COMPREHENSION TEST
396. Find the option that is opposite in meaning to alien. 404. Rehmat Ali found himself hidden from his pursuers
(1) disputable (2) indigenous because
(3) unethical (4) unscientific (1) he had gone around an unexpected bend.
397. The Bengal Renaissance was different from the 16th (2) his pursuers could not run fast enough.
century European Renaissance because (3) he had stopped dead.
(1) Europeans did not have the dowry system. (4) he had acted with speed and decision.
(2) Raja Rammohan Roy and Tagore were not born in 405. There are circumstances in which the least energetic
the 16th century. of mankind, learn to act with speed and decision, (and
(3) The Bengal Renaissance was an essentially Hindu the most cautious forget their care) Rehmat illustrates
Movement. this by
(4) Unlike the Bengalis, Europeans were not under (1) running away from his pursuers.
foreign rule. (2) by stopping dead.
398. The spirit of Renaissance (3) turning into a lane.
(4) jumping into the garden.
(1) is to embrace atheism.
Directions (406-415) : You have a passage with 10
(2) is to get inspiration from Western-intellectual
questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best
thought.
answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
(3) lies in breaking all shackles of backwardness and (SSC Graduate Level Tier-I
narrow mindedness. Exam. 21.04.2013, IInd Sitting)
(4) is essentially scientific. CYBER BOGEYS
399. The Bengal Renaissance movement The cyber-world is ultimately ungovernable. This is
(1) wanted to overthrow colonialism. alarming as well as convenient; sometimes, convenient
(2) wanted to propagate Brahmoism. because alarming. Some Indian politicians use this to great
(3) wanted social reform to improve the lot of the weak advantage. When there is an obvious failure in governance
and the downtrodden. during a crisis they deflect attention from their own
(4) None of the above. incompetence towards the ungovernable. So, having failed
400. The Bengal Renaissance gathered momentum in the to prevent nervous citizens from fleeing their cities of work
19th century because by assuring them of proper protection, some national leaders
(1) the British had colonised India. are now busy trying to prove to one another, and to panic-
(2) there was an abundance of intellectual and creative prone Indians, that a mischievous neighbour has been using
activities in Bengal then. the internet and social networking sites to spread dangerous
(3) the Brahmo Samai was formed. rumours. And the Centre’s automatic reaction is to start
blocking these sites and begin elaborate and potentially
(4) Raja Rammohan Roy and Tagore lived at that time.
endless negotiations with Google, Twitter and Facebook
PASSAGE-II
about access to information. If this is the official idea of
“I must find a hiding place," he thought, “and in the prompt action at a time of crisis among communities, then
next few seconds or 1 am done for.” Indians have more reason to fear their protectors than the
Scarcely had the thought crossed his mind that the nebulous mischief-makers of the cyber-world. Wasting time
lane took a sudden turning so that he found himself hidden gathering proof, blocking vaguely suspicious websites,
from his pursuers. There are circumstances in which the hurling accusations across the border and worrying about
least energetic of mankind learn to act with speed and bilateral relations are ways of keeping busy with inessentials
decision. This was such an occasion for Rehmat Ali and because one does not quite know what to do about the
those who knew him best would have been the most essentials of a difficult situation. Besides, only a fifth of the
astonished at the lad"s boldness. He stopped dead, threw 245 websites blocked by the Centre mention the people of
the box or jewellery over a garden wall and, leaping upwards the Northeast or the violence in Assam. And if a few morphed
with incredible lightness, he seized the top of the walls with images and spurious texts can unsettle an entire nation,
his hands and tumbled headlong into the garden. then there is something deeply wrong with the nation and
with how it is being governed. This is what its leaders should
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
be addressing immediately, rather than making a
pursuers : persons who are following or chas-
wrongheaded display of their powers of censorship.
ing somebody. It is just as absurd, and part of the same syndrome to
stopped dead : stopped immediately. try to ban Twitter accounts that parody despatches from
the Prime Minister’s Office. To describe such forms of
401. Rehmat All is most likely
humour and dissent as “misrepresenting” the PMO — as if
(1) a burglar. (2) a policeman.
Twitterers would take these parodies for genuine despatches
(3) a night watchman. (4) a jogger. from the PMO — makes the PMO look more ridiculous than
402. What kind of a person was Rehmat Ali originally ? its parodists manage to. With the precedent for such action
(1) slow and steady. (2) lazy and indecisive. set recently by the chief minister of West Bengal, this is yet
(3) reflective in nature. (4) bold and decisive. another proof that what Bengal thinks today India will think
403. The expression to stop dead means tomorrow. Using the cyber-world for flexing the wrong
(1) to be paralysed. (2) to come to a complete halt. muscles is essentially not funny. It might even prove to be
(3) to die suddenly. (4) be close to death. quite dangerously distracting.
SEE–945