Comprehension


Direction: In the following questions, read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Passage
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew. Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality. So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I ever earned.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) epic (Adj.) : taking place over a long period of time and involving a lot of difficulties
(2) imploded (V.) : to fail suddenly and completely
(3) strip away (Phr.V.) : to remove anything that is not true/necessary
(4) inessential (N.) : something that is not necessary
(5) arena (N.) : a work field
(6) inevitable (Adj.) : incapable of being avoided/ prevented
(7) adversity (N.) : a state of misfortune

  1. Which of the following is a major benefit of failure according to the passage?









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    Failure helps you in finding the determination to succeed

    Correct Option: D

    Failure helps you in finding the determination to succeed


  1. According to the author, what can be defined as ‘failure’?









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    Not truly knowing yourself.

    Correct Option: B

    Not truly knowing yourself.



Direction: In the following questions, you have a brief passage with 5 questions following the passage. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
Two years later, in November 1895, he signed his final will. He left the bulk of his fortune, amounting to about £ 1,75,000 to a trust fund administered by Swedish and Norwegian trustees. The annual interest shall be awarded as prizes to those persons who during the previous year have rendered the greatest services to mankind. The interest shall be divided into five equal parts — now amounting to about £ 8,000 each — one of which shall be awarded to the person who has made the most important discovery or invention in the realm of physics, one to the person who has made the most important chemical discovery or improvement, one to the person who has made the most important physiological or medical discovery, one to the person who has produced the most outstanding work of literature, idealistic in character, and one to the person who has done the best work for the brotherhood of nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, as well as for the formation or popularization of peace congress.

  1. Prize is awarded for outstanding work in









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    All the above.

    Correct Option: D

    All the above.


  1. Total annual prize money amounts to









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    £ 40,000.

    Correct Option: D

    £ 40,000.



  1. The number of prizes in the field of science are









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    three.

    Correct Option: C

    three.