Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to the question out of the alternatives given.
How long I remained in the room with the cobra I cannot say. My servant said later that it was only half an hour, and no sound has ever been more welcome to me than the sounds I heard as my servant laid the table for dinner. I called him to the bathroom door, and told him of my predicament, and instructed him to fetch a lantern and a ladder. After another long wait, I heard the babel of voices followed by the scrapping of the ladder against the outer wall of the house, when the lantern had been lifted to the window, ten feet above the ground, it did not illuminate the room, so I told the man who was holding it to break a pane of glass and pass the lantern through the opening. The opening was too small for the lantern to be passed in upright.However, after it had been relit three times, it was finally inserted into the room and, feeling that the cobra was behind me, I turned my head and saw it lying at the bottom of the bed-room door two feet away. Leaning forward very slowly, I picked up the heavy bathmat, raised it high and let it fall as the cobra was sliding over the floor towards me. Fortunately I judged my aim accurately and the bath-mat crashed down on the cobra's neck six inches from its head. As it bit at the wood and lashed about with its tail, I took a hasty stride towards the Verandah-door and in a moment was outside among a crowd of men, armed with sticks and carrying lanterns, for word had got round to the railway quarters that I was having a life-and- death struggle with a big snake in a locked room.
'It did not illuminate the room.' Here 'illuminate' can be replaced by-
Important Questions on Reading Comprehension
Read the passage carefully and select the best answers from the given choices for the given question.
Once, an ant who had come to drink at a stream fell into the water and was carried away by the swift current. He was in great danger of drowning. A dove, perched on a nearby tree, saw the ant's danger and dropped a leaf into the water. The ant climbed on to this and was carried to safety.
Sometime after this, a hunter, creeping through the bushes, saw the dove asleep and took careful aim with his gun. He was about to fire when the ant, who was nearby, crawled forward and bit him sharply in the ankle. The hunter missed his aim, and the loud noise of the gun awakened the dove from her sleep. She saw the danger and flew swiftly away to safety. Thus, the ant repaid the dove for having saved his life in the foaming current of the stream.
Read the passage carefully and select your answer from the four alternatives for the given question.
Once, an ant who had come to drink at a stream fell into the water and was carried away by the swift current. He was in great danger of drowning. A dove, perched on a nearby tree, saw the ant's danger and dropped a leaf into the water. The ant climbed on to this and was carried to safety.
Sometime after this, a hunter, creeping through the bushes, saw the dove asleep and took careful aim with his gun. He was about to fire when the ant, who was nearby, crawled forward and bit him sharply in the ankle. The hunter missed his aim, and the loud noise of the gun awakened the dove from her sleep. She saw the danger and flew swiftly away to safety. Thus, the ant repaid the dove for having saved his life in the foaming current of the stream.
Read the following passage and choose the correct option.
“Science cannot reduce the magic of a sunset to arithmetic, nor can it express friendship with a formula" observed the eminent medical researcher, Dr. Lous Orr. He added, 'also beyond sciences' mastery of nature are love and laughter, pain and loneliness and insights into truth and beauty.' This distancing of science from the human condition perhaps explains why most foreign tourists visiting Britain flock predictably to see the hallowed homes of playwrights, writers, and poets, but choose to ignore the habitations where its eminent scientists lived and worked.
The word 'magic' refers to-
Directions: Read the following passages and choose the correct options.
“Science cannot reduce the magic of a sunset to arithmetic, nor can it express friendship with a formula" observed the eminent medical researcher, Dr. Lous Orr. He added, "also beyond sciences mastery of nature are love and laughter, pain and loneliness and insights into truth and beauty". This distancing of science from the human condition perhaps explains why most foreign tourists visiting Britain flock predictably to see the hallowed homes of playwrights, writers, and poets, but choose to ignore the habitations where its eminent scientists lived and worked.
The verb ‘flock’ refers to ___.
Directions: Read the given comprehension carefully and answer the question that follows.
The coast of the state of Maine is one of the most irregular in the world. A straight line running from the southernmost coastal city to the northernmost coastal city would measure about miles. If you followed the coastline between these points, you would travel more than ten times as far. This irregularity is the result of what is called a drowned coastline. The term comes from the glacial activity of the ice age. At that time, the whole area that is now Maine was part of a mountain range that towered above the sea. As the glacier descended, however, it expended enormous force on those mountains, and they sank into the sea. As the mountains sank, ocean water charged over the lowest parts of the remaining land, forming a series of twisting inlets and lagoons of contorted grotto and nooks. The highest parts of the former mountain range, nearest the shore, remained as islands. Mt. Desert Island is one of the most famous of all the islands left behind by the glacier. Marine fossils found here were feet above sea level, indicating the level of the shoreline prior to the glacier.
The mile-long rocky and jagged coastline of Maine keeps watch over nearly two thousand islands. Many of these islands are tiny and uninhabited, but many are home to thriving communities. Mt. Desert Island is one of the largest, most beautiful of the Maine coast islands. Measuring miles by miles, Mt. Desert was essentially formed as two distinct islands. It is split almost in half by some sound, a deep and narrow stretch of water, seven miles long.
For years, Mt. Desert Island, particularly its major settlement, Bar Harbour, afforded summer homes for the wealthy. Recently though, Bar Harbour has become a burgeoning arts community as well. But, the best part of the island is the unspoiled forest land known as Acadia National Park. Because the island sits on the boundary line between the temperate and sub-Arctic zones, the island supports the flora and fauna of both zones as well as beach, inland, and alpine plants. It also lies in a major bird migration lane and is a resting spot for many birds. The establishment of Acadia National Park in means that this natural reserve will perpetually available to all people, not just the wealthy. Visitors to Acadia may receive nature instruction from the park naturalists as well as enjoy camping, hiking, cycling, and boating. Or they may choose to spend time at the archaeological museum, learning about the Stone Age inhabitants of the island.
The best view on Mt. Desert Island is from the top of Cadillac Mountain. This mountain rises feet, making it the highest mountain on the Atlantic seaboard. From the summit, you can gaze back towards the mainland or out over the Atlantic Ocean and contemplate the beauty created by a retreating glacier.
According to the selection, the Coast of Maine is ___________.
Read the following passage and answer the given question.
She was one of those pretty, charming women who are born, as if by an error of fate, into a petty official's family. She had no dowry, no hopes, nor the slightest chance of being loved and married by a rich man, so she slipped into marriage with a minor civil servant.
Unable to afford jewels, she dressed simply. But she was wretched, for women have neither caste nor breeding in their beauty, grace, and charm replace pride of birth. Innate refinement, instinctive elegance, and wit give them their place on the only scale that counts, and these make humble girls the peers of the grandest ladies.
She suffered, feeling that every luxury should rightly have been hers. The poverty of her room, the shabby walls, the worn furniture, the ugly upholstery caused her pain. All these things that another woman of her class would not even have noticed, made her angry. The very sight of the little Breton girl who cleaned for her awoke rueful thoughts and the wildest dreams in her mind. She dreamt of rooms with oriental hangings, lighted by tall, bronze torches, and with two huge footmen in knee-breeches made drowsy by the heat from the stove, asleep in the wide armchairs. She dreamt of great drawing rooms upholstered in old silks, with fragile little tables holding priceless knickknacks, and of enchanting little sitting rooms designed for tea-time chats with famous, sought-after men whose attentions all women longed for.
She sat down to dinner at her round table with its three-day-old cloth, and watched her husband lift the lid of the soup tureen and delightedly exclaim: 'Ah, a good homemade beef stew! There's nothing better!' She visualised elegant dinners with gleaming silver and gorgeous china. She yearned for wall hangings peopled with knights and ladies and exotic birds in a fairy forest. She dreamt of eating the pink flesh of trout or the wings of grouse. She had no proper wardrobe, no jewels, nothing. And those were the only things that she loved, she felt she was made for them. She would have so loved to charm, to be envied, to be admired and sought after.
Which word best describes the actual living conditions of the couple in the selection?
Read the following passage and answer the question.
Medical waste has been a growing concern because of recent incidents of public exposure to discarded blood vials, needles (sharps), empty prescription bottles, and syringes. Medical waste can typically include general refuse, human blood and blood products, cultures and stocks of infectious agents, laboratory animal carcasses, contaminated bedding material, and pathological wastes.
Wastes are generally collected by gravity chutes, carts, or pneumatic tubes, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Chutes are limited to vertical transport, and there is some risk of exhausting contaminants into hallways if a door is left open during use. Another disadvantage of gravity chutes is that the waste container may get jammed while dropping, or it may be broken upon hitting the bottom. Carts are primarily for the horizontal transport of bagged or containerized wastes. The main risk here is that bags may be broken or torn during transport, potentially exposing the worker to the wastes. Using automated carts can reduce the potential for exposure. Pneumatic tubes offer the best performance for waste transport in a large facility. Advantages include high-speed movement, movement in any direction, and minimal intermediate storage of untreated wastes. However, some objects cannot be conveyed pneumatically.
Off-site disposal of regulated medical wastes remains a viable option for smaller hospitals (those with less than beds). Some preliminary on-site processing, such as compaction or hydro pulping, may be necessary prior to sending the waste off-site. Compaction reduces the total volume of solid wastes, often reducing transportation and disposal costs, but it does not change the hazardous characteristics of the waste. Compaction may not be economical if transportation and disposal costs are based on weight rather than volume.
Hydro pulping involves grinding the waste in the presence of an oxidizing fluid, such as a hypochloride solution. The liquid is separated from the pulp and discharged directly into the sewer unless local limits require additional pretreatment prior to discharge. The pulp can often be disposed of at a landfill. One advantage is that waste can be rendered innocuous and reduced in size within the same system. Disadvantages are the added operating burden, difficulty of controlling fugitive emissions, and the difficulty of conducting microbiological tests to determine whether all organic matters and infectious organisms have been destroyed from the waste.
On-site disposal is a feasible alternative for hospitals generating two tons or more per day of total solid waste. Common treatment techniques include steam sterilization and incineration. Although other options are available, incineration is currently the preferred method for the on-site treatment of hospital waste.
Steam sterilization is limited in the types of medical waste it can treat, but is appropriate for laboratory cultures and/or substances contaminated with infectious organisms. The waste is subjected to steam in a sealed, pressurized chamber. The liquid that may form is drained off to the sewer or sent for processing. The unit is then reopened after a vapour release to the atmosphere, and the solid waste is removed for further processing or disposal. One advantage of steam sterilization is that it has been used for many years in hospitals to sterilise instruments and containers and to treat small quantities of waste. However, since sterilization does not change the appearance of the waste, there could be a problem in gaining acceptance of the waste for landfills.
A properly designed, maintained, and operated incinerator achieves a relatively high level of organism destruction. Incineration reduces the weight and volume of the waste by as much as and is especially appropriate for pathological wastes and sharps. The most common incineration system for medical waste is the controlled-air type. The principal advantage of this type of incinerator is low particulate emissions. Rotary-kiln and grate-type units have been used, but the use of grate-type units has been discontinued because of high air emissions. The rotary kiln also puts out high emissions, and the costs have been prohibitive for smaller units.
The process that transforms waste from hazardous to harmless and diminishes waste volume is-
Read the following passage and answer the question.
A pioneer leader for women's rights, Susan B. Anthony became one of the leading women reformers of the nineteenth century. In Rochester, New York, she began her first public crusade on behalf of temperance. The temperance movement dealt with the abuses of women and children who suffered from alcoholic husbands. Also, she worked tirelessly against slavery and for women's rights. Anthony helped write the history of woman suffrage.
At the time Anthony lived, women did not have the right to vote. Because she voted in the 1872 election, a U.S. Marshall arrested Anthony. She hoped to prove that women had the legal right to vote under the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. At her trial, a hostile federal judge found her guilty and fined her $100, which she refused to pay.
Anthony did not work alone. She collaborated with reformers of women's rights such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Amelia Bloomer. Susan worked for the American Anti-Slavery Society with Frederick Douglass, a fugitive slave and black abolitionist. On July 2, 1979, the U.S. Mint honored her work by issuing the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. Although Anthony did not live to see the fruits of her efforts, the establishment of the nineteenth amendment is indebted to her efforts.
An effective reformer is-
