TOPIC: Reading Comprehension, Word Replacement
Directions (1-5):
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.
Social media platforms allow political
parties to reach millions of prospective voters and are therefore an integral
part of elections. However, some authoritarian regimes across the world have
used social media to manufacture positive public opinion. Worse, some
established democracies have had to deal with propaganda, fake news and foreign
interference in domestic elections. These developments point to the capacity of
social media platforms to seriously undermine
democratic practices worldwide.
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal,
where the company illegally harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook
users without their consent and used that to influence their voting
preferences, Facebook has been in the forefront in creating various checks and
balances in cyberspace to create an environment for free and fair elections. It
has created specialised global centres with the sole aim of promoting election
integrity. As a platform that sees billions of posts each day, Facebook has
identified Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML)-powered pattern
recognition tools to be the most effective line of defence against “unnatural
interference”.
Whenever accounts are found that are
similar to ones flagged in the past and that are inaccurate, abusive, or
violating the platforms’ terms of service, they are systematically removed. At
present, AIML tools assist the platform block or remove over a million accounts
a day. According to a recent survey, one in two Indian voters has received some
kind of fake news in the month leading to the elections. AIML tools also work
to minimise the spread of such disinformation.
Some of the actions taken by these
platforms, however, have not been that well received, especially by those who
say that these platforms should not be deciding what is proper and improper in
the Indian online space. For instance, Twitter’s top officials, including
global CEO Jack Dorsey, were summoned to appear before the Parliamentary Panel
on Information Technology for alleged bias against right-wing voices on the
platform.
With almost all the popular social media
platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, being
foreign-owned, and with India having neither insights into their internal
algorithms and functioning nor any viable homegrown equivalents, its population
will always be susceptible to interference beyond its control. India’s ability
to create its own mass collaborative technology and independent institutions
with technical expertise that can monitor and counter actions of the
government, is paramount in ensuring
that social media evolves into an enabler of transparency and democracy, rather
than a cause of democratic recession.
Q1. How are
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AIML)-powered pattern recognition
tools identified to be the most effective line of defence against “unnatural
interference”?
(I)
Whenever accounts are found that are similar to ones flagged in the past and
that are inaccurate, abusive, or violating the platforms’ terms of service,
they are systematically removed.
(II) AIML
tools work to minimise the spread of fake news.
(III) AIML
places an embargo on the publishing and broadcasting of content that is likely
to affect the election.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (II)
(c) Only (III)
(d) Both (I) and
(II)
(e) Both (II) and
(III)
Q2. Which of the
following is/are incorrect in context of the passage?
(I)
Facebook has created specialised global centres with the sole aim of promoting
election integrity.
(II)
Social media platforms allow political parties to reach millions of prospective
voters and are therefore an integral part of elections.
(III) At
present, AIML tools assist Facebook block or remove over a million accounts a
day.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (II)
(c) Only (III)
(d) Both (I) and
(II)
(e) None of the
Above
Q3. Which of the
following is/are true in context of the passage?
(I) Existing
legal provisions may be less than adequate to address the unique challenges
posed by social media.
(II) According to
a recent survey, one in two Indian voters has received some kind of fake news
in the month leading to the elections.
(III) Besides
churning out massive volumes of fake content, it is now evident that individual
operators on social media are trying to influence minds and voting patterns.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (II)
(c) Only (III)
(d) Both (I) and
(II)
(e) Both (II) and
(III)
Q4. Choose the
word which is SIMILAR to the word given in passage.
UNDERMINE
(a) relieve
(b) threaten
(c) assist
(d) weaken
(e) strengthen
Q5. Choose the word which is opposite to the
following word given in bold in the passage.
PARAMOUNT
(a) outstanding
(b) preeminent
(c) ascendant
(d) inferior
(e) prime
Directions
(6-15): In each of the following questions four
words are given in bold. Which of the following words must replace each other
so that the sentence becomes contextually correct and meaningful. If the
sentence is correct as it is, choose option (e) as your answer.
Q6. Rich mineral (1)/resources and the present
government’s (2)/willingness to (3)/attract infrastructure will (4)/build plenty of foreign investment.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q7.
Some of the city’s (1)/advantages
include a good education system, (2)/attractive
quality of life and a good transport system which can (3)/cope with its (4)/rising
population.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q8.
(1)/Regulators
in America have plans to (2)/comply
the amount of capital that its eight largest banks can (3)/hold and banks will have until 2018 to (4)/increase.
(a) 2-4
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q9. If we (1)/ quality the school curriculum, colleges will not only (2)/get better (3)/revise students but companies will also get (4)/skilled employees.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-3
(e) No change required
Q10. By (1)/selling small dairy farms and (2)/running milk to factories, women of the village take (3)/care of the (4)/needs of their families.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q11. The term populism has (1)/acquired considerable currency
these days and is (2)/widely used to
(3)/describe a distinctive (4)/mode of politics.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q12. Every teacher and every (1)/student of this college is (2)/glorious to do his best for the (3)/determined prospects of the (4)/college.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No
change required
Q13. Sikkim was seriously (1)/affected by the September 2011 (2)/earthquake, which
(3)/measured 6.9 on the Richter (4)/scale.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q14.
India has a (1)/going
publishing scene, thanks to not only the big (2)/publishers but also a lot of quality-(3)/conscious little publishing house that keep it (4)/vibrant.
(a) 1-2
(b) 2-3
(c) 3-4
(d) 1-4
(e) No change required
Q15. The (1)/spurred proponents of economic liberalization have often (2)/argued that the (3)/relaxation of state control will
lead to phenomenal growth of industries (4)/staunch
by FDI.
(a) 1-2
(b) 1-4
(c) 3-4
(d) 2-3
(e) No change required
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Solutions
S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. Both (I) and (II) are correct. Refer
3rd paragraph.
S2. Ans.(e)
Sol. None of the above is incorrect. All
are correct in context of the passage.
S3. Ans.(b)
Sol. Only (II) is true. Refer 3rd
paragraph.
S4. Ans.(d)
Sol. Undermine: lessen the effectiveness,
power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously.
S5. Ans.(d)
Sol. Paramount: more important than
anything else; supreme.
S6. Ans.(c)
Sol. Replace “attract-build” with
to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
S7. Ans.(e)
Sol. No change required
S8. Ans.(a)
Sol. Replace “comply-increase”
with to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. Replace “quality-revise”
with to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
S10. Ans.(a)
Sol. Replace “selling-running”
with to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
S11. Ans.(e)
Sol. No change required
S12. Ans.(b)
Sol. Replace
“glorious-determined” with to make the sentence correct and
meaningful.
S13. Ans.(e)
Sol. No change required
S14. Ans.(d)
Sol. Replace “going-vibrant” with
to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
S15. Ans.(b)
Sol. Replace “spurred-staunch”
with to make the sentence correct and meaningful.
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