COMPREHENSION TEST
       (2) tell why vacations have become more common.             panic          :   a feeling of great fear
       (3) contrast holidays and festive occasions with va-        casualities :      persons killed/injured in a war/an acci-
           cation.
                                                                                      dent
       (4) demonstrate that vacations are not really neces-
                                                                   mishap         :   a small accident
           sary.
                                                                   rescued        :   to save somebody/something from a
   27. According to the passage, we need vacations now more
       than ever because we have                                                      dangerous situation
       (1) a more carefree nature                                  maiden         :   being the first of its kind
       (2) much more free time                                     voyage         :   a long journey (sea, space)
       (3) little diversity in our work
                                                                    31. All of the following are true except that
       (4) a higher standard of living
                                                                         (1) Only a third of those aboard perished
   28. It is implied in the passage that our lives are very
                                                                         (2) The Carpathia rescued the survivors
       (1) habitual                   (2) patriotic
                                                                         (3) The S.S. Titanic sank near Newfoundland
       (3) varied                     (4) independent
                                                                         (4) The S.S. Titanic was the fastest ship afloat in 1912
   29. As used in the passage the word prerogative (line)
                                                                    32. All of the following contributed to the large death toll
       (1) habit                      (2) privilege                      except
       (3) request                    (4) hope                           (1) panic                    (2) fire
   30. The contemporary attitude towards vacations is best               (3) speed                    (4) The Carpathia
       expressed by which of the following proverbs ?
                                                                    33. How many days was the S.S. Titanic at sea before sink-
       (1) A penny saved is penny earned.                                ing ?
       (2) The devil finds work for idle hands.                          (1) 2                   (2) 4
       (3) All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
                                                                         (3) 6                   (4) 12
       (4) Many hands make light work.
                                                                    34. Maiden voyage is closest in meaning to
                            PASSAGE-II                                   (1) inaugural           (2) most elegant
     In an effort to produce the largest, fastest and most
                                                                         (3) longest             (4) final
luxurious ship afloat, the British built the S.S. Titanic. It
was so superior to anything else on the seas that it was            35. What does this passage convey?
dubbed ‘unsinkable’. So sure of this were the owners that                (1) The S.S. Titanic proved itself the most seaworthy
they provided only twenty life boats and rafts, less than                     vessel in 1912
one-half the number needed for the 2,227 passengers on                   (2) Attempts to rescue the S.S. Titanic’s survivors
board.                                                                        were not successful
     Many passengers were aboard the night it rammed an                  (3) Overconfidence by builders and owners was
iceberg only two days at sea and more than halfway be-                        greatly responsible for the sinking of the vessel
tween England and its New-York destination. Because the                  (4) A fire and panic were the only causes for the sink-
luxury liner was travelling so fast, it was impossible to avoid               ing of the ship
the ghostly looking iceberg. An unextinguished fire also con-           Directions (36-45) : You have two brief passages with
tributed to the ship’s submersion. Panic increased the num-       5 questions following each passage. Read the passages care-
ber of casualties as people jumped into the icy water or          fully and choose the best answer to each question out of
fought to be among the few to board the life boats. Four          the four alternatives.
hours after the mishap, another ship, the ‘Carpathia’, res-
                                                                                  (SSC Tax Assistant (Income Tax & Central Excise)
cued 705 survivors.
                                                                                                                  Exam. 05.12.2004)
     The infamous S. S. Titanic had enjoyed only two days
of sailing glory on its maiden voyage in 1912 before plung-                                   PASSAGE-I
ing into 12,000 feet of water near the coast of Newfound-               The Printing Press has made knowledge available to
land where it lies today.                                         the vast multitude of people-Pray, what kind of knowledge
                                                                  is it ? Is it of any permanent character ? Books have be-
                   SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                           come common and, when we say that books like the Sex-
  infamous        : well-known for being bad or evil.             ton Blake series sell like hot cakes, we have an index of the
  plunging        : moving or making somebody/something           nature of knowledge which a typical person in a vast mul-
                    more suddenly forwards and/or down            titude seeks. Let me tell you of an incident that took place
                    wards.                                        in America a few years ago. An American publisher printed
                                                                  a million copies of the works of Charles Dickens in the
 afluat          :  floating on water
                                                                  hope that he could easily sell them on the name of the
 rammed          :  to drive into/hit another vehicle, ship, etc. author. But to his disappointment, not even the widest
                    with force (vehicle, ship, etc.)              publicity and advertisement could enable him to sell the
 destination :      a place to which somebody/something is        books. Being sorely tired, he hit on a plan. He tore off the
                    going/being sent                              cover pages, substituted covers containing sensational love
                                                                  headings for the titles and again advertised the new books.
 submersion :       the state of being under water/liquid
                                                                  In a week, all the books were sold out. We are not con-
                                                             SEE–907