| Question Based on Unread Passage |
Passage-6
Fingerprints are the marks made by the ridges on the ends of the fingers and thumbs. These ridges form a pattern that stays the same throughout a person’s life. No two persons have ever had the same fingerprints. So, fingerprints are a foolproof way of identifying a person.
A fingerprint record is made in an interesting manner. A small piece of metal is coated with a thin film of ink. Next, a person’s finger and thumb tips are pressed against the inked surface. Then, the fingertips are pressed on a white card. The prints are recorded in exact detail.
Fingerprinting is often used to solve crimes. Fingerprints are picked up at the scene of a crime. These are compared with those of a suspect. Millions of fingerprints are kept on files by police departments.
Fingerprinting is also used in finding missing persons and identifying unknown dead. It is used to screen people who apply for certain jobs. It is thought that the Chinese used thumb prints to sign documents a long time before Christ.
The system used today was invented by Sir Francis Galton in the 1880’s. In 1901, Sir ER Henry found a simple way of grouping fingerprints. His system is used by many law enforcement organisations.
1. Fingerprints are the most ……….. way of identifying a person.
(A) best
(B) genuine
(C) sincere
(D) accurate
2. The main reason why fingerprinting is used for identification is that
(A) every individual has a unique set of fingerprints
(B) every set of fingerprints falls into a pattern
(C) records of fingerprints can be maintained
(D) fingerprints can be picked even after a crime
3. The fingerprints are stored for record
(A) on a white card
(B) on an inked surface
(C) on paper files
(D) on a small piece of metal
4. Who first evolved a system of using finger impressions to authenticate documents?
(A) Sir Francis Galton
(B) Sir ER Henry
(C) The Chinese
(D) The Britishers
5. The present system of recording fingerprints is around …… years old.
(A) 2200
(B) 100
(C) 500
(D) 220
Passage-7
An old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, trucks and men, women and children were crossing it. The muledrawn carts staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping to push against the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading out of it all. The peasants plodded along in the ankledeep dust. But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any farther.
1. What was the old man wearing?
(A) Iron-rimmed spectacles
(B) An old shirt and pant
(C) White clothes
(D) Steel-rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes
2. Mention those which crossed the bridge besides human beings.
(A) Mules and horses
(B) Men, women and children
(C) Carts and trucks
(D) Soldiers and carts
3. Who were helping to push the muledrawn carts?
(A) Mules
(B) The villagers
(C) The horses
(D) Soldiers
4. Where was the old man sitting?
(A) In the cart
(B) Over the bridge
(C) By the side of the road
(D) On the banks of the river
5. Why was he sitting there?
(A) To admire the natural scenery
(B) To watch the people passing by
(C) Because he was so tired that he couldn’t go any further
(D) Waiting for somebody
Passage-8
All political systems need to mediate the relationship between private wealth and public power. Those that fail risk a dysfunctional government captured by wealthy interests. Corruption is one symptom of such failure with private willingness-to-pay trumping public goals. Private individuals and business firms pay to get routine services and to get to the head of the bureaucratic queue. They pay to limit their taxes, avoid costly regulations, obtain contracts at inflated prices and get concessions and privatised firms at low prices. If corruption is endemic, public officials – both bureaucrats and elected officials – may redesign programmes and propose public projects with few public benefits and many opportunities for private profit. Of course, corruption, in the sense of bribes, pay-offs and kickbacks, is only one type of government failure. Efforts to promote ‘good governance’ must be broader than anti-corruption campaigns. Governments may be honest but inefficient because no one has an incentive to work productively, and narrow elites may capture the state and exert excess influence on policy. Bribery may induce the lazy to work hard and permit those not in the inner circle of cronies to obtain benefits. However, even in such cases, corruption cannot be confined to ‘functional’ areas. It will be a temptation whenever private benefits are positive. It may be a reasonable response to a harsh reality but, over time, it can facilitate a spiral into an even worse situation.
1. The governments which fail to focus on the relationship between private wealth and public power are likely to become:
(A) Functional
(B) Dysfunctional
(C) Normal functioning
(D) Good governance
2. One important symptom of bad governance is:
(A) Corruption
(B) High taxes
(C) Complicated rules and regulations
(D) High prices
3. When corruption is rampant, public officials always aim at many opportunities for:
(A) Public benefits
(B) Public profit
(C) Private profit
(D) Corporate gains
4. Productivity linked incentives to public/private officials is one of the indicatives for:
(A) Efficient government
(B) Bad governance
(C) Inefficient government
(D) Corruption
5. The spiralling corruption can only be contained by promoting:
(A) Private profit
(B) Anti-corruption campaign
(C) Good governance
(D) Pay-offs and kick-backs
Passage-9
Last year I suffered a stroke I had to be hospitalised. I was put in a general ward for there was no room in the intensive coronary care unit. Not far from my bed was a patient in obvious indigent circumstances and on hospital diet. For breakfast he used to get two eggs, besides other things.
The man was regularly visited by a twelve year old boy, perhaps his son, dressed in worn-out clothes. The man always kept one egg for that boy when he arrived soon after the doctors had done their founds.
One day was a shortfall in the supply of eggs to the hospital and our man got only one egg. He looked at it for a long time, turning it over in his hands and then put it away. He thought the boy’s need was greater than his perhaps.
1. Why was the author hospitalised?
(A) Because he wanted a routine check-up
(B) Because he suffered a stroke
(C) Because he wanted to encash his medical insurance
(D) Because he liked the hospital life so much
2. Why did the other patient in the hospital look at the egg for a long time?
(A) Because the egg was rotten
(B) Because he was annoyed at being given only one egg
(C) Because he wanted to eat it as early as possible
(D) Because he could not decide whether he should eat it or give it to the boy
3. What does the given passage focus on?
(A) Paternal affection of the man
(B) Poverty of the man
(C) Poor condition of the hospital
(D) Poor condition of the boy
4. What does it mean by ‘indigent circumstances’ as used in the passage?
(A) Miserly personality
(B) Rich background
(C) Miserable condition
(D) Poor condition
5. Choose the opposite meaning word of ‘shortfall’ in the context of the passage.
(A) default
(B) loss
(C) theft
(D) abundance
