Q. 32:Choose the option that best captures the main idea of the passage.

Privacy-challenged office workers may find it hard to believe, but open-plan offices and
cubicles were invented by architects and designers who thought that to break down the
social walls that divide people, you had to break down the real walls, too. Modernist
architects saw walls and rooms as downright fascist. The spaciousness and flexibility of
an open plan would liberate homeowners and office dwellers from the confines of
boxes. But companies took up their idea less out of a democratic ideology than a desire
to pack in as many workers as they could. The typical open-plan office of the first half of
the 20th century was a white-collar assembly line. Cubicles were interior designers’
attempt to put some soul back in.
1. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out the way their utopian inventors
intended, as they became tools for exploitation of labor.
2. Wall-free office spaces could have worked out the way their utopian inventors
intended had companies cared for workers' satisfaction.
3. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as desired and therefore cubicles came
into being.
4. Wall-free office spaces did not quite work out as companies don’t believe in
democratic ideology.
Q. 33. Choose the option that best captures the main idea of the passage.
Social movement organizations often struggle to mobilize supporters from allied
movements in their efforts to achieve critical mass. Organizations with hybrid
identities—those whose organizational identities span the boundaries of two or more
social movements, issues, or identities—are vital to mobilizing these constituencies.
Studies of the post-9/11 U.S. antiwar movement show that individuals with past
involvement in non-anti-war movements are more likely to join hybrid organizations than
are individuals without involvement in non-anti- war movements. In addition, they show
that organizations with hybrid identities occupy relatively more central positions in
inter-organizational contact networks within the antiwar movement and thus recruit
significantly more participants in demonstrations than do nonhybrid organizations.
1. Post 9/11 studies show that people who are involved in non anti-war movements are
likely to join hybrid organizations.
2. Movements that work towards social change often find it difficult to mobilize a critical
mass of supporters.
3. Hybrid organizations attract individuals that are deeply involved in anti-war
movements.
4. Organizations with hybrid identities are able to mobilize individuals with different
points of view.
Q. 55: If a ‘Heavy Monsoon State’ is defined as a state with actual rainfall from
June-August, 2019 of 900 mm or more, then approximately what percentage of ‘Heavy
Monsoon States’ have a negative deviation from respective LPAs in 2019?
1. 14.29
2. 57.14
3. 42.86
4. 75.00
Q. 56: If a ‘Low Monsoon State’ is defined as a state with actual rainfall from
JuneAugust,2019 of 750 mm or less, then what is the median ‘deviation from LPA’ (as
defined in the Y-axis of the figure) of ‘Low Monsoon States’?
1. −10%
2. −30%
3. −20%
4. 10%
 1.India’s baffling array of state and national labor laws date to the 1940s: one
provides for the type and number of spittoons in a factory. Another says an
enterprise with more than 100 workers needs government permission to
scale back or close. Many Indian businesses stay small in order to remain
beyond the reach of the laws. Big firms use temporary workers to avoid
them. Less than 15% of Indian workers have legal job security. The new
government can sidestep the difficult politics of curbing privileges by
establishing a new, simpler labor contract that gives basic protection to
workers but makes lay-offs less costly to firms. It would apply only to new
hires; the small proportion of existing workers with gold-star protections
would keep them.

Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the
paragraph?

A.More Indian workers can get permanent jobs and legal job security if
existing labor laws are reformed.

B.Effective labor law reform can encourage many Indian businesses to grow
to more than 100 workers.

C.Outdated Indian labor laws need to be simplified to provide basic

protection to workers and curb privileges.

D.The difficult politics of curbing privileges can be avoided if the changes in

the labor law only apply to the new hires.

2.A study published in 2006 by Friedrich Schneider on the world’s shadow

economies dealt briefly with the “tax morality” of Germans. According to the
study, two-thirds of the Germans surveyed regarded tax evasion as a “trivial
offence,” while only one-third judged stealing a newspaper this way. Indian tax
morality is similar, but it makes a distinction between expatriate illicit money,
which is viewed as a serious crime perpetrated by the very corrupt, and
money held within India, which is perceived as a practical measure.

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above?

A. Two-thirds of the Germans evade tax and consider it only a trivial offence.
B. Stealing a newspaper is a bigger crime in Germany than tax evasion.
C. As long as the money is held in India, illicit money is accepted as practical
by Indians.
D. Indians regard tax evasion, especially holding illicit money abroad, as a
serious crime.
3.Data on planes returning from bombing missions was used to study of the
vulnerability of airplanes to enemy fire. Analyzing the pattern and frequency of
hits from enemy gunfire, it was seen that some parts of planes were hit
disproportionately more often than other parts. How could these planes be
optimally reinforced with armor plating? There were tradeoffs to consider.
Every addition of plating added to the weight of the plane, decreasing its
performance. Therefore, reinforcements needed to be added only to the most
vulnerable areas of the planes.

Which of the following can be concluded from the above?

A.The parts hit disproportionately more than the others have to be reinforced
as those received the maximum amount of damage.

B.No conclusion can be drawn as the data set is incomplete. There is no data
on the planes shot down.

C.The parts with the least damage have to be reinforced, as the returning
planes have survived attacks to the most damaged areas.

D.Reinforcements have to be added to all areas of the plane.

4.Oklahoma is not perceived as overpopulated because, in spite of a

horrendous drought, it is not facing famine. Famine in Oklahoma is
inconceivable because it receives a fair price for its exports, it has not leased
its land to foreign countries, the poorest of the poor receive a helping hand
from the government, and farmers and ranchers receive federal assistance in
times of droughts. It is a lack of these factors in Horn of Africa, plus political
insecurity in Somalia, which explain the famine – not overpopulation.

Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the
paragraph?

A.Hunger is caused by too many people pressing against finite resources.

B.In spite of drought and overpopulation, there is no famine in Oklahoma.

C.Overpopulation and famine are not causally related in the Horn of Africa.

D.Famine in the Horn of Africa is not only due to overpopulation but, more
importantly, due to the lack of government assistance and political insecurity.
5.In Dec 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey, asking 1507
people spread among all 50 states and the District of Columbia , “What do you
think is more important – to protect the right of Americans to own guns or to
control gun ownership?” For the first time in more than two decades, a higher
percentage (52%) said it was more important to protect the right of Americans
to own guns than to control gun ownership (46%). The researchers used 1993
as a reference point because it's seen as the height of gun violence in
America; they also noted that gun-related violence fell sharply in the 1990s
and more gradually in later years. But Pew also noted that many Americans
didn't seem to agree with the numbers. A survey found that only 12 percent of
respondents thought the gun crime rate was lower than it was in 1993 — and
56 percent thought it was higher.

It can be concluded from this survey result that:

A.Though gun crime is thought to be rising, a majority of people are against

stricter background checks on gun purchases.

B.Most people are not in favor of proposals to restrict gun sales as

gun-related violence is falling.

C.More Americans believe the right to own a gun should be protected, despite
perceived increase in gun crime.

D.With falling gun crime, fewer Americans support controls on gun ownership.

6.Championing objectivity in writing—and, more precisely, decrying solipsism,

narcissism, and self-absorption—can of course have legitimate uses. In the
era of Twitter and Facebook, when we are given an infinite supply of blank
fields to fill with our thoughts, we are all encouraged to think we are more
interesting than we actually are. And yet there is a compelling argument to be
made, more generally, that journalism’s putative standards of objectivity are
sometimes wielded to check not subjectivity, per se, but unwanted
subjectivities. The method of testing information – the approach to evidence-
is meant to be objective, not the journalist. The key is in the discipline of the
craft, not the aim.

Which of the following is the writer least likely to agree with?

A.By not taking sides in an argument a journalist can strive to be objective, a
worthwhile aspiration even if it is not perfectly achieved.

B.Objective journalism is not one that is without bias, but one in which bias
has to stand up to evidence and results.

C.All journalism has a point of view and a set of interests it advances.

D.Objectivity in writing is about making the story more than just about the
writer.

7.Contrary to popular belief, the idea of evolution didn’t originate with Darwin,
but was around for decades before he came along. His accomplishment was
to come up with a workable scheme by which it likely occurred. Darwin, it
must be said, had unusual exposure to the enormous diversity of life on earth
for a man living in his time, through his voyage on the Beagle. However, his
eureka moment came not through studying biology, but by reading the paper
of an economist, Thomas Malthus, which showed that populations grow faster
than the resources to sustain them. It was then that Darwin realized that only
those best adapted to their environment would survive and pass on their traits
to offspring.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

A.is impossible to come up with big insights without crossing domains.

B.The idea of evolution did not originate with Darwin.

C.It is Malthus, not Darwin, who should be given credit for the theory of
evolution.

D.It was the connections that Darwin uncovered more than the facts
themselves that made his work important.

8.It has been argued by behavioral economists in all earnestness that poverty
shapes mindsets. From here, it is a hop, skip, and jump to holding that the
poor are poor because their poverty prevents them from thinking and acting in
ways that can take them out of poverty. When behaviorist economics speaks
of poverty as a “cognitive tax”, it writes ‘action’ — the political agency of the
poor — out of the equation. In such a case, the focus as well as the onus of
poverty-alleviation would shift from the state — from macroeconomic policy,
from having to provide employment, health and education — to changing the
behavior of the poor. The structural causes of poverty — rising inequality and
unemployment — as well as the behavior of the owners of capital are evicted
from the poverty debate, and no longer need be the focus of public policy.
Which of these options best summarizes the given paragraph?

A.Where decisions of the poor tend to be flawed from an economic point of

view, behavioral economists believe that governments can intervene with
policies aimed at nudging the poor towards the right decision.

B.By shifting the burden of poverty alleviation from the state onto the poor
themselves, behavioral economists are ignoring both the structural causes of
poverty as well as the behavior of the wealthy.

C.Given that poverty diminishes political agency and shapes mindsets,

insights into how poverty affects behavior could have implications in public
policy.

D.The focus of public policy ought to be in providing employment, health and

education, rather than addressing rising inequality and changing the behavior
of the poor.

9.Many scientific studies have found links between genius and mental illness,
particularly bipolar disorder in which patients have violent mood swings
between elation and depression. In one interesting Swedish study, 700,000
Swedes had intelligence tests at age 16 and again 10 years later. Those who
scored well were four times more likely than the others to have developed
bipolar disorder. The US neurologist James Fallon came up with a convincing
argument based on his own findings in the field: the brain area involved in
mood swings is the same area where creativity is born. This may explain why
some people can draw previously unseen connections among ideas, images,
shapes and the like.

Which of the following is inferred from the above?

A.Those with bipolar disorder are likely to be highly intelligent.

B.Most people who excel in creativity are likely suffering from a mental
problem.

C.Often there is a correlation between mental illness and genius.

D.Mental disorders give birth to genius.

10.Any reporter worthy of the name would no sooner fiddle with direct quotes
than a reputable photojournalist would alter his or her picture. News
photographs are the equivalent of direct quotations and therefore are
sacrosanct. To be sure, just as a writer can, in the interest of brevity or impact,
choose which quotes to use in a story, so can a news photographer or picture
editor crop out dead space in a news photo, or use the electronic equivalent of
dodging or burning in to make a picture reproduce better. In this, I am
reminded of what a Washington Times shooter once told me. On a computer
outside the paper's darkroom, she said, there was plastered this flat
admonition and warning: "If you can't do it in the darkroom, don't do it here".

Which of the following is the author least likely to agree with?

A.In photojournalism, editing news photographs by truncating dead space is

licit.

B.The key elements of a news photograph, like the key words in a direct
quote, are off limits to manipulation.

C.Journalists of repute choose amongst, but do not distort direct quotations.

D.It is permissible for a photojournalist to alter a news photo in the interest of

brevity or impact.

11.A holistic reading of the current state of our constitutional jurisprudence

would demonstrate that the right to privacy is firmly embedded in our
constitutional scheme as a non-negotiable imperative that owes no apology to
a myopic view of our republican charter. Indeed, considering the fundamental
principles of the nation as “not rules for the passing hour, but principles for an
expanding future”, the apex court, as the ultimate arbiter of constitutional
conscience, has given fundamental rights their meaning in new settings
consistent with the aspirations of our people. This is so that we may have a
‘living constitution’ which can protect, preserve and defend sacrosanct
libertarian values that remain the bedrock of the Republic and constitute the
core of the Constitution. Rather than deny us our constitutional right , the
Union Government ought to enact a privacy legislation to clearly define the
rights of citizens consistent with the promise of the Constitution.

Which of the following is the author most likely to agree with?

A.Our republican charter has a myopic view of the right to privacy

B.The Supreme Court has been rigid in its interpretation of the Constitution

C.The right to privacy is rooted in our constitutional scheme.

D.A new privacy legislation has to be defined as the right to privacy is not
dealt with in the Constitution.
12.In an attempt to encourage “livelier” writing, some teachers want children
to stop using words like ‘said’, which doesn’t have any emotion. The
assumption here is that emotion is a desirable quality in every word of a
sentence, and that a rich word is always more appropriate than a plain one.
You don’t have to invoke Hemingway, who made a fetish of plain words, to
recognize that successful writing modulates the lavishness of its diction for
effect, rather than cranking the dial all the way to maximum floridity and
leaving it there.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

A.Successful writers use only plain, unemotional words.

B.Emotion is not a desirable quality in every sentence.

C.Avoiding words like “said” helps children improve their writing.

D.Good writers use rich words in moderation, for effect.

13.Euphemisms in use seem to change every generation or so – a tendency

towards which we often roll our eyes. But the fact is that a word is always
redolent of various associations and metaphorical extensions beyond its core
meaning. Indeed, a word is like a bell tone, with a central pitch seasoned by
overtones. As the tone fades away, the overtones can hang in the air. Words
then bias as equivalents to the overtones. As we move on the euphemism
treadmill then, from ‘crippled’ to ‘handicapped’ to ‘disabled’ to ‘differently
abled’, we acknowledge the eternal gulf between language and opinion. In a
linguistically mature society, we should expect that the terms we introduce to
help us kick off new ways of thinking will require periodic replacement, like
tyres.
What is the main idea of this paragraph?

A.All words wear out with use, like tyres, and need to be replaced periodically
with more meaningful equivalents.

B.The eternal quest for euphemisms to bridge the gap between language and
opinion is tedious.

C.We must accept the euphemism treadmill as an essential part of linguistic

life in a civilized society.

D.Euphemisms help us avoid the trap of thinking too much into the meanings
of words.

14.Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the
schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance.
Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment
there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is
thereby schooled to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with
education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say
something new. His imagination is schooled to accept service in place of
value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the
improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for
national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity,
independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the
performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their
improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the
management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

A. Allocating more resources to health, learning, dignity, independence, and

creative endeavor is not likely to increase their quality.
B. Schooling doctors thinking by teaching students to identify the process
with the results.
C. As a society we often mistake grades and diplomas for competence,
medical treatment for healthcare, police protection for safety and the rat
race for productive work.

D.When it comes to schooling, less is more: the less the treatment there is,
better the results

15.In times when expectations can change at the drop of a hat, flexibility is as
important as speed. However, in their zeal for efficiency, some organizations
have engineered out all the slack they can from their businesses at the
expense of agility. As Tom DeMarco puts it in his book Slack, ‘An organization
that can accelerate but not change direction is like a car that can speed up but
not steer. In the short run, it makes lots of progress in whatever direction it
happened to be going. In the long run, it’s just another road wreck.’

Which of the options below conveys the main idea of the paragraph best?

A.Only organizations that are not very efficient can adapt to change well.

B.Too little slack in organizations is as bad for innovation as too much slack.

C.Reducing slack to zero can cost businesses their adaptability to change.

D.Business processes without slack slow down an organization’s progress.

16.The image of an oral telling may be caught on paper, film or in digital
format, but recordings are not the word shared live. The presence of teller and
audience, and the immediacy of the moment are not fully captured by any
form of technology. Unlike the insect frozen in amber, a told story is alive. It
always changes from one telling to the next depending on the voice and mood
of the storyteller, the place of its telling and the response of the audience. The
story breathes with the teller’s breath.

Which of the options below conveys the main idea of the paragraph best?

A.Unlike stories in paper, film and digital formats, a told story is alive, and
hence more potent.

B.The immediacy and intimacy of live storytelling cannot be captured by

recordings.

C.Technology and oral storytelling are separated by a deep divide and one
cannot take the place of the other.

D.The living human presence experienced through oral tradition brings out the
true power of stories.

When people start debating on whether the effects of the Internet are good or
bad, it is the content they wrestle over. What both enthusiasts and skeptics
miss is the fact that as a window onto the world, and onto ourselves, the
Internet shapes what we see and how we see it, and eventually, if we use it
enough, changes who we are as individuals and as a society. It controls the
scale and form of human association and delivers a new form of human being,
whose qualities are suited to it. As Marshall McLuhan, author of
‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ wrote, the content of the
medium is just the juicy bit of meat carried by the burglar to distract the
watchdog of the mind.
Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the
paragraph?

A.The debate on the Internet’s content is pointless; content does not matter.

B.The Internet is neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines
its value.

C.The focus on the Internet’s content can blind us to its effects on our thought
and action.

D.The Internet distracts our mind by flooding us with content.

18.As it mindlessly implements its procedures, an algorithm is supposed to be

devoid of bias. When an algorithm rejects a loan application or sets the price
for an airline flight, it is deemed impersonal and unbending. Yet, an algorithm
is not a scientific concept. It is a system, like a military chain of command. It
takes knowhow, calculation and creativity to make a system work properly.
And some systems, like some armies, are much more reliable than others.
For, a system is a human artefact, not a mathematical truism.
Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the
paragraph?

A.As they are man-made, algorithms are subject to human fallibility.

B.Algorithms are far from being precise, and invariably biased.

C.Not all algorithms work properly, as they are rarely vetted with scientific
rigour.

D.Algorithms are unreliable as they encode human prejudice into automated

systems.

19.On the rare occasions that they see it fit to direct their attention toward
older adults, most tech innovators instinctively reduce their target users down
to their medical issues. Consumed with the obvious problems of old
age—issues like hearing, mobility, medication management—they fail to
consider the other things someone of any age would want. Concerns about
self-image or style, crucial considerations for every other age group, are
frequently seen as frivolous, and come only as an afterthought. Meanwhile, for
many older adults, the higher-level desire to look and feel a certain way can
overpower base-level physiological needs such as the ability to hear or see
clearly. And so, for every older adult who has a hearing aid, an
emergency-response necklace, or one of those cell phones with the huge
rubber buttons, there are legions avoiding these potentially lifesaving devices.

Which of the following options best summarizes the main idea of the
paragraph?

A.For older adults, as with every other age group, psychological needs
trump physiological needs.

B.Tech innovators rarely direct their attention to older adults and do not
understand the needs of this age group.

C.That older adults are conscious of self-image and style must be taken
into account by tech innovators designing products for them.

D.Lifesaving devices for older adults will be adopted more widely if they are
stylishly designed.
20.While society is chipping away at giving girls broader access to life’s
possibilities, it isn’t presenting boys with a full continuum of how they can be in
the world. To carve out a masculine identity requires whittling away everything
that falls outside the norms of boyhood. At the earliest ages, it’s about
external signifiers like favorite colors, TV shows, and clothes. But later, the
paring knife cuts away intimate friendships, emotional range, and open
communication

Which of the following options puts forth the main idea of this paragraph best?

A.Boys are put in a straitjacket in order to conform to the popular, narrow

view of masculine identity.

B.It is lopsided to approach gender equality by focusing only on girls’

empowerment.

C.It is a societal loss that boys are not allowed free self-expression.

D.Boys are forced to limit their emotional range in order to carve out a
masculine identity.

21.Take ‘the birthday problem’, for instance. It simply asks: how many people
would you need to get into the same room in order to statistically assure that
at least two share the exact birth month and day? Given that there are 365
days in a non-leap year, and that most people you know probably don’t have
the same birthday, you might reasonably suppose that you’d need quite a high
number to find an exact match. Hundreds, perhaps, and even then you’d be
lucky to find two people with the same birth month and day. Statistically,
however, you need only 23 people in the room for a greater than 50 per cent
(hence ‘statistically probable’) chance of finding two people with the exact
same birth month and day. For a 99.9 per cent chance, you need only 70
people.

Which of the following options puts forth the main idea of this paragraph best?

A.Often, coincidences are given a significance disproportionate to their

relative commonness.

B.Coincidences can be explained by probabilistic and statistical reasoning.

C.Coincidences aren't as low probability as commonly thought.

D.Coincidences are bound to happen and are void of greater meaning.

22.More often than not, mothers are ____________ for oddities of behavior in
their offspring. ____________, single mothers’ children, raised even in the
most difficult of times, do not display ‘outrageous’ patterns of behavior, as do
those of nuclear families.

A.appreciated, consequently

B.berated, therefore

C.praised, in the same manner

D.blamed, interestingly enough

23.In measuring electrical activity in different parts of the brain, researchers

found that people who describe themselves as generally happy have more
activity in the left prefrontal lobe of their brains than do other people.
Therefore, a medication for ____________ the left prefrontal lobe of the brain
would be an ____________ treatment for clinical depression.

A.suppressing, ineffective

B.stimulating, effective

C.improving, impressive

D.challenging, practical

24.Researchers found that when people's hands were crossed to other side of
their bodies, it confused the brain by ____________ the processing of
information incoming from multiple regions. Lead researcher says the
confusion results from a ____________ between the brain's external mapping
of where it normally assumes the hands will be (on the appropriate side of the
body) and its internal map of the physical source of the new pain information.

A.quickening, alignment

B.transmitting, connection

C.interrupting, misalignment

D.hindering, alignment
25.________around race, gender and religion sometimes seems to have
gone beyond ___________ in academic circles. The world would do better if
we could all speak with a lighter heart more often about these things.

A.insensitivity, the pale

B.sensitivity, parody

C.sensitivity, the pale

D.insensitivity, reality

26.Democracy is better ___________through the ballot box than it is through

the crowding of main squares, which is a _______________ image, but a
misleading representation of the “people’s will”

A.focused, ineffective

B.affected, moving

C.effected, powerful

D.realized, fleeting

27.______________ Muhmud of Ghazni made 17 raids of India, he did not

make any_____________effort to capture India. ___________, he may be
seen as the founder of Turkish rule in India to the extent that his expeditions
opened India to conquest from the north-west.

A.Because, systemic, therefore

B.Although, systematic, however

C.Albeit, repeated, consequently

D.Even though, systemic, nevertheless

28.Citing an improvement in exports and government spending, the nation’s

central bank has said that an ________economic recovery is under way.
However, many economists remain skeptical as to whether the economy is
picking up after more than a year of ________ economic growth.

A. incipient, anaemic
B. slow, weak
C. insipient, steady
D. insipid, astounding
29.In measuring electrical activity in different parts of the brain, researchers
found that people who describe themselves as generally happy have more
activity in the left prefrontal lobe of their brains than do other people.
Therefore, a medication for ____________ the left prefrontal lobe of the brain
would be an ____________ treatment for clinical depression.

A.continuous, naive

B.separate, crafty

C.abutting, astute

D.contiguous, less shrewd

30.Unfettered free speech is good for humanity. Defending free speech

means defending speech you __________________; otherwise it’s just
_________________, not principle.

A.like, dogma

B.don't like, partisanship

C.don't like, antipathy

D.like, candor

31.The Western culture’s relationship with luxury is ____________ from that

in emerging markets.___________ great shows of ostentatious wealth are
considered crass in the UK, they are de rigueur in Russia.

A.strikingly different, however

B.not different, just as

C.marginally different, whilst

D.starkly different, whereas

32.It had long been presumed that stone tool-making was a hallmark of our
______________, Homo. _______________,the recent discovery, in
northwestern Kenya, of 3.3-million-year-old stone tools that are 7,00,000
years older than any other such stone tools ever found suggests it was the
more ancient human ancestors who made the cognitive leap needed for
crafting such implements.
A.genius, per contra

B.genius, additionally

C.genus, after all

D.genus, however

33.Even in the____________ Nordic countries, household chores are still not

evenly distributed, but at least the language is changing. When a reporter
asked a young Swedish father whether he helped with the child care, she was
__________________ for asking the wrong question. He did not “help”: he did
his share.

A.elitist, reprimanded

B.egalitarian, rebuked

C.prejudiced, admonished

D.non partisan, condemned

34.___________ they gained control of Italy and defeated the Carthaginians,

the Romans became the strongest power in the Mediterranean. They greatly
benefited from the _____________ nature of Mediterranean politics,
oftentimes getting help from local allies to defeat a far-off enemy.

A.though, fractious

B.after, facetious

C.once, factious

D.since, factitious

35.It is __________________ rhetoric that the government "shutdown" was

devastating. In actuality only seventeen percent of the federal government
was actually shutdown as a result of partisan _______________.
A.efficacious, discord

B.specious, disagreement

C.spurious, comity

D.facile, agreement

36.Connoisseurs ____ sport know an uber moment when they have

witnessed one. __________ greatness does not require a quorum, as the
stands erupted that Friday on the Centre Court, Wimbledon welcomed with
open arms Roger Federer, a player who can turn prose into poetry.

A.into, since

B.of, while

C.in, though

D.on, now

37.The belief in _______________justice is the expectation that the universe

is designed to ensure that evil is punished and virtue rewarded. _______
being exclusive to traditional societies, these beliefs pervade large-scale
modern societies.

A.immanent, far from

B.inherent, normally

C.imminent, besides

D.eminent, not

38.Archaeologists have unearthed 150 skeletons that they think may have
been part of a "mass mortality crisis" like Bubonic plague beneath a Paris
supermarket. The long-buried mass grave is a reminder that Paris, for all its
surface grandeur, is still ___________ with undiscovered archaeological
treasures, some grand, others much more __________.

A.replete, grisly
B.teeming, grizzly

C.awash, gristly

D.tempered, grizzled

39.Shakespeare’s tragedies may have drawn inspiration more from ancient

Rome than Greece. Yet, in “Hamlet,” Polonius offers _____________advice:
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend,
and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” Greece might have saved the
Eurozone some grief had it followed Polonius' __________.

A.fatuous, caution

B.germane, council

C.apposite, counsel

D.opposite, consul

40.Religious belief is fluid and protean, _________ ideology is procrustean,

enforcing uniformity. Religion can be syncretic ________ ideology is
restrictive.

A.while, whereas

B.hence, but

C.similarly, yet

D.by contrast, likewise

41.One writer who has, for more than half a century, been admired for his
searing honesty is George Orwell. He is never ___________, but he is never
__________. He says it as it is and yet says it as it has not been said before.

A.candid, clichéd

B.recondite, trite

C.arcane, unorthodox
D.lucid, singular

42.The link between language and cognition is a ___________.

___________, the manifest reality of thinking by nonlinguistic creatures
argues against the importance of language.

A.can of worms, ironically

B.grey area, yet

C.elephant in the room, nevertheless

D.red herring, indeed

43.No parent would ___________ childcare for childhood. ________, seeing

the world anew through a child’s eyes can be a powerful source of stimulation.

A.mistake, still

B.reject, yet

C.conflate, however

D.opt, besides

44.Reporters are ________________ to lending color and emotion to stories.

Hence their temptation to _____________ to adjectives. But adjectives
convert news into views.

A.wont, resort

B.accustomed, revert

C.loath, recourse

D.averse, turn

45.The argument by the Finance Minister that high inflation is the necessary
price for high economic growth is clearly _____________.
______________China has been growing at close to double-digit rates for
more than a decade, inflation has been either low or falling through most of
these years.

A.ingenious, while

B.ingenuous, after all

C.dissentious, considering

D.disingenuous, though

46.Comics are in the peculiar position of needing to ______________

sounds through images, making it the only medium where the audience
regularly sees sound instead of hearing it. A comic with the sound effects
removed might be a significantly different reading experience, almost as
though a central character had been _______________.

A.evince, purged

B.imply, excised

C.convey, revamped

D.infer, expunged

47.For as long as men have had access to mirrors, they’ve been fretting about
their scalps going ____________. It was a particular obsession of Julius
Caesar; the wreath of laurels he wore was less a _____________ to Roman
tradition than an attempt at covering up his shiny pate.

A.barren, bow

B.barred, blow

C.bare, nod

D.bared, note

48.Cetus is a very large constellation that can be readily recognized from the
peculiar ____________ of its _______________ stars.

A.confirmation, predominant

B.configuration, principle

C.composition, prominent

D.conformation, principal
49.________ of protesters joined the agitation and did not heed the repeated
requests by the police not to ________ the barricades.

A.Hordes, breach

B.Hordes, breech

C.Hoards, breach

D.Hoards, breech

50.Even before newspaper editorials shrank into vestigial artifacts of a bygone

era, their impact was ______________________. Editorial boards have long
tended to have durable leanings which _________________ their persuasive
power over partisan politics.

A.formidable, underpin

B.pronounced, subvert

C.self-limiting, undermine

D.negligible, bolster

51.Laughter is a complex and __________________ social signal. People

interpret laughter in a way that is _____________ with their interpretations of
other people’s intentions.

A.ambiguous, consistent

B.ambivalent, compatible

C.misleading, contrary

D.misconstrued, accordant

52.It's the ______________________ nature of experiential purchases that

endears us to them. Often, they're not around long enough to become
imperfect. And even if they are imperfect, our memories and stories of them
get sweet with time. Even a bad experience becomes a _________________
story.

A.ephemeral, engaging

B.lasting, compelling

C.fleeting, good

D.enduring, disquieting

53.In reality, most of us on this planet would rather preserve civilization than
destroy it with climate change. To think of climate change as something that
we are doing, instead of something we are being prevented from
_____________, _______________ the very ideology of the fossil-fuel
economy that we are trying to transform.

A.accomplishing, bolsters

B.undoing, perpetuates

C.revoking, counters

D.ratifying, thwarts

54.His appearance is unsmiling but _________

A.his heart is full of compassion for others

B.he looks very serious on most occasions

C.people are afraid of him

D.he is uncompromising on matters of task performance

55.In order to helpthe company attain its goal of enhancing profit, all the
employees ____________

A.urged the management to grant paid leave

B.appealed the management to implement new welfare schemes

C.voluntarily offered to work overtime with lucrative compensation

D.voluntarily offered to render additional services in lieu of nothing

56.The manners and ____________ of the nouveau riche is a recurrent

____________ in the literature.
A.style, motif

B.morals, story

C.wealth, theme

D.morals, theme

57.Although he is recovering from his illness, he has to follow certain diet

restrictions. He cannot eat junk food. Please do not pity him and
_______________

A.give him some snack

B.cut him some slack

C.be slack with his eating

D.cut down the snacks

58.The problems may be difficult, but all you have to do is __________ as

long as you can.

A.hang in up there

B.hang on there

C.hang on to that

D.hang in there

59.The standards set by the examination board are so high that it would be
difficult for poorly prepared students to __________

A.pass most errors

B.past muster

C.get past most errors

D.pass muster

60.After all the alliances and arithmetic, the party is likely to ________ a
majority in the assembly election.
A.scrape through

B.scrape together
C.tape together

D.shape together

61.I'll have to _________ because I don't know how Sheila's parents are
going to react to this offer.

A.count on my fingers

B.face the music

C.break the ice

D.play it by ear

62.If you had been more alert, this golden opportunity would not have
__________

A.escaped your fingers

B.slipped off

C.escaped away

D.slipped through your fingers

63.One who is ____________ gets on with his job in spite of obstacles, while
the one who is __________ hardly shows any progress. The latter spends all
his time ___________ about his troubles.

A.artful, doubtful, speaking

B.assiduous, querulous, whining

C.hardworking, dishonest, gossiping

D.hotheaded, scared, cryingQuestion

64.The ___________ of multiculturalism, in times of war or economic

____________ tribalism is what causes those in power to confine groups of
people with different _________ into ghettos or in communes on the margins
of their cities.

A.rise, doldrums, ideologies

B.tyranny, growth, habits

C.antithesis, prosperity, persuasions

D.opposite, distress, ethnicities

65.That the artiste went about systematically to get traditional _________

back into the mainstream __________ and a textile culture for dance is to be
celebrated.

A.practices, processed

B.motifs, created

C.totems, evolved

D.stories, described

66.In response to my friend's request, I decided to write her a letter, which I

hoped would be honest and practical, while also serving as a _________ of
sorts for my own feminist thinking. This book is a ______ of that letter, with
some details changed.

A.map, version

B.chart, form

C.base, fallout

D.guide, precis

67.Quantum Physics really begins to point to this discovery. It says that you
can't have a Universe without mind __________ into it, and that the mind is
actually __________ the very thing that is being

A.getting, creating, acknowledged

B.intruding, making, construed

C.entering, shaping, perceived

D.penetrating, forming, seen