COMPREHENSION TEST
cerned here with the moral of the bookseller’s action. What      resignation, even with satisfaction. He has not lost the fine
we have to note is that only books of a sensational type are     art of doing nothing. Our notion of time as a collection of
really sought for by the ordinary folk who have a great          minutes, each of which must be filled with some business
aversion to serious study. So, you will see that the grand       or amusement, is wholly alien to the Greek. For the man
argument that the Printing Press has made knowledge avail-       who lives in a pre-industrial world, time moves at a slow
able even to the masses is certainly fallacious and quite        and easy pace; he does not care about each minute, for the
misleading. To put it correctly, it has created a taste for a    good reason that he has not been made conscious of the
low order of books.                                              existence of minutes.
                  SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                                              SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
  multitude : an extremely large number.                           orient          : the countries of Asia, especially of east-
  sorely tired : very much tired.                                                    ern Asia, (China, Japan, Russia, etc.)
  aversion       : a strong feeling of not liking somebody/        appalling       : shocking; extremely bad.
                    something.                                     notion          : an idea, a belief or an understanding of
  fallacious : wrong; based on a false idea.                                         something.
 sell like hot cakes : to sell quickly/in great numbers            alien           : not usual or acceptable.
 substituted : to use somebody/something instead of               pitch           :  the highest point of something
                    somebody/something else                       intensity       :  the strength of something
 sensational : causing great surprise, excitement or in-          acutely         :  to a severe and dangerous degree
                    terest                                        torture         :  mental/physical suffering
 misleading : giving the wrong idea/impression and                blank hours :      leisure/empty time
                    making you believe something that is not
                    true                                         41.     What is the main theme of the passage ?
                                                                         (1) Concept of time in pre-industrial world.
36.     Sexton Blake series are big sellers because they
                                                                         (2) The Greek concept of time.
        (1) disseminate knowledge.
                                                                         (3) Awareness of time in the modern industrial world.
        (2) are informative.
                                                                         (4) The orientals and their awareness of time.
        (3) satisfy a typically serious reader.
                                                                 42. The orientals are alien to
        (4) are sensational.
                                                                         (1) the business of amusement.
37. The American publisher had chosen the works of
                                                                         (2) the notion of time as a collection of minutes.
        Charles Dickens to
                                                                         (3) industrialization.
        (1) give wide publicity to Dickens’ works.
                                                                         (4) the fine art of doing nothing.
        (2) offer the readers what best he could.
                                                                 43. A person who belongs to pre-industrial world
        (3) counter the trash.
                                                                         (1) knows the utility of time.
        (4) make money easily.
                                                                         (2) knows how to derive happiness by making use of
38. What is the main contention of the passage ?
                                                                              time carefully.
        (1) To stress the popularity of the printing press.
                                                                         (3) does not care about each minute.
        (2) To point out the disappointment of serious read-
                                                                         (4) cares much for every minute.
            ers.
                                                                 44. According to the author
        (3) To shed light on the morale of the publishers.
                                                                         (1) the orientals are very punctual.
        (4) To bring out the evil impacts of the printing press.
                                                                         (2) the Americans or the Englishmen are punctual.
39. The author’s contention makes us feel that he
                                                                         (3) the Greek and the orientals are very punctual.
        (1) is unilateral in his argument.
                                                                         (4) the Indians are very punctual.
        (2) is balanced.
                                                                 45. The orient in the passage refers to
        (3) is a typical critic.
                                                                         (1) China and Japan.            (2) Japan and England.
        (4) argues convincingly.
                                                                         (3) England and America. (4) America alone.
40. Who is Charles Dickens ?
                                                                        Directions (46-55) : You have two brief passages with
        (1) A playwright.               (2) An epic poet.
                                                                 5 questions following each passage. Read the passages
        (3) A short story writer.       (4) A novelist.          carefully and choose the best answer to each question out
                           PASSAGE-II                            of the four alternatives.
      Our awareness of time has reached such a pitch of                              (SSC Section Officer (Audit) Exam. 05.06.2005)
intensity that we suffer acutely whenever our travels take
                                                                                             PASSAGE-I
us into some corner of the world where people are not
interested in minutes and seconds. The unpunctuality of                In the technological systems of tomorrow-fast, fluid
the orient, for example is appalling to those who come freshly   and self-regulating-machines will deal with the flow of physi-
from a land of fixed meal-times and regular train services.      cal materials; men with the flow of information and insight.
For a modern American or Englishman, waiting is a psy-           Machines will increasingly perform tasks. Machines and
chological torture. An Indian accepts the blank hours with       men both, instead of being concentrated in gigantic facto-
                                                                 ries and factory cities, will be scattered across the globe,
                                                            SEE–908