Reading Comprehension for SBI Clerk Prelims: 31st May 2018

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.

Many in Pakistan reject her. Her own country remains impervious to her message. Pakistani Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai visited Pakistan for five days in March this year. She is Pakistan’s second Nobel Laureate and has been rejected by most Pakistanis; the first laureate, Dr Abdus Salam, was also rejected. Pakistan supports Aafiya Siddiqi instead, an al Qaeda agent serving 86 years in an American prison, whose release has also been demanded by Pakistan as well as by the terrorist organisation, Islamic State. A girl from the picturesque Swat Valley — once visited by the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang in search of ancient Buddhist scriptures — won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014. At 15, Malala, who had openly objected to the Taliban’s policy of destroying girls’ schools, was shot in the head at close range by a Taliban terrorist. The Taliban’s psychopath chief, Mullah Fazlullah, had ordered her execution from his hideout in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, a popular TV channel in Islamabad aired a “morning view” on October 13, 2014, saying Malala’s Nobel was a Great Game conspiracy aimed at Pakistan.

Pakistanis abroad also rejected her. They listened to Abu Baraa, a senior member of Shariah4Pakistan, linked to Anjem Choudary, a British-Pakistani currently in jail for abetting terrorism in association with an Arab cleric, Omar Bakri, leader of Al Muhajiroun, now ousted from the UK. Choudary was also linked to the Britain-based al Ghurabaa, whose Pakistani leader was then hiding in Karachi as a part of the plot that killed Daniel Pearl. Abu Baraa said from London: “There will be a fatwa issued regarding Malala Yousafzai, taking into account the full story of her injury, including her public statements in support of the occupying US army in the region and mocking of key symbols of Islam such as hijab and jihad.” Back in Pakistan, the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa banned Malala’s book from the premises of Peshawar University. Malala was not supposed to go to her native Swat but she did sneak away from Islamabad for a short visit to see her friends. She has spent her Nobel Prize money to build a school in the Shangla district of Swat, the beautiful valley where the armies of Islam created an inferno of sharia in 2008, driving three million inhabitants out of the valley and destroying all schools. In 2009, Pakistan felt that the army of jihad fighters it had gestated were going to fall on Islamabad not far away from Swat, and got the army to oust Fazlullah from there. Three years later, Fazlullah nearly killed Malala while she was going to school, putting a bullet through her head.

But many politicians and clerics were not in favour of challenging Fazlullah. To the frog-chorus of intellectuals recommending “negotiations” with the al Qaeda-led elements, one could only offer a glimpse of what the warlord in Swat wanted. As a topic for discussion, he put forward three demands: One, evacuation of the army from Swat so that he can legitimise his occupation of it; two, enforcement of sharia in the area — which of course means the kind of sharia enforced under Taliban; and three, scrapping of all criminal cases registered against his men. Last time Islamabad had negotiated with the Taliban in Waziristan, it had agreed to remove its checkposts and virtually leave the territory to those patronised by al Qaeda. Swat was destined to be the state al Qaeda wanted to create as an Islamic utopia manned by the likes of Fazlullah who had the money and the manpower to run it. With tax on trade of all sorts and the vehicle “token system”, the warlord had enough revenue to finance his 30,000-strong army and even send it into all parts of the Tribal Areas to help other Taliban elements. He also has a contingent of suicide-bombers whose outreach included the entire length and breadth of Pakistan. Salaries paid to the ranks and officers ranged from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.

In 2018, Malala’s response to Fazlullah has come in the shape of a three-storey tall school for girls complete with a computer lab, a playground and a library. This is also her challenge to what Pakistan tried so hard to become. The people of Shangla don’t want too much publicity about the school because the Taliban, now led by Fazlullah in Afghanistan, can still send in their killers at will. There are 183 girl students in the school today, most between the ages of five and 12, 38 of them orphans. But in the rest of Pakistan, Malalas are still not treated right. If you are not a cleric or “drunk with the wine of faith” you can yet be an isolationist hating anything to do with the West from where the funds come to ease the birth of Pakistan’s civil society. When laws are infructuous, the suffering population leans on interest groups for advocacy and the few Pakistani women who know the real plight of their deprived gender rise in their defence. The state that wins no wars shows masculinity against defenceless NGOs, calling them agents of foreign powers set to destroy Pakistan’s pristine culture. And the woman goes on suffering, exploited by her own family while vulnerable to an indifferent state.

                                    

Q1. As per the passage, Malala was Pakistan’s second Nobel laureate. Who was the first Nobel Laureate of Pakistan?

(a) Abu Baraa

(b) Anjem Choudary

(c) Dr Abdus Salam 

(d) Aafiya Siddiqi

(e) Hsuan Tsang

Show Answer

S1. Ans.(c)
Sol. Refer 1st para 2nd line.

Q2. Which of the following statements is/are incorrect in the context of the passage?

(I) Malala spent her Nobel prize money to build a school in the shangla district of Swat.

(II) Malala’s book was banned from the premises of Peshawar University by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

(III) Al Qaeda wanted Swat to become a perfect place fulfilling the desires of Fazlullah.

(a) Only (I)

(b) Only (II)

(c) Both (I) and (II)

(d) All are correct

(e) None is Correct.

Show Answer

S2. Ans.(d)
Sol. All are correct in context of the passage. Refer 2nd para and 3rd para.

Q3. As per the passage, who is called as the ‘warlord in swat’?

(a) Fazlullah 

(b) Malala

(c) Abu Baraa

(d) Aafiya Siddiqi

(e) Anjem Choudary

Show Answer

S3. Ans.(a)
Sol. Warlord is referred to Fazlullah here. Refer 3rd para first three lines.

Q4. Which of the following demands put forward by Fazlullah in the above passage are correct?

(I) Evacuation of the army from Swat so that he can validate his rule. 

(II) Enforcement of sharia in the Swat similar to that under Taiwan. 

(III) Discarding all criminal cases registered against his men.

(a) Only (I)

(b) Only (II)

(c) Both (I) and (II)

(d) All are correct

(e) None is Correct.

Show Answer

S4. Ans.(d)
Sol. All statements are correct. Refer 3rd paragraph.

Q5. Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage above?

(a) Nobel Laureates of Pakistan

(b) Empowering Women

(c) Reluctantly, Malala 

(d) Pakistan: Story of Taiwan

(e) None of the Above

Show Answer

S5. Ans.(c)
Sol. The most appropriate title for the passage is “Reluctantly, Malala ”

Q6. Choose the word which is MOST SIMILAR to the word given in passage.

IMPERVIOUS

(a) squishy

(b) unaffected 

(c) malleable

(d) pliable

(e) susceptible

Show Answer

S6. Ans.(b)
Sol. Impervious: unable to be affected by.
Squishy: soft and moist.
Malleable: easily influenced
Pliable: easily influenced.
Susceptible: likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.

Q7. Choose the word which is MOST SIMILAR to the word given in passage.

OUSTED

(a) Harbor

(b) Lodge

(c) Enthrone

(d) Banished 

(e) Baptize

Show Answer

S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. Ousted: drive out or expel (someone) from a position or place.
Banished: send (someone) away from a country or place as an official punishment.
Harbor: give a home or shelter to.
Lodge: make or become firmly fixed or embedded in a place.
Enthrone: install (a monarch or bishop) on a throne, especially during a ceremony to mark the beginning of their rule.
Baptize: admit (someone) into a specified Church by baptism.

Q8. Choose the word which is most opposite to the following word given in bold in the passage

SNEAK

(a) Ambush

(b) Evade

(c) Delude

(d) Slither

(e) Overt 

Show Answer

S8. Ans.(e)
Sol. Sneak: undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
Overt: done or shown openly; plainly apparent
Ambush: make a surprise attack on (someone) from a concealed position.
Evade: escape or avoid (someone or something), especially by guile or trickery.
Delude: make (someone) believe something that is not true.
Slither: move smoothly over a surface with a twisting or oscillating motion.

Q9. Choose the word which is most opposite to the following word given in bold in the passage

VULNERABLE

 (a) Accessible

(b) Liable

(c) Unsusceptible 

(d) Untenable

(e) None of the above

Show Answer

S9. Ans.(c)
Sol. Vulnerable: being in a situation where one is likely to meet with harm
Unsusceptible: not likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.
Liable: likely to experience (something undesirable).
Untenable: (especially of a position or view) not able to be maintained or defended against attack or objection.

Q10.  Choose the word which is most opposite to the following word given in bold in the passage

ABET

(a) Dissuade 

(b) Condone

(c) Instigate

(d) Goad

(e) Endorse

Show Answer

S10. Ans.(a)
Sol. Abet: encourage or assist (someone) to do something wrong, in particular to commit a crime.
Dissuade: persuade (someone) not to take a particular course of action.
Condone: approve or sanction (something), especially with reluctance.
Instigate: incite someone to do something, especially something bad.
Goad: provoke or annoy (someone) so as to stimulate an action or reaction.
Endorse: declare one’s public approval or support of

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 word in each case which can most suitably complete the sentence without altering the meaning of the statement. 

Inequality occurs in many (11) ……………………., only some of which are economic. And when we speak of economic inequality, again the reference is to a very large canvas, which must be (12) …………………….  very severely in the interests of tractability. Accordingly, by “economic inequality”, we shall mainly mean interpersonal inequality in the distribution of incomes. This is as good a place as any to observe that the enterprise of measurement—including that of socio-economic (13) …………………. such as poverty and inequality—has tended to trigger two types of reaction among practitioners. On the one hand, we have the “measurement fetishists”—those who seldom see poverty or inequality as felt, experienced, human conditions beyond the boundaries of equations and formulas. At the other extreme, we have the “measurement nihilists”—those who regard measurement as a cold, calculating, soulless exercise (14) ………………….. by “experts” who trade in (15) ……………………. symbols and unreliable data to construct misleading pictures of reality.

Q11. 

(a) area

(b) sites

(c) dimensions

(d) phases

(e) types

Show Answer

S11. Ans.(c)
Sol. Dimensions- aspects of a given thing

Q12.

(a) refrain

(b) allowed

(c) available

(d) unbounded

(e) restricted

Show Answer

S12. Ans.(e)
Sol. Restricted- limited within bounds

Q13.

(a) faulty

(b) phenomena

(c) elementary

(d) content

(e) schedule

Show Answer

S13. Ans.(b)
Sol. Phenomena- a thing or being, event or process, perceptible through senses

Q14.

(a) training

(b) regulating

(c) guiding

(d) conducted

(e) exercising

Show Answer

S14. Ans.(d)
Sol. Conducted– the act or method of direct or controlling

Q15.

(a) gloomy

(b) fainted

(c) mazing

(d) mundane

(e) arcane

Show Answer

S15. Ans.(e)
Sol. Arcane- understood by only few; obscure

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