COMPREHENSION TEST
      (3) It will give food to the poorest section without ad-     786. What lesson do the desert floras have to teach us ?
          ditional cost.                                                 (1) how to live a long time
      (4) It will abolish the imbalance of urban and rural               (2) how to adapt to limitations
          sectors.                                                       (3) how to grow with grace.
784. The public distribution system, which provides food                 (4) how to grow in dry places.
      at _____ is a subject of vital concern.
                                                                   787. How does the wind keep the desert floras to grow?
      (1) low prices
                                                                         (1) by blowing the heat away
      (2) high prices
                                                                         (2) by rolling up protective sand dunes.
      (3) as per capita income                                           (3) by blowing gently
      (4) fair prices                                                    (4) by blowing the clouds away
785. What should be an appropriate step to make the PDS
                                                                   788. The desert plants face the danger of _____ from ex-
      effective?                                                         treme aridity and extreme altitude.
      (1) To reduce administrative cost.
                                                                         (1) early death              (2) loss of reproduction
      (2) To decrease the allotment of food grains.                      (3) painful growth           (4) dwarfism
      (3) To make it target-group oriented.                        789. The mesquite is a ________.
      (4) To increase the amount of foodgrain per ration
                                                                         (1) a tribe of people        (2) a type of desert animal
          card.
                                                                         (3) a sand dune              (4) a desert flora
      Directions (786 – 790) : In the following questions,
                                                                   790. What stops the desert floras performing their duty
you have a brief passage with 5 questions following the
                                                                         well ?
passage. Read the passage carefully and choose the best
answer to each question out of the four alternatives.                    (1) the desert sand
                               (SSC CGL Tier-I Exam, 09.08.2015          (2) the rain
                                    (IInd Sitting) TF No. 4239378)       (3) the people who pluck them
The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations               (4) the sesert animals
to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower              Directions (791–795) : In the following questions, you
and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance,     have a brief passage with 5 questions following the pas-
as the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death      sage. Read the passage carefully and choose the best an-
Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the      swer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranthus ten                                           (SSC CGL Tier-I Exam, 16.08.2015
feet high. A year later the same species in the same place                                              (Ist Sitting) TF No. 3196279)
matured in the drought at four inches. Seldom does the                  True, it is the function of the army to maintain law and
desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme           order in abnormal times. But in normal times there is an-
aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect,        other force that compels citizens to obey laws and to act
so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley            with due regard to the rights of others. The force also pro-
related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in         tects the lives and properties of law abiding men. Laws are
mean temperatures. Very fertile are the desert plants in           made to secure the personal safety of its subjects and to
expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-     prevent murder and crimes of violence. They are made to
wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs, exuding thick            secure the property of the citizens against theft and dam-
gum. The wind, which has a long sweep, harries and helps           age and to protect the rights of communities and castes to
them. It rolls up dunes about the stocky stems, encom-             carry out their customs and ceremonies, so long as they do
passing and protective, and above the dunes, which may             not confict with the rights of others. Now the good citizen,
be, as with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the        of his own free will obeys these laws and he takes care that
blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.                          everything he does is done with due regard to the rights
                                                                   and well being of others.
                 SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                                   But the bad citizen is only restrained from breaking
 drought (N.)       : a shortage of rainfall                       these laws by fear of the consequence of his action. And
 stature (N.)       : the distance from head to foot (in a         the necessary steps to compel the bad citizen to act as a
                      standing position)                           good citizen are taken by this force. The supreme control
 aridity (N.)       : a deficieny of moisture                      of law and order in a state is in the hands of a Minister,
                                                                   who is responsible to the state Assembly and acts through
 comely (Adj.) : suitable ; proper
                                                                   the Inspector General of Police.
 expedients (N.) : necessary for a particular purpose
 foliage (N.)       : leaves and branches together                                   SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
 exuding (V.)       : release a liquid in small quantities           (1) law-abiding (Adjective) : obeying and respecting the
 dunes (N.)         : a ridge of sand created by the wind                law : dkuwu dk ikcan
                      (found in deserts or near lakes and
                                                                     (2) so long as (Id.) : provided that: I will give you the
                      oceans)
                                                                         book so long as you return it.
 encompassing (Adj.) : closely encirding                             (3) restrained (Verb) : to stop oneself from doing
 mesquite (N.) : a floral plant found in a desert                        something that one would like to do
                                                              SEE–981