Reading Compreh...

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question below.[/passage-header]In India working women lead a life of dual responsibilities if they are married and have a family. In the west, many women are hard -headed careerists and are committed to their jobs. Here in India women still have traditional roles to fulfill and prefer a career to avoid domestic drudgery.
There are four categories of working women in India. Some work while they are waiting for matrimony. A majority work because they are qualified, want a second income and different kind of life for part of the day. A small section consists of career women. A sizeable number of women are breadwinners.
It is quite apparent that with a majority of working women the family takes precedence over the job. They prefer to stay in joint families where their children can be taken care of while they are at work. When they come back in the evenings from the relatively modem surroundings of their work -- spots, their personalities have to undergo a change to accommodate the demands on their time and attention by different family members whose predominant feelings are of having been neglected. These women often do their shopping on the way from the office. They reserve their weekends for heavy housework which will help them to cope with the rest of the week with relatively less tension. Weekends are also reserved for spending time with their spouses and children, for entertainment, family duties, visits and other such endless chores. Actually speaking, they hardly have time for personal needs. Despite the freedom and confidence of their jobs and pay packets, working women still prefer to leave the financial decision -- making and budgeting to their husbands. They are unwilling to compromise on their dual burdens and prefer jobs with flexible timings. They are managing their double roles admirably.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. 54964The impression was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 33918great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 12641a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun54988. 84072But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt57200 on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters, and 43077the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.38735
   This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bithynia: 38648they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities99185, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of 45472declining empire and a sinking world.
[passage-footer]
[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question given after it. [/passage-header]Conducting interviews of parents is vital to the whole process of school admissions. Most progressive schools believe in the involvement of parents in a child's admission test. Interviews, therefore, become the first building block of a long-term relationship between the schools and the parents.

The main objective of an interview is to find out the value system of the parents and to see whether they are in sync with the school's philosophy and vision. It is extremely important to develop at the beginning itself, a good relationship between parents and teachers. A parent is the child's first teacher and critical to his/her success. It's always good for schools to know in advance what parents expect from the school. This knowledge can be attained by interviewing parents. Parents are also interviewed to assess their ward's behavior.

A school is a heterogeneous entity. There are some bright pupils and some not so bright ones; some are good in sports, while others have no artistic bent of mind. These hidden talents come to the fore only when the school authorities interact with parents.

Critics may argue interviews put too much pressure on parents. Indeed, parents get tense but then such interactions happen in a pleasant atmosphere. Many schools are now emphasizing on extra-curricular activities, which means students have to spend more time in school and interact more with their peers. Therefore, it becomes imperative to have the right mix of pupils from different backgrounds. Interviews help schools choose the right combination of students. 

[passage-header]Read the poem and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]Ye living lamps, by whose dear light
The nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the summer night,
57300Her matchless songs does meditate;

Ye country comets, that 57381portend
No war nor prince's funeral,
Shining unto no 15171higher end
Than to presage the grass's fall;

Ye glowworms, whose 59681officious flame
To wandering mowers show the way,
That in the night have 48636lost their aim,
And after foolish fires do stray;

Your courteous light in vain you waste,
Since Juliana here is come,
For she my mind hath so displaced
That I shall never find my home.
[passage-footer]
[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the conversation given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]ROSE: Times have changed since you was playing baseball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then.
TROY: How in hell they done changed?

[passage-footer](1986)
*Josh Gibson was a notable baseball player in the Negro Leagues.[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the question and answer the question below.[/passage-header]Clean air is obviously not a priority for those living in Delhi, the fourth most polluted city in the world. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) claims that even the politicians are not much bothered about this malady. 
Although Delhi has the largest incidence of asthma among school children, only a small section of society seems aware that this is caused by the high levels of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, suspended particulate matter (SPM), lead and benzene. Besides asthma, air pollution can also cause respiratory illnesses and cancer.
"Youngsters like my son wonder why I spend Rs. 30 every six months on getting a Pollution Under Control Certificate when most vehicle - owners don't bother to do so", says a professor at the IIT's energy studies department.
For the embassy personnel in the city, pollution is a preoccupation, according to the professor. He recalls how a scientist attached to a foreign embassy approached him to know if there were any gadgets available to measure air pollution levels in Indian schools.
"He was worried because their children study in these schools", recounts the professor. It is when you see air pollution that it gets worrying. He also recalls how his white shirt turns patchy by the time he reaches home in the evening. "About 65 percent of Delhi's air pollution is vehicular, another 5 percent is contributed by thermal power stations and industries", says the professor.

[passage-header]"There Is No Frigate Like a Book"[/passage-header]73011There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away
Nor any 89174coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
18632This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul!
[passage-footer]"There Is No Frigate Like a Book" was written by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). Her simple poems are filled with imagery.[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]   44492Keenly alive to the prejudice of hers, Mr. Keeble stopped after making her announcements and 55490had to rattle the keys in his pocket in order to acquire the necessary courage to continue.
   He 16278was not looking at his wife, but knew, just how forbidding her expressions must be. This task of his was no easy, congenial task for a pleasant summer morning.
   "She says in her letter," proceeded Mr. Keeble, 27022his eyes on the carpet and his cheeks a deeper pink, "that young Jackson has got the chance of buying a big farm ... 64291in Lincolnshire, I think she said ... if he can raise three thousand pounds."
   He paused and stole a glance at his wife. It was as he had feared. 20865She had congealed. 44505Like some spell, the name had apparently 16607turned her to marble. It was like 72432the Pygmalion and Galatea business working the wrong way around. She was 19364presumably breathing, but there was 27294no sign of it.
   "So, I was just thinking," said Mr. Keeble 92768producing another obbligato on the keys, "it just crossed my mind ... it isn't as if the thing were speculation ... 43810the place is apparently coining money ... present owner only selling because he wants to go abroad ... it occurred to me ... and they would pay good 89676interest on the loan ..."
   "What loan?" 61871enquired the statute icily, 70025coming to life.
[passage-footer]
[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. 54964The impression was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 33918great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 12641a curious spectator amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun54988. 84072But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt57200 on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported and lodged on the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters, and 43077the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.38735
   This calamity, the report of which was magnified from one province to another, astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities of Palestine and Bithynia: 38648they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities99185, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of 45472declining empire and a sinking world.
[passage-footer]
[/passage-footer]

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]   Everybody at all addicted to letter writing, without having much to say, which will include a large proportion of the female world at least, must feel with Lady Bertram, that she was out of luck in having such a capital piece of Mansfield news, as the certainty of the Grants going to bath, occur at a time when she 18114could make no advantage of it, and will admit that it must have been very mortifying to her to see it fall to the share of their thankless son, and treated as concisely as possible at the end of a long letter, instead of having it to spread over the largest part of a page of her own. For though Lady Bertram, rather at home in the epistolary line, having early in her marriage, from the 68982want of other employment, and the circumstance of Sir Thomas's being in the Parliament, got into the way of making and keeping correspondents, and formed for herself a very creditable, commonplace, 72489amplifying style, so that a very little matter was enough for her; she could not do entirely without any; she must have something to write about, 42326even of her niece, and being so soon to loose all the 18247benefits of Dr. Giant's gouty symptoms and, Mrs. Grant's morning calls, it was very hard upon her to be deprived of one of the last epistolary uses she could put them to.
   There were a rich amends, however, preparing for her. Lady Bertram's hour of good luck came. Within a few days from the receipt of Edmund's letter, Fanny had one from her aunt, beginning thus:
   "My dear Fanny, I take up my pen to communicate some very alarming intelligence, which I make no doubt will give you much concern."
[passage-footer]
[/passage-footer]