COMPREHENSION TEST
constant upswelling of nutrient rich cold waters from the        253. The phrase, damning effect means
ocean depths. During an El Nino, however waters are stirred             (1) negative effects.    (2) destructive effects.
up only from near the surface. The nutrient-crunch push-                (3) full effects.        (4) disrupting effects.
es down primary production, disrupting the food chain.           254. People today, pray to God to keep
Many marine species, including anchoveta (anchovies) tem-
                                                                        (1) rains and droughts away.
porarily disappear.
                                                                        (2) drought away.
     This is just one damning effect of El Nino. Over the
years its full impact has been studied and what the Peruvi-             (3) El Nino away.
ans once regarded as manna, is now seen as a major threat.              (4) El Nino and droughts away.
                                                                 255. The word which means - equal in value, power and
                  SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                                  meaning is
 anchoveta                                                              (1) unusual.             (2) current.
 (anchovies) :     small fish with a strong salty flavour.              (3) equivalent.          (4) appear.
 manna          :  the food that God provided for the people                               PASSAGE - III
                   of Israel during their 40 years in the desert
                                                                      There is a general consensus that ‘International Un-
246. Meteorologists took time to understand El Nino be-          derstanding’ need to be taught as a separate subject at the
      cause                                                      school stage as that would add to the curricular load which
      (1) it was neither a disaster nor a boon for the people    is already too heavy. Instead it should be woven into the
          living in desert areas.                                curriculum and the numerous opportunities that present
      (2) they recognized it as an atmospheric equivalent        themselves while teaching normal school subjects may be
          and hence called it Southern Oscillation.              intelligently and imaginatively used by the teacher to pro-
      (3) they suffered from lack of knowledge about El Nino     mote International Understanding.
          as they were not scientifically advanced.                   The school subjects which can be most profitably used
      (4) All of the above                                       for this purpose are History, Geography, Civics, Econom-
247. El Nino in a layman language is                             ics, Sociology, Political Science, Social Sciences, Languag-
                                                                 es as well as Physical and Life Sciences. However, at the
      (1) a natural disaster.       (2) Southern Oscillation.
                                                                 higher education level, international education can be pre-
      (3) a weather event.          (4) None of the above.
                                                                 scribed as a separate subject of study. In fact, the present
248. What are the two types of landscapes that are effect-       situation in India broadly conforms to this consensus so
      ed by El Nino ?                                            far as the school stage is concerned.
      (1) Coastal areas and sea.
                                                                      At the under-graduate and the post-graduate levels,
      (2) Tropical shores and land.                              courses of study in subjects like History, Geography, Eco-
      (3) Deserts and oceans.                                    nomics, Political Science, International Relations, Interna-
      (4) All of the above.                                      tional Law and International Organization have been pre-
249. Which word in Para 3 is the antonym for Fertile?            scribed by most of the universities and these contain con-
      (1) matted.                (2) abundance.                  tent which has a direct or indirect bearing on promoting
      (3) barren.                (4) None of the above.          UNESCO ideals.
250. What, according to the author, is a positive effect of      256. How International Understanding can be taught at
      El Nino ?                                                         the school level?
      (1) It causes changes in atmosphere.                              (1) Through various subjects like History, Civics, Ge-
      (2) It results in vegetation on barren lands.                         ography, etc.
      (3) It comes around Christmas.                                    (2) By giving numerous opportunities to the students.
      (4) It is regarded as manna.                                      (3) By combining the subject content with the curric-
251. How can we say that El Nino proves to be a boon for                    ulum.
      South American Coast ?                                            (4) All of these.
      (1) It causes an upswelling of rich nutrients making it    257. Which phrase from the passage means “combined with
          the most productive in the world.                             the curriculum” ?
      (2) It causes the destruction of many marine species              (1) Intelligently and imaginatively used in the curricu-
          such as anchoveta.                                                lum
      (3) It warms up normally cold surface waters off caus-            (2) Can be prescribed in the curriculum.
          ing heavy rains.                                              (3) Woven into the curriculum.
      (4) It enhances warm currents around every Christ-                (4) None of the above
          mas.
                                                                 258. What are the two stages where ‘‘International Under-
252. The years of abundance is when                                     standing” should be taught as a separate subject ?
      (1) El Nino occurs during Christmas.                              (1) Primary and Secondary stage.
      (2) the deserts are matted green.                                 (2) Under-graduate and post-graduate stage.
      (3) marine species is destroyed.                                  (3) Secondary and under-graduate stage.
      (4) None of the above                                             (4) Post-graduate and doctoral stage.
                                                             SEE–931