COMPREHENSION TEST
625. What does the author mean by the open - ended na- (3) set down on the sandy shore and watched the
ture of soap operas ? daylight come.
(1) Each episode ends with a promise that the (4) set down on the sandy bottom and watched the
storyline is to be continued in another episode daylight come.
(2) Every episode has a different story 628. In the stillness of the night
(3) Every episode ends abruptly (1) sounds come so far
(4) Consecutive episodes have no connection (2) the bullfrogs also were asleep
PASSAGE–II (3) the whole world was asleep
Two or three days and nights went by; I reckon I (4) a sweep creaking or jumbled up voices could be
might say they swum by, they slid along so quiet and smooth heard
and lovely. Here is the way we put it in the time. It was a 629. The streak on the water looks as it does because
monstrous big river down there – sometimes a mile and a (1) the swift current has broken the streak
half wide; we ran nights, and laid up and hid daytimes; (2) the streak has been swept by the swift current to
soon as night was most gone we stopped navigating and the shore.
tied up – nearly always in the dead water under a towhead; (3) of a snag there in the swift current which breaks
and then cut young cottonwoods and willows, and hid the on it.
raft with them. Then we set out the lines. Next we slid into (4) the streak has been swept by the swift current.
the river and had a swim, so as to freshen up and cool off; 630. How did the days and nights go by, according to
then we set down on the sandy bottom where the water the writer ?
was about knee deep and watched the daylight come. Not a (1) They slid along so quiet and smooth and lovely.
sound anywhere – perfectly still – just like the whole world (2) They slid along so smooth and quietly.
was asleep; only sometimes the bullfrog"s cluttering, maybe. (3) They slid along so smooth and soft and quietly.
The first thing to see, looking away over the water was a
(4) They slid along so quietly and smooth and softly.
kind of dull line – that was the woods on the other side;
you couldn’t make anything else out; then a pale place in Directions (631-660) : In the following questions, you
have brief passages with 5/10 questions following each
the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the
river softened up, away off, and wasn’t black any more, passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best
answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
but grey; you could see little dark spots drifting along-ever
so far away – trading scows and such things and long black (SSC GL Tier-II Exam. 21.09.2014)
streaks – rafts; sometimes you could hear a sweep creaking PASSAGE-I
or jumbled up voices, it was so still and sounds come so As my train was not due to leave for another hour, I had
far and by and by you could see a streak on the water plenty of time to spare. After buying some magazines to
which you know by the look of the streak that there’s a read on the journey, I made my way to the luggage office
snag there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes to collect the heavy suitcase I had left there three days
that streak look that way. before. There were only a few people waiting, and I took
out my wallet to find the receipt for my case. The receipt
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS did not seem to be where I had left it. I emptied the con-
(1) reckon (V.) : to think something/have an opinion tents of the wallet, and the railway tickets, money, scraps
about something of paper, and photographs tumbled out of it; but no mat-
(2) monstrous (Adj.) : very large and frightening ter how hard I searched, the receipt was nowhere to be
(3) navigating (V.) : sailing over/through a sea, river, found.
etc. I explained the situation sorrowfully to the assistant. The
(4) towhead (N.) : a sandbar/low-lying alluvial island in man looked at me suspiciously as if to say he had heard
a river, especially one with a stand of trees this type of story many times and asked me to describe the
case. I told him that it was an old, brown looking object no
(5) scows (N.) : a large flat-bottomed boat with square
different from the many suitcases I could see on the shelves.
ends, used chiefly for transporting freight
The assistant then gave me form and told me to make a list
(6) streaks (N.) : a long thin mark/line of the contents of the case. If they were correct, he said, I
(7) snag (N.) : difficulty could take the case away. I tried to remember all the arti-
(8) moor (N.) : a high open area of land that is not used cles I had hurriedly packed and wrote them down.
for farming, especially an area covered with rough After I had done this, I went to look among the shelves.
grass There were hundreds of cases there and for one dreadful
moment, it occurred to me that if someone had picked the
626. They stopped navigating
receipt up, he could easily have claimed the case already.
(1) at night (2) at dusk Fortunately this had not happened, for after a time, I found
(3) at daytime (4) at dawn the case lying on its side high up in the corner. After examin-
627. After a swim in the moor they ing the articles inside, the assistant gave me the case.
(1) set down on the sandy bottom where the water was I took out my wallet to pay him. I pulled out a ten shilling
about ankle deep and watched the daylight come. note and out slipped my ‘lost’ receipt with it! I could not help
(2) set down on the sandy bottom where the water was blushing. The assistant nodded his head knowingly, as if to
about knee deep and watched the daylight come. say that he had often seen this happen too !!
SEE–966