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READING COMPREHENSION
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Showing posts with label CAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CAT. Show all posts
Friday, 11 March 2016
READING COMPREHENSION BASICS
Sunday, 21 February 2016
TYPE IN THE ABOVE TYPE QUESTIONS FOR CAT( COMMON ADMISSION TEST )
How to handle TITA questions when it
comes to Parajumbles?
Well I know this portion gives all of us head-aches. It is a really dicey section when it comes to Verbal Aptitude. As it is, Parajumbles are tough with the options.
Take them out and lol, it becomes a Super Saiyan God.
Now but then again you can't just avoid them . You have got to solve them. I didn't find many articles till date stating in detail the mechanisms you need to employ to deal with these type of "googlies" . I am no expert but I had developed certain rules myself and it helped me a lot.
Frequent FAQ's
1. How to begin?
Ans:- Please be patient. Verbal aptitude development takes a lot of time. A single bad result doesn't mean that you are less talented. Work hard and you will get there. For TITA's have patience. A lot, in fact. Let me tell you why. It takes longer to solve without the options. You have to read each sentence. Gauge the structure. Decide on the connectors. Evaluate and then answer. If you are a beginner, don't be bogged down by some stalwart solving it in a minute. Take 5 minutes for all I care but solve it. Still wrong? Don't chuck. Try to find out why instead of leaving it completely.
2. Okay enough gyaan, what are the techniques?
Ans:- Yes, Yes techniques. Mind you I am no expert and these techniques worked only for me. I am sharing it to give you a first-hand insight on how it can be done.
Example 1.
1). Despite posting healthy profits, Volkswagen shares trade at a discount to peers due to bad reputation among investors.
2). A disastrous capital hike, an expensive foray into truck business and uncertainty about the reason for a share buyback have in recent years left investors bewildered.
3). The main problem with Volkswagen is the past.
4). Many investors have been disappointed and frightened away.
5). Volkswagen shares trade at about nine times the 2002 estimated earnings, compared to BMW's 19 and are the second cheapest in the sector.
How I go through it. Read on.
1. Despite beginning word. Can be , cannot be. Hold this.
2. Disastrous hike. can be, cannot be. Hold this
3. Main problem. Must be something before. Eliminate.
4. Disappointed. Cannot be the opening. Reasons not stated .
5. Generic statement. introduction missing. eliminate
second phase.
1. check for possible linkages. 2 can go with 5. yes. 3 continues 12. So how do I arrange this?3. Rough check:- 25413. Read it . Not making sense. 4. Second check. :-13425. Read it. Makes sense . Maintains the flow. Type it.
OA:- 13425
Second example:-
1). In 1979, Grenada witnessed the establishment of a socialist government by Maurice Bishop, which survived four years of US-engineered incursions.
2). This was duly appreciated, with some 7, 000 US servicemen being designated as heroes and given decorations.
3). This government was overthrown in an internal power struggle among left-wing groups and, within three weeks of the Bishop’s ouster and assassination, Reagan launched Operation Urgent Fury against Grenada, claiming that the invasion was "forced on us by events that have no precedent in the eastern Caribbean."
4). In the end Grenada, just like Cuba and Nicaragua, was no more than the Chomskian "threat of a good example" to other Third World countries in the region.
5). Around 2,000 US Marines "fought" for a week, destroying a mental hospital, killing 84 Cubans building an airstrip, and 400 Grenadians.
How I go through it. Read on.
Second technique:-
1. Look for pairs.
2. Okay searching. Read all the statements first. Okay. Done
3. 1 seems to go before 3. okay 1then 3. hold it.
4. Now, in sentence '2' US servicemen are appreciated but for what work. That work is described in sentence '5'.
5. Okay now let's play:- 41352. and 13524
Second one makes better sense. Type it and you are done YaY!!
See it becomes easy ain't it. I have total 5 techniques. IF you wish to know more ping me. And please for the love of god attempt all the TITA questions. Nahi aah raha firbhi karo, negative nahi jayega. grin emoticon You can be Scrooge Mcduck for all I care and who knows you can get a +3 out of nowhere.
My two cents:-1. Read a lot. Book reading works. No matter who is saying otherwise. IT is only when you read do you gain proper insight and develop a pattern and structure in your head. IF you don't believe me, try it out for yourself.
2. Verbal takes time. A lot of time. You need to work very hard. There are no shortcuts or tricks for verbal. Just like you practise in the nets before scoring a ton, you gotta put in the hard work.
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READING COMPREHENSION
RC RC RC!!! :D
Well all of you are haunted by the term RC. Now it doesn’t take an expert to solve them –trust me- it is just like any other DI set , only hatke. :3 Employing some unorthodox techniques can help you in the long run. And most of these techniques aren’t that hard to gulp down, so read on:-
1) First, remove the fear that RCs are negative marks accumulators. Having said that the first mocks will make you hang your heads but it happens to the best of us so don't lose hope.
2) Read two editorials per day from www.aldaily.com and the newspaper Hindu. Download the apps- the guardian, hindu, knappily, newsbytes. It will help you not only with your RC's but also with your GK.
3) Try and read novels-good old classics should help.( We will be providing a list later on. Don't you worry. Chillax ;) )
Now the RC bit
1) If you don’t like the initial line of the RC don’t proceed then, solve it at the very end if you have time or leave it completely. This liking is similar to the feeling you get when you choose your girlfriend over another girl. Jokes apart, this is important. ( LOLMAX )
2) When you are reading your RC, stop looking at the clock, read slowly but steadily. If verbal is your weaker section then you must attempt 3Rcs to the bare minimum, so yes you have time. If you complete the other questions and have 35 min left for your RCs then you can knock off four of them completely.So don’t panic. It will require practice.
3) Don’t look here are there. Read it at a stretch and slowly. Put two fingers in your ears and read if possible but get the facts in your head.
4) After reading the entire passage summarize the gist in your head for about 30sec and then proceed to the other questions.
5) Read the question-each question at-least two times if not thrice. Try to understand what is being asked and get to the part of the passage from where the question loiters about. Read that part again. Don’t worry about the time. Two options shall be damn close. If you have clicked the obvious then stare at the screen and contradict yourself. If you can’t convince yourself to change the response click on that. Over time your pace increases. Don't try to be Usain Bolt at the very first race :3
6) Treat RCs as the father of critical reasoning questions. We aren’t afraid of ghosts, we are afraid of the dark. So change the term!!! Call the RCs ” Long CRs” It works. :D
7) If you have no idea regarding an answer even after following all the other steps, leave that question. -1 se behataar zero hain yaar. :P
Philosophy blogs:-BLOGMETRICS
8) For those who are lacking the appetite to solve RCs i suggest you to practise from www.rcprep.com. If you are really poor at solving RCs I suggest you to take 12min per rc and solve two of them correctly. matlab 7*3=21 is better than 6*3-7=11, if you get what I mean.
9) Last but not the least, as the saying goes : ” Shop till you drop. ” Practise till you literally drop. RCs are like DI , only a bit complex. They aren’t as straightforward as DIs and ajke din me sabhi googly hi daalte hain. So we should all get used to it :3
10) Always read the passage first and then answer the questions. But if you see that only 4 or 3 minutes are left and you have nothing else to do. Go look for the other passages and skim for direct factual questions like :” What does the author say when he meant this word? ” or ” What was the reason behind this” or “meaning of word”. Such questions you can solve easily if you find the part of the passage from where it is taken. Skim through the passage fast. The idea is to hold on to your nerves. Again nahi hua toh thik hain lekin -1 nahi chahiye. If you find out the part and if you are absolutely sure, then mark it. This is the only time when you should read the question first and the passage later
More such articles to come!!! And calm down, don't rush. Sab bhala hoga apka. Have confidence and phod phad do. There will be ups and downs but don't quit.
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CRITICAL REASONING
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CR Article |
CR
The biggest folly that we, the students make when we are attempting this type of questions can be highlighted under the following bullets:-
· Think that by mere impulse we can solve :3
· Jump to marking the particular option just when we have agreed to a particular option which is say B, and not even bothering to read the other options :v
· Think that Critical Reasoning questions cannot be solved by logic but mere gut instincts. LOLWA
Well, I am sorry to inform you but aise nahi hoga beta :P
Lets begin:-
These are the frequently asked questions or rather the possible questions that came to my mind that a person can ask while tackling CR
1. How do we approach the questions?
Ans:- First of all read the paragraph well. Have patience. I cannot stress how important this is when you are attempting CAT having under performed in my first attempt itself. Try and understand what the author is trying to tell. Make short notes. Perform scratch work. We will discuss on this as we proceed.
2. How many types of Critical Reasoning questions are there?
Ans:- Well many, in a single word. Jokes apart, you have to get these four words drilled in your head.
a) Conclusion= hence, thus, must, therefore etc
b) Premise= tree of reason for the conclusion part. ( body stem )
c) Assumptions= The basic connection that must be made. ( Read detective novels. Or watch the good old hercule poirot series . Stimulate the senses )
d) Argument= premise and conclusion
Eg:- I am sick. Maybe it is because I got wet in the rain yesterday.
A basic assumption that one gets sick due to the event of getting wet must be made.
But the major types ( more or less to give you an idea ) are as follows:-
· Assumption based questions
· Conclusion based questions
· Inference based questions
· Strengthening an argument based questions
· Weakening an argument based questions
· Evaluating argument based questions
· possible completing sentence after a paragraph.
· Finding the flaw type questions
3. So how shall I proceed or go about answering the questions?
Ans:- Keep the following points in mind
1) Identify assumption / strengthen / weaken the conclusion type nature of the question and paragraph
2) Identify the conclusion
3) Deduce the conclusion / get the inference
4) Mimic the reasoning. Depending on question type you will need to use one of the following 3 METHODS
· METHOD 1: Use Venn diagrams
· METHOD 2: Use x, y, z to simply questions
· METHOD 3: Use logical operators; In questions which involve straight forward negation or conditional analysis
5) Resolve the paradox- Perform regular elimination checks. Write down the option A, B, C , D and E. Weigh each one against the other. Don't hurry
6) Identify the flaw
7) Repeat in your mind- There is a definite answer and I must not solve it without considering the parts of the argument and I WILL NOT let my gut instincts play a major role in choosing an option. ( This works for me. You can try it out )
Now we shall deal with each problem pattern and how to go about solving them. I have tried to pick up solutions from here and there to aid you in the thinking pattern that must be replicated each time you solve CR questions.
I) Assumption example
Q1) credits:- MBACRYSTALL
The median age in developed countries is around 42 years, meaning that half the population is below and half the population is above 42 years old. Reports provided by psychologists indicate that 63% of those who seek psychological help in developed countries are below 42 years old. Such evidence clearly indicates that in developed countries psychological problems are more common among people who are younger than 42 years.
The argument above assumes that...
A) The percentage of the population with psychological problems is not significantly higher for developed countries than for other states.
B) Among those with psychological problems in developed countries, the percentage who seek psychological help is not significantly lower for those older than 42 than it is for those younger than 42.
C) One of the primary factors contributing to the development of psychological disorders is inability to cope with excessive stress resulting from professional activity.
D) The severity of psychological disorders in developed countries among those who have not yet turned 42 is generally lower than it is among those who are 42 or older.
E) A significant proportion of those 42 or older in developed countries are retired and no longer subject to the stress associated with educational or occupational activities.
This question requires you to notice that the subject of the evidence is those who seek professional psychological help whereas the subject of the conclusion is those with psychological problems. Even though the two categories certainly overlap, it could be quite true that many of those who have problems don't seek help, and in that case, statistics about those who visit psychologists would not lead to valid conclusions about all those who need help. Look at these answer choices and see which ones help validate the argument.
A) The percentage of the population with psychological problems is not significantly higher for developed countries than for other states. The whole argument deals with developed countries, so there is no need to consider how these statistics relate to those in less developed countries-Irrelevant.
B) Among those with psychological problems in developed countries, the percentage who seek psychological help is not significantly lower for those older than 42 than it is for those younger than 42. Correct. If a lot more of those who are 42+ and troubled simply don't go to see a psychologist, then it could be that an equal or higher percentage of 42+ citizens have problems but just don't seek help. Choice B must be assumed if the conclusion is to be valid.
C) One of the primary factors contributing to the development of psychological disorders is inability to cope with excessive stress resulting from professional activity. This choice is irrelevant to the conclusion and therefore cannot support its validity.
D) The severity of psychological disorders in developed countries among those who have not yet turned 42 is generally lower than it is among those who are 42 or older. The argument is concerned with psychological disorders in general, so the relative severity of such disorders is out of scope.
E) A significant proportion of those 42 or older in developed countries are retired and no longer subject to the stress associated with educational or occupational activities. Irrelevant-true or not, this assumption does not affect the conclusion of the argument.
The correct answer is B.
II) Strengthening Example
Q2) credits:- GMATCLUB
The postal service is badly mismanaged. Thirty years ago, first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. Since then, the price has increased sevenfold, with an actual decrease in the speed and reliability of service.
All of the following would tend to weaken the conclusion of the argument above EXCEPT:
a.The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last thirty years.
b.Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
c.Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery services.
d.The average delivery time for a first-class letter three decades ago was slightly longer than it is today.
e.The average level of consumer prices overall has increased fourfold over the last thirty years.
Reviewing Answer Choices
a. The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last thirty years.
This would seem to excuse the poor service/price because the service has had to overcome a massive increase in volume.
b. Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
This would seem to excuse the poor service/price because costs have increased dramatically.
c. Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery services.
This would seem to excuse the poor service/price because other services are not as efficient.
d. The average delivery time for a first-class letter three decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today.
This shows they have made improvements in service, suggesting that the postal service isn't all that bad after all.
e. The average level of consumer prices overall has increased fourfold over the last thirty years.
Since the price of postage has increased seven times over, this suggests that postal prices have increased at a rate much quicker than inflation. Thus, choice E does support the original argument, making this the correct answer.
III) weakening examples
Q3)
credits :- 800SCORE
In many pre-schools, children tend to commonly get colds before their resistance develops and the colds become much less frequent. It is clear that a child requires several colds before white blood cell concentrations rise high enough to effectively deal with colds.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens this theory?
A. Children commonly spread viruses and bacteria in a small closed environment.
B. The use of Vitamin C increases resistance to the common cold and decreases its frequency.
C. Parents stock up on cold medicine after a child gets sick that alleviate the symptoms of a cold.
D. There are many strains of the cold virus and children develop resistance to individual strains.
E. White blood cells fight infection and their production levels are stimulated by high infection levels.
Reviewing Answer Choices
A. Children commonly spread viruses and bacteria in a small closed environment.
Not Relevant
B. The use of Vitamin C increases resistance to the common cold and decreases its frequency.
Not Relevant
C. Parents stock up on cold medicine after a child gets sick that alleviate the symptoms of a cold.
This choice presents another possible reason to undermine the argument, but the medicine deals with symptoms, not the cold per se. So it is not reducing an instance of a cold, simply decreasing their symptoms (no more runny noses!).
D. There are many strains of the cold virus and children develop resistance to individual strains.
This choice suggests an alternative explanation for the apparent improvement in a child's ability to fight colds: the child simply becomes immune to individual viruses per se. So, the theory that a child's immune system needs high white blood cell concentrations isn't the case, it is an issue of exposure to certain strains. By suggesting a different causal process to explain the reduction in colds, it weakens the argument.
E. White blood cells fight infection and their production levels are stimulated by high infection levels.
This choice supports this statement, but the question asks for what weakens it.
IV) Conclusion examples
Q4) credits:- MAGOOSH
Diamond Enterprises is a store in Apisville that sells specialty luxury items. For several years, Diamond reaped substantial profits and was considering building branch stores in nearby counties. Stibium Industries, for several years the single largest employer in Apisville and the surrounding region, abruptly closed its plant last year, causing widespread unemployment. Only a fraction of the former Stibium workers have found new jobs, and many of these at much lower wages. Early this year, Diamond Enterprises has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing the closure of Stibium as one of the primary causes.
Which of the following inferences is best supported by the passage?
A. Diamond Enterprises would have avoided bankruptcy if it had followed through with the plan to build branch stores during its more prosperous years.
B. Stibium's management team had a corporate account with Diamond Enterprises, and ordered several luxury items used in business meetings and to entertain prospective clients.
C. Diamond's direct competitors, in Apisville and in the surrounding region, are much larger than Diamond, and therefore benefitted substantially from the conditions that arose after Stibium closed.
D. The closure of Stibium resulted in a loss of revenue for Diamond Enterprises.
E. After Stibium Industry closed, Diamond Enterprises was the single largest employer in Apisville.
1) The credited answer is (D). We know Diamond had high profits before Stibium closed, and we know it was close to bankruptcy after Stibium closed, citing Stibum's closure as one of the primary causes. There, in some way, as a result of Stibium closing, Diamond lost revenue. Consider the opposite of (D): If Stibium closed, and that caused no revenue loss for Diamond, then how on earth could Diamond cite the closure of Stibium as one of the causes of its plummet from high profits to bankruptcy? The opposite of (D) is a scenario that makes no sense, so (D) is an unavoidable inference, very well supported.
Choice (A) is a tempting answer. Would branches of other Diamond stores in other towns have reaped profits, enough to avoid the bankruptcy mentioned? Perhaps. That's certainly a plausible possibility, but we don't know for sure. If we don't know for sure, it's not a good inference. (A) is incorrect.
Choice (B) is way too specific in the kind of assumptions it makes. It seems that Diamond was getting some kind of revenue from Stibium, but was it the management buying perks? or rank-and-file workers buying treats for themselves? We don't know. Anything that spins a highly specific story is too much to infer strictly from the information in the prompt. (B) is incorrect.
Choice (C) makes too many assumptions - does this specialty store Diamond have direct competitors in the region? if so, are these competitors larger? was "being larger" an advantage in the economic conditions that resulted from Stibium's closure? There are too many things we don't know, so we can draw a clear inference. (C) is incorrect.
Choice (E) is entirely unfounded. We have no idea how big Diamond is, and we have no idea what other employers Apisville might have.
(E) is incorrect.
(D) is by far the best answer.
V) Evaluate the argument examples
Q5) credits:-VERITAS
"In the past the country of Malvernia has relied heavily on imported oil. Malvernia recently implemented a program to convert heating systems from oil to natural gas. Malvernia currently produces more natural gas each year than it uses, and oil production in Malvernian oil fields is increasing at a steady pace. If these trends in fuel production and usage continue, therefore, Malvernian reliance on foreign sources [of] fuel is likely to decline soon."
Which of the following would be most useful to establish in evaluating the argument?
(A) When, if ever, will production of oil in Malvernia outstrip production of natural gas?
(B) Is Malvernia among the countries that rely most on imported oil?
(C) What proportion of Malvernia's total energy needs is met by hydroelectric, solar, and nuclear power?
(D) Is the amount of oil used each year in Malvernia for generating electricity and fuel for transportation increasing?
(E) Have any existing oil-burning heating systems in Malvernia already been converted to natural-gas-burning heating systems?"
The conclusion to this argument is, "Malvernian reliance on foreign sources for fuel is likely to decline soon," and the evidence is that Malvernia has plenty of natural gas and will be using natural gas for heating. Additionally, Malvernia is increasing oil production.
The correct answer to this question is the one that, when answered one way, will strengthen the argument and, when answered the other way, will weaken it. That answer choice is D, "Is the amount of oil used each year in Malvernia for generating electricity and fuel for transportation increasing?"
If the answer is "no," the conclusion is definitely strengthened. With more domestic oil production and with natural gas used for heat, if the oil used for electricity and transportation is not increasing, Malvernia's reliance on foreign sources of fuel is likely to decrease. And if the answer is "yes," more oil will be required in the future, and even with more domestic oil production, it is unlikely that the reliance on foreign oil will decrease. This is the answer that is balanced between strengthening and weakening. None of the other answer choices asks questions that could either strengthen or weaken the conclusion.
If you want to master "evaluate" questions and maximize your critical reasoning score, look for that answer choice that does not strengthen or weaken but is balanced between the two.
VI) Finding flaw examples.
1. if true type question- not hypothetical
2. Attack the assumptions.
3. Look at statistics
Q6) credits:- BEATTHEGMAT
A city plans to attract new citizens with new housing and new facilities such as parks, recreation centers and libraries. One component of the city's plans is to require that development seeking permission is to build this new housing to provide these additional facilities at no cost to the city.
Which of the following, if true, would point to a possible flaw in the city's plan?
(A) Developers would pass along their costs to the buyer; thereby raising the cost of housing units beyond the ability of likely purchasers to afford them.
(B) Light, nonpolluting industries have located in the area, offering more jobs and better-paying jobs than do the more established industries in the area.
(C) Other towns and cities nearby have yet to embark on comparable plans to attract new citizens
(D) Most developers see the extra expense of providing municipal facilities as simply one of the many costs of doing business.
(E) Studies show that purchasers of new houses, especially first-time buyers, rank recreational resources as an important factor in deciding to buy a particular house.
A. weakening and flaw. Talks about the price. ( OA )
B. No weakening or flaw
C. Irrelevant
D. No weakening or flaw
E. No weakening .
VII) Inferences examples
1. Information not given directly.
2.. Don't go on randomly guessing
3. Must be 100% true
4. Reader's point of view given impetus.
5. Eliminate options out of scope.
Q7) credits:-LSAT
Although Locke has been hailed as a giant figure in European intellectual history, his ideas were largely borrowed from his predecessors, who are now unfairly neglected by historians. Furthermore, Locke never wrote a truly great book; his most widely known works are muddy in style, awkwardly constructed, and often self-contradictory.
With which of the following would the author most likely agree?
A. Locke made use of ideas without acknowledging his predecessors as the sources of those ideas.
B. Current historians are re-evaluating the work of Locke in the light of present-day knowledge.
C. Locke's contributions to the development of European thought have been greatly exaggerated.
D. Historians should reexamine Locke's place in European intellectual history.
E.Although Locke's ideas were important, his way of expressing them in writing was sadly inadequate.
Explanation: The author makes two assertions about Locke: that his ideas were not original and that his books were not very good. On the basis of these assertions, the author concludes that Locke's reputation as an intellectual giant is undeserved. Choice (C) accurately summarizes this conclusion.
focuses on a subsidiary point, not the main idea; moreover, it makes an assumption unsupported by the passage namely, that Locke did not acknowledge the sources of his ideas.
Is wrong because although the passage clearly indicates that the author is "re-evaluating" Locke's work, it does not suggest that "current historians" in general are doing so.
This choice best expresses the point, that Locke's contributions were not original.
Is tricky because it is a good answer, but it is not the best answer. (D) implies that the author recommends that other historians re-examine Locke. Since no recommendation exists in the argument, Choice (C) is the only option.
Not addressed.
VIII) Completion type examples
Remember these words when you are solving such question:-
1. assertation
2. prediction
3. total clarity.
4. recognise the pattern. maintain the flow
Q8) credits:- GMATCLUB
Davison River farmers are currently deciding between planting winter wheat this fall or spring wheat next spring. Winter wheat and spring wheat are usually about equally profitable. Because of new government restrictions on the use of Davison River water for irrigation, per acre yields for winter wheat, though not for spring wheat, would be much lower than average. Therefore, planting spring wheat will be more profitable than planting winter wheat, since‗‗‗‗‗‗.
A. the smaller-than-average size of a winter wheat harvest this year would not be compensated for by higher winter wheat prices
B. new crops of spring wheat must be planted earlier than the time at which standing crops of winter wheat are ready to be harvested
C. the spring wheat that farmers in the Davison River region plant is well adapted to the soil of the region
D. spring wheat has uses that are different from those of winter wheat
E. planting spring wheat is more profitable than planting certain other crops, such as rye
A. the smaller-than-average size of a winter wheat harvest this year would not be compensated for by higher winter wheat prices
If size of the winter harvest would not be compensated by the winter wheat prices, then farmers would incur losses. Hence the answer.
B. new crops of spring wheat must be planted earlier than the time at which standing crops of winter wheat are ready to be harvested
The choice is not explaining why planting spring wheat is more profitable than planting winter wheat. Hence the choice is incorrect.
C. the spring wheat that farmers in the Davison River region plant is well adapted to the soil of the region
-out of scope
D. spring wheat has uses that are different from those of winter wheat
-out of scope
E. planting spring wheat is more profitable than planting certain other crops, such as rye
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Saturday, 22 November 2014
TOTAL GADHA ( GEOMETRY COMPILED )
PROPERTIES OF TRIANGLES
SIMILAR TRIANGLES PRIMER
GEOMETRY- CIRCLE AND ITS PROPERTIES
Friday, 21 November 2014
CAT RC ( MISCELLANEOUS )
: MISCELLANEOUS
PASSAGE
I
The persistent patterns in the way nations
fight reflect their cultural and historical traditions and deeply rooted
attitudes that collectively make up their strategic culture. These patterns
provide insights that go beyond what can be learnt just by comparing armaments
and divisions. In the Vietnam War, the strategic tradition of the United States United States Southeast Asia ,
against an enemy with no intention of doing so.
Some British military historians describe
the Asian way of war as one of indirect attacks, avoiding frontal attacks meant
to overpower an opponent. This traces back to Asian history and geography: the
great distances and harsh terrain have often made it difficult to execute the
sort of open field clashes allowed by the flat terrain and relatively compact
size of Europe . A very different strategic
tradition arose in Asia .
The bow and arrow were metaphors for an
Eastern way of war. By its nature, the arrow is an indirect weapon. Fired from
a distance of hundreds of yards, it does not necessitate physical contact with
the enemy. Thus, it can be fired from hidden positions. When fired from behind
a ridge, the barrage seems to come out of nowhere, taking the enemy by
surprise. The tradition of this kind of fighting is captured in the classical
strategic writings of the East. The 2,000 years’ worth of Chinese writings on
war constitutes the most subtle writings on the subject in any language. Not
until Clausewitz, did the West produce a strategic theorist to match the
sophistication of Sun-tzu, whose Art of
War was written 2,300 years earlier.
In Sun-tzu and other Chinese writings, the
highest achievement of arms is to defeat an adversary without fighting. He
wrote: “To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of
skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.” Actual
combat is just one among many means towards the goal of subduing an adversary. War
contains too many surprises to be a first resort. It can lead to ruinous
losses, as has been seen time and again. It can have the unwanted effect of
inspiring heroic efforts in an enemy, as the United States learned in Vietnam,
and as the Japanese found out after Pearl Harbor.
Aware of the uncertainties of a military
campaign, Sun-tzu advocated war only after most thorough preparations. Even
then it should be quick and clean. Ideally, the army is just an instrument to
deal the final blow to an enemy already weakened by isolation, poor morale, and
disunity. Ever since Sun-tzu, the Chinese have been seen as masters of subtlety
who take measured actions to manipulate an adversary without his knowledge. The
dividing line between war and peace can be obscure. Low level violence often is
the backdrop to a larger strategic campaign. The unwitting victim, focused on
the day-to-day events, never realizes what’s happening to him until it’s too
late. History holds many examples. The Viet Cong lured French and U.S. United States Europe ,
where it could quickly move unhindered from one spot to the next. The jungle
did more than make quick movement impossible; broken down smaller units and
scattered in isolated bases, US forces were deprived of the feeling of support
and protection that ordinarily comes from being part of a big army.
The isolation of U.S. Vietnam
More important, by altering the way the war
was fought, the Viet Cong stripped the United States Vietnam Hanoi Saigon in
1975. It should be recalled that in the final push to victory the North
Vietnamese abandoned their jungle guerrilla tactics completely, committing
their entire army of twenty divisions to pushing the South Vietnamese into
collapse. This final battle, with the enemy’s army all in one place, was the
one that the United States Washington
The Japanese early in World War II used a
modern form of the indirect attack, one that relied on stealth and surprise for
its effect. At Pearl Harbor , in the Philippines Southeast Asia , stealth and surprise
were attained by sailing under radio silence so that the navy’s movements could
not be tracked. Moving troops aboard ships into Southeast
Asia made it appear that the Japanese army was also “invisible.”
Attacks against Hawaii Singapore Indonesia Philippines France
The greatest military surprises in American
history have all been in Asia . Surely there is
something going on here beyond the purely technical difficulties of detecting
enemy movements. Pearl Harbor , the Chinese
intervention in Korea Vietnam U.S. Iraq Kuwait Syria Egypt Israel United
States Iraq Kuwait
The exception that proves the point that
cultural differences obscure the West’s understanding of Asian behavior was the
Soviet Union ’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan United States Moscow Soviet Union
was really a Western country.
The difference between the Eastern and the
Western way of war is striking. The west’s great strategic writer, Clausewitz,
linked war with politics, as did Sun-tzu. Both were opponents of militarism, of
turning war over to the generals. But there all similarity ends. Clausewitz
wrote that the way to achieve a larger political purpose is through destruction
of the enemy’s army. After observing Napoleon conquer Europe
by smashing enemy armies to bits, Clausewitz made his famous remark in On War (1932) that combat is the
continuation of politics by violent means. Morale and unity are important, but
they should be harnessed for the ultimate battle. If the Eastern way of war is
embodied by the stealthy archer, the metaphorical Western counterpart is the
swordsman charging forward, seeking a decisive showdown, eager to administer
the blow that will obliterate the enemy once and for all. In this view, war
proceeds along a fixed course and occupies a finite extent of time, like a play
in three acts with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The end, the final scene,
decides the issue for good.
When things don’t work out quite this way,
the Western military mind feels tremendous frustration. Sun-tzu’s great
disciples, Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh, are respected in Asia
for their clever use of indirection and deception to achieve an advantage over
stronger adversaries. But in the West their approach is seen as underhand and
devious. To the American strategic mind, the Viet Cong guerrilla did not fight
fairly. He should have come out into the open and fought like a man, instead of
hiding in the jungle and sneaking around like a cat in the night.
1. According to the author, the main reason
for the U.S.
1. the Vietnamese understood
the local terrain better.
2. the lack of
support for the war from the American people.
3.
the failure of the U.S.
4. their
inability to fight a war on terms other than those they understood well.
2. Which of the following statements does not
describe the ‘Asian’ way of war?
1. Indirect attacks without frontal attacks.
2. The swordsman charging forward to
obliterate the enemy once and for all.
3. Manipulation of an adversary without his
knowledge.
4. Subduing an enemy without fighting.
3.
Which of the following is not one of Sun-tzu’s ideas?
1. Actual combat is the principal means of
subduing an adversary.
2. War should be undertaken only after
thorough preparation.
3. War is linked to politics.
4. War should not be left to the generals
alone.
4.
The difference in the concepts of war of Clausewitz and Sun-tzu is best
characterized by
1. Clausewitz’s support for militarism as
against Sun-tzu’s opposition to it.
2. their relative degrees of sophistication.
3. their attitude to guerrilla warfare.
4. their differing conceptions of the
structure, time and sequence of a war.
5.
To the Americans, the approach of the Viet Cong seemed devious because
1. the Viet Cong did not fight like men out in
the open.
2. the Viet Cong allied with America
3. the Viet Cong took strategic advice from
Mao Zedong.
4. the Viet Cong used bows and arrows rather
than conventional weapons.
6.
According to the author, the greatest military surprises in American
history have been in Asia because
1. The Americans failed to implement their
military strategies many miles away from their own country.
2. The Americans were unable to use their
technologies like intelligence satellites effectively to detect enemy
movements.
3. The Americans failed to understand the
Asian culture of war that was based on stealth and surprise.
4. Clausewitz is inferior to Sun-tzu.
PASSAGE II
Studies of the factors governing reading development
in young children have achieved a remarkable degree of consensus over the past
two decades. This consensus concerns the causal role of phonological skills in
young children’s reading progress. Children, who have good phonological skills
or good ‘phonological awareness’, become good readers and good spellers.
Children with poor phonological skills progress more poorly. In particular,
those who have a specific phonological deficit are likely to be classified as
dyslexic by the time that they are 9 or 10 years old.
Phonological skills in young children can be measured
at a number of different levels. The term phonological
awareness is a global one, and refers to a deficit in recognising smaller
units of sound within spoken words. Developmental work has shown that this
deficit can be at the level of syllables, of onsets and rimes, or of phonemes.
For example, a 4-year old child might have difficulty in recognising that a
word like valentine has three
syllables, suggesting a lack of syllabic awareness.
A 5-year old might have difficulty in recognising that the odd word out in the
set of words fan, cat, hat, mat is fan. This task requires an awareness of
the sub-syllabic units of the onset and
the rime. The onset corresponds to
any initial consonants in a syllable, and the rime corresponds to the vowel and
to any following consonants. Rimes correspond to rhyme in single-syllable
words, and so the rime in fan differs
from the rime in cat, hat, and mat. In longer words, rime and rhyme
may differ. The onsets in val:en:tine are
/v/ and /t/, and the rimes correspond to the spelling patterns ‘al’, ‘en’, and ‘ine’.
A 6-year old might have difficulty in recognising that
plea and pray begin with the same initial sound. This is a phonemic judgement. Although the initial
phoneme /p/ is shared between the two
words, in plea it is part of the
onset ‘pl’, and in pray it is part of the onset ‘pr’. Until children can segment the
onset (or the rime), such phonemic judgements are difficult for them to make.
In fact, a recent survey of different developmental studies has shown that the
different levels of phonological awareness appear to emerge sequentially. The
awareness of syllables, onsets, and rimes appears to emerge at around the ages
of 3 and 4, long before most children go to school. The awareness of phonemes,
on the other hand, usually emerges at around the age of 5 or 6, when children
have been taught to read for about a year. An awareness of onsets and rimes
thus appears to be a precursor of reading, whereas an awareness of phonemes at
every serial position in a word only appears to develop as reading is taught.
The onset-rime and phonemic levels of phonological structure, however, are not
distinct. Many onsets in English are single phonemes, and so are some rimes
(e.g., sea, go, zoo).
The early awareness of onsets and rimes is supported
by studies that have compared the development of phonological awareness of
onsets, rimes, and phonemes in the same subjects using the same phonological
awareness tasks. For example, a study by Treiman and Zudowski used a
same/different judgement task based on the beginning or the end sounds of
words. In the beginning sound task, the words either began with the same onset,
as in plea and plank, or shared only the initial phoneme, as in plea and pray. In the end-sound task, the words either shared the entire
rime, as in spit and wit, or shared only the final phoneme,
as in rat and wit. Treiman and Zudowski showed that 4-year and 5-year old
children found the onset-rime version of the same/different task significantly
easier than the version based on phonemes. Only the 6-year-olds, who had been
learning to read for about a year, were able to perform both versions of the
tasks with an equal level of success.
7. From the
following statements, pick out the true statement according to the passage:
1. A mono-syllabic word can have only one
onset.
2. A mono-syllabic word can have only one rhyme
but more than one rime.
3. A mono-syllabic word can have only one
phoneme.
4. All of the above.
8. Which one of the following is likely to emerge
last in the cognitive development of a child?
1. Rhyme.
2. Rime.
3. Onset.
4. Phoneme.
9. A phonological deficit in which of the
following is likely to be classified as dyslexia?
1. Phonemic judgement.
2. Onset judgement.
3. Rime judgement.
4. Any one or more of the above.
10. The Treiman and Zudowski experiment
found evidence to support the following:
1. at age 6, reading instruction helps children
perform, both, the same-different judgement task.
2. the development of onset-rime awareness
precedes the development of an awareness of phonemes.
3. at age 4-5, children find the onset-rime
version of the same/different task significantly easier.
4. the development of onset-rime awareness is a
necessary and sufficient condition for the development of an awareness of
phonemes.
11. The single-syllable words Rhyme and Rime are constituted by the exact same set of:
A. rime(s). B. onset(s). C.
rhyme(s). D. phoneme(s).
- A, B
- A, C
- A, B, C
- B, C, D
PASSAGE III
If translated into English, most of the ways
economists talk among themselves would sound plausible enough to poets,
journalists, businesspeople, and other thoughtful though noneconomical folk. Like serious talk anywhere—among boat designers
and baseball fans, say—the talk is hard to follow when one has not made a habit
of listening to it for a while. The culture of the conversation makes the words
arcane. But the people in the unfamiliar conversation are not Martians.
Underneath it all (the economist’s favorite phrase) conversational habits are
similar. Economics uses mathematical models and statistical tests and market
arguments, all of which look alien to the literary eye. But looked at closely
they are not so alien. They may be seen as figures of speech—metaphors,
analogies, and appeals to authority.
Figures of speech are not mere frills. They think for
us. Someone who thinks of a market as an “invisible hand” and the organization
of work as a “production function” and his coefficients as being “significant,”
as an economist does, is giving the language a lot of responsibility. It seems
a good idea to look hard at his language.
If the economic conversation were found to depend a
lot on its verbal forms, this would not mean that economics would be not a
science, or just a matter of opinion, or some sort of confidence game. Good
poets, though not scientists, are serious thinkers about symbols; good
historians, though not scientists, are serious thinkers about data. Good
scientists also use language. What is more (though it remains to be shown) they
use the cunning of language, without particularly meaning to. The language used
is a social object, and using language is a social act. It requires cunning
(or, if you prefer, consideration), attention to the other minds present when
one speaks.
The paying of attention to one’s audience is called
“rhetoric,” a word that I later exercise hard. One uses rhetoric, of course, to
warn of a fire in a theatre or to arouse the xenophobia of the electorate. This
sort of yelling is the vulgar meaning of the word, like the president’s “heated
rhetoric” in a press conference or the “mere rhetoric” to which our enemies
stoop. Since the Greek flame was lit, though, the word has been used also in a
broader and more amiable sense, to mean the study of all the ways of
accomplishing things with language: inciting a mob to lynch the accused, to be
sure, but also persuading readers of a novel that its characters breathe, or
bringing scholars to accept the better argument and reject the worse.
The question is whether the scholar—who usually
fancies himself an announcer of “results” or a stater of “conclusions” free of
rhetoric—speaks rhetorically. Does he try to persuade? It would seem so.
Language, I just said, is not a solitary accomplishment. The scholar doesn’t
speak into the void, or to himself. He speaks to a community of voices. He
desires to be heeded, praised, published, imitated, honored, en-Nobeled. These
are the desires. The devices of language are the means.
Rhetoric is the proportioning of means to desires in
speech. Rhetoric is an economics of language, the study of how scarce means are
allocated to the insatiable desires of people to be heard. It seems on the face
of it a reasonable hypothesis that economists are like other people in being
talkers, who desire listeners when they go to the library or the laboratory as
much as when they go to the office on the polls. The purpose here is to see if
this is true, and to see if it is useful to study the rhetoric of economic
scholarship.
The subject is scholarship. It is not economy, or the
adequacy of economic theory as a description of the economy, or even mainly the
economist’s role in the economy. The subject is the conversation economists
have among themselves, for purposes of persuading each other that the interest
elasticity of demand for investment is zero or that the money supply is
controlled by the Federal Reserve.
Unfortunately, though, the conclusions are of more
than academic interest. The conversations of classicists or of astronomers
rarely affect the lives of other people. Those of economists do so on a large
scale. A well known joke describes a May Day parade through Red
Square with the usual mass of soldiers, guided missiles, and
rocket launchers. At last come rank upon rank of people in gray business suits.
A bystander asks, “Who are those?” “Aha!” comes the reply, “those are
economists: you have no idea what damage they can do!” Their conversations do
it.
12. According to the passage, which of the
following is the best set of reasons for which one needs to “look hard” at the economist’s language?
a. Economists accomplish a great deal through
their language.
b. Economics is an opinion-based subject.
c.
Economics
has a great impact on other’s lives.
d. Economics is damaging.
1. a and
b 2. c and d 3. a and c 4. b and d
13.
In the light of the definition of rhetoric given in the passage, which
of the following will have the least element of rhetoric?
1. An election speech.
2. An advertisement jingle.
3. Dialogues in a play.
4. Commands given by army officers.
14. As used in the passage, which of the
following is the closest meaning to the statement “The culture of the
conversation makes the words arcane”?
1. Economists belong to a different culture.
2. Only mathematicians can understand
economists.
3. Economists tend to use terms unfamiliar to
the lay person, but depend on familiar linguistic forms.
4. Economists use similes and adjectives in
their analysis.
15. As used
in the passage, which of the following is the closest alternative to the word
‘arcane’?
1.
Mysterious 2. Secret 3. Covert 4. Perfidious
16.
Based on your understanding of the passage, which of the following
conclusions would you agree with?
1. The geocentric and the heliocentric views
of the solar system are equally tenable.
2. The heliocentric view is superior because
of better rhetoric.
3. Both views use rhetoric to persuade.
4. Scientists should not use rhetoric.
PASSAGE IV
At the heart of the enormous boom in wine consumption
that has taken place in the English-speaking world over the last two decades or
so is a fascinating, happy paradox. In the days when wine was exclusively the
preserve of a narrow cultural elite, bought either at auctions or from
gentlemen wine merchants in wing collars and bow-ties, to be stored in rambling
cellars and decanted to order by one’s butler, the ordinary drinker didn’t get
a look-in. Wine was considered a highly technical subject, in which anybody
without the necessary ability could only fall flat on his or her face in
embarrassment. It wasn’t just that you needed a refined aesthetic sensibility
for the stuff if it wasn’t to be hopelessly wasted on you. It required an
intimate knowledge of what came from where, and what it was supposed to taste
like.
Those were times, however, when wine appreciation essentially
meant a familiarity with the great French classics, with perhaps a smattering
of other wines—like sherry and port. That was what the wine trade dealt in.
These days, wine is bought daily in supermarkets and high-street chains to be
consumed that evening, hardly anybody has a cellar to store it in and most
don’t even possess a decanter. Above all, the wines of literally dozens of
countries are available on the market. When a supermarket offers its customers
a couple of fruity little numbers from Brazil
It seems, in other words, that the commercial jungle
that wine has now become has not in the slightest deterred people from plunging
adventurously into the thickets in order to taste and see. Consumers are no
longer intimidated by the thought of needing to know their Pouilly-Fuisse, just
at the very moment when there is more to know than ever before.
The reason for this new mood of confidence is not hard
to find. It is on every wine label from Australia New Zealand South Africa United States
In the wine heartlands of France, they are scared to
death of that trend—not because they think their wine isn’t as good as the best
from California or South Australia (What French winemaker will ever admit
that?) but because they don’t traditionally call their wines Cabernet Sauvignon
or Chardonnay. They call them Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou or Corton-Charlemagne,
and they aren’t about to change. Some areas, in the middle of southern France France
Wine consumption was also given a significant boost in
the early 1990s by the work of Dr. Serge Renaud, who has spent many years
investigating the reasons for the uncannily low incidence of coronary heart
disease in the south of France United
States UK
17. Which one of the following, if true, would
provide most support for Dr. Renaud’s findings about the effect of tannins?
1.
A
survey showed that film celebrities based in France
2.
Measurements
carried out in southern France
3.
Data
showed a positive association between sales of red wine and incidence of
coronary heart disease.
4.
Long-term
surveys in southern France
18. Which one of the following CANNOT be
reasonably attributed to the labelling strategy followed by wine producers in
English-speaking countries?
1.
Consumers buy wines on the basis of their familiarity with a grape
variety’s name.
2. Even ordinary customers now have more access
to technical knowledge about wine.
3. Consumers are able to appreciate better
quality wines.
4. Some non-English speaking countries like Brazil
19.
The tone that the author uses while asking “What French winemaker will
ever admit that?” is best described as
1.
caustic. 2. satirical. 3.
critical. 4. hypocritical.
20.
The development which has created fear among winemakers in the wine
heartlands of France
1.
tendency not to name wines after the grape varieties that are used in
the wines.
2. ‘education’ that consumers have derived from
wine labels from English-speaking countries.
3. new generation of local winegrowers who use
labels that show names of grape varieties.
4. ability of consumers to understand a wine’s
qualities when confronted with “Brazilian upstarts”.
21. What according to the author should the
French do to avoid becoming a producer of merely old-fashioned wines?
1.
Follow the labelling strategy of the English-speaking countries.
2. Give their wines English names.
3. Introduce fruity wines as Brazil
4. Produce the wines that have become popular
in the English-speaking world.
PASSAGE V
Pure love of learning, of course, was a less compelling
motive for those who became educated for careers other than teaching. Students
of law in particular had a reputation for being materialistic careerists in an
age when law was becoming known as “the lucrative science” and its successful
practice the best means for rapid advancement in the government of both church
and state. Medicine too had its profit-making attractions. Those who did not go
on to law or medicine could, if they had been well trained in the arts, gain
positions at royal courts or rise in the clergy. Eloquent testimony to the
profit motive behind much of twelfth-century education was the lament of a
student of Abelard around 1150 that “Christians educate their sons...for gain,
in order that the one brother, if he be a clerk, may help his father and mother
and his other brothers, saying that a clerk will have no heir and whatever he
has will be ours and the other brothers’.” With the opening of positions in
law, government, and the church, education became a means for advancement not
only in income but also in status. Most who were educated were wealthy, but in
the twelfth century, more often than before, many were not and were able to
rise through the ranks by means of their education. The most familiar examples
are Thomas Becket, who rose from a humble background to become chancellor of England Canterbury Chartres
The instances of Becket and John of Salisbury bring us
to the most difficult question concerning twelfth-century education: To what
degree was it still a clerical preserve? Despite the fact that throughout the
twelfth century the clergy had a monopoly of instruction, one of the
outstanding medievalists of our day, R.W. Southern, refers with good reason to
the institutions staffed by the clergy as “secular schools.” How can we make
sense out of the paradox that twelfth-century schools were clerical and yet
“secular”?
Let us look at the clerical side first. Not only were
all twelfth-century teachers except professionals and craftsmen in church
orders, but in northern Europe students in
schools had clerical status and looked like priests. Not that all really were
priests, but by virtue of being students all were awarded the legal privileges
accorded to the clergy. Furthermore, the large majority of twelfth-century
students, outside of the possible exception of Italy
Despite all this, twelfth-century education was taking
on many secular qualities in its environment, goals, and curriculum. Student
life obviously became more secular when it moved from the monasteries into the
bustling towns. Most students wandered from town to town in search not only of
good masters but also of worldly excitement, and as the twelfth century
progressed they found the best of each in Paris
Along with the rise of logic came the translation of
Greek and Arabic philosophical and scientific works. Most important was the
translation of almost all the writings of Aristotle, as well as his
sophisticated Arabic commentators, which helped to bring about an intellectual
revolution based on Greek rationalism. On a more prosaic level, contact with
Arabs resulted in the introduction in the twelfth century of the Arabic numeral
system and the concept of zero. Though most westerners first resisted this and
made crude jokes about the zero as an ambitious number “that counts for nothing
and yet wants to be counted,” the system steadily made its inroads first in Italy Europe , thereby vastly simplifying
the arts of computation and record keeping.
22. According to the passage, what led to the
secularization of the curriculum of the liberal arts in the twelfth century?
1.
It was divorced from religion and its influences.
2. Students used it mainly as a base for
studying law and medicine.
3. Teaching could no longer be conducted
exclusively in Latin.
4. Arabic was introduced into the curriculum.
23.
According to the author, in the twelfth century, individuals were
motivated to get higher education because it:
1.
was a means for material advancement and higher status.
2. gave people with wealth an opportunity to
learn.
3. offered a coveted place for those with a
love of learning.
4. directly added to the income levels of
people.
24. According to the passage, twelfth century
schools were clerical and yet secular because:
1.
many teachers were craftsmen and professionals who did not form part of
the church.
2. while the students had the legal privileges
accorded to the clergy and looked like priests, not all were really priests.
3. the term “cleric” denoted a literate
individual rather than a strict association with the church.
4. though the clergy had a monopoly in
education, the environment, objectives and curriculum in the schools were
becoming secular.
25. What does the sentence “Christians educate
their sons...will be ours and the other brothers’ ” imply?
1.
The Christian family was a close-knit unit in the twelfth century.
2. Christians educated their sons not so much
for the love of learning as for material gain.
3. Christians believed very strongly in
educating their sons in the Church.
4.
The relationship between Christian parents and their sons was
exploitative in the twelfth century.
26.
According to the passage, which of the following is the most noteworthy
trend in education in twelfth-century Europe ?
1.
Secularization of education.
2. Flowering of theology as the queen of the sciences.
3. Wealthy people increasingly turning to
education.
4. Rise of the clergy’s influence on the
curriculum.
PASSAGE VI
Fifty feet away three male lions lay by the road. They
didn’t appear to have a hair on their heads. Noting the color of their noses
(leonine noses darken as they age, from pink to black), Craig estimated that
they were six years old—young adults. “This is wonderful!’ he said, after
staring at them for several moments. “This is what we came to see. They really
are maneless.” Craig, a professor at the University of Minnesota Tanzania
The Tsavo research expedition was mostly Peyton’s
show. She had spent several years in Tanzania
The Serengeti lions have been under continuous
observation for more than 35 years, beginning with George Schaller’s pioneering
work in the 1960s. But the lions in Tsavo ,
Kenya Tsavo River Field Museum Chicago
But tales of their savagery and wiliness don’t all
come from sensationalist authors looking to make a buck. Tsavo lions are
generally larger than lions elsewhere, enabling them to take down the
predominant prey animal in Tsavo, the Cape buffalo, one of the strongest, most
aggressive animals on Earth. The buffalo don’t give up easily: They often kill
or severely injure an attacking lion, and a wounded lion might be more likely
to turn to cattle and humans for food.
And other prey is less abundant in Tsavo than in other
traditional lion haunts. A hungry lion is more likely to attack humans. Safari
guides and Kenya Wildlife Service rangers tell of lions attacking Land Rovers,
raiding camps, stalking tourists. Tsavo is a tough neighborhood, they say, and
it breeds tougher lions.
But are they really tougher? And if so, is there any
connection between their manelessness and their ferocity? An intriguing
hypothesis was advanced two years ago by Gnoske and Peterhans: Tsavo lions may
be similar to the nmanned cave lions of the Pleistocene. The Serengeti variety
is among the most evolved of the species—the latest model, so to speak—while
certain morphological differences in Tsavo lions (bigger bodies, smaller
skulls, and maybe even lack of a mane) suggest that they are closer to the
primitive ancestor of all lions. Craig and Peyton had serious doubts about the
idea, but admitted that Tsavo lions pose a mystery to science.
27. The book
Man-Eaters of Tsavo annoys some
scientists because
1. it revealed that Tsavo lions are ferocious.
2. Patterson made a helluva lot of money from
the book by sensationalism.
3. it perpetuated the bad name Tsavo lions
had.
4. it narrated how two male lions were killed.
28.
According to the passage, which of the following has NOT contributed to
the popular image of Tsavo lions as savage creatures?
1.
Tsavo
lions have been observed to bring down one of the strongest and most aggressive
animals—
the Cape buffalo.
2.
In
contrast to the situation in traditional lion haunts, scarcity of non-buffalo
prey in the Tsavo makes the Tsavo lions more aggressive.
3.
The
Tsavo lion is considered to be less evolved than the Serengeti variety.
4.
Tsavo
lions have been observed to attack vehicles as well as humans.
29. The sentence which concludes the first
paragraph, “Now they knew better”, implies that:
1.
The
two scientists were struck by wonder on seeing maneless lions for the first
time.
2.
Though
Craig was an expert on the Serengeti lion, now he also knew about the Tsavo
lions.
3.
Earlier,
Craig and West thought that amateur observers had been mistaken.
4.
Craig
was now able to confirm that darkening of the noses as lions aged applied to
Tsavo lions as well.
30.
Which of the following, if true, would weaken the hypothesis advanced by
Gnoske and Peterhans most?
1.
Craig and Peyton develop even more serious doubts about the idea that
Tsavo lions are primitive.
2.
The maneless Tsavo East lions are shown to be closer to the cave lions.
3. Pleistocene cave lions are shown to be far
less violent than believed.
4.
The morphological variations in body and skull size between the cave and
Tsavo lions are found to be insignificant.
PASSAGE
VII
A game of strategy, as currently conceived in game
theory, is a situation in which two or more “players” make choices among
available alternatives (moves). The totality of choices determines the outcomes
of the game, and it is assumed that the rank order of preferences for the
outcomes is different for different players. Thus the “interests” of the
players are generally in conflict. Whether these interests are diametrically
opposed or only partially opposed depends on the type of game.
Psychologically, most interesting situations arise
when the interests of the players are partly coincident and partly opposed,
because then one can postulate not only a conflict among the players but also
inner conflicts within the players. Each is torn between a tendency to
cooperate, so as to promote the common interests, and a tendency to compete, so
as to enhance his own individual interests.
Internal conflicts are always psychologically
interesting. What we vaguely call “interesting” psychology is in very great
measure the psychology of inner conflict. Inner conflict is also held to be an
important component of serious literature as distinguished from less serious
genres. The classical tragedy, as well as the serious novel, reveals the inner
conflict of central figures. The superficial adventure story, on the other hand,
depicts only external conflict; that is, the threats to the person with whom
the reader (or viewer) identifies stem in these stories exclusively from
external obstacles and from the adversaries who create them. On the most
primitive level this sort of external conflict is psychologically empty. In the
fisticuffs between the protagonists of good and evil, no psychological problems
are involved or, at any rate, none are depicted in juvenile representations of
conflict.
The detective story, the “adult” analogue of a
juvenile adventure tale, has at times been described as a glorification of
intellectualized conflict. However, a great deal of the interest in the plots
of these stories is sustained by withholding the unraveling of a solution to a
problem. The effort of solving the problem is in itself not a conflict if the
adversary (the unknown criminal) remains passive, like Nature, whose secrets
the scientist supposedly unravels by deduction. If the adversary actively puts
obstacles in the detective’s path toward the solution, there is genuine
conflict. But the conflict is psychologically interesting only to the extent
that it contains irrational components such as a tactical error on the
criminal’s part or the detective’s insight into some psychological quirk of the
criminal or something of this sort. Conflict conducted in a perfectly rational
manner is psychologically no more interesting than a standard Western. For
example, Tic-tac-toe, played perfectly by both players, is completely devoid of
psychological interest. Chess may be psychologically interesting but only to
the extent that it is played not quite rationally. Played completely
rationally, chess would not be different from Tic-tac-toe.
In short, a pure conflict of interest (what is called
a zero-sum game) although it offers a wealth of interesting conceptual
problems, is not interesting psychologically, except to the extent that its
conduct departs from rational norms.
31. According to the passage, which of the following
options about the application of game theory to a conflict-of-interest
situation is true?
1. Assuming that the rank order of preferences
for options is different for different players.
2. Accepting that the interests of different
players are often in conflict.
3. Not assuming that the interests are in
complete disagreement.
4. All of the above.
32. The problem
solving process of a scientist is different from that of a detective because
1. scientists study inanimate objects, while
detectives deal with living criminals or law offenders.
2. scientists study known objects, while
detectives have to deal with unknown criminals or law offenders
3. scientists study phenomena that are not
actively altered, while detectives deal with phenomena that have been
deliberately influenced to mislead.
4. scientists study psychologically interesting
phenomena, while detectives deal with “adult” analogues of juvenile adventure
tales.
33. According
to the passage, internal conflicts are psychologically more interesting than
external conflicts because
1. internal conflicts, rather than external
conflicts, form an important component of serious literature as distinguished
from less serious genres.
2. only juveniles or very few “adults” actually
experience external conflict, while internal conflict is more widely prevalent
in society.
3. in situations of internal conflict,
individuals experience a dilemma in resolving their own preferences for
different outcomes.
4. there are no threats to the reader (or
viewer) in case of external conflicts.
34. Which,
according to the author, would qualify as interesting psychology?
1. A statistician’s dilemma over choosing the
best method to solve an optimization problem.
2. A chess player’s predicament over adopting
a defensive strategy against an aggressive opponent.
3. A mountaineer’s choice of the best path to Mt. Everest
4. A finance manager’s quandary over the best
way of raising money from the market.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANSWER KEY
1. (4) 2.
(2) 3. (1) 4. (4) 5. (1)
6. (3) 7. (1) 8. (4) 9. (4) 10. (2)
11. (2) 12. (3) 13. (4) 14. (3) 15. (1)
16. (3) 17. (4) 18. (3) 19. (2) 20. (2)
21. (1) 22. (2) 23. (1) 24. (4) 25. (2)
26. (1) 27. (3) 28. (3) 29. (3) 30. (3)
31. (4) 32. (3) 33. (3) 34. (2)
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