Mock Questions for English - 1 | English for CLAT PDF Download

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
In one of the aristocratic mansions built by Puget in the Rue du Grand Cours opposite the Medusa fountain, a second marriage feast was being celebrated, almost at the same hour with the nuptial repast given by Dantes. In this case, however, although the occasion of the entertainment was similar, the company was strikingly dissimilar.
Instead of a rude mixture of sailors, soldiers, and those belonging to the humblest grade of life, the present assembly was composed of the very flower of Marseilles society,--magistrates who had resigned their office during the usurper's reign; officers who had deserted from the imperial army and joined forces with Conde; and younger members of families, brought up to hate and execrate the man whom five years of exile would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate to the rank of a god.
The guests were still at table, and the heated and energetic conversation that prevailed betrayed the violent and vindictive passions that then agitated each dweller of the South, where unhappily, for five centuries religious strife had long given increased bitterness to the violence of party feeling. The emperor, now king of the petty Island of Elba, after having held sovereign sway over one-half of the world, counting as his subjects a small population of five or six thousand souls,--after having been accustomed to hear the "Vive Napoleons" of a hundred and twenty millions of human beings, uttered in ten different languages,--was looked upon here as a ruined man, separated forever from any fresh connection with France or claim to her throne.
The magistrates freely discussed their political views; the military part of the company talked unreservedly of Moscow and Leipsic, while the women commented on the divorce of Josephine. It was not over the downfall of the man, but over the defeat of the Napoleonic idea, that they rejoiced, and in this they foresaw for themselves the bright and cheering prospect of a revivified political existence. An old man, decorated with the cross of Saint Louis, now rose and proposed the health of King Louis XVIII. It was the Marquis de Saint-Meran.
This toast, recalling at once the patient exile of Hartwell and the peace-loving King of France, excited universal enthusiasm; glasses were elevated in the air a l'Anglais, and the ladies, snatching their bouquets from their fair bosoms, strewed the table with their floral treasures. In a word, an almost poetical fervor prevailed.
"Ah," said the Marquise de Saint-Meran, a woman with a stern, forbidding eye, though still noble and distinguished in appearance, despite her fifty years--"ah, these revolutionists, who have driven us from those very possessions they afterwards purchased for a mere trifle during the Reign of Terror, would be compelled to own, were they here, that all true devotion was on our side, since we were content to follow the fortunes of a falling monarch, while they, on the contrary, made their fortune by worshipping the rising sun; yes, yes, they could not help admitting that the king, for whom we sacrificed rank, wealth, and station was truly our 'Louis the wellbeloved,' while their wretched usurper his been, and ever will be, to them their evil genius, their 'Napoleon the accursed.' Am I not right, Villefort?"
[Extracted from The Count Of Monte Cristo By  Alexandre Dumas, Pere]
Q1: What is the primary focus of the passage?
(a) The military achievements of Napoleon
(b) The celebration of a second marriage feast in Marseilles
(c) The political opinions of King Louis XVIII
(d) The downfall of the French monarchy
Ans: (b)
Sol: The passage mainly describes a marriage feast in Marseilles, contrasting it with another feast and emphasizing the political and social opinions of the guests. While it touches upon Napoleon and other political aspects, these are not the central focus.

Q2: What can be inferred about the guests at the marriage feast?
(a) They were supportive of Napoleon's reign
(b) They were predominantly from the lower social classes
(c) They held anti-Napoleonic views and supported the monarchy
(d) They were indifferent to political issues
Ans: (c)
Sol: The guests are described as rejoicing over the defeat of the Napoleonic idea and toasting to King Louis XVIII, indicating their anti-Napoleonic stance and support for the monarchy.

Q3: Who proposed the toast to King Louis XVIII?
(a) The emperor of Elba
(b) The Marquis de Saint-Meran
(c) Villefort
(d) A military officer
Ans: (b)
Sol: The passage explicitly states that the Marquis de Saint-Meran proposed the toast to King Louis XVIII, making this a direct factual detail from the text.

Q4: Which word in the passage is a synonym for "passionate"?
(a) Forbidding
(b) Energetic
(c) Decorated
(d) Poetical
Ans: (d)
Sol: "Poetical" is used in the context of describing the fervor at the event, suggesting a passionate and almost artistic intensity. It is the closest synonym to "passionate" in the given context.

Q5: The phrase "elevated in the air a l'Anglais" is an example of which figure of speech?
(a) Simile
(b) Metaphor
(c) Allusion
(d) Personification
Ans: (c)
Sol: This phrase is an allusion, referencing a specific cultural practice (toasting in an English manner) to enrich the description. It doesn't compare two things like a simile or metaphor, nor does it give human characteristics to non-human entities like personification.