COMPREHENSION TEST
259. Which word out of the given options mean – ‘feeling        elders.” Reactives grow up “under protected and criticized
       of most people’ ?                                        youths during a spiritual awakening,” mature into risk tak-
       (1) Promote.               (2) Numerous.                 ing adults, mellow into “pragmatic midlife leaders during a
       (3) Bearing.               (4) Consensus.                secular crisis,” and become reclusive elders. Civics grow
260. Which word from the passage is the opposite of the         up “increasingly protected youths after a spiritual awaken-
       word – narrow?                                           ing,” become “a heroic and achieving cadre of young adults,”
                                                                build institutions as midlifers, and “emerge as busy midli-
       (1) Concern.               (2) Broad.
                                                                fers, attacked by the next spiritual awakening.” Adaptives
       (3) Direct.                (4) None of the above.        grow up as “overprotected and suffocated youths during a
261. Find the word from the passage which means                 secular crisis,” become “risk-averse, conformist rising
       advised.                                                 adults,” mature into “indecisive arbitrator leaders during a
       (1) Prescribed.            (2) Proposed.                 spiritual awakening,” and become sensitive elders.
       (3) Conformed.             (4) Presented.
                                                                                   SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
262. Pick out the name of the subject which deals with the
                                                                 posit           :  to suggest or accept that something is true
       study of society.
                                                                                    so that it may be used as basis for an
       (1) Political Science.     (2) Social Science.
                                                                                    argument or discussion.
       (3) Sociology.             (4) Life Sciences.
                                                                 cohort          : a group of people who share a common
263. On reading Para 1, it can be inferred that                                     feature or aspect of behaviour.
       (1) all the subjects at school level may not be helpful   archetype : the most typical or perfect example of a
           in promoting International Understanding.                                particular kind of person or thing.
       (2) school subjects may be used creatively to promote     pragmatism : thinking about solving problems in a prac-
           International Understanding.                                             tical and sensible way rather than by hav-
       (3) international Understanding may be treated as a                          ing fixed ideas and theories.
           separate subject in schools.
                                                                 mellow          : to become or make somebody become less
       (4) the school curriculum is too heavy to incorporate                        extreme in behaviour, etc.
           International Understanding.
                                                                 visionary : original and showing the ability to think
264. The implied meaning of Para 3 is                                               about or plan the future with great imagi-
       (1) most of the universities have prescribed learning                        nation and intelligence.
           of International Understanding.                       reclusive       : living alone and avoiding other people.
       (2) the subject International Understanding is based      arbitrator : a person who is chosen to settle a dis-
           on the UNESCO ideals.                                                    agreement.
       (3) international Understanding is to be taught only
           at under graduate and post graduate level.           266. What is the assumption made by Strauss and Howe?
       (4) international Understandingcontains subjects like           (1) Alternate generations live similar lives.
           International Relations, International Law and In-          (2) Four generations co-exist at one and the same time.
           ternational Organization.                                   (3) The cycles of generations share some common fea-
265. Pick out the most probable meaning of the phrase -                    tures and moods.
       most profitably used.                                           (4) Each constellational era corresponds to recurring
       (1) Most fruitfully used.                                           types of historical events and moods.
       (2) Most rewardingly used.                               267. What is the dissimilarity between adjacent genera-
       (3) Most valuably used.                                         tions ?
       (4) Most commercially used.                                     (1) Adjacent generations do not live similar lives.
                         PASSAGE - IV                                  (2) Each generation focuses on its specific traits.
      Authors William Strauss and Neil Howe are known for              (3) Adjacent generations are not influenced by each
their theories about cycles of generations in American his-                other.
tory. They refer to each cycle of four generations as a con-
                                                                       (4) Adjacent generations are not in touch with each
stellation, and they posit that each constellational era cor-
                                                                           other.
responds to “recurring types of historical events” and moods.
They state that adjacent generations do not live similar lives, 268. According to the passage which of the following state-
and that each generation ages as a singular cohort as time             ments can be inferred ?
moves forward. According to Strauss and Howe, each gen-                (1) Idealists are one generation younger than the Re-
eration is comprised of people who possess (1) common                      actives.
age (2) common beliefs and (3) perceived membership in                 (2) Adaptives are elders when Civics are midlifers.
the same generation. A generation is approximately 22 years            (3) When Reactives are adults, Civics are youths.
in length. Since a lifetime may reach 80-90 years, mem-                (4) Reactives are one generation younger than the
bers of 4 generations are alive at one time. The four gener-               Civics.
ational archetypes identified by Strauss are Idealist, Reac-
                                                                269. According to the passage, what happens to the Civic
tive, Civic and Adaptive. Idealists are “increasingly indulged
youths after a secular crisis,” who cultivate principle rath-          generation as its members enter midlife ?
er than pragmatism in midlife, and emerge as “visionary                (1) It is attacked by Idealists, who are coming of age.
                                                           SEE–932