Comprehension Passage — Class 12 General Ability Test PYQs

Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct option from the given options, based solely on the passage. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet accordingly.

An attempt to determine the number of languages in the world is affected by other factors. A few new languages do continue to be discovered, even these days, as unexplored regions of the world begin to be opened up. The discovery does not usually take place straight away. Often there are similarities with an already known language which make the investigators assume that what they have found is just a dialect of that language. Only after a considerable period of contact does it transpire that the speech is so different that it has to be considered a different language. It takes a language survey to establish the facts, and there are still many countries where such surveys are incomplete or have not even begun. The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be. Because many such peoples are bilingual or multilingual, and converse with outsiders in lingua franca, it may take a while before linguists come to realize that there is an ethnic language there at all.

Which one of the following is NOT the reason for the difficulty in estimating the number of languages of the world?

Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct option from the given options, based solely on the passage. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet accordingly.

An attempt to determine the number of languages in the world is affected by other factors. A few new languages do continue to be discovered, even these days, as unexplored regions of the world begin to be opened up. The discovery does not usually take place straight away. Often there are similarities with an already known language which make the investigators assume that what they have found is just a dialect of that language. Only after a considerable period of contact does it transpire that the speech is so different that it has to be considered a different language. It takes a language survey to establish the facts, and there are still many countries where such surveys are incomplete or have not even begun. The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be. Because many such peoples are bilingual or multilingual, and converse with outsiders in lingua franca, it may take a while before linguists come to realize that there is an ethnic language there at all.

Which one of the following is a way to establish the discovery of a new language?

Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct option from the given options, based solely on the passage. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet accordingly.

An attempt to determine the number of languages in the world is affected by other factors. A few new languages do continue to be discovered, even these days, as unexplored regions of the world begin to be opened up. The discovery does not usually take place straight away. Often there are similarities with an already known language which make the investigators assume that what they have found is just a dialect of that language. Only after a considerable period of contact does it transpire that the speech is so different that it has to be considered a different language. It takes a language survey to establish the facts, and there are still many countries where such surveys are incomplete or have not even begun. The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be. Because many such peoples are bilingual or multilingual, and converse with outsiders in lingua franca, it may take a while before linguists come to realize that there is an ethnic language there at all.

Which one of the following statements is correct?

Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct option from the given options, based solely on the passage. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet accordingly.

An attempt to determine the number of languages in the world is affected by other factors. A few new languages do continue to be discovered, even these days, as unexplored regions of the world begin to be opened up. The discovery does not usually take place straight away. Often there are similarities with an already known language which make the investigators assume that what they have found is just a dialect of that language. Only after a considerable period of contact does it transpire that the speech is so different that it has to be considered a different language. It takes a language survey to establish the facts, and there are still many countries where such surveys are incomplete or have not even begun. The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be. Because many such peoples are bilingual or multilingual, and converse with outsiders in lingua franca, it may take a while before linguists come to realize that there is an ethnic language there at all.

'The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be,' means

Directions : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct option from the given options, based solely on the passage. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet accordingly.

An attempt to determine the number of languages in the world is affected by other factors. A few new languages do continue to be discovered, even these days, as unexplored regions of the world begin to be opened up. The discovery does not usually take place straight away. Often there are similarities with an already known language which make the investigators assume that what they have found is just a dialect of that language. Only after a considerable period of contact does it transpire that the speech is so different that it has to be considered a different language. It takes a language survey to establish the facts, and there are still many countries where such surveys are incomplete or have not even begun. The people may be known, but the identity of their language may not be. Because many such peoples are bilingual or multilingual, and converse with outsiders in lingua franca, it may take a while before linguists come to realize that there is an ethnic language there at all.

Which one of the following words from passage means 'come to be known'?

Directions Read the following passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based solely on the contents of the passage and the opinion of the author.

The grouping or assemblage of plants, animals and microbes we observe when we study a natural forest, a grassland, a pond, a coral reef or some other undisturbed area, is referred to as the area's biota or biotic community. The plant portion of the biotic community includes all vegetation, from large trees down through to microscopic algae. Likewise, the animal portion includes everything from large mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians through to earthworms, tiny insects and mites. Microbes encompass a large array of microscopic bacteria, fungi and protozoans. Thus, the biotic community comprises a plant community, an animal community and a microbial community.

The particular kind of biotic community found in a given area is, in large part, determined by abiotic factors such as the amount of water or moisture present, the temperature, the salinity, or the type of soil in the area. These abiotic factors both support and limit the particular community. For example, a relative lack of available moisture prevents the growth of most species of plants, but supports certain species, such as cacti; these kinds of areas are deserts. Land with plenty of available moisture and a suitable temperature supports forests. The presence of water is the major factor that sustains aquatic communities.

The first step in investigating a biotic community may be simply to catalogue all the species present. Species are the different kinds of plants, animals and microbes in the community. A given species includes all those individuals which have a strong similarity in appearance to one another and which are distinct in appearance from other such groups. Each species in a biotic community is represented by a certain population — that is, by a certain number of individuals that make up the interbreeding, reproducing group.

Which one of the following does not belong to the biotic community ?

Directions : In this section, you have a short passage. After the passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and the opinion of author only.

We live in a time when globalisation is rapidly encompassing travel, information, trade and investment. The internet ties people together in ways unimagined a few years ago. The globalisation of health, however, remains an elusive goal, similar to the globalisation of economic well-being. Laurie Garrett, in The Coming Plague, describes an unwelcome form of globalisation: the globalisation of disease. Garrett examines the recent history of emerging diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, Hantavirus, Rift Valley Fever, Legionnaires' disease, and others. She also explains the resurgence of familiar diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and pneumonia as a consequence of the widespread and unwise use of antibiotics. Many of the new diseases are clearly linked to changes in land use, which brings humans into close contacts with rodents or other animals that harbour viruses previously unknown to medicine and often deadly to humans. Resurgent diseases, by contrast, are a creation of our medical practice. By treating people with antibiotics without restraint, we unknowingly select strains that are immune to the antibiotics and that pass on their resistant genes to unrelated bacteria by way of plasmid transfer. The heroes of her book are the women and men on the frontlines of epidemiology. Garrett makes a plea for a greater commitment from our universities, medical schools, and government agencies to train workers who will be capable of recognizing new diseases and who will be able to move about equally well in the laboratory, the hospital and the field in pursuit of knowledge and public-health intervention around the world.

According to the passage, globalisation of health has become imperative due to

Directions : In this section, you have a short passage. After the passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and the opinion of author only.

We live in a time when globalisation is rapidly encompassing travel, information, trade and investment. The internet ties people together in ways unimagined a few years ago. The globalisation of health, however, remains an elusive goal, similar to the globalisation of economic well-being. Laurie Garrett, in The Coming Plague, describes an unwelcome form of globalisation: the globalisation of disease. Garrett examines the recent history of emerging diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, Hantavirus, Rift Valley Fever, Legionnaires' disease, and others. She also explains the resurgence of familiar diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and pneumonia as a consequence of the widespread and unwise use of antibiotics. Many of the new diseases are clearly linked to changes in land use, which brings humans into close contacts with rodents or other animals that harbour viruses previously unknown to medicine and often deadly to humans. Resurgent diseases, by contrast, are a creation of our medical practice. By treating people with antibiotics without restraint, we unknowingly select strains that are immune to the antibiotics and that pass on their resistant genes to unrelated bacteria by way of plasmid transfer. The heroes of her book are the women and men on the frontlines of epidemiology. Garrett makes a plea for a greater commitment from our universities, medical schools, and government agencies to train workers who will be capable of recognizing new diseases and who will be able to move about equally well in the laboratory, the hospital and the field in pursuit of knowledge and public-health intervention around the world.

According to the passage, resurgent diseases are affected by :

1. Medical practices
2. Overuse of antibiotics
3. Emergence of new strains

Select the correct answer using the code given below :

Directions : In this section, you have a short passage. After the passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and the opinion of author only.

We live in a time when globalisation is rapidly encompassing travel, information, trade and investment. The internet ties people together in ways unimagined a few years ago. The globalisation of health, however, remains an elusive goal, similar to the globalisation of economic well-being. Laurie Garrett, in The Coming Plague, describes an unwelcome form of globalisation: the globalisation of disease. Garrett examines the recent history of emerging diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, Hantavirus, Rift Valley Fever, Legionnaires' disease, and others. She also explains the resurgence of familiar diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and pneumonia as a consequence of the widespread and unwise use of antibiotics. Many of the new diseases are clearly linked to changes in land use, which brings humans into close contacts with rodents or other animals that harbour viruses previously unknown to medicine and often deadly to humans. Resurgent diseases, by contrast, are a creation of our medical practice. By treating people with antibiotics without restraint, we unknowingly select strains that are immune to the antibiotics and that pass on their resistant genes to unrelated bacteria by way of plasmid transfer. The heroes of her book are the women and men on the frontlines of epidemiology. Garrett makes a plea for a greater commitment from our universities, medical schools, and government agencies to train workers who will be capable of recognizing new diseases and who will be able to move about equally well in the laboratory, the hospital and the field in pursuit of knowledge and public-health intervention around the world.

According to the passage, many new diseases are emerging due to change in land use because

Directions : In this section, you have a short passage. After the passage, you will find some items based on the passage. Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and the opinion of author only.

We live in a time when globalisation is rapidly encompassing travel, information, trade and investment. The internet ties people together in ways unimagined a few years ago. The globalisation of health, however, remains an elusive goal, similar to the globalisation of economic well-being. Laurie Garrett, in The Coming Plague, describes an unwelcome form of globalisation: the globalisation of disease. Garrett examines the recent history of emerging diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, Hantavirus, Rift Valley Fever, Legionnaires' disease, and others. She also explains the resurgence of familiar diseases like tuberculosis, cholera, and pneumonia as a consequence of the widespread and unwise use of antibiotics. Many of the new diseases are clearly linked to changes in land use, which brings humans into close contacts with rodents or other animals that harbour viruses previously unknown to medicine and often deadly to humans. Resurgent diseases, by contrast, are a creation of our medical practice. By treating people with antibiotics without restraint, we unknowingly select strains that are immune to the antibiotics and that pass on their resistant genes to unrelated bacteria by way of plasmid transfer. The heroes of her book are the women and men on the frontlines of epidemiology. Garrett makes a plea for a greater commitment from our universities, medical schools, and government agencies to train workers who will be capable of recognizing new diseases and who will be able to move about equally well in the laboratory, the hospital and the field in pursuit of knowledge and public-health intervention around the world.

What is the meaning of the word "epidemiology" in the passage ?