Directions for questions 31 and 32: The passage given below is followed by a set of two questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
In the story "Indian artists to boycott major show in Israel", my views have been presented in a way that completely belies my life-long career in art based on the conviction that art and politics (and most certainly culture and politics) are interlocked in complex ways. And that artists can make a significant contribution to ongoing history through protests, boycotts, refusals, and direct address within and beyond their art practice.
Some bare facts: I signed the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel in 2010, which makes my stand against the state of Israel/in support of the Palestinian cause, self-evident. Added to that, I am not invited to show in the forthcoming exhibition of Indian art in Tel Aviv, so there cannot be even a remote reason for me to renege or prevaricate on the issue of a boycott.
Even if artists who were invited by the curators did not refuse this invitation right away, a subsequent campaign could make them reflect on their decision. Pushpamala N.'s initiative could, and should, provoke artists to explore and extend and revise their political position and related action.
Each one of us will respond to a greater or lesser degree to a historical moment, a place, a movement, to express our solidarity. But one does not need to recount at every point all the ills that beset the world's nation-states and thus cancel every political call on that basis.
I further believe that a political position of any complexity allows artists to use imaginative and intellectual resources in their mode of political intervention: protests and boycotts, open letters in the press, to the state, to the institution concerned, an artist's statement through the work and as a textual support to be displayed or published in the catalogue.
31. A suitable title to the passage would be
(a) The emergence of Art and Politics
(b) Art and Politics: A Symbiosis
(c) Art and Politics: Merged
(d) Art's Contribution to Politics
32. Which one of these has not been mentioned as a means by which art can contribute to politics?
(a) An artist's ideology brought forth through his work.
(b) An artist's boycott of an event that reflects an opposing political belief.
(c) An artist's narration of all political problems that keep him away from political events.
(d) An artist's written contribution to a cause.
33. Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. The guy who is throwing out the garbage offers customers a cup of water.
B. It's not all those quirky British sandwiches, thin and understated with ingredients like free-range egg mayonnaise and avocado-and-pine-nut filling.
C. The manager swings by to commiserate about the sweltering weather.
D. No, it's the employees.
E. The cashier is asking New Yorkers how they are doing - and genuinely seems to want an answer.
(a) AECBD (b) BEACD (c) ECABD (d) BDEAC
34. Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. If that is not enough to energize the White House, here are a few more facts.
B. For all of the talk of "big government," there is no way to cut that much in discretionary programs without crippling basic functions.
C. To avoid across-the-board cuts, Congress must enact at least another $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction measures over the 10 years.
D. Lawmakers could eliminate the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and Head Start and still not cut $110 billion annually.
E. According to the latest CBS News Poll, 63 percent support raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000 a year to help address the deficit.
(a) EABDC (b) EACBD (c) ACBDE (d) AECBD
35. There are two gaps in the sentence given below. From the pairs of words given, choose the one that fills the gaps most appropriately
Sure, at times we Indians get frustrated with the functioning of our ……… state and its …………. institutions, but it would be naïve to believe that we cherish our freedoms any less than someone living in a Western democracy.
(a) amoral; paroxysmal
(b) callous; wobbly
(c) apathetic; vacillating
(d) ribald; quavering
Directions for questions 36 to 38: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Four security officers – Andrew, Joseph, Parry and Lucas – were responsible for guarding the Kohinoor diamond during a 1-day exhibition held recently. The exhibition started at 10 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. The officers operated in 1-hour shifts and at least one officer guarded the diamond in each of the seven shifts. None of the officers operated in two consecutive shifts and none of them joined or left a shift midway. It is also known that:
(i) Andrew operated in exactly four shifts.
(ii) Two officers were operating at 12:40 p.m. One of the two was Joseph.
(iii) Parry operated in exactly three shifts. He was operating at 01:20 p.m.
(iv) Lucas operated in exactly two shifts and he operated alone in both of them.
(v) Each of the four officers operated in at least two shifts. Joseph and Parry never operated together in any of the shifts.
36. In how many shifts did Joseph operate?
(a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5
37. How many shifts were there in which just one of the four officers operated?
(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) Cannot be determined
38. At what time did Joseph leave for his home if it is known that he left immediately after his last shift ended on the day of the exhibition?
(a) 3 p.m. (b) 5 p.m. (c) 4 p.m. (d) 2 p.m.
39. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Hack
(a) He has been hacking around all day and not studying for his exam.
(b) The US was alerted of a major terror strike after it hacked into the email account of a suspected terror group.
(c) His reputation was hacked for bits.
(d) The best way would be to hack up that piece of wood so it can fit in the truck.
40. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Hang
(a) He hangs about with people much older than him.
(b) She has managed to hang it up and pull through despite all the challenges faced.
(c) He hung a left at the wrong corner.
(d) I need a career to hang my hat on.
41. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Opt
(a) Once you opt in for interiors in this design institute it will be difficult for you to change track later in your profession.
(b) MPs hoped to reverse Britain's opt-out from the treaty.
(c) After a few moments of indecision, he opted for the black car.
(d) When he realized the risks involved he decided to opt out of the chit fund.
42. The question given below is followed by two statements, A and B. Mark the answer using the following instructions:
Mark (a) if the question can be answered by using Statement A alone, but cannot be answered by using Statement B alone.
Mark (b) if the question can be answered by using Statement B alone, but cannot be answered by using Statement A alone.
Mark (c) if the question can be answered by using either statement alone.
Mark (d) if the question cannot be answered by any of the two statements.
Q. Four friends – Ram, Raheem, Shyam and Shameem – are standing in a row in the descending order of their heights, not necessarily in the given order. Raheem is standing adjacent to Shameem and Shyam is standing at one of the ends of the row. Who is the shortest among the four?
A. Shameem is shorter than Shyam and Ram is standing at one of the ends of the row.
B. Exactly one person is standing between Shyam and Shameem.
Directions for questions 43 to 45: The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
Nevertheless, Dumont's magnum opus remains his Homo hierarchicus published in French in 1967 (1970 and 1972 for the English translations). It is an impressive synthetic work with a strong theoretical background, in which the author presented his understanding of the Indian caste society as a whole. According to Dumont, people were ascribed an unequal status from birth and ranked from the Untouchables (who did not then call themselves Dalits) at the bottom to the Brahmins at the top according to the degree of purity attached to each caste collectively as well as to each individual.
After this publication, Dumont distanced himself from the sociology of India, feeling that he had achieved what he wanted to say on the caste system. He started a new field of research that dealt with the genesis of the modern individualism grounded on an egalitarian basis, which he contrasted with the inegalitarian caste system. It was the subject of his Homo aequalis (1977), followed by Essays on individualism (1983), and German Ideology: From France to Germany and Back (1991). However, these works belonged to the traditional history of political and philosophical ideas and have no empirical grounding.
Dumont's oeuvre has been discussed and debated by anthropologists in Europe as well as in India. His sociological interpretation of the caste system is both widely acclaimed and highly criticised. The most radical criticism emphasised that Dumont's brilliant analysis of the caste system is taken from a dominant internal viewpoint, whether from its priests (Brahmins) or its princes (Kshatriya), which is well expressed in and legitimised by the classical Sanskrit texts that Dumont widely used. From a sociological point of view, however, scholars need to question, first, the social conditions of the production of these representations that cannot be taken for granted, and, second, their social usages. The relations of power and domination that structure the Hindu caste system, which are partly denied from a textual viewpoint (and this, of course, cannot be ignored), have to be clearly recognised and analysed. Furthermore, the comparative sociology that Dumont developed was quite often reduced to a binary opposition between individualism and holism, or to a radical confrontation between the equalitarian West and the hierarchical traditional premodern societies, like India, towards which the anthropologist publicly confessed to having a nostalgic inclination.
Nevertheless, the Indian part of his oeuvre stands for a rare coherent sociological enterprise that cannot be ignored or brushed away if one wants to understand the social making of contemporary India.
43. The style of the passage is
(a) discursive
(b) narrative
(c) analytical
(d) theoretical
44. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(a) Dumont strongly disagreed with the caste system in India.
(b) Dumont strongly agreed with the caste system in India.
(c) Dumont had an inclination towards hierarchical traditional pre-modern societies.
(d) None of the above
45. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(a) Dumont's magnum opus on the caste system in India was well-received.
(b) Dumont's magnum opus on the caste system in India was the subject of much deliberation.
(c) Dumont was not satisfied with his magnum opus on the caste system in India and avoided all future reference to the subject.
(d) Dumont's magnum opus was the most brilliant analysis on the caste system in India.
46. Given below are five sentences. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicized. From the italicized words, select the most appropriate words (A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words, which may be selected to correctly complete the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the most appropriate one.
Secrecy enshrouded (A) / ensconced (B) the Party's central committee.
As the tumour started spreading, his pain got excruciated (A) / exacerbated (B).
She titivated (A) / titillated (B) her hair in the mirror.
The workforce has been pared (A) / paired (B) to the bone.
I want Robert to evaluate the efficacy (A) / effeminacy (B) and safety of the treatment.
(a) AAABB (b) ABAAA (c) BBAAB (d) BBBBA
47. Given below are five sentences. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicized. From the italicized words, select the most appropriate words (A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words, which may be selected to correctly complete the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the most appropriate one.
The Queen laid a wreathe (A) / wreath (B) at the war memorial.
After that lengthy exegesis (A) / exigency (B), it's unclear whether the skeptics are gilding the lily or just protesting too much.
We went sailing on the secluded lake in a little two-person dingy (A) /dinghy (B).
How can we best understand and explicate (A) / expiate (B) 'King Lear'?
He enunciated (A) / emanated (B) his vision of the future.
(a) ABAAB (b) AAABA (c) BABAA (d) BABBB
Directions for questions 48 to 50: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Each of the five students – Ashish, Bimal, Coral, Disha and Eshan – gave a presentation on each of the five topics – Corruption, Terrorism, Globalisation, Human Cloning and Business & Ethics – in a week starting on Monday and ending on Friday. Exactly five presentations were given on each of the five days, no two of which were on the same topic. No student gave more than one presentation on any of the five days. It is also known that:
(i) Coral gave a presentation on Globalisation on Tuesday.
(ii) Eshan gave a presentation on Human Cloning on Monday.
(iii) Ashish gave a presentation on the same topic on Monday on which Disha gave a presentation on Friday. The topic was not Globalisation.
(iv) Bimal gave a presentation on Corruption, Terrorism and Human Cloning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday respectively.
(v) Disha gave a presentation on Business & Ethics on Wednesday. She didn't give a presentation on Corruption on Thursday.
(vi) Coral gave a presentation on the same topic on Monday on which Ashish gave a presentation on Friday.
48. On which day of the week did Ashish give a presentation on Corruption?
(a) Tuesday
(b) Wednesday
(c) Thursday
(d) None of these
49. On which topic did Eshan give a presentation on Thursday?
(a) Business & Ethics
(b) Globalisation
(c) Corruption
(d) Terrorism
50. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?
I. Coral and Disha gave a presentation on Corruption on Friday and Tuesday respectively.
II. Ashish and Eshan gave a presentation on Human Cloning and Terrorism respectively on Tuesday.
(a) Only I (b) Only II (c) Both I and II (d) Neither I nor II
51. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Take it from Jeff Gardner, who received an $11,000 bill from Verizon after spending four days in Jamaica. Before the trip, Mr. Gardner, who runs a fly-fishing business in Grayling, said he called Verizon to find out what it would cost to use his cell phone for calls and his wireless air card to check e-mail on his laptop while in the Caribbean. He said he was told that calls would be about $2 a minute and that there would be no extra charges for data as he was on an unlimited plan.
(a) It's hard not to feel ripped off when you get hit with unexpected roaming charges.
(b) One in six mobile users have experienced "bill shock" from unanticipated roaming charges or other confusing fees.
(c) The Verizon bill said more than 5 GB of data was transferred while he was in Jamaica.
(d) The latter part turned out to be wrong.
52. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendor, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves.
(a) Abandon the struggle for private happiness and expel all eagerness of temporary desire.
(b) This liberation is brought into effect by a contemplation of fate.
(c) Wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement.
(d) Brief and powerless is Man's life and sure falls on him a doom pitiless and dark.
53. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration. It was clear that the White House had outsourced the job of manning up the president's image to Hollywood when Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House.
(a) The Sony film will no doubt reflect the president's cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds.
(b) The White House is counting on the big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama's deteriorating image.
(c) The movie is perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to the campaign that has grown tougher.
(d) Obama is going for that "Mission Accomplished" glow.
Directions for questions 54 to 57: The passage given below is followed by a set of four questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
One word is missing in the American debate over the debt crisis: austerity. It's a revealing absence. In spite of the vast deficit, and despite the U.S. being the home of individualism, no way is being offered for individuals to make a difference by changing their lifestyles.
In the U.K., we've become familiar with talk of the "new age of austerity." Politicians of both left and right use the expression to frame the narrative about the cuts we're now facing. While both sides "warn" about this coming era, austerity is not negative in the British psyche. Here, associations with wartime soften it. Austerity is associated with personal changes which benefited society and made sense to people who learned to tackle wastefulness, to "make do and mend." Long before the current cuts, austerity was making a comeback here, associated with the environmental issues of recycling, cutting consumption and reducing our carbon footprint. Indeed, the New Economics Foundation recently launched the New Home Front, arguing that wartime lifestyles are positive models for reducing our environmental impact. When we think growing our own vegetables, staycations rather than vacations, cycling rather than driving, it has a fashionable appeal.
Not so in the U.S. In the five months I spent there earlier this year, I never heard the word austerity in political discussion. The Republican discourse is all about how the government is spending too much. The government must tighten its belt. There was nothing about individuals living beyond their means.
Yet the U.S. deficit is founded on overconsumption, made possible by too much consumer credit and, less well recognised, too much environmental credit. In the current war of words in Congress, there are no references to the immoral lending that encouraged people who could not afford it to invest in the American dream. That's what led to the property crash and the financial crisis. That has disappeared totally from political argument. From individuals I heard nothing about the need for prosperous people to change their ways. There are, of course, many worthy "green shoots," such as the "locavore" movement or the "greening the campus" initiative at the university I was visiting, where a newly appointed sustainability officer tries to cut energy use. But people like him have their work cut out. The whole of the east coast and the rust belt are vast, shocking landscapes to which many Americans seem oblivious.
This is a society which has lived not just beyond its economic means but beyond its environmental ones too as the hundreds of miles of abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, and endless highways bear witness to.
Yet the American dream survives. You're either in it, or out of it. Being out means destitution. Individual lifestyles are boom or bust. In the U.K. I know many people who reject consumerism, getting involved in poorly paid environmental or political work. We regard them as rather honourable. In the U.S., if you don't have money you don't count.
54. What is the central idea of the passage?
(a) To discuss the American and the British way of life and to emphasize the need for austerity measures in the former.
(b) To discuss the American way of life and to emphasize on the importance of individual austerity measures.
(c) To discuss the real costs of the American way of life and the need for individuals to bring in austerity measures.
(d) To discuss the real costs of the American way of life and the need for individualistic austerity measures.
55. It can be inferred that the author approaches the lack of American austerity with
(a) disdain
(b) condescension
(c) criticism
(d) despair
56. According to the passage, all of these are associated with the British sense of austerity except for
(a) the British take up work that is considered honorable.
(b) the British are not disapproving of austerity measures.
(c) the British associate austerity with environmental issues.
(d) the British tackle wastefulness with the idea of "make do and mend".
57. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?
(a) The American society is living beyond its means.
(b) The author is concerned about the Americans misusing their environmental resources.
(c) Availability of credit has encouraged Americans to spend beyond their means.
(d) None of the above
In the story "Indian artists to boycott major show in Israel", my views have been presented in a way that completely belies my life-long career in art based on the conviction that art and politics (and most certainly culture and politics) are interlocked in complex ways. And that artists can make a significant contribution to ongoing history through protests, boycotts, refusals, and direct address within and beyond their art practice.
Some bare facts: I signed the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel in 2010, which makes my stand against the state of Israel/in support of the Palestinian cause, self-evident. Added to that, I am not invited to show in the forthcoming exhibition of Indian art in Tel Aviv, so there cannot be even a remote reason for me to renege or prevaricate on the issue of a boycott.
Even if artists who were invited by the curators did not refuse this invitation right away, a subsequent campaign could make them reflect on their decision. Pushpamala N.'s initiative could, and should, provoke artists to explore and extend and revise their political position and related action.
Each one of us will respond to a greater or lesser degree to a historical moment, a place, a movement, to express our solidarity. But one does not need to recount at every point all the ills that beset the world's nation-states and thus cancel every political call on that basis.
I further believe that a political position of any complexity allows artists to use imaginative and intellectual resources in their mode of political intervention: protests and boycotts, open letters in the press, to the state, to the institution concerned, an artist's statement through the work and as a textual support to be displayed or published in the catalogue.
31. A suitable title to the passage would be
(a) The emergence of Art and Politics
(b) Art and Politics: A Symbiosis
(c) Art and Politics: Merged
(d) Art's Contribution to Politics
32. Which one of these has not been mentioned as a means by which art can contribute to politics?
(a) An artist's ideology brought forth through his work.
(b) An artist's boycott of an event that reflects an opposing political belief.
(c) An artist's narration of all political problems that keep him away from political events.
(d) An artist's written contribution to a cause.
33. Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. The guy who is throwing out the garbage offers customers a cup of water.
B. It's not all those quirky British sandwiches, thin and understated with ingredients like free-range egg mayonnaise and avocado-and-pine-nut filling.
C. The manager swings by to commiserate about the sweltering weather.
D. No, it's the employees.
E. The cashier is asking New Yorkers how they are doing - and genuinely seems to want an answer.
(a) AECBD (b) BEACD (c) ECABD (d) BDEAC
34. Five sentences are given below, labeled A, B, C, D and E. They need to be arranged in a logical order to form a coherent paragraph/passage. From the given options, choose the most appropriate one.
A. If that is not enough to energize the White House, here are a few more facts.
B. For all of the talk of "big government," there is no way to cut that much in discretionary programs without crippling basic functions.
C. To avoid across-the-board cuts, Congress must enact at least another $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction measures over the 10 years.
D. Lawmakers could eliminate the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and Head Start and still not cut $110 billion annually.
E. According to the latest CBS News Poll, 63 percent support raising taxes on households that earn more than $250,000 a year to help address the deficit.
(a) EABDC (b) EACBD (c) ACBDE (d) AECBD
35. There are two gaps in the sentence given below. From the pairs of words given, choose the one that fills the gaps most appropriately
Sure, at times we Indians get frustrated with the functioning of our ……… state and its …………. institutions, but it would be naïve to believe that we cherish our freedoms any less than someone living in a Western democracy.
(a) amoral; paroxysmal
(b) callous; wobbly
(c) apathetic; vacillating
(d) ribald; quavering
Directions for questions 36 to 38: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Four security officers – Andrew, Joseph, Parry and Lucas – were responsible for guarding the Kohinoor diamond during a 1-day exhibition held recently. The exhibition started at 10 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m. The officers operated in 1-hour shifts and at least one officer guarded the diamond in each of the seven shifts. None of the officers operated in two consecutive shifts and none of them joined or left a shift midway. It is also known that:
(i) Andrew operated in exactly four shifts.
(ii) Two officers were operating at 12:40 p.m. One of the two was Joseph.
(iii) Parry operated in exactly three shifts. He was operating at 01:20 p.m.
(iv) Lucas operated in exactly two shifts and he operated alone in both of them.
(v) Each of the four officers operated in at least two shifts. Joseph and Parry never operated together in any of the shifts.
36. In how many shifts did Joseph operate?
(a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5
37. How many shifts were there in which just one of the four officers operated?
(a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) Cannot be determined
38. At what time did Joseph leave for his home if it is known that he left immediately after his last shift ended on the day of the exhibition?
(a) 3 p.m. (b) 5 p.m. (c) 4 p.m. (d) 2 p.m.
39. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Hack
(a) He has been hacking around all day and not studying for his exam.
(b) The US was alerted of a major terror strike after it hacked into the email account of a suspected terror group.
(c) His reputation was hacked for bits.
(d) The best way would be to hack up that piece of wood so it can fit in the truck.
40. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Hang
(a) He hangs about with people much older than him.
(b) She has managed to hang it up and pull through despite all the challenges faced.
(c) He hung a left at the wrong corner.
(d) I need a career to hang my hat on.
41. The word given below has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
Opt
(a) Once you opt in for interiors in this design institute it will be difficult for you to change track later in your profession.
(b) MPs hoped to reverse Britain's opt-out from the treaty.
(c) After a few moments of indecision, he opted for the black car.
(d) When he realized the risks involved he decided to opt out of the chit fund.
42. The question given below is followed by two statements, A and B. Mark the answer using the following instructions:
Mark (a) if the question can be answered by using Statement A alone, but cannot be answered by using Statement B alone.
Mark (b) if the question can be answered by using Statement B alone, but cannot be answered by using Statement A alone.
Mark (c) if the question can be answered by using either statement alone.
Mark (d) if the question cannot be answered by any of the two statements.
Q. Four friends – Ram, Raheem, Shyam and Shameem – are standing in a row in the descending order of their heights, not necessarily in the given order. Raheem is standing adjacent to Shameem and Shyam is standing at one of the ends of the row. Who is the shortest among the four?
A. Shameem is shorter than Shyam and Ram is standing at one of the ends of the row.
B. Exactly one person is standing between Shyam and Shameem.
Directions for questions 43 to 45: The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
Nevertheless, Dumont's magnum opus remains his Homo hierarchicus published in French in 1967 (1970 and 1972 for the English translations). It is an impressive synthetic work with a strong theoretical background, in which the author presented his understanding of the Indian caste society as a whole. According to Dumont, people were ascribed an unequal status from birth and ranked from the Untouchables (who did not then call themselves Dalits) at the bottom to the Brahmins at the top according to the degree of purity attached to each caste collectively as well as to each individual.
After this publication, Dumont distanced himself from the sociology of India, feeling that he had achieved what he wanted to say on the caste system. He started a new field of research that dealt with the genesis of the modern individualism grounded on an egalitarian basis, which he contrasted with the inegalitarian caste system. It was the subject of his Homo aequalis (1977), followed by Essays on individualism (1983), and German Ideology: From France to Germany and Back (1991). However, these works belonged to the traditional history of political and philosophical ideas and have no empirical grounding.
Dumont's oeuvre has been discussed and debated by anthropologists in Europe as well as in India. His sociological interpretation of the caste system is both widely acclaimed and highly criticised. The most radical criticism emphasised that Dumont's brilliant analysis of the caste system is taken from a dominant internal viewpoint, whether from its priests (Brahmins) or its princes (Kshatriya), which is well expressed in and legitimised by the classical Sanskrit texts that Dumont widely used. From a sociological point of view, however, scholars need to question, first, the social conditions of the production of these representations that cannot be taken for granted, and, second, their social usages. The relations of power and domination that structure the Hindu caste system, which are partly denied from a textual viewpoint (and this, of course, cannot be ignored), have to be clearly recognised and analysed. Furthermore, the comparative sociology that Dumont developed was quite often reduced to a binary opposition between individualism and holism, or to a radical confrontation between the equalitarian West and the hierarchical traditional premodern societies, like India, towards which the anthropologist publicly confessed to having a nostalgic inclination.
Nevertheless, the Indian part of his oeuvre stands for a rare coherent sociological enterprise that cannot be ignored or brushed away if one wants to understand the social making of contemporary India.
43. The style of the passage is
(a) discursive
(b) narrative
(c) analytical
(d) theoretical
44. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(a) Dumont strongly disagreed with the caste system in India.
(b) Dumont strongly agreed with the caste system in India.
(c) Dumont had an inclination towards hierarchical traditional pre-modern societies.
(d) None of the above
45. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(a) Dumont's magnum opus on the caste system in India was well-received.
(b) Dumont's magnum opus on the caste system in India was the subject of much deliberation.
(c) Dumont was not satisfied with his magnum opus on the caste system in India and avoided all future reference to the subject.
(d) Dumont's magnum opus was the most brilliant analysis on the caste system in India.
46. Given below are five sentences. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicized. From the italicized words, select the most appropriate words (A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words, which may be selected to correctly complete the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the most appropriate one.
Secrecy enshrouded (A) / ensconced (B) the Party's central committee.
As the tumour started spreading, his pain got excruciated (A) / exacerbated (B).
She titivated (A) / titillated (B) her hair in the mirror.
The workforce has been pared (A) / paired (B) to the bone.
I want Robert to evaluate the efficacy (A) / effeminacy (B) and safety of the treatment.
(a) AAABB (b) ABAAA (c) BBAAB (d) BBBBA
47. Given below are five sentences. Each sentence has a pair of words that are italicized. From the italicized words, select the most appropriate words (A or B) to form correct sentences. The sentences are followed by options that indicate the words, which may be selected to correctly complete the set of sentences. From the options given, choose the most appropriate one.
The Queen laid a wreathe (A) / wreath (B) at the war memorial.
After that lengthy exegesis (A) / exigency (B), it's unclear whether the skeptics are gilding the lily or just protesting too much.
We went sailing on the secluded lake in a little two-person dingy (A) /dinghy (B).
How can we best understand and explicate (A) / expiate (B) 'King Lear'?
He enunciated (A) / emanated (B) his vision of the future.
(a) ABAAB (b) AAABA (c) BABAA (d) BABBB
Directions for questions 48 to 50: Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below.
Each of the five students – Ashish, Bimal, Coral, Disha and Eshan – gave a presentation on each of the five topics – Corruption, Terrorism, Globalisation, Human Cloning and Business & Ethics – in a week starting on Monday and ending on Friday. Exactly five presentations were given on each of the five days, no two of which were on the same topic. No student gave more than one presentation on any of the five days. It is also known that:
(i) Coral gave a presentation on Globalisation on Tuesday.
(ii) Eshan gave a presentation on Human Cloning on Monday.
(iii) Ashish gave a presentation on the same topic on Monday on which Disha gave a presentation on Friday. The topic was not Globalisation.
(iv) Bimal gave a presentation on Corruption, Terrorism and Human Cloning on Monday, Wednesday and Friday respectively.
(v) Disha gave a presentation on Business & Ethics on Wednesday. She didn't give a presentation on Corruption on Thursday.
(vi) Coral gave a presentation on the same topic on Monday on which Ashish gave a presentation on Friday.
48. On which day of the week did Ashish give a presentation on Corruption?
(a) Tuesday
(b) Wednesday
(c) Thursday
(d) None of these
49. On which topic did Eshan give a presentation on Thursday?
(a) Business & Ethics
(b) Globalisation
(c) Corruption
(d) Terrorism
50. Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?
I. Coral and Disha gave a presentation on Corruption on Friday and Tuesday respectively.
II. Ashish and Eshan gave a presentation on Human Cloning and Terrorism respectively on Tuesday.
(a) Only I (b) Only II (c) Both I and II (d) Neither I nor II
51. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
Take it from Jeff Gardner, who received an $11,000 bill from Verizon after spending four days in Jamaica. Before the trip, Mr. Gardner, who runs a fly-fishing business in Grayling, said he called Verizon to find out what it would cost to use his cell phone for calls and his wireless air card to check e-mail on his laptop while in the Caribbean. He said he was told that calls would be about $2 a minute and that there would be no extra charges for data as he was on an unlimited plan.
(a) It's hard not to feel ripped off when you get hit with unexpected roaming charges.
(b) One in six mobile users have experienced "bill shock" from unanticipated roaming charges or other confusing fees.
(c) The Verizon bill said more than 5 GB of data was transferred while he was in Jamaica.
(d) The latter part turned out to be wrong.
52. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendor, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves.
(a) Abandon the struggle for private happiness and expel all eagerness of temporary desire.
(b) This liberation is brought into effect by a contemplation of fate.
(c) Wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement.
(d) Brief and powerless is Man's life and sure falls on him a doom pitiless and dark.
53. A paragraph is given below from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
The moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration. It was clear that the White House had outsourced the job of manning up the president's image to Hollywood when Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House.
(a) The Sony film will no doubt reflect the president's cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds.
(b) The White House is counting on the big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama's deteriorating image.
(c) The movie is perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to the campaign that has grown tougher.
(d) Obama is going for that "Mission Accomplished" glow.
Directions for questions 54 to 57: The passage given below is followed by a set of four questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
One word is missing in the American debate over the debt crisis: austerity. It's a revealing absence. In spite of the vast deficit, and despite the U.S. being the home of individualism, no way is being offered for individuals to make a difference by changing their lifestyles.
In the U.K., we've become familiar with talk of the "new age of austerity." Politicians of both left and right use the expression to frame the narrative about the cuts we're now facing. While both sides "warn" about this coming era, austerity is not negative in the British psyche. Here, associations with wartime soften it. Austerity is associated with personal changes which benefited society and made sense to people who learned to tackle wastefulness, to "make do and mend." Long before the current cuts, austerity was making a comeback here, associated with the environmental issues of recycling, cutting consumption and reducing our carbon footprint. Indeed, the New Economics Foundation recently launched the New Home Front, arguing that wartime lifestyles are positive models for reducing our environmental impact. When we think growing our own vegetables, staycations rather than vacations, cycling rather than driving, it has a fashionable appeal.
Not so in the U.S. In the five months I spent there earlier this year, I never heard the word austerity in political discussion. The Republican discourse is all about how the government is spending too much. The government must tighten its belt. There was nothing about individuals living beyond their means.
Yet the U.S. deficit is founded on overconsumption, made possible by too much consumer credit and, less well recognised, too much environmental credit. In the current war of words in Congress, there are no references to the immoral lending that encouraged people who could not afford it to invest in the American dream. That's what led to the property crash and the financial crisis. That has disappeared totally from political argument. From individuals I heard nothing about the need for prosperous people to change their ways. There are, of course, many worthy "green shoots," such as the "locavore" movement or the "greening the campus" initiative at the university I was visiting, where a newly appointed sustainability officer tries to cut energy use. But people like him have their work cut out. The whole of the east coast and the rust belt are vast, shocking landscapes to which many Americans seem oblivious.
This is a society which has lived not just beyond its economic means but beyond its environmental ones too as the hundreds of miles of abandoned buildings, abandoned cars, and endless highways bear witness to.
Yet the American dream survives. You're either in it, or out of it. Being out means destitution. Individual lifestyles are boom or bust. In the U.K. I know many people who reject consumerism, getting involved in poorly paid environmental or political work. We regard them as rather honourable. In the U.S., if you don't have money you don't count.
54. What is the central idea of the passage?
(a) To discuss the American and the British way of life and to emphasize the need for austerity measures in the former.
(b) To discuss the American way of life and to emphasize on the importance of individual austerity measures.
(c) To discuss the real costs of the American way of life and the need for individuals to bring in austerity measures.
(d) To discuss the real costs of the American way of life and the need for individualistic austerity measures.
55. It can be inferred that the author approaches the lack of American austerity with
(a) disdain
(b) condescension
(c) criticism
(d) despair
56. According to the passage, all of these are associated with the British sense of austerity except for
(a) the British take up work that is considered honorable.
(b) the British are not disapproving of austerity measures.
(c) the British associate austerity with environmental issues.
(d) the British tackle wastefulness with the idea of "make do and mend".
57. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?
(a) The American society is living beyond its means.
(b) The author is concerned about the Americans misusing their environmental resources.
(c) Availability of credit has encouraged Americans to spend beyond their means.
(d) None of the above
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