SBI CLERK 2018 English Quiz No- 10 “Reading Comprehension “
English Practice questions for SBI Clerk, English practice questions for banking exams,English New pattern Questions for SBI Clerk prelims Exam 2018 , English Practice questions for SBI Clerk … Here is a quiz being provided by IdeticEdu to let you practice the best of latest pattern English Questions.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the
following questions given below it. Certain words are printed in BOLD to help you locate them
while answering some of the questions.
Capitalism is a great slave, but a pathetic master. This truth unfortunately gets lost in
our chase for that elusive dream….. Especially in the west, the land that has been marketed as
the land of dreams__ the great Western dream. It’s the dream of being independent masters of
our lives, of making big bucks and of being happy__ even if that happiness is being bought by
money, which all of them chase out there. No doubt, the West, on its part, has been fairly
successful in creating material comforts aplenty. It has improved the living standard of its
average citizen. However, this has been achieved as a result of more than 200 years of
unbridled growth and exploitation. Thus, the shop window of Westernism looks lucidly
attractive. And that is what has made the rest of the world mindlessly chase Westernism, not
necessarily happiness or an ideal form of society. All because the shop window looks very
impressive and it has been marketed very well.
But a deep look inside the shop tells a different tale. A different world lies behind; a
world that is not quite visible to the starry- eyed millions for whom the Western way of life
seems to be the ultimate dream.
Thus, we have Indians dreaming to become or to get married to an NRI and Indian
middle –class fathers dreaming of their sons reaching the Bay area and landing tech jobs,
unmindful of the second-class life they end up leading in the West. What goes unseen and
almost unheard is that the West also happens to be the land that is right amongst the top in
terms of the number of divorces per thousand, the number of single parents per thousand, the
number of old people in old homes, the number of suicides, homicides, and of course, the
number of college/school shootouts…..
And why not! After all, such societies are constantly driven towards higher profits and
materialism. Expectedly, this materialism comes at a cost that the world is paying today. This
is the reason why we have millions dying of paying today. This is the reason why we have
millions dying of curable disease in Africa and other underdeveloped countries, while the rich
grow rich grow richer. Their growth will be reduced if they were to start thinking of the poor. So
what do they do to justify their greed for more? They most shrewdly propagate and market a
ridiculously primitive law of the jungle for our 21st-century civilization, the Law of Survival of
the fittest’!
The interesting thing about material things is that they only give an illusion of
happinesss; however, such happiness is always momentary in nature. Ergo, at this juncture,
you feel you are the happiest person in the world, after buying your new car or flat screen TV,
and just a few days later, these are the very possessions that cease to make you happy. While
you chase the bigger car and spend that extra bit of wealth, you intercept someone’s share of
the daily bread and also sacrifice those that have the maximum power to make you happy___
family, emotions and love. Prolonged abstinence in feeling emotions finally destroys bliss; and
you don’t even realize when you have become a dry-eyed cripple…. And then you land up in
sermon workshops to find out the real meaning of life or whatever these workshops are
capable of explaining. The truth is that such workshops are also driven by merchants who cash
in on the dejected state of the people, a state created by their own fictional dreams. But by
then, it’s really too late.
By then you have made profits out of arms, and engineered wars to keep that industry
alive. You have sold guns across the counters at supermarkets and made profits. You’ve
lobbied that guns should be made accessible to the common man. All for the sake of profit.
This makes you realise one day that they are your own children who are in the line of fire
against the school goer who opens fire on his schoolmates.
This is the society that finally creates an emotionless monster, who gets satisfaction in
killing adults and children alike for no cause, no reason and for none but himself. It is the utter
destruction of spiritualism and the total focus on endless self-gratification. Where so many
single parent families and divorces exist, it is impossible to bring up children or influence the
killers any better.
1.Who does the author hold responsible for the shooting spree in schools and colleges?
i) Lack of love and emotion in the society in general
ii) Increased focus on self-gratification even when it comes at the cost of innocent lives
iii) Deteriorating social structure leading to break-up of families resulting in lack of moral
development in children
a) Only (i)
b) Only (iii)
c) Only (ii) and (iii)
d) All of these
e) None of these
2.Why does the author refer to the law of survival of the fittest as ridiculous?
a) This law is primitive and holds good for developed nations.
b) This primitive law is often used to justify the accumulation of wealth by a select
few
c) People from developing countries use it to rationalize their immigration to the
Western Countries.
d) It does not lead to any material profits and material wealth.
e) None of these
3.According to the passage, which of the following is a reason for poverty and hunger in
underdeveloped countries?
i) Mindlessly chasing the Western way of living.
ii) They have fallen prey to the idea of happiness through material comforts rather than
love and emotional bond.
iii) They do not have marketing techniques as good as the Western countries.
a) Only (ii)
b) Only (iii) c) Only (i)
d) Only (ii) and (iii)
e) Not mentioned in the passage
4.Why do the ‘starry-eyed millions’ harbor a wish to became an NRI?
i) They are driven towards profits and materialism.
ii) They appreciate the Western way of life as it appears to them.
iii) They have become emotionless and have lost any attachment to motherhood.
a) Only (ii)
b) Only (i)
c) Only (ii) and (i)
d) Only (iii)
e) All (i), (ii) and (iii)
5.Why does the author disregard the Western way of living even though an average citizen
in the west enjoys better living standards?
a) Many Indians want to ape their life-style, leading to a cultural dilution of their own
traditions.
b) The West has failed to market their lifestyle in an appropriate way.
c) According to him, the law of ‘survival of the fittest’ is now obsolete.
d) It only looks forward to material comfort rather than happiness within.
e) None of these
6. What does the author mean by’ intercepting someone’s share of daily bread’?
a) Hindering the process of marketing in underdeveloped countries by the developed
countries
b) Denying material comfort to the Western world
c) Affecting the social life of those working towards material comforts only
d) Excess of wealth in Western world while people in poorer nations struggle for survival
e) None of these
7.The author’s main objective in writing the passage is
a) To explain that consumerist societies have their own drawbacks which are
overlooked by those who are blinded by their material glare
b) To explain how too many material comforts have improved the living standard of the
Common man in the West
c) That young children should not be given access to guns and other ammunitions
d) That all NRIs are leading unmindful, second-class lives abroad
e) None of these
Choose the word which is MOST similar in meaning to the word printed in
Bold as used in the passage
8.Shrewdly
a) Roughly
b) Rudely
c) Courteously
d) Rightly
e) Astutely
9.Chase
a) Follow
b) Catch
c) Conquer
d) Run
e) Capture
10.Elusive
a) Terrifying
b) Unusual
c) Unachievable
d) Haunting
e) Displeasing
Answer
1). d) 2). b) 3). e) 4). c) 5). d) 6). d) 7). a) 8). e) 9). a) 10). c)
