Saturday 27 February 2016

Summary

Four alternative summaries are given below each text. Choose the
option that best captures the essence of the text.

1. Some decisions will be fairly obvious â€" “no-brainers.†Your
bank account is low, but you have a two-week vacation coming up and
you want to get away to some place warm to relax with your family.
Will you accept your in-laws’ offer of free use of their Florida
beachfront condo? Sure. You like your employer and feel ready to move
forward in your career. Will you step in for your boss for three weeks
while she attends a professional development course? Of course.

A. Some decisions are obvious under certain circumstances. You may,
for example, readily accept a relative’s offer of free holiday
accommodation. Or step in for your boss when she is away.
B. Some decisions are no-brainers. You need not think when making
them. Examples are condo offers from in-laws and job offers from
bosses when your bank account is low or boss is away.
C. Easy decisions are called “no-brainers†because they do not
require any cerebral activity. Examples such as accepting free holiday
accommodation abound in our lives.
D. Accepting an offer from in-laws when you are short on funds and
want a holiday is a no-brainer. Another no-brainer is taking the
boss’s job when she is away.

1. A 2. B 3. C
4. D

2. Physically, inertia is a feeling that you just can’t move;
mentally, it is a sluggish mind. Even if you try to be sensitive, if
your mind is sluggish, you just don’t feel anything intensely. You
may even see a tragedy enacted in front of your eyes and not be able
to respond meaningfully. You may see one person exploiting another,
one group persecuting another, and not be able to get angry. Your
energy is frozen. You are not deliberately refusing to act; you just
don’t have the capacity.

A. Inertia makes your body and mind sluggish. They become insensitive
to tragedies, exploitation, and persecution because it freezes your
energy and decapacitates it.
B. When you have inertia you don’t act although you see one person
exploiting another or one group persecuting another. You don’t get
angry because you are incapable.
C. Inertia is of two types - physical and mental. Physical inertia
restricts bodily movements. Mental inertia prevents mental response to
events enacted in front of your eyes.
D. Physical inertia stops your body from moving; mental inertia
freezes your energy, and stops your mind from responding meaningfully
to events, even tragedies, in front of you.

1. A 2. B 3. C
4. D

3. Try before you buy. We use this memorable saying to urge you to
experience the consequences of an alternative before you choose it,
whenever this is feasible. If you are considering buying a van after
having always owned sedans, rent one for a week or borrow a
friend’s. By experiencing the consequences first hand, they become
more meaningful. In addition, you are likely to identify consequences
you had not even thought of before. May be you will discover that it
is difficult to park the van in your small parking space at work, but
that, on the other hand, your elderly father has a much easier time
getting in and out of it.

A. If you are planning to buy a van after being used to sedans, borrow
a van or rent it and try it before deciding to buy it. Then you may
realize that parking a van is difficult while it is easier for your
elderly father to get in and out of it.
B. Before choosing an alternative, experience its consequences if
feasible. If, for example, you want to change from sedans to a van,
try one before buying it. You will discover aspects you may never have
thought of.
C. Always try before you buy anything. You are bound to discover many
consequences. One of the consequences of going in for a van is that it
is more difficult to park than sedans at the office car park.
D. We urge you to try products such as vans before buying them. Then
you can experience consequences you have not thought of such as
parking problems. But your father may find vans more comfortable than
cars.

1. A 2. B 3. C
4. D

4. It is important for shipping companies to be clear about the
objectives for maintenance and materials management - as to whether
the primary focus is on service level improvement or cost
minimization. Often when certain systems are set in place, the cost
minimization objective and associated procedure become more important
than the flexibility required for service level improvement. The
problem really arises since cost minimization tends to focus on out of
pocket costs which are visible, while the opportunity costs, often
greater in value, are lost sight of.

A. Shipping companies have to either minimize costs or maximize
service quality. If they focus on cost minimization, they will reduce
quality. They should focus on service level improvement, or else
opportunity costs will be lost sight of.
B. Shipping companies should determine the primary focus of their
maintenance and materials management. Focus on cost minimization may
reduce visible costs, but ignore greater invisible costs and impair
service quality.
C. Any cost minimization program in shipping is bound to lower the
quality of service. Therefore, shipping companies must be clear about
the primary focus of their maintenance and materials management before
embarking on cost minimization.
D. Shipping companies should focus on quality level improvement rather
than cost cutting. Cost cutting will lead to untold opportunity costs.
Companies should have systems in place to make the service level
flexible.

1. A 2. B 3. C
4. D


typically, the entrepreneur is seen as individual who owns and
operates a small buisness. But , simply to own and operate a small
buisness or even a big buisness does not make someone an entrepreneur.
if this is a true entreperneur , then new products are being created ,
new ways of providing services are being implemented .


Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


13.Real and false intuition confused even highly talented thinkers
like Lee Iacocca. Both originate in the subconscious mind and call on
information and experiences stored there. As with conscious thinking,
subconscious patterns can produce both valid and invalid results.
Thus, as with conscious thinking, we must test the validity of
subconsciously produced thoughts. With intuition, however, we must
exercise special care because, unlike conscious reasoning, we cannot
objectively monitor the subconscious intuitive process.
a)
Real and false intuition confused even highly talented thinkers like
Lee Iacocca. Both arise in the subconscious and yield confusing
results which need testing.
b)
While real intuition arises in the conscious mind and produces valid
results, false intuition arises in the subconscious mind and produces
invalid results.
c)
Intuition which emerges from the subconscious mind needs to be
validated with special care because unlike conscious thinking, the
intuitive process cannot be controlled and just like conscious
thinking, it may yield erroneous results.
d)
Intuition needs to be monitored with care as like conscious thinking,
it often produces both valid and invalid results.

Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


4.Traditionally, a "belief" is a state of mind of a certain sort. But
the behaviourists deny that there are states of mind, or at least that
they can be known; they therefore avoid the word "belief", and, if
they used it, would mean by it a characteristic of bodily behaviour.
There are cases in which this usage would be quite in accordance with
common sense. Suppose you set out to visit a friend whom you have
often visited before, but on arriving at your destination you find
that he has moved, you would say "I thought he was still living at his
old house." Yet it is highly probable that you did not think about it
at all, but merely pursued the usual route from habit. A "thought" or
"belief" may, therefore, in the view of common sense, be shown by
behaviour, without any corresponding "mental" occurrence. And even if
you use a form of words such as is supposed to express belief, you are
still engaged in bodily behaviour, provided you pronounce the words
out loud or to yourself. Shall we say, in such cases, that you have a
belief? Or is something further required?
a)
There is nothing called mind − it is all a complex interplay of
neurons which are physical in nature.
b)
Some of the behavioural traits in humans can be attributed to body
rather than mind.
c)
Behaviour acts at two different levels − body and mind and both are
significant in contributing to a man's actions.
d)
A belief is just a state of mind; and might be different from actions.
Our knowledge of human body and mind is limited and it needs further
research.

Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


15.There's a large body of medical literature showing that married
people tend to be healthier and live longer than singles. But newer
research adds an important caveat: the quality of the marriage
matters. Surveys show that couples that enjoy good marital
relationships are likely to share common interests when these shared
interests have existed in the individual prior to the marriage. One
should look for a spouse who shares common interests because marital
stress, logically enough, is not good for one's health. Other studies
have shown that happily married women have fewer blockages in their
aortas, and that happily married couples are less likely than unhappy
couples to suffer from heart disease.
a)
It is important to have a healthy and happy married life so as to have
a healthy body and life. The relationship between couples affects an
individual's health and stress between them can lead to problems,
especially where the heart is concerned. Hence, marital relation is a
factor important enough to be considered in case of heart disease.
b)
Most heart diseases are due to stress and most of the stress is due to
problems between spouses. Marital stress needs to be controlled and
considered in case of any heart disease. Couples who are happily
married are less prone to heart disease. All couples that share common
interests will enjoy good marital relationships.
c)
While we've often been told that married life prompts healthy life,
new research shows that happiness in marriage matters. Marital stress
can lead to heart disease, with those who are happy in their marriage
being healthier than those who aren't. Sharing of common interests
when these interests have existed prior to marriage helps in building
happy marriages.
d)
It is important to be happy to stay healthy. Relationship between the
spouses is a major factor governing the stress levels in individuals.
Happy married life is important. A couple that doesn't start with
common interests could develop them and have a happy relationship.



Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


29.Environmental protection should not be the prime consideration
while allowing for the expansion and diversification of industry. Any
modern human activity, irrespective of whether it uses paper or
chemicals, nuclear power or electronics chips, is bound to and always
does end up degrading the environment. Therefore in the future world,
one must look at ways to combating environmental change, rather than
preventing it. One must, impliedly, look at ways to exist and prosper
in a world with no trees, little oxygen and little animal life. This
may sound ghastly, but it is the only feasible way out. And the human
being, with his infinite intelligence and an unparalleled inherent
skill-set, along with the fact that many of the Universe's secrets
remain unrevealed to him, is equipped to deal efficiently with this
situation. We just need to shed the excessively magnanimous and
so-called humanistic approach to the world around us.
a)
Environmental degradation and human progress go hand in hand.
b)
Jeopardising natural balance for the sake of human development may
seem suicidal in the short run, but it can be overcome in the long
run.
c)
Man should not focus too much on the inevitable effects of
environmental degradation and should let go of the cloak of humanism.
He should look at ways to efficiently improve his future since
irreversible natural changes are bound to occur.
d)
Just like numerous changes have occurred on the Earth's surface since
time immemorial without wiping out life, so will the environmental
changes leave human existence unaffected. Therefore one must concern
oneself only with the future and not look at the past or present.


Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


31."Our thinking about growth and decay is dominated by the image of a
single life-span, animal or vegetable: seedling, full flower, and
death. "The flower that once has bloomed forever dies". But for an
ever-renewing society, the appropriate image is a total garden, a
balanced aquarium or other ecological system. Some things are being
born, other things are flourishing, still other things are dying --
but the system lives on. Only an exceptional organization manages to
sustain growth when its core business matures. Businesses like the
metaphorical garden are born, flourish and wither. But the fact that a
company's business blossoms and then fades does not mean that the
company must die. Successful companies can and must outlive their
individual businesses.
a)
Companies need to be nurtured like gardens. Else, they, like flowers,
wither and die. Successful companies are those that have businesses
that go on forever, unlike the flowers, which bloom once and then die
forever.
b)
An individual life is subject to eventual termination but a life
system lives on. Similarly, a successful company should outlive
individual businesses by constantly reinventing itself.
c)
A society whose maturing consists simply of acquiring more firmly
established ways of doing things is headed for the graveyard – even if
it learns to do these things with greater and greater skill. In the
ever-renewing society what matures is a system or framework within
which continuous innovation, renewal and rebirth can occur.
d)
We need to change our thinking regarding growth and decay; only then
will we be able to create sustainable systems. A company should
recruit managers who can help the company to sustain growth when its
main business flourishes.

Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


33.Science apart, the major division in Western thought today, which
affects philosophy, literature, religion, architecture, even history,
is between the post-modernists who are happy with the fragmented
disparate, 'carnival' of culture and those traditionalists who
genuinely feel this sells us short, that this approach involves an
ethical betrayal, avoids judging what is better and what is less good
in human achievement, and, in so doing, hinders people in raising
their game. Postmodernism and relativism are still in the ascendant,
but for how much longer? While the cultures of Africa, Bali and other
third world countries have been recovered, to an extent, and given a
much needed boost, none has so far found the widespread resonance that
the classical civilizations of the Middle East once enjoyed. No one
doubts that jewels of art, learning and science have occured in all
places and at all times, and the identification and extension of this
wide range has been a major achievement of twentieth century
scholarship.
a)
Science is the cause of a major schism in Western thought as it is
supplementing literature, religion, architecture and even history.
Post modernists and traditionalists are divided on the impact of
science on culture.
b)
The revival of the cultures of various third world countries has given
a new lease of life to the traditionalists who were losing out to the
post-modernists.
c)
While postmodernism is on the rise and has favoured the revival of
fragmented, disparate cultures; major achievements in art and science
have occured at all times, especially in classical civilizations.
d)
The culture today is fragmented unlike the culture of yesteryear and
old civilizations. The older cultures were far-reaching and richer.
But post-modernism and relativism are the cultures most likely to
survive in the coming years.

Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Which of the
options best captures the essence of the text?


3.In 2006, three Indian fishermen, in a drunken sleep aboard their
little boat, drifted over the reef bordering the Andamans and fetched
up on the shore in the southeast part of South Andaman Island. They
were promptly killed by the inhabitants, the Jarawa tribes. Their
bodies were kept on display for a while: the helicopter that went to
collect them was driven away by a hail of arrows and spears. The
Jarawa tribe does not welcome trespassers. In an attempt at contacting
the Jarawa, "Contact Expeditions" were embarked upon by the Indian
authorities in Port Blair. These consisted of a series of planned
visits which would progressively leave "gifts", such as coconuts, on
the shores, in an attempt to coax the Jarawa from their hostile
reception of outsiders. Only very occasionally have the Jarawa been
lured down to the beach of their tiny island by these gifts of
coconuts and only once or twice without sending a shower of arrows in
return.
a)
The Jarawa who inhabit the South Andaman Island, are the only
hunter-gatherers who still shun interactions with outsiders. They are
noted for vigorously maintaining their independence and sovereignty
over the island, and actively discourage incursions and attempts at
contact.
b)
By their long standing separation from any other human society, the
tribal people are among the most isolated and unassimilated peoples on
Earth. Only once or twice have they accepted gifts from civilized
people without causing harm to the latter. In 2006 they killed three
Indian fishermen because the latter entered their territory by
mistake.
c)
The Jarawa are actively hostile to unknown intruders and resist any
attempts of contact by outsiders. In 2006, they killed three Indian
fishermen who entered the island by mistake and also attacked the
helicopter that was sent to retrieve their bodies.
d)
Violence is much more pervasive among hunter-gatherers like the Jarawa
than among civilized people. The Jarawa do not allow civilized people
to enter their island and are extremely averse to taking gifts from
the latter. The killing of the three Indian fishermen by the tribal
people along the coast of the Jarawa Island in 2006 proves this.


7.Strategic change requires transformational skills; the ability to
shape a vision of the future, mobilize employees behind the vision and
guide the company's different systems towards achievement of the
vision. A large body of evidence suggests that to fully involve
employees is the surest way to produce a more mobilized workforce, one
willing to abandon established fiefdoms and hard won perks in the
pursuit of their firms' effectiveness. In contrast, isolation from
decision making tends to breed emotional hostility and resistance, and
sometimes, active sabotage. Both action and inaction by managers take
on symbolic meaning and shape lower-level employees' interpretations
about key events. Managers successful at carrying out strategic change
point to the significance of active participation, coalition building
and up-front communication.
a)
Strategic change means transformation. Transformation can be
successful only if managers mobilize and motivate the workforce, which
in turn is possible only if the employees are fully involved in the
achievement of the organizations vision.
b)
Communication is the most important aspect of transformation,
especially communication between managers and workers. Workers not
involved in the decision making process tend to be hostile and resist
any transformation.
c)
Successful transformation managers are those who involve their team in
all decisions.
d)
Workers tend to become discontented and unproductive in the face of
rapid change; managers need to counsel them and spend more time
explaining the need for change. Otherwise the workers may resort to
hostile measures.


The following text is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the
option that best captures the essence of the text.

After the seminal work of Edward Said on Orientalism in 1978 there
have been many interpretations of this subject by various authors.
Emphasis has been changing according to the researcher, unlike the
earlier authors for whom the cultural influences and ecclesiastical
efforts were the basic drivers of gathering knowledge. This process of
acquiring knowledge of the East kept changing in the centuries after
the Portuguese first entered the west coast of India, as initially the
Portuguese intention was just trade and the accompanying missionaries
served the religious need of sailors and others who came with them.
a Study on orientalism and its methodology changed after the
publication of Edward Said's Orientalism and this process has seen
change ever since the Portuguese entered India.
b Knowledge gathering has been on the rise ever since the Portuguese
entered India.
c Missionaries often accompanied the Portuguese sailors to spread Christianity.
d Modern scholars have started to follow the parameters of study
other than cultural influences and ecclesiastical efforts.

The following text is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the
option that best captures the essence of the text.

While women's general social status in Pakistan is clearly reflected
in the country's social indicators such as education, health and
employment, it is the rural women who in particular perform poorly and
lag far behind their urban counterparts. The national female labour
force participation rate in Pakistan indicates the country's
inadequate efforts to bring women into the economic mainstream — rural
women not only experience discrimination but also suffer invisibility
because their economic participation is greatly underestimated.
National statistics on women's labour force participation reflect two
important phenomena that further effect women's participation and bar
them from entering labour markets. First, the stigma attached to their
employment discourages women from working outside their homes, and,
therefore, most tend not to go out for paid work. This not only
hampers women's participation but also widens the large gap between
men's and women's employment. Unfortunately, this situation further
reinforces the perception that paid work is not appropriate for women.
a Pakistani labour force discourages women from being a part of it.
b Rural women suffer immensely because they often do not enter the
workforce because of various reasons.
c Urban women are better positioned in the society than their rural
counterparts.
d Rural women often do not enter the workforce because paid work is
seen as a taboo in Pakistan.

Millions of Americans could see a boost in wages or reduced workload
as a result of new federal regulations on overtime pay the Obama
administration is unveiling this week. The change is likely to please
labor advocates who had called on the administration to consider
raising the threshold to salaries of at least $42,000 per year. They
say an increased threshold could help stimulate the economy by
boosting middle-class workers' wages or triggering new hiring to
prevent the need for paying the higher overtime rate.
a Salary hike: Boon for the working class in the USA
b Quantum jump witnessed in the salary structure in the USA
c Salary hike and its positive effect on the US economy
d Labor advocates' demands have been met by Obama

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