COMPREHENSION TEST
      (1) sad.                      (2) angry.                     165. The Japanese pathways tend to be
      (3) taking it seriously.      (4) annoyed.                           (1) symbolic.              (2) beautiful.
158. The purpose of hypnotherapy is to                                    (3) curved.                 (4) straight.
      (1) cure patients.                                                                    PASSAGE-II
      (2) make life easier.                                            A recent investigation by scientists at the USA Geolog-
      (3) carry out research.                                     ical Survey shows that strange animal behaviour might
      (4) check out the success rate.                             help predict future earthquakes. Investigators found such
                                                                  occurrences in a ten kilometre radius of the epicentre of a
159. German and British doctors used hypnosis as
                                                                  fairly recent quake. Some birds screeched and flew about
      (1) anaesthesia was not available.                          wildly, dogs yelped and ran uncontrollably. Scientists be-
      (2) anaesthesia was not needed.                             lieve that animals can perceive these environmental chang-
      (3) it was a substitute for anaesthesia.                    es as early as several days before the mishap.
      (4) it was fashionable during the war period.                   In 1976, after observing the animal behaviour, the Chi-
160. Treating war neurosis means                                  nese were able to predict a devastating quake. Although
      (1) curing madness.                                         hundreds of thousands of people were killed, the govern-
                                                                  ment was able to evacuate millions of other and thus keep
      (2) curing brain fever.
                                                                  the death toll at a lower level.
      (3) dealing with war problems.
                                                                   166. If scientists can accurately predict earthquakes there
      (4) curing war anxiety.                                             will be
    Directions (161-170) : You have two brief passages                     (1) fewer animals going crazy.
with five questions following each passage. Read the pas-                  (2) a lower death rate.
sages carefully and choose the best answer to each ques-
                                                                           (3) fewer people evacuated.
tion out of the four alternatives.
                (SSC Tax Assistant (Income Tax & Central Excise)
                                                                           (4) fewer environmental changes.
                                                Exam. 29.03.2009)  167. What prediction may be made by obeserving animal
                                                                          behaviour?
                          PASSAGE-I
                                                                           (1) An impending earthquake
    “The beauty of the Japanese landscape is that it con-
veys philosophical messages through each feature. The use                  (2) The number of people who will die
of curving pathways rather than straight lines, for instance.              (3) The ten kilometre radius of epicentre
This feature springs from the belief that only evil travels in             (4) Ecological conditions
straight lines, good forces tend to wander. Then, odd num-         168. How can animals perceive these changes when hu-
bers of plants or trees are used in these gardens because                 man beings cannot ?
these numbers are considered auspicious. Even the plants                   (1) Animals are smarter than human beings.
used are symbolic. For example, the cyprus represents
                                                                           (2) Animals have certain instincts that human be-
longevity and the bamboo symbolises abundance,” says
                                                                               ings don’t possess.
Sadhana Roy Choudhary.
                                                                           (3) By running round the house, they can feel the
    In Japan, nature is said to be so closely intertwined
                                                                               vibrations.
with human life that parents actually plant a sapling in
their garden when a child is born in the family, letting the               (4) Human beings don’t know where to look.
growth of the child coincide with the growth of the plant.         169. Which of the following is not true?
 161. They prefer curving pathways because                                 (1) Some animals may be able to sense an approach-
        (1) they are inauspicious.                                             ing earthquake.
        (2) they can walk easily.                                          (2) By observing animal behaviour scientists perhaps
        (3) they stumble over straight ones.                                   can predict earthquakes.
                                                                           (3) The Chinese failed to predict the earthquake.
        (4) good spirits walk on them.
                                                                           (4) All birds and dogs in a ten kilometre range went
 162. Abundance means
                                                                               wild before the quake.
       (1) long life.           (2) happiness.
                                                                   170. In this passage the word evacuate means
       (3) plenty.              (4) permanent.
                                                                          (1) remove.             (2) exile.
 163. The Japanese parents plant a sapling at the time of
                                                                          (3) destroy.            (4) expel.
       birth of a child because
        (1) it is auspicious to plant a sapling.                         Directions (171–175) : You have one brief passage
                                                                  with 5 questions following the passage. Read the passage
        (2) it is closely associated with the growth of the
                                                                  carefully and choose the best answer to each question out
            child.
                                                                  of the four alternatives.
        (3) it gives longevity to the child.
                                                                                              (SSC Combined Graduate Level Tier-I
        (4) it gives happiness to the child.
                                                                                                    Exam. 16.05.2010 (First Sitting)
 164. According to the passage the Japanese are                          Every profession or trade, every art and every sci-
        (1) superstitious.           (2) philosophical.           ence has its technical vocabulary, the function of which is
        (3) lovers of nature.        (4) lovers of numerology.    partly to designate things or processes which have no names
                                                             SEE–922