CAT Practice Test - 21 - CAT MCQ

Between 2004 and 2008, Indian Railways has not been able to perform to its potential. Normally, Railway's revenue grows by two percentage points higher than the growth of Indian economy. According to Railway's own statistics, its revenues growth rate was two percentage points lower than the growth rate of Indian GDP in each of these four years. The main problem is a severe capacity constraint that does not allow the Railways to carry more freight even when there is demand. Freight traffic has grown by an average of over 9 percent in the last four years but in order to grow further the railways have to concentrate on infrastructure development. The central government recently set up the National Transport Development Policy Committee to suggest measures to promote greater commercial orientation of transport services in the country.
The committee is chaired by Dr. Rakesh Mohan, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, who earlier headed the expert group on Railways that recommended corporatisation of the railway administration in 2002. This might be the right time for the government to consider taking a second look at railway reforms. A senior officer concerned with transport infrastructure planning in the country said that the committee was likely to recommend a few measures in the direction of railway reforms and that there would soon be consultations in this regard with policy-makers and experts.
This would not be a moment too soon. Railways desperately needs to grow its revenues because its expenses have shot up. Its ordinary working expenses grew by 7.3 percent in the years between 2004-05 and 2007-08, but jumped by 32 percent in the next year on account of the pay commission. A newspaper report pointed out that the railway surplus too has dwindled to Rs. 1 crore from over Rs 4,400 crore the last fiscal.
“The Indian Railways is at a crossroad where business as usual is not sustainable in the long run. If Railways has to be protected as the country’s growth wagon, transformation of the governance structure and augmentation of the accountability levels for delivery and performance is a must,” says infrastructure expert Akhileshwar Sahay who has studied railway reforms across the world. So what can Railways do? Experts on railway restructuring around the world say that a mix of reforms done in Japan and Argentina could solve key problems. There are a couple of problem areas that need attention right away . Some of these can be solved through Japanese style reforms (for administration) while the others will need the Argentinean method (exit non-core businesses).

Q. What is the main problem of the Railways according to the passage?

Between 2004 and 2008, Indian Railways has not been able to perform to its potential. Normally, Railway's revenue grows by two percentage points higher than the growth of Indian economy. According to Railway's own statistics, its revenues growth rate was two percentage points lower than the growth rate of Indian GDP in each of these four years. The main problem is a severe capacity constraint that does not allow the Railways to carry more freight even when there is demand. Freight traffic has grown by an average of over 9 percent in the last four years but in order to grow further the railways have to concentrate on infrastructure development. The central government recently set up the National Transport Development Policy Committee to suggest measures to promote greater commercial orientation of transport services in the country.
The committee is chaired by Dr. Rakesh Mohan, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, who earlier headed the expert group on Railways that recommended corporatisation of the railway administration in 2002. This might be the right time for the government to consider taking a second look at railway reforms. A senior officer concerned with transport infrastructure planning in the country said that the committee was likely to recommend a few measures in the direction of railway reforms and that there would soon be consultations in this regard with policy-makers and experts.
This would not be a moment too soon. Railways desperately needs to grow its revenues because its expenses have shot up. Its ordinary working expenses grew by 7.3 percent in the years between 2004-05 and 2007-08, but jumped by 32 percent in the next year on account of the pay commission. A newspaper report pointed out that the railway surplus too has dwindled to Rs. 1 crore from over Rs 4,400 crore the last fiscal.
“The Indian Railways is at a crossroad where business as usual is not sustainable in the long run. If Railways has to be protected as the country’s growth wagon, transformation of the governance structure and augmentation of the accountability levels for delivery and performance is a must,” says infrastructure expert Akhileshwar Sahay who has studied railway reforms across the world. So what can Railways do? Experts on railway restructuring around the world say that a mix of reforms done in Japan and Argentina could solve key problems. There are a couple of problem areas that need attention right away . Some of these can be solved through Japanese style reforms (for administration) while the others will need the Argentinean method (exit non-core businesses).

Q. A suitable title for this passage would be:

Between 2004 and 2008, Indian Railways has not been able to perform to its potential. Normally, Railway's revenue grows by two percentage points higher than the growth of Indian economy. According to Railway's own statistics, its revenues growth rate was two percentage points lower than the growth rate of Indian GDP in each of these four years. The main problem is a severe capacity constraint that does not allow the Railways to carry more freight even when there is demand. Freight traffic has grown by an average of over 9 percent in the last four years but in order to grow further the railways have to concentrate on infrastructure development. The central government recently set up the National Transport Development Policy Committee to suggest measures to promote greater commercial orientation of transport services in the country.
The committee is chaired by Dr. Rakesh Mohan, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, who earlier headed the expert group on Railways that recommended corporatisation of the railway administration in 2002. This might be the right time for the government to consider taking a second look at railway reforms. A senior officer concerned with transport infrastructure planning in the country said that the committee was likely to recommend a few measures in the direction of railway reforms and that there would soon be consultations in this regard with policy-makers and experts.
This would not be a moment too soon. Railways desperately needs to grow its revenues because its expenses have shot up. Its ordinary working expenses grew by 7.3 percent in the years between 2004-05 and 2007-08, but jumped by 32 percent in the next year on account of the pay commission. A newspaper report pointed out that the railway surplus too has dwindled to Rs. 1 crore from over Rs 4,400 crore the last fiscal.
“The Indian Railways is at a crossroad where business as usual is not sustainable in the long run. If Railways has to be protected as the country’s growth wagon, transformation of the governance structure and augmentation of the accountability levels for delivery and performance is a must,” says infrastructure expert Akhileshwar Sahay who has studied railway reforms across the world. So what can Railways do? Experts on railway restructuring around the world say that a mix of reforms done in Japan and Argentina could solve key problems. There are a couple of problem areas that need attention right away . Some of these can be solved through Japanese style reforms (for administration) while the others will need the Argentinean method (exit non-core businesses).

Q. Which of the following would weaken the statement - “Between 2004 and 2008, Indian Railways has not been able to perform to its potential.”?

Group Question

The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Much of the tragical lore of the infant mortality, the malnutrition, and the five-in-a-room morality of the city's poor is written in statistics, and the statistical path to the heart is more figurative than literal. Gertie Slayback was statistically down as a woman wage-earner; a sorry case among the thousands of the Borough of Manhattan; and her twice-a-day share in the Subway fares collected in the present year. She was a very atomic one of the city's four millions. But after all, what are the kings and peasants, poets and draymen, but great, greater, or greatest, less, lesser, or least atoms of us? If not of the least, Gertie Slayback was of the very lesser. When she unlocked the front door to her rooming-house of evenings, there was no one to expect her, except on Tuesdays, which evening it so happened her week was up. And when she left of mornings with her breakfast crumblessly cleared up and the box of biscuit and condensed-milk can tucked unsuspectedly behind her camisole in the top drawer there was no one to regret her. There are some who call this freedom. Again there are those for whom one spark of home fire burning would light the world.
Gertie Slayback was one of those. Half a life-time of opening her door upon this or that desert-aisle of hall bedroom had not taught her heart how not to sink or the feel of daily rising in one such room to seem less like a damp bathing-suit, donned at dawn. The only picture which adorned Miss Slayback's dun-colored walls was a passe-partout snowscape, night closing in, and pink cottage windows peering out from under eaves. She could visualize that interior as if she had only to turn the frame for the smell of wood fire and the snap of pine logs and for the scene of two high-back chairs and the wooden crib between. What a fragile, gracile thing is the mind that can leap thus from nine bargain basement hours of hairpins and darning-balls to the downy business of lining a crib in Never-Never Land and warming No Man's slippers before the fire of imagination. There was that picture so acidly etched into Miss Slayback's brain that she had only to close her eyes in the slit-like sanctity of her room and in the brief moment of courting sleep feel the pink penumbra of her vision begin to glow.

Q. Among the following options, the author of the passage is likely  to disagree with which of the following?

Much of the tragical lore of the infant mortality, the malnutrition, and the five-in-a-room morality of the city's poor is written in statistics, and the statistical path to the heart is more figurative than literal. Gertie Slayback was statistically down as a woman wage-earner; a sorry case among the thousands of the Borough of Manhattan; and her twice-a-day share in the Subway fares collected in the present year. She was a very atomic one of the city's four millions. But after all, what are the kings and peasants, poets and draymen, but great, greater, or greatest, less, lesser, or least atoms of us? If not of the least, Gertie Slayback was of the very lesser. When she unlocked the front door to her rooming-house of evenings, there was no one to expect her, except on Tuesdays, which evening it so happened her week was up. And when she left of mornings with her breakfast crumblessly cleared up and the box of biscuit and condensed-milk can tucked unsuspectedly behind her camisole in the top drawer there was no one to regret her. There are some who call this freedom. Again there are those for whom one spark of home fire burning would light the world.
Gertie Slayback was one of those. Half a life-time of opening her door upon this or that desert-aisle of hall bedroom had not taught her heart how not to sink or the feel of daily rising in one such room to seem less like a damp bathing-suit, donned at dawn. The only picture which adorned Miss Slayback's dun-colored walls was a passe-partout snowscape, night closing in, and pink cottage windows peering out from under eaves. She could visualize that interior as if she had only to turn the frame for the smell of wood fire and the snap of pine logs and for the scene of two high-back chairs and the wooden crib between. What a fragile, gracile thing is the mind that can leap thus from nine bargain basement hours of hairpins and darning-balls to the downy business of lining a crib in Never-Never Land and warming No Man's slippers before the fire of imagination. There was that picture so acidly etched into Miss Slayback's brain that she had only to close her eyes in the slit-like sanctity of her room and in the brief moment of courting sleep feel the pink penumbra of her vision begin to glow.

Q. Which of the following is untrue with regard to Gertie Slayback's perception of the picture on her wall?

Much of the tragical lore of the infant mortality, the malnutrition, and the five-in-a-room morality of the city's poor is written in statistics, and the statistical path to the heart is more figurative than literal. Gertie Slayback was statistically down as a woman wage-earner; a sorry case among the thousands of the Borough of Manhattan; and her twice-a-day share in the Subway fares collected in the present year. She was a very atomic one of the city's four millions. But after all, what are the kings and peasants, poets and draymen, but great, greater, or greatest, less, lesser, or least atoms of us? If not of the least, Gertie Slayback was of the very lesser. When she unlocked the front door to her rooming-house of evenings, there was no one to expect her, except on Tuesdays, which evening it so happened her week was up. And when she left of mornings with her breakfast crumblessly cleared up and the box of biscuit and condensed-milk can tucked unsuspectedly behind her camisole in the top drawer there was no one to regret her. There are some who call this freedom. Again there are those for whom one spark of home fire burning would light the world.
Gertie Slayback was one of those. Half a life-time of opening her door upon this or that desert-aisle of hall bedroom had not taught her heart how not to sink or the feel of daily rising in one such room to seem less like a damp bathing-suit, donned at dawn. The only picture which adorned Miss Slayback's dun-colored walls was a passe-partout snowscape, night closing in, and pink cottage windows peering out from under eaves. She could visualize that interior as if she had only to turn the frame for the smell of wood fire and the snap of pine logs and for the scene of two high-back chairs and the wooden crib between. What a fragile, gracile thing is the mind that can leap thus from nine bargain basement hours of hairpins and darning-balls to the downy business of lining a crib in Never-Never Land and warming No Man's slippers before the fire of imagination. There was that picture so acidly etched into Miss Slayback's brain that she had only to close her eyes in the slit-like sanctity of her room and in the brief moment of courting sleep feel the pink penumbra of her vision begin to glow.

Q. If you were to interview the author, what would be your follow up question to this passage?

Group Question

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Q. Which of the following is true about the author?

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Q. “He (author’s brother) wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it.” implies:
A. He is indifferent
B. He supports euthanasia
C. He respects the author’s choices

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Q. Which of the following would weaken the character sketch of the author’s mother presented in the passage?

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Q. Why did the author give Henry’s custody to his brother’s walker?

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Q. What does the autho's lawyer refer to as 'the No. 1 bane of his existence'?

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

“When you’re dead, you’re dead,” I’d always told myself. “You’re childless, so what difference does it make who gets the money, if there’s any left, or the sentimental treasures?” By which I mean my mother’s “sterling” silver, which turned out to be plate, and my flea market discoveries.
But my 10-year-old standard poodle was another story. Unmentioned in the existing document, Henry would be left alone after I died: unfed, unwalked, unloved. Would he die, too, only to be discovered by a neighbor when he started to stink up the joint? I owed him better.
My elder care lawyer raised a skeptical eyebrow when I explained that the inspiration to update everything was my dog. I might as well review all the paperwork, I told him: the power of attorney, the health care proxy, the living will, a codicil here and there, the list of friends’ children who had always been my beneficiaries. But a full year went by while I looked guiltily at the file folder on my desk marked “new will.” That took me by surprise, as I’m not a procrastinator. Remember the hated kid in high school who always had her papers done way in advance and went to the movies while everyone else was pulling an all-nighter? That was me.
But my lawyer, Gregg M. Weiss, was used to people starting the process and then disappearing. “That’s the No. 1 bane of my existence,” he said when I finally resurfaced, all papers ready to be signed.
“Whatever is on anyone’s to-do pile, this typically goes to the bottom. It’s avoidance, not facing the reality of death. The 80-year- olds we see are different. They don’t dillydally.” My mother had needed no admonitions about such things and had her affairs in order before she was out of her 50s, most likely because my father’s sudden death had left her with a mess to clean up when one least needs to be cleaning up messes. My new will splits the difference between being smart and being stubborn. Friends’ children remain the main beneficiaries, along with charities. My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances. Another friend replaces the former No. 2 for reasons of geography: A health care proxy who lives 3,000 miles away is not very likely to be available when you need her. My brother is grateful, as he always has been, to be spared that task. He wants me to have the kind of death I choose, but not to be in charge of it. Custody of Henry, my dog, goes to his walker, who loves him so much (and vice versa) that she has refused money to cover his care.

Much of the tragical lore of the infant mortality, the malnutrition, and the five-in-a-room morality of the city's poor is written in statistics, and the statistical path to the heart is more figurative than literal. Gertie Slayback was statistically down as a woman wage-earner; a sorry case among the thousands of the Borough of Manhattan; and her twice-a-day share in the Subway fares collected in the present year. She was a very atomic one of the city's four millions. But after all, what are the kings and peasants, poets and draymen, but great, greater, or greatest, less, lesser, or least atoms of us? If not of the least, Gertie Slayback was of the very lesser. When she unlocked the front door to her rooming-house of evenings, there was no one to expect her, except on Tuesdays, which evening it so happened her week was up. And when she left of mornings with her breakfast crumblessly cleared up and the box of biscuit and condensed-milk can tucked unsuspectedly behind her camisole in the top drawer there was no one to regret her. There are some who call this freedom. Again there are those for whom one spark of home fire burning would light the world.
Gertie Slayback was one of those. Half a life-time of opening her door upon this or that desert-aisle of hall bedroom had not taught her heart how not to sink or the feel of daily rising in one such room to seem less like a damp bathing-suit, donned at dawn. The only picture which adorned Miss Slayback's dun-colored walls was a passe-partout snowscape, night closing in, and pink cottage windows peering out from under eaves. She could visualize that interior as if she had only to turn the frame for the smell of wood fire and the snap of pine logs and for the scene of two high-back chairs and the wooden crib between. What a fragile, gracile thing is the mind that can leap thus from nine bargain basement hours of hairpins and darning-balls to the downy business of lining a crib in Never-Never Land and warming No Man's slippers before the fire of imagination. There was that picture so acidly etched into Miss Slayback's brain that she had only to close her eyes in the slit-like sanctity of her room and in the brief moment of courting sleep feel the pink penumbra of her vision begin to glow.

Q. “My health care proxy remains a sensible, loving and brave friend who says that she has no problem pulling the plug under the right circumstances.” The above sentence is based on the assumption that:

A. A health care proxy must be a friend.
B. A health care proxy must be level-headed.

Group Question

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. “It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa.” Which of the following is a valid inference drawn from the above text?
A. The author was a youth when he first met Baba Amte.
B. The author was a believer in Baba Amte's principles.
C. Baba Amte has lived in Hemalkasa.

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. “.....the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of  a deer” implies that:

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. According to the passage, what future did Baba Amte see for India?

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. Which of these statements weakens what is said about Baba Amte’s wife in the passage?

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. “Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh.” From the text, we can infer that:

It was almost 15 years ago that I first met Baba Amte in Hemalkasa. I was reporting from the Nagpur legislature session and decided to travel to the place where Amte’s son Dr Prakash provides medical treatment for free to tribals from Gadchiroli and neighbouring districts from Andhra Pradesh. There was a long weekend and we decided to put it to good use by visiting the Amtes and seeing their work first hand. Dr Prakash told us to be ready at 7 am sharp and join Baba for a morning walk. Well, it was not at all a walk. We were literally jogging to keep pace with the 85 year young Baba as he sprinted with the spirit of a deer. Huffing and puffing, we asked him so many questions - personal included (he was an atheist and his wife Sadhana who joined us in the walk was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva) - and Baba was more than happy to answer us. It was an amazing love story and it really takes something to stay married to a man who was crazy enough to inject himself with leprosy-causing bacteria to test the efficacy of the vaccine. While Baba was fired up by the cause, Sadhanatai believed in him and loved him in an absolute selfless manner.
Coming back to Baba, we asked him what future did he see for India when the communal fire seemed to be engulfing it. And he laughed. "Oh, this keeps happening all the time. We have seen this during Bapu’s time, then we saw during Khalistan and we have seen that again during the 90s. We have done well, haven’t we? I believe in youth and I know they will always shun violence," Baba said. We were amazed by the positivity he showed and we asked him if he was ever depressed in his life. "When you see people shunned by the society just because they were afflicted by a disease and when you see the life they go through, you know your life is far better. I have two eyes, two ears, all my limbs are absolutely fine. What more do you want to stay positive?" By the time we returned to the government rest house after the invigorating 'walk', we were fully mesmerized by the man. From Baba, who took up the Gandhian cause and followed it in true spirit, his wife Sadhana who simply followed him no questions asked, his sons Dr Prakash and Dr Vikas or his grandson who was not lured by any of the urban pleasures of life, each person was worthy of great respect.

Q. Which word best describes Baba Amte?

Group Question

A passage is followed by questions pertaining to the passage. Read the passage and answer the questions. Choose the most appropriate answer.

Judgments of aesthetic value rely on our ability to discriminate at a sensory level. Aesthetics examines our affective domain response to an object or phenomenon. Immanuel Kant, writing in 1790, observes of a man "If he says that canary wine is agreeable he is quite content if someone else corrects his terms and reminds him to say instead: It is agreeable to me," because "Everyone has his own (sense of) taste". The case of "beauty" is different from mere "agreeableness" because, "If he proclaims something to be beautiful, then he requires the same liking from others; he then judges not just for himself but for everyone, and speaks of beauty as if it were a property of things."
Aesthetic judgments may be culturally conditioned to some extent. Victorians in Britain often saw African sculpture as ugly, but just a few decades later, Edwardian audiences saw the same sculptures as being beautiful. The Abuse of Beauty, Evaluations of beauty may well be linked to desirability, perhaps even to sexual desirability. Thus, judgments of aesthetic value can become linked to judgments of economic, political, or moral value. We might judge a Lamborghini to be beautiful partly because it is desirable as a status symbol, or we might judge it to be repulsive partly because it signifies for us over-consumption and offends our political or moral values.
Anthropology, especially the savanna hypothesis proposed by Gordon Orians and others, predicts that some of the positive aesthetics that people have are based on innate knowledge of productive human habitats. It had been shown that people prefer and feel happier looking at trees with spreading forms much more than looking at trees with other forms, or non-tree objects; also Bright green colors, linked with healthy plants with good nutrient  qualities, were more calming than other tree colors, including less bright greens and oranges.

Q. According to the author the contextual aspect of beauty, as mentioned in paragraph 2, is reflected by:

Judgments of aesthetic value rely on our ability to discriminate at a sensory level. Aesthetics examines our affective domain response to an object or phenomenon. Immanuel Kant, writing in 1790, observes of a man "If he says that canary wine is agreeable he is quite content if someone else corrects his terms and reminds him to say instead: It is agreeable to me," because "Everyone has his own (sense of) taste". The case of "beauty" is different from mere "agreeableness" because, "If he proclaims something to be beautiful, then he requires the same liking from others; he then judges not just for himself but for everyone, and speaks of beauty as if it were a property of things."
Aesthetic judgments may be culturally conditioned to some extent. Victorians in Britain often saw African sculpture as ugly, but just a few decades later, Edwardian audiences saw the same sculptures as being beautiful. The Abuse of Beauty, Evaluations of beauty may well be linked to desirability, perhaps even to sexual desirability. Thus, judgments of aesthetic value can become linked to judgments of economic, political, or moral value. We might judge a Lamborghini to be beautiful partly because it is desirable as a status symbol, or we might judge it to be repulsive partly because it signifies for us over-consumption and offends our political or moral values.
Anthropology, especially the savanna hypothesis proposed by Gordon Orians and others, predicts that some of the positive aesthetics that people have are based on innate knowledge of productive human habitats. It had been shown that people prefer and feel happier looking at trees with spreading forms much more than looking at trees with other forms, or non-tree objects; also Bright green colors, linked with healthy plants with good nutrient  qualities, were more calming than other tree colors, including less bright greens and oranges.

Q. Aesthetics, from an anthropological perspective, tends to reflect:

Judgments of aesthetic value rely on our ability to discriminate at a sensory level. Aesthetics examines our affective domain response to an object or phenomenon. Immanuel Kant, writing in 1790, observes of a man "If he says that canary wine is agreeable he is quite content if someone else corrects his terms and reminds him to say instead: It is agreeable to me," because "Everyone has his own (sense of) taste". The case of "beauty" is different from mere "agreeableness" because, "If he proclaims something to be beautiful, then he requires the same liking from others; he then judges not just for himself but for everyone, and speaks of beauty as if it were a property of things."
Aesthetic judgments may be culturally conditioned to some extent. Victorians in Britain often saw African sculpture as ugly, but just a few decades later, Edwardian audiences saw the same sculptures as being beautiful. The Abuse of Beauty, Evaluations of beauty may well be linked to desirability, perhaps even to sexual desirability. Thus, judgments of aesthetic value can become linked to judgments of economic, political, or moral value. We might judge a Lamborghini to be beautiful partly because it is desirable as a status symbol, or we might judge it to be repulsive partly because it signifies for us over-consumption and offends our political or moral values.
Anthropology, especially the savanna hypothesis proposed by Gordon Orians and others, predicts that some of the positive aesthetics that people have are based on innate knowledge of productive human habitats. It had been shown that people prefer and feel happier looking at trees with spreading forms much more than looking at trees with other forms, or non-tree objects; also Bright green colors, linked with healthy plants with good nutrient  qualities, were more calming than other tree colors, including less bright greens and oranges.

Q. Beauty as a ‘property of things’ implies:

Arrange statements 1-4 given below in a logical sequence in order to form a coherent paragraph. Your answer will be the order of statement numbers that forms this logical sequence e.g. 2314.
1. Some of the drugs most often associated with this term include alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methaqualone, and opium alkaloids.
2. Use of these drugs may lead to criminal penalty in addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, both strongly depending on local jurisdiction.
3. Drug abuse has a huge range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect.
4. All of these definitions imply a negative judgement of the drug use in question (compare with the term responsible drug use for alternative views).

Arrange statements 1-5 given below in a logical sequence in order to form a coherent paragraph. Your answer will be the order of statement numbers that forms this logical sequence e.g. 23514.
1. The creation of the Black Tigers is based on the LTTE's studies of Asymmetric warfare thus using suicide cadres to balance the government's greater resources.
2. The Black Tigers are believed to be the most effective unit of its kind in the world, as with the rest of the LTTE, it is also secular, not driven by religious fanaticism.
3. The LTTE are keeping the Black Tiger unit active, as witnessed by their commemoration ceremonies. 4. They will then be called up if needed, and if so will have a last meal with the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. 5. The Tiger unit get extensive training but are then believed to return to their previous unit, without revealing their new assignment. 

Arrange statements 1-5 given below in a logical sequence in order to form a coherent paragraph. Your answer will be the order of statement numbers that forms this logical sequence e.g. 23514.
1. This increased capacity per unit area can be used to decrease cost and/or increase functionality.
2. But, since the speed and power consumption gains are apparent to the end user, there is fierce competition among the manufacturers to use finer geometries. |
3. In general, as the feature size shrinks, almost everything, including functionality improves - the cost per unit and the switching power consumption go down, and the speed goes up.
4. ICs have consistently migrated to smaller feature sizes over the years, allowing more circuitry to be packed on each chip. 5. ICs with nanometer-scale devices are not without their problems, principal among which is leakage current. 

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the number of sentences that are grammatically correct and appropriate.
1. Having finished supper, they banqueted afresh on conversation, Homer narrating his wanderings and telling of the cities he had visited.
2. At length they retired to rest; but the following morning Glaucus resolved to go to his master and acquaint him with his meeting with Homer. 
3. Having left the goats in the charge of a fellow-servant, he left Homer at home, promising to return quickly.
4. Glaucus told the whole story to his friend.

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the number of sentences that are grammatically incorrect.
1. Most of the military disasters have been caused by the home government.
2. Napoleon undoubtedly owed much of his extraordinary success to his goodwill.
3. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know you, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
4. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained one will also suffer a defeat.

The following question consists of a certain number of sentences. Some sentences are grammatically incorrect or inappropriate. Identify the number of sentences that are grammatically incorrect.
1. I stood to silence where I was, for I did not know what to do.
2. Of bell or knocker there was no sign.
3. Though these frowning walls and dark window openings it was not likely that my voice could penetrate.
4. The time I waited seemed endless, and I felt doubts and fears crowding upon me.
5. What sort of place had I come to, and among what kind of people? What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? Was this a customary incident in the life of a solicitor's clerk sent out to explain the purchase of a London estate to a foreigner?