Comprehension
Direction: You have two brief passages with 5 questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
In 776 BC the First Olympic Games were held at the foot of Mount Olympus to honour the Greek’s chief God Zeus. The Greeks emphasized, physical fitness and strength in their education of youth. Therefore contests in running, jumping, discus and javelin throwing, boxing and horse and chariot racing were held in individual cities, and the winners competed every four years at Mount Olympus. Winners were greatly honoured by having poems sung about their deeds. Originally these were held as games of friendship, and any wars in progress were halted to allow the games to take place. The Greeks attached so much importance to these games that they calculated time in four-year cycles called ‘Olympiads’ dating from 776 BC.
- Approximately how many years ago did these games originate?
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2781 years (2006 + 776)
Correct Option: D
2781 years (2006 + 776)
- Why were the Olympic Games held?
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To honour Zeus
Correct Option: C
To honour Zeus
- Where were the First Olympic Games held?
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Mount Olympus
Correct Option: A
Mount Olympus
Direction: You have two brief passages with five questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives
PASSAGE
Child psychology is certainly not a strong point with most Indian schools; why else would they inflict a double trauma on a student forming badly in the pre-boards by banning her from taking the board exams. Often with fatal results as evidenced by reports of student suicides in the run-up to the boards. Now the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has stepped in and put the brakes on this discriminatory practice, ruling that no student can be barred from the Boards without prior clearance from the CBSE. This is good news for parents and students, many of whom have had to live with the threat of performancelinked department. While the school’s logic is that in order to attract talented students, they need to maintain their performance records at high levels. Chances are that a student faring poorly at the pre-boards will replicate this at the boards is faulty. Chances are that the student will be spurred to work doubly hard. On the other hand, the threat of debarment, will almost certainly impact adversely on his/ her performance. Of course, linking pre-boards to the boards is only one of the problems with our school system.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
inflict : to make somebody/something suffer something unpleasant.
trauma : an unpleasant experience that makes you feel upset and/or anxious; or mental condition caused by a severe shock.
run-up : period of time leading up to an important event; preparation for this discrimin– : unfair atory
replicate : duplicate; to copy/produce something exactly.
faulty : not perfect; defective
spurred : encouraged
debarment : being officially prevented to do something
banning : to decide or say officially that something is not allowed
fatal : causing/ending in death put the : to stop an activity
brakes on : barred :prevented logic : a way of thinking/explaining something doubly hard: very hard
impact : the powerful effect that something has on somebody/something
adversely : in a negative/unpleasant way
- According to the passage, parents had to live with the threat of
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linking performance of their works in pre-boards to the debarment
Correct Option: D
linking performance of their works in pre-boards to the debarment
- Which of the following according to the passage is the problem with our school system?
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Attracting talented students
Correct Option: D
Attracting talented students