Direction: In the following questions, you have two brief passages with 5 questions in each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Passage
Poverty has its own meaning in different persons. Poverty or the state of being poor is a relative term. Its meaning varies depending upon the state of the economy. Poverty is always and everywhere a social phenomenon in which a section of the society is unable to fulfil even its basic necessities of life. When a substantial segment of a society is deprived of the minimum level of living and continues at a bare subsistence level, that society is said to be plagued with mass poverty. The countries of the Third World exhibit invariably the existence of mass poverty, although pockets of poverty exist even in the developed countries of Europe and America. It is a matter of great disappointment for India’s economic planning that even after more than 60 years since Independence, India still suffers from the problem of mass poverty. Poverty is affecting our mind, affecting our state, our country and the world. Although there was the Global Economic Crisis, India was not as affected by it as was the USA and other European countries. This is because of the paradoxical situation of the Indian economy. It is ridden by extreme poverty on the one side while it also has a thriving and growing economy on the other.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) substantial (Adj.) : considerable
(2) deprived (V.) : without the basic needs
(3) bare (Adj.) : just enough
(4) subsistence (N.) : the state of having just enough money/food to stay alive
(5) plagued (V.) : suffering from
(6) paradoxical (Adj.) : seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true
(7) ridden (Adj.) : full of unpleasant things
(8) thriving (Adj.) : flourishing
(9) invariably (Adv.) : always ; without fail