COMPREHENSION TEST
                SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                             410. The word spurious means
panic-prone         : used for suffering from fear, anxiety,            (1) genuine               (2) authentic
                       etc.                                             (3) substantial           (4) fake
nebulous            : not clear; vague.                          411. The author warns us against
hurling             : shouting                                          (1) not playing false with the citizens.
accusations         : statements saying that you think a                (2) dangers inherent in the cyber-world.
                       person is guilty of doing something              (3) not using the cyber-world judiciously.
                       wrong, especially of committing a                (4) not protecting the citizens from dangerous
                       crime.                                               politicians.
inessentials        : unnecessary                                412. Parody means
                       talks                                            (1) twist                 (2) jeopardize
morphed             : changed smoothly from one image to                (3) ridicule              (4) imitate
                       another.                                  413. What is the opposite of wrong headed ?
spurious            : false; fake                                       (1) silly                 (2) sane
syndrome            : a set of opinions or a way of behaving            (3) insane                (4) insensible
                       that is typical of a particular type of   414. The passage suggests different ways of keeping the
                       person, attitude or social problem.              public busy with inessentials. Pick the odd one out.
parody              : a piece of writing that copies the style          (1) By blocking websites which are vaguely suspicious.
                       of somebody/something in order to                (2) By blaming neighbouring countries across the
                       be amusing.                                          border.
dissent             : disagreement of opinions                          (3) By turning the attention of the people to violence
flexing             : bending, moving, stretching, contract-                in Assam.
                       ing, etc. in order to prepare for a phys-        (4) By getting involved in a discourse on bilateral
                       ical activity                                        relations.
wrong-headed : having or showing bad judgement                   415. The following is a list of statements made by the author
                                                                        of the above passage. Pick the odd one out.
sane                : sensible and reasonable
                                                                        (1) It is absurd to ban Twitter accounts that parody
406. According to the passage, the cyber-world is                           despatches from the Prime Minister’s Office.
     (1) beyond the imagination of people.                              (2) ’Twitterers take these parodies for genuine
     (2) outside the purview of common people.                              despatches from the PMO.
                                                                        (3) To describ e such forms of humou r as
     (3) not to be governed.
                                                                            ‘misrepresenting’ the PMO makes the PMO look
     (4) ungovernable.                                                      more ridiculous.
407. The author is of the opinion that                                  (4) The precedent for such action was set recently by
     (1) the centre should start negotiations with Google,                  the chief minister of West Bengal.
         Twitter and Facebook                                         Directions (416-425) : You have two passages with 5
     (2) the centre should help the citizens evacuate their      questions in each passage. Read the passages carefully
         city                                                    and choose the best answer to each question out of the
     (3) the centre should not block the sites                   four alternatives.
     (4) the centre should arrest the guilty                                         (SSC Graduate Level Tier-I Exam. 21.04.2013)
                                                                                           PASSAGE -I
408. Which of the following is closest to the meaning of
     nebulous?                                                        The World Health Organisation is briefly called W.H.O.
                                                                 It is a specialised agency of the United Nations and was
     (1) confused                 (2) vague
                                                                 established in 1948.
     (3) iridescent               (4) glowing                         International health workers can be seen working in
409. The author’s seriousness regarding the situation can        all kinds of surroundings: in deserts, jungles, mountains,
     best be described in the following sentences. Pick          coconut groves, and rice fields. They help the sick to attain
     the odd one out.                                            health and the healthy to maintain their health.
     (1) Our leaders should display their powers of                   This global health team assists the local health workers
         censorship when needed.                                 in stopping the spread of what are called communicable
     (2) If this is the official idea of prompt action at a time diseases, like cholera. These diseases can spread from one
         of crisis among communities, then Indians have          country to another and so can be a threat to world health.
         more reason to fear their protectors than the                W.H.O. assists different national health authorities not
         nebulous mischief-maker of the cyber-world.             only in controlling diseases but also in preventing them
                                                                 altogether. Total prevention of diseases is possible in a
     (3) The politicians deflect attention from their own
                                                                 number of ways. Everyone knows how people, particularly
         incompetence.
                                                                 children, are vaccinated against one disease or another.
     (4) If a few morphed images and spurious texts can          Similarly, most people are familiar with the spraying of
         unsettle an entire nation, then there Is something      houses with poisonous substances which kill disease-
         deeply wrong with the nation.                           carrying insects.
                                                             SEE–946