RC questions

1. In essence, all rent-control policies involve specifying a maximum rent that a landlord may charge for a dwelling. The rationale for controlling rents is to protect tenants in situations where limited supply will cause rents to rise sharply in the face of increased demand. However, although rent control may help some tenants in the short run, it affects the rental-housing market adversely in the long run because landlords become reluctant to maintain the quality of their existing properties and even more reluctant to have additional rental-housing units built.

Which one of the following, if true, best explains the landlords’ reluctance described above?

(A) Tenants prefer low-quality accommodations with rent control to high-quality accommodations without it.

(B) Rent control makes it very difficult for landlords to achieve reasonable returns on any investments in maintenance or in new construction.

(C) Rent control is a common practice even though it does nothing to alleviate shortages in rental housing.

(D) Rent control is generally introduced for political reasons and it takes political action to have it lifted again.

(E) Tenants prefer rent control to the alternative of receiving direct government subsidies toward rents they cannot afford.

2. Certain minor peculiarities of language are used unconsciously by poets. If such peculiarities appear in the works of more than one poet, they are likely to reflect the language in common use during the poets’ time. However, if they appear in the work of only one poet, they are likely to be personal idiosyncrasies. As such, they can provide a kind of “fingerprint” that allows scholars, by comparing a poem of previously unknown authorship to the work of a particular known poet, to identify the poem as the work of that poet.

For which one of the following reasons can the test described above never provide conclusive proof of the authorship of any poem?

(A) The labor of analyzing peculiarities of language both in the work of a known poet and in a poem of unknown authorship would not be undertaken unless other evidence already suggested that the poem of unknown authorship was written by the known poet.

(B) A peculiarity of language that might be used as an identifying mark is likely to be widely scattered in the work of a poet, so that a single poem not known to have been written by that poet might not include that peculiarity.

(C) A peculiarity of language in a poem of unknown authorship could be evidence either that the poem was written by the one author known to use that peculiarity or that the peculiarity was not unique to that author.

(D) Minor peculiarities of language contribute far less to the literary effect of any poem than such factors as poetic form, subject matter, and deliberately chosen wording.

(E) A poet’s use of some peculiarities of language might have been unconscious in some poems and conscious in other poems, and the two uses would be indistinguishable to scholars at a later date.

3. Because of the recent transformation of the market. Quore, Inc., must increase productivity, 10 percent over the course of the next two years, or it will certainly go bankrupt. In fact, however, Quore’s production structure is such that if a 10 percent productivity increase is possible, then a 20 percent increase is attainable.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them also be true?

(A) It is only Quore’s production structure that makes it possible for Quore to survive the transformation of the market.

(B) Quore will not go bankrupt if it achieves a productivity increase of 20 percent over the next two years.

(C) If the market had not been transformed, Quore would have required no productivity increase in order to avoid bankruptcy.

(D) Because of the transformation of the market, Quore will achieve a productivity increase of 10 percent over the next two years.

(E) If a 20 percent productivity increase is unattainable for Quore, then it must go bankrupt.

Understanding where you are in the world is a basic survival skill, which is why we, like most species come hard-wired with specialized brain areas to create congnitive maps of our surroundings. Where humans are unique, though, with the possible exception of honeybees, is that we try to communicate this understanding the world with others. We have a long history of doing this by drawing maps – the earliest version yet discovered were scrawled on cave walls 14,000 years ago. Human cultures have been drawing them on stone tablets, papyrus, paper and now computer screens ever since.

Given such a long history of human map-making, it perhaps surprising that is only within the last few hundred years that north has been consistently considered to be at the top. In fact, for much of human history, north almost never appeared at the top, according to Jerry Brotton, a map historian… “North was rarely put at the top for the simple fact that north is where darkness comes from,” he says. “West is also very unlikely o be put at the top because west is where the sun disappears.”

Confusingly, early Chinese maps seem to buck this trend. But, Brotton, says, even though they did have compasses at the time, that isn’t the reason that they placed north at the top. Early Chinese compasses were actually oriented to point south, which was considered to be more desirable than deepest darkest north. But in Chinese maps, the emperor, who lived in the north of the country was always put at the top of the map, with everyone else, his loyal subjects, looking up towards him. “In Chinese culture the Emperor looks south because it’s where the winds come from, it’s a good direction. North is not very good but you are in a position of the subjection to the emperor, so you look up to him,” says Brotton.

Given that each culture has a very different idea of who, or what, they should look upto it’s perhaps not surprising that there is very little consistency in which way early maps pointed. In ancient Egyptian times the top of the world was east, the position of sunrise. Early Islamic maps favoured south at the top because most of the early Muslim cultures were north of Mecca, so they imagined looking up (south) towards it Christian maps from the same era (called Mappa Mundi) put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden and with Jerusalem in the centre.

So when did everyone get together and decide that north was the top? It’s tempting to put it down to European explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Megellan who were navigating by the North Star. But Brotton argues that these early explorers didn’t think of the world like that at all. “When Columbus describes the world it is in accordance with east being at the top,” he says “Columbus says he is going towards paradise, so his mentality is from a medieval mappa mundi.” We’ve got to remember, adds Brotton, that at the time, “no one knows what they are doing and where they are going.”

Question No. : 1

Which one of the following best describes what the passage is trying to do?

A) It questions on explanation about how maps are designed.
B) It corrects a misconception about the way maps are designed. C) It critiques a methodology used to create maps
D) It explores some myths about maps

Question No. : 2
Early maps did NOT put north at the top for all the following reasons EXCEPT
A) North was the source of darkness B) South was favoured by some emperors.
C) East and south were more important for religious reasons for some civilisations
D) East was considered by some civilisations to be a more positive direction

Question No. : 3
According to the passage, early Chinese maps placed north at the top because Options:

A) the Chinese invented the compass and were aware of magnetic north B) they wanted to show respect to the emperor.
C) the Chinese emperor appreciated the winds from the south. D) north was considered the most desirable direction.
Question No. : 4
It can be inferred from the passage that European explorers like Columbus and Megellan Options:
A) set the precedent for north-up maps. B) navigated by the compass. C) used an eastward orientation for religious reasons.
D) navigated with the help of early maps
Question No. : 5
Which one of the following about the northern orientation of modern maps is asserted in the passage?
A) The biggest contributory factor was the understanding of magnetic north
B) The biggest contributory factor was the role of European explorers
C) The biggest contributory factor was the influence of Christian maps
D) The biggest contributory factor is not stated in the passage

Question No. : 6
The role of natural phenomena in influencing map-making conventions is seen most clearly in
A) early Egyptian maps B) early Islamic maps C) early Chinese maps D) early Christian maps

Hello sir,

Please answer the following questions. This RC was asked in CAT-2017

I used a smartphone GPS to find my way through the cobblestoned maze of Geneva's Old Town, in search of a handmade machine that changed the world more than any other invention. Near a 13th-century cathedral in this Swiss city on the shores of a lovely lake, I found what I was looking for: a Gutenberg printing press. "This was the Internet of its day — at least as influential as the iPhone," said Gabriel de Montmollin, the director of the Museum of the Reformation, toying with the replica of Johann Gutenberg's great invention. [Before the invention of the printing press] it used to take four monks...up to a year to produce a single book. With the advance in movable type in 15th-century Europe, one press could crank out 3,000 pages a day.
Before long, average people could travel to places that used to be unknown to them — with maps! Medical information passed more freely and quickly, diminishing the sway of quacks...The printing press offered the prospect that tyrants would never be
able to kill a book or suppress an idea. Gutenberg's brainchild broke the monopoly that clerics had on scripture. And later, stirred by pamphlets from a version of that same press, the American colonies rose up against a king and gave birth to a nation.

So, a question in the summer of this 10th anniversary of the iPhone: has the device that is perhaps the most revolutionary of all time given us a single magnificent idea? Nearly every advancement of the written word through new technology has also advanced humankind. Sure, you can say the iPhone changed everything. By putting the world's recorded knowledge in the palm of a hand, it revolutionized work, dining, travel and socializing. It made us more narcissistic — here's more of me doing cool stuff! — and it unleashed an army of awful trolls. We no longer have the patience to sit through a baseball game without that reach to the pocket. And one more casualty of Apple selling more than a billion phones in a decade's time: daydreaming has become a lost art.

For all of that, I'm still waiting to see if the iPhone can do what the printing press did for religion and democracy...the Geneva museum makes a strong case that the printing press opened more minds than anything else...it's hard to imagine the French or American revolutions without those enlightened voices in print...

Not long after Steve Jobs introduced his iPhone, he said the bound book was probably headed for history's attic. Not so fast. After a period of rapid growth in e-books, something closer to the medium for Chaucer's volumes has made a great comeback.

The hope of the iPhone, and the Internet in general, was that it would free people in closed societies. But the failure of the Arab
Spring, and the continued suppression of ideas in North Korea, China and Iran, has not borne that out... The iPhone is still young. It has certainly been "one of the most important, world-changing and successful products in history, “ as Apple CEO. Tim Cook said. But I'm not sure if the world changed for the better with the iPhone — as it did with the printing press — or
merely, changed.

7.The printing press has been likened to the Internet for which one of the following reasons?
A) It enabled rapid access to new information and the sharing of new ideas
B) It represented new and revolutionary technology compared to the past
C) It encouraged reading among people by giving them access to thousands of books
D) It gave people access to pamphlets and literature in several languages

8. According to the passage, the invention of the printing press did all of the following EXCEPT
A) Promoted the spread of enlightened political views across countries
B) Gave people direct access to authentic medical information and religious texts
C) shortened the time taken to produce books and pamphlets.
D) enabled people to perform various tasks simultaneously.

9.Steve Jobs predicted which one'of the following with the introduction of the iPhone?

A) People would switch from reading on the Internet to reading on their iPhones.
B) People would lose interest in historical and traditional classics.
C) Reading printed books would become a thing of the past.
D) The production of e-books would eventually fall.

10."I'm still waiting to see if the iPhone can do what the printing press did for religion and democracy." The author uses which one of the following to indicate his uncertainty?
A) The rise of religious groups in many parts of the world.
B) The expansion in trolling and narcissism among users of the Internet
C) The continued suppression of free speech in closed societies
D) The decline in reading habits among those who use the device

11.The author attributes the French and American revolutions to the invention of the printing press because

A) maps enabled large numbers of Europeans to travel and settle in the American continent.
B) the rapid spread of information exposed people to new ideas on freedom and democracy
C) it encouraged religious freedom among the people by destroying the monopoly of religious leaders on the scriptures.
D) it made available revolutionary strategies and opinions to the people.

12.The main conclusion of the passage is that the new technology has
A) some advantages, but these are outweighed by its disadvantages.
B) so far not proved as successful as the printing press in opening people's minds
C) been disappointing because it has changed society too rapidly
D) been more wasteful than the printing press because people spend more time daydreaming or surfing.

Hello sir,

Hello sir,

Please answer the following questions. This RC was asked in CAT-2017

This year alone, more than 8,600 stores could close, according to industry estimates, many of them the brand -name anchor outlets that real estate developers once stumbled over themselves to court. Already there have been 5,300 retail closings this year... Sears Holdings—which owns Kmart—said in March that there's "substantial doubt" it can stay in business altogether and will close 300 stores this year. So far this year, nine national retail chains have filed for bankruptcy.

Local jobs are a major casualty of what analysts are calling, with only a hint of hyperbole, the retail apocalypse. Since 2002, department stores have lost 448,000 jobs, a 25% decline, while the number of store closures this year is on pace to surpass the worst depths of the Great Recession. The growth of online retailers, meanwhile, has failed to offset those losses, with the e-commerce sector adding just 178,000 jobs over the past 15 years. Some of those jobs can be found in the massive distribution centers Amazon has opened across the country, often not too far from malls the company helped shutter.

But those are workplaces, not gathering places. The mall is both. And in the 61 years since the first enclosed one opened in suburban Minneapolis, the shopping mall has been where a huge swath of middle-class America went for far more than shopping. It was the home of first jobs and blind dates, the place for family photos and ear piercings, where goths and grandmothers could somehow walk through the same doors and find something they all liked. Sure, the food was lousy for you and the oceans of parking lots encouraged car-heavy development, something now scorned by contemporary planners. But for better or worse, the mall has been America's public square for the last 60 years.   

So what happens when it disappears?

Think of your mall. Or think of the one you went to as a kid. Think of the perfume clouds in the department stores. The fountains splashing below the skylights. The cinnamon wafting from the food court. As far back as ancient Greece, societies have congregated around a central marketplace. In medieval Europe, they were outside cathedrals. For half of the 20th century and almost 20 years into the new one, much of America has found their agora on the terrazzo between Orange Julius and Sbarro, Waldenbooks and the Gap, Sunglass Hut and Hot Topic.

That mall was an ecosystem unto itself, a combination of community and commercialism peddling everything you needed and everything you didn't: Magic Eye posters, wind catchers. Air Jordans. ...

A  growing number of Americans, however, don't see the need to go to any Macy's at all. Our digital lives are frictionless and ruthlessly efficient, with retail and romance available at a click. Malls were designed for leisure, abundance, ambling. You parked and planned to spend some time. Today, much of that time has been given over to busier lives and second jobs and apps that let you swipe right instead of haunt the food court. 'Malls, says Harvard business professor Leonard Schlesinger, "were built for patterns of social interaction that increasingly don't exist."

13.The central idea of this passage is that:

A) the closure of mails has affected the economic and social life of middle-class America

B) the advantages of malls outweigh their disadvantages.

C) malls used to perform a social function that has been lost

D) malls are closing down because people have found alternate ways to shop.

14.Why does the author say in paragraph 2, 'the massive distribution centers Amazon has opened across the country, often not too far from malls the company helped shutter'?

A) To highlight the irony of the situation

B) To indicate that mails and distribution centres are located in the same area

C) To show that Amazon is helping certain brands go online

D) To indicate that the shopping habits of the American middle class have changed.

15. In paragraph 1, the phrase "real estate developers once stumbled over themselves to court" suggests that they

A) took brand-name anchor outlets to court

B) collaborated with one another to get brand-name anchor outlet

C) were eager to get brand-name anchor outlets to set up shop m their mal

D) malls are closing down because people have found alternate ways to shop.

16. The author calls the mall an ecosystem unto itself because

 A) people of all ages and from all walks of life went there    

B) people could shop as well as eat in one place

C) it was a commercial space as well as a gathering place.    

D) it sold things that were needed as well as those that were not.

17. Why does the author say that the mall has been America's public square?

A) Malls did not bar anybody from entering the space

B) Mails were a great place to shop for a huge section of the middle class

C) Malls were a hangout place where families grew close to each other

D) Malls were a great place for everyone to gather and interact.

18. The author describes 'Perfume clouds in the department stores' in order to

A) evoke memories by painting a. picture of mails

B) describe the smells and sights of mails

C) emphasize that all brands were available under one roof.

D) show that malls smelt good because of the various stores and food court.

Please answer the following questions. This RC was asked in CAT-2017

Read the passage and answer the question based on it.
Scientists have long recognised the incredible diversity within a species. But they thought it reflected evolutionary changes that unfolded imperceptibly, over millions of years. That divergence between populations within a species was enforced, according to Ernst Mayr, the great evolutionary biologist of the 1940s, when a population was separated from the rest of the species by a mountain range or a desert, preventing breeding across the divide over geologic scales of time. Without the separation, gene flow was relentless. But as the separation persisted, the isolated population grew apart and speciation occurred.
In the mid-1960s, the biologist Paul Ehrlich - author of The Population Bomb (1968) - and his Stanford University colleague Peter Raven challenged Mayr's ideas about speciation. They had studied checkerspot butterflies living in the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in California, and it soon became clear that they were not examining a single population. Through years of capturing, marking and then recapturing the butterflies, they were able to prove that within the population, spread over just 50 acres of suitable checkerspot habitat, there were three groups that rarely interacted despite their very close proximity.
Among other ideas, Ehrlich and Raven argued in a now classic paper from 1969 that gene flow was not as predictable and ubiquitous as Mayr and his cohort maintained, and thus evolutionary divergence between neighbouring groups in a population was probably common. They also asserted that isolation and gene flow were less important to evolutionary divergence than natural selection (when factors such as mate choice, weather, disease or predation cause better-adapted individuals to survive and pass on their successful genetic traits). For example, Ehrlich and Raven suggested that, without the force of natural selection, an isolated population would remain unchanged and that, in other scenarios, natural selection could be strong enough to overpower gene flow...
19. Which of the following best sums up Ehrlich and Raven's argument in their classic 1969 paper?
A) Ernst Mayr was wrong in identifying physical separation as the cause of species diversity
B) Checkerspot butterflies in the 50-acre Jasper Ridge Preserve formed three groups that rarely interacted with each other
C) While a factor, isolation was not as important to speciation as natural selection
D) Gene flow is less common and more erratic than Mayr and his colleagues claimed.
20. All of the following statements are true according to the passage EXCEPT
A) Gene flow contributes to evolutionary divergence.
B) The Population Bomb questioned dominant ideas about species diversity
C) Evolutionary changes unfold imperceptibly over time.
D) Checkerspot butterflies are known to exhibit speciation while living in close proximity
21. The author discusses Mayr, Ehrlich and Raven to demonstrate that

A) evolution is a sensitive and controversial topic
B) Ehrlich and Raven's ideas about evolutionary divergence are widely accepted by scientists.
C) the causes of speciation are debated by scientists
D) checkerspot butterflies offer the best example of Ehrlich and Raven's ideas about speciation

Please answer the following questions. This RC was asked in CAT-2017

DIRECTIONS for the question : Read the passage and answer the question based on it.

Do sports mega-events like the summer Olympic Games benefit the host city economically? It depends, but the prospects are less than rosy. The trick is converting...several billion dollars in operating costs during the 17-day fiesta of the Games into a basis for long-term economic returns. These days, the summer Olympic Games themselves generate total revenue of $4 billion to $5 billion, but the lion's share of this goes to the International Olympics Committee, the National Olympics Committees and the International Sports Federations. Any economic benefit would have to flow from the value of the Games as an advertisement for the city, the new transportation and communications infrastructure that was created for the Games, or the ongoing use of the new facilities.
Evidence suggests that the advertising effect is far from certain. The infrastructure benefit depends on the initial condition of the city and the effectiveness of the planning. The facilities benefit is dubious at best for buildings such as velodromes or natatoriums and problematic for 100,000-seat Olympic stadiums. The latter require a conversion plan for future use, the former are usually doomed to near vacancy. Hosting the summer Games generally requires 30-plus sports venues and dozens of training centers. Today, the Bird's Nest in Beijing sits virtually empty, while the Olympic Stadium in Sydney costs some $30 million a year to operate.

Part of the problem is that Olympics planning takes place in a frenzied and time-pressured atmosphere of intense competition with the other prospective host cities — not optimal conditions for contemplating the future shape of an urban landscape. Another part of the problem is that urban land is generally scarce and growing scarcer. The new facilities often stand for decades or longer. Even if they have future use, are they the best use of precious urban real estate?

Further, cities must consider the human cost. Residential areas often are razed and citizens relocated (without adequate preparation or compensation). Life is made more hectic and congested. There are, after all, other productive uses that can be made of vanishing fiscal resources.

22.The central point in the first paragraph is that the economic benefits of the Olympic Games

A)are shared equally among the three organising committees
B)accrue mostly through revenue from advertisements and ticket sales
C)accrue to host cities, if at all, only in the long term
D) are usually eroded by expenditure incurred by the host city

23. Sports facilities built for the Olympics are not fully utilised after the Games are over because
A) their scale and the costs of operating them are large
B) their location away from the city centre usually limits easy access.
C)the authorities do not adapt them to local conditions.
D)they become outdated having being built with little planning and under time pressure

24. The author feels that the Games place a burden on the host city for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that
A)they divert scarce urban land from more productive uses
B)they involve the demolition of residential structures to accommodate sports facilities and infrastructure
C)the finances used to fund the Games could be better used for other purposes.
D)the influx of visitors during the Games places a huge strain on the urban infrastructure.

Please answer the following questions. This RC was asked in CAT-2017

25.

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph.

To me, a "classic" means precisely the opposite of what my predecessors understood: a work is classical by reason of its resistance to contemporaneity and supposed universality, by reason of its capacity to indicate human particularity and difference in that past epoch. The classic is not what tells me about shared humanity—or, more truthfully put, what lets me recognize myself as already present in the past, what nourishes in me the illusion that everything has been like me and has existed only to prepare the way for me. Instead, the classic is what gives access to radically different forms of human consciousness for any given generation of readers, and thereby expands for them the range of possibilities of what it means to be a human being.
A)A classic is able to focus on the contemporary human condition and a unified experience of human consciousness.
B)A classical work seeks to resist particularity and temporal difference even as it focuses on a common humanity
C)A classic is a work exploring the new., going beyond the universal, the contemporary, and the notion of a unified human consciousness
D)A classic is a work that provides access to a universal experience of the human race as opposed to radically different forms of human consciousness

26.

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph.

 A translator of literary works needs a secure hold upon the two languages involved, supported by a good measure of familiarity with the two cultures. For an Indian translating works in an Indian language into English, finding satisfactory equivalents in a generalized western culture of practices and symbols in the original would be less difficult than gaining fluent control of contemporary English. When a westerner works on texts in Indian languages the interpretation of cultural elements will be the major challenge, rather than control over the grammar and essential vocabulary of the language concerned. It is much easier to remedy lapses in language in a text translated into English, than flaws of content. Since it is easier for an Indian to learn the English language than it is for a Briton or American to comprehend Indian culture, translations of Indian texts is better left to Indians.
A)While translating, the Indian and the westerner face the same challenges but they have different skill profiles and the former has the advantage.
B)As preserving cultural meanings is the essence of literary translation Indians' knowledge of the local culture outweighs the initial disadvantage of lower fluency in English.
C)Indian translators should translate Indian texts into English as their work is less likely to pose cultural problems which are harder to address than the quality of language.
D)Westerners might be good at gaining reasonable fluency in new languages, but as understanding the culture reflected in literature is crucial, Indians remain better placed.

27.

DIRECTIONS for the question: Identify the most appropriate summary for the paragraph
For each of the past three years, temperatures have hit peaks not seen since the birth of meteorology, and probably not for more than 110,000 years. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is at its highest level in 4 million years. This does not cause storms like Harvey - there have always been storms and hurricanes along the Gulf of Mexico - but it makes them wetter and more powerful. As the seas warm, they evaporate more easily and provide energy to storm fronts. As the air above them warms, it holds more water vapour. For every half a degree Celsius in warming, there is about a 3% increase in atmospheric moisture content. Scientists call this the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This means the skies fill more quickly and have more to dump. The storm surge was greater because sea levels have risen 20 cm as a result of more than 100 years of human -related global warming which has melted glaciers and thermally expanded the volume of sea water.
A)The storm Harvey is one of the regular., annual ones from the Gulf of Mexico; global warming and Harvey are unrelated phenomena.
B)Global warming does not breed storms but makes them more destructive; the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, though it predicts potential increase in atmospheric moisture content, cannot predict the scale of damage storms might wreck.
C)Global warming melts glaciers, resulting in sea water volume expansion; this enables more water vapour to fill the air above faster. Thus, modern storms contain more destructive energy.
D)It is naive to think that rising sea levels and the force of tropical storms are unrelated; Harvey was destructive as global warming has armed it with more moisture content, but this may not be true of all storms.

Q1. Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe and illegal. Many rear-end collisions are caused by drivers
following too close to the vehicle in front of them. The rules state that a driver must keep sufficient
distance from the vehicle in front in order to stop safely and avoid a collision. Drivers should allow a
minimum two seconds’ gap between their vehicle and the one ahead. At sixty kilometres an hour, this
equates to thirty-three metres; at a hundred it equates to fifty-five metres. More distance is needed to
safely stop in rain or poor visibility.
Question 6
Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe because:
A: all rear end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front.
B: it may not allow sufficient time and space to stop and avoid a collision.
C: it is against the road rules.
D: it is a reckless practice.
E: None of these.

Passage  : CAT Reading Comprehension: Power in language

The first systems of writing developed and used by the Germanic peoples were runic alphabets. The runes functioned as letters, but they were much more than just letters in the sense in which we today understand the term. Each rune was an ideographic or pictographic symbol of some cosmological principle or power, and to write a rune was to invoke and direct the force for which it stood. Indeed, in every Germanic language, the word “rune” (from Proto-Germanic *runo) means both “letter” and “secret” or “mystery,” and its original meaning, which likely predated the adoption of the runic alphabet, may have been simply “(hushed) message.”

Each rune had a name that hinted at the philosophical and magical significance of its visual form and the sound for which it stands, which was almost always the first sound of the rune’s name. For example, the T-rune, called *Tiwaz in the Proto-Germanic language, is named after the god Tiwaz (known as Tyr in the Viking Age). Tiwaz was perceived to dwell within the daytime sky, and, accordingly, the visual form of the T-rune is an arrow pointed upward (which surely also hints at the god’s martial role). The T-rune was often carved as a standalone ideograph, apart from the writing of any particular word, as part of spells cast to ensure victory in battle.

The runic alphabets are called “futharks” after the first six runes (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kaunan), in much the same way that the word “alphabet” comes from the names of the first two Hebrew letters (Aleph, Beth). There are three principal futharks: the 24-character Elder Futhark, the first fully-formed runic alphabet, whose development had begun by the first century CE and had been completed before the year 400; the 16-character Younger Futhark, which began to diverge from the Elder Futhark around the beginning of the Viking Age (c. 750 CE) and eventually replaced that older alphabet in Scandinavia; and the 33-character Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, which gradually altered and added to the Elder Futhark in England. On some inscriptions, the twenty-four runes of the Elder Futhark were divided into three ættir (Old Norse, “families”) of eight runes each, but the significance of this division is unfortunately unknown.

Runes were traditionally carved onto stone, wood, bone, metal, or some similarly hard surface rather than drawn with ink and pen on parchment. This explains their sharp, angular form, which was well-suited to the medium.

Much of our current knowledge of the meanings the ancient Germanic peoples attributed to the runes comes from the three “Rune Poems,” documents from Iceland, Norway, and England that provide a short stanza about each rune in their respective futharks (the Younger Futhark is treated in the Icelandic and Norwegian Rune Poems, while the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is discussed in the Old English Rune Poem).

While runologists argue over many of the details of the historical origins of runic writing, there is widespread agreement on a general outline. The runes are presumed to have been derived from one of the many Old Italic alphabets in use among the Mediterranean peoples of the first century CE, who lived to the south of the Germanic tribes. Earlier Germanic sacred symbols, such as those preserved in northern European petroglyphs, were also likely influential in the development of the script.

The earliest possibly runic inscription is found on the Meldorf brooch, which was manufactured in the north of modern-day Germany around 50 CE. The inscription is highly ambiguous, however, and scholars are divided over whether its letters are runic or Roman. The earliest unambiguous runic inscriptions are found on the Vimose comb from Vimose, Denmark and the Øvre Stabu spearhead from southern Norway, both of which date to approximately 160 CE. The earliest known carving of the entire futhark, in order, is that on the Kylver stone from Gotland, Sweden, which dates to roughly 400 CE.

The transmission of writing from southern Europe to northern Europe likely took place via Germanic warbands, the dominant northern European military institution of the period, who would have encountered Italic writing firsthand during campaigns amongst their southerly neighbors. This hypothesis is supported by the association that runes have always had with the god Odin, who, in the Proto-Germanic period, under his original name *Woðanaz, was the divine model of the human warband leader and the invisible patron of the warband’s activities. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that Odin (“Mercury” in the interpretatio romana) was already established as the dominant god in the pantheons of many of the Germanic tribes by the first century.

From the perspective of the ancient Germanic peoples themselves, however, the runes came from no source as mundane as an Old Italic alphabet. The runes were never “invented,” but are instead eternal, pre-existent forces that Odin himself discovered by undergoing a tremendous ordeal.

Q1.The word “pantheon” in the passage refers to

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage.

We cannot travel outside our neighbourhood without passports. We must wear the same plainclothes. We must exchange our houses every ten years. We cannot avoid labour. We all go to bed at the same time . . . We have religious freedom, but we cannot deny that the soul dies with the body, since 'but for the fear of punishment, they would have nothing but contempt for the laws and customs of society'. . . . In More's time, for much of the population, given the plenty and security on offer, such restraints would not have seemed overly unreasonable. For modern readers, however, Utopia appears to rely upon relentless transparency, the repression of variety, and the curtailment of privacy. Utopia provides security: but at what price' In both its external and internal relations, indeed, it seems perilously dystopian.

Such a conclusion might be fortified by examining selectively the tradition which follows more on these points. This often portrays societies where. . .'it would be almost impossible for man to be depraved, or wicked'. . . . This is achieved both through institutions and mores, which underpin the common life. . .. The passions are regulated and inequalities of wealth and distinction are minimized. Needs, vanity, and emulation are restrained, often by prizing equality and holding riches in contempt. The desire for public power is curbed. Marriage and sexual intercourse are often controlled: in Tommaso Campanella's The City of the Sun (1623), the first great literary utopia after More's, relations are forbidden to men before the age of twenty-one and women before nineteen. Communal child-rearing is normal; for Campanella this commences at age two. Greater simplicity of life, 'living according to nature', is often a result: the desire for simplicity and purity are closely related. People become more alike in appearance, opinion, and outlook than they often have been. Unity, order, and homogeneity thus prevail at the cost of individuality and diversity. This model, as J. C. Davis demonstrates, dominated early modern utopianism. . . . And utopian homogeneity remains a familiar theme well into the twentieth century.

Given these considerations, it is not unreasonable to take as our starting point here the hypothesis that utopia and dystopia evidently share more in common than is often supposed. Indeed, they might be twins, the progeny of the same parents. Insofar as this proves to be the case, my linkage of both here will be uncomfortably close for some readers. Yet we should not mistake this argument for the assertion that all utopias are, or tend to produce, dystopias. Those who defend this proposition will find that their association here is not nearly close enough. For we have only to acknowledge the existence of thousands of successful intentional communities in which a cooperative ethos predominates and where harmony without coercion is the rule to set aside such an assertion. Here the individual's submersion in the group is consensual (though this concept is not unproblematic). It results not in enslavement but voluntary submission to group norms. Harmony is achieved without . . .harming others.

Question: 1

All of the following statements can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT that:

1. utopian and dystopian societies are twins, the progeny of the same parents.

2. utopian societies exist in a long tradition of literature dealing with imaginary people practicing imaginary customs, in imaginary worlds.

3. many conceptions of utopian societies emphasise the importance of social uniformity and cultural homogeneity.

4. it is possible to see utopias as dystopias, with a change in perspective, because one person's utopia could be seen as another's dystopia.

Question: 2

Following from the passage, which one of the following may be seen as a characteristic of a utopian society?

1. The regulation of homogeneity through promoting competitive heterogeneity.

2. A society where public power is earned through merit rather than through privilege.

3. Institutional surveillance of every individual to ensure his/her security and welfare.

4. A society without any laws to restrain one's individuality.

Question: 3

Which sequence of words below best captures the narrative of the passage?

1. Relentless transparency - Homogeneity - Utopia - Dystopia.

2. Utopia - Security - Dystopia - Coercion.

3. Curtailment of privacy - Dystopia - Utopia - Intentional community.

4. Utopia - Security - Homogeneity - Intentional community.

Question: 4

All of the following arguments are made in the passage EXCEPT that:

1. in More's time, there was plenty and security, so people did not need restraints that could appear unreasonable.

2. there have been thousands of communities where homogeneity and stability have been achieved through choice, rather than by force.

3. in early modern utopianism, the stability of utopian societies was seen to be achieved only with individuals surrendering their sense of self.

4. the tradition of utopian literature has often shown societies in which it would be nearly impossible for anyone to be sinful or criminal.

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage.

Many people believe that truth conveys power. . . . Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth. In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means two very different things.

On the one hand, power means having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs. This kind of power is closely tied to truth. If you believe a false physical theory, you won't be able to build an atom bomb. On the other hand, power also means having the ability to manipulate human beliefs, thereby getting lots of people to cooperate effectively. Building atom bombs requires not just a good understanding of physics, but also the coordinated labor of millions of humans. Planet Earth was conquered by Homo sapiens rather than by chimpanzees or elephants, because we are the only mammals that can cooperate in very large numbers. And large-scale cooperation depends on believing common stories. But these stories need not be true. You can unite millions of people by making them believe in completely fictional stories about God, about race or about economics. The dual nature of power and truth results in the curious fact that we humans know many more truths than any other animal, but we also believe in much more nonsense. . . .

When it comes to uniting people around a common story, fiction actually enjoys three inherent advantages over the truth. First, whereas the truth is universal, fictions tend to be local. Consequently if we want to distinguish our tribe from foreigners, a fictional story will serve as a far better identity marker than a true story. . . . The second huge advantage of fiction over truth has to do with the handicap principle, which says that reliable signals must be costly to the signaler. Otherwise, they can easily be faked by cheaters. . . . If political loyalty is signaled by believing a true story, anyone can fake it. But believing ridiculous and outlandish stories exacts greater cost, and is therefore a better signal of loyalty. . . . Third, and most important, the truth is often painful and disturbing. Hence if you stick to unalloyed reality, few people will follow you. An American presidential candidate who tells the American public the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about American history has a 100 percent guarantee of losing the elections. . . . An uncompromising adherence to the truth is an admirable spiritual practice, but it is not a winning political strategy. . . .

Even if we need to pay some price for deactivating our rational faculties, the advantages of increased social cohesion are often so big that fictional stories routinely triumph over the truth in human history. Scholars have known this for thousands of years, which is why scholars often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony. Should they aim to unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or should they let people know the truth even at the price of disunity?

Question: 1

The central theme of the passage is about the choice between:

1. truth and power.

2. leaders who unknowingly spread fictions and those who intentionally do so.

3. stories that unite people and those that distinguish groups from each other.

4. attaining social cohesion and propagating objective truth.

Question: 2

Regarding which one of the following quotes could we argue that the author over emphasises the importance of fiction?

1. "In fact, truth and power have a far more complicated relationship, because in human society, power means two very different things."

2. "Hence sticking with the truth is the best strategy for gaining power. Unfortunately, this is just a comforting myth."

3. "On the one hand, power means having the ability to manipulate objective realities: to hunt animals, to construct bridges, to cure diseases, to build atom bombs."

4. ". . . scholars often had to decide whether they served the truth or social harmony. Should they aim to unite people by making sure everyone believes in the same fiction, or should they let people know the truth . . ."

Question: 3

The author would support none of the following statements about political power EXCEPT that:

1. manipulating people's beliefs is politically advantageous, but a leader who propagates only myths is likely to lose power.

2. there are definite advantages to promoting fiction, but there needs to be some limit to a pervasive belief in myths.

3. while unalloyed truth is not recommended, leaders should stay as close as possible to it.

4. people cannot handle the unvarnished truth, so leaders retain power by deviating from it.

Question: 4

The author implies that, like scholars, successful leaders:

1. know how to balance truth and social unity.

2. use myths to attain the first type of power.

3. today know how to create social cohesion better than in the past.

4. need to leverage both types of power to remain in office.

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage.

It's easy to forget that most of the world's languages are still transmitted orally with no widely established written form. While speech communities are increasingly involved in projects to protect their languages - in print, on air and online - orality is fragile and contributes to linguistic vulnerability. But indigenous languages are about much more than unusual words and intriguing grammar: They function as vehicles for the transmission of cultural traditions, environmental understandings and knowledge about medicinal plants, all at risk when elders die and livelihoods are disrupted.

Both push and pull factors lead to the decline of languages. Through war, famine and natural disasters, whole communities can be destroyed, taking their language with them to the grave, such as the indigenous populations of Tasmania who were wiped out by colonists. More commonly, speakers live on but abandon their language in favor of another vernacular, a widespread process that linguists refer to as "language shift" from which few languages are immune. Such trading up and out of a speech form occurs for complex political, cultural and economic reasons - sometimes voluntary for economic and educational reasons, although often amplified by state coercion or neglect. Welsh, long stigmatized and disparaged by the British state, has rebounded with vigor.

Many speakers of endangered, poorly documented languages have embraced new digital media with excitement. Speakers of previously exclusively oral tongues are turning to the web as a virtual space for languages to live on. Internet technology offers powerful ways for oral traditions and cultural practices to survive, even thrive, among increasingly mobile communities. I have watched as videos of traditional wedding ceremonies and songs are recorded on smartphones in London by Nepali migrants, then uploaded to YouTube and watched an hour later by relatives in remote Himalayan villages . . .Globalization is regularly, and often uncritically, pilloried as a major threat to linguistic diversity. But in fact, globalization is as much process as it is ideology, certainly when it comes to language. The real forces behind cultural homogenization are unbending beliefs, exchanged through a globalized delivery system, reinforced by the historical monolingualism prevalent in much of the West.

Monolingualism - the condition of being able to speak only one language - is regularly accompanied by a deep-seated conviction in the value of that language over all others. Across the largest economies that make up the G8, being monolingual is still often the norm, with multilingualism appearing unusual and even somewhat exotic. The monolingual mindset stands in sharp contrast to the lived reality of most the world, which throughout its history has been more multilingual than unilingual. Monolingualism, then, not globalization, should be our primary concern.

Multilingualism can help us live in a more connected and more interdependent world. By widening access to technology, globalization can support indigenous and scholarly communities engaged in documenting and protecting our shared linguistic heritage. For the last 5,000 years, the rise and fall of languages was intimately tied to the plow, sword and book. In our digital age, the keyboard, screen and web will play a decisive role in shaping the future linguistic diversity of our species.

Question: 1

From the passage, we can infer that the author is in favour of:

1. "language shifts" across languages.

2. cultural homogenization.

3. greater multilingualism.

4. an expanded state role in the preservation of languages

Question: 2

The author mentions the Welsh language to show that:

1. efforts to integrate Welsh speakers in the English-speaking fold have been fruitless.

2. languages can revive even after their speakers have gone through a "language shift".

3. vulnerable languages can rebound with state effort.

4. while often pilloried, globalization can, in fact, support linguistic revival.

Question: 3

The author lists all of the following as reasons for the decline or disappearance of a language EXCEPT:

1. governments promoting certain languages over others.

2. a catastrophic event that entirely eliminates a people and their culture.

3. people shifting away from their own language to study or work in another language.

4. the focus on only a few languages as a result of widespread internet use.

Question: 4

We can infer all of the following about indigenous languages from the passage EXCEPT that:

1. they are repositories of traditional knowledge about the environment and culture.

2. people are increasingly working on documenting these languages.

3. they are in danger of being wiped out as most can only be transmitted orally.

4. their vocabulary and grammatical constructs have been challenging to document.

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage.

It's easy to forget that most of the world's languages are still transmitted orally with no widely established written form. While speech communities are increasingly involved in projects to protect their languages - in print, on air and online - orality is fragile and contributes to linguistic vulnerability. But indigenous languages are about much more than unusual words and intriguing grammar: They function as vehicles for the transmission of cultural traditions, environmental understandings and knowledge about medicinal plants, all at risk when elders die and livelihoods are disrupted.

Both push and pull factors lead to the decline of languages. Through war, famine and natural disasters, whole communities can be destroyed, taking their language with them to the grave, such as the indigenous populations of Tasmania who were wiped out by colonists. More commonly, speakers live on but abandon their language in favor of another vernacular, a widespread process that linguists refer to as "language shift" from which few languages are immune. Such trading up and out of a speech form occurs for complex political, cultural and economic reasons - sometimes voluntary for economic and educational reasons, although often amplified by state coercion or neglect. Welsh, long stigmatized and disparaged by the British state, has rebounded with vigor.

Many speakers of endangered, poorly documented languages have embraced new digital media with excitement. Speakers of previously exclusively oral tongues are turning to the web as a virtual space for languages to live on. Internet technology offers powerful ways for oral traditions and cultural practices to survive, even thrive, among increasingly mobile communities. I have watched as videos of traditional wedding ceremonies and songs are recorded on smartphones in London by Nepali migrants, then uploaded to YouTube and watched an hour later by relatives in remote Himalayan villages . . .Globalization is regularly, and often uncritically, pilloried as a major threat to linguistic diversity. But in fact, globalization is as much process as it is ideology, certainly when it comes to language. The real forces behind cultural homogenization are unbending beliefs, exchanged through a globalized delivery system, reinforced by the historical monolingualism prevalent in much of the West.

Monolingualism - the condition of being able to speak only one language - is regularly accompanied by a deep-seated conviction in the value of that language over all others. Across the largest economies that make up the G8, being monolingual is still often the norm, with multilingualism appearing unusual and even somewhat exotic. The monolingual mindset stands in sharp contrast to the lived reality of most the world, which throughout its history has been more multilingual than unilingual. Monolingualism, then, not globalization, should be our primary concern.

Multilingualism can help us live in a more connected and more interdependent world. By widening access to technology, globalization can support indigenous and scholarly communities engaged in documenting and protecting our shared linguistic heritage. For the last 5,000 years, the rise and fall of languages was intimately tied to the plow, sword and book. In our digital age, the keyboard, screen and web will play a decisive role in shaping the future linguistic diversity of our species.

Question: 1

From the passage, we can infer that the author is in favour of:

1. "language shifts" across languages.
2. cultural homogenization.
3. greater multilingualism.
4. an expanded state role in the preservation of languages.

Question: 2

The author mentions the Welsh language to show that:

1. efforts to integrate Welsh speakers in the English-speaking fold have been fruitless.
2. languages can revive even after their speakers have gone through a "language shift".
3. vulnerable languages can rebound with state effort.
4. while often pilloried, globalisation can, in fact, support linguistic revival.

Question: 3

The author lists all of the following as reasons for the decline or disappearance of a language EXCEPT:

1. governments promoting certain languages over others.
2. a catastrophic event that entirely eliminates a people and their culture.
3. people shifting away from their own language to study or work in another language.
4. the focus on only a few languages as a result of widespread internet use.

Question: 4

We can infer all of the following about indigenous languages from the passage EXCEPT that:

1. they are repositories of traditional knowledge about the environment and culture.
2. people are increasingly working on documenting these languages.
3. they are in danger of being wiped out as most can only be transmitted orally.
4. their vocabulary and grammatical constructs have been challenging to document.

[PASSAGE]

Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage.

It has been said that knowledge, or the problem of knowledge, is the scandal of philosophy. The scandal is philosophy's apparent inability to show how, when and why we can be sure that we know something or, indeed, that we know anything. Philosopher Michael Williams writes: 'Is it possible to obtain knowledge at all? This problem is pressing because there are powerful arguments, some very ancient, for the conclusion that it is not . . . Skepticism is the skeleton in Western rationalism's closet'. While it is not clear that the scandal matters to anyone but philosophers, philosophers point out that it should matter to everyone, at least given a certain conception of knowledge. For, they explain, unless we can ground our claims to knowledge as such, which is to say, distinguish it from mere opinion, superstition, fantasy, wishful thinking, ideology, illusion or delusion, then the actions we take on the basis of presumed knowledge - boarding an airplane, swallowing a pill, finding someone guilty of a crime - will be irrational and unjustifiable.

That is all quite serious-sounding but so also are the rattlings of the skeleton: that is, the sceptic's contention that we cannot be sure that we know anything - at least not if we think of knowledge as something like having a correct mental representation of reality, and not if we think of reality as something like things-as-they-are-in-themselves, independent of our perceptions, ideas or descriptions. For, the sceptic will note, since reality, under that conception of it, is outside our ken (we cannot catch a glimpse of things-in-themselves around the corner of our own eyes; we cannot form an idea of reality that floats above the processes of our conceiving it), we have no way to compare our mental representations with things-as-they-are-in-themselves and therefore no way to determine whether they are correct or incorrect. Thus the sceptic may repeat (rattling loudly), you cannot be sure you 'know' something or anything at all - at least not, he may add (rattling softly before disappearing), if that is the way you conceive 'knowledge'.

There are a number of ways to handle this situation. The most common is to ignore it. Most people outside the academy - and, indeed, most of us inside it - are unaware of or unperturbed by the philosophical scandal of knowledge and go about our lives without too many epistemic anxieties. We hold our beliefs and presumptive knowledges more or less confidently, usually depending on how we acquired them (I saw it with my own eyes; I heard it on Fox News; a guy at the office told me) and how broadly and strenuously they seem to be shared or endorsed by various relevant people: experts and authorities, friends and family members, colleagues and associates. And we examine our convictions more or less closely, explain them more or less extensively, and defend them more or less vigorously, usually depending on what seems to be at stake for ourselves and/or other people and what resources are available for reassuring ourselves or making our beliefs credible to others (look, it's right here on the page; add up the figures yourself; I happen to be a heart specialist).

Question: 1

". . . we cannot catch a glimpse of things-in-themselves around the corner of our own eyes; we cannot form an idea of reality that floats above the processes of our conceiving it . . ." Which one of the following statements best reflects the argument being made in this sentence?

1. If the reality of things is independent of our perception, logically we cannot perceive that reality.

2. If the reality of things is independent of our eyesight, logically we cannot perceive our perception.

3. Our knowledge of reality floats above our subjective perception of it.

4. Our knowledge of reality cannot be merged with our process of conceiving it.

Question: 2

The author of the passage is most likely to support which one of the following statements?

1. The confidence with which we maintain something to be true is usually independent of the source of the alleged truth.

2. For the sceptic, if we think of reality as independent of our perceptions, ideas or descriptions, we should aim to know that reality independently too.

3. The scandal of philosophy is that we might not know anything at all about reality if we think of reality as independent of our perceptions, ideas or descriptions.

4. The actions taken on the basis of presumed knowledge are rational and justifiable if we are confident that that knowledge is widely held.

Question: 3

According to the last paragraph of the passage, "We hold our beliefs and presumptive knowledges more or less confidently, usually depending on" something. Which one of the following most broadly captures what we depend on?

1. Remaining outside the academy; ignoring epistemic anxieties.

2. How much of a stake we have in them; what resources there are to support them.

3. How we come to hold them; how widely they are held in our social circles.

4. All of the options listed here.

Question: 4

The author discusses all of the following arguments in the passage, EXCEPT:

1. sceptics believe that we can never fully know anything, if by 'knowing' we mean knowledge of a reality that is independent of the knower.

2. the best way to deal with scepticism about the veracity of knowledge is to ignore it.

3. philosophers maintain that the scandal of philosophy should be of concern to everyone.

4. if we cannot distinguish knowledge from opinion or delusion, we will not be able to justify our actions.