Question : Comprehension:

Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated, large white high-altitude balloon was seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. The American and Canadian militaries asserted that the balloon was for surveillance, while the Chinese government maintained it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had been blown off course. Analysts said that the balloon's flight path and structural characteristics made it dissimilar from those which have typically been used for meteorological research. The U.S. Department of State said that the balloon was capable of locating electronic communication devices, including mobile phones and radios, and that

American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to track the balloon in the air revealed that the balloon carried antennas and other equipment "clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons." The State Department said that the spy balloon was part of a global Chinese military-directed surveillance effort in which Chinese spy balloons have flown over more than 40 nations in five continents.

On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, on the order of U.S. President Joe Biden. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

The incident increased U.S.-China tensions. The incident prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to delay a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which was set to be his first since 2018. It also further strained Canada-China relations, as Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador because of the violation of Canadian airspace. On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that a second Chinese balloon was passing over Latin America, which China also said belonged to it. On February 10, the Air Force shot down another aerial object over U.S. territory at the order of President Biden.

Question:

The passage is mainly about

Option 1: the strained relations between US and China

Option 2: a Chinese spy balloon flying over US and Canadian territories

Option 3: China's global military-directed surveillance

Option 4: Chinese balloons flying all over the world

Question : Comprehension:

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

The Roman Empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe as we know it today and a large part of the Fertile Crescent and North Africa.
The Roman Empire embraced a wealth of local cultures and languages; women had a stronger legal position then than they do in many countries today; but also that much of the economy was run on slave labour, denying freedom to substantial numbers of persons. From the fifth century onwards, the empire fell apart in the west but remained intact and exceptionally prosperous in its eastern half.
Roman historians have a rich collection of sources to go on, which we can broadly divide into three groups: (a) texts, (b) documents and (c) material remains. Textual sources include letters, speeches, sermons, laws, and histories of the period written by contemporaries. These were usually called ‘Annals’ because the narrative was constructed on a year-by-year basis. Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyri. Inscriptions were usually cut on stone, so a large number survived, in both Greek and Latin. The ‘papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce sheets of writing material that was very widely used in everyday life. Thousands of contracts, accounts, letters, and official documents survive ‘on papyrus’ and have been published by scholars who are called ‘papyrologists’. Material remains include a very wide assortment of items that mainly archaeologists discover (for example, through excavation and field surveys), for example, buildings, monuments and other kinds of structures, pottery, coins, mosaics, and even entire landscapes. Each of these sources can only tell us just so much about the past, and combining them can be a fruitful exercise, but how well this is done depends on the historian’s skill!

Question:

Which of these are NOT material remains?

Option 1: Mosaics

Option 2: Coins

Option 3: Monuments

Option 4: Annals

Question : Comprehension:

Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated, large white high-altitude balloon was seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. The American and Canadian militaries asserted that the balloon was for surveillance, while the Chinese government maintained it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had been blown off course. Analysts said that the balloon's flight path and structural characteristics made it dissimilar from those which have typically been used for meteorological research. The U.S. Department of State said that the balloon was capable of locating electronic communication devices, including mobile phones and radios, and that

American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to track the balloon in the air revealed that the balloon carried antennas and other equipment "clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons." The State Department said that the spy balloon was part of a global Chinese military-directed surveillance effort in which Chinese spy balloons have flown over more than 40 nations in five continents.

On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, on the order of U.S. President Joe Biden. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

The incident increased U.S.-China tensions. The incident prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to delay a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which was set to be his first since 2018. It also further strained Canada-China relations, as Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador because of the violation of Canadian airspace. On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that a second Chinese balloon was passing over Latin America, which China also said belonged to it. On February 10, the Air Force shot down another aerial object over U.S. territory at the order of President Biden.

Question:

The word 'contiguous' means

Option 1: adjoining

Option 2: far off

Option 3: spreading

Option 4: separated

Question : Comprehension:
In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

The concept of motivation focuses on explaining what 'moves' behaviour. In fact, the term (1)_______ is derived from the Latin word 'movere', referring to the movement of activity. Most of our everyday explanation of (2)________ is given in terms of motives. Motives also help in making (3)__________ about behaviour. A person will work hard in school, in sports, in business, in music, and in many other situations, if he/she has a very strong need for (4)__________. Hence, motives are the general states that enable us to make predictions about behaviour in many different situations. In other words, motivation is one of the (5)_________ of behaviour. Instincts, drives, needs, goals, and incentives come under the broad cluster of motivation.

Question:
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank number (2).

Option 1: behaviour

Option 2: goal

Option 3: incentive

Option 4: motivation

Question : An example of the ideological challenge to US dominance is the:  

Option 1: Spread of democracy in the Middle East 

Option 2: Rise of authoritarian leaders in Latin America  

Option 3: Growth of the European Union  

Option 4:  Expansion of NATO  

Question : Comprehension:

Read the passage and answer the questions that follow.

The Roman Empire covered a vast stretch of territory that included most of Europe as we know it today and a large part of the Fertile Crescent and North Africa.
The Roman Empire embraced a wealth of local cultures and languages; women had a stronger legal position then than they do in many countries today; but also that much of the economy was run on slave labor, denying freedom to substantial numbers of persons. From the fifth century onwards, the empire fell apart in the west but remained intact and exceptionally prosperous in its eastern half.
Roman historians have a rich collection of sources to go on, which we can broadly divide into three groups: (a) texts, (b) documents and (c) material remains. Textual sources include letters, speeches, sermons, laws, and histories of the period written by contemporaries. These were usually called ‘Annals’ because the narrative was constructed on a year-by-year basis. Documentary sources include mainly inscriptions and papyri. Inscriptions were usually cut on stone, so a large number survived, in both Greek and Latin. The ‘papyrus’ was a reed-like plant that grew along the banks of the Nile in Egypt and was processed to produce sheets of writing material that was very widely used in everyday life. Thousands of contracts, accounts, letters, and official documents survive ‘on papyrus’ and have been published by scholars who are called ‘papyrologists’. Material remains include a very wide assortment of items that mainly archaeologists discover (for example, through excavation and field survey), for example, buildings, monuments and other kinds of structures, pottery, coins, mosaics, and even entire landscapes. Each of these sources can only tell us just so much about the past, and combining them can be a fruitful exercise, but how well this is done depends on the historian’s skill!

Question:

Who were papyrologists?

Option 1: People who processed papyrus into sheet

Option 2: Scholars who published documents

Option 3: Farmers who cultivated papyrus

Option 4: People who surveyed the reed like plants along the Nile

Question : Comprehension:

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

The concept of motivation focuses on explaining what 'moves' behaviour. In fact, the term (1)_______ is derived from the Latin word 'movere', referring to the movement of activity. Most of our everyday explanation of (2)________ is given in terms of motives. Motives also help in making (3)__________ about behaviour. A person will work hard in school, in sports, in business, in music, and in many other situations, if he/she has a very strong need for (4)__________. Hence, motives are the general states that enable us to make predictions about behaviour in many different situations. In other words, motivation is one of the (5)_________ of behaviour. Instincts, drives, needs, goals, and incentives come under the broad cluster of motivation.

Question:
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank number (4).

Option 1: achievements

Option 2: motivation

Option 3: desire

Option 4: grow

Question : Comprehension:
In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

The concept of motivation focuses on explaining what 'moves' behaviour. In fact, the term (1)_______ is derived from the Latin word 'movere', referring to the movement of activity. Most of our everyday explanation of (2)________ is given in terms of motives. Motives also help in making (3)__________ about behaviour. A person will work hard in school, in sports, in business, in music, and in many other situations, if he/she has a very strong need for (4)__________. Hence, motives are the general states that enable us to make predictions about behaviour in many different situations. In other words, motivation is one of the (5)_________ of behaviour. Instincts, drives, needs, goals, and incentives come under the broad cluster of motivation.
Question:
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank number (3).

Option 1: clarifications

Option 2: predictions

Option 3: directions

Option 4: decisions

Question : Comprehension:
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
As legend has it, Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, the god of war. They had been left to drown in a basket on the Tiber River by a king of a nearby region and were rescued by a she-wolf. The twins lived to defeat that king and founded their city on the river's banks in 753 B.C. After killing his brother, Romulus became the first king of Rome, which is named after him. A line of Sabine, Latin, and Etruscan (earlier Italian civilisations) kings followed in a non-hereditary succession.
Rome's era as a monarchy ended in 509 B.C. with the overthrow of its seventh king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, whom ancient historians portrayed as cruel and tyrannical, compared to his benevolent predecessors. Rome has now turned from a monarchy into a republic.
The power of the monarch passed to two annually elected magistrates called consuls. They also served as commanders-in-chief of the army. The magistrates, though elected by the people, were largely the descendants of the original senators from the time of Romulus. In 450 B.C., the first Roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets-known as the Twelve Tables—and publicly displayed in the Roman Forum. These laws included issues of legal procedure, civil rights, and property rights and provided the basis for all future Roman civil laws. By around 300 B.C., real political power in Rome was centered in the Senate.

Question:
Which of the following is not an earlier Italian civilisation, as mentioned in the passage?

Option 1: Roman

Option 2: Etruscan

Option 3: Sabine

Option 4: Latin