Direction: You have 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
Modern living has programmed our lives to a hectic, monotonous schedule that we have forgotten the gentle smile that once fleeted across the human face. Smile has the power to dissolve all worries. It has the all pervasive ability to lift us from the abysmal depth of gloominess. We should not be cowed down by work pressure that a constant frown imprisons our face. In built confidence and positive attitude help a smile to blossom. A face bereft of smile makes us unarmed, for it is the smile that is a pleasant weapon which resists all hurdles and problems that depress us. If we learn to smile in a crisis, it shows that we have the forbearance and courage to face the crisis. A smile, after all, helps us preserve our perfect, present unmindful of our past or future.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
pervasive : existing in all parts of a place or thing.
cowed down : frightened
frown :to make a serious, angry or worried expression by bringing your eyebrows close together so that lines may appear on your forehead.
abysmal : extremely bad or of a low standard; terrible
bereft : completely lacking something
forbearance : the quantity of being patient and sympathetic towards other people, especially when they have done something wrong

Direction: You have 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
The slamming of the doors had aroused Mother, she peeped out of her room. “What on earth are you boys doing?” she demanded. Herman ventured out of his room “Nothing” he said gruffly, but he was, in colour, a light green. “What was all that running around downstairs?” said Mother. So she had heard the steps, too. We just looked at her. “Burglars” she shouted intentively. I tried to quieten her by starting lightly downstairs. “Come on, Herman,” I said. “I’ll stay back with Mother,” he said, “She’s all excited”. I stepped back on the landing. “Don’t either of you go a step,” said Mother. “We’ll call the police.” Since the phone was downstairs I didn’t see how we were going to call the police – nor did I want the police, but Mother made one of her quick incomparable decisions. She flung up a window of her bedroom which faced the bedroom, window of the house of a neighbour, picked up a shoe and whammed it through a pane of glass.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
intentively : purposely