Direction: A passage is given with 5 questions following it. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
Crude mineral oil comes out of the earth as a thick brown or black liquid with a strong smell. It is a complex mixture of many different substances, each with its own individual qualities. Most of them are combinations of hydrogen and carbon in varying proportions. Such hydrocarbons are also found in other forms such as bitumen, asphalt and natural gas. Mineral oil originates from the carcasses of tiny animals and from plants that live in the sea. Over millions of years, these dead creatures form large deposits under sea-bed and ocean currents cover them with a blanket of sand and silt. As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock and effectively shuts out the oxygen, thus preventing the complete decomposition of the marine deposits underneath. The layers of sedimentary rocks become thicker, and heavier. Their pressure produces heat, which transforms the tiny carcasses into crude oil in a process that is still going on today.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) carcasses (N.) : the dead body of an animal
(2) silt (N.) : sand, mud, etc. that is carried by flowing water and is left at the mouth of river

Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/ phrases have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
PASSAGE
The villager has customarily been very conservative in his attitude and approach. He is reluctant to change his traditional way of thinking and doing things. His attitude, in many aspects, is : home-made is best. For instance, most cattle-farmers in the villages, prefer to feed their cows and buffaloes with a home-mix comprising local oil-seeds like mustard or cottonseed, pulses, jaggery, salt etc. It takes numerous visits, hard-convincing, daily trials and experience to convince the rural cattle farmer that compound feeds, scientifically formulated, improve the yields of milk, without any incremental costs. The age-old values and attitude towards caste, creed, woman, time and money take time to change. The villager has traditionally been a believer in the philosophy of ‘karma’ or ‘fate’. He has found it more convenient to blame his economic destitution, poor living conditions and straitened social status on ‘bhagya’, ‘karma’ or ‘fate’. The security that the villagers find in the ‘status quo’, acts as a disincentive to change and experiment, in the short run. Many of these antiquated attitudes, value-system and outlooks are changing, due to improved levels of awareness and education. However, the rate of change is sluggish. Attitudes fossilised over the centuries, do take time to change.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) conservative (Adj.) : opposed to great/sudden social change
(2) reluctant (Adj.) : hesitating before doing something because you do not want to do it/because you are not sure that it is the right thing to do
(3) hard-convincing (Adj.) : difficult to make somebody believe that something is true
(4) convince (V.) : to make somebody believe that something is true
(5) incremental (Adj.) : increasing in regular amounts
(6) destitution (N.) : the fact of having no money, food and the other things necessary for life
(7) status quo (N.) : the situation as it is now, or as it was before a recent change
(8) disincentive (N.) : a thing that makes somebody less willing to do something
(9) antiquated (Adj.) : outdated
(10) sluggish (Adj.) : slow and apathetic
(11) fossilised (V.) : to become/make somebody/ something become, fixed and unable to change/ develop

Direction: A passage is given with 5 questions following it. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
My brother, David, was always close to our grandmother. Both of them shared a love of Mother Nature and of food that they had grown themselves. Whenever his schedule permitted, he would drop in for a short visit and a cup of coffee. One day, when he found no one home, he left a chunk of dirt on her porch. This started what was later to be known as his “calling card”. Grandmother would come home occasionally and instantly know that David had been by when she spotted the chunk of dirt on her porch. Although Grandmother had a poor upbringing in Italy, she managed to do well in the United States. She was always healthy and independent and enjoyed a fulfilling life. Recently she had a stroke and died. Everyone was saddened by her death. David was disconsolate. His life–long friend was now gone.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) chunk (N.) : a piece
(2) porch (N.) : veranda
(3) calling card (N.) : phone card; visiting card
(4) upbringing (N.) : the way in which a child is cared for and taught how to behave while it is growing up
(5) disconsolate (Adj.) : very unhappy and disappointed; dejected.
(6) exuberant (Adj.) : full of energy; excitement and happiness.
(7) devastated (Adj.) : extremely upset and shocked
(8) hilarious (Adj.) : extremely funny (9) sombre (Adj.) : sad and serious