Test Level 3: Main Idea - CAT MCQ

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Ask an American schoolchild what he or she is learning in school these days and you might even get a reply, provided you ask it in Spanish. But don't bother, here's the answer: Americans nowadays are not learning any of the things that we learned in our day, like reading and writing. Apparently these are considered fusty old subjects, invented by white males to oppress women and minorities. No one ever spent a moment building my self-esteem when I was in school. In fact, from the day I first stepped inside a classroom my self-esteem was one big demolition site. All that mattered was "the subject," be it geography, history, or mathematics. I was praised when I remembered that "near", "fit", "friendly", "pleasing", "like" and their opposites took the dative case in Latin. I was reviled when I forgot what a cosine was good for. Generally I lived my school years beneath a torrent of castigation so consistent I eventually ceased to hear it, as people who live near the sea eventually stop hearing the waves.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Whatever is, is in some sense the seed of what is to emerge from it… To be in process of change is not an evil, any more than to be the product of change is a good… Time is a river, the resistless flow of all created things. One thing no sooner comes in sight than it is hurried past and another is borne along, only to be swept away in its turn…What follows is ever closely linked to what precedes; it is not a procession of isolated events, merely obeying the laws of sequence, but a rational continuity. Moreover, just as things already in existence are all harmoniously coordinated, things in the act of coming into existence exhibit the same marvel of concatenation, rather than simply the bare fact of succession.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: Passage is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
We are entering the Age of the Terrific Deal, where choices are almost limitless and it's easy to switch to something better. This is the first principle of the new economy. Understanding it is the first step towards understanding what is happening to the rest of our lives. All else follows. And who doesn't want a better deal? Only the indolent, insane, or congenitally complacent would pass up a product that's obviously better (and costs no more) or cheaper (and of the same quality), an investment with a higher return, a more rewarding job, a more comfortable community. You owe it to yourself, your family. You owe it to capitalism. The insistence on a better deal didn't begin in America. It's just more extreme here. For most of history, humankind lived in villages surrounded by dense forests, deserts, or otherwise dangerous and mysterious terrain.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
The ancients who were well versed in Reason did not thereby enlighten the people; they intended thereby to make them simple-hearted. Spiritual virtue, verily, is profound. Verily, it is far-reaching. Verily, it is to everything reverse. But then it will procure great recognition. Now a man is great only because he resembles the unlikely. Did he resemble the likely, how lasting indeed, would his mediocrity be! I have three treasures which I cherish and prize. The first is called compassion. The second is called economy. The third is called not daring to come to the front in the world. The compassionate can be brave; the economical can be generous; those who dare not come to the front in the world can become perfect as chief vessels. Now, if people discard compassion and are brave; if they discard economy and are generous; if they discard modesty and are ambitious, they will surely die. Now, the compassionate will in attack be victorious, and in defence firm. Heaven when about to save one will with compassion protect him. Is not heaven's Reason truly like stretching a bow? Those who have abundance it depleteth; those who are deficient it augmenteth. Man's Reason is not so as he depletes the deficient to serve those who have abundance.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
The significance of life is living. Do we really live? Is life worth living when there is fear, when our whole life is trained in imitation, in copying? In following authority, is there living? Are you living when you follow somebody, even if he is the greatest saint or the greatest politician or the greatest scholar? If you observe your own ways, you will see that you do nothing but follow somebody or another. It is very difficult to put away authority. What is freedom from authority? You can break a law. That is not the freedom from authority. But there is freedom in understanding the whole process, how the mind creates authority, how each one of us is confused and therefore wants to be assured that he is living the right kind of life. Because we want to be told what to do, we are exploited by gurus, spiritual as well as scientific.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
The greatest hunger in life is not for food, money, success, status, security, or even love from the opposite sex. The deepest hunger in life is a secret that is revealed only when a person is willing to unlock a hidden part of the self. In the ancient traditions of wisdom, this quest has been likened to diving for the most-precious pearl in existence, a poetic way of saying that you have to swim far out beyond shallow waters, plunge deep into yourself, and search patiently until the pearl beyond price is found. The pearl is also called essence, the water of life, holy nectar - labels for what we, in our more prosaic scientific age, would simply call transformation. Transformation means radical change of form, the way a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. In human terms, it means turning fear, aggression, doubt, insecurity, hatred, and emptiness into their opposites. It comes down to the age old choice of separation or unity.
What is the theme of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Separateness is an illusion. That's what we learn through the spiritual practice of connections. Everything is interrelated in time, space, and our very being. Both religion and science reveal this truth: the experiences of the mystics, the teachings of ecology and physics, even the Internet. One definition of spirituality is "the art of making connections." There are certain givens: The one is made up of many. One thing always leads to another. Everything is related to everything else. You practice connections, then, by consciously tracing the links connecting you with other beings. Any point is a good starting place – your family line, your work, your back yard. Watch for the moments when the separations disappear. And don't be shy about naming mystical experiences as such when you experience them.
The practice of connections reinforces holistic thinking and awareness of how the spiritual, emotional, and mental aspects of our being interpenetrate and nourish each other.
What is the theme of the passage?