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
The world’s oil reserves are expected to run out by the middle of the next century unless oil consumption is reduced, according to a leading petroleum geologist from the U.S.. Dr. Craig Bond Hatfield, who is at the University of Toledo, Ohio, says the 1,000 billion barrels of known global oil reserves are expected to run out by 2036 unless the current 69-million barrels per day consumption of oil is brought down. Reserves may last for an extra 21 years if estimates of an additional 550 billion barrels of oil yet to be discovered are taken into account. But “a permanent decline in global oil production is virtually certain to begin within 20 years.” Hatfield believes. “Serious planning is needed to deal with the economic consequences.” Hatfield’s comments, which appear in an article in the latest issue of the weekly science journal-Nature, are likely to provoke controversy. The oil industry, while acknowledging that oil reserves are finite, says Hatfield’s comments are too alarmist. Mr. Julian Chisholm, a spokesman for the World Energy Council in London, a consortium of the world’s leading energy suppliers, says the oil industry is bullish. The general view of the industry and of energy experts is that there is plenty of oil, and real concern about the level of reserves, at least until 2050 is not beyond.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
run out : used up/finished
virtually : almost/very nearly
provoke :to cause a particular reaction/have a particular effect controversy: public discussion and argument about something that many people strongly disagree about, disapprove of, or are shocked by
consortium : a group of people, countries, companies, etc.
who are working to gether on a particular project
alarmist : causing unnecessary anxiety.
bullish :causing, or connected with, an increase in the price of shares.

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
Two hundred years after Malthus predicted that population growth would overtake food production by a margin of 256 to 9, the simple fact is that food production had always been ahead of the population growth. Malthus’ doomsday prediction simply did not come true due to two major reasons: first, population did not grow geometrically and birth rates in all Western countries fell during the 20th Century, resulting in very slow population growth. Over the past quarter century, birth rates have been falling in the developing countries too. Second, modern agricultural practices and better irrigation have resulted in tremendous growth in food production in almost all parts of the globe, with the notable exception of sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, at the global level, the Malthusian doomsday never befell on us. India’s population grew by about two and a half times in the past 45 years -from 361 million in 1951 to an estimated 916 million in 1995. But during the same period, India’s food-grain production grew by nearly four times from 51 million tonnes in 1951 to 191 million tonnes in 1995. As a result, the per capita food grain availability in India has gone up considerably since the independence. That is, the Malthusian prediction has not come true even in India.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
dooms day : the last day of the world
befell : something unpleasant happened to somebody