to keep a constant body temperature). Adaptations are traits that have been selected for by natural selection. The underlying genetic basis for the adaptive trait did not arise as a consequence of the environment; the genetic variant pre-existed and was subsequently selected because it provided the bearer of that variant some advantage.
Which of the following are true statements about adaptations?
a) They can be structural, behavioral, or physiological adaptations.
b) They mostly occur in physical appearances of special body parts of an organism.
c) They are new genes created to increase an organism’s chance of survival.
d) They are genes selected due to the benefits they offer in a particular environment.
e) They are created by the environment to help an organism survive in its habitat.
15) Australian Aborigines migrated from somewhere in Asia at least 30,000 years ago. Though they comprise 500-600 distinct groups, aboriginal people possess some unifying links. Among these are strong spiritual beliefs that tie them to the land; a tribal culture of storytelling and art; and, like other indigenous populations, a difficult colonial history. The Dreamtime: Aboriginal spirituality entails a close relationship between humans and the land. Aborigines call the beginning of the world the “Dreaming” or “Dreamtime”. In the “Dreamtime”, aboriginal “Ancestors” rose from below the earth to form various parts of nature including animal species, bodies of water, and the sky. Unlike other religions, however, aboriginal belief does not place the human species apart from or on a higher level than nature. Aborigines believe some of the Ancestors metamorphosed into nature (as in rock formations or rivers), where they remain spiritually alive. Storytelling, Art, and the Didgeridoo: The oral tradition of storytelling informs aboriginals’ vibrant cultural life. Songs illustrate the Dreamtime and other tales of the land, while dances and diagrams drawn in the sand accompany oral tales. In the Northern Territory, aboriginal art includes sculpture, bark and rock paintings, and baskets and beadwork. Rock carvings and paintings can be found in such places as Arnhem Land, Ubirr, and Nourlangie. Many aborigines earn a living through selling native artworks. Aboriginal music is often recognizable for its most famous instrument, the didgeridoo. A wind instrument typically made from bamboo, it extends about five feet and produces a low, vibrating hum. Aborigines use didgeridoos in formal ceremonies at such events as sunsets, circumcisions, and funerals.
Which of the following statements about Australian Aborigines can be supported by this text?
a) It is estimated that the population of Australian Aborigines peaked at about 400,000 some 30,000 years before white settlement.
b) Despite being recognised internationally, the Aboriginal musical instrument the didgeridoo rarely plays a significant role in Aboriginal cultural ceremonies.
c) Today Aborigines comprise approximately 2% of the Australian population.
d) Aboriginal culture is based on a belief that people, animals, and the land are integrally linked.
e) Unlike many other indigenous cultures, Australian Aborigines developed equitable relationships with colonial powers.
16)Early Rising-The great advantage of early rising is the head start it gives us in our day’s work. The early riser has done a large amount of hard work before other men even get out of bed. In the early morning, the mind is fresh, and there are few sounds or other distractions. In many cases, the early riser also finds time to take some exercise in the fresh morning air. By beginning so early, he knows that he has plenty of time to do thoroughly all the work he can be expected to do. All his work having been finished in good time, he has a long interval of rest in the evening before the timely hour when he goes to bed. After a sound night’s rest he rises early next morning in good health and spirits for the labors of a new day. Late Rising-The person who lies in bed late, if he wishes to do a full day’s work, goes on working to a corresponding late hour and denies himself the hour or two of evening exercise that he ought to take for the benefit of his health. Very late in the night is he ready for sleep.
Which of the following statements is/are? not true?in accordance with the information given in the above passage?
a) Work done early in the morning is generally well done.
b) Early riser does not have to hurry over any part of his day’s work.
c) Sleep is most refreshing before midnight.
d) The life of an early riser is more conducive to health than that of the man who rises late.
e) The morning exercise supplies the early riser with a reserve of energy that will last until the evening.
17)In the past, learning English as a separate subject seemed relatively easy. The textbook selected and graded items of language which were put into context and then practiced intensively. New items were carefully controlled so that the student could cope quite easily. Now that English is used as a medium of instruction, however, all this has changed. Unknown items of grammar and vocabulary appear in texts which attempt to explain new and often difficult information. Difficulties with the language interact with difficulties as regards the subject matter. The student’s reading in his own subject slows down, and his comprehension becomes less secure. He expresses himself slowly and often fails to convey his ideas exactly. He is disappointed to find that under pressure he makes a lot of unnecessary mistakes in areas where he knows the correct language forms. His social relations are difficult as he cannot find the right phrase quickly enough to keep a conversation going, so his language often betrays him into dullness, coldness, or worst of all, rudeness. Instead of the student is in control of the language, the language seems now to be in control of the student. All this can be very depressing and the student can start to feel anxious. Working in a foreign language is also very tiring, and the concentration and self-discipline required to correct one’s mistake is very great indeed.
Which of the following statements about learning English can be supported by the text?
a) Learning of English as a subject is a more difficult part.
b) Learning of English as a medium of instruction is the more difficult part.
c) Language may hinder understanding of the subject.
d) Learning of English as a medium of instruction is the easier part.
e) Learning of English as a subject is the easier part.
18) Modern education attaches great importance to learning through doing. It is fully recognized that the knowledge gained through actually doing the task is more effective and lasting than that gained through mere reading. That is why all the modern methods of education give top priority to some hand-work round which they base the teaching of the curriculum. In the past, whereas education laid stress on training of three R’s i.e. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, modern education attaches great importance to the training of three H’s i.e. Head, Heart, and Hand. It has been realized that the head, the heart, and the hand get the best training through self-activity with hands and brain, especially when carried out in cooperation with others. Mere reading of books or listening to others does not help much in this direction. In modern education, the student is not merely a passive listener but is an active participant in the process of education. In the past, it was the teacher who did most of the talking. Now it is the student who is expected to be more active and up and doing and the teacher is merely a guide. For the healthy development of the mind, it is most essential that the student should be an active giver and not merely a passive receiver. It is this activity of the mind which will lead to emotional integration, so necessary for a healthy personality. If the child is merely a recipient, all the time listening to his teachers, his own personality gets dwarfed because the teachers’ personalities dominate over his personality.
Which of the following statements about modern education can be supported by the text?
a) A basic craft is compulsory in the curriculum of modern education.
b) Knowledge gained through practical training is permanent.
c) It lays greater emphasis on activity-based training.
d) Here the teacher plays merely a supportive/facilitating role.
e) Modern education provides greater opportunity for the development of a distinctive personality.
19) A clean river nurtures plankton and water-weeds, which are the food and nourishment of small fish. This natural cycle of life becomes a feature of any stretch of water; even an artificially created piece of water like a pond or a canal will, if left alone, start its own “life cycle”, beginning with things that wriggle in the mud. In a short time, small predators will move in, and a complex little food chain will have started. All water, whether still or flowing, is richly productive, for where there is water there is life. You often see people fishing in a narrow water channel; they fish in ponds the size of puddles, in streams that look like gutters. And they are nearly always rewarded with a catch. The combination of water and organic matter can always be counted upon to produce some kind of living matter. The one condition is that the water must have a certain proportion of oxygen, for all life needs some oxygen. In other words, it must not be polluted with chemicals.
Which of the following statements are supported by the information given in the text?
a) In all food chains, the weak and sickly are the first to become prey to their enemies.
b) Predators reduce the fish population.
c) The presence of adequate oxygen in waters is likely to ensure that we get a better catch of the fish we want.
d) The absence of oxygen in water ensures that the quality of fish it supports is poor.
e) Water and organic matter combine to start a “life cycle”.
20) Playing is as natural for children as breathing. They play because they are so full of animal spirits and so overcharged with muscular energy that they must expend it by playing. Running, jumping and other physical activities build their muscles and tone their motor development. It is all instinctive. Playing is learningMoreover, playing involves imagination, imitation and ‘make-believe’ and thus contributes to the development of the child’s mind also. In playing a child makes friends, develops the qualities of leadership and learns to function in a group. This develops his social responsibility. Moreover, playing is a rehearsal of those activities which will be useful to them in life. For example, when girls play with dolls they practice being mothers and when boys play policeman game, they prepare themselves for active outdoor life. Playing is a therapy Psychologists believe that playing also acts as a therapy for the child; it serves as an emotional vent. It gives him/her much-needed cathartic release. Children play to make up for defeats, sufferings and everyday frustration. He may have been scolded by a teacher or bullied by a classmate. Playing is advisable is, therefore, necessary that parents should let the children play when it is time to play. Some parents force their children to study as it is thought to be far more useful for life than play. It is a mistake on their part to think play as a waste of time. Through the experience of play, a child enriches his life and becomes not only physically strong but also emotionally.
Which of the following statements about playing can be supported from the text?
a) All children love to play.
b) Playing releases pent-up feelings.
c) Parents forbid their children from playing.
d) Playing enables children to pay back love and affection.
e) Playing is a preparation for the business of life.
21)English is important not because a number of people know it, although it is a factor to be remembered. It is not important because it is the language of Milton and Shakespeare, although that also has to be considered. English is important because it is the major window on the modern world. And we dare not close that window. If we close it, we imperil our future. Be it industrialization, scientific development and technology, every door of modern knowledge will be closed if we do not have one or more foreign languages. We can have French, German or Russian, if you like, but obviously it is infinitely simpler for us to deal with a language which we know than to shift over to French, German, Russian or Spanish which will be a tremendous job. Every competent scientist today has to know two or three non-native languages. In the present age of industrialization, mechanization, scientific progress and research, we cannot progress without knowledge of English or, for that matter, French, German or Russian.
Which of the following statements can be derived from the text?
a) Since there are many in the country that can speak and understand English, the language is important for us.
b) The literary importance of English cannot be underestimated.
c) Language plays an important role in research and development.
d) English has today become the language of the world.
e) Knowledge of French, German or Russian is less important than knowledge of English.
22) Communication is the sharing of information. It is the power to create in the minds of others, feelings or information that you want them to have. It is the need to communicate that has given rise to speech, language, alphabets, and writing. The same need led to the invention of paper, printing presses, typewriters, and finally computers and the internet. The power to communicate in depth has allowed humans to dominate earth. The fast development of the same power has allowed human technological evolution to overtake biological and social evolution. There are three principal needs of communication. The need to communicate in presence of the receiver gave rise to speech and language. The need to communicate in one’s absence gave rise to alphabet, writing, paper, printing press, all kinds of recording devices, and finally the modern day computer with its features. The need to communicate over a distance included everything that one needed to communicate in one’s absence, but also gave rise to signals, telegraph, telephone, the postal system and the internet.
Which of the following questions about communication can be answered from the text?
a) Why do we communicate?
b) How do we communicate?
c) What do we communicate?
d) Where do we communicate?
e) When do we communicate?
23) Most people don’t mind working out a bit, but are discouraged by the thought of exercising hard. The idea of sweating buckets is so daunting that they avoid exercising. Fortunately, exercise is not a matter of all or nothing. There is some reward at every level of effort, provided it is regular. Spend at least 30 minutes a day in action like brisk walking to errands climbing stairs, carrying heavy shopping or children, doing outdoor gardening. Your rewards will not be immediate, but you can expect a reduced risk of problems like brittle bones, heart disease and poor blood circulation. You work up a decent appetite and sleep well, but improvement in body-shape will be minimal. Light regular exercise helps your heart. Such activity can include anything from brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, any light sport or even disco dancing. The reward is immunity to colds and flu, less stress, slightly healthier levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. The figure trims down a little but only gradually.
Which of the following statements about light exercise can be supported from the text?
a) Even some routine activities can serve as light exercise.
b) If putting your body into complete shape is your aim, you might be in for some disappointment.
c) It is necessary to exercise different parts of the body daily.
d) Put in some aerobic activity for working up a sweat.
e) It builds resistance to chronic diseases and infections, and your heart performs strongly.
24) It is necessary to have a standard of education. We can set two sorts of standards there. First, a minimum standard below which no one is allowed to fall, in the shape of so many years of elementary education in such and such subjects. And secondly, and in a way even more important, a standard of equal opportunity for all, to ensure that no boy or girl is deprived of the chance of climbing to the top of the educational ladder through poverty or the accidents of birth. There are also standards of economic security. During the recent past, the sense of insecurity has been the single greatest cause, both of individual anxiety and frustration, and of social instability and unrest. A state must see to it that it gives to all its citizens minimum standards of security against ill health, against unemployment, against widowhood, against old age. Issues of social security are, therefore, interlinked, irrespective of whether they are in the field of basic education, basic health, employment or even protection against economic needs arising out of old age, disability etc. The state expenditure on social security is bound to fall upon the shoulders of the society at large. A society that cannot take due care of such basic needs of each and every of its members is not fit to be called in the true sense of the term.
Which of the following statements in respect of education and social security are true as per the text?
a) Equality of opportunity is a cornerstone of the standard of education.
b) The state is obligated to cater to the basic needs of its citizens.
c) A socially insecure person depends on the state to find a secure job.
d) It is not possible to take the issues of health and education in isolation.
e) Every citizen has an inherent right to climb to the top of the educational ladder.
25) Observe the dilemma of the fungus: it is a plant, but it possesses no chlorophyll. While all other plants put the sun’s energy to work for them combining the nutrients of ground and air into the body structure, the fungus must look elsewhere for energy supply. It finds it in those other plants which, having received their energy free from the sun, relinquish it at some point in their cycle either to animals (like us humans) or to the fungi. In this search for energy, the fungus has become the earth’s major source of rot and decay. Wherever you see mold forming on a piece of bread, or a pile of leaves turning to compost, or a blown-down tree becoming pulp on the ground, you are watching a fungus eating. Without fungus action, the earth would be piled high with the dead plant life of past centuries. In fact, certain plants which contain resins that are toxic to fungi will last indefinitely; specimens of the redwood, for instance, can still be found resting on the forest floor centuries after having been blown down.
Which of the following statements in respect of the fungus cannot be derived from the text?
a) Fungus cleans up the planet for us.
b) Fungus is a non-parasitic plant.
c) Mould is a representation of fungus.
d)Fungus cannot eat some types of dead matter.
e) Fungus cannot source energy at its own.
26) Books of travel are of all kinds, from the dry records of laborious statisticians to the trivial diaries of globe-trotters. Explorers, seamen, archaeologists, naturalists, dreamers, what type of man or woman has not written a book of travel? They are read, they are forgotten and ninety-nine out of every hundred passes away into oblivion. Yet there are others. Alas! There aren’t many. Great books are rare, the same as the people of genius and character are. To write a book of travel appeals irresistibly to large numbers of persons who have no creative power, whose books are the mere reflection of a shallow curiosity and of a foolish egotism. These mediocre works, though they spread a sort of suburban light upon the beautiful and wild places of earth, pale into trivialities on comparison with the achievement of the true travellers who by reason of their fortitude, their imagination, their insight and their ability to evoke the atmosphere and colour of the world, have produced books that rank as literature and last for centuries.
Which of the following statements about books of travel can be supported by the text?
a) The urge to write demands creativity on part of the writer.
b) Classics on travel and exploration have survived for centuries and will do so in the future.
c) Courage is needed for travel and exploration, not so much for recounting the experiences.
d) Even the books that are not so imaginative could have nuggets of important information about people and places.
e) Books may exhibit the writer’s self-centeredness.
27) Despite all the new thinking, there is still no acceptable alternative to the examination. Whether it be at the end of term, or the year, or at the end of a school course or for the purpose of choosing candidates for a course of study and training, the only practicable way of measuring a student’s performance or of assessing his potential is by an examination, supplemented where necessary, by recommendation, interview and other devices. The most unfortunate by-product of the examination system has been the proliferation of study notes, guides to passing the examination, model answers, hints for writing essays and similar travesties of education. There is no need to engage on the unethical nature of these publications. From the student’s point of view, rigorous censorship of this kind of publication would be a great advantage. For one thing, these ‘notes’ promote the habit of rote learning. For the other, they are priced more highly than the poems of Wordsworth or the plays of Shakespeare, although they are not worth the paper they are printed on. The sooner we find a way to dispense with these, the better it is for the student community and the system at large.
Which of the following statements in respect of education and examination system are true as per the text?
a) Examinations are meant to analyze the process of learning.
b) There are serious problems in assessing a student’s progress through examinations.
c) The study notes and guides hinder the true process of study.
d) Examinations recognize a student’s difficulties and overcome them.
e) There are no alternatives, better or worse, to the examination system.
28) It is in the university that leaders of the country are trained. University education is calculated to produce and is producing, men who will be able to play a worthy part in public life. It is true that legislative and administrative capacities are developed by experience and by practical knowledge of affairs. Foundations need to be laid at a much earlier stage. It is from this university teaching that a young man should learn to examine critically the material before him, to arrive at a balanced judgment; and not to be carried away by mere catchwords. But in public affairs, something more is needed than the power of criticism and intellectual judgment. It is mainly outside the classroom that the boy learns the lesson of corporate life, how to understand the views of others and to work with them, how to sacrifice cheerfully his private inclination for the common good, and how to lead others by influence rather than by authority. He learns these lessons daily by contacts in clubs and societies, in playing fields and common rooms and also not the least by the guidance of wise teachers from whom a timely word may mean so much.
According to the information given in the passage, select the statement(s) that the author may probably disagree with?
a) The classroom teaching lays the true foundation stone of a student’s future public life.
b) Platforms for personal and group interaction are provided by the university.
c) Public affairs demand personal sacrifices.
d) Public life demands theoretical as well as practical knowledge.
e) True leaders sway rather than dictate.
29) There are other environmental problems connected with offshore oil, besides oil pollution, many of them are a routine part of operations. In drilling an offshore well, operators customarily discard overboard their drill cuttings with some un-separated drilling mud (which is not actually mud but a combination of clay and chemicals). A typical 15,000-foot well usually produces more than 1,000 tons of drill cuttings. In addition, mineral salts, which may have distinctly harmful effects on some forms of marine life, are released from geological formations and are regularly discharged after treatment in the course of a production. Localized short-term impacts have been detected as a result of these discharges. Routine discharges like these, together with chronic low-level oil leaks, present “considerable environmental risk,” the Council on Environmental Quality concluded in its report on OCS oil and gas. Digging channels for service ships and barges, building docks and other structures at the waterfront, and, to a lesser extent, laying pipeline cause another kind of environmental disruption. Instead of poisoning marine creatures, these activities tend to bury them, choke them, or cut off the light, which is essential to their whole food chain. Most importantly, dredging and filling change drainage patterns of estuaries and wetlands and can lead to erosion or saltwater intrusion. Increased salinity of the water in marshes and estuaries is usually damaging to the young fish, shellfish, and other organisms residing there. They may not be able to tolerate the higher salinity or they may be decimated by invading predators with an affinity for saltier waters.
According to the information given in the passage, select the statement(s) that the author may probably disagree with?
a) Offshore oil drilling invites serious environmental problems.
b) An offshore oil well may not pose as much danger to the environment once it becomes completely operational.
c) While some species may suffer due to higher salinity levels, the situation may be a boon to some others.
d) Offshore oil drilling can have a disastrous impact on the marine food chain.
e) Pipelines laid to carry gas or oil from the offshore wells are more disastrous than the huge structures erected at the waterfront.
30) Primitive man was probably more concerned with fire as a source of warmth and as a means of cooking food than as a source of light. Before he discovered less laborious ways of making fire, he had to preserve it, and whenever he went on a journey he carried a firebrand with him. His discovery that the firebrand from which the torch may well have developed could be used for illumination was probably the incidental purpose of preserving a flame. Lamps, too probably developed by accident. Early man may have had his first conception of a lamp while watching a twig of fiber burning in the molten fat dropped from the roasting carcass. All he had to do was to fashion a vessel to contain fat and float a lighted reed in it. Such lamps, which were made of hollowed stones or sea-shells, have persisted in the identical form up to quite recent times.
Which of the following statements can be derived from the text?
a) Lighting his surroundings was a major concern for the primitive man.
b) Primitive man used to soften his food by heating it.
c) Torch was discovered more by accident than by design.
d) Preserving fire was not a major concern for the primitive man.
e) Some of the primitive lamp designs survived for long through the ages.
31)Wheat is one of most primitive types of food in the world. Its discovery contributed to the development of Homo-sapiens from hunters to farmers. Civilization arose where soil was fertile and wheat could be produced. The Stone Age farmers in the Middle East 9000 years ago were perhaps the first to cultivate cereal grams, such as wheat and barley. They also developed bread wheat from a cross of wild wheat and grasses. Studies on Neolithic women in Syria highlight damage to their toes, knees and vertebrate as they had to spend long hours kneeling before saddle-shaped stones to crush grains. The finding that grain could be grounded to make a powder called a meal must have been fantastic because raw wheat is distasteful. This powder called meal was used to make porridge or gruel until baking was discovered. The baked flour was more enjoyable and tasty. Sieve or baskets were made using horse hair or papyrus to separate the ground meal into coarse bran particles and white flour. Later ancient Romans crushed the grain and sifted the flour through linen, twice. This was an expensive procedure that only the aristocracy could afford. The white flour obtained was called “pollen” meaning a fine powder. The Romans were the pioneers in the birth of the milling industry using animals or slaves to drive the wheels to grind wheat. It was only in the 11th century that water and wind mills appeared to grind the wheat.
Which of the following statements is/are not true in accordance with the information given in the above passage?
a) Extracting fine pollen from raw wheat used to be an expensive process.
b) Discovery of wheat helped primitive societies to lead a nomadic life.
c) Crushing wheat with the help of saddle shaped stones used to be a difficult task for ancient women.
d) In ancient Rome milling was always done with the help of slaves.
e) Baked wheat flour is tastier than porridge.
32) In 1861, Matthew Brady, a well-known portrait photographer, approached President Lincoln requesting permission to move freely about the country photographing the Civil War. Lincoln granted him permission to travel anywhere with the Union armies, and his record of this conflict brought home to millions the horrors of war.Brady wasn’t the first official war photographer. Six years earlier, Roger Fenton, a lawyer and amateur photographer, had returned from the Crimea, having been personally chosen by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. However, his instructions were more likely to have been to send back work that boosted morale back home rather than the terrible realities of war. Brady’s coverage of the war made him a household name, but he had hundreds of assistants, and it’s even possible that he didn’t take any of the 7,000 pictures that were marketed under his name. But no one else could have organized the large army of photographers needed to cover the broad sweep of the war and provided access to many leading generals and politicians.
Which of the following statements are true of Matthew Brady?
a) He was given permission to travel anywhere in the US.
b) He was able to give his photographers introductions to politicians.
c) He took as many as seven thousand pictures of the war.
d) He was responsible for organizing a large number of photographers.
e) Before the war, he had been an amateur photographer.
33) Why do some countries drive on the left, while others – the majority- drive on the right? In fact, those that drive on the left makeup about twenty-five percent of the world’s countries and are, apart from the UK itself, most countries that were British colonies: India, South Africa, Singapore, Jamaica, and so on. Japan does too, although it wasn’t a colony, and as late as 2009, Samoa switched from driving on the right largely because they wanted to buy right-hand drive cars made in Japan and New Zealand. The Romans introduced the custom of keeping to the left, a habit that was reinforced in medieval times when riders throughout Europe passed oncoming strangers sword arm to sword arm – this idea is based on the fact that the majority of people are right-handed. An increase in horse traffic towards the end of the 18th century meant that the convention gained strength, but it was not put into law until 1835. Legend lias it that Napoleon is responsible for making the European countries which he conquered keep to the right, for the simple reason either that he was left-handed himself, or that he wanted to be different from his enemy, England. This is most probably nonsense, but an Emperor’s whims can go a long way. So France, obviously, and Spain, the Netherlands and other countries Napoleon overran used this system, and over the years other countries adopted the practice to make crossing borders easier and safer. The latest European country to convert was Sweden, in 1967.
According to the text, which of the countries listed below drive on the left?
a) Japan
b) Scotland
c) Spain
d) Samoa
e) South Africa
f) German
34) The steps in the scientific method guide researchers in planning, conducting and interpreting research studies. However, it is important to recognise some of the limitations of such a "disciplined inquiry " approach. For example, it cannot provide answers to questions that seek to determine what should be done. Some questions are not answerable by research studies because collecting data will not resolve the question, or because the answer is also influenced by personal philosophy, values and ethics. Secondly, research
studies can never capture the full richness of the individuals and sites that they study. Although some research approaches lead to deeper understanding of the research context than others, no approach provides full comprehension of a site and its inhabitants. No matter how many variables one studies or how long one is immersed in a research context, there will always be other variables and aspects of a context that were not examined. Thus, all research gives us a simplified version of reality, an abstraction from the whole. Thirdly, there are limits to our research technologies. Our data collection instruments and the available theories are primitive in comparison to the instruments and theories of, say, medicine. Our measuring instruments always have some degree of error. The variables we study are often proxies for the real behaviour we seek to examine. For example, we use a multiple-choice test to assess a person's values. Finally, educational research is carried out the co-operation of participants who agree to provide researchers with data. Because researchers deal with human beings, they must consider a number of ethical concerns and responsibilities to the participants. For example, they must shelter participants from real or potential harm. They must inform participants about the nature of the planned research and address the expectations of the participants
Which of the followings are the disadvantages of “disciplined inquiry” approach?
a) Some questions are not only answerable by research studies, but they are also influenced by personal philosophy, values and ethics.
b) The full richness of the individuals and sites of the experiment cannot be captured by the research studies.
c) Participants are not informed about the nature of the planned research.
d) It depends on the willingness of the participants in term of providing data.
e) Variables and other aspects of a context are always examined in research studies.
35) Imagine visiting your doctor for an annual exam—only this time the checkup begins not with a physical but with a routine sequencing of your genome. Using information from the test, your physician not only diagnoses the diseases you are most susceptible to but also selects the types and doses of medication best suited to help you combat the maladies. It's called personalized medicine. And no, it doesn't mean your doctor will be extra kind or personable. The term broadly refers to the detection, treatment, and prevention of diseases based on a person's unique genetic makeup, and many people believe it will revolutionize health care."When you go to your physician ten years from now virtually all of the decisions about diagnosis and treatment will be based on individual information about your particular circumstance as opposed to a more general kind of approach to lots of other people in your general circumstance," said genome expert Francis Collins. Collins led the international effort to sequence the human genome, which was completed in 2003. That effort was followed by the creation of a map of human genetic variation. The genome contains tens of thousands of genes, which code for proteins and other molecules that make life possible. Although there are some three billion "letters" in the human DNA code, 99.9 percent are identical between any two people. The small remaining differences hold clues about why people tend to develop particular diseases."We now have the technology to assess in people with the disease, versus those who don't have the disease, which of
those [genetic] variances seem to be overrepresented," Collins said."We are on the brink of discovering what are the hereditary factors in diabetes, heart disease, in the common cancers, high blood pressure, asthma, mental illness—virtually any disease you can think of that tends to run in families.
Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
a) People should not have genome screenings
b) Physicians are gaining testing skills
c) Personalized medicine will improve health care
d) There are medical discoveries to be made through personalized medicine
e) General medicine practices are becoming outdated
f) Some diseases tend to be hereditary
36)No one may yet be advocating it, but two recent reports from the IMF suggest one possible solution to many of the emerging world’s economic woes — mass migration from Africa to Asia. The Fund’s latest Asia Pacific regional economic outlook released this month, warned that the continent was in danger of growing old before it becomes rich because of plunging birth rates. This threatens to leave it in far worse shape than the developed world, which at least became wealthy before the wrinkles set in. In sharp contrast, a study of Africa, released in April, concluded that a key reason why the continent has been unable to copy Asia’s rise out of poverty is its “sluggish pace of demographic transition,” ie that it's birth rate remains far too high. In theory, one simple solution that would help alleviate both problems would be a large-scale shift of younger people eastward, even if the complexities and difficulties associated with such an endeavour make it virtually impossible to envisage.
Which of the following could we infer might help Asia improve its economic outlook?
a) Speeding up its “sluggish pace of demographic transition”.
b) Receiving immigration from areas with high birth rates like Africa.
c) Sending immigration to different areas because Asian birth rates that are too high.
d) Mass Asian emigration to Africa.
e) Having more babies.
37) Attention is a limited resource and is not an all-or-nothing response: the more attention devoted to one aspect of the environment, the less is available for others. A number of experiments have studied this in animals. In one experiment, a tone and a light are presented simultaneously to pigeons. The pigeons gain a reward only by choosing the correct combination of the two stimuli (e.g. a high-frequency tone together with a yellow light). The birds perform well at this task, presumably by dividing attention between the two stimuli. When only one of the stimuli varies and the other is presented at its rewarded value, discrimination improves on the variable stimulus but discrimination on the alternative stimulus worsens. These outcomes are consistent with the notion that attention is a limited resource that can be more or less focused among incoming stimuli.
What did the experiment involving the pigeons indicate?
a) The pigeons were able to divide their attention among more than one stimulus.
b) Pigeons have a higher ability to focus their attention than most other animals.
c) Pigeons were most often correct when focusing on stimuli of yellow light and a high-frequency tone.
d) The more attention they gave to one stimulus, the less they could give to the other.
e) The pigeons’ performance varied according to the type of reward offered.
38)The remains of a tiny and hitherto unknown species of human that lived as recently as 13,000 years ago have been discovered on an Indonesian island. The discovery has been heralded as the most important palaeoanthropological find for 50 years and has radically altered the accepted picture of human evolution. The skull and bones of one adult female and fragments from up to six other specimens were found in the Liang Bua limestone caves on Flores Island, which lies at the eastern tip of Java. The female skeleton, known as LB1 – or by the nickname “Ebu” – has been assigned to a new species within the genus Homo – Homo floresiensis. Examination of the remains shows members of the species stood just 1 metre tall and had a brain no bigger than a grapefruit. A handful of stone tools from the same period were also found in the caves, along with with the bones and teeth of several dwarf stegodons, an ancestor of the modern elephant. Other animal remains, including rats, bats and fish, show signs that they were cooked around the time H. floresiensis
inhabited in the caves.
How did the newly discovered species of human differ from our species?
a) They made stone tools.
b) They lived 13,000 years ago.
c) They were significantly shorter.
d) The females were larger than the males.
e) They had smaller brains.
39) There's a new prescription for communities that want to make their streets safer for bike riders: just add more bikes. A team of international researchers looked at cities from Australia to Denmark to California and found that more riders meant fewer run-ins with cars. The researchers presented their findings to a cycling safety seminar on September 5 in Sydney, Australia. What's surprising, the researchers say, is that biker safety doesn't seem to correspond to a city's efforts to cut down on accidents. Run-ins between bikes and
cars had little to do with miles of bike lanes or lower speed limits. But if the number of bike riders in a city doubled, the rate of bike-car accidents dropped by a third. Apparently, motorists learn to share the road better when they have to deal with more bikes on their daily commute. Also, more cyclists mean more drivers who also bike, which makes them better aware of fellow bikers. The researchers call it a virtuous cycle—run-ins with cars drop with more bikes on the road. And safer cycling means more people strap on a helmet and join the revolution.
Which of the following are reasons that having more bicyclists on the road actually cuts down the rate of bicycle-car accidents?
a) More bike lanes are made.
b) Car drivers are better about sharing the road when they deal with more bikers on a daily basis.
c) Speed limits are usually lowered in cities with a large number of bicyclists on the road.
d) Many drivers will also be bicyclists, and so will be more aware of other bicyclists.
e) City governments then make more efforts to cut down on bicycle-car accidents.
40) A good cup of coffee can get you out of bed in the morning. But for heart patients, coffee's often on the list of things to avoid. The American Heart Association advises that it might increase the risk of heart failure. But a new report suggests that moderate coffee drinking could actually lower the odds of heart failure. The findings are in the journal Circulation. [Elizabeth Mostofsky et al, Habitual Coffee Consumption and Risk of Heart Failure: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis. Researchers poured through five studies that
followed more than 140,000 European adults and included information about coffee intake. People who drank about 16 ounces of coffee a day—a grande in Starbucks-speak— had about an 11% reduction of the risk of heart failure. People who drink coffee also seem to have less type 2 diabetes, another risk factor for heart disease. But that doesn't mean it's time to start ordering the venti. In the studies, people who consumed more than 40 ounces a day were at an increased risk of heart failure. More research should filter out the best info, which will percolate down to the public.
What are the findings of the new report on coffee drinking?
a) Coffee is always bad for the heart and raises the risk of heart failure.
b) Coffee is always good for the heart and lowers the risk of heart failure.
c) Coffee is sometimes good for the heart and sometimes bad for it.
d) Coffee can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.
e) Coffee can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.
41) Research to date on the examination process for postgraduate research theses has focused largely on the deconstruction of examiners’ reports. This article reports on a study of the processes that experienced examiners go through, and the judgements they make before writing their reports. A sample of 30 experienced examiners (defined as having examined the equivalent of at least five research theses over the last five years), from a range of disciplines in five universities, was interviewed. Clear trends emerged with regard to: the criteria used by examiners and the levels of student performance expected by them; critical judgement points in the examination process; the examiners’ perceptions of their own role in the process; the influence on examiners of previously published work, the views of the other examiner(s) and their knowledge of the student’s supervisor and/or the department, and the level of perceived responsibility between student and supervisor.
Which of the following were the focus of the research?
a) An examination of the authors’ students theses
b) The professional judgements made by examiners
c) Identifying links between theses and examiners’ previously published works
d) The processes used by examiners when marking theses
e) The capacity of departments to supervise postgraduate research students
f) An Analysis of the reports on theses made by examiners
42) The eyes are the windows to the soul. As such, they can reveal if someone is lying, right? Cop shows, advice shows, even some organizational training courses hold that if somebody looks up and to the right, they’re probably lying. Up and to the left means they’re telling the truth. Now a study says that there is no connection between eye movement and lying. The work is in the journal Public Library of Science ONE. [Richard Wiseman et al., "The Eyes Don't Have It: Lie Detection and Neuro-Linguistic Programming"] Researchers tested eye movement and honesty in multiple ways. For example, they tracked the eye movements of subjects who were lying or telling the truth about things they had recently done. There was no correlation between lying and eye direction. The researchers also closely analyzed 52 archived news videos of real people making a public plea for the safe return of a missing relative. In half the videos the plea was sincere—but in half, there was strong evidence that the speaker was involved in the crime. Again, no eye-movement clue was evident. So when judging the honesty of a speaker, remember: the eyes do not have it.
What did the study find regarding the eye movements of people?
a) People who lie usually look up and to the left.
b) People who lie usually look up and to the right.
c) There is no connection between eye movements and lies.
d) It’s easier to see if someone is lying by their eye movements if you catch them on video.
e) movements did not provide evidence of lying, even on video.
43)You can actually farm tigers, but not to save the species, unfortunately. Undercover of an animal park, the zookeepers at Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Zoo in China were killing the endangered cats, serving the meat as a snack and then dropping the carcasses into vats of wine. According to certain tenets of traditional Chinese medicine, tiger bone steeped in wine is thought to relieve human bone ailments like arthritis and bear penis is used to treat, well, you get the idea. Wild tigers' bones are particularly prized since they are considered
more potent than their semi-domesticated peers. There are only--at most--4,600 tigers left in all of the wilds, according to a 2007 estimate. China, for its part, has banned any trade in tiger products since 1993, nearly eliminating tiger parts from medicine shops, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare—something I witnessed for myself in China. But the ban will not successfully counteract the human development that is reducing Asian forests, where remaining tigers roam. And having a zoo double as an abattoir is clearly no way to save the tiger.
What are the current causes of danger to tiger populations?
a) Growing numbers of medicine shops that sell tiger products.
b) Loss of the Asian forests where the tigers live.
c) China’s ban on tiger products.
d) A zoo was actually killing tigers.
e) New findings of modern medicine that tiger wine helps relieve arthritis.