COMPREHENSION TEST
      (2) People are no longer vaccinated for it.                       (2) his kind nature.
      (3) The World Health Organisation mounted a world-                (3) his sense of responsibility.
          wide campaign to eradicate the disease.                       (4) his ability to go where he has never gone.
      (4) It was a serious threat.                               185. A striking contrast is established in the passage be-
180. It can be inferred that                                            tween
      (1) no new cases of small-pox have been reported this             (1) mankind’s capacities and possibilities.
          year.                                                         (2) man’s maturity and irresponsibility.
      (2) malaria and yellow fever have been eliminated.                (3) political and technological revolutions achieved by
      (3) small-pox victims no longer die when they con-                    man.
          tract the disease.                                            (4) peculiar successes and special problems of our time.
      (4) small-pox is not transmitted from one person to            Directions (186-190) : Read the following passage and
          another.                                               mark the correct answers based on the passage.
      Directions (181-185) : You have one brief passage                    (SSC (South Zone) Investigators Exam. 12.09.2010)
with 5 questions following the passage. Read the passage              The two dominant features of our age are science and
carefully and choose the best answer to each question out        democracy. They have come to stay. We cannot ask edu-
of the four alternatives.                                        cated people to accept the deliverances of faith without
                            (SSC SAS Exam. 26.06.2010 (Paper-I)  rational evidence. Whatever we are called upon to accept
      If we look back on the great political revolutions and     must be justified and supported by reason. Otherwise our
the great technological revolutions (both of which are clues     religious beliefs will be reduced to wishful thinking. Mod-
to the range of mankind’s capacities and possibilities), we      ern man must learn to live with a religion which commends
see a striking contrast. Political revolutions, generally speak- itself to his intellectual conscience, to the spirit of science.
ing, have revealed man’s organised purposefulness, his so-       Besides, religion should be the sustaining faith of democ-
cial conscience, his sense of justice, the aggressive and        racy which insists on the intellectual and spiritual develop-
assertive side of his nature. Technological change, inven-       ment of every human being irrespective of his caste, creed,
tion and innovation have tended, rather, to reveal his play      community, or race. Any religion which divides man from
instinct, his desire and his ability to go where he has never    man or supports privileges, exploitation, wars, cannot com-
gone, to do what he has never done. The one shows his            mend itself to us today.
willingness to sacrifice in order to fulfil his plans and the
other his willingness to sacrifice in order to pursue his                           SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
quest. Many of the peculiar successes and special prob-           dominant        :  more important/powerful/noticeable than
lems of our time come from our efforts to assimilate these                           other things
two kinds of activities. We have tried to make government         deliverances       : an expressed thought/judgement
more experimental and to make technological change more
                                                                  rational        :  based on reason
purposive, more focussed, more planned than ever before.
                                                                  called upon : ordered ; required
                 SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                             wishful thinking: thinking in a way in which one wishes/
 assimilate    :   put together.                                                     believes to be real/likely to become true
181. According to the author our peculiar successes and           commends :         approves
      special problems are a result of                            sustaining      :  continuing
      (1) our ability to experiment.                              privileges      :  special rights/advantages
      (2) man’s organized purposefulness.
      (3) our efforts to assimilate political and technological  186. In the passage it is said that democracy
          activities.                                                   (1) should aim at the intellectual growth of all people.
      (4) desire to fulfil our plans.                                   (2) should strengthen religion.
182. Man’s assertive and aggressive side of his nature is               (3) should work for spiritual development of every
      expressed in                                                          human being.
      (1) technological revolutions.                                    (4) Both (1) and (3).
      (2) political revolutions.                                 187. Which of the following is correct ?
      (3) his social conscience.                                        (1) A good religion supports wars if necessary.
                                                                        (2) A good religion grants a number of privileges to
      (4) his play instinct.
                                                                            people.
183. Technological revolutions reveal man’s
                                                                        (3) A good religion divides man from man.
      (1) aggressive side of his nature.                                (4) A good religion supports democratic system.
      (2) assertive side of his nature.                          188. The writer of the passage stresses the importance of
      (3) play instinct.                                                (1) religion.                   (2) science.
      (4) psychological maturity.                                       (3) science and democracy. (4) democracy.
184. Man’s willingness to sacrifice to fulfil his plans are      189. The writer says that
      attributed to                                                     (1) educated people are likely to accept faith not sup-
      (1) his organized purposefulness.                                     ported by reason.
                                                             SEE–924