Directions (1-10): Read the following passage and answer the questions as directed. There are some blanks given in the passage based on which some questions are framed, and some words are highlighted as well to help you answer some of the questions.
Earlier last week, the World Health Organization announced that the southeastern African country of Malawi would begin vaccinating children under the age of two against malaria. While trial runs conducted between 2009 and 2014 reveal that the …(A)…. of the vaccine is expected to be 40% — “the vaccine prevented four in 10 cases of clinical malaria” — it is still expected to substantively aid other anti-malarial efforts like mosquito nets, sanitation etc. (B) For much of history, the female Anopheles mosquito has been greatest of human enemies and the Plasmodium it injects into the bloodstream among the deadliest weapons in its arsenal. (C) (1) Perhaps this can be seen most (2) died at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II where, while 1,700 Americans (3) starkly from injuries (4) inflicted by the Japanese, over 4-5,000 died due to malaria. Amidst all these stories of malaria and yellow fever, there is a tendency to think about these diseases as stand-alone phenomena, affecting the here-and-now. What is often forgotten is the mosquito’s extraordinary influence on how societies have evolved, ___________(D)______________. That historians have occasionally tipped their hats to the prowess of disease in shaping human history is not surprising. Thucydides in The History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the earliest examples, when he writes about the impact of the ‘plague’ of Athens in 430 B.C.E — was it bubonic plague, typhoid, typhus fever, or Ebola; we can’t be sure — that ……..(E)……the city-state during its war against Sparta. The Romans, ever so (F)relentlessly colourful in documenting their travails, even had names for the great waves of disease that ravaged their cities — the Antonine Plague, the Plague of Cyprian, the Plague of Justinian. In ancient India, the great physician-scholar Sushruta wrote about ‘vishama jwara’ (intermittent fevers), which subsequent generations of commentators claimed were caused by ‘bhutabhishanga’ (spectral bodies); the latter were diagnosed as poisonous insects by even later commentators such as Chakrapani. Modern students of Ayurveda often interpret this as among the earliest evidence of malarial fevers in India…………(G)…………….. A few rare historians such J.R. McNeill have, however, upended conventional wisdom when they frame historical events as a consequence of biological factors. Using a concept he calls “differential resistance” — those who have earned immunity thanks to malarial or yellow fever attacks as a child versus those who succumb to it on first exposure — McNeill’s narrative of the colonisation of Central America relies on mosquitoes as its protagonists. The Spanish Empire of the 17th and 18th centuries, which raised armies from native-born South Americans defended its territories against the English, whose soldiers came from the home country and succumbed due to lack of immunity. (H) More (1)provocatively, in Charles Mann’s fantastic survey of the post-Columbus world, titled 1493, he builds a (2) inherited case that the institution of transatlantic slavery of Africans from the 17th century onwards over-flourished because the Africans had (3) careful immunity to Plasmodium vivax because of their lack of a (4)protein called Duffy antigen. In contrast, white servants from Europe (cheaper to import than African slaves) fell systematically ill and succumbed in the Americas. (I) Malaria in modern India is an arms race story, between the State’s schemes to annihilate mosquitoes and newer generations of mosquito resistance. As of 1947, there were an estimated 7.5 crore malarial cases among a population of 33 crore. In the decades that followed independence — from the 1950s and 1960s — cases declined dramatically, with 1964 figures estimated at 1,00,000. This was largely achieved by “indoor residual spraying” of the chemical DDT under the ……. (J)…… of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
Q1. Which of the following words given in the options should come at the place marked as (A) in the above passage to make it grammatically correct and contextually meaningful. Also, the word should fill in the two sentences given below to make them contextually correct and meaningful.
(i) The spirit of Vedic worship is pervaded by a devout belief in the _____________ of invocation and sacrificial offering.
(ii) When its ____________ was not eternal, its effect was considered to endure for twenty years.
(a) surrogacy
(b) literacy
(c) efficacy
(d) bellicose
(e) juxtapose
Q2. In the above passage, a sentence B is given in Italics. There may or may not be an error in one part of the sentence. Choose the part which has an error in it as your answer. If there is no error, then choose option (e) as your answer.
(a) For much of history
(b) the female Anopheles mosquito has been
(c) greatest of human enemies and the Plasmodium
(d) it injects into the bloodstream among the deadliest weapons in its arsenal.
(e) no error
Q3. The sentence given in (C) has four words given in bold. Amongst the given bold words which of the followings must interchange to make the sentence grammatically and contextually correct and meaningful?
(a) 1-3
(b) 2-4
(c) 1-4
(d) 2-3
(e) 3-4
Q4. Which of the following phrases should fill the blank (D) to make it contextually and grammatically meaningful and correct respectively?
(a) European colonialism began in the fifteenth century when the Spanish and Portuguese began exploring the Americas
(b) The colonial encirclement of the world is an integral component of European history
(c) How institutions have emerged, and the history of colonization itself
(d) Emigrated from the island to escape poverty and starvation
(e) Many of whom were brought to the country as a result of the effects of the Potato Famine
Q5. Which of the following words given in the options should come at the place marked as ‘E’ in the above paragraph to make it grammatically and contextually meaningful and correct. Also, the word should fill the two sentences given below to make them contextually correct and meaningful?
(i) Half the population of this planet had been _______________ by famine and war.
(ii) The city would be completely dead before morning, ____________ within a day.
(a) decimated
(b) relegated
(c) researched
(d) published
(e) mitigated
Q6. A word is given in bold in F. Choose the word which should replace the word given in bold to make the sentence correct and meaningful. If no change is required, choose option (e) as your answer.
(a) rigorously
(b) Stubbornly
(c) scrupulously
(d) Aloofly
(e) None correction required
Q7. Two sentences are given in italics on both sides of G. Which of the following statements can come in between the two sentences in place of G so as to maintain the continuity of the paragraph?
(a)No different from the unseen strings of politics of that time that make marionettes of us.
(b) We need new solutions to get the malaria response back on track, and this vaccine gives us a promising tool to get there
(c) The pilot programme is designed to generate evidence and experience to inform WHO policy recommendations on the broader use of the RTS,S malaria vaccine.
(d) There was no aspect of life in the country that was not affected by malaria.
(e) Yet, for most historical narratives, diseases and disease vectors (like mosquitos) have rarely made for exciting protagonists or even causal agents.
Q8. The sentence given in H has four words given in bold. Amongst given bolded words, which of the followings must replace each other to make the sentence contextually correct and meaningful.
(a) 2-4
(b) 2-3
(c) 1-4
(d) 3-4
(e) 1-3
Q9. In the passage given, a sentence I is given in Italics. There may or may not be an error in one part of the sentence. Choose the part which has an error in it as your answer.
(a) Malaria in modern India is an arms
(b) race story, between the State’s schemes
(c) to annihilate mosquitoes and newer
(d) generations of mosquito resistance.
(e) no error
Q10. Which of the following words should fill the blank given in J to make it contextually correct and meaningful?
(a) change
(b) conduct
(c) benevolence
(d) auspices
(e) symmetry
Directions (11-15): Read the following passage and answer the following questions. Some words are highlighted to help you answer some of the questions
Emerging market economies continue to be in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as their currencies resume their prolonged slide against the U.S. dollar. The Indian rupee weakened past the 71 mark for the first time ever on Friday, registering a loss of about 10% of its value against the dollar since the beginning of the year. This makes the rupee the worst-performing currency in Asia. The Argentine peso, which has lost more than half of its value in 2018, for instance, witnessed a sharp loss of more than 10% on Thursday alone. This happened despite a 15 percentage point increase in interest rates by Argentina’s central bank in order to stem the outflow of capital and shore up the value of the currency. The Turkish lira, which has lost almost half its value this year, is another currency in the doldrums. The crises in both Turkey and Argentina have been intensified by domestic economic issues. But the common factor underlying the wider carnage among emerging market currencies is the increasing demand for the dollar across the globe. The tightening of liquidity in the West, with the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates, has played a major role in the strengthening of the dollar since February this year. Investors who earlier put their money in emerging markets have recently preferred American assets, ________(A)_________. Such a widespread shift of capital across the globe owing to the variations in interest rates is normal whenever the global interest rate cycle turns. Emerging market countries, which earlier benefited from the easing of monetary conditions in the West, are now feeling the pain of a return to monetary policy normalcy. This does not, however, mean that emerging market economies can simply blame external economic factors for the present turmoil in their currencies and hope for better times. The management of these economies has generally been far from ideal, particularly when it comes to hard-hit economies like Turkey and Argentina. The chief among the troubles of emerging market economies is higher domestic inflation when compared to the economies in the West. It is only natural, then, that their currencies value deteriorated against the dollar and other major Western currencies. Unless there is a drastic change in emerging market monetary policy vis-à-vis the West, this is likely to be the case for a long time. The mandate of emerging market central banks in the current scenario should be to let their currencies find their true value in a smooth manner.
Q11. Why has the value of emerging market economies slid over time against the dollar?
(a) A higher per capita income in developed countries has affected the emerging economies.
(b) Higher domestic inflation and the inappropriate management of the emerging economies
(c) The competition among the emerging economies have increased which has resulted in lower currency value.
(d) The emerging economies are either having high population growth or large population which is adversely affecting the currency value.
(e) None of these
Q12. According to information available in the passage above, why has the value of dollar seen a sudden rise?
(a) Investors have demanded more of dollar in order to make a profit in the near future
(b) Exports prices in USA increased at a greater rate than its imports prices
(c) A favourable balance of payments in USA has given a boost to value of dollar
(d) The US Federal Reserve had increased the interest rates and the liquidity availability was tightened in west.
(e) None of the above
Q13. Which of the following phrases can perfectly fill in the blank (A) to make it a contextually meaningful and grammatically correct statement?
(a) long-term investment to the infrastructure
(b) a revolution sparking a change in government could result in a return to nationalization
(c) EME investment is higher than an investment in a developed market
(d) which now yield higher returns
(e) slow and often stagnant at times
Q14. Which of the following sentences best explains the meaning of phrase “in the doldrums” as highlighted in the passage given above?
(a) It is clear, however, that the political implications of this issue are well matching with the general interests of the author.
(b) In my days of vigor and power as a stock broker, I was making millions of dollars each year.
(c) The employees were in a profitable condition until the management wrapped up the entire business.
(d) Despite the terrible weather that hit the county this week, the surface at the JP O Sullivan Park was in perfect condition.
(e) Mexican media giant Televisa and Brazilian pulp and paper firm Suzano raised a combined US$2bn of bonds on Tuesday, revitalizing a Latin American primary market that had been sluggish and in low spirits.
Q15. According to the passage what is the synonym of ‘prolonged’?
(a) elongate
(b) approached
(c) chicanery
(d) disseminate
(e) latent
Solutions
S1. Ans. (c)
Sol. Efficacy- the ability to produce a desired or intended result.
Juxtapose- place or deal with close together for contrasting effect.
Bellicose- demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight.
The given phrase “of the vaccine is expected to be 40% — the vaccine prevented four in 10 cases of clinical malaria” in the passage gives a clue that among the given options, the option (c) ‘efficacy’ is the most appropriate word to fill the blank. Hence, the option (c) is the correct answer.
S2. Ans. (c)
Sol. There is an error in the phrase mentioned in the option (c).
Superlative adjectives are used to describe an object which is at the upper or lower limit of a quality (the tallest, the smallest, the fastest, the highest). They are used in sentences where a subject is compared to a group of objects. Noun (subject) + verb + the + superlative adjective + noun (object).
Hence, the option (c) is the correct answer.
S3. Ans. (d)
Sol. Phrase ‘, while 1,700 Americans starkly from injuries” doesn’t make any sense whereas ‘, while 1,700 Americans died from injuries’ is pretty much correct. The positions of the words marked with (1) and (4) are correct. Upon interchanging 2-3, we get a sentence which is grammatically and contextually meaningful and correct as “Perhaps this can be seen most starkly at the Battle of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II where, while 1,700 Americans died from injuries inflicted by the Japanese, over 4-5,000 died due to malaria.” Hence, the option (d) is the correct answer.
S4. Ans. (c)
Sol. Option (c) is the correct answer choice. Option (a) and (b) can be easily eliminated as they have talked of colonization which is not in the context of the given passage. Option (e) can be also eliminated as it is talking about the dearth of food (potato) same as the option (d) which is talking about the poverty and starvation. Hence, the option (c) is the correct answer.
S5. Ans. (a)
Sol. Decimated- kill, destroy, or remove a large proportion of.
relegated- assign an inferior rank or position to
the given phrase “was it bubonic plague, typhoid, typhus fever, or Ebola” before the blank suggests that the correct word to fill the blank would be ‘decimated’ because all the diseases mentioned in the phrase are malign in nature, Hence, the option (a) is the correct answer.
S6. Ans. (c)
Sol. Relentlessly- in an unceasingly intense or harsh way.
Stubbornly- in a manner that shows dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something.
Aloofly- not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant
Scrupulously- in a very careful and thorough way.
Hence, the option (c) is the correct answer.
S7. Ans. (e)
Sol. Among the given options, only option (e) gels well with the preceding and the following sentences of (G). Though the rests seem in the context but don’t fill the blank in a sensible manner.
Hence, the option (e) is the correct answer.
S8. Ans. (b)
Sol. The position of (1) (provocatively) and (4) (protein) seems correct, but the words ‘careful’ and ‘inherited’ seem to be incorrectly placed. Phrase “the Africans had careful immunity” doesn’t make any sense instead phrase “the Africans had inherited immunity” makes a contextually correct sense. Hence, upon interchanging 2-3, we get the sentence becoming grammatically and contextually correct and meaningful respectively. “More provocatively, in Charles Mann’s fantastic survey of the post-Columbus world, titled 1493, he builds a careful case that the institution of transatlantic slavery of Africans from the 17th century onwards over-flourished because the Africans had inherited immunity to Plasmodium vivax because of their lack of a protein called Duffy antigen.”
Hence, the option (b) is the correct answer.
S9. Ans. (e)
Sol. The given sentence is grammatically correct and contextually meaningful and doesn’t require any changes. Hence, the option (e) ‘no error’ is the correct answer.
S10. Ans. (d)
Sol. Option (d) is the correct answer choice.
Auspices- approval, support, and control:
Benevolence- the quality of being well meaning; kindness.
Hence, the blank should be filled by the word ‘Auspices’ and so, option (d) is the correct answer.
S11. Ans. (b)
Sol. To validate the answer, refer to the following information provided in the passage given above, “The management of these economies has generally been far from ideal, particularly when it comes to hard-hit economies like Turkey and Argentina. The chief among the troubles of emerging market economies is higher domestic inflation when compared to the economies in the West. It is only natural, then, that their currencies value deteriorated against the dollar and other major Western currencies.” From the quoted text, we can infer that the statement given in option (b) is correct as per the information given in the above passage. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.
S12. Ans. (d)
Sol. Referring to the statement given in the passage above, which mentions, “The tightening of liquidity in the West, with the U.S. Federal Reserve raising interest rates, has played a major role in the strengthening of the dollar since February this year”, we can infer that the quoted text has been clearly justified in the statement given in option (d). Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S13. Ans. (d)
Sol. Among the options given below, only the phrase given in option (d) fits in perfectly in the given blank to make the statement contextually meaningful and grammatically correct. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.
S14. Ans. (e)
Sol. Here, the statement (e) clearly justifies the meaning of the idiom “in the doldrums”. When something is “in the doldrums” it is usually “depressed; dull and listless”.
S15. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘Prolonged’ means continuing for a long time or longer than usual; lengthy.
‘elongated’ means to become longer.
