Sum up the essence of the second paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The crowds surged into the square in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the 16^th American president and an avid campaigner for the liberation of black people from slavery. Tens of thousands of them had followed the call to ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ on 28 August 1963 to demand work and equal rights for all the citizens of the USA. They arrived on special trains and in buses, singing all the way. Older black men dressed in their Sunday best; white students in T-shirts. Also present were actors and film stars like Josephine Baker, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston, as well as several American Congressmen. A quarter of a million people, black as well as white, had gathered for the biggest demonstration ever in Washington.
The government and many citizens were worried about the law and order. The sale of alcohol was banned on that bright August day. There were 4,000 soldiers present, with another 15,000 paratroopers on standby in the suburbs. The demonstration remained peaceful as the day wore on. As it turned increasingly hot and humid, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson sang, and speaker after speaker stepped up with their demands for freedom. And then the last speaker took his place: the one they had all been waiting for—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was the most important leader of the black civil rights movement. A charismatic speaker revered by many as an Afro-American Moses, he was, at the same time, a secret transgressor with innumerable affairs. Vilified by some as a dangerous radical and dismissed by others as a harmless Uncle Tom, the preacher of non-violent resistance would not have got far without the brutal excesses of his opponents. Finally, the future martyr of black America, who bore a cross-shaped scar on his chest from an earlier attack, began his speech. It was a speech which would make him immortal.
It had been 100 years since Abraham Lincoln started freeing the slaves in Southern America with his Emancipation Proclamation. Earlier, 10 Southern states, including Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, separated from the United States and merged in 1861 as the Confederate States of America—in protest against the position against slavery adopted by many of the 23 Northern states, 19 of which had already liberated their slaves. (Excerpted from The Pastor and His Dream by Gesa Gottschalk)

Give the best summary of the second paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

So many people today are gripped with a sense of fear. They fear for the future. They feel vulnerable in the workplace. They are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to provide for their families. This vulnerability often fosters a resignation to riskless living and to co-dependency with others at work and at home. Our culture’s common response to this problem is to become more and more independent. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.
People want things and want them now. Though today’s ‘credit card’ society makes it easy to ‘get now and pay later’, economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. The demands of interest are unrelenting and unforgiving. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
Whenever we find a problem, we usually find the finger-pointing of blame. ‘If only this hadn’t been like this…if only that…’ Blaming everyone and everything else for our problems and challenges may be the norm and many provide temporary relief from the pain, but it also chains us to these very problems. If we can find someone humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her way through or around these challenges, we can find the supreme power of choice.
The children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. So many bright, talented people suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows. The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—‘just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.’ The contrasting principle of growth and hope throughout history is the discovery that ‘I am the creative force of my life.’ (Excerpted from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best summary of the fourth paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The crowds surged into the square in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the 16^th American president and an avid campaigner for the liberation of black people from slavery. Tens of thousands of them had followed the call to ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ on 28 August 1963 to demand work and equal rights for all the citizens of the USA. They arrived on special trains and in buses, singing all the way. Older black men dressed in their Sunday best; white students in T-shirts. Also present were actors and film stars like Josephine Baker, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston, as well as several American Congressmen. A quarter of a million people, black as well as white, had gathered for the biggest demonstration ever in Washington.
The government and many citizens were worried about the law and order. The sale of alcohol was banned on that bright August day. There were 4,000 soldiers present, with another 15,000 paratroopers on standby in the suburbs. The demonstration remained peaceful as the day wore on. As it turned increasingly hot and humid, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson sang, and speaker after speaker stepped up with their demands for freedom. And then the last speaker took his place: the one they had all been waiting for—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was the most important leader of the black civil rights movement. A charismatic speaker revered by many as an Afro-American Moses, he was, at the same time, a secret transgressor with innumerable affairs. Vilified by some as a dangerous radical and dismissed by others as a harmless Uncle Tom, the preacher of non-violent resistance would not have got far without the brutal excesses of his opponents. Finally, the future martyr of black America, who bore a cross-shaped scar on his chest from an earlier attack, began his speech. It was a speech which would make him immortal.
It had been 100 years since Abraham Lincoln started freeing the slaves in Southern America with his Emancipation Proclamation. Earlier, 10 Southern states, including Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, separated from the United States and merged in 1861 as the Confederate States of America—in protest against the position against slavery adopted by many of the 23 Northern states, 19 of which had already liberated their slaves. (Excerpted from The Pastor and His Dream by Gesa Gottschalk)

What is the best summary of the third paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The crowds surged into the square in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the 16^th American president and an avid campaigner for the liberation of black people from slavery. Tens of thousands of them had followed the call to ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ on 28 August 1963 to demand work and equal rights for all the citizens of the USA. They arrived on special trains and in buses, singing all the way. Older black men dressed in their Sunday best; white students in T-shirts. Also present were actors and film stars like Josephine Baker, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston, as well as several American Congressmen. A quarter of a million people, black as well as white, had gathered for the biggest demonstration ever in Washington.
The government and many citizens were worried about the law and order. The sale of alcohol was banned on that bright August day. There were 4,000 soldiers present, with another 15,000 paratroopers on standby in the suburbs. The demonstration remained peaceful as the day wore on. As it turned increasingly hot and humid, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson sang, and speaker after speaker stepped up with their demands for freedom. And then the last speaker took his place: the one they had all been waiting for—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was the most important leader of the black civil rights movement. A charismatic speaker revered by many as an Afro-American Moses, he was, at the same time, a secret transgressor with innumerable affairs. Vilified by some as a dangerous radical and dismissed by others as a harmless Uncle Tom, the preacher of non-violent resistance would not have got far without the brutal excesses of his opponents. Finally, the future martyr of black America, who bore a cross-shaped scar on his chest from an earlier attack, began his speech. It was a speech which would make him immortal.
It had been 100 years since Abraham Lincoln started freeing the slaves in Southern America with his Emancipation Proclamation. Earlier, 10 Southern states, including Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, separated from the United States and merged in 1861 as the Confederate States of America—in protest against the position against slavery adopted by many of the 23 Northern states, 19 of which had already liberated their slaves. (Excerpted from The Pastor and His Dream by Gesa Gottschalk)

What is the best summary of the third paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

So many people today are gripped with a sense of fear. They fear for the future. They feel vulnerable in the workplace. They are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to provide for their families. This vulnerability often fosters a resignation to riskless living and to co-dependency with others at work and at home. Our culture’s common response to this problem is to become more and more independent. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.
People want things and want them now. Though today’s ‘credit card’ society makes it easy to ‘get now and pay later’, economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. The demands of interest are unrelenting and unforgiving. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
Whenever we find a problem, we usually find the finger-pointing of blame. ‘If only this hadn’t been like this…if only that…’ Blaming everyone and everything else for our problems and challenges may be the norm and many provide temporary relief from the pain, but it also chains us to these very problems. If we can find someone humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her way through or around these challenges, we can find the supreme power of choice.
The children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. So many bright, talented people suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows. The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—‘just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.’ The contrasting principle of growth and hope throughout history is the discovery that ‘I am the creative force of my life.’ (Excerpted from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

What is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

So many people today are gripped with a sense of fear. They fear for the future. They feel vulnerable in the workplace. They are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to provide for their families. This vulnerability often fosters a resignation to riskless living and to co-dependency with others at work and at home. Our culture’s common response to this problem is to become more and more independent. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.
People want things and want them now. Though today’s ‘credit card’ society makes it easy to ‘get now and pay later’, economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. The demands of interest are unrelenting and unforgiving. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
Whenever we find a problem, we usually find the finger-pointing of blame. ‘If only this hadn’t been like this…if only that…’ Blaming everyone and everything else for our problems and challenges may be the norm and many provide temporary relief from the pain, but it also chains us to these very problems. If we can find someone humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her way through or around these challenges, we can find the supreme power of choice.
The children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. So many bright, talented people suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows. The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—‘just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.’ The contrasting principle of growth and hope throughout history is the discovery that ‘I am the creative force of my life.’ (Excerpted from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Summarise the essence of the opening paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The crowds surged into the square in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the 16^th American president and an avid campaigner for the liberation of black people from slavery. Tens of thousands of them had followed the call to ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ on 28 August 1963 to demand work and equal rights for all the citizens of the USA. They arrived on special trains and in buses, singing all the way. Older black men dressed in their Sunday best; white students in T-shirts. Also present were actors and film stars like Josephine Baker, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston, as well as several American Congressmen. A quarter of a million people, black as well as white, had gathered for the biggest demonstration ever in Washington.
The government and many citizens were worried about the law and order. The sale of alcohol was banned on that bright August day. There were 4,000 soldiers present, with another 15,000 paratroopers on standby in the suburbs. The demonstration remained peaceful as the day wore on. As it turned increasingly hot and humid, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson sang, and speaker after speaker stepped up with their demands for freedom. And then the last speaker took his place: the one they had all been waiting for—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was the most important leader of the black civil rights movement. A charismatic speaker revered by many as an Afro-American Moses, he was, at the same time, a secret transgressor with innumerable affairs. Vilified by some as a dangerous radical and dismissed by others as a harmless Uncle Tom, the preacher of non-violent resistance would not have got far without the brutal excesses of his opponents. Finally, the future martyr of black America, who bore a cross-shaped scar on his chest from an earlier attack, began his speech. It was a speech which would make him immortal.
It had been 100 years since Abraham Lincoln started freeing the slaves in Southern America with his Emancipation Proclamation. Earlier, 10 Southern states, including Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, separated from the United States and merged in 1861 as the Confederate States of America—in protest against the position against slavery adopted by many of the 23 Northern states, 19 of which had already liberated their slaves. (Excerpted from The Pastor and His Dream by Gesa Gottschalk)

Which of the following is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

So many people today are gripped with a sense of fear. They fear for the future. They feel vulnerable in the workplace. They are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to provide for their families. This vulnerability often fosters a resignation to riskless living and to co-dependency with others at work and at home. Our culture’s common response to this problem is to become more and more independent. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.
People want things and want them now. Though today’s ‘credit card’ society makes it easy to ‘get now and pay later’, economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. The demands of interest are unrelenting and unforgiving. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
Whenever we find a problem, we usually find the finger-pointing of blame. ‘If only this hadn’t been like this…if only that…’ Blaming everyone and everything else for our problems and challenges may be the norm and many provide temporary relief from the pain, but it also chains us to these very problems. If we can find someone humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her way through or around these challenges, we can find the supreme power of choice.
The children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. So many bright, talented people suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows. The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—‘just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.’ The contrasting principle of growth and hope throughout history is the discovery that ‘I am the creative force of my life.’ (Excerpted from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best summary of the second paragraph.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to the earth. Superlatives such as ‘fantastic’ and ‘incredible’ were inadequate to describe those eventful days. But to go there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.
Habits too have tremendous gravity pull—more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking out of deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.
Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.
Habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three. In order to interact effectively with others it is necessary to listen to them for which we must have the skill. But this alone would not hold unless we also have the desire to interact. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions. By working on knowledge, skill, and desire, we can break through to new level of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break with old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years. It’s sometimes a painful process. It’s a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what we think we want now from what we would want later. But this process produces happiness which can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. (excerpted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

What is the best summary of the first paragraph?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to the earth. Superlatives such as ‘fantastic’ and ‘incredible’ were inadequate to describe those eventful days. But to go there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.
Habits too have tremendous gravity pull—more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking out of deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.
Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.
Habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three. In order to interact effectively with others it is necessary to listen to them for which we must have the skill. But this alone would not hold unless we also have the desire to interact. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions. By working on knowledge, skill, and desire, we can break through to new level of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break with old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years. It’s sometimes a painful process. It’s a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what we think we want now from what we would want later. But this process produces happiness which can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. (excerpted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

What is the central or the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to the earth. Superlatives such as ‘fantastic’ and ‘incredible’ were inadequate to describe those eventful days. But to go there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.
Habits too have tremendous gravity pull—more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking out of deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.
Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.
Habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three. In order to interact effectively with others it is necessary to listen to them for which we must have the skill. But this alone would not hold unless we also have the desire to interact. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions. By working on knowledge, skill, and desire, we can break through to new level of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break with old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years. It’s sometimes a painful process. It’s a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what we think we want now from what we would want later. But this process produces happiness which can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. (excerpted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best summary of the opening paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The crowds surged into the square in front of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument to the 16^th American president and an avid campaigner for the liberation of black people from slavery. Tens of thousands of them had followed the call to ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ on 28 August 1963 to demand work and equal rights for all the citizens of the USA. They arrived on special trains and in buses, singing all the way. Older black men dressed in their Sunday best; white students in T-shirts. Also present were actors and film stars like Josephine Baker, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster and Charlton Heston, as well as several American Congressmen. A quarter of a million people, black as well as white, had gathered for the biggest demonstration ever in Washington.
The government and many citizens were worried about the law and order. The sale of alcohol was banned on that bright August day. There were 4,000 soldiers present, with another 15,000 paratroopers on standby in the suburbs. The demonstration remained peaceful as the day wore on. As it turned increasingly hot and humid, Bob Dylan and Mahalia Jackson sang, and speaker after speaker stepped up with their demands for freedom. And then the last speaker took his place: the one they had all been waiting for—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
King was the most important leader of the black civil rights movement. A charismatic speaker revered by many as an Afro-American Moses, he was, at the same time, a secret transgressor with innumerable affairs. Vilified by some as a dangerous radical and dismissed by others as a harmless Uncle Tom, the preacher of non-violent resistance would not have got far without the brutal excesses of his opponents. Finally, the future martyr of black America, who bore a cross-shaped scar on his chest from an earlier attack, began his speech. It was a speech which would make him immortal.
It had been 100 years since Abraham Lincoln started freeing the slaves in Southern America with his Emancipation Proclamation. Earlier, 10 Southern states, including Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama, separated from the United States and merged in 1861 as the Confederate States of America—in protest against the position against slavery adopted by many of the 23 Northern states, 19 of which had already liberated their slaves. (Excerpted from The Pastor and His Dream by Gesa Gottschalk)

Which of the following best summarizes the third paragraph?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to the earth. Superlatives such as ‘fantastic’ and ‘incredible’ were inadequate to describe those eventful days. But to go there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.
Habits too have tremendous gravity pull—more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking out of deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.
Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.
Habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three. In order to interact effectively with others it is necessary to listen to them for which we must have the skill. But this alone would not hold unless we also have the desire to interact. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions. By working on knowledge, skill, and desire, we can break through to new level of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break with old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years. It’s sometimes a painful process. It’s a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what we think we want now from what we would want later. But this process produces happiness which can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. (excerpted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best summary of the fourth paragraph.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows:

Those of us who watched the lunar voyage of Apollo 11 were transfixed as we saw the first men walk on the moon and return to the earth. Superlatives such as ‘fantastic’ and ‘incredible’ were inadequate to describe those eventful days. But to go there, those astronauts literally had to break out of the tremendous gravity pull of the earth. More energy was spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, in the first few miles of travel, than was used over the next several days to travel half a million miles.
Habits too have tremendous gravity pull—more than most people realize or would admit. Breaking out of deeply imbedded habitual tendencies such as procrastination, impatience, criticalness, or selfishness that violate basic principles of human effectiveness involves more than a little willpower and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes a tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on a whole new dimension.
Like any natural force, gravity pull can work with us or against us. The gravity pull of some of our habits may currently be keeping us from going where we want to go. But it is also gravity pull that keeps our world together, that keeps the planets in their orbits and our universe in order. It is a powerful force, and if we use it effectively, we can use the gravity pull of habit to create the cohesiveness and order necessary to establish effectiveness in our lives.
Habit can be defined as the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire. Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm, the what to do and the why. Skill is how to do. And desire is the motivation, the want to do. In order to make something a habit in our lives, we have to have all three. In order to interact effectively with others it is necessary to listen to them for which we must have the skill. But this alone would not hold unless we also have the desire to interact. Creating a habit requires work in all three dimensions. By working on knowledge, skill, and desire, we can break through to new level of personal and interpersonal effectiveness as we break with old paradigms that may have been a source of pseudo-security for years. It’s sometimes a painful process. It’s a change that has to be motivated by a higher purpose, by the willingness to subordinate what we think we want now from what we would want later. But this process produces happiness which can be defined, in part at least, as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually. (excerpted from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best possible summary of the third paragraph.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It does not make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. The success of any organization depends on how the performers are rewarded and how much the non-performers go unnoticed in the system. Several organizations have called for introducing a robust performance based compensation system that basically fixes accountability on the employees and compensates them accordingly. There are calls for introducing variable pay systems, ESOPs etc. However, practical these solutions might seem at present, the possible fallouts of such systems must be kept in mind. Introducing such systems on the lines of private sector banks will essentially hit at the core of the culture of the public sector banks and the relationship that it has with its employees. And, since it is clear that it will be very difficult for the PSBs to actually pay at the levels of the private sector banks, introducing such a system would essentially mean affecting one thing that still attracts people to such jobs that is the emotional connect in terms of pride etc. Also, it will mean incentivizing managers to take decisions that maximize short-term profits and in the process probably affecting long term prospects.
Keeping in mind the responsibility that the PSBs have towards the society as a whole (something the private counterparts cannot be held accountable for), it is very important that managers at the PSBs take decisions that positively affect the long terms prospects of the banks. Introducing such explicit performance oriented systems can negatively affect the pursuit of such goals. It does not, however, mean that the banks need not lay stress on the performance. Obviously, there is a need to revamp the performance evaluation systems, probably introduce modern systems like 360 degrees appraisal etc. Also, the general compensation levels may need to be looked into and possibly increased as may be possible.
There is a requirement of the introduction of scientific manpower planning. We need to scientifically come up with parameters and benchmarks against which the productivity of the employees can be measured. Welfare of the employees needs to be looked into and it is a very important part of the talent management. There needs to be substantial increase in the allocation of welfare fund for the welfare and especially for the welfare of the retired employees. It is equally important to increase the involvement of the employees in general and the new recruits specially. In this context the policy of reward and punishment must be revamped. Any disciplinary proceeding against an employee regarding procedural lapses must be completed within the shortest possible time. It must be kept in mind that employee faces least mental harassment since the employee is nearly non-productive in this period. The above matters are very important in keeping the motivational level of the employee intact because it is now an established fact that only a motivated employee can deliver results. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
Creation of congenial climate for talent nurturing calls for creation of atmosphere where employees are adequately and correctly compensated for their performance; and their talents and performances are recognized and appreciated. Apart from having right climate, the other important issues that one looks into before giving a medium to long term commitment for a career, is satisfaction arising from job enrichment/rotation, getting recognition for doing a good job, expectation of performance-based payment, flexibility in terms of job hours and other related aspects, both monetary and non-monetary incentives and a fast track promotion process through which one can look for prospects of a good career ahead. This becomes all the more important because today’s employee compares his job with the kind of job his friend/peer might be having at a private sector counterpart. More flexibility at the level of bank in deciding the compensation level reflecting the capacity of the bank to pay will be a welcome step. Today, all negotiations and settlements are reached at the industry level. There needs to be a difference in the amount being paid at a low-performing and a high performing bank. Such steps will motivate the employees of a bank on the whole to work harder and, more importantly, together. (The Indian Banker, Jan 2012)

What is the best summary of the fourth paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Today, India is at the cusp of a revolution in economic growth. As a progressive nation, we have to focus on both the creation of wealth (through entrepreneurship) and the redistribution of at least a part of that wealth (by philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created has to be given back to the community to nurture future economic growth. This is the only way we can create hope for the large majority of our poor. Robert Kennedy once said, ‘each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ There is no more opportune time for us than now to create a multitude of such ripples. Today, thanks to liberalization and subsequent economic growth, a large number of Indians have the capacity to contribute. Wealth invested back into society expands opportunity for a larger section of people, and we can thus create an upheaval spiral of wealth and prosperity. This is at the core of social success in countries like the USA.
In promoting philanthropic activity, we have to focus on both the supply side of philosophy (donors) as well as the demand side (recipients). On both sides of the equation, many of our voluntary organizations have the capacity to solve problems but have little or no money to implement them. On the other hand, many of those that have the financial resources hardly have time or the focus to sustain programmes that cater to society’s demands. The need of the hour is to enthuse a large section of our affluent population to become active participants in philanthropy. According to a survey by Independent Sector, a coalition of philanthropic organization in the USA, over 80 per cent of US households donate to charitable causes, 80 million American adults involve themselves in voluntary activities, representing the equivalent of over 9 million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion. Philanthropy has allowed the USA to tackle many of its social problems. In 2000, American philanthropic contributions account for almost 2 per cent of the national income. There are similar signs of increased philanthropic activity in Latin America, Spain and Russia, to name just a few countries.
Contributions from individuals have tremendous potential in India. However, most individuals donate to religious organizations. In fact, this accounts for about 35 per cent of donations made by Indians. Further, a majority of voluntary organizations in India lack the marketing and branding skills and the methodology to tap this very important source of funds. Owing to lack of transparency and accountability, many voluntary organizations suffer from serious crises of credibility. This often deters individuals from contributing to welfare or developmental projects.
Public trust, it needs to be remembered, is the singlemost important asset of the philanthropic community. Without it, donors will not give and volunteers will not get involved. This implies accountability to the public and to the charitable intent of the donors. Improved performance also requires lowering the cost of administration and investing in more effective strategies for social change. Programme evaluation, focus on results, and even impact studies to measure the effectiveness of social investments are part of this. Independent Sector in the USA outlines a series of steps the philanthropic and non-profit sector take to ensure accountability. We need a similar code in India. (Narayan Murthy in A Better India A Better World)

Which of the following is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It does not make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. The success of any organization depends on how the performers are rewarded and how much the non-performers go unnoticed in the system. Several organizations have called for introducing a robust performance based compensation system that basically fixes accountability on the employees and compensates them accordingly. There are calls for introducing variable pay systems, ESOPs etc. However, practical these solutions might seem at present, the possible fallouts of such systems must be kept in mind. Introducing such systems on the lines of private sector banks will essentially hit at the core of the culture of the public sector banks and the relationship that it has with its employees. And, since it is clear that it will be very difficult for the PSBs to actually pay at the levels of the private sector banks, introducing such a system would essentially mean affecting one thing that still attracts people to such jobs that is the emotional connect in terms of pride etc. Also, it will mean incentivizing managers to take decisions that maximize short-term profits and in the process probably affecting long term prospects.
Keeping in mind the responsibility that the PSBs have towards the society as a whole (something the private counterparts cannot be held accountable for), it is very important that managers at the PSBs take decisions that positively affect the long terms prospects of the banks. Introducing such explicit performance oriented systems can negatively affect the pursuit of such goals. It does not, however, mean that the banks need not lay stress on the performance. Obviously, there is a need to revamp the performance evaluation systems, probably introduce modern systems like 360 degrees appraisal etc. Also, the general compensation levels may need to be looked into and possibly increased as may be possible.
There is a requirement of the introduction of scientific manpower planning. We need to scientifically come up with parameters and benchmarks against which the productivity of the employees can be measured. Welfare of the employees needs to be looked into and it is a very important part of the talent management. There needs to be substantial increase in the allocation of welfare fund for the welfare and especially for the welfare of the retired employees. It is equally important to increase the involvement of the employees in general and the new recruits specially. In this context the policy of reward and punishment must be revamped. Any disciplinary proceeding against an employee regarding procedural lapses must be completed within the shortest possible time. It must be kept in mind that employee faces least mental harassment since the employee is nearly non-productive in this period. The above matters are very important in keeping the motivational level of the employee intact because it is now an established fact that only a motivated employee can deliver results. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
Creation of congenial climate for talent nurturing calls for creation of atmosphere where employees are adequately and correctly compensated for their performance; and their talents and performances are recognized and appreciated. Apart from having right climate, the other important issues that one looks into before giving a medium to long term commitment for a career, is satisfaction arising from job enrichment/rotation, getting recognition for doing a good job, expectation of performance-based payment, flexibility in terms of job hours and other related aspects, both monetary and non-monetary incentives and a fast track promotion process through which one can look for prospects of a good career ahead. This becomes all the more important because today’s employee compares his job with the kind of job his friend/peer might be having at a private sector counterpart. More flexibility at the level of bank in deciding the compensation level reflecting the capacity of the bank to pay will be a welcome step. Today, all negotiations and settlements are reached at the industry level. There needs to be a difference in the amount being paid at a low-performing and a high performing bank. Such steps will motivate the employees of a bank on the whole to work harder and, more importantly, together. (The Indian Banker, Jan 2012)

Which of the following is the best summary of the second paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Today, India is at the cusp of a revolution in economic growth. As a progressive nation, we have to focus on both the creation of wealth (through entrepreneurship) and the redistribution of at least a part of that wealth (by philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created has to be given back to the community to nurture future economic growth. This is the only way we can create hope for the large majority of our poor. Robert Kennedy once said, ‘each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ There is no more opportune time for us than now to create a multitude of such ripples. Today, thanks to liberalization and subsequent economic growth, a large number of Indians have the capacity to contribute. Wealth invested back into society expands opportunity for a larger section of people, and we can thus create an upheaval spiral of wealth and prosperity. This is at the core of social success in countries like the USA.
In promoting philanthropic activity, we have to focus on both the supply side of philosophy (donors) as well as the demand side (recipients). On both sides of the equation, many of our voluntary organizations have the capacity to solve problems but have little or no money to implement them. On the other hand, many of those that have the financial resources hardly have time or the focus to sustain programmes that cater to society’s demands. The need of the hour is to enthuse a large section of our affluent population to become active participants in philanthropy. According to a survey by Independent Sector, a coalition of philanthropic organization in the USA, over 80 per cent of US households donate to charitable causes, 80 million American adults involve themselves in voluntary activities, representing the equivalent of over 9 million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion. Philanthropy has allowed the USA to tackle many of its social problems. In 2000, American philanthropic contributions account for almost 2 per cent of the national income. There are similar signs of increased philanthropic activity in Latin America, Spain and Russia, to name just a few countries.
Contributions from individuals have tremendous potential in India. However, most individuals donate to religious organizations. In fact, this accounts for about 35 per cent of donations made by Indians. Further, a majority of voluntary organizations in India lack the marketing and branding skills and the methodology to tap this very important source of funds. Owing to lack of transparency and accountability, many voluntary organizations suffer from serious crises of credibility. This often deters individuals from contributing to welfare or developmental projects.
Public trust, it needs to be remembered, is the singlemost important asset of the philanthropic community. Without it, donors will not give and volunteers will not get involved. This implies accountability to the public and to the charitable intent of the donors. Improved performance also requires lowering the cost of administration and investing in more effective strategies for social change. Programme evaluation, focus on results, and even impact studies to measure the effectiveness of social investments are part of this. Independent Sector in the USA outlines a series of steps the philanthropic and non-profit sector take to ensure accountability. We need a similar code in India. (Narayan Murthy in A Better India A Better World)

Which of the following gives the best summary of the second paragraph?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It does not make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. The success of any organization depends on how the performers are rewarded and how much the non-performers go unnoticed in the system. Several organizations have called for introducing a robust performance based compensation system that basically fixes accountability on the employees and compensates them accordingly. There are calls for introducing variable pay systems, ESOPs etc. However, practical these solutions might seem at present, the possible fallouts of such systems must be kept in mind. Introducing such systems on the lines of private sector banks will essentially hit at the core of the culture of the public sector banks and the relationship that it has with its employees. And, since it is clear that it will be very difficult for the PSBs to actually pay at the levels of the private sector banks, introducing such a system would essentially mean affecting one thing that still attracts people to such jobs that is the emotional connect in terms of pride etc. Also, it will mean incentivizing managers to take decisions that maximize short-term profits and in the process probably affecting long term prospects.
Keeping in mind the responsibility that the PSBs have towards the society as a whole (something the private counterparts cannot be held accountable for), it is very important that managers at the PSBs take decisions that positively affect the long terms prospects of the banks. Introducing such explicit performance oriented systems can negatively affect the pursuit of such goals. It does not, however, mean that the banks need not lay stress on the performance. Obviously, there is a need to revamp the performance evaluation systems, probably introduce modern systems like 360 degrees appraisal etc. Also, the general compensation levels may need to be looked into and possibly increased as may be possible.
There is a requirement of the introduction of scientific manpower planning. We need to scientifically come up with parameters and benchmarks against which the productivity of the employees can be measured. Welfare of the employees needs to be looked into and it is a very important part of the talent management. There needs to be substantial increase in the allocation of welfare fund for the welfare and especially for the welfare of the retired employees. It is equally important to increase the involvement of the employees in general and the new recruits specially. In this context the policy of reward and punishment must be revamped. Any disciplinary proceeding against an employee regarding procedural lapses must be completed within the shortest possible time. It must be kept in mind that employee faces least mental harassment since the employee is nearly non-productive in this period. The above matters are very important in keeping the motivational level of the employee intact because it is now an established fact that only a motivated employee can deliver results. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
Creation of congenial climate for talent nurturing calls for creation of atmosphere where employees are adequately and correctly compensated for their performance; and their talents and performances are recognized and appreciated. Apart from having right climate, the other important issues that one looks into before giving a medium to long term commitment for a career, is satisfaction arising from job enrichment/rotation, getting recognition for doing a good job, expectation of performance-based payment, flexibility in terms of job hours and other related aspects, both monetary and non-monetary incentives and a fast track promotion process through which one can look for prospects of a good career ahead. This becomes all the more important because today’s employee compares his job with the kind of job his friend/peer might be having at a private sector counterpart. More flexibility at the level of bank in deciding the compensation level reflecting the capacity of the bank to pay will be a welcome step. Today, all negotiations and settlements are reached at the industry level. There needs to be a difference in the amount being paid at a low-performing and a high performing bank. Such steps will motivate the employees of a bank on the whole to work harder and, more importantly, together. (The Indian Banker, Jan 2012)

Give the best summary of the opening paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Today, India is at the cusp of a revolution in economic growth. As a progressive nation, we have to focus on both the creation of wealth (through entrepreneurship) and the redistribution of at least a part of that wealth (by philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created has to be given back to the community to nurture future economic growth. This is the only way we can create hope for the large majority of our poor. Robert Kennedy once said, ‘each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ There is no more opportune time for us than now to create a multitude of such ripples. Today, thanks to liberalization and subsequent economic growth, a large number of Indians have the capacity to contribute. Wealth invested back into society expands opportunity for a larger section of people, and we can thus create an upheaval spiral of wealth and prosperity. This is at the core of social success in countries like the USA.
In promoting philanthropic activity, we have to focus on both the supply side of philosophy (donors) as well as the demand side (recipients). On both sides of the equation, many of our voluntary organizations have the capacity to solve problems but have little or no money to implement them. On the other hand, many of those that have the financial resources hardly have time or the focus to sustain programmes that cater to society’s demands. The need of the hour is to enthuse a large section of our affluent population to become active participants in philanthropy. According to a survey by Independent Sector, a coalition of philanthropic organization in the USA, over 80 per cent of US households donate to charitable causes, 80 million American adults involve themselves in voluntary activities, representing the equivalent of over 9 million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion. Philanthropy has allowed the USA to tackle many of its social problems. In 2000, American philanthropic contributions account for almost 2 per cent of the national income. There are similar signs of increased philanthropic activity in Latin America, Spain and Russia, to name just a few countries.
Contributions from individuals have tremendous potential in India. However, most individuals donate to religious organizations. In fact, this accounts for about 35 per cent of donations made by Indians. Further, a majority of voluntary organizations in India lack the marketing and branding skills and the methodology to tap this very important source of funds. Owing to lack of transparency and accountability, many voluntary organizations suffer from serious crises of credibility. This often deters individuals from contributing to welfare or developmental projects.
Public trust, it needs to be remembered, is the singlemost important asset of the philanthropic community. Without it, donors will not give and volunteers will not get involved. This implies accountability to the public and to the charitable intent of the donors. Improved performance also requires lowering the cost of administration and investing in more effective strategies for social change. Programme evaluation, focus on results, and even impact studies to measure the effectiveness of social investments are part of this. Independent Sector in the USA outlines a series of steps the philanthropic and non-profit sector take to ensure accountability. We need a similar code in India. (Narayan Murthy in A Better India A Better World)

Give the best summary of the third paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Today, India is at the cusp of a revolution in economic growth. As a progressive nation, we have to focus on both the creation of wealth (through entrepreneurship) and the redistribution of at least a part of that wealth (by philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created has to be given back to the community to nurture future economic growth. This is the only way we can create hope for the large majority of our poor. Robert Kennedy once said, ‘each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ There is no more opportune time for us than now to create a multitude of such ripples. Today, thanks to liberalization and subsequent economic growth, a large number of Indians have the capacity to contribute. Wealth invested back into society expands opportunity for a larger section of people, and we can thus create an upheaval spiral of wealth and prosperity. This is at the core of social success in countries like the USA.
In promoting philanthropic activity, we have to focus on both the supply side of philosophy (donors) as well as the demand side (recipients). On both sides of the equation, many of our voluntary organizations have the capacity to solve problems but have little or no money to implement them. On the other hand, many of those that have the financial resources hardly have time or the focus to sustain programmes that cater to society’s demands. The need of the hour is to enthuse a large section of our affluent population to become active participants in philanthropy. According to a survey by Independent Sector, a coalition of philanthropic organization in the USA, over 80 per cent of US households donate to charitable causes, 80 million American adults involve themselves in voluntary activities, representing the equivalent of over 9 million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion. Philanthropy has allowed the USA to tackle many of its social problems. In 2000, American philanthropic contributions account for almost 2 per cent of the national income. There are similar signs of increased philanthropic activity in Latin America, Spain and Russia, to name just a few countries.
Contributions from individuals have tremendous potential in India. However, most individuals donate to religious organizations. In fact, this accounts for about 35 per cent of donations made by Indians. Further, a majority of voluntary organizations in India lack the marketing and branding skills and the methodology to tap this very important source of funds. Owing to lack of transparency and accountability, many voluntary organizations suffer from serious crises of credibility. This often deters individuals from contributing to welfare or developmental projects.
Public trust, it needs to be remembered, is the singlemost important asset of the philanthropic community. Without it, donors will not give and volunteers will not get involved. This implies accountability to the public and to the charitable intent of the donors. Improved performance also requires lowering the cost of administration and investing in more effective strategies for social change. Programme evaluation, focus on results, and even impact studies to measure the effectiveness of social investments are part of this. Independent Sector in the USA outlines a series of steps the philanthropic and non-profit sector take to ensure accountability. We need a similar code in India. (Narayan Murthy in A Better India A Better World)

Give the best summary of the last paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Since any stimulus is potentially a secondary source of drive and any source of drive may become associated with behaviour which brings reinforcement, the social sources of drive can be almost infinite in number. Social sources of drive combine with relevant activities to form motives. A motive consists of an increase in drive plus its associated goal-oriented behavioural trends. A drive state which has acquired goal direction through learning constitutes a motive.
The goals towards which motives are oriented constitute incentives. Incentives may be objects, conditions, or experiences. Incentives may be either immediate or close at hand, or they may be delayed and remote. They may represent sub-goals which are desirable only because they lead to larger, more significant and remote goals. The educationally significant reinforcements (rewards and punishments) represent incentives which are used to instigate and sustain activity. Since the motivational properties of incentives are acquired, they will vary tremendously from person to person and from situation to situation. The potency of a given incentive depends on the strength of the relevant motive and the degree to which the individual sees the goal as satisfying the motive in terms of risk and effort. Some incentives which are important educationally derive this importance from the cultural context in which they are embedded. The potency of social incentives represents the relative attractiveness of certain social experiences in terms of their probable contribution to the individual’s social acceptance, the degree to which he is liked and loved (affiliative motives), or admired, respected, and envied (prestige motivation).   
The number of possible motives is so great that for discussion purposes, it usually helps to classify them in some way. All such classifications are arbitrary and become useful only within a limited context. One classification, which is meaningful in an educational context, divides the social motives, into two large groups—the affiliation-oriented motives and the prestige-oriented motives. These two groups—sometimes called ‘motives’ rather than ‘group of motives’—have been given various names. Some refer to these motives as ‘needs’.
The affiliative motives constitute the most basic socially-oriented behavioural trends. They represent a continuum ranging from a degree to be with other people rather than to be alone (gregariousness), at one end, to a preference for the presence of people with whom we have a common language and interest (social interaction) as contrasted with ‘foreignness,’ to a preference for people with whom we have had previous pleasant experience (friends) as compared with strangers, as intermediate categories, to a desire to have continued intimate contact with our loved ones, at the other extreme. The series of social relationships encompassed by the affiliative motives range in their degree of affectional or emotional involvement from minimal (gregariousness), to the most intimate of emotional ties as found in the parent-child, husband-wife relationship. (Educational Psychology by Sawrey and Telford)

Which of the following gives the best summary of the second paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Since any stimulus is potentially a secondary source of drive and any source of drive may become associated with behaviour which brings reinforcement, the social sources of drive can be almost infinite in number. Social sources of drive combine with relevant activities to form motives. A motive consists of an increase in drive plus its associated goal-oriented behavioural trends. A drive state which has acquired goal direction through learning constitutes a motive.
The goals towards which motives are oriented constitute incentives. Incentives may be objects, conditions, or experiences. Incentives may be either immediate or close at hand, or they may be delayed and remote. They may represent sub-goals which are desirable only because they lead to larger, more significant and remote goals. The educationally significant reinforcements (rewards and punishments) represent incentives which are used to instigate and sustain activity. Since the motivational properties of incentives are acquired, they will vary tremendously from person to person and from situation to situation. The potency of a given incentive depends on the strength of the relevant motive and the degree to which the individual sees the goal as satisfying the motive in terms of risk and effort. Some incentives which are important educationally derive this importance from the cultural context in which they are embedded. The potency of social incentives represents the relative attractiveness of certain social experiences in terms of their probable contribution to the individual’s social acceptance, the degree to which he is liked and loved (affiliative motives), or admired, respected, and envied (prestige motivation).   
The number of possible motives is so great that for discussion purposes, it usually helps to classify them in some way. All such classifications are arbitrary and become useful only within a limited context. One classification, which is meaningful in an educational context, divides the social motives, into two large groups—the affiliation-oriented motives and the prestige-oriented motives. These two groups—sometimes called ‘motives’ rather than ‘group of motives’—have been given various names. Some refer to these motives as ‘needs’.
The affiliative motives constitute the most basic socially-oriented behavioural trends. They represent a continuum ranging from a degree to be with other people rather than to be alone (gregariousness), at one end, to a preference for the presence of people with whom we have a common language and interest (social interaction) as contrasted with ‘foreignness,’ to a preference for people with whom we have had previous pleasant experience (friends) as compared with strangers, as intermediate categories, to a desire to have continued intimate contact with our loved ones, at the other extreme. The series of social relationships encompassed by the affiliative motives range in their degree of affectional or emotional involvement from minimal (gregariousness), to the most intimate of emotional ties as found in the parent-child, husband-wife relationship. (Educational Psychology by Sawrey and Telford)

What is the best summary of the third paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Since any stimulus is potentially a secondary source of drive and any source of drive may become associated with behaviour which brings reinforcement, the social sources of drive can be almost infinite in number. Social sources of drive combine with relevant activities to form motives. A motive consists of an increase in drive plus its associated goal-oriented behavioural trends. A drive state which has acquired goal direction through learning constitutes a motive.
The goals towards which motives are oriented constitute incentives. Incentives may be objects, conditions, or experiences. Incentives may be either immediate or close at hand, or they may be delayed and remote. They may represent sub-goals which are desirable only because they lead to larger, more significant and remote goals. The educationally significant reinforcements (rewards and punishments) represent incentives which are used to instigate and sustain activity. Since the motivational properties of incentives are acquired, they will vary tremendously from person to person and from situation to situation. The potency of a given incentive depends on the strength of the relevant motive and the degree to which the individual sees the goal as satisfying the motive in terms of risk and effort. Some incentives which are important educationally derive this importance from the cultural context in which they are embedded. The potency of social incentives represents the relative attractiveness of certain social experiences in terms of their probable contribution to the individual’s social acceptance, the degree to which he is liked and loved (affiliative motives), or admired, respected, and envied (prestige motivation).   
The number of possible motives is so great that for discussion purposes, it usually helps to classify them in some way. All such classifications are arbitrary and become useful only within a limited context. One classification, which is meaningful in an educational context, divides the social motives, into two large groups—the affiliation-oriented motives and the prestige-oriented motives. These two groups—sometimes called ‘motives’ rather than ‘group of motives’—have been given various names. Some refer to these motives as ‘needs’.
The affiliative motives constitute the most basic socially-oriented behavioural trends. They represent a continuum ranging from a degree to be with other people rather than to be alone (gregariousness), at one end, to a preference for the presence of people with whom we have a common language and interest (social interaction) as contrasted with ‘foreignness,’ to a preference for people with whom we have had previous pleasant experience (friends) as compared with strangers, as intermediate categories, to a desire to have continued intimate contact with our loved ones, at the other extreme. The series of social relationships encompassed by the affiliative motives range in their degree of affectional or emotional involvement from minimal (gregariousness), to the most intimate of emotional ties as found in the parent-child, husband-wife relationship. (Educational Psychology by Sawrey and Telford)

What is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is considerable evidence that time is a factor in learning. There seems to be something going on during periods of rest, particularly immediately following practice, that influence the consolidation and retention of that which has been practised. We do not know just what goes on or how it operates, but the evidence is quite clear that some type of spacing of repetitions facilitates learning and has an even more favourable effect on retention. 
One experimenter set out to discover whether the method of spaced repetitions was more effective than that of massed repetitions for the purpose of learning ordinary meaningful material. Thirty short selections in history and the same number in economics represented the material to be studied. Each assignment was read through five times, either at one sitting, one right after the other (massed reading), or once a day for five successive days (spaced readings).  Subjects and conditions were so rotated as to cancel out practice and fatigue effects for the two conditions. At varying intervals after the original readings, the subjects wrote all that could be recalled of the selections read. The amounts retained after varying time intervals were also determined.
The results show some interesting differences. When tested immediately after the original readings, 66 per cent of the material read five times in one day was recalled as compared with 64 per cent of the material read once daily for five successive days. This difference is not significant. When tested two weeks later, only 13 per cent of the material read five times in succession was recalled, whereas 47 per cent of that read daily for five days was reproduced. After one month, 11 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, were recalled (Austin 1921). In this particular experiment, for immediate recall, massed repetitions were as effective as spaced, but for retention over a period of time a different story is told. The material learned by the massing of repetitions is forgotten much more rapidly. Two weeks or a month after the original readings almost three times as much of the material read daily for five days is recalled as of that which was read five times in succession.
Not all the experimental studies on this topic have shown differences as marked as those cited, but the overwhelming majority has shown an advantage of some form of distributed practice as compared with the massing of repetitions. There is some evidence that the advantages of spaced repetitions are greater for the learning of more difficult than for that of very easy material and that they are greater for relatively meaningless as compared with more meaningful material. While it is hard to make any blanket recommendations, it would seem that for most forms of motor learning the spacing of repetitions is better than massing them. In most rote ideational learning, spacing probably has an advantage over massing. In the development of concepts and in problem solving involving common mental sets, the massing of practice is best, but where a shift in mental set is required spacing has an advantage. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Give the best summary of the second paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is considerable evidence that time is a factor in learning. There seems to be something going on during periods of rest, particularly immediately following practice, that influence the consolidation and retention of that which has been practised. We do not know just what goes on or how it operates, but the evidence is quite clear that some type of spacing of repetitions facilitates learning and has an even more favourable effect on retention. 
One experimenter set out to discover whether the method of spaced repetitions was more effective than that of massed repetitions for the purpose of learning ordinary meaningful material. Thirty short selections in history and the same number in economics represented the material to be studied. Each assignment was read through five times, either at one sitting, one right after the other (massed reading), or once a day for five successive days (spaced readings).  Subjects and conditions were so rotated as to cancel out practice and fatigue effects for the two conditions. At varying intervals after the original readings, the subjects wrote all that could be recalled of the selections read. The amounts retained after varying time intervals were also determined.
The results show some interesting differences. When tested immediately after the original readings, 66 per cent of the material read five times in one day was recalled as compared with 64 per cent of the material read once daily for five successive days. This difference is not significant. When tested two weeks later, only 13 per cent of the material read five times in succession was recalled, whereas 47 per cent of that read daily for five days was reproduced. After one month, 11 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, were recalled (Austin 1921). In this particular experiment, for immediate recall, massed repetitions were as effective as spaced, but for retention over a period of time a different story is told. The material learned by the massing of repetitions is forgotten much more rapidly. Two weeks or a month after the original readings almost three times as much of the material read daily for five days is recalled as of that which was read five times in succession.
Not all the experimental studies on this topic have shown differences as marked as those cited, but the overwhelming majority has shown an advantage of some form of distributed practice as compared with the massing of repetitions. There is some evidence that the advantages of spaced repetitions are greater for the learning of more difficult than for that of very easy material and that they are greater for relatively meaningless as compared with more meaningful material. While it is hard to make any blanket recommendations, it would seem that for most forms of motor learning the spacing of repetitions is better than massing them. In most rote ideational learning, spacing probably has an advantage over massing. In the development of concepts and in problem solving involving common mental sets, the massing of practice is best, but where a shift in mental set is required spacing has an advantage. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Give the best summary of the first paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Since any stimulus is potentially a secondary source of drive and any source of drive may become associated with behaviour which brings reinforcement, the social sources of drive can be almost infinite in number. Social sources of drive combine with relevant activities to form motives. A motive consists of an increase in drive plus its associated goal-oriented behavioural trends. A drive state which has acquired goal direction through learning constitutes a motive.
The goals towards which motives are oriented constitute incentives. Incentives may be objects, conditions, or experiences. Incentives may be either immediate or close at hand, or they may be delayed and remote. They may represent sub-goals which are desirable only because they lead to larger, more significant and remote goals. The educationally significant reinforcements (rewards and punishments) represent incentives which are used to instigate and sustain activity. Since the motivational properties of incentives are acquired, they will vary tremendously from person to person and from situation to situation. The potency of a given incentive depends on the strength of the relevant motive and the degree to which the individual sees the goal as satisfying the motive in terms of risk and effort. Some incentives which are important educationally derive this importance from the cultural context in which they are embedded. The potency of social incentives represents the relative attractiveness of certain social experiences in terms of their probable contribution to the individual’s social acceptance, the degree to which he is liked and loved (affiliative motives), or admired, respected, and envied (prestige motivation).   
The number of possible motives is so great that for discussion purposes, it usually helps to classify them in some way. All such classifications are arbitrary and become useful only within a limited context. One classification, which is meaningful in an educational context, divides the social motives, into two large groups—the affiliation-oriented motives and the prestige-oriented motives. These two groups—sometimes called ‘motives’ rather than ‘group of motives’—have been given various names. Some refer to these motives as ‘needs’.
The affiliative motives constitute the most basic socially-oriented behavioural trends. They represent a continuum ranging from a degree to be with other people rather than to be alone (gregariousness), at one end, to a preference for the presence of people with whom we have a common language and interest (social interaction) as contrasted with ‘foreignness,’ to a preference for people with whom we have had previous pleasant experience (friends) as compared with strangers, as intermediate categories, to a desire to have continued intimate contact with our loved ones, at the other extreme. The series of social relationships encompassed by the affiliative motives range in their degree of affectional or emotional involvement from minimal (gregariousness), to the most intimate of emotional ties as found in the parent-child, husband-wife relationship. (Educational Psychology by Sawrey and Telford)

What is the best summary of the opening paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is considerable evidence that time is a factor in learning. There seems to be something going on during periods of rest, particularly immediately following practice, that influence the consolidation and retention of that which has been practised. We do not know just what goes on or how it operates, but the evidence is quite clear that some type of spacing of repetitions facilitates learning and has an even more favourable effect on retention. 
One experimenter set out to discover whether the method of spaced repetitions was more effective than that of massed repetitions for the purpose of learning ordinary meaningful material. Thirty short selections in history and the same number in economics represented the material to be studied. Each assignment was read through five times, either at one sitting, one right after the other (massed reading), or once a day for five successive days (spaced readings).  Subjects and conditions were so rotated as to cancel out practice and fatigue effects for the two conditions. At varying intervals after the original readings, the subjects wrote all that could be recalled of the selections read. The amounts retained after varying time intervals were also determined.
The results show some interesting differences. When tested immediately after the original readings, 66 per cent of the material read five times in one day was recalled as compared with 64 per cent of the material read once daily for five successive days. This difference is not significant. When tested two weeks later, only 13 per cent of the material read five times in succession was recalled, whereas 47 per cent of that read daily for five days was reproduced. After one month, 11 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, were recalled (Austin 1921). In this particular experiment, for immediate recall, massed repetitions were as effective as spaced, but for retention over a period of time a different story is told. The material learned by the massing of repetitions is forgotten much more rapidly. Two weeks or a month after the original readings almost three times as much of the material read daily for five days is recalled as of that which was read five times in succession.
Not all the experimental studies on this topic have shown differences as marked as those cited, but the overwhelming majority has shown an advantage of some form of distributed practice as compared with the massing of repetitions. There is some evidence that the advantages of spaced repetitions are greater for the learning of more difficult than for that of very easy material and that they are greater for relatively meaningless as compared with more meaningful material. While it is hard to make any blanket recommendations, it would seem that for most forms of motor learning the spacing of repetitions is better than massing them. In most rote ideational learning, spacing probably has an advantage over massing. In the development of concepts and in problem solving involving common mental sets, the massing of practice is best, but where a shift in mental set is required spacing has an advantage. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Which of the following is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Since any stimulus is potentially a secondary source of drive and any source of drive may become associated with behaviour which brings reinforcement, the social sources of drive can be almost infinite in number. Social sources of drive combine with relevant activities to form motives. A motive consists of an increase in drive plus its associated goal-oriented behavioural trends. A drive state which has acquired goal direction through learning constitutes a motive.
The goals towards which motives are oriented constitute incentives. Incentives may be objects, conditions, or experiences. Incentives may be either immediate or close at hand, or they may be delayed and remote. They may represent sub-goals which are desirable only because they lead to larger, more significant and remote goals. The educationally significant reinforcements (rewards and punishments) represent incentives which are used to instigate and sustain activity. Since the motivational properties of incentives are acquired, they will vary tremendously from person to person and from situation to situation. The potency of a given incentive depends on the strength of the relevant motive and the degree to which the individual sees the goal as satisfying the motive in terms of risk and effort. Some incentives which are important educationally derive this importance from the cultural context in which they are embedded. The potency of social incentives represents the relative attractiveness of certain social experiences in terms of their probable contribution to the individual’s social acceptance, the degree to which he is liked and loved (affiliative motives), or admired, respected, and envied (prestige motivation).   
The number of possible motives is so great that for discussion purposes, it usually helps to classify them in some way. All such classifications are arbitrary and become useful only within a limited context. One classification, which is meaningful in an educational context, divides the social motives, into two large groups—the affiliation-oriented motives and the prestige-oriented motives. These two groups—sometimes called ‘motives’ rather than ‘group of motives’—have been given various names. Some refer to these motives as ‘needs’.
The affiliative motives constitute the most basic socially-oriented behavioural trends. They represent a continuum ranging from a degree to be with other people rather than to be alone (gregariousness), at one end, to a preference for the presence of people with whom we have a common language and interest (social interaction) as contrasted with ‘foreignness,’ to a preference for people with whom we have had previous pleasant experience (friends) as compared with strangers, as intermediate categories, to a desire to have continued intimate contact with our loved ones, at the other extreme. The series of social relationships encompassed by the affiliative motives range in their degree of affectional or emotional involvement from minimal (gregariousness), to the most intimate of emotional ties as found in the parent-child, husband-wife relationship. (Educational Psychology by Sawrey and Telford)

Which of the following best summarizes the third paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is considerable evidence that time is a factor in learning. There seems to be something going on during periods of rest, particularly immediately following practice, that influence the consolidation and retention of that which has been practised. We do not know just what goes on or how it operates, but the evidence is quite clear that some type of spacing of repetitions facilitates learning and has an even more favourable effect on retention. 
One experimenter set out to discover whether the method of spaced repetitions was more effective than that of massed repetitions for the purpose of learning ordinary meaningful material. Thirty short selections in history and the same number in economics represented the material to be studied. Each assignment was read through five times, either at one sitting, one right after the other (massed reading), or once a day for five successive days (spaced readings).  Subjects and conditions were so rotated as to cancel out practice and fatigue effects for the two conditions. At varying intervals after the original readings, the subjects wrote all that could be recalled of the selections read. The amounts retained after varying time intervals were also determined.
The results show some interesting differences. When tested immediately after the original readings, 66 per cent of the material read five times in one day was recalled as compared with 64 per cent of the material read once daily for five successive days. This difference is not significant. When tested two weeks later, only 13 per cent of the material read five times in succession was recalled, whereas 47 per cent of that read daily for five days was reproduced. After one month, 11 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, were recalled (Austin 1921). In this particular experiment, for immediate recall, massed repetitions were as effective as spaced, but for retention over a period of time a different story is told. The material learned by the massing of repetitions is forgotten much more rapidly. Two weeks or a month after the original readings almost three times as much of the material read daily for five days is recalled as of that which was read five times in succession.
Not all the experimental studies on this topic have shown differences as marked as those cited, but the overwhelming majority has shown an advantage of some form of distributed practice as compared with the massing of repetitions. There is some evidence that the advantages of spaced repetitions are greater for the learning of more difficult than for that of very easy material and that they are greater for relatively meaningless as compared with more meaningful material. While it is hard to make any blanket recommendations, it would seem that for most forms of motor learning the spacing of repetitions is better than massing them. In most rote ideational learning, spacing probably has an advantage over massing. In the development of concepts and in problem solving involving common mental sets, the massing of practice is best, but where a shift in mental set is required spacing has an advantage. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

What is the best summary of the last paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

There is considerable evidence that time is a factor in learning. There seems to be something going on during periods of rest, particularly immediately following practice, that influence the consolidation and retention of that which has been practised. We do not know just what goes on or how it operates, but the evidence is quite clear that some type of spacing of repetitions facilitates learning and has an even more favourable effect on retention. 
One experimenter set out to discover whether the method of spaced repetitions was more effective than that of massed repetitions for the purpose of learning ordinary meaningful material. Thirty short selections in history and the same number in economics represented the material to be studied. Each assignment was read through five times, either at one sitting, one right after the other (massed reading), or once a day for five successive days (spaced readings).  Subjects and conditions were so rotated as to cancel out practice and fatigue effects for the two conditions. At varying intervals after the original readings, the subjects wrote all that could be recalled of the selections read. The amounts retained after varying time intervals were also determined.
The results show some interesting differences. When tested immediately after the original readings, 66 per cent of the material read five times in one day was recalled as compared with 64 per cent of the material read once daily for five successive days. This difference is not significant. When tested two weeks later, only 13 per cent of the material read five times in succession was recalled, whereas 47 per cent of that read daily for five days was reproduced. After one month, 11 per cent and 33 per cent respectively, were recalled (Austin 1921). In this particular experiment, for immediate recall, massed repetitions were as effective as spaced, but for retention over a period of time a different story is told. The material learned by the massing of repetitions is forgotten much more rapidly. Two weeks or a month after the original readings almost three times as much of the material read daily for five days is recalled as of that which was read five times in succession.
Not all the experimental studies on this topic have shown differences as marked as those cited, but the overwhelming majority has shown an advantage of some form of distributed practice as compared with the massing of repetitions. There is some evidence that the advantages of spaced repetitions are greater for the learning of more difficult than for that of very easy material and that they are greater for relatively meaningless as compared with more meaningful material. While it is hard to make any blanket recommendations, it would seem that for most forms of motor learning the spacing of repetitions is better than massing them. In most rote ideational learning, spacing probably has an advantage over massing. In the development of concepts and in problem solving involving common mental sets, the massing of practice is best, but where a shift in mental set is required spacing has an advantage. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Which of the following would be the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Today, India is at the cusp of a revolution in economic growth. As a progressive nation, we have to focus on both the creation of wealth (through entrepreneurship) and the redistribution of at least a part of that wealth (by philanthropy). Philanthropy is part of the implicit social contract that nurtures and revitalizes economic prosperity. Much of the new wealth created has to be given back to the community to nurture future economic growth. This is the only way we can create hope for the large majority of our poor. Robert Kennedy once said, ‘each time a man stands up to improve the lot of others, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.’ There is no more opportune time for us than now to create a multitude of such ripples. Today, thanks to liberalization and subsequent economic growth, a large number of Indians have the capacity to contribute. Wealth invested back into society expands opportunity for a larger section of people, and we can thus create an upheaval spiral of wealth and prosperity. This is at the core of social success in countries like the USA.
In promoting philanthropic activity, we have to focus on both the supply side of philosophy (donors) as well as the demand side (recipients). On both sides of the equation, many of our voluntary organizations have the capacity to solve problems but have little or no money to implement them. On the other hand, many of those that have the financial resources hardly have time or the focus to sustain programmes that cater to society’s demands. The need of the hour is to enthuse a large section of our affluent population to become active participants in philanthropy. According to a survey by Independent Sector, a coalition of philanthropic organization in the USA, over 80 per cent of US households donate to charitable causes, 80 million American adults involve themselves in voluntary activities, representing the equivalent of over 9 million full-time employees at a value of $239 billion. Philanthropy has allowed the USA to tackle many of its social problems. In 2000, American philanthropic contributions account for almost 2 per cent of the national income. There are similar signs of increased philanthropic activity in Latin America, Spain and Russia, to name just a few countries.
Contributions from individuals have tremendous potential in India. However, most individuals donate to religious organizations. In fact, this accounts for about 35 per cent of donations made by Indians. Further, a majority of voluntary organizations in India lack the marketing and branding skills and the methodology to tap this very important source of funds. Owing to lack of transparency and accountability, many voluntary organizations suffer from serious crises of credibility. This often deters individuals from contributing to welfare or developmental projects.
Public trust, it needs to be remembered, is the singlemost important asset of the philanthropic community. Without it, donors will not give and volunteers will not get involved. This implies accountability to the public and to the charitable intent of the donors. Improved performance also requires lowering the cost of administration and investing in more effective strategies for social change. Programme evaluation, focus on results, and even impact studies to measure the effectiveness of social investments are part of this. Independent Sector in the USA outlines a series of steps the philanthropic and non-profit sector take to ensure accountability. We need a similar code in India. (Narayan Murthy in A Better India A Better World)

What is the best summary of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The temptation, to any man who is interested in ideas and primarily in literature, to put literature into the corner until he cleaned up the whole country first, is almost irresistible. Some persons have succeeded so well in this later profession of setting the house in order, and have attracted so much more attention than Arnold, that we must conclude that it is indeed their proper role, and that they have done well for themselves in laying literature aside.
Not only is the critic tempted outside of criticism. The criticism proper betrays such poverty of ideas and such atrophy of sensibility that men who ought to preserve their critical ability for the improvement of their own creative work are tempted into criticism. This is not to suggest as a corollary to this that the ‘creative’ gift is ‘higher’ than the critical.  When one creative mind is better than another, the reason often is that the better is the more critical. But the great bulk of the work of criticism could have been done by minds of the second order, and it is just these minds of the second order that are difficult to find. They are necessary for the rapid circulation of ideas. The periodical press—the ideal literary periodical—is an instrument of transport; and the literary periodical press is dependent upon the existence of a sufficient number of second-order (not ‘second rate,’ the expression is too derogatory) minds to supply its material. These minds are necessary for that ‘current of ideas,’ that ‘society permeated by fresh thought,’ of which Arnold Speaks.
It is a perpetual heresy of English to believe that only the first-order mind, the Genius, the Great Man, matters; that he is solitary, and produced best in the least favourable environment, perhaps the Public School; and that it is most likely a sign of inferiority that Paris can show so many minds of the second order. If too much bad verse is published in London, it does not occur to us to raise our standards, to do anything to educate the poetasters; the remedy is, kill them off.
We quite agree that poetry is not a formula. It is part of the business of the critic to preserve tradition—where a good tradition exists. It is part of his business to see literature steadily and to see it whole; and this is eminently to see it not as consecrated by time, but to see it beyond time; to see the best work of our time and the best work of twenty-five hundred years ago with the same eyes. It is part of his business to help the poetaster to understand his own limitations. The poetaster who understands his own limitations will be one of our useful second-order minds; a good minor poet (something which is very rare) or another good critic. As for the first-order minds, when they happen, they will be none the worse off for a ‘current of ideas’; the solitude with which they will always and everywhere be invested is a very different thing from isolation, or a monarchy of death. (T.S.Eliot in The Sacred Wood)

Which of the following is the best summary of the second paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The temptation, to any man who is interested in ideas and primarily in literature, to put literature into the corner until he cleaned up the whole country first, is almost irresistible. Some persons have succeeded so well in this later profession of setting the house in order, and have attracted so much more attention than Arnold, that we must conclude that it is indeed their proper role, and that they have done well for themselves in laying literature aside.
Not only is the critic tempted outside of criticism. The criticism proper betrays such poverty of ideas and such atrophy of sensibility that men who ought to preserve their critical ability for the improvement of their own creative work are tempted into criticism. This is not to suggest as a corollary to this that the ‘creative’ gift is ‘higher’ than the critical.  When one creative mind is better than another, the reason often is that the better is the more critical. But the great bulk of the work of criticism could have been done by minds of the second order, and it is just these minds of the second order that are difficult to find. They are necessary for the rapid circulation of ideas. The periodical press—the ideal literary periodical—is an instrument of transport; and the literary periodical press is dependent upon the existence of a sufficient number of second-order (not ‘second rate,’ the expression is too derogatory) minds to supply its material. These minds are necessary for that ‘current of ideas,’ that ‘society permeated by fresh thought,’ of which Arnold Speaks.
It is a perpetual heresy of English to believe that only the first-order mind, the Genius, the Great Man, matters; that he is solitary, and produced best in the least favourable environment, perhaps the Public School; and that it is most likely a sign of inferiority that Paris can show so many minds of the second order. If too much bad verse is published in London, it does not occur to us to raise our standards, to do anything to educate the poetasters; the remedy is, kill them off.
We quite agree that poetry is not a formula. It is part of the business of the critic to preserve tradition—where a good tradition exists. It is part of his business to see literature steadily and to see it whole; and this is eminently to see it not as consecrated by time, but to see it beyond time; to see the best work of our time and the best work of twenty-five hundred years ago with the same eyes. It is part of his business to help the poetaster to understand his own limitations. The poetaster who understands his own limitations will be one of our useful second-order minds; a good minor poet (something which is very rare) or another good critic. As for the first-order minds, when they happen, they will be none the worse off for a ‘current of ideas’; the solitude with which they will always and everywhere be invested is a very different thing from isolation, or a monarchy of death. (T.S.Eliot in The Sacred Wood)

What is the best summary of the opening paragraph?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It does not make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. The success of any organization depends on how the performers are rewarded and how much the non-performers go unnoticed in the system. Several organizations have called for introducing a robust performance based compensation system that basically fixes accountability on the employees and compensates them accordingly. There are calls for introducing variable pay systems, ESOPs etc. However, practical these solutions might seem at present, the possible fallouts of such systems must be kept in mind. Introducing such systems on the lines of private sector banks will essentially hit at the core of the culture of the public sector banks and the relationship that it has with its employees. And, since it is clear that it will be very difficult for the PSBs to actually pay at the levels of the private sector banks, introducing such a system would essentially mean affecting one thing that still attracts people to such jobs that is the emotional connect in terms of pride etc. Also, it will mean incentivizing managers to take decisions that maximize short-term profits and in the process probably affecting long term prospects.
Keeping in mind the responsibility that the PSBs have towards the society as a whole (something the private counterparts cannot be held accountable for), it is very important that managers at the PSBs take decisions that positively affect the long terms prospects of the banks. Introducing such explicit performance oriented systems can negatively affect the pursuit of such goals. It does not, however, mean that the banks need not lay stress on the performance. Obviously, there is a need to revamp the performance evaluation systems, probably introduce modern systems like 360 degrees appraisal etc. Also, the general compensation levels may need to be looked into and possibly increased as may be possible.
There is a requirement of the introduction of scientific manpower planning. We need to scientifically come up with parameters and benchmarks against which the productivity of the employees can be measured. Welfare of the employees needs to be looked into and it is a very important part of the talent management. There needs to be substantial increase in the allocation of welfare fund for the welfare and especially for the welfare of the retired employees. It is equally important to increase the involvement of the employees in general and the new recruits specially. In this context the policy of reward and punishment must be revamped. Any disciplinary proceeding against an employee regarding procedural lapses must be completed within the shortest possible time. It must be kept in mind that employee faces least mental harassment since the employee is nearly non-productive in this period. The above matters are very important in keeping the motivational level of the employee intact because it is now an established fact that only a motivated employee can deliver results. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
Creation of congenial climate for talent nurturing calls for creation of atmosphere where employees are adequately and correctly compensated for their performance; and their talents and performances are recognized and appreciated. Apart from having right climate, the other important issues that one looks into before giving a medium to long term commitment for a career, is satisfaction arising from job enrichment/rotation, getting recognition for doing a good job, expectation of performance-based payment, flexibility in terms of job hours and other related aspects, both monetary and non-monetary incentives and a fast track promotion process through which one can look for prospects of a good career ahead. This becomes all the more important because today’s employee compares his job with the kind of job his friend/peer might be having at a private sector counterpart. More flexibility at the level of bank in deciding the compensation level reflecting the capacity of the bank to pay will be a welcome step. Today, all negotiations and settlements are reached at the industry level. There needs to be a difference in the amount being paid at a low-performing and a high performing bank. Such steps will motivate the employees of a bank on the whole to work harder and, more importantly, together. (The Indian Banker, Jan 2012)

Summarize the opening paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The temptation, to any man who is interested in ideas and primarily in literature, to put literature into the corner until he cleaned up the whole country first, is almost irresistible. Some persons have succeeded so well in this later profession of setting the house in order, and have attracted so much more attention than Arnold, that we must conclude that it is indeed their proper role, and that they have done well for themselves in laying literature aside.
Not only is the critic tempted outside of criticism. The criticism proper betrays such poverty of ideas and such atrophy of sensibility that men who ought to preserve their critical ability for the improvement of their own creative work are tempted into criticism. This is not to suggest as a corollary to this that the ‘creative’ gift is ‘higher’ than the critical.  When one creative mind is better than another, the reason often is that the better is the more critical. But the great bulk of the work of criticism could have been done by minds of the second order, and it is just these minds of the second order that are difficult to find. They are necessary for the rapid circulation of ideas. The periodical press—the ideal literary periodical—is an instrument of transport; and the literary periodical press is dependent upon the existence of a sufficient number of second-order (not ‘second rate,’ the expression is too derogatory) minds to supply its material. These minds are necessary for that ‘current of ideas,’ that ‘society permeated by fresh thought,’ of which Arnold Speaks.
It is a perpetual heresy of English to believe that only the first-order mind, the Genius, the Great Man, matters; that he is solitary, and produced best in the least favourable environment, perhaps the Public School; and that it is most likely a sign of inferiority that Paris can show so many minds of the second order. If too much bad verse is published in London, it does not occur to us to raise our standards, to do anything to educate the poetasters; the remedy is, kill them off.
We quite agree that poetry is not a formula. It is part of the business of the critic to preserve tradition—where a good tradition exists. It is part of his business to see literature steadily and to see it whole; and this is eminently to see it not as consecrated by time, but to see it beyond time; to see the best work of our time and the best work of twenty-five hundred years ago with the same eyes. It is part of his business to help the poetaster to understand his own limitations. The poetaster who understands his own limitations will be one of our useful second-order minds; a good minor poet (something which is very rare) or another good critic. As for the first-order minds, when they happen, they will be none the worse off for a ‘current of ideas’; the solitude with which they will always and everywhere be invested is a very different thing from isolation, or a monarchy of death. (T.S.Eliot in The Sacred Wood)

What is the best summary of the first paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The wilderness is returning to Europe, but not without a little human help. Conservationists have spent years guarding eggs, counting stocks and reintroducing young animals into their natural habitat. But European wildlife also depends on a strong political framework, such as the hunting bans, protected sites and resettlement projects introduced by individual nations, which inspired the European Union to pass bold laws. This began with the Birds Directive, passed in 1979 which, in a single stroke, banned the hunting of virtually all European birds. In addition, EU member states were required to designate Special Protection Areas for 160 particularly vulnerable species—a measure that is largely responsible for the increase in populations of the White-tailed eagle, Marsh Harrier and Black stork, as studies carried out by Birdlife International have shown.
Thanks to EU laws, the air became cleaner, lakes and rivers recovered, and the use of chemicals in agriculture and industry declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, stocks of fish have increased and birds of prey have been breeding more successfully. The greatest legislative coup took place in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. This requires member states to set up Special Areas of Conservation for endangered flora and fauna, including animals and such as the beaver, European otter, Eurasian lynx and Grey wolf. If existing reserves met the required criteria, they could be re-designated, but most countries have had to place additional areas under protection.
The Directive has placed 234 vulnerable species of plants and animals under protection, including all big carnivores, as well as bison, Alpine ibex and beaver. It has also compelled governments to relook at industrial parks and highways—as was the case in Poland in 2008, when a proposed new road was relocated so that it did not cut across the protected Rospuda Valley—and prompted them to introduce bans on hunting. Any new EU member is required to implement far more stringent laws on nature conservation: laws that are often fought out in court. One in four cases before the European Court of Justice involving one of its member states involves a breach of EU environmental law.
In some countries this breach is due to a lack of ability. ‘In Eastern Europe, governments at times have too little money or too few resources to meet their EU obligations’, says Professor Christoph Knill, environmental policy researcher at Konstanz University, Germany. In other cases, it is the lack of political will: Germany, for instance, designated its last Special Area of Conservation only in 2008, after a delay of 10 years and after the EU Commission threatened to drag it to court. By now, however, all states have set up their Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation: 26,000 sanctuaries in all, that together make up the Natura 2000 network and cover 18 per cent of the EU landmass. It is the world’s largest group of biotopes and a showpiece of the EU environmental policy, no matter what the critics say. (The Laws of the Wild West by Torsten Schafer)

What is the best summary of the fourth paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The wilderness is returning to Europe, but not without a little human help. Conservationists have spent years guarding eggs, counting stocks and reintroducing young animals into their natural habitat. But European wildlife also depends on a strong political framework, such as the hunting bans, protected sites and resettlement projects introduced by individual nations, which inspired the European Union to pass bold laws. This began with the Birds Directive, passed in 1979 which, in a single stroke, banned the hunting of virtually all European birds. In addition, EU member states were required to designate Special Protection Areas for 160 particularly vulnerable species—a measure that is largely responsible for the increase in populations of the White-tailed eagle, Marsh Harrier and Black stork, as studies carried out by Birdlife International have shown.
Thanks to EU laws, the air became cleaner, lakes and rivers recovered, and the use of chemicals in agriculture and industry declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, stocks of fish have increased and birds of prey have been breeding more successfully. The greatest legislative coup took place in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. This requires member states to set up Special Areas of Conservation for endangered flora and fauna, including animals and such as the beaver, European otter, Eurasian lynx and Grey wolf. If existing reserves met the required criteria, they could be re-designated, but most countries have had to place additional areas under protection.
The Directive has placed 234 vulnerable species of plants and animals under protection, including all big carnivores, as well as bison, Alpine ibex and beaver. It has also compelled governments to relook at industrial parks and highways—as was the case in Poland in 2008, when a proposed new road was relocated so that it did not cut across the protected Rospuda Valley—and prompted them to introduce bans on hunting. Any new EU member is required to implement far more stringent laws on nature conservation: laws that are often fought out in court. One in four cases before the European Court of Justice involving one of its member states involves a breach of EU environmental law.
In some countries this breach is due to a lack of ability. ‘In Eastern Europe, governments at times have too little money or too few resources to meet their EU obligations’, says Professor Christoph Knill, environmental policy researcher at Konstanz University, Germany. In other cases, it is the lack of political will: Germany, for instance, designated its last Special Area of Conservation only in 2008, after a delay of 10 years and after the EU Commission threatened to drag it to court. By now, however, all states have set up their Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation: 26,000 sanctuaries in all, that together make up the Natura 2000 network and cover 18 per cent of the EU landmass. It is the world’s largest group of biotopes and a showpiece of the EU environmental policy, no matter what the critics say. (The Laws of the Wild West by Torsten Schafer)

Give the best summary of the second paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The wilderness is returning to Europe, but not without a little human help. Conservationists have spent years guarding eggs, counting stocks and reintroducing young animals into their natural habitat. But European wildlife also depends on a strong political framework, such as the hunting bans, protected sites and resettlement projects introduced by individual nations, which inspired the European Union to pass bold laws. This began with the Birds Directive, passed in 1979 which, in a single stroke, banned the hunting of virtually all European birds. In addition, EU member states were required to designate Special Protection Areas for 160 particularly vulnerable species—a measure that is largely responsible for the increase in populations of the White-tailed eagle, Marsh Harrier and Black stork, as studies carried out by Birdlife International have shown.
Thanks to EU laws, the air became cleaner, lakes and rivers recovered, and the use of chemicals in agriculture and industry declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, stocks of fish have increased and birds of prey have been breeding more successfully. The greatest legislative coup took place in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. This requires member states to set up Special Areas of Conservation for endangered flora and fauna, including animals and such as the beaver, European otter, Eurasian lynx and Grey wolf. If existing reserves met the required criteria, they could be re-designated, but most countries have had to place additional areas under protection.
The Directive has placed 234 vulnerable species of plants and animals under protection, including all big carnivores, as well as bison, Alpine ibex and beaver. It has also compelled governments to relook at industrial parks and highways—as was the case in Poland in 2008, when a proposed new road was relocated so that it did not cut across the protected Rospuda Valley—and prompted them to introduce bans on hunting. Any new EU member is required to implement far more stringent laws on nature conservation: laws that are often fought out in court. One in four cases before the European Court of Justice involving one of its member states involves a breach of EU environmental law.
In some countries this breach is due to a lack of ability. ‘In Eastern Europe, governments at times have too little money or too few resources to meet their EU obligations’, says Professor Christoph Knill, environmental policy researcher at Konstanz University, Germany. In other cases, it is the lack of political will: Germany, for instance, designated its last Special Area of Conservation only in 2008, after a delay of 10 years and after the EU Commission threatened to drag it to court. By now, however, all states have set up their Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation: 26,000 sanctuaries in all, that together make up the Natura 2000 network and cover 18 per cent of the EU landmass. It is the world’s largest group of biotopes and a showpiece of the EU environmental policy, no matter what the critics say. (The Laws of the Wild West by Torsten Schafer)

Summarize the fourth paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The temptation, to any man who is interested in ideas and primarily in literature, to put literature into the corner until he cleaned up the whole country first, is almost irresistible. Some persons have succeeded so well in this later profession of setting the house in order, and have attracted so much more attention than Arnold, that we must conclude that it is indeed their proper role, and that they have done well for themselves in laying literature aside.
Not only is the critic tempted outside of criticism. The criticism proper betrays such poverty of ideas and such atrophy of sensibility that men who ought to preserve their critical ability for the improvement of their own creative work are tempted into criticism. This is not to suggest as a corollary to this that the ‘creative’ gift is ‘higher’ than the critical.  When one creative mind is better than another, the reason often is that the better is the more critical. But the great bulk of the work of criticism could have been done by minds of the second order, and it is just these minds of the second order that are difficult to find. They are necessary for the rapid circulation of ideas. The periodical press—the ideal literary periodical—is an instrument of transport; and the literary periodical press is dependent upon the existence of a sufficient number of second-order (not ‘second rate,’ the expression is too derogatory) minds to supply its material. These minds are necessary for that ‘current of ideas,’ that ‘society permeated by fresh thought,’ of which Arnold Speaks.
It is a perpetual heresy of English to believe that only the first-order mind, the Genius, the Great Man, matters; that he is solitary, and produced best in the least favourable environment, perhaps the Public School; and that it is most likely a sign of inferiority that Paris can show so many minds of the second order. If too much bad verse is published in London, it does not occur to us to raise our standards, to do anything to educate the poetasters; the remedy is, kill them off.
We quite agree that poetry is not a formula. It is part of the business of the critic to preserve tradition—where a good tradition exists. It is part of his business to see literature steadily and to see it whole; and this is eminently to see it not as consecrated by time, but to see it beyond time; to see the best work of our time and the best work of twenty-five hundred years ago with the same eyes. It is part of his business to help the poetaster to understand his own limitations. The poetaster who understands his own limitations will be one of our useful second-order minds; a good minor poet (something which is very rare) or another good critic. As for the first-order minds, when they happen, they will be none the worse off for a ‘current of ideas’; the solitude with which they will always and everywhere be invested is a very different thing from isolation, or a monarchy of death. (T.S.Eliot in The Sacred Wood)

What is the best summary of the first paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Empowerment is about providing opportunities to individuals to achieve their aspirations while ensuring that community objectives are met. An empowered India is a country that provides opportunities for every child to achieve its potential through education, health care, nutrition, shelter and employment. At the same time, we must ensure that these children advance the interests of the country. To achieve this dream of empowerment, it is necessary to take tough, unpopular and unpleasant decisions.
To push these decisions through, India needs strong political leaders: the leaders who have the courage of conviction, the courage to dream big, to take difficult decisions, and to make sacrifices. The leaders have to be people who can straddle several worlds—the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate. They have to appreciate the aspirations of all these worlds. They should not believe that development is a zero-sum game where gains to one world mean losses to another.
Politicians often complain that IT sector has created a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that it should be checked. Sadly, they believe that the solution is to restrict the growth of the IT industry instead of encouraging the creation of a larger number of such jobs. The leaders have to believe that the only way of our solving the problem of poverty is to create more jobs and shift a large number of people from agriculture to manufacturing and services. They must be open-minded, and willing to learn from the experiences of the leaders across the world. They must aspire to bench-mark India globally. They must be action oriented. We have become too much of a rhetoric satisfied society. Success is about execution.
It is for the top leaders of every political party to demonstrate leadership by example. They must come together and resolve to promote these values for the good of the future generations. This is tough and seems virtually impossible. But ‘a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility’. There is no other way to do this. In the beginning, we may see a few good leaders being cast away quickly. But, once we see this behaviour from a generation of successive leaders, it will become the norm. For example, at one time, it appeared impossible to stem the mass defection of Aayarams and Gayarams from one party to another. The practice came to an end because all our political leaders came together and stopped it. (Excerpted from A Better India A Better World)

The underlying idea of the passage is

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The temptation, to any man who is interested in ideas and primarily in literature, to put literature into the corner until he cleaned up the whole country first, is almost irresistible. Some persons have succeeded so well in this later profession of setting the house in order, and have attracted so much more attention than Arnold, that we must conclude that it is indeed their proper role, and that they have done well for themselves in laying literature aside.
Not only is the critic tempted outside of criticism. The criticism proper betrays such poverty of ideas and such atrophy of sensibility that men who ought to preserve their critical ability for the improvement of their own creative work are tempted into criticism. This is not to suggest as a corollary to this that the ‘creative’ gift is ‘higher’ than the critical.  When one creative mind is better than another, the reason often is that the better is the more critical. But the great bulk of the work of criticism could have been done by minds of the second order, and it is just these minds of the second order that are difficult to find. They are necessary for the rapid circulation of ideas. The periodical press—the ideal literary periodical—is an instrument of transport; and the literary periodical press is dependent upon the existence of a sufficient number of second-order (not ‘second rate,’ the expression is too derogatory) minds to supply its material. These minds are necessary for that ‘current of ideas,’ that ‘society permeated by fresh thought,’ of which Arnold Speaks.
It is a perpetual heresy of English to believe that only the first-order mind, the Genius, the Great Man, matters; that he is solitary, and produced best in the least favourable environment, perhaps the Public School; and that it is most likely a sign of inferiority that Paris can show so many minds of the second order. If too much bad verse is published in London, it does not occur to us to raise our standards, to do anything to educate the poetasters; the remedy is, kill them off.
We quite agree that poetry is not a formula. It is part of the business of the critic to preserve tradition—where a good tradition exists. It is part of his business to see literature steadily and to see it whole; and this is eminently to see it not as consecrated by time, but to see it beyond time; to see the best work of our time and the best work of twenty-five hundred years ago with the same eyes. It is part of his business to help the poetaster to understand his own limitations. The poetaster who understands his own limitations will be one of our useful second-order minds; a good minor poet (something which is very rare) or another good critic. As for the first-order minds, when they happen, they will be none the worse off for a ‘current of ideas’; the solitude with which they will always and everywhere be invested is a very different thing from isolation, or a monarchy of death. (T.S.Eliot in The Sacred Wood)

Give the best summary of the second paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Empowerment is about providing opportunities to individuals to achieve their aspirations while ensuring that community objectives are met. An empowered India is a country that provides opportunities for every child to achieve its potential through education, health care, nutrition, shelter and employment. At the same time, we must ensure that these children advance the interests of the country. To achieve this dream of empowerment, it is necessary to take tough, unpopular and unpleasant decisions.
To push these decisions through, India needs strong political leaders: the leaders who have the courage of conviction, the courage to dream big, to take difficult decisions, and to make sacrifices. The leaders have to be people who can straddle several worlds—the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate. They have to appreciate the aspirations of all these worlds. They should not believe that development is a zero-sum game where gains to one world mean losses to another.
Politicians often complain that IT sector has created a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that it should be checked. Sadly, they believe that the solution is to restrict the growth of the IT industry instead of encouraging the creation of a larger number of such jobs. The leaders have to believe that the only way of our solving the problem of poverty is to create more jobs and shift a large number of people from agriculture to manufacturing and services. They must be open-minded, and willing to learn from the experiences of the leaders across the world. They must aspire to bench-mark India globally. They must be action oriented. We have become too much of a rhetoric satisfied society. Success is about execution.
It is for the top leaders of every political party to demonstrate leadership by example. They must come together and resolve to promote these values for the good of the future generations. This is tough and seems virtually impossible. But ‘a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility’. There is no other way to do this. In the beginning, we may see a few good leaders being cast away quickly. But, once we see this behaviour from a generation of successive leaders, it will become the norm. For example, at one time, it appeared impossible to stem the mass defection of Aayarams and Gayarams from one party to another. The practice came to an end because all our political leaders came together and stopped it. (Excerpted from A Better India A Better World)

The underlying idea of the passage is

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The wilderness is returning to Europe, but not without a little human help. Conservationists have spent years guarding eggs, counting stocks and reintroducing young animals into their natural habitat. But European wildlife also depends on a strong political framework, such as the hunting bans, protected sites and resettlement projects introduced by individual nations, which inspired the European Union to pass bold laws. This began with the Birds Directive, passed in 1979 which, in a single stroke, banned the hunting of virtually all European birds. In addition, EU member states were required to designate Special Protection Areas for 160 particularly vulnerable species—a measure that is largely responsible for the increase in populations of the White-tailed eagle, Marsh Harrier and Black stork, as studies carried out by Birdlife International have shown.
Thanks to EU laws, the air became cleaner, lakes and rivers recovered, and the use of chemicals in agriculture and industry declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, stocks of fish have increased and birds of prey have been breeding more successfully. The greatest legislative coup took place in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. This requires member states to set up Special Areas of Conservation for endangered flora and fauna, including animals and such as the beaver, European otter, Eurasian lynx and Grey wolf. If existing reserves met the required criteria, they could be re-designated, but most countries have had to place additional areas under protection.
The Directive has placed 234 vulnerable species of plants and animals under protection, including all big carnivores, as well as bison, Alpine ibex and beaver. It has also compelled governments to relook at industrial parks and highways—as was the case in Poland in 2008, when a proposed new road was relocated so that it did not cut across the protected Rospuda Valley—and prompted them to introduce bans on hunting. Any new EU member is required to implement far more stringent laws on nature conservation: laws that are often fought out in court. One in four cases before the European Court of Justice involving one of its member states involves a breach of EU environmental law.
In some countries this breach is due to a lack of ability. ‘In Eastern Europe, governments at times have too little money or too few resources to meet their EU obligations’, says Professor Christoph Knill, environmental policy researcher at Konstanz University, Germany. In other cases, it is the lack of political will: Germany, for instance, designated its last Special Area of Conservation only in 2008, after a delay of 10 years and after the EU Commission threatened to drag it to court. By now, however, all states have set up their Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation: 26,000 sanctuaries in all, that together make up the Natura 2000 network and cover 18 per cent of the EU landmass. It is the world’s largest group of biotopes and a showpiece of the EU environmental policy, no matter what the critics say. (The Laws of the Wild West by Torsten Schafer)

What is the best summary of the fourth paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Empowerment is about providing opportunities to individuals to achieve their aspirations while ensuring that community objectives are met. An empowered India is a country that provides opportunities for every child to achieve its potential through education, health care, nutrition, shelter and employment. At the same time, we must ensure that these children advance the interests of the country. To achieve this dream of empowerment, it is necessary to take tough, unpopular and unpleasant decisions.
To push these decisions through, India needs strong political leaders: the leaders who have the courage of conviction, the courage to dream big, to take difficult decisions, and to make sacrifices. The leaders have to be people who can straddle several worlds—the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate. They have to appreciate the aspirations of all these worlds. They should not believe that development is a zero-sum game where gains to one world mean losses to another.
Politicians often complain that IT sector has created a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that it should be checked. Sadly, they believe that the solution is to restrict the growth of the IT industry instead of encouraging the creation of a larger number of such jobs. The leaders have to believe that the only way of our solving the problem of poverty is to create more jobs and shift a large number of people from agriculture to manufacturing and services. They must be open-minded, and willing to learn from the experiences of the leaders across the world. They must aspire to bench-mark India globally. They must be action oriented. We have become too much of a rhetoric satisfied society. Success is about execution.
It is for the top leaders of every political party to demonstrate leadership by example. They must come together and resolve to promote these values for the good of the future generations. This is tough and seems virtually impossible. But ‘a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility’. There is no other way to do this. In the beginning, we may see a few good leaders being cast away quickly. But, once we see this behaviour from a generation of successive leaders, it will become the norm. For example, at one time, it appeared impossible to stem the mass defection of Aayarams and Gayarams from one party to another. The practice came to an end because all our political leaders came together and stopped it. (Excerpted from A Better India A Better World)

Which of the following is the best summary of the third paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Empowerment is about providing opportunities to individuals to achieve their aspirations while ensuring that community objectives are met. An empowered India is a country that provides opportunities for every child to achieve its potential through education, health care, nutrition, shelter and employment. At the same time, we must ensure that these children advance the interests of the country. To achieve this dream of empowerment, it is necessary to take tough, unpopular and unpleasant decisions.
To push these decisions through, India needs strong political leaders: the leaders who have the courage of conviction, the courage to dream big, to take difficult decisions, and to make sacrifices. The leaders have to be people who can straddle several worlds—the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate. They have to appreciate the aspirations of all these worlds. They should not believe that development is a zero-sum game where gains to one world mean losses to another.
Politicians often complain that IT sector has created a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that it should be checked. Sadly, they believe that the solution is to restrict the growth of the IT industry instead of encouraging the creation of a larger number of such jobs. The leaders have to believe that the only way of our solving the problem of poverty is to create more jobs and shift a large number of people from agriculture to manufacturing and services. They must be open-minded, and willing to learn from the experiences of the leaders across the world. They must aspire to bench-mark India globally. They must be action oriented. We have become too much of a rhetoric satisfied society. Success is about execution.
It is for the top leaders of every political party to demonstrate leadership by example. They must come together and resolve to promote these values for the good of the future generations. This is tough and seems virtually impossible. But ‘a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility’. There is no other way to do this. In the beginning, we may see a few good leaders being cast away quickly. But, once we see this behaviour from a generation of successive leaders, it will become the norm. For example, at one time, it appeared impossible to stem the mass defection of Aayarams and Gayarams from one party to another. The practice came to an end because all our political leaders came together and stopped it. (Excerpted from A Better India A Better World)

What is the best summary of the second paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

With Charles Darwin’s popularisation of the concept of evolution, man became interested in his biological origins and affiliations. This interest was centred on man’s phylogenetic origins. Starting with the work on heredity of Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and the recognition of its significance in 1900, interest shifted to the problem of man’s ontogenetic origins. Mendel’s simple ‘laws of heredity’ came to be widely known and were uncritically assumed to apply to all human characteristics. Most physical characteristics, intelligence, and many aspects of personality were thought to operate as simple Mendelian unit characters in their transmission from parent to child. This belief stimulated an interest to eugenic movements that proposed to bring about race betterment through sterilization of the unfit and encouragement of marriage among the superior members of society. Many groups of people organised to promote such programmes. Feeble-mindedness, poverty, crime, and immorality were thought to be largely matters of poor heredity. Several studies of family lines were published that seemed to give considerable support to this general concept.
From 1900 to about 1920, there was an overemphasis on the role of heredity in producing these conditions. The fixity and certainty of hereditary determination were grossly overestimated, and the environmental contribution to intelligence, personality, morality, and crime was either ignored or underestimated. The one fundamental fact of logic—that correlation does not prove causation—was forgotten. Because certain traits follow family lines, it does not follow that they are necessarily inherited. There is a ‘social heredity’ involved in the transmission of many things from generation to generation, and it is easy to confuse its effects with those of biology heredity.
Starting in the 1920s and ‘30s there set in a reaction against the uncritical application of the simple Mendelian concepts to all human characteristics and the resulting disregard of the importance of environmental factors. The extreme hereditarians were accused of being mechanistic in their frame of reference, deterministic in their philosophy, and unscientific in their methods.
Behaviour trends, intellectual level, special talents, and temperament are not inherited as such, but heredity is certainly a factor in determining all of them. Genes affect behaviour indirectly through their influence on the structural development of the individual. Genes affect structural conditions which, in turn, influence function. Such complex things as feeble-mindedness, musical talent, mathematical aptitude, and criminality can hardly be inherited. However, the genes can be crucial factors in determining the development of the nervous system, the sensitivity of the ear, the discriminating ability of the eye, the length, diameter, and nature of the vocal cords, and as such things as the size and shape of the hands. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Give the best summary of the fourth paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

With Charles Darwin’s popularisation of the concept of evolution, man became interested in his biological origins and affiliations. This interest was centred on man’s phylogenetic origins. Starting with the work on heredity of Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and the recognition of its significance in 1900, interest shifted to the problem of man’s ontogenetic origins. Mendel’s simple ‘laws of heredity’ came to be widely known and were uncritically assumed to apply to all human characteristics. Most physical characteristics, intelligence, and many aspects of personality were thought to operate as simple Mendelian unit characters in their transmission from parent to child. This belief stimulated an interest to eugenic movements that proposed to bring about race betterment through sterilization of the unfit and encouragement of marriage among the superior members of society. Many groups of people organised to promote such programmes. Feeble-mindedness, poverty, crime, and immorality were thought to be largely matters of poor heredity. Several studies of family lines were published that seemed to give considerable support to this general concept.
From 1900 to about 1920, there was an overemphasis on the role of heredity in producing these conditions. The fixity and certainty of hereditary determination were grossly overestimated, and the environmental contribution to intelligence, personality, morality, and crime was either ignored or underestimated. The one fundamental fact of logic—that correlation does not prove causation—was forgotten. Because certain traits follow family lines, it does not follow that they are necessarily inherited. There is a ‘social heredity’ involved in the transmission of many things from generation to generation, and it is easy to confuse its effects with those of biology heredity.
Starting in the 1920s and ‘30s there set in a reaction against the uncritical application of the simple Mendelian concepts to all human characteristics and the resulting disregard of the importance of environmental factors. The extreme hereditarians were accused of being mechanistic in their frame of reference, deterministic in their philosophy, and unscientific in their methods.
Behaviour trends, intellectual level, special talents, and temperament are not inherited as such, but heredity is certainly a factor in determining all of them. Genes affect behaviour indirectly through their influence on the structural development of the individual. Genes affect structural conditions which, in turn, influence function. Such complex things as feeble-mindedness, musical talent, mathematical aptitude, and criminality can hardly be inherited. However, the genes can be crucial factors in determining the development of the nervous system, the sensitivity of the ear, the discriminating ability of the eye, the length, diameter, and nature of the vocal cords, and as such things as the size and shape of the hands. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Summarise the third paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

With Charles Darwin’s popularisation of the concept of evolution, man became interested in his biological origins and affiliations. This interest was centred on man’s phylogenetic origins. Starting with the work on heredity of Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and the recognition of its significance in 1900, interest shifted to the problem of man’s ontogenetic origins. Mendel’s simple ‘laws of heredity’ came to be widely known and were uncritically assumed to apply to all human characteristics. Most physical characteristics, intelligence, and many aspects of personality were thought to operate as simple Mendelian unit characters in their transmission from parent to child. This belief stimulated an interest to eugenic movements that proposed to bring about race betterment through sterilization of the unfit and encouragement of marriage among the superior members of society. Many groups of people organised to promote such programmes. Feeble-mindedness, poverty, crime, and immorality were thought to be largely matters of poor heredity. Several studies of family lines were published that seemed to give considerable support to this general concept.
From 1900 to about 1920, there was an overemphasis on the role of heredity in producing these conditions. The fixity and certainty of hereditary determination were grossly overestimated, and the environmental contribution to intelligence, personality, morality, and crime was either ignored or underestimated. The one fundamental fact of logic—that correlation does not prove causation—was forgotten. Because certain traits follow family lines, it does not follow that they are necessarily inherited. There is a ‘social heredity’ involved in the transmission of many things from generation to generation, and it is easy to confuse its effects with those of biology heredity.
Starting in the 1920s and ‘30s there set in a reaction against the uncritical application of the simple Mendelian concepts to all human characteristics and the resulting disregard of the importance of environmental factors. The extreme hereditarians were accused of being mechanistic in their frame of reference, deterministic in their philosophy, and unscientific in their methods.
Behaviour trends, intellectual level, special talents, and temperament are not inherited as such, but heredity is certainly a factor in determining all of them. Genes affect behaviour indirectly through their influence on the structural development of the individual. Genes affect structural conditions which, in turn, influence function. Such complex things as feeble-mindedness, musical talent, mathematical aptitude, and criminality can hardly be inherited. However, the genes can be crucial factors in determining the development of the nervous system, the sensitivity of the ear, the discriminating ability of the eye, the length, diameter, and nature of the vocal cords, and as such things as the size and shape of the hands. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

What is the best summary of the last paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

People are definitely a company’s greatest asset. It does not make any difference whether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. The success of any organization depends on how the performers are rewarded and how much the non-performers go unnoticed in the system. Several organizations have called for introducing a robust performance based compensation system that basically fixes accountability on the employees and compensates them accordingly. There are calls for introducing variable pay systems, ESOPs etc. However, practical these solutions might seem at present, the possible fallouts of such systems must be kept in mind. Introducing such systems on the lines of private sector banks will essentially hit at the core of the culture of the public sector banks and the relationship that it has with its employees. And, since it is clear that it will be very difficult for the PSBs to actually pay at the levels of the private sector banks, introducing such a system would essentially mean affecting one thing that still attracts people to such jobs that is the emotional connect in terms of pride etc. Also, it will mean incentivizing managers to take decisions that maximize short-term profits and in the process probably affecting long term prospects.
Keeping in mind the responsibility that the PSBs have towards the society as a whole (something the private counterparts cannot be held accountable for), it is very important that managers at the PSBs take decisions that positively affect the long terms prospects of the banks. Introducing such explicit performance oriented systems can negatively affect the pursuit of such goals. It does not, however, mean that the banks need not lay stress on the performance. Obviously, there is a need to revamp the performance evaluation systems, probably introduce modern systems like 360 degrees appraisal etc. Also, the general compensation levels may need to be looked into and possibly increased as may be possible.
There is a requirement of the introduction of scientific manpower planning. We need to scientifically come up with parameters and benchmarks against which the productivity of the employees can be measured. Welfare of the employees needs to be looked into and it is a very important part of the talent management. There needs to be substantial increase in the allocation of welfare fund for the welfare and especially for the welfare of the retired employees. It is equally important to increase the involvement of the employees in general and the new recruits specially. In this context the policy of reward and punishment must be revamped. Any disciplinary proceeding against an employee regarding procedural lapses must be completed within the shortest possible time. It must be kept in mind that employee faces least mental harassment since the employee is nearly non-productive in this period. The above matters are very important in keeping the motivational level of the employee intact because it is now an established fact that only a motivated employee can deliver results. “The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”
Creation of congenial climate for talent nurturing calls for creation of atmosphere where employees are adequately and correctly compensated for their performance; and their talents and performances are recognized and appreciated. Apart from having right climate, the other important issues that one looks into before giving a medium to long term commitment for a career, is satisfaction arising from job enrichment/rotation, getting recognition for doing a good job, expectation of performance-based payment, flexibility in terms of job hours and other related aspects, both monetary and non-monetary incentives and a fast track promotion process through which one can look for prospects of a good career ahead. This becomes all the more important because today’s employee compares his job with the kind of job his friend/peer might be having at a private sector counterpart. More flexibility at the level of bank in deciding the compensation level reflecting the capacity of the bank to pay will be a welcome step. Today, all negotiations and settlements are reached at the industry level. There needs to be a difference in the amount being paid at a low-performing and a high performing bank. Such steps will motivate the employees of a bank on the whole to work harder and, more importantly, together. (The Indian Banker, Jan 2012)

Which of the following best sums up the essence of the last paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

So many people today are gripped with a sense of fear. They fear for the future. They feel vulnerable in the workplace. They are afraid of losing their jobs and their ability to provide for their families. This vulnerability often fosters a resignation to riskless living and to co-dependency with others at work and at home. Our culture’s common response to this problem is to become more and more independent. Independence is an important, even vital, value and achievement. The problem is, we live in an interdependent reality, and our most important accomplishments require interdependency skills well beyond our present abilities.
People want things and want them now. Though today’s ‘credit card’ society makes it easy to ‘get now and pay later’, economic realities eventually set in, and we are reminded, sometimes painfully, that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to produce. The demands of interest are unrelenting and unforgiving. With the dizzying rate of change in technology and increasing competition driven by the globalization of markets and technology, we must develop our minds and continually sharpen and invest in the development of our competencies to avoid becoming obsolete.
Whenever we find a problem, we usually find the finger-pointing of blame. ‘If only this hadn’t been like this…if only that…’ Blaming everyone and everything else for our problems and challenges may be the norm and many provide temporary relief from the pain, but it also chains us to these very problems. If we can find someone humble enough to accept and take responsibility for his or her circumstances and courageous enough to take whatever initiative is necessary to creatively work his or her way through or around these challenges, we can find the supreme power of choice.
The children of blame are cynicism and hopelessness. When we succumb to believing that we are victims of our circumstances and yield to the plight of determinism, we lose hope, we lose drive, and we settle into resignation and stagnation. So many bright, talented people suffer the broad range of discouragement and depression that follows. The survival response of popular culture is cynicism—‘just lower your expectations of life to the point that you aren’t disappointed by anyone or anything.’ The contrasting principle of growth and hope throughout history is the discovery that ‘I am the creative force of my life.’ (Excerpted from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

Give the best summary of the third paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Data of educational psychology are obtained in various methods. These methods range in reliability from extremely low to very high. In addition to the questionable validity of the information obtained by research, there are certain risks of inference involved when the results of laboratory investigations are extrapolated to classroom applications. Every classroom is unique in many ways and there are certain risks in generalising from the laboratory to the classroom as well as from one type of classroom to another.
Educational psychologists and educators in the field would do a service to the profession if they would cross-validate laboratory studies in the classroom and pool the results from such studies in several schools to determine the generality of their findings.
Conventional textbooks are quite unsatisfactory for the student who wishes to critically evaluate the reliability of the methods used in obtaining the information presented. The book, which presents enough of the methodology of the studies from which all of the data presented are derived, would be able to cover a very limited area of subject matter and a small number of studies. It is necessary, therefore, for textbooks to become authoritarian in tenor and subject-matter oriented if they are to be useful to the student who is largely a consumer of research data. Data presented in textbook fashion must be accepted largely on faith—faith in the veracity of the presentations and in the reliability of the research methods used.
The student who is critical will want to go back to the original studies to check on the original methods and data on issues which are crucial for him. There are books of readings available in which selected studies are presented in their complete forms. These constitute useful supplements to the subject-matter oriented textbook. A textbook should be perceived by the student as a presentation of the best available information to date, organised and interpreted within a limited frame of reference.

What is the best summary of the opening paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Data of educational psychology are obtained in various methods. These methods range in reliability from extremely low to very high. In addition to the questionable validity of the information obtained by research, there are certain risks of inference involved when the results of laboratory investigations are extrapolated to classroom applications. Every classroom is unique in many ways and there are certain risks in generalising from the laboratory to the classroom as well as from one type of classroom to another.
Educational psychologists and educators in the field would do a service to the profession if they would cross-validate laboratory studies in the classroom and pool the results from such studies in several schools to determine the generality of their findings.
Conventional textbooks are quite unsatisfactory for the student who wishes to critically evaluate the reliability of the methods used in obtaining the information presented. The book, which presents enough of the methodology of the studies from which all of the data presented are derived, would be able to cover a very limited area of subject matter and a small number of studies. It is necessary, therefore, for textbooks to become authoritarian in tenor and subject-matter oriented if they are to be useful to the student who is largely a consumer of research data. Data presented in textbook fashion must be accepted largely on faith—faith in the veracity of the presentations and in the reliability of the research methods used.
The student who is critical will want to go back to the original studies to check on the original methods and data on issues which are crucial for him. There are books of readings available in which selected studies are presented in their complete forms. These constitute useful supplements to the subject-matter oriented textbook. A textbook should be perceived by the student as a presentation of the best available information to date, organised and interpreted within a limited frame of reference.

Which of the following is the best summary of the fourth paragraph?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Data of educational psychology are obtained in various methods. These methods range in reliability from extremely low to very high. In addition to the questionable validity of the information obtained by research, there are certain risks of inference involved when the results of laboratory investigations are extrapolated to classroom applications. Every classroom is unique in many ways and there are certain risks in generalising from the laboratory to the classroom as well as from one type of classroom to another.
Educational psychologists and educators in the field would do a service to the profession if they would cross-validate laboratory studies in the classroom and pool the results from such studies in several schools to determine the generality of their findings.
Conventional textbooks are quite unsatisfactory for the student who wishes to critically evaluate the reliability of the methods used in obtaining the information presented. The book, which presents enough of the methodology of the studies from which all of the data presented are derived, would be able to cover a very limited area of subject matter and a small number of studies. It is necessary, therefore, for textbooks to become authoritarian in tenor and subject-matter oriented if they are to be useful to the student who is largely a consumer of research data. Data presented in textbook fashion must be accepted largely on faith—faith in the veracity of the presentations and in the reliability of the research methods used.
The student who is critical will want to go back to the original studies to check on the original methods and data on issues which are crucial for him. There are books of readings available in which selected studies are presented in their complete forms. These constitute useful supplements to the subject-matter oriented textbook. A textbook should be perceived by the student as a presentation of the best available information to date, organised and interpreted within a limited frame of reference.

What is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

With Charles Darwin’s popularisation of the concept of evolution, man became interested in his biological origins and affiliations. This interest was centred on man’s phylogenetic origins. Starting with the work on heredity of Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and the recognition of its significance in 1900, interest shifted to the problem of man’s ontogenetic origins. Mendel’s simple ‘laws of heredity’ came to be widely known and were uncritically assumed to apply to all human characteristics. Most physical characteristics, intelligence, and many aspects of personality were thought to operate as simple Mendelian unit characters in their transmission from parent to child. This belief stimulated an interest to eugenic movements that proposed to bring about race betterment through sterilization of the unfit and encouragement of marriage among the superior members of society. Many groups of people organised to promote such programmes. Feeble-mindedness, poverty, crime, and immorality were thought to be largely matters of poor heredity. Several studies of family lines were published that seemed to give considerable support to this general concept.
From 1900 to about 1920, there was an overemphasis on the role of heredity in producing these conditions. The fixity and certainty of hereditary determination were grossly overestimated, and the environmental contribution to intelligence, personality, morality, and crime was either ignored or underestimated. The one fundamental fact of logic—that correlation does not prove causation—was forgotten. Because certain traits follow family lines, it does not follow that they are necessarily inherited. There is a ‘social heredity’ involved in the transmission of many things from generation to generation, and it is easy to confuse its effects with those of biology heredity.
Starting in the 1920s and ‘30s there set in a reaction against the uncritical application of the simple Mendelian concepts to all human characteristics and the resulting disregard of the importance of environmental factors. The extreme hereditarians were accused of being mechanistic in their frame of reference, deterministic in their philosophy, and unscientific in their methods.
Behaviour trends, intellectual level, special talents, and temperament are not inherited as such, but heredity is certainly a factor in determining all of them. Genes affect behaviour indirectly through their influence on the structural development of the individual. Genes affect structural conditions which, in turn, influence function. Such complex things as feeble-mindedness, musical talent, mathematical aptitude, and criminality can hardly be inherited. However, the genes can be crucial factors in determining the development of the nervous system, the sensitivity of the ear, the discriminating ability of the eye, the length, diameter, and nature of the vocal cords, and as such things as the size and shape of the hands. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

Give the best summary of the first paragraph of the passage.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

With Charles Darwin’s popularisation of the concept of evolution, man became interested in his biological origins and affiliations. This interest was centred on man’s phylogenetic origins. Starting with the work on heredity of Gregor Mendel in the 1860s and the recognition of its significance in 1900, interest shifted to the problem of man’s ontogenetic origins. Mendel’s simple ‘laws of heredity’ came to be widely known and were uncritically assumed to apply to all human characteristics. Most physical characteristics, intelligence, and many aspects of personality were thought to operate as simple Mendelian unit characters in their transmission from parent to child. This belief stimulated an interest to eugenic movements that proposed to bring about race betterment through sterilization of the unfit and encouragement of marriage among the superior members of society. Many groups of people organised to promote such programmes. Feeble-mindedness, poverty, crime, and immorality were thought to be largely matters of poor heredity. Several studies of family lines were published that seemed to give considerable support to this general concept.
From 1900 to about 1920, there was an overemphasis on the role of heredity in producing these conditions. The fixity and certainty of hereditary determination were grossly overestimated, and the environmental contribution to intelligence, personality, morality, and crime was either ignored or underestimated. The one fundamental fact of logic—that correlation does not prove causation—was forgotten. Because certain traits follow family lines, it does not follow that they are necessarily inherited. There is a ‘social heredity’ involved in the transmission of many things from generation to generation, and it is easy to confuse its effects with those of biology heredity.
Starting in the 1920s and ‘30s there set in a reaction against the uncritical application of the simple Mendelian concepts to all human characteristics and the resulting disregard of the importance of environmental factors. The extreme hereditarians were accused of being mechanistic in their frame of reference, deterministic in their philosophy, and unscientific in their methods.
Behaviour trends, intellectual level, special talents, and temperament are not inherited as such, but heredity is certainly a factor in determining all of them. Genes affect behaviour indirectly through their influence on the structural development of the individual. Genes affect structural conditions which, in turn, influence function. Such complex things as feeble-mindedness, musical talent, mathematical aptitude, and criminality can hardly be inherited. However, the genes can be crucial factors in determining the development of the nervous system, the sensitivity of the ear, the discriminating ability of the eye, the length, diameter, and nature of the vocal cords, and as such things as the size and shape of the hands. (Sawrey and Telford in Education Psychology)

What is the central idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Data of educational psychology are obtained in various methods. These methods range in reliability from extremely low to very high. In addition to the questionable validity of the information obtained by research, there are certain risks of inference involved when the results of laboratory investigations are extrapolated to classroom applications. Every classroom is unique in many ways and there are certain risks in generalising from the laboratory to the classroom as well as from one type of classroom to another.
Educational psychologists and educators in the field would do a service to the profession if they would cross-validate laboratory studies in the classroom and pool the results from such studies in several schools to determine the generality of their findings.
Conventional textbooks are quite unsatisfactory for the student who wishes to critically evaluate the reliability of the methods used in obtaining the information presented. The book, which presents enough of the methodology of the studies from which all of the data presented are derived, would be able to cover a very limited area of subject matter and a small number of studies. It is necessary, therefore, for textbooks to become authoritarian in tenor and subject-matter oriented if they are to be useful to the student who is largely a consumer of research data. Data presented in textbook fashion must be accepted largely on faith—faith in the veracity of the presentations and in the reliability of the research methods used.
The student who is critical will want to go back to the original studies to check on the original methods and data on issues which are crucial for him. There are books of readings available in which selected studies are presented in their complete forms. These constitute useful supplements to the subject-matter oriented textbook. A textbook should be perceived by the student as a presentation of the best available information to date, organised and interpreted within a limited frame of reference.

Which of the following best summarizes the third paragraph of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

The wilderness is returning to Europe, but not without a little human help. Conservationists have spent years guarding eggs, counting stocks and reintroducing young animals into their natural habitat. But European wildlife also depends on a strong political framework, such as the hunting bans, protected sites and resettlement projects introduced by individual nations, which inspired the European Union to pass bold laws. This began with the Birds Directive, passed in 1979 which, in a single stroke, banned the hunting of virtually all European birds. In addition, EU member states were required to designate Special Protection Areas for 160 particularly vulnerable species—a measure that is largely responsible for the increase in populations of the White-tailed eagle, Marsh Harrier and Black stork, as studies carried out by Birdlife International have shown.
Thanks to EU laws, the air became cleaner, lakes and rivers recovered, and the use of chemicals in agriculture and industry declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, stocks of fish have increased and birds of prey have been breeding more successfully. The greatest legislative coup took place in 1992 with the Habitats Directive. This requires member states to set up Special Areas of Conservation for endangered flora and fauna, including animals and such as the beaver, European otter, Eurasian lynx and Grey wolf. If existing reserves met the required criteria, they could be re-designated, but most countries have had to place additional areas under protection.
The Directive has placed 234 vulnerable species of plants and animals under protection, including all big carnivores, as well as bison, Alpine ibex and beaver. It has also compelled governments to relook at industrial parks and highways—as was the case in Poland in 2008, when a proposed new road was relocated so that it did not cut across the protected Rospuda Valley—and prompted them to introduce bans on hunting. Any new EU member is required to implement far more stringent laws on nature conservation: laws that are often fought out in court. One in four cases before the European Court of Justice involving one of its member states involves a breach of EU environmental law.
In some countries this breach is due to a lack of ability. ‘In Eastern Europe, governments at times have too little money or too few resources to meet their EU obligations’, says Professor Christoph Knill, environmental policy researcher at Konstanz University, Germany. In other cases, it is the lack of political will: Germany, for instance, designated its last Special Area of Conservation only in 2008, after a delay of 10 years and after the EU Commission threatened to drag it to court. By now, however, all states have set up their Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation: 26,000 sanctuaries in all, that together make up the Natura 2000 network and cover 18 per cent of the EU landmass. It is the world’s largest group of biotopes and a showpiece of the EU environmental policy, no matter what the critics say. (The Laws of the Wild West by Torsten Schafer)

Which one of the following is the underlying idea of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Empowerment is about providing opportunities to individuals to achieve their aspirations while ensuring that community objectives are met. An empowered India is a country that provides opportunities for every child to achieve its potential through education, health care, nutrition, shelter and employment. At the same time, we must ensure that these children advance the interests of the country. To achieve this dream of empowerment, it is necessary to take tough, unpopular and unpleasant decisions.
To push these decisions through, India needs strong political leaders: the leaders who have the courage of conviction, the courage to dream big, to take difficult decisions, and to make sacrifices. The leaders have to be people who can straddle several worlds—the urban and the rural, the modern and the traditional, the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate. They have to appreciate the aspirations of all these worlds. They should not believe that development is a zero-sum game where gains to one world mean losses to another.
Politicians often complain that IT sector has created a great divide between the haves and the have-nots, and that it should be checked. Sadly, they believe that the solution is to restrict the growth of the IT industry instead of encouraging the creation of a larger number of such jobs. The leaders have to believe that the only way of our solving the problem of poverty is to create more jobs and shift a large number of people from agriculture to manufacturing and services. They must be open-minded, and willing to learn from the experiences of the leaders across the world. They must aspire to bench-mark India globally. They must be action oriented. We have become too much of a rhetoric satisfied society. Success is about execution.
It is for the top leaders of every political party to demonstrate leadership by example. They must come together and resolve to promote these values for the good of the future generations. This is tough and seems virtually impossible. But ‘a plausible impossibility is better than a convincing possibility’. There is no other way to do this. In the beginning, we may see a few good leaders being cast away quickly. But, once we see this behaviour from a generation of successive leaders, it will become the norm. For example, at one time, it appeared impossible to stem the mass defection of Aayarams and Gayarams from one party to another. The practice came to an end because all our political leaders came together and stopped it. (Excerpted from A Better India A Better World)

Give the essence of the second paragraph.

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage:

Data of educational psychology are obtained in various methods. These methods range in reliability from extremely low to very high. In addition to the questionable validity of the information obtained by research, there are certain risks of inference involved when the results of laboratory investigations are extrapolated to classroom applications. Every classroom is unique in many ways and there are certain risks in generalising from the laboratory to the classroom as well as from one type of classroom to another.
Educational psychologists and educators in the field would do a service to the profession if they would cross-validate laboratory studies in the classroom and pool the results from such studies in several schools to determine the generality of their findings.
Conventional textbooks are quite unsatisfactory for the student who wishes to critically evaluate the reliability of the methods used in obtaining the information presented. The book, which presents enough of the methodology of the studies from which all of the data presented are derived, would be able to cover a very limited area of subject matter and a small number of studies. It is necessary, therefore, for textbooks to become authoritarian in tenor and subject-matter oriented if they are to be useful to the student who is largely a consumer of research data. Data presented in textbook fashion must be accepted largely on faith—faith in the veracity of the presentations and in the reliability of the research methods used.
The student who is critical will want to go back to the original studies to check on the original methods and data on issues which are crucial for him. There are books of readings available in which selected studies are presented in their complete forms. These constitute useful supplements to the subject-matter oriented textbook. A textbook should be perceived by the student as a presentation of the best available information to date, organised and interpreted within a limited frame of reference.