Direction: You have a passage with 5 questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
The Met office has revised its prediction following decent rain on Monday morning, saying the cloud cover and light to moderate rain are likely to continue for at least the next 48 hours. The weatherman had earlier predicted that the rain would dry up in the city and its adjoining areas for a couple of days from the start of the week. The showers dragged down the day’s maximum temperature four notches below normal to 28.3 degrees Celsius, from Sunday’s 33. “We were expecting the rain the city had been receiving for the past couple of days to stop from Monday as there was no cyclonic circulation and the monsoon trough was moving away from the city. But the trough got stronger, resulting in the rain,” said an official of the Alipore weather office. The trough is passing through Daltanganj in Jharkhand, Bhagalpur in Bihar and the central part of Bengal. “The monsoon trough now is not very close to Calcutta but it has gained in strength, resulting in Monday morning’s shower in the city,” the official said.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
notches : a level on a scale
trough : a long narrow region of low air presure between two regions of higher pressure.

Direction: You have a passage with 5 questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each questions out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
The Prime Minister recommends the names of the persons for appointment as the members of the Council of Ministers by the President. He can recommend the name of any person for appointment as Minister. Of course he has to see the interests of his Ministry so that it works in a homogeneous manner. Any Minister who does not see eye to eye with the Prime Minister has to quit the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister also advises the President on the allocation of portfolios to the members of his Council of Ministers. He can give any department to any Minister and thus keep a control over them. The Prime Minister can make any changes in the formation of his Ministry. He can shuffle his Ministry like a pack of cards as he likes. He can change the portfolios of his colleagues or reallocate the portfolios according to their performance. The Prime Minister presides over the meetings of the Cabinet. The President does not participate in these meetings. In the Cabinet all the important decisions are taken which are binding on all the Ministers.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
homogeneous : same see eye to eye : share the same views. allocation : the act of giving something to somebody for a particular purpose : portfolios : a particular area of responsibility of a government minister : in presides : to lead/be in charge of a meeting, ceremony, etc. bindingon :that must be obeyed becuase it is accepted in law