VA 01 - 20th NOV

TITA PJ
1

1 Rarely is there a reconsideration of the policy of civic planning,
especially the tendency to place real estate and commercial interests
above those of nature and ecology.
2 Cyclonic storms on Tamil Nadu's 1,076-km coastline are not unusual,
and at least once in two years there is some disaster or the other.
3 The focus, as well as any claim to administrative efficiency, is
solely on rescue and relief operations.
4 The government must look for sound hydrological solutions to
address the shortcomings in the city's water storage and drainage
system, and revisit present policy priorities.
5 The common thread running through every such instance is that all
claims of preparedness are invariably exposed as either hollow or
woefully inadequate.

2


1 I think that, in the world of ideas, no one in modern times has
played a larger and more effective role in marshalling the arguments
against totalitarianisms of every sort
2 Adam Michnik has told us that, during the bad old days in communist
Poland, the dissidents used to pass around Glucksmann's writings.
3 André Glucksmann was a great man, and he played a great role in history.
4 Even within those circles, Glucksmann and his arguments played a mighty role.
5 No one outside of the dissident circles of the old Soviet bloc, that is


3

1 While killing time in the airport, he unloaded almost all of what
was left of his euros—the big notes—on duty-free souvenirs for
friends.
2  Now, as the plane begins its descent, he tosses his pocket change
into a fund for African children
3  You have a bout of nausea as you watch the flight attendants
collect the donations
4 The man across the aisle on the flight home spent thousands of
dollars on a European vacation with his family.
5  What's revolting is not so much the program itself; as the
announcement on the PA earnestly insists, "Change adds up"—which,
though a vile piece of marketing, is true enough.
6  The airline launched the charity collection a few years ago, as
part of the widespread drive for so-called corporate social
responsibility.


4

1 Some of the man's money—if he had any—was certainly due to us, but
it was not likely that our captain's shipmates, above all the two
specimens seen by me, Black Dog and the blind beggar, would be
inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead man's debts.
2 Indeed, it seemed impossible for either of us to remain much longer
in the house; the fall of coals in the kitchen grate, the very ticking
of the clock, filled us with alarms.
3 I lost no time, of course, in telling my mother all that I knew, and
perhaps should have told her long before, and we saw ourselves at once
in a difficult and dangerous position
4 The captain's order to mount at once and ride for Doctor Livesey
would have left my mother alone and unprotected, which was not to be
thought of

5

1 The chairman of Seventh Pay Commission justice Ashok Mathur and
member Rathin Roy suggest that in the present scenario, it is keenly
felt that there needs to be a paradigm shift and the methodology that
has been adopted in the past, namely of a seniority driven approach
within the various services
2 The report says "Civil servants today need to be focused on
outcomes, not processes, and have to be more accountable for delivery
3 "In this context, that the service related claims for any top
position are not relevant anymore, and what is important is that the
right person is selected for every job. The analysis and the
recommendations in the paragraphs that follow reflect this approach,"
they say.
4 The Seventh Pay Commission has handed a financial bonanza to Central
government employees and sent a strong message to dismantle the
present hierarchy that is heavily loaded on the side of seniority over
performance.




ODD MAN OUT


6

1 That is a stain on our conscience that is unlikely to be repeat as
.Republican governors try to block entry of Syrian refugees
2 That's the situation today, but it's also the shameful way we
responded as Jews were fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
3 In the shadow of one world war, on the eve of another, Americans
feared that European Jews might be left-wing security threats.
4 Desperate refugees flee persecution and war, but American
politicians — worried about security risks — refuse to accept them.

7

1 So, yes, of course Katniss is back, just as promised by the clumsy
title of her last movie, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
2 Since 2012, when the first movie landed, Katniss has grown into her
role as a savior, an evolution that parallels that of Ms. Lawrence,
who entered the series as a Sundance starlet and leaves it as one of
the biggest stars in the world
3 Intentional or not, the casting ensured that in the movies, just as
in the books, Katniss was never going to be upstaged by a love
interest.
4 In "Part 2," she has returned as destined to finish the fight,
defeat the enemy and send off a big-screen series that has had an
astonishing run both in cold-cash terms and in its meaningful
symbolism.


8

1 But these studies have limitations and one of them is that some
people may be luckier than others.
2 They may have been born to have a more robust brain than someone else.
3 Sturdy legs could mean healthy brains, according to a new study of
British twins.
4 Study after study has shown correlations between physical activity,
muscular health and mental acuity, even among people who are quite
old.

9


EXPROPRIATE

Attempts to expropriate lands from landlords having more lands than
prescribed under the ceiling Act have not been very successful.
a)
usurp
b)
seize
c)
misappropriate
d)
withdraw



10

SPLEEN

You may be annoyed with me but it doesn't mean that you vent your spleen on me.
a)
discomfort
b)
reproach
c)
brawn
d)
spite



11


The attack on Godi was the first time scientists witnessed a group of
chimps raiding (a)/ raging (b) another territory and attacking a
member of a rival band for arguably (a)/ apparently (b) no reason than
that he belonged to a different group.



It was also the start of a process through which the Kaskela chimps
effectively (a) / evidently (b) wiped out the Khama.



The killings are a terrible illustration of the evolutionary roots of
humanity's preponderance (a) / propensity (b) for violence.



The killings undermine (a) / underscore (b) the explanations for
extreme violence in terms of such uniquely human attributes as
culture, brain power.
a)
aabba
b)
abbab
c)
ababa
d)
baaba


12

It is still a fairly astounding notion to consider that atoms are
mostly empty space, and that the stolidity (a) / solidity (b) we
experience all around us is an illusion.



When two objects come together in the real world, they don't actually
strike each other; rather the negatively charged fields repeal (a)/
repel (b) each other.



Were it not for their electrical charges, they could like galaxies,
pass right through each other unscathed (a) / unspoilt (b).



When you sit in a chair, you are not actually sitting there but
levitating (a) / lingering (b) above it at a height of one angstram,
your electrons, and its electrons implacably opposed to any closer
intimacy (a) / intricacy (b).
a)
baaab
b)
bbaaa
c)
ababa
d)
aabbb

13


The unpredictable, volatile rulers forced the viceroy to contend (a) /
contemplate (b) the nightmare that had haunted India for centuries.



If India's politicians could divide her, her princes could detract (a)
/ destroy (b) her.

They menaced (a) / endangered (b) the subcontinent, not with partition
but with a fatal fragmentation into a score of states.



They threatened to unleash (a) / unload (b) abruptly all the
fissiparous tendencies of race, religion, region and language which
lurked (a) / lured (b) just below the fragile surface of Indian unity.
a)
aaaaa
b)
bbbbb
c)
abbba
d)
bbaaa

14


The amazing expansion (a) / extension (b) of Indian culture and art to
other countries has led to some of the finest expressions of this art
being found outside India.



To know Indian art in India alone is to know but half its story. To
appreciate (a) / apprehend (b) it to the full, we must follow it in
the wake of Buddhism, to central Asia, China and Japan; we must watch
it assuming (a) / morphing (b) new forms and breaking into new
beauties as it spreads over Tibet and Burma and Siam; we must gaze in
awe at the unabated (a) / unexampled (b) grandeur of its creation in
Combodia and Java.



In each of these countries, Indian art empowers (a) / encounters (b) a
different racial genius, a different local environment and under their
modifying influence it takes on a different garb.
a)
aaabb
b)
abbaa
c)
aabba
d)
baaab

15

Not only is much of India's economic success not reaching many of its
poor citizens but its political _____ at home and abroad seem to make
very little difference to their ______ lives.
a)
successes… embittered
b)
advancements … bettered
c)
aspirations … battered
d)
turmoils … abject

16



While there is _______ at India's desire to reinvest in the bilateral
and strategic relationship, Paris is worried that New Delhi's
rapprochement with Washington could ________ its own importance.
a)
dismay . . . belittle
b)
elation . . . diminish
c)
consternation . . . undermine
d)



17

Considering the fact that early childhood nutritional _______ set
limits to the quality of health in adulthood, it is _______ to imagine
the bleak future from the fact that though India accounts for only
about 20 per cent of the world's child population, it ends up with 40
per cent of the malnourished children of the world.
a)
defects . . . dreadful
b)
deformities . . . disgusting
c)
inadequacies . . . difficult
d)
deficiencies . . . disquieting


18


EASY
a)
Instilling civic sense in people is easy said than done.
b)
Doctors asked him to take things easy after the heart attack.
c)
It is not as easy to practise as it is to preach.
d)
Life is not easy for anyone – rich or poor.


The manner in which Wodehouse deals with his (11) plots reveals his
supremacy as the greatest English humorist.


laughter
b)
pathos
c)
apathy
d)
jocundity