COMPREHENSION TEST
      (3) It is very slow.                                                                         Passage-1
      (4) The collapse is unstoppable.                                     Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what
948. Which are the Islands affected in West Antarctica?              constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you
      (1) The Pine Island, Thwaites and Smit Glacier                 a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by
      (2) The Pin Islands, Twaites and Smit Glaciers                 any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my
                                                                     graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally
      (3) The Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers
                                                                     short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a
      (4) The Pine Island, Twaites and Smith Glaciers                lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern
949. How many tons of ice is shed every year by the                  Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents
      Antarctica?                                                    had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both
      (1) 180 billion                 (2) 160 billion                come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the
      (3) 87 billion                  (4) 4 billion to 8 billion     biggest failure I knew.
950. The data provided by Cryo Sat 2 was launched by                       Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that
      (1) ESA                         (2) EAS                        failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I
      (3) EASC                        (4) EES                        had no idea that there was going to be what the press has
                                                                     since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had
      Directions (951-955) : In the following questions, you
                                                                     no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long
have a brief passage with 5 questions following the passage.
                                                                     time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a
Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to
                                                                     reality.
each question out of the four alternatives.
                                                                           So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply
                         (SSC CGL Tier-I (CBE) Exam. 06.06.2016)
                                                                     because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I
      Two years later, in November 1895, he signed his               stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other
final will. He left the bulk of his fortune, amounting to about      than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into
£ 1,75,000 to a trust fund administered by Swedish and               finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really
Norwegian trustees. The annual interest shall be awarded             succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the
as prizes to those persons who during the previous year              determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly
have rendered the greatest services to mankind. The interest         belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had
shall be divided into five equal parts — now amounting to            been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter
about £ 8,000 each — one of which shall be awarded to the            whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea.
person who has made the most important discovery or                  And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which
invention in the realm of physics, one to the person who             I rebuilt my life.
has made the most important chemical discovery or                          You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure
improvement, one to the person who has made the most                 in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at
important physiological or medical discovery, one to the             something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as
person who has produced the most outstanding work of                 well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.
literature, idealistic in character, and one to the person                 Failure gave me an inner security that I had never
who has done the best work for the brotherhood of nations,           attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things
the abolition or reduction of standing armies, as well as for        about myself that I could have learned no other way. I
the formation or popularization of peace congress.                   discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline
951. The said prize is awarded                                       than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends
      (1) once in 5 years.           (2) every year.                 whose value was truly above the price of rubies.
      (3) once in 4 years.           (4) once in 2 years.                  The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and
952. Which is the prize that is referred to in the passage ?         stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after,
                                                                     secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know
      (1) Nobel Prize                (2) Magsaysay Award
                                                                     yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both
      (3) Pulitzer Prize             (4) Booker Prize                have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true
953. The number of prizes in the field of science are                gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth
      (1) four.                      (2) one.                        more than any qualification I ever earned.
      (3) three.                     (4) five.
                                                                                       SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
954. Total annual prize money amounts to
                                                                       (1) epic (Adj.) : taking place over a long period of time
      (1) £ 8,000.                   (2) £ 1,750,000.
                                                                            and involving a lot of difficulties
      (3) £ 350,000.                 (4) £ 40,000.
                                                                       (2) imploded (V.) : to fail suddenly and completely
955. Prize is awarded for outstanding work in                          (3) strip away (Phr.V.) : to remove anything that is not
      (1) Chemistry.                 (2) Literature.                        true/necessary
      (3) Physics.                   (4) All the above.                (4) inessential (N.) : something that is not necessary
     Directions (956-965) : In the following questions, read           (5) arena (N.) : a work field
the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each               (6) inevitable (Adj.) : incapable of being avoided/
question out of the four alternatives.                                      prevented
                                              (SSC CGL Tier-I (CBE)
                                                                       (7) adversity (N.) : a state of misfortune
                                   Exam. 06.06.2016 (IInd Sitting)
                                                                 SEE–998