COMPREHENSION TEST
983. Grandmother used to be                                         (8) disincentive (N.) : a thing that makes somebody
       (1) rich in Italy but poor in the United States                  less willing to do something
       (2) in the United States but is now in Italy                 (9) antiquated (Adj.) : outdated
       (3) poor earlier but became rich later on                  (10) sluggish (Adj.) : slow and apathetic
       (4) rich earlier but now poor                              (11) fossilised (V.) : to become/make someb ody/
984. Grandmother enjoyed a ____ life.                                   something become, fixed and unable to change/
       (1) healthy but sickly      (2) good and healthy                 develop
       (3) rich but sickly         (4) poor and healthy
                                                                  986. When will you call a person conservative in his attitude
985. Grandmother’s death made everyone
                                                                         and approach?
       (1) sad including David                                           (1) When he likes to try out every new idea before
       (2) disconsolate excluding David                                      accepting it.
       (3) happy and disconsolate                                        (2) When he sticks to old ways of thinking and doing.
       (4) sad excluding David                                           (3) When he solves his problems through tried out
                                                                             methods.
      Directions (986-988) : Read the passage carefully                  (4) When he imputes motives to change-agents.
and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/
                                                                  987. What does the phrase home-made is best imply ?
phrases have been given in bold to help you locate them
                                                                         (1) The best should not be discarded.
while answering some of the questions.
                                                                         (2) Change for the sake of change is not good.
                                          (SSC CGL Tier-I (CBE)
                                                                         (3) People should go in for swadeshi because it is
                                  Exam. 27.08.2016 (IInd sitting)
                                                                             home-made.
      The villager has customarily been very conservative in
                                                                         (4) Whatever is being practised is better than what is
his attitude and approach. He is reluctant to change his
                                                                             new.
traditional way of thinking and doing things. His attitude, in
                                                                  988. What is the best method to convince the average
many aspects, is : home-made is best. For instance, most
                                                                         villager about the superiority of a new cattle-feed ?
cattle-farmers in the villages, prefer to feed their cows and
                                                                         (1) Home visits
buffaloes with a home-mix comprising local oil-seeds like
                                                                         (2) Field demonstration
mustard or cottonseed, pulses, jaggery, salt etc. It takes
numerous visits, hard-convincing, daily trials and experience            (3) Discussion
to convince the rural cattle farmer that compound feeds,                 (4) Distribution of related literature
scientifically formulated, improve the yields of milk, without          Directions (989-993) : A passage is given with 5 ques-
any incremental costs.                                            tions following it. Read the passage carefully and choose
                                                                  the best answer to each question out of the four alterna-
      The age-old values and attitude towards caste, creed,
                                                                  tives.
woman, time and money take time to change. The villager
                                                                                                             (SSC CGL Tier-I (CBE)
has traditionally been a believer in the philosophy of ‘karma’
                                                                                                   Exam. 28.08.2016 (IInd sitting)
or ‘fate’. He has found it more convenient to blame his
                                                                        Crude mineral oil comes out of the earth as a thick
economic destitution, poor living conditions and straitened
                                                                  brown or black liquid with a strong smell. It is a complex
social status on ‘bhagya’, ‘karma’ or ‘fate’. The security that
                                                                  mixture of many different substances, each with its own
the villagers find in the ‘status quo’, acts as a disincentive
                                                                  individual qualities. Most of them are combinations of hy-
to change and experiment, in the short run. Many of these
                                                                  drogen and carbon in varying proportions. Such hydrocar-
antiquated attitudes, value-system and outlooks are
                                                                  bons are also found in other forms such as bitumen, as-
changing, due to improved levels of awareness and
                                                                  phalt and natural gas. Mineral oil originates from the car-
education. However, the rate of change is sluggish. Attitudes     casses of tiny animals and from plants that live in the sea.
fossilised over the centuries, do take time to change.            Over millions of years, these dead creatures form large
                 SOME IMPORTANT WORDS                             deposits under sea-bed and ocean currents cover them
                                                                  with a blanket of sand and silt. As this material hardens, it
  (1) conservative (Adj.) : opposed to great/sudden social
                                                                  becomes sedimentary rock and effectively shuts out the
      change
                                                                  oxygen, thus preventing the complete decomposition of the
  (2) reluctant (Adj.) : hesitating before doing something        marine deposits underneath. The layers of sedimentary
      because you do not want to do it/because you are            rocks become thicker, and heavier. Their pressure produc-
      not sure that it is the right thing to do                   es heat, which transforms the tiny carcasses into crude oil
  (3) hard-convincing (Adj.) : difficult to make somebody         in a process that is still going on today.
      believe that something is true
  (4) convince (V.) : to make somebody believe that                                SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
      something is true                                             (1) carcasses (N.) : the dead body of an animal
  (5) incremental (Adj.) : increasing in regular amounts            (2) silt (N.) : sand, mud, etc. that is carried by flowing
  (6) destitution (N.) : the fact of having no money, food              water and is left at the mouth of river
      and the other things necessary for life
                                                                  989. How does crude oil come out of the earth ?
  (7) status quo (N.) : the situation as it is now, or as it
                                                                         (1) As a thick brown or black liquid with mild smell
      was before a recent change
                                                                         (2) As a thick red brown liquid with strong smell
                                                            SEE–1002