CDS English 2017 Question Paper

S1 : Egypt lies in the north-east corner of Africa.
P : Most of it is desert or semi-desert.
Q : It has very little rainfall.
R : It is four times as big as Great Britain in size.
S : Only a twenty-fifth of the total area is cultivable.
S6 : The whole country depends on the water of the Nile.

S1 : In mechanical efforts, you improve by perpetual practice.
P : He cannot go on shooting wide or falling short, and still fancy that he is making progress.
Q : This is so because the object to be attained is a matter of actual experiment in which you either succeed or fail.
R : He must either correct his aim, or persevere in his error with his eyes open.
S : If a man aims at a mark with bow and arrow, he must either hit it or aim it.
S6 : There is neither excuse nor temptation for the latter.

S1 : Isaac's mother married again.
P : But he was known to be very clever at making things.
Q : She sent him to school.
R : Isaac was left to the care of his good old grandmother.
S : In his early years Isaac did not appear to be a very bright student.
S6 : He had a set of little tools and saw of various sizes made by himself.

S1 : The examination system must be regarded as the chief wrecker of young nerves.
P : It makes me jump out of the bed, all in a sweat.
Q : It does this by building up a tension, for a part of the year, all through one's youth.
R : And after four decades, the same nervousness sometimes recurs to me in nightmares.
S : I remember the desperate nervousness that used to grip me from January to April every year.
S6 : If I become a Vice-Chancellor, my first act would be to abolish all examinations in my university.

S1 : History is a subject that is so little valued today that it is almost impossible to win world fame as a historian; yet that is exactly what Toynbee was able to.
P : We usually think of history as a chronological account of the development of various states and empires under ruler.
Q : Toynbee's view of history was different.
R : He tries to find the pattern behind the birth, growth and decay of civilization.
S : Though he used the recorded history of mankind, but he was interested not merely in the chronology of single states or group but in the rise and fall of whole civilizations.
S6 : Among the civilizations that he studied was that of India.

S1 : Science first began to become important after A.D. 1500.
P : As a result of this, books came to be circulated.
Q : During the Middle Ages the coming of Science was hindered by the Church.
R : In the middle of the fifteenth century, however, the Turks captured the city of Constantinople and the Greek books were scattered far and wide.
S : It considered free inquiry into the nature of things to be wicked.
S6 : Men read them, became inquisitive again, and began to want to find things out.

S1 : Phatik was a mischievous boy of fourteen.
P : It was then that Phatik's uncle offered to take the boy to Kolkata.
Q : She was much worried about his education.
R : His mother found it difficult to bring him up.
S : Away from his home Phatik became sober and industrious.
S6 : Ultimately he distinguished himself as a scholar.

S1 : Whenever I met Baba Amte I was reminded of an anecdote my grandmother used to tell me.
P : He once made an idol of God.
Q : As the idol was nearing completion, the sculptor was becoming more and more withdrawn into himself.
R : And the moment it was complete, he threw away his chisel and hammer and bowed to the idol of God he had just created.
S : There was a great sculptor.
S6 : He forgot that he had made it.

S1 : Ross sent an account of his work, together with slide and specimens to Manson.
P : They produced a profound sensation.
Q : In July 1898, Manson described Ross's results to the British Medical Association.
R : The President of the Royal Society came to Manson's house and inspected Ross's materials and said that 'it was of remarkable interest and value'.
S : When Manson had finished, the whole audience rose and cheered.
S6 : Ross was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1901.

S1 : Civilization dawned when early man learnt how to produce heat and energy by burning wood.
P : Then steam was used to produce electricity.
Q : In this century great use has been made of oil and natural gas and the use of atomic reactors also has provided another source of energy.
R : Much later, the first industrial revolution was based on the production of steam by burning coal.
S : But none of these fuels is renewable.
S6 : When they have been used, they cannot be replaced.