COMPREHENSION TEST
     women in the military, certain other factors preclude           (1) the major reason for absence of the former.
     women                                                           (2) a public response to achievement of the former.
     (1) being assigned all of the military tasks that are           (3) a reason for some of the former being lost again.
         assigned to men.                                            (4) a pre condition for any prospect of achieving the
     (2) drawing assignments from a wider range of as-                   former.
         signments than before.                                    Directions (671–680) : In the following questions, read
     (3) having access to positions of responsibility         the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each
     (4) receiving equal pay for equal work                   question out of the four alternatives.
664. The passage implies which of the following is a fac-                                    (SSC CGL Tier-II Exam. 12.04.2015)
     tor conducive to a more equitable representation of           A small band of biologists share a dream – to find spe-
     women in the United States armed forces than has         cies of sea or land animals hitherto completely unknown or
     existed in the past ?                                    to discover living examples of animals thought to have died
     (1) The all-volunteer character of the present armed     out ages ago. Finds made in this century encourage these
         forces.                                              dreamers, whose field is aptly named cryptozoology–literal-
     (2) The past service records of women who had as-        ly, the science of hidden animals.
         signments functionally equivalent to men’s assign-        Size and habitat are often responsible for an animal’s
         ments.                                               having been overlooked. Not surprisingly, a bumblebee-
     (3) The level of awareness on the part of the larger     size bat that lives in caves in Thailand eluded detection
         society of military issues.                          until 1973. But larger animals in less remote sites have
     (4) An increased decline in the proportion of deter-     also remained hidden. Herds of a species of peccary sup-
         rence oriented non combat assignments.               posedly extinct since the last ice age, for instance, were
665. The primary purpose of the passage is to                 found in Paraguay in 1975.
     (1) present an overview of the different types of as-         Native people sometimes offer scientists useful clues. An
         signments available to women.                        unusual feather in a local’s hat sparked the discovery of a
     (2) analyze reforms in the new United States all-vol-    showy African peacock in 1936, and accounts of giant lizards
         unteer armed forces necessitated by the increas-     on the Indonesian island of Komodo proved not to be mere
         ing number of women in the military.                 myth when naturalist P.A.Ouwens identified four of the crea-
     (3) present the new United States all–volunteer armed    tures captured in 1912. As cryptozoologists follow such leads
         forces as a model case of equal employment poli-     into little-explored areas, they remain optimistic that it is not
         cies in action.                                      too late to uncover sensational surprises.
     (4) present a reasoned prognosis of the status of women                   SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
         in the new United States all-volunteer armed forces.    (1) hitherto (Adv.) : until now
666. Which of the following is closest in sense to the word
                                                                 (2) aptly (Adv.) : in a way that is suitable/appropriate
     novel used in the passage ?
                                                                     in the circumstances
     (1) new                     (2) prosaic
                                                                 (3) eluded (V.) : to manage to escape
     (3) dull                    (4) boring
                                                                 (4) detection (N.) : the fact of being discovered
667. It can be inferred from the passage that after the
                                                                 (5) peccary (N.) : an animal like a pig (Southern US,
     recent change
                                                                     Mexico, Central and S. America)
     (1) Some join willingly, some are forced.
                                                                 (6) myth (N.) : a story from ancient times ; legend
     (2) Everyone joins the military under compulsion.
                                                                 (7) optimistic (Adj.) : expecting good things to happen
     (3) Men are forced, women join willingly.
     (4) Everyone joins the military willingly.                671. Myths refer to ________
668. The word ‘opportunities’ used in the passage may be             (1) love stories.
     replaced by all except
                                                                     (2) historical stories.
     (1) openings                (2) failures
                                                                     (3) legends.
     (3) scope                   (4) prospects
                                                                     (4) traditional stories involving supernatural beings or
669. It can be inferred from the passage that
                                                                         events.
     (1) The change to all-volunteer armed forces took place
         many years ago.                                       672. A bumblebee–size bat that lives in caves in Thailand
     (2) Opportunities for women in military are certain to              was dicovered in ________
         decline.                                                    (1) 1973                   (2) 1936
     (3) The Government sanctions equal pay for equal                (3) 1912                   (4) 1975
         work.                                                 673. ____ still look forward to discovering sensational sur-
     (4) The society encourages increased participation of               prises.
         women in direct combat.                                     (1) P.A.Ouwens
670. The dramatic gains for women and change in the                  (2) The natives
     attitude of a significant portion of the larger soci-
                                                                     (3) The naturalists
     ety are logically related to each other in as much as
     the author puts forward the latter as                           (4) A small band of biologists
                                                         SEE–970