VERBAL/RC QUESTIONS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN
CAT IN THE LAST 3 YEARS
DIRECTION for questions 1 to 15: Each question has
a sentence with two blanks followed by four pairs of
words as choices. From the choices, select the pair of
words that can best complete the given sentence.
1. It is difficult for a modern audience, accustomed
to the ________ of film and television, to
appreciate opera with its grand spectacle and
________ gestures.
(1) sophistication . . . monotonous
(2) flamboyance . . . inane
(3) minutiae . . . extravagant
(4) plurality . . . subtle
2. Though his music revealed the composer’s
________ and seriousness, his manner displayed
his naivety and ________.
(1) sophistication . . . ingenuity
(2) levity . . . immaturity
(3) clairvoyance . . . insouciance
(4) profundity . . . ingenuousness
3. In spite of the ________ of the minister’s sermon,
most of the people were ________ when it was
over.
(1) passion . . . fidgety
(2) vehemence . . . moved
(3) ardour . . . restless
(4) prosaicness . . . affected
4. There is no necessary connection between a
dollar and what can be purchased for a dollar –
the value of money is ________ and can be
easily ________ by supply and demand.
(1) unpredictable . . . over powered
(2) arbitrary . . . altered
(3) volatile . . . obscured
(4) conventional . . . changed
5. The dualistic pattern of development in South
Asia has meant an incomplete ________
transition, with the ________ prevalence of
diseases of poverty caused due to poor living
conditions and poor nutrition along with diseases
induced by affluent lifestyles.
(1) pathological . . . epidemic
(2) epidemiological . . . simultaneous
(3) endemic . . . ubiquitous
(4) episodic . . . concomitant
6. By ensuring guaranteed wage employment for
100 days to any adult in a household who is
willing to work, the NREGA is the first legislation
that compels the state to provide a social safety
net for the poorest people of this country and
seeks to ______ the urgent issues of hunger and
rural distress that ________ large parts of India.
(1) tackle . . . loom (2) confront . . . affect
(3) attack . . . pervade (4) address . . . afflict
7. Even if a religiously intolerant group should
secure power in the states or in the centre –
which is much less probable – the constitution
remains as the ________ of our liberties and any
legislation openly in ________ of its clauses is
either unthinkable or foredoomed to failure.
(1) touchstone . . . violation
(2) cornerstone . . . transgression
(3) underpinning . . . defiance
(4) bedrock . . . contravention
8. On the one hand, there is the ________ of
innocence of any person charged with a crime
before his conviction and, on the other hand,
there is the ever present danger of cases being
________ on political opponents, given the
control that politicians in office exercise over the
police force and prosecution.
(1) assumption . . . imposed
(2) presumption . . . foisted
(3) probability . . . thrust
(4) possibility . . . dumped
9. Weapons of mass destruction – chemical,
biological and nuclear – in the hands of
__________ regimes and __________ terrorists
constitute the gravest threat to the world.
(1) totalitarian . . . radical
(2) authoritarian . . . theocratic
(3) reformist . . . zealous
(4) schismatic . . . unbigoted
(5) libertarian . . . rabid
10. __________ established the principle of religious
tolerance – the idea that religious goals could not
be pursued in the public in a way that
__________ the religious freedom of other sects
or churches.
(1) Pluralism . . . abets
(2) Liberalism . . . restricted
(3) Egalitarianism . . . constricts
(4) Secularism . . . facilitates
(5) Fanaticism . . . restrains
11. In __________ countries, the arrival of the
internet has often been greeted by citizens as a
wonderful way to bypass government control,
enabling __________ to air their views and keep
in contact with the outside world.
(1) fascist . . . anarchists
(2) despotic . . . insurgents
(3) repressive . . . dissidents
(4) totalitarian . . . mavericks
(5) tyrannical . . . iconoclasts
12. The objective of __________ mysticism is to
seek unity and identity with a universal principle,
while __________ mysticism seeks unity, but not
identity with God.
(1) dualistic . . . abstruse
(2) paranormal . . . irrational
(3) esoteric . . . occult
(4) monistic . . . theistic
(5) cryptic . . . agnostic
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13. If Darwin could rise from the grave he would be
deeply ________ that despite the overwhelming
weight of scientific evidence that has
accumulated in favour of evolution, opposition
from those believing in a fundamentalist biblical
view of creation has not ________.
(1) dejected . . . waned
(2) upset . . . moderated
(3) depressed . . . escalated
(4) disheartened . . . intensified
(5) saddened . . . abated
14. Earnest Hemingway had a voracious literary
appetite which made him a/an ________ hoarder
who never ________ anything but magazine
wrappers and three-year-old newspapers.
(1) dedicated . . . abandoned
(2) inveterate . . . discarded
(3) confirmed . . . discharged
(4) compulsive . . . threw
(5) oppressive . . . jettisoned
15. In the modern world we often see that the
________ state of mind is determined not only in
the ignorant who believe in rumours but also in
those who are ________ of scientific education,
those who haven’t bothered to investigate, at
even a lay level, the complicated and ever
expanding worlds that science conquers.
(1) credulous . . . absolved
(2) nascent . . . blamed
(3) paranoic . . . oblivious
(4) delusive . . . denied
(5) perplexed . . . vindicated
DIRECTIONS for questions 16 to 29: The sentences
given in each of the following questions, when
properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph.
Each sentence is labelled with a letter. From among
the four choices given below each question, choose
the most logical order of sentences that constructs a
coherent paragraph.
16. A. The first indication that atoms had some
structure came from the discovery of X rays,
a new radiation which rapidly found its now-
well-known application in medicine.
B. The phenomenon of radio-activity gave
definite proof of the composite nature of
atoms showing that the atoms of radio active
substances not only emit various types of
radiation, but also transform themselves into
atoms of completely different substances.
C. X rays, however, are not the only radiations
emitted by atoms.
D. Several phenomena connected with the
structure of the atoms and inexplicable in
terms of classical physics were discovered.
E. Soon after their discovery, other kinds of
radiations were discovered which were
emitted by the atoms of so-called radio active
substances.
(1) ABCDE (2) BDACE
(3) DACEB (4) DBACE
17. A. There is still a tendency, supported by
excessively quantitative orientation of
modern economics, to treat the energy
supply problem as just one problem
alongside countless others.
B. It is impossible to get away from it or
overemphasize its centrality, if energy fails
everything fails.
C. Although these basic facts are perfectly
obvious, they are not yet sufficiently
appreciated.
D. On the other hand, a shortage of primary
energy would mean that the demand for most
other primary products would be so curtailed
that a question of shortage with regard to
them would be unlikely to arise.
E. As long as there is enough primary energy –
at affordable prices – there is reason to
believe that bottlenecks in any other primary
materials can either be broken or
circumvented.
(1) ABCED (2) BCAED
(3) EDABC (4) BEDCA
18. A. What stands out in Aiyar’s narrative is her
own internal conflict as she continually re-
assesses the comparative advantages of
each country without broad black-and-white
characterization.
B. Littered with anecdotes and real time
conversations, the book actually demystifies
the enigma that is China.
C. Juxtaposed with her own uniquely Indian
background, Aiyar often compares India and
China, the former the world’s largest
democracy the latter a single party
communist dictatorship.
D. At once amusing and contemplative, Anjan
highlights the internal contradictions within
Chinese society and polity with aplomb:
issues related to corruption, dissent, political
ideology, economic progress, internet
activism etc are the myriad themes that line
the narrative.
E. The difference of course is that in India
democracy does not bring economic
guarantees for its poor and marginalised
while non-democratic China has lifted
millions out of poverty but continues to stifle
political and cultural dissent.
(1) BDCEA (2) ABCDE
(3) CEDBA (4) BADCE
19. A. Over 400 of the fortune 500 companies now
have at least one woman director but in
Germany the proportion of top female
executives in large companies is under 3
percent.
B. Despite tremendous advances, women are
still under-represented in the work force.
C. In contrast, over 25 percent of German MPs
are female.
D. There is room for further change, particularly
at the most senior levels.
E. In 1950, only about a third of American
women worked for pay but this figure has
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 now risen to almost three-quarters although
women, on average, still earn significantly
less than men.
(1) ACBDE (2) ECADB
(3) CADEB (4) BEDAC
20. A. Drafting of policies that are not only practical,
but also child-friendly is one way of addressing
child labour.
B. India has the highest number of child
labourers globally.
C. The need of the hour is a change in the
government’s attitude.
D. Despite the constitutional guarantees and
legal guidelines for care and protection of
children, it is a shame that huge numbers of
children are subjected to all kinds of
atrocities.
E. Hundred million child labourers in the country
work in hazardous or exploitative conditions.
(1) BEDCA (2) ABCDE
(3) CBDAE (4) DCAEB
21. A. Sadly, mankind often forgets the great
protecting, recycling, purifying, generating
power of the wetlands and allows them to be
drained for so-called ‘development’.
B. If the Ministry of Environment and Forests
had been more protective of our mangroves
and wetlands, the teeth of the tsunami might
have been drawn because mangroves
absorb the destructive power of waves.
C. In the Devonian Age, 360 million years ago,
the first amphibians crawled out of the blood
warm sea, and began to breathe the damp
air of the ancient wetlands.
D. Wetlands are the womb from which our
ancestors emerged.
E. In the mangrove forests of the Andamans we
have seen goggle eyed mud skippers pull
themselves out of the water, as the Devonian
amphibians did, and sun their glistening
bodies on the still roots of the wetland trees.
(1) ABDEC (2) CDEAB
(3) DCEAB (4) ECDAB
22. A. The stories of the great conflicts of history
are generally written by the victors and are
biased to show them in the best possible light.
B. Contradictions between eye witnesses to
almost any event show that everyone’s views
and prejudices have a tendency to influence
any observation that they believe to be
objective.
C. Our idea of what is the truth about any event
depends on our perspective.
D. Richard III may have been a competent,
straight backed ruler and brave soldier who
loved children, but his story was first
recorded by those who wished to curry favour
with the Tudors who had deposed him.
E. When a newspaper or the broadcast media
reports an event of which we have first-hand
experience, we rarely feel that it is entirely
accurate.
(1) DCBAE (2) CEADB
(3) BCADE (4) ECBAD
23. A. This widespread disobedience tends to
encourage disrespect for the law.
B. Most people currently drive at 65 miles per
hour anyway.
C. Now that the federal government has allowed
states to raise their speed limits from 55 miles
per hour to 65 miles per hour, our legislature
should also move quickly to raise our speed limit.
D. The new speed limit would allow people to
drive at a reasonable speed without
encouraging them to break the law.
E. Once the speed limit is raised, people will
obey the higher limit rather than exceed it.
(1) CABED (2) CDBAE
(3) CEDBA (4) CBAED
24. A. Computer Science was a subject pursued
only by the elite in engineering colleges.
B. It has not stopped since.
C. Then Y2K happened and Indian companies
began recruiting engineers, even those from
the non-IT segment, as poorly paid
programmers to execute projects for their
overseas clients.
D. Till the mid-1980s, Information Technology
(IT) and IT-enabled services as a sector
barely existed.
E. Computer Science has now become the
hottest subject in educational institutions –
from universities to IITs to even B-schools
that are offering specializations in IT and
systems.
(1) ADCBE (2) DACBE
(3) EDACB (4) EADCB
25. A. Greek men were just as particular about
looking good as their Roman counterparts.
B. Back then, even the men were as fastidious
as women when it came to grooming.
C. And it is believed that even the fierce Vikings
were vain not only about their fighting skills
but also about their looks and grooming.
D. Cosmetics were as popular in the ancient
past as it is today.
E. Roman men used a bright green paste of
copper minerals as eye shadow.
(1) DACBE (2) EBACD
(3) DBEAC (4) AEBCD
26. A. Though the theatre can claim an antiquity of
two millennia, the format in which it is
presented appears to have evolved only
800 years ago.
B. And Kathakali has a history of less than
400 years.
C. If recent developments are any indication,
there seems to be an unprecedented move to
realise gender equality in Koodiyattam, the
ancient Sanskrit theatre of Kerala.
D. The contrast with Kathakali, which is taboo
for women, is striking.
E. Apart from the cumbersome rituals and
intricacies, peculiar to the form, a
praiseworthy feature is that only women play
the female characters even today.
(1) DCBEA (2) ACDEB
(3) CAEDB (4) ADBEC
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27. A. Technological innovation processes are
important because they introduce dynamics
into economic growth and impact the wider
society.
B. These include changing patterns of
productivity and job creation in different
industrial and service sectors.
C. Technological changes or innovations are
social processes underlying dynamic change
in advanced market economies.
D. They lead to changes in productivity and to
economic growth for firms and national
economies.
E. Seen in a long-time perspective, economic
growth and increased social welfare usually
involve major upheavals.
(1) ADBCE (2) CDEBA
(3) CBDAE (4) ADEBC
28. A. Western Nuclear experts said that Tehran
lacked the skill, materials and equipment to
make good on its immediate nuclear
ambitions even as a senior Iranian official
said that Iran would defy international
pressure and rapidly expand its ability to
enrich uranium.
B. The US administration took the opportunity to
press for “strong steps” against Iran hoping to
use the country’s clear statement of defiance
to persuade reluctant countries such as
Russia and China to support tough
international penalties.
C. Muhammad Saeedi the deputy head of Iran’s
atomic energy organization said Iran would
push to put 54,000 centrifuges on live - a
dauntingly vast increase from the 164, which,
it said it had successfully used to enrich
uranium levels that could fuel a nuclear
reactor.
D. Still, nuclear analysts said on Wednesday
that the claims did little or nothing to alter
current estimates of when Tehran might be
able to make a single nuclear weapon, which
could be as late as 2015 or even 2020.
E. Iran’s announcement brought criticism from
several Western nations and to a lesser
degree from Russia and China.
(1) EBCAD (2) ACDEB
(3) EBCDA (4) ADCEB
29. A. Surveys indicate that with the boom in clinical
research, tens of thousands of people will
find employment in the industry over the next
few years.
B. India is emerging as one of the favoured
destinations for clinical research because of
its large and diverse population, highly skilled
medical professionals and the low cost of
manpower.
C. It is involved with that part of the drug
development process in which
experimental drug is tested for safety and
efficacy in human beings.
D. The clinical research business is essentially
an offshoot of the pharmaceutical and
medical devices industry.
E. Already a number of pharmaceutical companies
and clinical research organizations operate in
India.
(1) BACDE (2) DEBCA
(3) BCDEA (4) DCBEA
DIRECTIONS for questions 30 to 43: In each of the
following questions, the word at the top of the table is
used in different ways. Choose the option in which the
usage of the word is INCORRECT or INAPPROPRIATE.
30. DEAL
You begin the game by dealing 7 cards
1.
to each player.
Parents find it difficult to deal with their
2.
children’s hostile and stubborn attitude.
The nuclear deal between India and the
3.
U.S. has sparked off a controversy.
Judges usually deal in harsher
4.
sentences to repeat offenders.
31. FOOL
Don’t fool with those tools, you could hurt
1.
yourself!
Raghu told me that he was the Managing
2. Director of the company and I was fool
enough to believe him.
‘Stop playing the fool and finish your work’,
3.
the mother said sharply.
Kalpana is a powerful personality who
4.
does not suffer fools gladly.
32. LINE
1. Large scale manufacturing has made
assembly lines the order of the day.
2. Many politicians see power as a means to
line their pocket.
3. The victim was asked to recognize the
culprit from the suspects lined against the
wall.
4. The latest in the line of Harry Potter
novels has broken all records.
33. INFLUENCE
I had wanted to study commerce but was
1. influenced by my parents to join the
science stream.
Driving under the influence of alcohol, he
2.
met with a bad accident.
When he was young, his sister used to
3.
have a very strong influence on him.
Modern films depicting violence have a
4.
very bad influence on children.
34. TONE
His tone implied that he had no wish to talk
1.
to us.
an The painter was asked to tone the colours of
2.
his paintings for they were too bright.
Actors exercise regularly to tone their body
3.
and keep it supple.
4. The tiles vary in tone, texture and size.
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35. BOLT 40. COUNT

The news of his deportation came as bolt He was produced in court on three counts
1. 1.
from blue. of fraud.
Frightened by the loud noise, the horse The children were asked to count from 1 to
2. 2.
bolted. 100.
I always bolt the door before sitting down I count her as my friend, philosopher and
3. 3.
to study. guide.
4. The door was badly in need of a new bolt. Dieters are advised to keep a count of their
4.
calorie intake.
Teamwork is also taken into count apart
36. DUCK 5.
from individual performance.
The demonstrations against the speaker
1. 41. CAST
proved to be water on a duck’s back.
She is able to adjust to new circumstances
2. 1. She cast an angry look in his direction.
like a duck to water.
It was a providential escape as he ducked You must not cast accusations without verifying
3. 2.
in time and avoided the bullet. the truth.
It is well known that the leader ducked the The tragic news cast a shadow over the
4. 3.
meeting deliberately. festivities.
4. The fishermen cast their net into the sea.
37. ROLL People turned up in huge numbers to cast their
5.
votes.
He rolled up his shirt sleeves in a gesture of
1.
threat. 42. MARK
The newly recruited engineer is on the roll
2.
and is looking to head the company soon. She failed to qualify because she got two
1.
She rolled down her window and made a marks less than the cut-off mark.
3.
signal to the car behind her. A huge scar on his forehead was his
2.
Tears rolled down her cheeks when she identity mark.
4.
heard the news. The water level in the reservoir has risen
3.
The distant roll of thunder warned of the above the danger mark.
5.
approaching storm. The police were quick of the mark in
4.
tracking the criminals.
38. SCENE 5. The positive vibes between the two nations
are sure to mark a new phase in
She made great promises but when help was international relations.
1.
actually needed, she was never on the scene.
A change of scene was what we all needed 43. FIRM
2.
after the month-long hectic schedule.
The scene of the accident was cordoned off They remained firm friends through thick
3. 1.
by the police. and thin.
A lot of work goes on behind the scene Children should sometimes be dealt with a
4. 2.
before a new fashion is launched. firm hand.
‘Please leave’, the host said, ‘without 3. She spoke with a firm Italian accent.
5.
creating a scene’.
4. His firm handshake was very reassuring.
Her charisma makes her a firm favourite to
39. SIDE 5.
win the elections.
He has let down the side with his poor
1. DIRECTIONS for questions 44 to 56: In each
batting.
question, there are sentences. Each sentence has
An optimist is one who looks on the bright pairs of words/phrases that are italicized and
2.
side of things. highlighted. From the italicized and highlighted
Get that officer on your side and you’ll have word(s)/phrase(s), select the most appropriate
3.
the whole team working for you. word(s)/phrase(s) to form correct sentences. Then,
Although there was no sign of rain, I took an from the options given, choose the best one.
4.
umbrella to be on the safe side.
Be sure to write your name and address on 44. When things began to go wrong, and as costs
5. began to escalate dizzily [A] / hazily [B], there
the sides of the carton.
were bitter recriminations [A] / reprobations
[B].

5
 The coaches and trainees should imbibe [A] /
instil [B] confidence, perseverance and an
indomitable will to succeed in our players.
The nation has been subject to the invidious [A]
/ insidious [B] influence of religion in the realm of
politics.
Digging out information of this sort is extremely
exhausting [A] / exhaustive [B].
(1) AABBA (2) ABAAA (3) AAAAB
(4) BBAAB (5) ABABA
45. An immense creative output from the new
scientists and engineers spurted [A] / spurred
[B] a veritable technological revolution.
Every writer’s nightmare [A] / vision [B] is to see
a book on the same subject hit the bookstands
while he is still grappling [A] / prodding [B] with
the final draft.
She never buffeted [A] / baulked [B] at
embarrassing the government, unmindful of the
fact that she belonged to the ruling party.
Widening deficit and dwindling credit ratings have
aggravated [A] / agglomerated [B] the situation.
(1) ABABA (2) BAABA (3) BAAAB
(4) AAABA (5) BABBA
46. Defending the book unflinchingly [A] / unfeignedly
[B], he argues that the crux [A] / emphasis [B] of
the book is on religious diversity and tolerance.
Despite the bucolic [A] / bubonic [B] dreams of
many immigrants, especially from East Europe,
they found themselves sucked into urban
industries in Chicago and Pittsburgh.
With such a lackadaisical [A] / lacklustre [B]
attitude, what is the point of investing heavily in
technology?
The governments both at the Centre and in the
states should join hands to ameliorate [A] / alleviate
[B] the sufferings of the poor.
(1) BBABA (2) ABBAA (3) ABAAB
(4) AABAA (5) AAAAB
47. In India caste politics operate somewhat in the
manner of ethnic-group politics in the United
States, but on an enormously expanded scale and
in a much more pervasive (A) persuasive (B)
way.
There is a reservation of upto 27 percent for
backward classes, although that limit has been
acceded (A) / exceeded (B) in a couple of states.
Proper measures should be adapted (A) /
adopted (B) by the government for the uplift of
the backward classes.
Despite my continuous (A) / continual (B)
requests for a leave, my boss did not oblige.
The roots take in water and transmit (A) /
transfer (B) moisture and nutrients to the trunk
and branches.
(1) ABABA (2) ABBBA (3) BBAAA
(4) AABBA (5) BBBAA
48. Ravi is too ingenuous (A) / ingenious (B) to see
through Raju’s malicious intentions.
Though the politician was arrested on charges of
sedation (A) / sedition (B) it never dampened
his spirit.
No amount of help from outside can dispel the
atmosphere of apathy and indolence (A) /
insolence (B) to which academics have become
accustomed.
The government is trying its best to expel (A) /
dispel (B) the fear of vaccination among the
villagers.
A critic has to be disinterested (A) /
uninterested (B) in order to be fair in his critical
analysis of a text.
(1) ABABA (2) ABBAA (3) BBABA
(4) AABBA (5) BABAA
49. Though he is our senior we do not like his official
(A) / officious (B) interference.
Congenial (A) / Congenital (B) problems,
sometimes manifest themselves only after a
considerable period of time after birth.
One has to conform (A) / confirm (B) to the
rules and regulations of the organisation in which
one works.
According to Dr. Heald, the infected (A) /
infested (B) organisms gradually weaken and die
due to the lack of energy.
The migration of birds is still a mystery, an
inextricable (A) / inexplicable (B) phenomenon
for the scientists.
(1) ABABB (2) BBBAB (3) AABAB
(4) BBAAB (5) ABBBB
50. The RBI has directed that banks implicitly (A) /
explicitly (B) state the risks to the customers and
get them to sign a contract before the service is
adopted.
Given the acute scarcity of space and the large
number of potential bidders, auction is a (A) / the
/ (B) transparent way of allocating space.
Dealers and bankers confirmed that the
automobile industry is pulling out all sops (A)
/stops (B) to weather the downturn.
Many octogenarians are in full possession of their
faculties (A) / facilities (B).
Logistics companies are not within the purvey
(A) / purview (B) of the mail regulators.
(1) BAAAB (2) AABBA
(3) BABAB (4) BBAAB
(5) ABBAA
51. Tired of high gasoline prices and rising food (A) /
foods (B) costs? Well, here’s a solution.
After everything was over, he was seized by a
sudden pang of consciousness (A) /
conscience(B).
The defence lawyer challenged the prosecution
(A) / persecution (B) to prove that the defendant
was guilty.
His speech, interpellated (A) / interpolated (B)
with humorous anecdotes, enthralled the
audience.
When all engines failed, the captain sent up
distress flares (A) / flairs (B) hoping to attract the
attention of the coastguard or another ship.
(1) BBAAB (2) AAABB
(3) ABABA (4) BBABB
(5) ABBAA
6
52. The factious (A) / factitious (B) nature of
political parties keeps equable people from
entering politics.
Globally, wherever there is a multiple price
modal (A) / model (B), the price multiple is a
multiple of the lowest rate.
The investigation is yet to unravel the modus
vivendi (A) / modus operandi (B) of the terrorist
attack.
Not surprisingly, the meritorious (A) /
meretricious (B) student won most of the prizes.
It was so badly typed that I had to insert matter
with carats (A) / carets (B).
(1) ABBAA (2) BBAAA (3) AABAA
(4) ABAAB (5) ABBAB
53. ‘They haven’t eaten all day, so they must be
hungry’, is a priori (A) / a posteriori (B)
reasoning.
Rani flouted (A) / flaunted (B) the new watch
she had got from the States.
Global warming has brought forth many climactic
(A) / climatic (B) terms from politicians.
As the civil war spread, the general took de facto
(A) de jure (B) control of the country.
The scientist’s portentous (A) / pretentious (B)
remarks left the listeners dumb.
(1) ABBAA (2) BBABB (3) ABAAB
(4) BABAB (5) ABAAB
54. The book was widely commanded
(A)/commended(B) on (A)/for(B) its realistic
portrayal of events.
I went to my friend’s house to condone(A)/condole
(B) him on the loss of his father.
You must rein (A)/reign (B) in your temper if you
wish to have marital happiness.
He was provoked (A)/ revoked (B) into retaliation
by the constant needling of his friend.
(1) BABAB (2) ABABA (3) BBABA
(4) BBBAA (5) BBBBA
55. The standards in (A)/ of (B) morality (A)/mortality
(B) of society have sunk to a new low.
It is not easy to unveil (A)/ inveigle (B) an upright
person into criminal conduct.
She felt it was her responsibility to rare (A)/rear (B)
their children to be disciplined individuals.
His first job will be to project (A)/propel (B) the
company’s new product as a user friendly one.
(1) AAAAB (2) BABBA (3) BABAB
(4) BABBB (5) ABAAA
56. The sensual (A)/sensuous (B) appeal through
(A)/of (B) the musical score ensured that it became
a chart buster.
The claim that inflation has been checked sounds
dubious (A)/doubtful(B) when you see the figures
being reeled out by the news channels.
The police confirmed that the boy had not been
kidnapped but had run away to escape from
parental yolk(A)/yoke (B).
Thousands of people displaced from their homes
spent the night under canvass (A)/canvas(B).
(1) BBBBA (2) BABAB (3) ABBAA
(4) ABAAA (5) BBABB
DIRECTIONS for questions 57 to 72: Each of the
following questions has a paragraph from which the
last sentence has been deleted. From the given
options, choose the one that completes the
paragraph in the most appropriate way.
57. In the late 1400s, Portugal like China embarked
on adventures of exploration. It was a tiny country
with only 1 percent of the population of China and
was much less technologically advanced.
Nevertheless, Portugal gave the world a lesson in
determination that has never been forgotten.
Portugal sent ship after ship down the coast of
Africa and unlike China, it did not lose interest. It
was Portugal that established a vast overseas
empire. _______________
(1) Why did Portugal succeed, where giant
China failed?
(2) The Europeans desperately wanted the
sugar and spices, the silks and satin, gold
and ivory, that they could get from the east.
(3) China, on the other hand, did not want
anything form the rest of the world as it was
conscious of its own power, achievements
and wealth of spices and silks.
(4) China never reached Portugal, but Portugal
reached China and India, and Japan, and
Indonesia.
58. As well as the negative and destructive effects of
science, another reason for the changed climate
of thinking is disappointment at the hard returns
from science which has, at times in the past,
promised more than it has delivered. We have
realized that science is not the supremely
important tool we once thought it to be for
improving the world. On a variety of fronts, from
the philosophical to the ruggedly practical,
science has been under attack for the sort of
world it has produced. The whole basis of our
science-based, growth-obsessed, industrial
civilization is being questioned.
_______________
(1) Suddenly, scientists are under scrutiny on
both fronts.
(2) To their credit, a few scientists have played
an active part in publicizing the issues and in
promoting the debate about the future
direction that science should take and the
role of society in shaping it.
(3) We know, for example, that there is little
convincing evidence of positive association
between investment in science and the
economic growth of companies and
countries.
(4) Such happenings have introduced a new fear
of positive evil into public contemplation
about science.
59. Ever since the arrival of printing – thought to be
the invention of the devil because it would put
false opinion in people’s minds – people have
been arguing that new technology would have
disastrous consequences for language. Scares
accompanied the introduction of the telegraph,
7
 telephone and broadcasting but has there ever
been a linguistic phenomenon that has aroused
such curiosity, suspicion, fear, confusion,
antagonism, fascination, excitement and
enthusiasm all at once as texting? And in such a
short space of time? _______________
(1) Texting appears as no more than a few
ripples on the surface of the sea of language.
(2) John Humphrey argued that texters are
‘vandals who are doing to our language what
Genghis Khan did to his neighbours 800
years ago’.
(3) Text messaging generated $ 70 billion in
2005 – that’s more than three times as much
as all Hollywood box office returns that year.
(4) Less than a decade ago hardly anyone had
heard of it.
60. The natural world is one of infinite varieties and
complexities, a multi dimensional world which
contains no straight lines or completely regular
shapes, where things do not happen in
sequences, but all together, a world where 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.
_______________
(1) The realm of rational knowledge is, of course,
the realm of science which measures and
quantifies, classifies and analyses.
(2) All rational knowledge is, therefore,
necessarily limited.
(3) For most of us it is very difficult to be
constantly aware of the limitations and of the
relativity of conceptual knowledge.
(4) It is one of the main aims of eastern
mysticism to rid us of this confusion.
61. A sociological perspective on the heritage of India
must ensure against yielding either to a nostalgia
for the past or to a wholly negative attitude
towards it. There are extreme examples of both in
the available literature, and it is difficult to achieve
and maintain a proper balance between the two.
At the height of the national movement, many
Indian writers felt impelled to reconsider their own
heritage and to present a picture of a pristine past
in which people lived in peace and harmony with
each other and the community met the basic
needs of the individual to everybody’s
satisfaction. This kind of nostalgia for the past is
intellectually sterile. _______________
(1) By erasing these memories a perfect balance
can be achieved.
(2) Being nostalgic can serve very little practical
purpose in the contemporary world.
(3) Hence the memories of the past should be
completely erased.
(4) But nevertheless India owes much to its past
and one ought to be nostalgic.
(5) Still one needs to live with the memories of
the past.
62. Societies differ greatly in their scale and
complexity. India has a population of around 950
million, divided by language, region, religion,
sect, caste, tribe, wealth, occupation, education
and income. It is also a nation state with a formal
legal and administrative structure designed to
maintain some measure of unity without doing
violence to the distinctive lifestyles cherished by its
major religious and cultural groups. Indians
believe, rightly or wrongly, that the tolerance of
diversity is a core value, within the Indian
tradition. ____________
(1) This in turn has paved the way for the growth
of religious tolerance.
(2) But an effective administrative system is
required to keep this in check.
(3) This tolerance has laid the foundation for the
growth of democracy.
(4) This tolerance has contributed a great deal to
the growth of a pluralist democracy.
(5) Religious intolerance still proves to be a major
hurdle in the process of attainment of a pluralist
democracy.
63. Now that the genetic blue print of man and the
virus is known, it is likely that a satisfactory
treatment and prevention will be the fruit of
genetic researches. Though genetheraphy is in
its infancy, it holds promise for many incurable
diseases including AIDS. Introduction of protein
that inhibits the viral life cycle, expression of
protein that prevents the virus attacking the cells
of the immune system and ribozyme engineering
to destroy the viral genome are some of the
methods under consideration. In July 2002, a
human gene that protects the body from HIV
infection was identified by a team of Anglo-
American scientists. The gene is named CEM 15
and confers natural resistance to HIV infection.
This gene is knocked off by a small protein in the
virus called ‘virion infectivity factor’ (VIF).
_______________
(1) This failure reflects the inefficiency of gene
therapy when diseases like AIDS are in
question.
(2) Thus, the failure dampens the chances of further
investigations as far as diseases such as AIDS
are concerned.
(3) Hence the knowledge of the structure of the
virus is necessary for further investigation.
(4) Though medical sciences have failed at
times, mankind owes a lot to it
(5) If a drug can be designed to neutralise the
VIF, it would allow CEM 15 to work normally
and prevent the HIV infection.
64. Child marriage denies a girl child her right to
education and development and her right to
decide for herself in a matter as important as
choosing her life partner. Household, family and
child-rearing responsibilities thrust on her at a
premature age are nothing but forced labour. And
through early pregnancies, often a child's very
right to survival is questioned._______________
(1) Poverty and the need to cut costs during the
marriage are some of reasons for the
continuation of this heinous custom.
8
 (2) This custom continues though several
national and international organizations,
including the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC) have declared it invalid
and illegal.
(3) Prevention of child marriages is imperative
from the perspective of the child and human
rights.
(4) Thus the need of the hour is to conduct a
massive campaign highlighting these
dangers in child marriage, to create an
awareness.
(5) Such practices are the bane of Indian society
eating into its very fabric.
65. The Supreme Court has ordered the Sessions
and the High Courts to deal firmly with witnesses
who turn hostile or give false evidence in criminal
cases. If a person is examined as a prosecution
witness once, then he should be allowed to
withdraw the testimony given under oath only by
filing an affidavit stating that whatever he deposed
before the court was not true and was done so at
the insistence of the police. __________
(1) Such witnesses sometimes turn hostile and
give false evidence.
(2) Such frivolous and vexatious petitions would
make the judge and his judgement
powerless.
(3) The court should not consider these petitions,
instead can initiate proceedings against them
for perjury.
(4) No reasonable person, properly instructed in
law, would act upon these petitions.
(5) Few witnesses would have the courage to
put that down in writing.
66. Google has introduced a new site, Google trends,
which measures how often particular phrases are
searched for in individual countries and cities.
While google emphasizes its efforts to protect
individual's privacy, the new site seems to do
nothing to protect the collective privacy of nations
- if such a thing exists. It gives a list of which
nations search for what. Who looks up
'democracy' more avidly? Who seeks out 'Allah'
or 'Christ' most faithfully? Who types in 'drugs' or
'sex' most frequently? _________
(1) Such details may help us understand the
origin and movement of ideas.
(2) No country's secrets will be spared once the
site becomes accessible to all.
(3) Thus it can generate a mixture of
amusement, embarrassment and laughter
around the world.
(4) According to Google however, this project
offers a glimpse into the regional and cultural
habits of various communities.
(5) This would help the search engine increase
the number of hits.
67. The heavy rains that lashed the city of Mumbai
on July 26, 2005 will go down in history as a
record breaking feature, but records of the past
th
three years show that the 26 of a month has
seen several natural calamities. December 26,
2004 saw the tsunami that killed hundreds of
thousand. On April 26, 2006, the flash floods in
Romania damaged thousands of
houses._______
(1) These and many more reveal a strange link
between nature's fury and the 26th.
(2) On October 26, 2003 temperatures in Iceland
soared 11 to 14 degrees celsius above
normal.
(3) Most of the disastrous events over the past
three years have occurred on the 26th of any
month.
(4) We should be cautious of this fact and try to
safeguard ourselves from such calamities.
(5) It may seem like a superstition but events
show it to be a fact.
68. Global cooling was a real phenomenon – and it
changed global history. In the winter of 1941, it
stopped the German army’s advance on Moscow
: grease froze in German guns and thousands of
soldiers died from cold. Without the freezing cold
of the 1940s, Hitler might have triumphed. Hitler’s
failure to take Moscow marked a turning point in
the Second World War. __________________
(1) But for the weather Hitler might have won
and the world would have been entirely
different.
(2) But by the 1970, with the rising temperatures,
this had become a largely forgotten episode.
(3) There was a chill across the world, and it
wasn’t just the cold war.
(4) There was panic in the German army
prompted by the predictions of a probability
of further cooling.
(5) Hitler could not restrain his army as the
unruly soldiers fled due to the freezing cold.
69. In 1930, biochemist Otto Warburg proposed that
cells turn cancerous by changing the way they
generate energy. Normally, cells rely on
mitochondria to supply their energy. But cancer
cells switch to a process called glycolysis – an
efficient process used by many bacteria when
oxygen is in short supply. Curiously, Warburg
found that these cells continue to use glycolysis
even when oxygen is plentiful. He argued that
this fact, now called the Warburg effect, was a
defining property of cancer cells.
__________________
(1) However, the idea did not catch on because
the same process happened in the humans,
especially the marathon runners.
(2) Warburg discovered that the cells switched to
glycolysis when their mitochondria failed.
(3) Warburg felt that the switch to glycolysis
damaged the process of mitochondria in all
cells.
(4) However, the idea did not catch on, not least
because another famous biochemist, Hans
Kerbs, said the Warburg effect was only a
symptom of cancer, not its primary cause.
(5) However, the idea did not catch on because
cells do not turn cancerous only when oxygen is
in short supply.
9
70. A common misconception about terrorism is that (4) The scientists are angry as the largest
it is ‘mindless’ – to use the word favoured by number of human deaths from bird flu has
many senior political figures in the wake of an been reported from that country.
attack. Infact terrorism is deliberate, often (5) Now WHO has devised a system by which
systematic and sometimes even precisely the countries that provide the samples are
calibrated. Terrorist dramas, known for ending not unfairly denied the right of sharing the
with causalities, very often succeed in winning benefits.
foreign supporters or in destroying a state’s
foreign policy or end up in driving a wedge DIRECTIONS for questions 73 to 86: In each
between two close international allies. question, there are sentences or parts of sentences
__________________ that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or
(1) It is thus a dangerous underestimation of part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of
terrorism to call it mindlessness or insane. grammar and usage. Then, choose the most
(2) Infact the brutality of their actions sometimes appropriate option.
makes us think that they are totally insane.
(3) The political leaders are often mistaken and 73. A. It is a pity that so many of us
they try to defend the terrorists just after an B. have lived down our childhood struggles of
attack. grammar.
(4) The terrorist is often a genius with a mind C. We have been made to suffer as much from
gone awry. D. memorising rules by rote that we
(5) Terrorists are not psychologically astute or E. tend to despise grammar.
politically strong in general. (1) A and D (2) D and E (3) A, B and C
(4) A and E (5) B and D
71. You don’t have to be a top-notch entomologist to
attract butterflies to your garden. A bit of planning 74. A. When it came to accept migrant labour from
and patience will do the trick. Butterflies look for B. abroad, Australians preferred whites. Thanks
two things before they enter a garden – nectar, to
the food that adult butterflies need, and host C. such protection Australian production and
plants, the place where the female would lay D. competitiveness suffers. The trend changed
eggs. Both are vital for a good butterfly garden. in
__________________ E. the 1980’s with Australia opening itself up to
(1) A carefully tended garden with exotic flowers skilled migrants from Asia.
is not really necessary. (1) B and E (2) A, B and C (3) D and E
(2) Butterfly gardens do not need attention or (4) Only A (5) Only B
care as wild flowers will do the trick.
(3) You can coax butterflies to your garden if you 75. A. Alex and his family live with five
have plants that can provide them with both. B. students and they eat and work together.
(4) It is a known fact that plants with a wide C. “This place is over relationships”, he says.
variety of flower colours attract butterflies. D. “Students can come to my home and
(5) A few plants and a strip of muddy or marshy E. they can be a part of it, but there are rules”.
land can make a good butterfly garden. (1) A and D (2) D and E (3) Only A
(4) Only C (5) A, B and E
72. Indonesia’s refusal to share its bird flu virus
samples with the WHO may have invited, 76. (A) Bacteria and fungi begin to colonize,
understandably, the ire of the scientific (B) the red mangrove leaves even before they
community. But it did help to turn the spotlight on fall.
the iniquitous sharing mechanism. With the drug (C) But work of the marine microbes is the most
industry having access to samples with the WHO, important.
there is a definite prospect of pharmaceutical (D) The leaf has a waxy outer layer called the
companies in the developed countries using them cuticle.
to produce an efficacious vaccine and stockpiling (E) The microbes invade from tiny cracks in the
it. On the other hand, countries that had supplied cuticle.
the strain from which the vaccine had been (1) B and D (2) C and E (3) A, B and D
developed will have no right of access to the (4) B and E (5) Only A
vaccine when struck by a pandemic.
__________________ 77. (A) Mount Etna an active volcano, rises to 3,724 m.
(1) The iniquities in the system must be set right (B) Italy’s northern largest lakes are Garda,
if any sharing is to take place. Maggiore and Como,
(2) It agreed to share the samples on condition (C) the main river is the Po.
that the WHO used them only for research (D) Italy, once the centre of the great Roman
purposes. Empire,
(3) But Indonesia is not ready to budge as a (E) disintegrated into many petty states during
study of these samples is essential for its the later Middle Age.
scientists. (1) Only A (2) C and E (3) A, C and D
(4) C and D (5) Only D

10
78. (A) India accounts for about 33% of the global (B) What starts off casually very often results in
burden of tuberculosis. psychological and physical dependence on
(B) The disease is one of India’s most important drugs.
public health problem. (C) As it stands now, any child is safe in this
(C) Everyday in India more than 20 people world where prevalence of alcohol and drug
become infected with the tubercle bacillus, use is steadily increasing.
(D) more than 5,000 develop T.B. and over a (D) The responsibility to educate and enable
1,000 die from the disease. youngsters to reject legal and illegal drug use
(E) In India, tuberculosis kills 14 times more lies on each one of us.
people than all combined tropical diseases. (1) Only C (2) A, B and D
(1) Only A (2) A and C (3) B, C and D (3) A and D (4) B and C
(4) Only D (5) D and E (5) A and B

79. (A) Eyes evolved to solve two principal 83. (A) The state-funded institutes are dedicated to
objectives – to hunt for food, or escape being teach Chinese language and promote its
eaten by a hunter. culture.
(B) Prey species often have eyes on either sides (B) This is a project aimed at boosting pride
of the head with each eye having its own, (C) at home as much as support abroad in that
often overlapping, field of vision. (D) it embodies a domestic backlash against
(C) And, in combination with a range of other China’s success
senses, this acuity acts as a life-saving (E) in mastering English as a language of
warning system. international business.
(D) In the case of nocturnal predators, pupils turn (1) B and E (2) A, B and E
into vertical slits during the day and widen in (3) A, B and C (4) B, D and E
the dark, enabling them to see at night. (5) A and D
(1) A and B (2) C and D (3) A and C
84. (A) Mass transit options are important,
(4) B and D (5) Only A
(B) measures to curb personal motor vehicle
activity
80. (A) Heat is not simply a physical phenomenon
(C) and ensuring access for pedestrians and
that makes one sweat under the broiling sun
cyclists are also essential
of the afternoons and the sticky humidity of
(D) not only mitigating rapidly worsening urban
the nights.
transport impacts
(B) There is the heat of passion that has spread
(E) but also to ensure that mass transit is
from South Korea to Mexico and to the
effective.
Czech Republic as tens of thousand party
(1) B, C and E (2) B and C
through their nights of victory.
(3) A, B and D (4) C and D
(C) There is the heat that burns inside the heads
(5) B and E
of men struggling to live up to the high
expectations aroused in their homeland. 85. (A) Should it be not enough that in no case and
(D) And there is the heat of frustration inside men at no time
like Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham (B) the state or a section of society should curtail
whose tournaments began with whispers one’s religious rights
growing into crescendos that they are not (C) nor should anyone attempt at curtailing one’s
worth their wages. freedom of expression
(1) Only A (2) B and C (3) A and C (D) unless such an expression is not against the
(4) Only C (5) A and D professed state policy
(E) or intends to spread communal hatred and
81. (A) It is asserted often that education is breaking
hostility?
down because of over-specialization.
(1) B, D and E (2) A, D and E
(B) What is at fault is not specialization, but the
(3) A and C (4) C and D
lack of depth which the subjects are usually
(5) Only E
presented.
(C) The sciences are being taught without any
86. (A) Both the main parties now claim to believe in
awareness of the presuppositions of science
robust and well-funded public services,
and of the place occupied by the natural
(B) the need to counter inequality, the
sciences within the whole cosmos of human
importance of reducing child poverty,
thought.
(C) the centrality of green politics,
(D) The result is that the presuppositions of
decentralization in government
science are normally mistaken for its findings.
(D) and in taking forcible measures against
(1) A and D (2) Only C (3) Only A
(E) illicit migration and the threat of terrorism.
(4) C and D (5) B and D
(1) A, B and C (2) B and C
82. (A) Alcohol and drug use invariably starts as a (3) Only C (4) A, D and E
casual act kindled by curiosity or peer (5) A and D
pressure.

11
DIRECTIONS for questions 87 to 100: In each
question, there are five sentences/paragraphs. The
sentence/paragraph labelled A is in its correct place.
The four that follow are labelled B, C, D and E, and
need to be arranged in the logical order to form a
coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options,
choose the most appropriate option.
87. (A) Torture dehumanises both the victim and the
perpetrator. The pain and terror inflicted by
one human upon another leaves permanent
scars : shattered bones, twisted limbs,
recurring nightmares that keep the victims in
constant fear.
(B) Despite all the efforts to stop it, torture
remains widespread in India.
(C) Ratification is necessary for appropriate
changes to be made in the prevailing laws in
order to make institutions and authorities
more accountable.
(D) The damage goes beyond the trauma and
suffering of the person who is tortured and
those around them : each case of torture
weakens the values and solidarity that hold a
society together. Prohibition of torture is one
of the most basic rules of democratic laws.
(E) India is one of the few countries in the world
that has not ratified the Convention Against
Torture, although it has been a signatory
since October 1997.
(1) BCDE (2) DBEC (3) ECBD
(4) DECB (5) CEBD
88. (A) Containing and reducing the environmental
footprint of the building sector is by no means
an impossible task.
(B) Studies show that simple but sensible design
methods can save an average of 40 percent
of energy use in buildings. A well-designed
building also makes good economic sense by
ensuring “lower operating costs, higher net
operating incomes”, and improved tenant
retention and satisfaction.
(C) Estimates show that with their adoption the
building sector can by 2020, reduce carbon
dioxide emissions by 950 mtc (million tonnes
of carbon dioxide) and energy consumption
by 38 EJ (exajoules). What is more important
than using appropriate technologies is a
return to the basics in building design that will
ensure proper site planning and correct
orientation.
(D) Environmentally driven emerging
technologies can improve energy efficiency
and reduce energy consumption in residential
and commercial sectors.
(E) Unfortunately, many of the current green
building certification processes seem to
overlook these fundamental principles and
emphasise a product-oriented approach.
(1) CDBE (2) DCBE (3) DCEB
(4) ECBD (5) EDCB
89. (A) After several attempts, Poivre managed to
smuggle cloves and nutmeg away from
Dutch control across the Indian Ocean to
the French islands of Mauritius and Reunion,
where the first crops were produced in 1776.
(B) English botanists, naval officers, politicians
and traders like Joseph Banks, Thomas
Stamford Raffles, John Bell and Hans Slane
became highly successful commercial ‘bio-
pirates’.
(C) Turmeric was successfully grown in Jamaica
in 1783. By 1818, cloves had reached
Zanzibar.
(D) There followed a rapid spate of scientific
expeditions in which exploration and
botanical prospecting went hand in hand.
(E) Spices dispersed rapidly around the world,
finding new homes as good as their original
ones.
(1) DBEC (2) BCDE (3) EBDC
(4) DCEB (5) BEDC
90. (A) Large majorities in almost every country feel
their traditional way of life is being lost.
(B) But whether it is religion, art, music, football
or surfing the net, the process has been
complex and patchy, both in the benefits it
brings and the extent of the phenomenon.
(C) In the world of ideas, globalising tendencies
have long been in tension with local
preferences.
(D) Today, global exchanges apparently have the
upper hand.
(E) Although they welcome many aspects of
globalisation, most people believe that their
way of life should be protected against
foreign influence.
(1) EDBC (2) ECBD (3) CBED
(4) ECDB (5) DCEB
91. (A) The nationwide political turmoil over job
reservations for the Other Backward
Classesrevealed dramatically the conflict
between equality as a right and as a policy,
between formal and substantive equality.
(B) Moreover, the colonial administration was not
hampered in the pursuit of its policies by a
constitution guaranteeing equality of
opportunity in public employment as a
fundamental right.
(C) Well before independence, the colonial
administration had introduced quotas in
education and employment in some parts of
the country. The Congress had then viewed
this as politically divisive rather than as steps
toward greater social equality.
(D) How these provisions are balanced depends
to some extent on day-to-day political
pressures.
(E) The constitution has had to incorporate,
through amendments, enabling provisions to
permit some reservation in education and
employment, despite the antidiscrimination
and the equal opportunities clauses.
(1) DBCE (2) DCBE (3) CDEB
(4) CBED (5) BCDE
12
92. (A) An officer of the old Indian Civil Service, of
which the IAS became the successor after
independence, was known as ‘the heaven-
born’.
(B) The role of the civil servant has become
more specialized, which means that it has
become more restricted in some respects
and more demanding in others.
(C) This attitude towards the high official still
survives, particularly in the districts where
every IAS officer cuts his teeth. It is unhealthy
for the official to present himself or to be
represented as a patron, for a modern civil
service is a bureaucratic and not a
patrimonial system of administration.
(D) Before the onset of democracy, the district
officer was often viewed as the final arbiter of
the destinies of those in his care, in a sense
their surrogate parent.
(E) The IAS took over some of the aura of its
predecessor. But the conditions of its
operation, particularly the relations between
the political and administrative executives
have changed.
(1) ECBD (2) CBED (3) EBDC
(4) CEDB (5) BCDE
93. (A) The judiciary has in recent years taken on an
increasingly active role in an effort to set right
the endemic violation of rules, particularly by
those holding high public offices.
(B) In a thoughtful public lecture, the Chief
Justice of India has drawn attention to the
unusual nature of legislative and executive
failures. These failures have led the courts to
take a more active role.
(C) But he has also sounded a wise note of
caution: ‘However, by virtue of the fact that
the present situation is a corrective measure,
the phenomenon of judicial activism in its
aggressive role will have to be a temporary one’.
(D) This had led to discussions in the press and
elsewhere on the possibilities and the limits
of judicial activism in a constitutional democracy.
(E) A new development that has led the courts to
take a more active role, as the Chief Justice
pointed out in his lecture, is public-interest
litigation, which is quite extensive in India.
(1) EBCD (2) CBED (3) CDEB
(4) DCBE (5) DBCE
94. (A) The spectre of ‘communalism’ hung over the
subcontinent when India became
independent in 1947.
(B) The country was partitioned in order to
achieve some sort of solution to the
communal problem. But the spectre has not
been laid to rest.
(C) Hindus and Muslims have lived together on
the subcontinent, in amity and strife, for
centuries, but their co-existence within a
modern nation-state has brought new
normative issues to the fore, related to
secularism and the rights of religious
minorities.
(D) The Indian case at the time of the partition
was that Pakistan might become a country for
the Muslims, but India would remain a home for
Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others.
(E) Pakistan has become an Islamic state, but
India has, at least so far, rejected the idea of
being a Hindu State – there are in fact more
Muslims in India than in Pakistan.
(1) DBEC (2) BDEC (3) CBDE
(4) BCDE (5) EBDC
95. (A) Droughts in Africa, hurricanes in America,
floods in Bangladesh – these are the
dramatic images of climatic change.
(B) Dr.Zimmerer explains that globalization has
intensified the competition for resources.
Climate change will increase the scarcity of
resources, be it habitable land or drinkable
water, amid the already existing shortage of
fossil energy such as oil.
(C) Genocide and competition over resources
st
are definitely related. The fear that the 21
th
century, rather than the 20 century, will turn
out to be the century of genocide is intensified
by fast depleting natural resources.
(D) However, according to Dr. Juergen
Zimmerer, if temperatures continue to rise,
there could be worse in store: genocide.
(E) As well as competition for living space,
genocide results from the dehumanization of
one group by another. The key condition for
genocide is to have two groups, with the
dominant one considering the other to be its
polar opposite.
(1) DBCE (2) BDCE (3) BDEC
(4) DBEC (5) BCDE
96. (A) The capitalist economy has as its basis and
starting point the accumulation of the means
of production in the hands of a few, the
capitalist classes, and the dispossession of a
vast majority of the population who then
constitute the wage-labour class and are
hired by the capitalist class to produce
surplus value.
(B) How did society historically arrive at the
starting point of the capitalist economy? Karl
Marx shows, using the classic case of
England’s transition to capitalism, that the
process entailed a distinct aspect.
(C) Marx makes the point that this is indeed
freedom, but in a double sense: the serf is
freed not only from the clutches of the feudal
lord, but also from the means of production to
which he had access under feudalism.
(D) The primary producers in the feudal economy
– peasants and serfs who worked on the land
and the artisans engaged in non-agricultural
crafts – had to be dispossessed, so that they’d
have no alternative but to work for an employer.
(E) This process of separation of primary
producers from the means of production is
presented by the ideologues of the capitalist
system as a process of liberation of the serf
and artisan from the thraldom of the feudal
lord and the craft guild whereby the former
13
 gain the right to dispose of their labour power
as they see fit instead of being bonded to a
particular lord or guild.
(1) BCDE (2) DBCE (3) BDCE
(4) DEBC (5) BDEC
97. (A) The surface of Euceladus is fresh and new,
and it is the palest of any object in the solar
system, reflecting about 90 per cent of the
light that falls on it.
(B) The discovery of the south-polar activity has
solved some old riddles about Euceladus and
the Saturn system. Yet it poses one big riddle
of its own: what strange subterranean
machinery could be pumping out this plume
and animating Euceladus?
(C) The plume wasn’t a complete surprise.
Voyager I found in 1980, that Euceladus
orbits within the densest part of Saturn’s E
ring, a band of fine ice particles that lies
outside the planet’s main ring system. It
seemed likely that Euceladus was somehow
creating the E ring and one theory was that it
could be from some kind of watery volcanic
activity.
(D) When the Voyager Ι and ΙΙ probes flew by in
the early 1980s, they saw twisted canyons
crossing its surface and craters that seem
slumped and softened. Then in 2005,
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft discovered that
the south pole of Euceladus – a snowball’s
Antarctica – is actually far warmer than the
rest of the moon. Most startlingly of all,
geysers are erupting from the pole, sending
vast plumes of vapour out into space.
(E) Only three other objects in the solar system
are known to be volcanically active: Earth
and the moons Io and Triton, which orbit
Jupiter and Neptune respectively. But they
are all larger than Euceladus; the smallest of
them, Triton, is 200 times as massive.
(1) DCBE (2) DBEC (3) DBCE
(4) EDBC (5) EDCB
98. (A) Malawi hovered for years at the brink of famine.
(B) In Malawi itself, the prevalence of acute child
hunger has fallen sharply. In October, the
U.N. Children’s Fund sent three tons of
powdered milk, stockpiled in Lilongwe to treat
severely malnourished children, to Uganda
instead.
(C) After a disastrous harvest in 2005, almost
5 million of its 13 million people needed
emergency food aid. But this year, a nation
that has perennially extended a begging bowl to
the world is instead feeding its hungry
neighbours.
(D) Farmers explain Malawi’s extraordinary
turnaround – one with broad implications for
hunger-fighting methods across Africa – with
one word: fertilizer.
(E) Over the past 20 years, the World Bank and
some rich nations Malawi depends on for aid
have periodically pressed this small,
landlocked country to adhere to free market
policies and cut back or eliminate fertilizer
subsidies, even as the United States and
Europe extensively subsidized their own
farmers. But after the 2005 harvest, the worst
in a decade, it decided to follow what the
West practised, not what it preached.
(1) CDEB (2) CDBE (3) ECBD
(4) ECDB (5) CBDE
99. (A) Thanks to its foresight in steadily building up
infrastructure in Science and Technology,
India now has a far stronger technological
base than most other developing nations.
(B) Our stature in the world is steadily going up
because of a number of factors. Our
economy is booming and our GDP, already
about a trillion dollars, is expected to
continue growing at 8-9 percent annually.
(C) While there is genuine concern that vast
segments of our population are still
untouched by this prosperity, there is
nevertheless an expectation that India is
emerging as a major world power. We
already demand a seat at the high table on
every front whether it be the United Nations
Security Council or the nuclear club.
(D) In certain mission-oriented areas such as
space and nuclear energy, we have
developed large capabilities, and we are
making steady gains in IT, pharmaceuticals
and many other high- tech sectors.
(E) We can be justifiably proud of this progress
considering where we had to start after
Independence. But it would be a mistake if
even in the new millennium we continue to
applaud ourselves by post colonial, Third
World standards. We must shift gears since
we are now in a far different situation.
(1) DEBC (2) DBCE (3) BEDC
(4) BCDE (5) DBEC
100. (A) The plains of solidified lava that give the
moon its quirky human-like face as seen
from the earth were created more than four
billion years ago.
(B) The nature of these chemicals puts the rock
into the category of mare salt – a lava that
flowed out smoothly onto the lunar surface
before solidifying, use only comma forming
dark plains that early skywatchers
mistakenly took for seas, “Mare” in Latin.
(C) The evidence comes from an unearthly
silvery gray stone that was blasted off from
the face of the moon, perhaps by an
impacting asteroid, and was captured by the
earth’s gravity, prompting it to fall to ground
in Botswana.
(D) The lunar heritage of the rock, named
Kalahari 009, has been confirmed by a
telltale signature of oxygen isotopes and
ratio of iron to manganese in two volcanic
minerals, olivine and pyroxene.
(E) In 1999, the 13.5 kg remnant of this roving
rock was found by local people near the
village of Kuke, in the grasslands of the
sprawling Kalahari Nature Reserve, who
then sold it to meteorite hunters.
(1) DEBC (2) CDBE (3) DCEB
(4) CEDB (5) CEBD
14
DIRECTIONS for questions 101 to 150: Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer for
each of the questions that follow it.

PASSAGE – I

The contract model of political association is an attractive way for liberals to conceive of political association,
because it does not presuppose that political society is directed towards any substantive end or goal. Instead
political society provides a frame work within which the multifarious cooperative ventures of individuals can be
pursued. Because the liberal state does not take a substantive view on what constitutes living well, but rather
only a procedural view on how people interact within the terms of their rights and liberties, it is often described as
being neutral about ultimate ends. The neutral state does not presuppose any basic values or conceptions of the
good. In this way the state should be indifferent as to whether some of its citizens are Roman Catholics, Marxists
or atheists, as long as they treat others with equal respect. This means that whether someone disagrees with you
on how to lead your life has no bearing on your enjoyment of rights and entitlements.

The concept of neutrality is a complex notion that confusingly includes what might be called neutrality of policy
outcomes and neutrality of justification for those policy out-comes. In the first case the idea is that the
consequences of policy should not privilege any conception of the good or conception of ultimate values. This
conception, which has been attributed to some liberals, is incoherent. If we take a contested area of public policy
such as the regulation or prohibition of abortion it is clear that no neutral policy position can be arrived at. Either
the state prohibits abortion, thus privileging those who believe in the priority of the rights of the unborn, or it
permits abortion, thus privileging the rights of mothers to decide whether to carry a pregnancy to term. A policy of
indifference would necessarily privilege one side or the other, as there is no third way. Similarly, a liberal policy of
toleration has the effect of privileging the views of tolerant liberals over intolerant non-liberals. Talk of neutrality in
this sense is a distraction and not a necessary part of liberalism. For this reason, liberal egalitarians are more
concerned with neutrally in justification. By this they mean that the justification of liberal principles must emerge
from a procedure that does not simply presuppose the truth of a particular conception of the good life. It is no
great achievement to show that liberal principles follow from liberal values, although liberals might still be inclined
to disagree about details. The really hard thing is to provide those who are not already liberal egalitarians with
reasons to accept a liberal political order. Yet, liberalism does take a view on the core ethical significance of
individuals. Surely this means that liberals are not neutral between those moral, political and religious doctrines
that offer a more holistic account of the individual in relation to community, nation or church? Again we see how
the language of neutrality can raise problems for liberalism. For this reason liberals sympathetic to the Rawlsian
project, such as Brian Barry, have abandoned the concept of neutrality in favour of impartiality.
Impartiality theorists do not claim that liberalism is free of any particular fundamental value commitments.
Liberalism must give priority to equality of concern and respect and the idea of the separateness of persons –
that is, that individuals have ultimate moral significance and cannot be sacrificed for the good of others,
individually or collectively. Instead, they attempt to model these basic values in a way that does not presuppose
any single conception of the good life, and one that can be accommodated within a wide variety of otherwise non
liberal moral, political and religious viewpoints. It is this attempt to model impartial reasoning that does not
presuppose the truth of any particular conception of the good life that brings us to the most famous use of the
social contract in Rawls, A Theory of Justice.
In order to show why we should accept his two candidate principles for regulation the basic structure of a liberal
society, Rawls uses the idea of a contract or agreement behind what he calls the ‘veil of ignorance’. The idea is
that the principles of justice necessary to guarantee a fair basic structure which does not privilege any particular
group is that set which would be agreed upon in a special agreement. However, if people are allowed to enter the
agreement with full knowledge of their own position in society, as well as beliefs and values, then they will have a
tendency to bargain to maximize their own advantage. For this reason, the initial agreement or choice situation
takes place behind what Rawls calls the veil of ignorance. The task of the veil of ignorance is to filter out from
individual decision-making the biases of self-preference and partiality.

101. Why is the neutrality of policy outcomes termed
as an ‘incoherent conception’ by the author?
(1) A policy outcome to the total exclusion of
reinforcement of rights of some one or the
other is not in the realm of possibility.
(2) A government will be dubbed as
directionless if it ignores the conception of
the good or of the ultimate values.
(3) Ideologically it is impracticable to maintain
neutrality.
(4) A policy aimed at a neutral outcome can
privilege only the tolerant liberals.
(5) A third way public policy will clash with the
allowed objectives of the government.
102. The expression ‘neutral about ultimate ends’ in
the passage would mean
(1) the ends being secular in nature.
(2) the ends delivering no particular privilege to
any one.
(3) the presence of any preconceived idea
about what constitutes ‘the public good’.
(4) everyone in the society working towards
common ends.
(5) taking into consideration only the immediate
ends.
15
103. How does a ‘veil of ignorance’ help, according to
Rawls?
(1) It facilitates the society to aim at neutral
ends
(2) It aids individuals in taking unbiased
decisions.
(3) It filters individual but retains collective
decision making
(4) It prevents an individual from acting
selfishly.
(5) It helps people understanding their
positions in society.
104. The idea fundamental to the views of
‘Impartiality theorists’ is :
(1) The concept of neutrality.
(2) The recognition of individual’s ethical
significance.
(3) The theory that liberalism is not committed
to fundamental values of individuals.
(4) Augmentation of maximum public good.
(5) Concern for individual’s moral significance
taking precedence over that of the society.
105. Why should ‘self-interest’ be a principle other
than ignorance needed to achieve impartiality?
(1) To offset the effects of ignorance
(2) To help maximization of selfish gains
(3) To prevent decisions from becoming totally
objective
(4) To provide the stimulus for bettering one’s
condition
(5) To be clear about the objectives to be
realised

PASSAGE – II

The IMF has a distinct role in international assistance. It is supposed to review each recipient’s macro economic
situation and make sure that the country is living within its means. If it is not, there is inevitably trouble down the
road. In the short run, a country can live beyond its means by borrowing, but eventually a day of reckoning
comes, and there is a crisis. The IMF is particularly concerned about inflation. Countries whose governments
spend more than they take in taxes and foreign aid often will face inflation, especially if they finance their deficits
by printing money. Of course, there are other dimensions to good macro-economic policy besides inflation. The
term macro refers to the aggregate behaviour, the overall levels of growth, employment, and inflation, and a
country can have low inflation but no growth and high unemployment. To most economists, such a country would
rate as having a disastrous macro-economic framework. To most economists, inflation is not so much an end in
itself, but a means to an end: it is because excessively high inflation often leads to low growth, and low growth
leads to high unemployment, that inflation is so frowned upon. But the IMF often seems to confuse means with
ends, thereby losing sight of what is ultimately of concern. A country like Argentina can get an “A” grade, even if it
has double-digit unemployment for years, so long as its budget seems in balance and its inflation seems in
control!

If a country does not come up to certain minimum standards, the IMF suspends assistance; and typically, when it
does, so do other donors. Understandably, the World Bank and the IMF don’t lend to countries unless they have
a good macro-framework in place. If countries have huge deficits and soaring inflation, there is a risk that money
will not be well spent. Governments that fail to manage their overall economy generally typically do a poor job
managing foreign aid. But if the macro-economic indicators – inflation and growth – are solid, as they were in
Ethiopia, surely the underlying macro-economic framework must be good. Not only did Ethiopia have a sound
macro-economic framework but the World Bank had direct evidence of the competence of the government and its
commitment to the poor. Ethiopia had formulated a rural development strategy, focusing its attention on the poor,
and especially the 85 percent of the population living in the rural sector. It had dramatically cut back on military
expenditures – remarkable for a government which had come to power through military means – because it knew
that funds spent on weapons were funds that could not be spent on fighting poverty. Surely, this was precisely
the kind of government to which the international community should have been giving assistance? But the IMF
had suspended its program with Ethiopia, in spite of the good macro-economic performance, saying it was
worried about Ethiopia’s budgetary position.

The Ethiopian government had two revenue sources – taxes and foreign assistance. A government’s budget is in
balance so long as its revenue sources equal its expenditures. Ethiopia, like many developing countries, derived
much of its revenue from foreign assistance. The IMF worried that if this aid dried up, Ethiopia’s budgetary
position could be judged solid only if expenditures were limited to the taxes it collected.

The obvious problem with the IMF’s logic is that it implies no poor country can ever spend money on anything it
gets aid for. If Sweden, say, gives money to Ethiopia to build schools, this logic dictates that Ethiopia should
instead put the money into its reserves. (All countries have, or should have, reserve accounts that hold funds for
the proverbial rainy day. Gold is the traditional reserve, but today it has been replaced by hard currency and its
interest-bearing relatives. The most common way to hold reserves is in U.S. Treasury bills.) But this is not why
international donors give aid. In Ethiopia, the donors, who were working independently and not beholden to the
IMF, wanted to see new schools and health clinics built, and so did Ethiopia. A welfare administrator put the
matter more forcefully: He declared that he had not fought so hard for seventeen years to be instructed by some
international bureaucrat that he could not build schools and clinics for his people once he had succeeded in
convincing donors to pay for them.
16
The IMF view was not rooted in a long-held concern about project sustainability. Sometimes countries had used
aid dollars to construct schools or clinics. When the aid money ran out, there was no money to maintain these
facilities. The donors had recognized this problem and built it into their assistance programs in Ethiopia and
elsewhere. But what the IMF alleged in the case of Ethiopia went beyond that concern. The Fund contended that
international assistance was too unstable to be relied upon. The IMF’s position made no sense, and not just
because of its absurd implications. Assistance was often far more stable than tax revenues, which can vary
markedly with economic conditions. Statistics, when checked, confirmed that international assistance was more
stable than tax revenues. Using the IMF reasoning about stable sources of revenue, Ethiopia, and other
developing countries, should have counted foreign aid but not included tax revenues in their budgets. And if
neither taxes nor foreign assistance were to be included in the revenue side of budgets, every country would be
considered to be in bad shape.
But the IMF’s reasoning was even more flawed. There are a number of appropriate responses to instability of
revenues, such as setting aside additional reserves and maintaining flexibility of expenditures. If revenues, from
any source, decline, and there are not reserves to draw upon, then the government has to be prepared to cut
back expenditures. But for the kinds of assistance that constitute so much of what a poor country like Ethiopia
receives, there is a built-in flexibility; if the country does not receive money to build an additional school, it simply
does not build the school. Ethiopia’s government officials understood what was at issue, they understood the
concern about what might happen if either tax revenues or foreign assistance should fall, and they had designed
policies to deal with these contingencies. What couldn’t be understood is why the IMF couldn’t see the logic of
their position. And much was at stake: schools and health clinics for some of the poorest people in the world.

106. How does the IMF ‘confuse means with ends’?
(1) By endorsing aid to countries like Argentina
which cook up their budgetary balance.
(2) By giving too much importance to cost of
living without looking at the overall picture.
(3) By drawing a direct relation between
inflation and macro-economic health.
(4) By noting that inflation, per se, is not an evil
to be avoided.
107. Proof that Ethiopia’s macro-economic framework
was worthy of support lies in the fact that
(1) it had a competent government that sought
donor assistance.
(2) its micro-economic condition foreshadowed
better macro-economic future.
(3) its government preferred developmental
activities to building up military might.
(4) it was a recipient of aid from European
countries.
108. IMF aid to Ethiopia was denied for all the
following reasons EXCEPT :
(1) The IMF felt that once foreign aid dried up,
Ethiopia wouldn’t be able to balance its budget.
(2) Ethiopia’s revenues came largely from aid
which is variable.
(3) No poor country, it felt, spends aid money
on what it is meant for.
(4) Other donors were more than willing to assist.
109. In the case of Ethiopia, the Fund went beyond
‘that concern’. The ‘concern’ is about
(1) the ability of Ethiopia to ensure that donated
facilities would be kept effective.
(2) the ability of Ethiopia to use aid fund for the
purpose it was given.
(3) the ability of Ethiopia to use aid fund
judiciously.
(4) the fact that international aid is not as
reliable as tax revenues.
110. Which of the following is not in keeping with the
views expressed through the passage?
(1) It is difficult to understand why the IMF does
not go beyond narrow economic theories.
(2) The IMF fails to live up to the spirit of its role.
(3) The IMF sets the tone for aid and
assistance to a country.
(4) The actions of the IMF are governed by
concerns of project sustainability.

PASSAGE – III

Reason can kill. Burdian’s ass perished of hunger because reason kept him poised midway between two equal
hay stacks, when an unreasoning impulse in favour of either would have saved him. The ass had human
counterparts who struck with reason, through obstinacy, into error. Everyone knows the joke which opens
Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time – about the old woman who told a lecturer that the world rested on
“turtles, turtles all the way down”. Anaximander, whose reasoning on this problem is the earliest recorded, argued
that our planet was unsupported because there was no reason for it to move. He concluded that it was in
equilibrium, at the centre of symmetrical universe, like a fulcrum at the mid-point of a seesaw.

Yet we keep returning to reason precisely because it occupies the middle place; it is the revisited point on the
swing of the pendulum between skepticism and enthusiasm. When we distrust passion because it is too
subjective, or reject authority because it has no input of our own, we flee to reason. When we abandon sense-
perception as delusive and insight as imaginary, we curve back to the centre. As a way of telling the truth from
falsehood, reason combines apparently incompatible virtues: it relies on our own resources but can be subjected
to an outside test. It can be checked by comparison with others’ opinions or by reference to rules. It is
subjectively satisfying but externally approved.
17
Now the middle is often a secure and comfortable place to be in. Here the fulcrum is at rest, however violent the
oscillations at either end of the system. We are attracted by the glint of the golden mean. This suggests a
disarming question: “Is reason reasonable?” Do we like it because of a psychological disposition, an instinct, a
comfort seeking craving, an inclination which is itself irrational or beyond reason? We are led to reason, perhaps,
not because we trust its confidences but because we can tweak its conclusions to suit us.

The shaman in primitive societies is distinguished by his intimacy with spirits, the sage by his superior powers of
thought. Truths felt or told, as well as being mediated in any of the forms already described, can be apprehended
first by the reason of the superior individual and communicated to others later. Reason can be a way of getting in
touch with the truth-world. Practitioners who really love it or believe in it also endow it with creative power, as if it
could make truths as well as detect them, or at least disclose truths without pre-supposing the existence of a
truth-world. It is worthwhile to try to set its rise to prominence and dominance in an historical framework.

At one level, this is a problem of social history, connected, with the formation of elites who specialized in and, in
some degree, appropriated certain styles of thinking which rely on reason, and assigned them a high rank among
truth-finding techniques. Where reason rules, truth-keepers do not have to be priest or shamans. Reason favours
a middle-class distinguished by education and mental prowess, not exceptional sensibility, visionanary
clairvoyance, riches or physical might.

These occur according to a sort of pattern. Although the use of reason is as old as the history of mankind, its
spells of preponderance succeed those of the truth you feel and the truth you are told. Reason provides a means
of escaping from the constraints of belief-systems backed by authority and from the resentment which clever
people feel at the power of their own passions.

Because reason – in admittedly varying degrees – is available to everybody, it has a potential advantage over the
truth you feel and the truth you are told. It can proceed by persuasion from individual discovery to universal or
general acceptance. It is therefore a kind of truth claimed by revolutionaries throughout history, and has indelibly
subversive streaks. On the other hand, because it is supposed, in principle, to yield truths which can command
universal assent, it tempts those who use it into totalitarian ambitions. Fortunately, it is feeble or flexible enough
to encourage practical disagreement.

111. When the author says “yet we keep returning to (2) discredit reason because it is a factor that
reason,” he implies that prevents one from acquiring survival skills.
(1) reason attracts us even though there is no (3) emphasise that reason has throughout
reason for being reasonable. been useful to one or the other section of
(2) it is the fulcrum of the human thought, and the society.
therefore a safe place to be in. (4) trace the backing given to reason through
(3) reason can be dangerous despite the fact history.
that many people subscribe to it. (5) weigh the pros and cons of being
(4) reason induces obstinacy and leads one to reasonable.
commit error.
(5) it is foolish to embrace reason since history 114. Reason strikes a balance between
is replete with examples of the failures of (A) Truth and Falsehood.
reason. (B) Emotion and Control
(C) Illusions and Intuition.
112. The question ‘Is reason reasonable’? arises out of (D) Tradition and Modernity
(1) our belief that reason can never err. (1) Only D (2) Only C (3) B and C
(2) our desire to justify our inclination with a (4) A and C (5) C and D
cloak of rationality.
(3) our indubitable belief in its superiority. 115. Pick the statement that is NOT true about
(4) our craving for adhering to the golden reason.
mean. (1) Everyone has some amount of it.
(5) our belief of a logical basis for our love of (2) It can be used to convince others of your
reason. point of view.
(3) It tempts it users to seek absolute power.
113. The main theme of the passage is to (4) Being firm and unyielding, it prevents
(1) substantiate that reason has always been dissent.
pursued by mankind. (5) It is used by rebels to serve their purpose.
PASSAGE – IV

George Bush and Gordon Brown are right: there should be no nuclear weapons in the Middle East. The risk of a
nuclear conflagration could be greater there than anywhere else. Any nation developing them should expect a
firm diplomatic response. So when will they impose sanctions on Israel?
Like them, I believe that Iran is trying to acquire the bomb. I also believe it should be discouraged, by a
combination of economic pressure and bribery, from doing so (a military response would of course be
disastrous), though Bush and Brown - who maintain their nuclear arsenals in defiance of the non-proliferation
18
treaty - are in no position to lecture anyone else. But if, as Mr Bush claims, the proliferation of such weapons
“would be a dangerous threat to world peace”, why does neither man mention the fact that Israel, according to a
secret briefing by the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency, possesses between 60 and 80 of them?

Officially, the Israeli government maintains a position of “nuclear ambiguity”: neither confirming nor denying its
possession of nuclear weapons. But everyone who has studied the issue knows that this is a formula with a
simple purpose: to give the United States an excuse to keep breaking its own laws, which forbid it to grant aid to
a country with unauthorised weapons of mass destruction. The fiction of ambiguity is fiercely guarded. In 1986,
when the nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu handed photographs of Israel’s bomb factory to the Sunday
Times, he was lured from Britain to Rome, drugged and kidnapped by Mossad agents, tried in secret and
sentenced to 18 years. He served 12 of them in solitary confinement and was banged up again - for six months -
soon after he was released.

But in December last year, the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accidentally let slip that Israel, like “America,
France and Russia” had nuclear weapons. Opposition politicians were furious. They attacked him for “a lack of
caution bordering on irresponsibility.” But U.S. aid continues to flow without impediment.
th
On November 4 1968, when the assistant defence secretary met Yitzhak Rabin (then the Israeli ambassador to
Washington), Rabin “did not dispute in any way our information on Israel’s nuclear or missile capability”. He
simply refused to discuss it. Four days after that, Rabin announced that the proposal was “completely
th
unacceptable to us”. On November 27 , Lyndon Johnson’s administration accepted Israel’s assurance that “it will
not be the first power in the Middle East to introduce nuclear weapons”.

As the memos show, U.S. officials knew that this assurance had been broken even before it was made. A record
of a phone conversation between Henry Kissinger and another official in July 1969 reveals that Richard Nixon
was “very leery of cutting off the Phantoms”, despite Israel’s blatant disregard of the agreement. The deal went
ahead, and from then on the U.S. administration sought to bamboozle its own officials in order to defend Israel’s lie.

So much for the official attitude towards Israel. Consider this situation in comparison with that of Iran. While the
IAEA’s inspectors crawl round Iran’s factories, put seals on its uranium tanks and blow the whistle when it fails to
cooperate, they have no legal authority to inspect facilities in Israel. So when the Israeli government complains,
as it did last week, that the head of the IAEA is “sticking his head in the sand over Iran’s nuclear programme”,
you can only gape at its chutzpah. Israel is constantly racking up the pressure for action against Iran, aware that
no powerful state will press for action against Israel.

Yes, Iran under Ahmadinejad is a dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad. The
president is a Holocaust denier opposed to the existence of Israel. During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran responded to
Saddam Hussein’s toxic bombardments with chemical weapons of its own. But Israel under Ehud Olmert is also a
dangerous and unpredictable state involved in acts of terror abroad. Two months ago it bombed a site in Syria
(whose function is fiercely disputed). Last year it launched a war of aggression against Lebanon. It remains in
occupation of Palestinian lands. In February 2001, according to the BBC, it used chemical weapons in Gaza: 180
people were admitted to hospital with severe convulsions. Nuclear weapons in Israel’s hands are surely just as
dangerous as nuclear weapons in Iran’s.

So when will our governments speak up? When will they acknowledge that there is already a nuclear power in
the Middle East, and that it presents an existential threat to its neighbours? When will they admit that Iran is not
starting a nuclear arms race, but joining one? When will they demand that the rules they impose on Iran should
also apply to Israel?

116. Israel’s supreme self confidence and audacity is
demonstrated by
(1) its demand for action against Iran.
(2) its refusal to reveal the truth even to the U.S.
(3) its expectation of arms without any
obligation to answer questions.
(4) its total indifference to the opinion of the
international community.
(5) its bombing of Syria and launching of
aggression against Lebanon.
117. Where does the author’s belief deviate from
those of the two world premiers who are in
agreement?
(1) In holding nuclear weapons to be a threat to
world peace
(2) In believing that one can only preach what
one practices
(3) In expecting the U.S. not to break its own laws
(4) In recognizing the fact that there is already
a nuclear power in the middle east
(5) In weighing the developed and the
developing nations on the same scale
118. The question, ‘So when will they impose
sanctions on Israel?’ is asked
(1) to focus on the magnitude of the problems
of nuclear proliferation.
(2) to bring home the contrast between the
U.S. policy in Iran and Israel.
(3) to justify the sanctions imposed against
countries going nuclear.
(4) to urge the U.S. to follow the policy that it
preaches.
(5) to reiterate the urgency in making the world
free of nuclear weapons.

19
119. Which of the following is in keeping with the
author’s opinion, as expressed in the passage?
(1) Iran should be allowed to go nuclear since it
has, by and large, been peaceful and peace
loving.
(2) Israel should be ostracised by the
international community for its excesses.
(3) Any country that launches a war of
aggression should be boycotted by all the
other countries.
(4) Nuclear nonproliferation should apply
uniformly to all the countries.
(5) Israel is as much a threat as the other
countries are in the region and so should be
subjected to the same restrictions.
120. The words, ‘this assurance had been broken
even before it was made’, implies that
(1) the Israeli assurance of using nuclear
power for peaceful purposes was false.
(2) the U.S. inspection of nuclear plants in
Israel was an eye wash.
(3) Israel was a nuclear power when it
promised the U.S. that it would not be the
first to introduce it in the Middle East.
(4) the U.S. was so keen to sell its arms that it
was willing to overlook an affront to its
policies.
(5) the Israel government totally ignored all
agreements with the U.S.

PASSAGE – V

‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data’, Sherlock Holmes argues in ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’.
‘Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’ This is the naïve view about
the way that scientists work, or should work. Scientists, however, would find it difficult to know which acts are
important, and which irrelevant, unless they already had a frame-work, or theory, into which they could fit the
facts. They would not know where to look, or what to look for, unless they had started to theorise before
assembling the data. This is not being ‘unscientific’ in any way, it is simply how science operates. Scientists do
not work with unambiguous facts, they have to place facts in context, to interpret them within a particular
framework or theory. In cosmology or atomic physics, this process is relatively uncontroversial. But when we are
dealing with the question of human nature or human origins, the creation of the framework within which one
places the facts can be particularly contentious, and particularly open to political, philosophical and cultural
influences. Even a brief history of evolutionary theories reveals how contemporary concerns are often projected
on to the past, and how the debate about what made us human then is often a reflection of our beliefs about what
makes us human now. ‘Virtually all our theories about human origins are relatively unconstrained by fossil data’,
observed anthropologist David Pilbeam in a survey of palaeoanthropological debates. They ‘have often said far
more about the theorists than about what actually happened’.

Today, too, the questions of ‘how and when did we become human?’ remain culturally loaded. The key issue for
many Darwinists is the similarity of humans and apes. They stress the fact that humans share 98 percent of their
genes with chimpanzees. ‘Such biological proximity’, Chris Stringer and Robin McKie observe, ‘is comparable to
that of a zebra and a horse, or a wolf and a jackal’. This ‘wafer thin discrepancy’, they write, is responsible for ‘all
the wonders of our civilization – from plasma physics and Picasso to Pot Noodle’. It is demonstration of how
‘relatively slight and subtle variations in gene and development can still produce profoundly different
manifestations in appearance and lifestyle’.
The ecologist and physiologist Jared Diamond illustrates this similarity in a striking fashion:
Just imagine taking some normal people, stripping off their clothes, taking away all their possessions, depriving
them of the power of speech and reducing them to grunting, without changing their anatomy at all. Put them in a
cage in the zoo next to the chimp cages, and let the rest of us clothed and talking people visit the zoo. Those
speechless caged people would be seen for what they really are: a chimp that has little hair and walks upright.

At first glance, this looks like a witty illustration of the closeness of Man and ape. But consider the passage a bit
more closely. If we take away our clothes, possessions and language, says Diamond, then we begin to look like
an ape. In other words, if we remove our marks of humanity, we no longer appear to be human: not a very
profound claim. But Diamond doesn’t leave it there. Humans without their humanity are revealed to be ‘what they
really are’. Diamond’s argument, therefore, is that ‘what we really are’, the ‘essence’ of humanity, has little do to
with conventional indices of humanness: language, culture, technology, and so on. Rather it is expressed
principally through our animal heritage.
The genetic proximity of Man and ape is without question. There are, however, different ways of interpreting this
closeness. One could say, given the tiny genetic difference, that our humanity does not lie in our genes. Or one
could argue that we are little more than another ape, and that the roots of our behaviour must lie in our animal,
and in particular ape, ancestry. In adopting the second argument, Darwinists like Diamond are doing more than
taking an objective look at the human condition. They are interpreting the scientific data through a particular
philosophical lens. They are projecting their vision of what it means to be human on to the data.
For all Robert Foley’s protestations, then, that evolutionary questions are merely technical ones, Darwinian
explanations also draw on philosophical and cultural assumptions about what constitutes humanity, how humans
relate to the non-human animal world, and so on. If the Victorian insistence on a biological chasm between Man
and ape originated from an almost mystical belief in human progress, today’s insistence that humans are nothing
20
more than another kind of ape is the consequence of a century’s worth of disillusionment with such optimism. As
Foley himself notes, the history of the twentieth century has transformed our vision of humanity, leading to ‘a loss
of confidence in the extent to which humans could be said to be on a pedestal above the swamp of animal
brutishness’.

The camps of Dachau and Belsen, the millions killed in religious wars, the extent of poverty, famine and disease,
and the almost boundless capacity of humans to do damage to each other at national and personal levels have,
in the twentieth century, rather dented human self-esteem ….. It seems that apes have become more angelic
during the course of the twentieth century, the angels, or at least their human representatives, more apish. Where
it was originally thought that humans were the advanced and progressive form of life (the angels), and other
animals the more primitive, now it may be argued that the animal within us is our noble side, and humanity or
civilization the blacker side – a complete reversal of the original Victorian image.

Whereas nineteenth-century Darwinists saw evolution as the story of the ascent of Man from his brutish origins,
today’s Darwinists want rather to tell the tale of the Fall of Man back into beastliness. It is the story of the ascent
of Man, and the descent of humanity.

The fact that scientific explanations of humanness are shaped by wider influences does not necessarily mean
that they are wrong. What it does mean is that we have to understand arguments about human nature as
simultaneously scientific and cultural claims. At every step we need to ask ourselves two intertwined questions.
First, what data have scientists produced about human origins, human behaviour, the human mind, and so on?
And second, what is it about humanness that is being said through particular interpretations of this data? In other
words, what does science tell us about being human, and what do scientific theories about human origins tell us
about the non-scientific influences upon their stories? Putting the two together will tell us much, both about
humanness and about the present state of humanity.

121. In the author’s opinion:
(1) What distinguishes man from apes is an
upright gait and lack of body hair.
(2) Jared Diamond believes that clothes,
possessions and language are the
distinguishing features of man.
(3) Man’s genetic similarity to apes leads him
to behave in a beastly manner.
(4) If an ape wore clothes and could talk, it
would be indistinguishable from man.
(5) Jared Diamond implies that the essence of
humanity lies in our inherent traits.
122. Pick the statement that is NOT true.
(1) Man’s inhumanity to man casts a doubt on
his superior position in creation.
(2) Robert Foley believes that man’s evolution
can be determined using technical data.
(3) Jared Diamond believes Man’s bestiality is
due to his animal ancestry.
(4) Scientific explanations are not unerring as
other aspects sometimes have bearing on
them.
(5) The author believes it is not possible to take
a completely objective view of Man.
123. The author’s purpose in the passage appears to
be to show that
(1) separating objective facts from subjective
interpretation will give us answers about
human nature.
(2) theories regarding human nature or origins
are shaped by socio-cultural influences.
(3) fossil data reveal more about the
anthropologists who made the discovery
than about human origins.
(4) the study of human nature is totally different
from that of cosmology or atomic physics.
(5) there are complexities involved in framing
theories from facts.

PASSAGE – VI

I cannot avoid the subject any longer. Almost every day I receive a clutch of emails about it, asking the same
question. A frightening new report has just pushed it up the political agenda: for the first time the World Food
Programme is struggling to find the supplies it needs for emergency famine relief. So why, like most
environmentalists, won’t I mention the p-word? According to its most vociferous proponents, population is “our
number one environmental problem”. But most greens will not discuss it.
Is this sensitivity or is it cowardice? Perhaps a bit of both. Population growth has always been politically charged,
and always the fault of someone else. Seldom has the complaint been heard that “people like us are breeding too
fast.” For the prosperous clergyman Thomas Malthus, writing in 1798, the problem arose from the fecklessness
th th
of the labouring classes. Through the 19 and early 20 centuries, eugenicists warned that white people would
be outbred. In rich nations in the 1970s the issue was overemphasised, as it is the one environmental problem for
which poor nations are largely to blame. But the question still needs to be answered. Is population really our
number one environmental problem?
The Optimum Population Trust cites some shocking figures, produced by the UN. They show that if the global
population keeps growing at current rates, it will reach 134 trillion by 2300. This is plainly ridiculous: no one
expects it to happen. In 2005, the UN estimated that the world’s population will more or less stabilise in 2200 at
10 billion. But a paper published in Nature last week suggests that that there is an 88% chance that global
population growth will end during this century.
21
In other words, if we accept the UN’s projection, the global population will grow by roughly 50% and then stop.
This means it will become 50% harder to stop runaway climate change, 50% harder to feed the world, 50%
harder to prevent the overuse of resources. But compare this rate of increase to the rate of economic growth.
Many economists predict that, occasional recessions notwithstanding, the global economy will grow by about 3%
a year this century. Governments will do all they can to prove them right. A steady growth rate of 3% means a
doubling of economic activity every 23 years. By 2100, in other words, global consumption will increase by
roughly 1600%. As the equations produced by Professor Roderick Smith of Imperial College have shown, this
means that in the 21st Century we will have used 16 times as many economic resources as human beings have
consumed since we came down from the trees.

So economic growth this century could be 32 times as big an environmental issue as population growth. And, if
governments, banks and businesses have their way, it never stops. By 2115, the cumulative total rises to 3200%,
by 2138 to 6400%. As resources are finite, this is of course impossible, but it is not hard to see that rising
economic activity - not human numbers - is the immediate and overwhelming threat.

Those who emphasise the dangers of population growth maintain that times have changed: they are not
concerned only with population growth in the poor world, but primarily with growth in the rich world, where people
consume much more. The Optimum Population Trust (OPT) maintains that the “global environmental impact of
an inhabitant of Bangladesh … will increase by a factor of 16 if he or she emigrates to the U.S.A.”. This is surely
not quite true, as recent immigrants tend to be poorer than the native population, but the general point stands:
population growth in the rich world, largely driven by immigration, is more environmentally damaging than
population growth in the poor world. In the U.S. and the U.K., their ecological impact has become another stick
with which immigrants can be beaten.

Surely there is one respect in which the growing human population constitutes the primary threat? The amount of
food the world eats bears a direct relationship to the number of mouths. After years of glut, the storerooms are
suddenly empty and grain prices are rocketing. How will another three billion be fed?

Even here, however, population growth is not the most immediate issue: another sector is expanding much
faster. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation expects that global meat production will double by 2050
(growing, in other words, at two and a half times the rate of human numbers). The supply of meat has already
tripled since 1980: farm animals now take up 70% of all agricultural land and eat one third of the world’s grain.
The rich nations consume three times as much meat and four times as much milk per capita as the people of the
poor world. While human population growth is one of the factors that could contribute to a global food deficit, it is
not the most urgent.

None of this means that we should forget about it. Even if there were no environmental pressures caused by
population growth, we should still support the measures required to tackle it: universal sex education, universal
access to contraceptives, better schooling and opportunities for poor women. Stabilising or even reducing the
human population would ameliorate almost all environmental impacts. But to suggest, as many of my
correspondents do, that population growth is largely responsible for the ecological crisis is to blame the poor for
the excesses of the rich.

124. The author in this passage suggests that
(1) population growth is not the factor
responsible for the ecological crises we
face.
(2) the people of the third world countries are to
be blamed for the present ecological
disaster.
126. Pick the statement that is not true.
(3) migration from the poorer to the richer
nations must be checked to save the earth.
(4) if the world population turns vegetarian, the
earth would be able to support the
population.
(5) people are not as much of a threat to the
environment as their wants are.
125. The author has stayed away from using the p-
word so far because
(1) it is politically charged and more problems
could be created than solved.
(2) the greens don’t believe that population is
to be blamed for the crisis we face.
(3) the poor nations have no control over
increasing population.
(4) there are more significant reasons for the
threats to our environment.
(5) we refuse to accept that people like us are
breeding fast.
(1) The world is facing a serious shortage of
food grains.
(2) The author believes that the issue of
growing population needs to be tackled.
(3) Steady economic growth of 3% through the
century would be the panacea for
environmental problems.
(4) Malthus blamed the fecundity of the working
class for the menace of growing population.
(5) Population is the only environmental
problem for which the poor nations can be
blamed.

22
 PASSAGE – VII

Proponents of the ecological orientation take the position that behavior is determined by the interaction of
individual and environmental characteristics. Although all major approaches to understanding human behavior
used to design treatment approaches for school-aged children cite internal and external forces as operating
together to produce behavior, they differ significantly in emphasis. For example, both psychodynamic and
biophysical models are concerned, for the most part, with the definition and understanding of internal forces.
Although classical psychodynamic approaches have lost some popularity as bases for interventions, biophysical
strategies are used frequently with students. Psychodynamic theorists focus primarily on needs and drives and
on the investigation of patterns of behavior that occur at various stages of development. Biophysical theorists, on
the other hand, emphasize physiological or temperamental conditions that may lead to certain typical behavior
patterns. Biophysical approaches include psychotropic medication administered to students to modify their
behavior. Both these approaches may be termed medical model to illustrate their emphasis on internal, individual
characteristics as most important in understanding a student’s behavior.

Behavioral and sociological models are concerned mainly with response patterns and the reinforcing and
punishing conditions in the environment that produce particular sequences of behaviors. This functional analysis
of behavior is a commonly used approach to planning interventions for students. Sociologists, on the other hand,
are more concerned with the broader environment including institutions, communities, culture, and society in their
efforts to understand conditions that produce individual and group behavior. Although this perspective is cited
frequently, for example when we note a child’s poverty and neighborhood as risk factors for behavioral deviance,
few school-based interventions have emerged from this model.

In contrast to these other approaches, ecological theory maintains an equal emphasis of concern for internal and
external forces when attempting to understand human behavior and making plans to facilitate change. Ecologists
assume there is a unique pattern of explanatory forces for each student and agree that behavior is a product of
the interaction between internal forces and environmental circumstances. Thus, ecologists examine ecosystems
rather then individuals. Ecosystems are composed of all the interacting systems of living things and their
nonliving surroundings. Ecosystems have histories and internal development that make each unique and
constantly changing. When a student is successful in a particular situation, ecologists see the ecosystem as
congruent or balanced. On the other hand, when such congruence does not exist, the student is likely to be
considered deviant (i.e., out of harmony with social norms) or incompetent (i.e., unable to perform to a certain
criterion in the unchanged setting). When this is the case, ecologists say the system is not balanced and that
particular elements are in conflict with one another. Such conflicts are termed points of discordance; that is,
specific places where there is a failure to match between the child and the ecosystem. The student might receive
assistance from one system to succeed in another or may find that activities in one interfere with competence in
the other. Relationships drawn between a student and his or her important systems create an ecomap that can
guide critical aspects of intervention planning. This technique bears some resemblance to the genogram
approach advocated by McGoldrick and Gerson but focuses beyond the biological family into other life spaces of
the child.

The breadth of ecological theory may lead some to believe that all interventions are ecological, thus confusing
ecology with eclecticism. Although almost every known psychological and educational intervention may be a
potential tool to assist students, ecological intervention are designed and selected according to some basic
assumptions. It may be helpful to remember that only three things can be changed for any student: the student,
the student’s environment, and important adults’ perception of the student. Changing the student is the usual, but
difficult, strategy chosen by most educators. Altering the student’s environment is the prime target for behavioral
practitioners. Finally, changing the expectations and perceptions of the students held by important adults is an
adult focused perspective in serving children. With these limited targets and target combinations in mind, several
assumptions guide intervention development.

127. The intervention sought to be applied in the
case of a biophysical approach would involve
(1) psycho therapy using methods such as
hypnotism.
(2) treatment involving medication to cure
physiological disorders.
(3) therapy involving medicines used to cure
psychological problems.
(4) therapy undertaken to control a deviant
behavior through physical exercises.
(5) treatment to set right the ecological
imbalances, if any, around the subject.
128. What, according to the author, is the
shortcoming of a sociological model?
(1) It is concerned mainly with external forces.
(2) It focuses on a wider environment including
institutions, communities, culture and society.
(3) It has not evolved many corrective
strategies for children.
(4) It is not a commonly used approach like a
behavioral model.
(5) It concentrates mainly on the economic
condition of a child.

23
129. Which of the following models do not include the perception that external forces have a bearing on
children’s behavior?
(1) Behavioral and Sociological models (2) Ecological model
(3) Psychodynamic and Biophysical models (4) Bio physical models
(5) None of the above

PASSAGE – VIII

In a crisis, where does an individual turn for guidance when he thinks that what he has been asked to do is not
what he should be doing. He has only one place to turn to for a hurried answer – his ‘soul’ or his ‘psyche’, or his
‘conscience’. We have to connect our beliefs with our actions. Personal characteristics are not easily modified,
but one can be trained to subordinate personal feelings to “values”. Once an individual is ‘value driven’ his latent
leadership qualities emerge, guiding him in the right direction. One should be able to see both distance and depth
whenever he has to take any important decision that could have a direct impact on people and/or events.
Leadership is about character and moral authority. Character obligates one to live within a framework of guiding
principles and values. A leader, particularly a junior leader, interprets and crystallizes the values and objectives
for the benefit of his group. He sets the climate within which these values are converted into working realities. For
this he has to integrate the smaller and selfish goals of individuals into larger, more relevant and designated
objectives of the organization he has chosen to join. He is directly concerned with keeping his subordinates’
interest and vitality alive. This means that each day, these junior leaders are expected to make difficult military
decisions based on values and principles. Often this is difficult to accomplish because emotion, sometimes
apparent irrationality and conflicting interests affect one’s judgment. These influence a leader’s perception of the
situation and problems that he faces. These have a direct impact on the decisions a junior leader makes to
overcome various situations. In the commercial world one can get away by electing to be inspired by the path
chosen by the organizational head. No risk to life and limb is involved even if the path so chosen is not the one
that one’s conscience recommends. But for a military leader to so compromise on his principles and ethics could
lead to dangerous and damaging consequences. To be guided by ethics, values and culture will be the safest
and most honourable way of doing things in any given environment and situation. Now that is what it means to
live by certain principles and ethics. No inducement, no likelihood of personal, monetary or professional gain
should blind one to the necessity of living within the framework of guiding principles and the ethics one is
expected to have when aspiring to be different from the run of the mill type.

When just about everything is acceptable, so long as one can advance his own self or can satisfy needs of a
superior, it will never be easy to make clear moral choices. There will always be competing claims on an
individual’s ethics, values and principles. One has to differentiate between these three, analyse, adopt and arrive
at a decision which is morally right. Principles are not values, because they always have natural consequences
emerging from them. If their (junior leader’s) personal values are insufficiently clarified, they will lack a firm
foundation for their judgments and may even be perceived as weak. Background and education only matter
insofar as they fit a man to play his part in the structure of a unit. The young officers of today are equipped with a
better education. They understand that education illuminates values. Personal value systems set the limits of
determination of what is, and what is not ethical behaviour. It allows a young leader to put things in the right
perspective. Perspective demands broad vision. What is normally not taken note of is the fact that mental
backbone and moral courage go deeper than the intellect. Integrity is of much greater importance than an
analytical ability. It does not lend itself to compromise. It is not grey; it is either all black or all white. It must not be
worn on one’s sleeve but must be a way of life. The leader, be he a platoon, company or even the highest
commander, has an implicit responsibility towards integrity and in ensuring that those under his command do not
have to compromise on this principle. Every leader and in any field of activity has to live by a set of values
defined as “Core Values”. Core values are those deeply ingrained principles that guide all our actions. These are
inherent and sacrosanct, never to be compromised either for convenience or short term gains. Core values,
however, cannot take the place of moral reasoning. It is for the seniors to embed those essentials, in their
subordinates, that go on to develop them into effective, efficient and upright leaders. One first has to learn to be a
man of honour and to apply oneself in his work with all his energy and natural behaviour. In this, even if your
efficiency is not very high, your faith, your sincerity, perseverance will ensure that your effort is recognized and
rewarded.
130. When will one’s moral fibre be truly tested, 131. The passage lists all the following as attributes
according to the passage? of ‘integrity’ EXCEPT:
(1) When one refuses to compromise on (1) It consists of principles or habits governing
principles, values and ethics. all of one’s actions.
(2) When the line of demarcation between (2) It is more important than intellect.
principles and values becomes very thin. (3) It is not to be used only at the time of one’s
(3) When almost everything can be sacrificed convenience.
at the altar of expediency. (4) It is synonymous with responsibility.
(4) When one is unable to satisfy the unethical (5) It is not inhibited by ambiguity.
needs of a superior.
(5) When one tries to be altruistic.
24
132. What dilemma could have led the author to the expatiation contained in the passage?
(1) The clash between the goals of an individual and his/her organization.
(2) The career choice.
(3) The difficulty of choice – upholding the principles or ethics of an individual.
(4) The difficulty in differentiating core values and general values.
(5) The situation one faces when served with an unethical order.

PASSAGE – IX

Immortality is the concept of living in a physical or spiritual form for an infinite or inconceivably vast length of
time. Aubrey de Grey, a leading researcher in the field, defines ageing as follows: “a collection of cumulative
changes to the molecular and cellular structure of an adult organism, which result in essential metabolic
processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting in pathology
and death.” As immortality is the negation of mortality—not dying or not being subject to death—has been a
subject of fascination to mankind since at least the beginning of history. The “Epic of Gilgamesh” one of the first
literary works, dating back at least to the 22nd century BC, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to become
immortal. What form an unending human life would take, or whether the soul exists and possesses immortality,
has been a major point of focus of religion, as well as the subject of speculation, fantasy, and debate.

Physical immortality is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought. It can
mean the unending existence of a person by way of a source other than organic life such as technology. In the
early 21st century, physical immortality remains a goal rather than a reality. Active pursuit of physical immortality
can either be based on scientific trends such as cryonics, breakthroughs in rejuvenation or predictions of an
impending technological singularity, or because of a spiritual belief, such as those held by the ‘Rastafarians or
Rebirthers’. By definition, all causes of death must be overcome or avoided for physical immortality to be
achieved. There are three main causes of death: ageing, disease and trauma.
Among all these, physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, even if the problems of
aging and disease were overcome, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen
accidents or catastrophes. Ideally, any method to achieve physical immortality would mitigate the risk of
encountering trauma. Taking preventative measures by engineering inherent resistance to injury is thus relevant
in addition to reactive measures more closely associated with the paradigm of medical treatment. The speed and
quality of the paramedic response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. Without
improvements to such things, very few people would remain alive after several tens of thousands of years purely
based on accident rate statistics. Being the seat of consciousness, the brain cannot be risked to trauma if a
continuous physical life is to be maintained. Therefore, it cannot be replaced or repaired in the same way as
other organs can be repaired. In physical immortality, a method of transferring consciousness would be required
and the brain has to survive this process.
Biological immortality is an absence of ageing, specifically, the absence of a sustained increase in the rate of
mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age
at some point, is biologically immortal. Biologists have chosen the word immortal to designate cells that are not
limited by the Hayflick limit, where cells no longer divide because of DNA damage or shortened telomeres. Prior
to the work of Leonard Hayflick there was the erroneous belief fostered by Alexis Carrel that all normal somatic
cells are immortal. By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality.
Telomere, a “cap” at the end of DNA, is thought to be the cause of cell aging. Every time a cell divides the
telomere becomes a bit shorter. When it is finally worn down, the cell is unable to split and dies. Telomerase is an
enzyme which rebuilds the telomeres in stem cells and cancer cells, allowing them to replicate an infinite number
of times. No definitive work has yet demonstrated that telomerase can be used in human somatic cells to prevent
healthy tissues from aging. On the other hand, scientists hope to be able to grow organs with the help of stem
cells, allowing organ transplants without the risk of rejection, another step in extending human life expectancy.
These technologies are the subject of ongoing research, and are not yet realized.
Cryonics, the practice of preserving organisms, either intact specimens or only their brains, for possible future
revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped,
is the answer for those who believe that life extension technologies like nanotechnology or nanorobots will not
develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics would allow clinically dead people to be brought back
after cures to the patients’ diseases are discovered in the future and even this would facilitate a reverse in the
aging process. Modern cryonic procedures use a process called vitrification which creates a glass-like state
rather than freezing as the body is brought to low temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals
damaging the cell-structure, which would be especially detrimental to the cell structures in the brain, as their
minute adjustment evokes the individual’s mind.
One idea that has been advanced involves uploading an individual’s personality and memories via direct mind-
computer interface. Futurists like Moravec and Kurzweil have proposed that, thanks to exponentially growing
computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto a computer system, and live
indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer
25
hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes.
Components would be added gradually until the person’s entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices,
avoiding sharp transitions that would lead to issues of identity. After this point, the human body could be treated
as an optional accessory and the mind could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. Persons in this
state would then be essentially immortal. Transforming a human into a cyborg can include brain implants or
extracting a human mind and placing it in a robotic life-support system. Even replacing biological organs with
robotic ones could increase life span (i.e., pace makers) and depending on the definition, many technological
upgrades to the body, like genetic modifications or the addition of nanobots would qualify an individual as a
cyborg. Such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically immortal unless
killed or destroyed.
Hypothetical immortality, in other words “fame” has been described as a method to “achieve immortality”, if only
semantically, so that the name or works of a famous individual would “live on” after his or her death. This view of
immortality places value on how one will be remembered by the generations to come. For example, Homer’s
“Illiad”. Quantum immortality on the other hand is not widely regarded by the scientific community as being a
verifiable or even necessarily as a correct offshoot of the many worlds interpretation. In the many worlds
interpretation of quantum mechanics, the wavefunction never collapses, and thus all possible outcomes of a
quantum event exist simultaneously, with each event apparently spawning an entirely new universe in which a
single possible outcome exists. In this theory, a person could hypothetically live forever as there might exist a
string of possible quantum outcomes in which that individual never dies.

It is not known whether human physical immortality is an unachievable phenomenon or not. Biological forms have
inherent limitations, for example, their fragility and slow adaptability to changing environments, which may or may
not be able to be overcome through medical interventions, engineering, etc. On the other hand, biological
immortality already exists among some simple, but multicellular life-forms. Some scientists, futurists, and
philosophers, such as scientists Aubrey de Grey and Ray Kurzweil believe that human immortality is achievable
in the next few decades. Others are somewhere in the middle of these two extreme viewpoints, thinking that
immortality is achievable in some period of time longer than 20-30 years, but not impossible. Biological
immortality is what life extension advocates feel is likely in the decades to come. Specifically this refers to the
absence of ageing of the body due to baseline biological human limitations, but acknowledgement that complete
immortality in a human form is unlikely due to the fact that even when you remain biologically young, once every
few hundred years individuals will perish due to accidents or by other means. Ultimately, a timeless existence is
also not known for certain to be achievable, or even definable, despite millennia of arguments for eternity.
Wittgenstein, in a notably non-theological interpretation of eternal life, writes in the “Tractus” that, “If we take
eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the
present.”

133. Wittgenstein’s view on eternity can be taken to
mean that one should
(1) remain optimistic about uncertainties in life
and think only about the present moment.
(2) be unaffected by the transition in life and
realise the importance of living in the
present.
(3) never ponder over the past but think only
about the moment one is living in.
(4) realize the importance of physical
immortality and live life to the fullest.
(5) care little about the significance of events
and live only in the present.
134. As per the passage, what is the major difference
between biological and physical immortality?
(1) Unlike in biological immortality,
consciousness of thought can be
maintained in physical immortality.
(2) Unlike biological immortality, physical
immortality is unachievable.
(3) Unlike in biological immortality, disease and
injury have no role to play in physical
immortality.
(4) Unlike for physical immortality, biological
immortality is about physical structure.
(5) Unlike biological immortality, physical
immortality cannot be achieved in
multicellular forms.
135. Which of the following statements CANNOT be
understood from the passage?
(1) Cryonics is a process which is analogous to
freezing.
(2) The author asserts that achievement of
immortality is possible only in the decades
to come.
(3) The process involving the achievement of
physical immortality is subject to risk.
(4) Quantum immortality, is related to science,
one way or another.
(5) The author is non-committal about the
views of the scientists or futurists
mentioned in the last paragraph.

PASSAGE – X

Critics agree that Conrad’s experiences in the Congo marked a “turning point in his life and that its effects on
him determined his transformation from a sailor to a writer”. Records show that even as a child, Conrad was
fascinated by the uncharted domains of the vast continent, which was being explored by Europeans during the
26
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and where unprecedented material exploitation was being carried out in the
name of civilizing the so-called “primitive”, “barbaric” tribes of the land. In ‘Heart of Darkness’, Conrad relies
heavily on his experience in the Congo, but also goes beyond the confines of his personal experiences to
confront issues and problems that affect the entire world. It is clear that Conrad found the subject of the novel –
the exploitation of Africa in the name of civilizing the primitives–to have a much larger dimension than the purely
temporal one; he could relate this issue to larger problems of treachery, greed, deceit and cruelty in human
nature.

As a child Conrad was fascinated with stories of geographical exploration, and it would be worthwhile to note his
passion for the subject: Conrad links exploration of the earth to the notion of inner exploration also. Since he was
fond of reading maps, he was particularly drawn towards the continent of Africa, where cartographers had not yet
charted the entire land, where large spaces lay unexplored and uncharted in the maps–huge blocks of white
space where the details were missing. He would imagine how explorers were “nibbling at the edges” of this
continent to gradually penetrate its unknown reaches; he literally was born in the year the “great lakes” were
discovered in Africa, and entered them himself in his “beloved old atlas” with a pencil. Conrad mentions that the
heart of its (the atlas’s) “Africa was white and big”. All this map gazing and fascination with geographical
discovery led, Conrad himself says, to an “insight” into the “characters of that special kind of men who devoted
the best part of their lives to the exploration of land and sea”.

Africa, therefore, held a special place in Conrad’s psychology; he was growing up while the continent was being
charted by cartographers, and the spirit of enquiry / exploration / knowledge fascinated him. Later he recorded in
his memoir: It was in 1868, when nine years old or thereabouts, that while looking at the map of Africa of the time
and putting my finger on the blank space then representing the unsolved mystery of that continent, I said to
myself with absolute assurance and an amazing audacity, which are no longer in my character now: “When I
grow up I shall go there.” And of course I thought no more about it till after a quarter of a century or so when an
opportunity presented itself to go there. Yes, I did go there: “there” being the region of Stanley Falls which in
1868 was the blankest space on the earth’s figured surface.

It is obvious that Conrad’s journey to Congo was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream, a dream that he had peopled
with courageous, adventurous knowledge-seekers who were guided by the lofty ideal of scientific enquiry. In his
mind, Europeans in Africa were fulfilling a mission that would ultimately benefit the entire human society. The
reality, however, turned out to be, and actually always was, radically different from the ideal and the rhetoric that
was being circulated by the European powers in relation to Africa.

The European powers exploited many countries of the world which they colonised during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Several nations of Asia and Africa came under European dominance at this time and there
was large scale exploitation of the natural resources of the dominated countries which were looted by the
masters through their technological superiority. The interesting fact is that this shameless exploitation was always
cloaked in the sophisticated jargon of the “civilizing mission”; it was made to appear as if the European powers
were doing the natives immense good by “civilizing” these “primitive” and “barbaric” peoples by making them
conform to European values and European standards. It was as if the European powers were accomplishing a
great duty by taking the trouble to civilize others who were different from them. In fact, lofty statements like this
concerning the “white man’s burden” in Asia and Africa are to be found in abundance in the literature of imperialism.

136. What was the relation between Conrad’s
dreams of Africa and the reality?
(1) Reality proved to be every bit as interesting
as his dreams.
(2) Reality, though a translation of his dreams,
proved to be mundane.
(3) Reality transformed the idealism of his
dreams.
(4) Reality showed that far from benefiting
humanity, the colonial powers were benefiting
themselves.
(5) Reality turned out to be a disappointment to
his dreams.
137. In the ‘Heart of Darkness’ Conrad does all of the
following EXCEPT:
(1) Portray his observations of life in Congo.
(2) Raise questions regarding problems in the
larger world.
(3) Describe the physical and geographical
features of the place.
(4) Explore the vices in human nature.
(5) Expose man’s hypocritical tendencies.
138. ‘The white man’s burden’, as inferred from the
passage,
(1) represents the missionary zeal with which
the West fulfilled its duties in Africa.
(2) was the euphemism used by the colonial
powers to cloak their baser motives.
(3) is the quintessence of the role of the
Europeans in their colonies.
(4) aptly summarises the mission to civilize
primitive people.
(5) is how the Africans were described by the
Europeans who came there.

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 PASSAGE – XI

Few things have more disturbed our universe, physical, social and moral, than has science. From Galileo to
Darwin, from Einstein to Freud, scientific theories have constantly relocated our place in the order of things. An
age such as ours which resents such disturbance is unlikely to view with sympathy the aims of science. No
period has been more penetrated by science, nor more dependent upon it, than the past half century. Yet no
period has been more uneasy about it, nor felt more that the relationship with scientific knowledge is a Faustian
pact. Many today are likely to sympathize with John Donne’s response to the new science of Galileo, Bacon and
Boyle that the ‘New Philosophy calls all in doubt’, leaving ‘ . . . all in pieces, all coherence gone; All just supply, all
Relation’.

No science has seemed more to call all in doubt than the science of biology. The half-century since James
Watson and Francis Crick unravelled the structure of DNA in 1953 has been one of unprecedented development
of biological knowledge. From genetic engineering to cloning, from test tube babies to xenotransplantation, from
the mapping of the human genome to the possibility of ending the menopause, biology has truly disturbed our
universe, and from Prince Charles to President Clinton, politicians and opinion formers worry that man is now
‘playing God’, remaking nature in his own image. Bill Clinton’s first response to news of Dolly, the sheep, was to
call for an ethical report; the new biology speaks to our worst fears by seemingly blurring the moral lines so
important to our lives. Bryan Appleyard, one of Britain’s more acute social commentators, is terrified by the way
that science has invaded the human realm. The new biology, he believes, ‘entails the thwarting of nature at a
very fundamental level’. ‘Genetics must be contained, humbled’, he insists; it must be ‘subjected to the freely
expressed consciences of human beings who still have a history and who still know the meaning of the spiritual
search’.

And yet, while there is immense fear about the practical consequences of biological, and in particular genetic
science, there is an equally immense interest in, and support for, biological theories of human nature. Richard
Dawkins, Steven Pinker, E.O. Wilson, Matt Ridley, Jared Diamond – evolutionary biologists are among the
literary superstars of our age, as much entertainers as scientist, writing bestsellers, packing out lecture theatres
and debates, starring in any number of TV documentaries, and injecting evolutionary wisdom into all manner of
political and cultural debates, from why Bill Clinton shared a cigar with Monica Lewinsky to whether it is morally
proper for women to have toy-boys as partners.

This contrast between hostility to biological experimentation and embrace of evolutionary psychology should not
surprise us. What many people fear is a science that disturbs their moral compass, upsetting traditional ideas of
Man and nature, a science that promises new forms of control over nature, new types of mastery over human
destiny. What many (often the same) people are drawn to is a science that seems to provide solace and comfort,
that seems to turn an explanation about the human condition into a parable about fate. Tortured as we are by
moral disorientation and self-distrust, we long for origin myths that can both explain our place in the natural order
and absolve us of responsibility for our own destiny.

The common threads in hostility to biological science and a yearning for evolutionary stories are a debased view
of what it means to be human and an exalted view of nature. ‘In a secular civilization’, Mary Douglas and Aaron
Wildavsky observe, ‘nature plays the role of general arbiter of human designs more plausibly than God’. In the
nineteenth century, positivists recast science as a new faith, and nature as a new God, at a time when the old
religion appeared inadequate for Man’s needs. Today, too, nature is rapidly turning into a new deity to whom we
turn for moral answer and personal comfort. And yet, Western society’s relationship to nature is very different
from what it was two centuries ago. Then, faith in the laws of nature required a sense of confidence about human
progress. Today, faith in nature expresses pessimism about the human condition. In an age in which humans and
human activity are held in low esteem there is a tendency to deify nature. In almost every aspect of life the
‘natural’ is regarded as morally superior to the artificial or human. Natural health treatments, from acupuncture to
reflexology, are seen as preferable to the alienating high technology of modern medicine. Praise is heaped upon
organic food as opposed to food product by intensive farming or genetic modification. ‘Green’ energy sources are
preferable to high tech ones. As Norman Levitt put it. ‘The “natural” is the virtuous opposite of the degraded
manifestations of humanity’s fallen state.’ ‘Nature’, Leavitt observes, ‘is the code words for the way things are
meant to be rather than the way they are.”

The deification of nature has led many both to decry science that seems to defile the purity of nature and to laud
science that seems to make us more natural. Biological technology that threatens to transform our relationship
with nature is often seen as unnatural, and hence almost blasphemous. ‘Have we the right’, the molecular
biologist Ervin Chargaff asks, ‘to counteract, irreversibly, the evolutionary wisdom of millions of years?’ A 1989
European Parliament committee report on genetic engineering suggested that ‘each generation must be allowed
to struggle with human nature as it is given to them, and not with the irreversible biological results of their
forebears actions’. Bryan Appleyard sympathises. ‘We cannot impose on future generations our conceptions of
improvement’, he argues, ‘because to do so represents an assault on human dignity. For it is a struggle with the
givens of human nature that defines humanity, not the progressive effort to transform that nature’.

28
139. The ‘deification of nature’
(1) is to counter the pernicious effect of new
scientific discoveries on society.
(2) is a reaction to biological science that
makes for unnatural and blasphemous
changes.
(3) is the result of people’s hostility to biological
sciences.
(4) can be attributed to the exalted view of
nature that people have in a secular
civilization.
(5) is a consequence of the low self-esteem in
which humans and their activities are held.
141. The author in this passage
(1) examines the implications of scientific
progress for man and nature.
(2) traces the changes in the scientific world in
the last fifty years.
(3) voices society’s concern over scientists
playing God.
(4) analyses the dilemma that progress in
science has brought about.
(5) justifies the need to examine scientific
discoveries under the microscope of
morality.

140. Regarding biological science all of the following
are true EXCEPT:
(1) It should be subordinated to human
conscience, according to a social
commentator.
(2) The author feels it will defeat nature at a
very basic level.
(3) The last half-century has been unique in the
development of knowledge in the field.
(4) It has disturbed our cozy world by calling all
our beliefs to doubt.
(5) It has encroached upon the human domain
to such an extent as to terrify social
thinkers.
142. Why do we feel that our relationship with
science is a ‘Faustian pact’?
(1) Over the past fifty years we have come to
depend upon science more and more.
(2) We do not view with sympathy the aims of
science because it changes frequently.
(3) While science has given us immense power
it has disturbed our moral compass.
(4) Scientific theories have continuously
revolutionized the way we look at Nature.
(5) Science penetrates every aspect of our life
calling accepted facts into question.

PASSAGE – XII

A British Government White Paper on Overseas Development some years ago stated the aims of foreign aid as
follows:

“To do what lies within our power to help the developing countries to provide their people with the material
opportunities for using their talents, of living a full and happy life and steadily improving their lot.’

It may be doubtful whether equally optimistic language would be used today, but the basic philosophy remains
the same. There is, perhaps, some disillusionment: the task turns out to be much harder than may have been
thought – and the newly independent countries are finding the same. Two phenomena, in particular, are giving
rise to world-wide concern – mass unemployment and mass migration into cities. For two-thirds of mankind, the
aim of a ‘full and happy life’ with steady improvements of their lot, if not actually receding, seems to be as far
away as ever. So we had better have a new look at the whole problem.

One of the unhealthy and disruptive tendencies in virtually all the developing countries is the emergence, in an
ever more accentuated form, of the ‘dual economy’, in which there are two different patterns of living as widely
separated from each other as two different worlds. It is not a matter of some people being rich and other being
poor, both being united by a common way of life; it is a matter of two ways of life existing side by side in such a
manner that even the humblest member of the one disposes of a daily income which is a high multiple of the
income accruing to even the hardest working member of the other. The social and political tensions arising from
the dual economy are too obvious to require description.

In the dual economy of a typical developing country, we may find fifteen per cent of the population in the modern
sector, mainly confined to one or two big cities. The other eighty-five percent exists in the rural areas and small
towns. Most of the development effort goes into the big cities, which means that eighty five percent of the
population are largely by passed. What is to become of them? Simply to assume that the modern sector in the
big cities will grow until it has absorbed almost the entire population – which is, of course, what has happened in
many of the highly developed countries – is utterly unrealistic. Even the richest countries are groaning under the
burden which such a maldistribution of population inevitably imposes.

In every branch of modern thought, the concept of ‘evolution’ plays a central role. Not so in development
economics, although the words ‘development’ and ‘evolution’ would seem to be virtually synonymous. Whatever
may be the merit of the theory of evolution in specific cases, it certainly reflects our experience of economic and
technical development. Let us imagine a visit to the modern industrial establishment, say a great refinery. As we
walk around in its vastness, through all its fantastic complexity, we might well wonder how it was possible for the
human mind to conceive such a thing. What an immensity of knowledge, ingenuity and experience is here

29
incarnated in equipment! How is it possible? The answer is that it did not spring ready-made out of any person’s
mind – it came by a process of evolution. It started quite simply, then this was added and that was modified, and
so the whole thing became more and more complex. But even what we actually see in this refinery is only, as we
might say, the tip of an iceberg.

What we cannot see on our visit is far greater than what we can see: the immensity and complexity of the
arrangements that allow crude oil to flow into the refinery and ensure that a multitude of consignments of refined
products, properly prepared, packed and labelled, reaches innumerable consumers through a most elaborate
distribution system. All this we cannot see. Nor can we see the financing and marketing. Least of all can we see
the great educational background which is the precondition of all, extending from primary schools to universities
and specialized research establishments, and without which nothing of what we actually see would be there. As I
said, the visitor sees only the tip of the iceberg; there is ten times as much somewhere else, which he cannot
see, and without the ‘ten’ the ‘one’ is worthless. And if the ‘ten’ is not supplied by the country or society in which
the refinery has been erected, either the refinery simply does not work or it is in fact, a foreign body depending for
most of its life on some other society. Now, all this is easily forgotten, because the modern tendency is to see and
become conscious of only the visible and to forget the invisible things that make the visible and keep it going.
Could it be that the relative failure of aid, or at least our disappointment with the effectiveness of aid, has
something to do with our materialist philosophy which makes us liable to overlook the most important
preconditions of success, which are generally invisible? Or if we do not entirely overlook them, we tend to treat
them just as we treat material things – things that can be planned and scheduled and purchased with money
according to some all comprehensive development plan. In other words, we tend to think of development, not in
terms of evolution, but in terms of creation.

Development does not start with goods; it starts with people and their education, organization, and discipline.
Without these three, all resources remain latent, untapped, potential. There are prosperous societies with but the
scantiest basis of natural wealth, and we have had plenty of opportunity to observe the primacy of the invisible
factors after the war. Every country, no matter how devastated, which had a high level of education, organization,
and discipline, produced an economic miracle. In fact, these were miracles only for people whose attention is
focused on the tip of the iceberg. The tip has been smashed to pieces, but the base, which is education,
organization, and discipline, was still there.

Here, then, lies the central problem of development. If the primary causes of poverty are deficiencies in these
three respects, then the alleviation of poverty depends primarily on the removal of these deficiencies. Here lies
the reason why development cannot be an act of creation, why it cannot be ordered, bought, comprehensively
planned; why it requires a process of evolution. Education does not jump; it is a gradual process of great subtlety.
Organization does not jump; it must gradually evolve to fit managing circumstances. And much the same goes for
discipline. All three must evolve step by step, and the foremost task of development policy must to be speed this
evolution. All three must become the property not merely of a tiny minority, but of the whole society.

143. The author considers development to be a
process of evolution rather than creation
because
(1) development polices must focus on the vast
majority not a tiny minority.
(2) invisible factors like education, organization
and discipline, which can only unfold slowly,
are primary to development.
(3) Latent potentials can be tapped only when
resources or goods are available.
(4) Economic miracles can be produced only in
some countries.
(5) the base of the iceberg has to be safeguard
even if the tip is smashed.
144. The author does not believe that
(1) developmental efforts benefit less than a
sixth of the population.
(2) social and political tension are often the
result of a dual economy.
(3) evolution has been given its rightful place in
development economics.
(4) the modern sector will expand till it covers
the entire population.
(5) some things cannot be purchased with
money or aid.
145. Which of the following is NOT the part of the
iceberg that is under water?
(1) The planning and conceptualizing that lies
behind a project.
(2) The educational system that gives the mental
ability needed for an industry to develop.
(3) The research and development without
which modern industries cannot work.
(4) The technical expertise and financial
support needed for an industry to come into
being.
(5) The success of the industry when operating
at optimum level.
146. What has led the author to the analysis of
development in the present essay?
(1) The fact that improvement to the lot of the
poor continues to be the objective of aid
given to developing countries.
(2) That the British governments overseas
policy continues to be couched in
euphemisms.
(3) The fact that for more than 60% of the people
a better future still appears to be a mirage.
(4) The disillusionment that has set in regarding
development in third world countries.
(5) The scepticism of the developing countries
in being able to manage their own affairs.
30
 PASSAGE – XIII

There is a pleasure in philosophy, and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every student feels until
the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife
and gain. Most of us have known some golden days in the June of life when philosophy was in fact what Plato
calls it, “that dear delight”; when the love of a modestly elusive Truth seemed more glorious, incomparably, than
the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world. And there is always some wistful remnant in us of
that early wooing of wisdom. “Life has meaning”, we feel with Browning, “to find its meaning is my meat and
drink” So much of our life is meaningless, a self cancelling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about
us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but
decipher our own souls. We want to understand; “life means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all
that we are or meet with”; we are like Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov – “one of those who don’t want millions,
but an answer to their questions”, we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull
ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the
big things are big, before it is too late; we want to see things now as they will seem forever, “in the light of
eternity.” We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to
be whole, to coordinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for coordinated energy is the last
word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too. “To be a philosophers,” said Thoreau, “is
not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its
dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.” We may be sure that if we can but find
wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. “Seek ye first the good things of the mind,” Bacon admonishes us,
“and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.” Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.

Some ungentle reader will check us here by informing us that philosophy is as useless as chess, as obscure as
ignorance, and as stagnant as content. “There is nothing so absurd,” said Cicero, “but that it may be found in the
books of the philosophers.” Doubtless some philosophers have had all sorts of wisdom except common sense;
and many a philosophic flight has been due to the elevating power of thin air. Let us resolve, on this voyage of
ours, to put in only at the ports of light, to keep out of the muddy streams of metaphysics and the “many-sounding
seas” of theological dispute. But is philosophy stagnant? Science seems always to advance, while philosophy
seems always to lose ground. Yet this is only because philosophy accepts the hard and hazardous task of
dealing with problems not yet open to the methods of science – problems like good and evil, beauty and ugliness,
order and freedom, life and death; so soon as a field of inquiry yields knowledge susceptible of exact formulation
it is called science. Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art; it arises in a hyposthesis and flows into
achievement. Philosophy is a hypothetical interpretation of the unknown (as in metaphysics) or of the inexactly
known (as in ethics or political philosophy), it is the front trench in the siege of truth. Science is the captured
territory; and behind it are those secure regions in which knowledge and art build our imperfect and marvellous
world. Philosophy seems to stand still, perplexed; but only because she leaves the fruits of victory to her
daughters the sciences, and herself passes on, divinely discontent, to the uncertain and unexplored.

Shall we be more technical? Science is analytical description, philosophy is synthetic interpretation. Science
wishes to resolve the whole into parts, the organism into organs, the obscure into the known. It does not inquire
into the values and ideal possibilities of things, nor into their total and final significance; it is content to show their
present actuality and operation, it narrows its gaze resolutely to the nature and process of things as they are. The
scientist is as impartial as Nature in Turgenev’s poem: he is as interested in the leg of a flea as in the creative
throes of a genius. But the philosopher is not content to describe the fact; he wishes to ascertain its relation to
experience in general, and thereby to get at its meaning and its worth; he combines things in interpretive
synthesis; he tries to put together, better than before, that great universe-watch which the inquisitive scientist has
analytically taken apart. Science tells us how to heal and how to kill; it reduces the death rate in retail and then
kills us wholesale in war; but only wisdom – desire coordinated in the light of all experience – can tell us when to
heal and when to kill. To observe processes and to construct means is science; to criticize and coordinate ends is
philosophy: and because in these days our means and instruments have multiplied beyond our interpretation and
synthesis of ideals and ends, our life is full of sound and fury signifying nothing. For a fact is nothing except in
relation to desire, it is not complete except in relation to a purpose and a whole. Science without philosophy, facts
without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only
philosophy can give us wisdom.

147. Pick up the statement that is NOT true regarding
philosophy?
(1) Philosophy is needed to use our knowledge
wisely.
(2) Philosophy helps us to find the meaning of
life.
(3) It attracts most if not all of us.
(4) Philosophers seek unknown frontiers.
(5) Philosophers lack common sense.
148. When the author says ‘…could we but decipher
our own souls’ he means that
(1) we cannot understand ourselves.
(2) if only we could figure out the meaning of life.
(3) we cannot unscramble the ambiguities in
our lives.
(4) all our problems come from our inability to
decode the mysteries of life.
(5) the soul is beyond human comprehension.

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149. The ‘June of Life’ refers to the time of life when (B) Science looks at ‘how’ to do things while
(1) we are prosperous. philosophy at ‘when’ to do it.
(2) we have become old and philosophical. (C) Science is descriptive and analytical,
(3) we have achieved wisdom. philosophy is interpretative and synthetic.
(4) we have attained physical and mental (D) Science is impartial, philosophy is
maturity. concerned with values.
(5) we have met our responsibilities and have (1) A, B and C
time for philosophy. (2) A, B, C and D
(3) B, C and D
150. The differences between science and (4) A and D
philosophy are: (5) B and C
(A) The former seeks knowledge the latter
wisdom.

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