Passage Based Question on Synonyms, Antonyms and Homonyms

Passage

Direction: Read the passage and answer the following questions:

Even in a healthy brain, time is elastic. Staring at an angry face for five seconds feels longer than staring at a neutral one. It may be no serendipity that the pulse-generating neurons are directly wired into regions of the brain that handle emotionally charged sights and sounds. And recent experiments by Amelia Hunt at Harvard University hint that we may actually backdate our mental time line every time we move our eyes. Recently, Hunt had people stare straight ahead with a ticking clock off to one side. She asked people to move their eyes over to the clock and make a note of the time when they had done so. On average, they reported seeing the clock about four hundredths of a second before their eyes actually arrived there.

Moving time backward may actually serve us well, by letting us cope with an imperfect nervous system. Each of our retinas has a small patch of densely packed, light-sensitive cells called the fovea. In order to get a detailed picture of our surroundings, we have to tweak our eyes around several times a second so that the fovea can scan them. On its own, this stream of signals from our eyes would produce a jarring series of jump cuts. Our brains manufacture the phantasm of a seamless flow of reality. In the course of that editing, we may need to fudge the time line-both in anticipation of an event and after the fact. But the most radical reworking of time may come as we incise it in our memories. We recall not just what happened but when. We can recall how much time has passed since an event occurred by tapping into our memories. Injuries and surgeries that ravage a particular part of the brain can give some hints about how the brain records time in memory. French scientists in 2007 reported their study of a group of patients who had suffered damage to a region known as the left temporal lobe. The patients watched a documentary, and a bosom object appeared on the screen, then reappeared a few minutes later. The patients had to guess how much time had passed. On average, the patients thought an 8-minute period was roughly 13. (Normal subjects were off by only about a minute.)

These experiments are helping scientists zero in on the regions of the brain that store memories of time. Exactly how those regions record time is still mysterious. It's one thing to listen in on the brain's music, recognizing chords that mark the passage of five minutes. But how do the brain's memory-related neurons then archive those five minutes so that they can be recalled later?

Q1: Identify the synonyms of the words from the following options:
(i) Cope
(a) Fail
(b) Slump
(c) Wane
(d) Manage
Ans: (d)
Explanation: "Cope" means to deal effectively with or manage a difficult situation. Among the options, manage best expresses this meaning. The other options - fail, wane, and slump - indicate decline or inability rather than the ability to deal with something.

(ii) Serendipity
(a) Plan
(b) Coincidence
(c) Scheme
(d) Asynchrony
Ans: B
Explanation: "Serendipity" refers to a happy or fortunate chance occurrence. Option (b) "coincidence" best captures that sense. The other options - "plan" and "scheme" - imply intention, and "asynchrony" relates to lack of synchrony, so they do not match the meaning here. The phrase "It may be no serendipity" signals that something is not merely by chance, which reinforces (b) as the correct choice.

(iii) Ravage
(a) Build
(b) Bear
(c) Destroy
(d) Improve
Ans: (c)
Explanation: "Ravage" means to cause severe damage or destruction. In the sentence about injuries and surgeries, the intended sense is that they seriously damage a part of the brain, so option (c) "destroy" is the appropriate synonym. The other options convey creation, endurance or improvement, which do not fit.

(iv) Jarring
(a) Smooth
(b) Harsh
(c) Steady
(d) Firm
Ans: (b)
Explanation: "Jarring" describes something that is unpleasantly shocking or discordant. Here, the stream of eye signals would produce a series of abrupt, unpleasant cuts, so "harsh" (b) best matches that meaning. Options (a), (c) and (d) imply calmness or steadiness and are therefore not suitable antonyms in this context.

(v) Archive
(a) Record
(b) Withdraw
(c) Dislodge
(d) Unfasten
Ans: (a)
Explanation: "Archive" in this sentence means to store or record information for later retrieval. Option (a) "record" is the clear synonym. The other options imply removal or loosening, which are not relevant to the idea of storing memories for later recall.

Q2: Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct homonym given in the brackets:
(i) The earth is not ____, it revolves. (stationary/stationery)
Ans: stationary
Stationery (with an 'e') refers to writing materials such as paper and envelopes; stationary (with an 'a') means standing still or not moving, which fits the sentence.

(ii) He refused to ____ my gift. (accept/except)
Ans: accept
"Accept" means to agree to receive something; "except" means excluding or apart from, which does not fit the sentence.

(iii) We should not adopt _____ to achieve success. (fowl/foul)
Ans: foul

(iv) New Delhi is the _____ of India. (capitol/capital)
Ans: capital

(v) He has _____ to be the chairman of the society. (ceased/seized)
Ans: ceased

Q3: identify the antonyms of the words from the following options:
(i) Elastic
(a) Supple
(b) Rigid
(c) Flexible
(d) Recoiling
Ans: (b)
Explanation: "Elastic" means able to stretch and return to shape, so synonyms include "supple" and "flexible." The opposite is "rigid" (b), which means stiff and not easily stretched or bent.

(ii) Phantasm
(a) Illusion
(b) Mirage
(c) verity
(d) fantasy
Ans: (c)
Explanation: "Phantasm" denotes an illusion or an apparition - something not real. The antonym among the options is "verity" (c), which means truth or reality. The other choices are synonyms of "phantasm."

(iii) familiar
(a) Aloof
(b) Known
(c) Close
(d) Intimate
Ans: (a)
Explanation: "Familiar" refers to something well known or closely associated. The antonym among the options is "aloof," which means distant or detached. The other options convey closeness or familiarity.

(iv) Incise
(a) Inscribe
(b) Engrave
(c) Imprint
(d) Efface
Ans: (d)
Explanation: "Incise" means to cut into or carve - similar to "inscribe," "engrave," or "imprint." The antonym is "efface" (d), which means to erase or wipe out, the opposite of cutting or inscribing.