Directions (1- 10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Last year the idea took hold that Mark Zuckerberg might run for president in 2020 and seek to lead the world’s most powerful country. Today, Facebook’s founder is fighting to show that he is capable of leading the World’s eighth-biggest listed company or that any of its 2.1bn users should trust it. News that Cambridge Analytica (CA), a firm linked to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, got data on 50m Facebook users in dubious, possibly illegal, ways has lit a firestorm. Mr. Zuckerberg took five days to reply and, when he did, he conceded that Facebook had let its users down in the past but seemed not to have grasped that its business faces a wider crisis of confidence. After months of talk about propaganda and fake news, politicians in Europe and, increasingly, America see Facebook as out of control and in denial. Congress wants him to testify. Expect a roasting.
Since the news, spooked investors have wiped 9% off Facebook’s shares. Consumers are belatedly waking up to the dangers of handing over data to tech giants that are run like black boxes. Already, according to the Pew Research Centre, a think tank, a majority of Americans say they distrust social-media firms. Mr. Zuckerberg and his industry need to change, fast.
The addiction game
Facebook’s business relies on three elements: keeping users glued to their screens, collecting data about their behavior and convincing advertisers to pay billions of dollars to reach them with targeted ads. The firm has an incentive to promote material that grabs attention and to sell ads to anyone. Its culture melds a ruthless pursuit of profit with a Panglossian and narcissistic belief in its own virtue. Mr. Zuckerberg controls the firm’s voting rights. Clearly, he gets too little criticism.
In the latest fiasco, it emerged that in 2013 an academic in Britain built a questionnaire app for Facebook users, which 270,000 people answered. They in turn had 50m Facebook friends. Data on all these people then ended up with CA. Facebook says that it could not happen again and that the academic and CA broke its rules; both deny doing anything wrong. Regulators in Europe and America are investigating. Facebook knew of the problem in 2015, but it did not alert individual users. Although nobody knows how much CA benefited Mr. Trump’s campaign, the fuss has been amplified by the left’s disbelief that he could have won the election fairly. But that does not give Facebook a defense. The episode fits an established pattern of sloppiness towards privacy, tolerance of inaccuracy and reluctance to admit mistakes. In early 2017 Mr. Zuckerberg dismissed the idea that fake news had influenced the election as “pretty crazy”. In September Facebook said Kremlin-linked firms had spent a mere $100,000 to buy 3,000 adverts on its platform, failing at first to mention that 150m users had seen free posts by Russian operatives. It has also repeatedly misled advertisers about its user statistics.
Q1. What is Cambridge Analytica(CA)?
(a) A virus that multiplies the files and folders in the system.
(b) A program that manipulates the data transferred on the various networks.
(c) A firm linked to the President Donald Trump that handles all the presidential affairs of the State.
(d) A firm linked to the President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign got data on 50m users in dubious and illegal manner.
(e) Both (A)&(B)
Q2. Which of the following given statements is correct in the context with the passage?
(a) Mark Zuckerberg will be the president in 2020 and seek to lead the world’s most powerful country US.
(b) Facebook’s founder showed that he is capable of leading the world’s 8th largest company.
(c) After months of talks about propaganda, America sees Facebook as out of control and in denial.
(d) Investors have invested 9% more in the company after the campaign Cambridge Analytica.
(e) Mark Zuckerberg took 5 days to reply and when he did, he proved that Facebook had never let down the confidence of its users.
Q3. What is/are the element(s) on which the business of Facebook relies?
(a) keeping users glued to their screens
(b) collecting data about their users’ behaviour
(c) convincing advertisers to pay billions of dollars to reach them with targeted ads
(d) All of the above
(e) None of the above
Q4. What are the incentives of the firm Facebook?
(a) To promote sites that can attract various people to connect through it
(b) To promote stuff that attracts and grabs attention
(c) To sell ads to anyone through its stuff advertised
(d) To control firm’s voting rights
(e) Both (B)&(C)
Q5. How academic and Cambridge Analytica(CA) broke its rules?
(a) By emerging as the President’s campaign of 2016
(b) By connecting with Facebook and selling ads to everyone
(c) By controlling voting rights of Mark Zuckerberg’s company
(d) By collecting data of 270,000 people via questionnaire app which in turn ended up the data of 50m users with CA
(e) By not apologizing the 50m users who have accessed their data to Britains’s academic and Cambridge Analytica
Q6. What conclusion you can draw from the whole episode?
(a) that none of the firms likes to admit its mistake
(b) that the whole scenario admits sloppiness towards privacy, tolerance of inaccuracy and reluctance to admit mistakes
(c) that the
(d) fake news had influenced the election as “pretty crazy”
(e) None of the above
Q7. Which of the following statements is incorrect in context with the passage?
(a) Facebook has repeatedly misled advertisers about its user statistics.
(b) Facebook says that it could not happen again and that the academic and CA broke its rules
(c) The episode fits an established pattern of sloppiness towards privacy, tolerance of inaccuracy and reluctance to admit mistakes
(d) Facebook knew of the problem in 2015, and it did alert its individual users
(e) It emerged that in 2013 an academic in Britain built a questionnaire app for Facebook users
Q8. Choose the word which is OPPOSITE to the word given in passage.
DENIAL
(a) Negation
(b) Refusal
(c) Acceptance
(d) Abnegation
(e) Repudiation
Q9. Choose the word which is MOST SMILAR to the word given in passage
FUSS
(a) Joy
(b) Happiness
(c) Sorrow
(d) Worry
(e) Tiring
Q10. Choose the word which is MOST SMILAR to the word given in passage
RELUCTANCE
(a) Willingness
(b) Unwillingness
(c) Disapproval
(d) Acceptance
(e) Restoration
Directions (11-15): In the passage given below there are blanks which are to be filled with the options given below. Find out the appropriate pair of words in each case which can most suitably complete the sentence without altering the meaning of the statement.
Regulators can be both a help and a ………to the medical industry. A strong ………..increases confidence in drugs and devices, …………. payers and patients alike. That explains why the Chinese drugs regulator recently adopted tougher……………… Yet rules can also impose too great a burden on firms, slowing ……………..and reducing competition.
Q11. can be both a help and a……. to the medical industry
(a) hindrance
(b) impetus
(c) harmful
(d) detrimental
(e) unusual
Q12. A strong…….increases confidence in drugs and devices
(a) factor
(b) regulator
(c) implementation
(d) element
(e) force
Q13. ……….payers and patients alike
(a) fearing
(b) making
(c) revitalizing
(d) scandalizing
(e) reassuring
Q14. recently adopted tougher………..
(a) parameters
(b) levels
(c) standards
(d) outcomes
(e) methods
Q15. Slowing………… and reducing competition
(a) invention
(b) discovery
(c) innovation
(d) renovation
(e) modification
Solutions
S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. refer paragraph 1(5th line)
S2. Ans.(c)
Sol. refer paragraph 1(last three lines)
S3. Ans.(d)
Sol. refer paragraph 3(1st three lines)
S4. Ans.(e)
Sol. refer paragraph 3(3rd line)
S5. Ans.(d)
Sol. refer paragraph 4(1st three lines)
S6. Ans.(b)
Sol. ‘The episode fits an established pattern of sloppiness towards privacy, tolerance of inaccuracy and reluctance to admit mistakes’……refer paragraph 4(8th line)
S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. ‘Facebook knew of the problem in 2015, but it did not alert individual users’…… refer paragraph 4(5th line)
S8. Ans.(c)
Sol. Denial means refusal and the antonym of denial is acceptance
S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. Fuss means worry
S10. Ans.(b)
Sol. Reluctance means unwilling to do anything
S11. Ans.(a)
Sol. Regulators can be both a help and a hindrance to the medical industry.
S12. Ans.(b)
Sol. A strong regulator increases confidence in drugs and devices….
S13. Ans.(e)
Sol. …. reassuring payers and patients alike.
S14. Ans.(c)
Sol. That explains why the Chinese drugs regulator recently adopted tougher standards.
S15. Ans.(c)
Sol. Yet rules can also impose too great a burden on firms, slowing innovation and reducing competition.
English Language Quiz For LIC ADO Mains ...
English Language Quiz For LIC ADO Mains ...
English Language Quiz For LIC ADO Mains ...
