Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 1
Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse
impact on the environment, human health, food security, economic activity, natural resources and physical
infrastructure. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the effects of climate change
have already been observed, and scientific findings indicate that precautionary and prompt action is necessary.
Vulnerability to climate change is not just a function of geography or dependence on natural resources; it also has
social, economic and political dimensions which influence how climate change affects different groups. Poor
people rarely have insurance to cover loss of property due to natural calamines i.e. drought, floods, super cyclones
etc. The poor communities are already struggling to cope with the existing challenges of poverty and climate
variability and climate change could push many beyond their ability to cope or even survive. It is vital that these
communities are helped to adapt to the changing dynamics of nature. Adaptation is a process through which
societies make themselves better able to cope with an uncertain future. Adapting to climate change entails taking
the right measures to reduce the negative effect of climate change (or exploit the positive ones) by making the
appropriate adjustments and changes. These range from technological options such as increased sea defences
or flood proof houses on stilts to behavioural change at the individual level, such as reducing water use in times of
drought. Other strategies include early warning systems for extreme events, better water management, improved
risk management, various insurance options and biodiversity conservation. Because of the speed at which climate
change is happening due to global temperature rise, it is urgent that the vulnerability of developing countries to
climate change is reduced and their capacity to adapt is increased and national adaptation plans are implemented.
Communities must build their resilience, including adopting appropriate technologies while making the most of
traditional knowledge, and diversifying their livelihoods to cope with current and future climate stress. Local coping
strategies and knowledge need to be used in synergy with government and local interventions. The need of
adaptation interventions depends on national circumstances. There is a large body of knowledge and experience
within local communities on coping with climatic variability and extreme weather events. Local communities have
always aimed to adapt to variations in their climate. Local coping strategies are an important element of planning
for adaptation. Traditional knowledge can help to provide efficient, appropriate and time tested ways of advising
and enabling adaptation to climate change in communities who are feeling the effects of climate changes due to
global warming.
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
Refer the following lines from the passage, “Because of the
speed at which climate change is happening due to global
temperature rise, it is urgent that the vulnerability of developing
countries to climate change is reduced and their capacity to
adapt is increased and national adaptation plans are
implemented.” Thus, the need of the hour is to devise and implement
national level adaptation plans that involve local communities as
well.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Dependence on natural resources, geographical attributes and
lack of financial resources have all been cited as reasons for the
vulnerability of poor people to climate change. Lack of traditional
resources has not been given as a reason. In fact, the poor
people have access to traditional resources that can be utilized
to help combat this issue.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Refer the following line, “The need of adaptation interventions
depends on national circumstances.” Thus, option (b) is against
the idea discussed in the passage. The other options are in line
with the ideas expressed.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Refer the line, “Local coping strategies and knowledge need to
be used in synergy with government and local interventions.”
This makes option (b) correct.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
Resilience refers to the ability of a substance or object to spring
back into shape; elasticity. Thus, flexibility is the correct answer.
Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 2
The uncovering of a private Instagram group styling itself ‘Bois Locker Room’ featuring students from some
prominent South Delhi schools discussing their female classmates in disturbingly violent ways including plans of
sexual assault is a wakeup call for parents and authorities. The group formed last month or so kicked up a social
media storm when screenshots surfaced. Police have questioned a 15 year old boy to identify other members.
Similar incidents involving minors discussing rape/gang rape of classmates have been reported on other digital
platforms like WhatsApp too, across cities. The exchanges in the now deleted group require precise responses
from police, parents and school authorities around whom the fates of the juveniles involved now revolve. It is
important to recognise where a teenager spouting objectification of his female counterparts is coming from. People
of all ages, not just children, are retreating deeper into the recesses of their online avatars during this lockdown.
But the heavy technological investment in children’s education, including flooding them with personal smartphones,
has not been matched by serious conversations centred on responsible internet usage and equality. Young,
impressionable minds absorb the normalisation of rape from the adults around them. When what they see, read
and hear is toxic masculinity, that is what they perform. That’s what peer pressure becomes about. But if this
youthful role play of macho dominance receives timely counselling, it can prevent far graver adult offences. Schools
and parents have a critical role to play in educating children on gender equality. Digital platforms which claim to
have zero tolerance towards content that violates community standards must also explain why such abuses go
undetected, despite boasts about Artificial Intelligence-driven technologies to stop them. They should play a more
proactive role in stopping the sexual harassment of real people in the guise of virtual sport.
[Editorial Published in Times of India, dated 6 May, 2020]
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
The concluding lines of the passage talk about the important role
of digital media platforms in regulating their use. Thus, it is the
main idea of the passage. The other options talk about limited
aspects of the passage.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Refer the following lines, “But the heavy technological investment
in children’s education, including flooding them with personal
smartphones, has not been matched by serious conversations
centred on responsible internet usage and equality.” This makes
option (d) correct.
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
As per the author, it is important to understand and examine the
kind of socialisation process these children are exposed. Thus,
option (a) is correct.
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
Refer the following lines from the passage, “But if this youthful
role play of macho dominance receives timely counselling, it
can prevent far graver adult offences. Schools and parents have
a critical role to play in educating children on gender equality.”
This makes option (a) correct.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Spouting means send out (liquid) forcibly in a stream. Thus, pouring,
streaming and erupting are all synonyms of the word.
Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 3
The snow was falling, and the Cat’s fur was stiffly pointed with it, but he was imperturbable. He sat crouched,
ready for the death-spring, as he had sat for hours. It was night but that made no difference, all times were as one
to the Cat when he was in wait for prey. Then, too, he was under no constraint of human will, for he was living alone
that winter. Nowhere in the world was any voice calling him; on no hearth was there a waiting dish. He was quite
free except for his own desires, which tyrannized over him when unsatisfied as now. The Cat was very hungry.
almost famished, in fact. For days the weather had been very bitter...and the Cat’s long hunt had availed him
nothing. But he waited with the inconceivable patience and persistency of his race; besides, he was certain. The
Cat was a creature of absolute convictions, and his faith in his deductions never wavered. The rabbit had gone in
there between those low-hung pine boughs. The Cat had seen her enter...so he sat down and waited, and he
waited still in the white night, listening angrily to the north wind starting in the upper heights of the mountains with
distant screams, then swelling into an awful crescendo of rage, and swooping down with furious white wings of
snow like a flock of fierce eagles into the valleys and ravines. The Cat was on the side of a mountain, on a wooded
terrace. Above him, a few feet away towered the rock ascent as steep as the wall of a cathedral. He had often
looked with wonder at the rock, and miauled bitterly and resentfully as man does in the face of a forbidding
Providence. At his left was the sheer precipice. Behind him...was the frozen perpendicular wall of a mountain
stream. Before him was the way to his home. When the rabbit came out she was trapped; her little cloven feet
could not scale such unbroken steeps. So the Cat waited. The tangle of trees and bushes clinging to the mountainside
with a stern clutch of roots, the prostrate trunks and branches, the vines embracing everything with strong
knots and coils of growth, had a curious effect, as of things which had whirled for ages in a current of raging water,
only it was not water, but wind, which had disposed everything in circling lines of yielding to its fiercest points of
onset. It was as if ice needles pricked his skin through his beautiful thick fur, but he never faltered and never once
cried. He had nothing to gain from crying, and everything to lose; the rabbit would hear him cry and know he was
waiting.
[Excerpts from a Short story, ‘The Cat’ by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman]
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
‘Providence’ refers to ‘fate’ or ‘nemesis’ while ‘crescendo’ refers
to ‘zenith’ or ‘apex.’ Hence. Option (a) is the answer.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
There are instances of similes in the passage. Refer to the sections
where the author makes a direct comparison between the tangle
of trees and the passage of time. Another direct comparison is
between the cold winds and ice needles. There are also instances
of personification in the passage. Refer to the sentence, “He had
often looked with wonder at the rock, and miauled bitterly and resentfully as man does in the face of a forbidding Providence.”
This quoted sentence is also an example of a simile. Therefore,
option (c) is correct.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
The cat has been waiting for long to satisfy his hunger. Hence,
option (c) is the most appropriate answer. Options (a), (b) and (d)
are true in the light of the passage but they cannot be considered
to be motifs of the cat’s life. A motif is a decorative image or
design, especially a repeated one forming a pattern. The never
ending wait is a recurring motif in the passage and so, option (c)
is the answer.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
Option (c) is correct because the cat was lonely and living alone
in the harsh weather conditions. He had no human company.
Option (b) is the cause that has resulted in the cat’s loneliness.
Hence, option (c) is a more appropriate answer than option (b).
Option (d) is out of scope while option (a) is false because the
cat had his desires. So, he wasn’t absolutely free from everything.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
The quoted sentence shows the cat’s strength of character and
mental robustness. ‘Resilient’ refers to strength, toughness, ability
to bounce back, etc. Hence, option (c) is the most appropriate
answer.
Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 4
I am losing my interest in human beings; in the significance of their lives and their actions. Someone has said it is
better to study one man than ten books. I want neither books nor men; they make me suffer. Can one of them talk
to me like the night – the Summer night? Like the stars or the caressing wind?
The night came slowly, softly, as I lay out there under the maple tree. It came creeping, creeping stealthily out of the
valley, thinking I did not notice. And the outlines of trees and foliage nearby blended in one black mass and the night
came stealing out from them, too, and from the east and west, until the only light was in the sky, filtering through
the maple leaves and a star looking down through every cranny.
The night is solemn and it means mystery.
Human shapes flitted by like intangible things. Some stole up like little mice to peep at me. I did not mind. My whole
being was abandoned to the soothing and penetrating charm of the night. The katydids began their slumber song:
they are at it yet. How wise they are. They do not chatter like people. They tell me only: “sleep, sleep, sleep.” The
wind rippled the maple leaves like little warm love thrills. Why do fools cumber the Earth! It was a man’s voice that
broke the necromancer’s spell. A man came today with his “Bible Class.” He is detestable with his red cheeks and
bold eyes and coarse manner and speech. What does he know of Christ? Shall I ask a young fool who was born
yesterday and will die tomorrow to tell me things of Christ? I would rather ask the stars: they have seen him.
[Short Story by Kate Chopin]
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
The author mentions that people make her suffer. Refer to the
sentence, “Can one of them talk to me like the night – the Summer
night? Like the stars or the caressing wind?” It implies that human
beings can never be like nature. Also, refer to the sentence, “The
night is solemn and it means mystery.” Therefore, option (d) is
correct.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
The author was referring to the state of sleep when she uses the
phrase “necromancer’s spell.” Refer to the sentence, “It was a
man‘s voice that broke the necromancer‘s spell.” Therefore, option
(b) is correct. The other options are out of scope.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
Refer to the sentence, “The katydids began their slumber song:
they are at it yet. How wise they are. They do not chatter like
people.” According to the author, people indulge in unnecessary
and unimportant talks. Refer to the section where the author
criticises the coarse manner and speech of the person conducting
the “Bible class”. The quoted sentences prove that option (c) is
correct. The other options don’t explain the wisdom of the katydids.
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
Refer to the last few sentences of the passage where the author
mentions that she would rather ask the stars and feel the presence
of God instead of attending a “Bible class.” Therefore, option (a)
is correct. The remaining options cannot be inferred in the light of
the passage.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
‘Coarse’ refers to a rough or harsh texture. Hence, option (c) is
correct.
Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 5
It was the strangest murder trial I ever attended, where the old woman was found battered to death. He was a
heavy stout man with bulging bloodshot eyes. All his muscles seemed to be in his thighs. The clock had just struck
two in the morning. Mrs Salmon in 15 Northwood Street had been unable to sleep: she heard a door click shut and
thought it was her own gate. So she went to the window and saw Adams (that was his name) on the steps of Mrs
Parker’s house. He had just come out and he was wearing gloves. He had a hammer in his hand and she saw him
drop it into the laurel bushes by the front gate. But before he moved away, he had looked up at her window. The
fatal instinct that tells a man when he is watched exposed him in the light of a streetlamp to her gaze-his eyes
suffused with horrifying and brutal fear, like an animal’s when you raise a whip.
Mrs Salmon was called in the Court.
‘And do you see the man here in court?’
[She looked straight at the big man in the dock, who stared hard at her with his Pekingese eyes without emotion.]
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘there he is.’
‘You are quite certain?’
She said simply, ‘I couldn’t be mistaken, sir.’
‘Thank you, Mrs Salmon.’
[Counsel for the defence rose to cross-examine.]
‘Now, Mrs Salmon, you must remember that a man’s life may depend on your evidence.’
‘I do remember it, sir.’
‘Is your eyesight good?’
‘I have never had to wear spectacles, sir.’
‘You are a woman of fifty-five?’
‘Fifty-six, sir.’
‘And the man you saw was on the other side of the road?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘And it was two o’clock in the morning. You must have remarkable eyes, Mrs Salmon?’
‘No, sir. There was moonlight, and when the man looked up, he had the lamplight on his face.’
‘And you have no doubt whatever that the man you saw is the prisoner?’
‘None whatever, sir. It isn’t a face one forgets.’
Then he said, ‘Do you mind, Mrs Salmon, examining again the people in court?
No, not the prisoner. Stand up, please, Mr Adams!
And there at the back of the court with thick stout body and muscular legs and a pair of bulging eyes, was the exact
image of the man in the dock.
‘Now think very carefully, Mrs Salmon. Can you still swear that the man you saw drop the hammer in Mrs Parker’s
garden was the prisoner and not this man, who is his twin brother?’ Of course she couldn’t.
[Excerpts from ‘The Case for the Defence’ by Graham Greene]
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Option (b) is the correct answer because the accused looked
very much like his twin brother, and thus Mrs Salmon failed to
confirm that the accused was the same man whose face she
saw in the lamplight outside on the steps of Mrs Parker’s house.
Refer to “Can you still swear that the man you saw drop the
hammer in Mrs Parker’s garden was the prisoner and not this
man, who is his twin brother?’ Of course, she couldn’t.” Options
(a) and (c) are not the reasons why the author called the trial
‘strangest’ murder trial he ever attended.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Option (b) is the answer. A simile is a figure of speech that
compares one thing with another thing of a different kind by using
‘as’ or ‘like’. Here ‘his eyes’ is compared with ‘an animal’s eyes’ by
using ‘like’ in between. Personification is a figure of speech that
attributes personal nature, intelligence or character to inanimate
objects. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound.
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
Protruding eyes are called Pekingese eyes. Thus, option (a) is the
answer. Other options are incorrect.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Option (d) is the answer. Mrs Salmon was convinced that the
man she saw in the lamplight outside on the steps of Mrs Parker’s
house had committed the crime because she could see his face
very clearly. Other options are not the reasons why Mrs Salmon
was certain that she saw the murderer.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Mrs Salmon claimed to have seen the murderer on the steps of
Mrs. Parker, but it is not certain who was actually murdered.
Thus, option (d) is the answer. Mrs. Wheeler is not mentioned in
the story.
Directions for questions 1 to 30: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage. Please
answer each question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the corresponding passage. In some instances,
more than one option may be the answer to the question; in such a case, please choose the option that most
accurately and comprehensively answers the question.
Passage – 6
The world has very few devices left to fight COVID-19 with, but technology remains one of them. Whether it is
employing the state-of-the-art technology in the discovery of cures or vaccines, or traditional technology services
to enhance health care and consultations, or even tools that keep people at home occupied/productive, it is clear
that technology will serve humanity at one of its darkest moments. The pandemic has contributed, in no small
measure, to the understanding of the myriad ways in which available technologies have not been put to better use,
and presented people with multiple opportunities to harness these devices, techniques and methods to get on with
life in the time of lockdown. Among the primary uses is telemedicine, rendered inexorable now, by the temporary
paralysis brought on by a freeze on movement. The Centre’s recent guidelines allowing for widespread use of
telemedicine services came as a shot in the arm for telehealth crusaders in the country, among them the
Telemedicine Society of India that has long been battling to use the technology in its complete arc to reach remote
areas in India. This move finds consonance with the rest of the world where several nations, also deeply impacted
by the pandemic, have deployed telemedicine to reach people who have been unable to come to hospital, to
reduce footfalls in hospitals, and to even provide medical and mental health counselling to countless people. It was
way back in 2000 that telemedicine was first employed in India, but the progress has been excruciatingly slow, until
the pandemic. However, it does seem as if the medical community was only held back by the lack of legislation to
enable tele consultations. For no sooner was the policy announced, than hospitals and clinicians hurried to jump
onto the bandwagon, advertising contact information for patients. The advantages are peculiar in the current
context, when putting distance between people is paramount, as tele consultations are not barred even when
health care professionals and patients may have to be quarantined. The advancement of telecommunication
capabilities over the years has made the transmission of images and sound files (heart and lung sounds, coughs)
faster and simpler. Pilot telemedicine experiments in ophthalmology and psychiatry have proven to be of immense
benefit to the communities. Telemedicine’s time is here, finally. While unleashing the full potential of telemedicine
to help people, experts and government agencies must be mindful of the possible inadequacies of the medium,
and securing sensitive medical information; such cognisance should guide the use of the technology.
[From an Editorial published in ‘The Hindu’ on April 17, 2020]
Correct Answer
a
Explanation
Option (a) is the answer. Inexorable means inevitable or
unavoidable. Myriad means innumerable or many. Excruciatingly
means painfully or agonizingly. Bandwagon means trend or craze.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Option (b) is all encompassing, thus, it is the answer. Refer to
“While unleashing the full potential of telemedicine to help people,
experts and government agencies must be mindful of the possible
inadequacies of the medium and securing sensitive medical
information; such cognisance should guide the use of the
technology.” Option (a) is incomplete. Option (c) can be inferred
but it is incomplete. Option (d) is out of scope.
Correct Answer
b
Explanation
Option (b) is the answer. The answer is found in the lines, “The
Centre’s recent guidelines allowing for widespread use of
telemedicine services came as a shot in the arm for telehealth
crusaders in the country…” and “…it does seem as if the medical
community was only held back by the lack of legislation to enable
tele consultations.” Option (a) is false because it is said in the
passage that it was way back in 2000 that telemedicine was first
employed in India. Option (c) is not the reason for slow employment
of Telemedicine in India.
Correct Answer
d
Explanation
Option (d) is the answer. For option (a) refer to “Pilot telemedicine
experiments in ophthalmology and psychiatry have proven to be
of immense benefit to the communities…” For option (b) refer to
“The advancement of telecommunication capabilities over the years
has made the transmission of images and sound files (heart and
lung sounds, coughs) faster and simpler.” For option (c) refer to
“…securing sensitive medical information…”.
Correct Answer
c
Explanation
The expression ‘shot in the arm’ in the given context means
‘positive encouragement or impact’. Thus, option (c) is the answer.
‘Hitting the nail on its head’ means ‘identifying something precisely.
‘Bull’s Eye’ means the centre of a target.