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Essence of Passages - 1

Description: Essence Test - 1
Number of Questions: 10
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Tags: Reading Comprehension Verbal Ability English Practice Test RC Purpose
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Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

But there is a higher reason in the human individual which, though it gets stifled many a time due to the clamours of the senses and the needs of life, raises its voice now and then, and in rare specimens of stalwarts among people in the world, the reason manifests itself as a brilliant radiance shedding a light which is not of this world, because anything that is totally a part of this world cannot know the world. An object cannot know itself. There is a necessity for something else to even know that there is such a thing as the object or the world. Who knows that there is a world? Does the world itself know it?

  1. Objects that belong to this world can only be known by objects that belong to the ‘other’ world.

  2. A need for an individual to know himself surfaces from time to time and has the potential to lead one to enlightenment.

  3. Questioning one’s individuality in this world is a brilliant idea for the few who tend to pursue it.

  4. Anything which forms an integral part of something is incapable to know itself.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:
  1. Not true. The concept of “other” world is not in the given paragraph.
    1. True. This is the higher need or reason that the author talks about here. This, when heeded by stalwarts, has the potential to bestow enlightenment.
    2. Not true. The paragraph’s essence is not about the nature of ideas.
    3. True but not applicable. Because there is no discussion on the higher reason or need here.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

Socrates equated knowledge with virtue, which ultimately leads to ethical conduct. He believed that the only life worth living was one that was rigorously examined. He looked for principles and actions that were worth living by, creating an ethical base upon which decisions should be made. Socrates firmly believed that knowledge and understanding of virtue, or "the good," was sufficient for someone to be happy. To him, knowledge of the good was almost akin to an enlightened state. He believed that no person could willingly choose to do something harmful or negative if they were fully aware of the value of life.

  1. A well-lived life is the one that is lived by people who mean no harm.

  2. Man’s life depends on the choices he makes in life based on his levels of awareness.

  3. A sense of heightened awareness holds the key to a life of satisfaction.

  4. The road to a fulfilling life was paved by principles and actions regarded good by an individual.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:
  1. People who mean no harm to others may or may not live a life that is well–lived.
    1. The passage does not talk about levels of awareness.
    2. The passage talks about man being “fully” aware, so “heightened” awareness is the key.
    3. The principles and actions should be good and not 'regarded' good by the individual concerned. The sentence “He looked for principles and actions that were worth living by…” meant that these principles were universal and not individualised.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

Spiritual Atheists are people who do not believe in a literal "God”, but still consider themselves to be (often deeply) "Spiritual" people. There is no consensus among Spiritual Atheists regarding the literal existence of one's own "spirit" or a collective "spirit"; however, there is consensus that if any "spirit" does exist, it is not external to the universe and it is not "supernatural". Spiritual Atheists believe that nothing that exists or happens violates the nature of the universe; they believe that all such things only further define the nature of the universe. For Spiritual Atheists, being "spiritual" means (at the very least) to nurture thoughts, words, and actions that are in harmony with the idea that the entire universe is, in some way, connected; even if only by the mysterious flow of cause and effect at every scale. Therefore, Spiritual Atheists generally feel that as they go about their lives striving to be personally healthy and happy, they should also be striving to help the world around them be healthy and happy.

  1. Spiritual Atheists are people who are disconnected with God but very much connected with the way they determine the flow of the universe.

  2. An underlying spirit that defines the universe and contributes to sustaining its harmony is central to the philosophy of Spiritual Atheists.

  3. Spiritual Atheists believe that spirits, if any, are benign and immanent and get shared within the people they interact.

  4. Spiritualism is nothing but compromising with the happenings of the world imbibing all along an optimistic sense that elicits from a special purpose behind them.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:
  1. It is not correct. Spiritual Atheists do not determine the flow of the universe. The entire universe is connected or determined by a mysterious flow of cause and effect.
    1. It is not valid since spiritual atheists have no consensus on the existence of any spirit. Hence, we cannot assume “spirit” to be a “central” element of their philosophy.
    2. Only this option is correct. It says that 'Spiritual Atheists' believe that nothing that exists or happens violates the nature of the universe and they strive to help the world around them to be healthy and happy.
    3. It is not correct. Spiritualism cannot be said to be a compromise. It is more of a kind of choice. 

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

The indisputable analogy between dreams and insanity extending as it does down to their characteristic details, is one of the most powerful props of the medical theory of dream-life, which regards dreaming as a useless and disturbing process and as the expression of a reduced activity of the mind. Nevertheless, it is not to be expected that we shall find the ultimate explanation of dreams in the direction of mental disorders; for the unsatisfactory state of our knowledge of the origin of these latter conditions is generally recognised. It is quite likely on the contrary; that a modification of our attitude will at the same time affect our views upon the internal mechanism of mental disorders and that we shall be working towards an explanation of the psychoses while we are endeavouring to throw some light on the mystery of dreams.

  1. Our attitude towards dreams is in dire need of a shift from being recognised as something akin to insanity to being an independent subject of psychology.

  2. Dreams may best be regarded as mental disorders because medicine does recognise some level of knowledge, though unsatisfactory, in handling these.

  3. Medical theory would do well to avoid researching dreams as a subject of mental disorders.

  4. Research on dreams in the right direction would only help explain the yet unknowns behind mind’s morbid conditions.


Correct Option: D
Explanation:
  1. It is true that the attitude needs a shift, though not “dire”; also we cannot say that dreams should be treated as an independent subject in psychology.
    1. Not true. Dreams are not to be regarded as mental disorders.
    2. True, however, this is just restatement of a fact from the paragraph.
    3. True, here the “right” direction is the one not in the direction of mental disorders. This would help uncover causes of various conditions of a diseased mind. This option best captures the essence of the order.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

Aristotle’s theology is based on his perception that there must be something above and beyond the chains of cause and effect for those chains to exist at all. Aristotle perceives change and motion as deep mysteries. Everything is subject to change and motion, but nothing changes or moves without cause.

  1. Anything stationary in the world cannot be assumed to cause any change.

  2. Tracing how things cause one another to change and move is the source of many of Aristotle’s most fundamental insights.

  3. Anything that moves or changes might be ultimately traced to something that could not move or change.

  4. If all causes have antecedent causes, there is no first cause that causes motion and change to exist in the first place.


Correct Option: D
Explanation:
  1. Not true. According to Aristotle, everything is subject to change and thus everything is caused. Nothing about “stationary” has been said.
    1. Not true. The subject here is not to discuss Aristotle’s insights.
    2. Not True. The essence is opposite to what has been said in the option, i.e. anything that moves or changes is caused by something that could itself move or change.
    3. True. This captures the essence. If something has been caused, this means a change or motion has happened. Since no change is without cause, this means every cause has a cause preceded by another cause and so on, there, thus being no first cause.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

The longing not to die but to persist forever cannot arise in the mind which is locked up in time. Thus it is that man is not limited by time, really speaking. Otherwise, this desire to live long cannot arise in the mind. He is not even limited to space; otherwise, the desire to break the limitations of the world outside and probe into the corners of creation cannot arise in him. The longing to possess the whole world is not possible if it is locked up in a little space.

  1. A provincial mind with no idea of the limits of time is removed from the notion of surpassing time and space.

  2. A cloistered mind restrained in time is untrained in transcending the limits of time and space.

  3. A mind immune to the effects of time and space is incapable of crossing the limits of time and space.

  4. Time and space give rise to the concepts of immortality and liberty to think unconventionally.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:
  1. Not true. A provincial mind would itself be limited in thought, so it would have an idea of time or space.
    1. True. A mind restricted in space and bound by time is not trained to make a flight beyond time and space.
    2. Not true. It is not the mind “immune” but the one that is “limited” that is incapable to go beyond the limits of time and space.
    3. Not true, as this is only true for a man not bound by the limits of time and space.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

Celebrated novelists’ greatness can be ascribed to partly their skill at binding the reader to a compelling narrative and partly due to the quality of the narrative itself. Every man who has lived his own life has many new and strange things to tell – his experiences, his secrets, happenings that befell him, men and women he encountered in his journey, friends and relatives etc. The stories of his life may never be less than the substance of an enchanting novel. However, neither are all men endowed with the extraordinary ability to chronicle their life nor may they have the choice to devote time to penning down their life stories when so much more is happening in their life while they remain ever more active and responsive to the tumult in life.

  1. Novelists win fame even when their narrative may be less enchanting than the one of a common man’s life.

  2. A novelist is distinct from a common man as the former is advantaged with an interesting narrative.

  3. What differentiates a layman from a famous novelist is probably the latter finding time to put his skill to work.

  4. Man’s life is a narrative of enchanting events, however, he has little time to pen it down.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:
  1. Not necessarily, as they need to bind the reader as well with their narrative.
    1. Not necessarily, the novelist may not have an interesting narrative to tell.
    2. True, the novelist does devote time to put his skill to work, which a layman cannot do.
    3. True, however, comparison with a novelist is not given.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

When one starts an institution, opens up an organisation, has followers, conducts conferences, writes books, meets people and does various things, it is very easy for the mind to miss its main purpose in the background and be carried away by the books that are written, the glory that comes as a consequence of one’s importance, the largeness of the institution, the number of the followers, and the facilities or comforts which are provided to the body and to the ego. No one loves anything more than comfort. Physical, psychological and social comfort is what we seek. It is very easy to interpret comfort in a very convenient manner, going on a tangent and totally missing the point, and in a way deceiving oneself. This is something one has to guard against, especially when one takes to a spiritual path and a religious life, and regards oneself as a spiritual seeker, a humble disciple of a great Master or perhaps a servant of God.

  1. Social interactions are bound to create hindrances to achievement of spiritual goals.

  2. The author cautions the reader against missing out on the larger objectives of life in the midst of life’s conveniences.

  3. The author urges a spiritual seeker to be wary of the temptations that may deviate him from the path to his divine goal.

  4. Material comforts that result from achievements and glory feed the ego eventually obscuring the main objective.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:
  1. It is not the social interactions but the comfort that comes from specific roles that can create hindrances to spiritual goals.
    1. The author is cautioning the reader that he might misconstrue comfort and thus deviate from spiritual path.
    2. This is what the author intends.
    3. This is true of material comforts according to the passage. However, this is not the essence of the passage.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

The question whether there exists in man a non-material substance to which he owes his mental life did not come within the orbit of Helvelius’s studies. He touched upon the matter only en passant, and dealt with it most cautiously. On the one hand, he did not want to irritate the censors, for which reason he spoke with obvious deference of the Church, which had “established our faith on this point”. On the other hand, he disliked flights of “philosophical fancy”. We must follow up an observation, he said, halt at the moment it leaves us, and have the courage not to know what, cannot yet be known. This smacks of “reserve” rather than of “vanity” or the “superficial”.

  1. Helvetius approached his subject of study with caution so as to appear sane and complainant with the Church.

  2. Outlandish ideas never found favour with Helvetius as they tended to offend the church.

  3. Helvetius approach can best be termed practical as he disapproved of fanciful notions in the process of inquiry.

  4. Helvetius’s theory professed a guarded inquisitiveness that betrayed the unbridled spirit of inquiry.


Correct Option: D
Explanation:
  1. True, however, this is not the essence of the paragraph.
    1. Not true. Though these ideas did not find favour for him, it wasn’t that they always offended the church. Helvetius also objected to weird notions.
    2. Not true. Not venturing in philosophy can in no manner be termed practical.
    3. True. Helvetius did profess a method of inquiry that disapproved of a liberated spirit of inquiry.

Directions: The passage given below is followed by four alternative summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage. Key in the number of the option you choose as your answer.

In self-conscious beings, we meet with a set of phenomena quite distinct from the physical or the vital or the merely conscious. Reflective mind is different from the unreflective mind of the infant or the animal. When the plain man protests that men are not to be confused with apes, he declares that however primitive man may be, he is still distinctly human. Man had been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years. Early specimens such as Pithecanthropus were dug up in Java and the skull of Eoanthropus was found at Piltdown. However strange and brutish they may seem, they were distinctly men. They not only used tools which were ready to hand, but made tools for their use. They had reason which was distinct from instinct, however highly developed the latter may be.

  1. Instinct is common to both man and animals.

  2. Animals’ instincts are better developed than those of men.

  3. Men historically score over animals, as they use their brains.

  4. Men historically have had an advantage over animals as they more conscious of their existence.


Correct Option: C
Explanation:
  1. The last sentence makes it clear that both animals and humans possess instinct. However, this is a fact and not the essence of the paragraph given.
    1. This cannot be said from the given paragraph.
    2. True, this is what the author wants to say. According to the author, even the primitive man was “distinctly” human, and he had made tools for his use. This shows that author has kept man at a higher pedestal than animals.
    3. This cannot be said from the given paragraph.
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