Reading Comprehension Test 60

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For 31388expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned. To spend to much time in studies is sloth; to use them to much for ornament is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for 96203natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions to much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn* studies, simple men 48692admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and complete the blank:[/passage-header]Punctually at midday, he opened his bag and spread out his professional equipment, which consisted of a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook, and bundle of Palmyra writing. His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted. The power of his eyes was considerably enhanced by their position placed as they were between the painted forehead and the dark whiskers which streamed down his cheeks: even a half-wit's eyes would sparkle in such a setting. To crown the effect he wound a saffron-coloured turban around his head. This colour scheme never failed. People were attracted to him as bees are attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and complete the blank:[/passage-header]Punctually at midday, he opened his bag and spread out his professional equipment, which consisted of a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook, and bundle of Palmyra writing. His forehead was resplendent with sacred ash and vermilion, and his eyes sparkled with a sharp abnormal gleam which was really an outcome of a continual searching look for customers, but which his simple clients took to be a prophetic light and felt comforted. The power of his eyes was considerably enhanced by their position placed as they were between the painted forehead and the dark whiskers which streamed down his cheeks: even a half-wit's eyes would sparkle in such a setting. To crown the effect he wound a saffron-coloured turban around his head. This colour scheme never failed. People were attracted to him as bees are attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks.

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]Fortunately, it is as yet only through fantasy that we can see what the destruction of the scholarly and scientific disciplined would mean to mankind. From history we can learn what their existence has meant; The sheer power of disciplined thought is revealed in practically all the great intellectual and technological advances which the human race has made. The ability of the man of disciplined mind to direct this power effectively upon problems for which he has not specifically trained is proved by examples without number. The real evidence for the value of liberal education lies in history and in the biographies of men who have met the valid criteria for greatness. This support overwhelmingly the claim of liberal education that it can equip a man with fundamental powers of decision and action, applicable not only to a boy-girl relationship, to tinkering hobbies, or to choose the family dentist, but to all the great and varied concerns of human life not least, those that are unforeseen. 

[passage-header]First, read the passage, and then answer the question based on it. You are required to select your answer based on the content of the passage and opinion of the author only.
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[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]A male jackdaw's courtship behaviour is astonishingly human. All his movements are consciously strained and his proudly reared head and neck are permanently in a state of self-display. He provokes the other jackdaws continually if the female jackdaw is looking on and he purposefully becomes embroiled in conflicts with otherwise deeply respected superiors. Above all, he seeks to impress his loved one with the possession of a potential nesting site, from which he drives all other jackdaws, irrespective of their rank. 

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]A male jackdaw's courtship behaviour is astonishingly human. All his movements are consciously strained and his proudly reared head and neck are permanently in a state of self-display. He provokes the other jackdaws continually if the female jackdaw is looking on and he purposefully becomes embroiled in conflicts with otherwise deeply respected superiors. Above all, he seeks to impress his loved one with the possession of a potential nesting site, from which he drives all other jackdaws, irrespective of their rank. 

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]A male jackdaw's courtship behaviour is astonishingly human. All his movements are consciously strained and his proudly reared head and neck are permanently in a state of self-display. He provokes the other jackdaws continually if the female jackdaw is looking on and he purposefully becomes embroiled in conflicts with otherwise deeply respected superiors. Above all, he seeks to impress his loved one with the possession of a potential nesting site, from which he drives all other jackdaws, irrespective of their rank. 

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]Fortunately, it is as yet only through fantasy that we can see what the destruction of the scholarly and scientific disciplined would mean to mankind. From history we can learn what their existence has meant; The sheer power of disciplined thought is revealed in practically all the great intellectual and technological advances which the human race has made. The ability of the man of disciplined mind to direct this power effectively upon problems for which he has not specifically trained is proved by examples without number. The real evidence for the value of liberal education lies in history and in the biographies of men who have met the valid criteria for greatness. This support overwhelmingly the claim of liberal education that it can equip a man with fundamental powers of decision and action, applicable not only to a boy-girl relationship, to tinkering hobbies, or to choose the family dentist, but to all the great and varied concerns of human life not least, those that are unforeseen. 

[passage-header]Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:[/passage-header]We shall go on to the end; we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender, and even if this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas would carry on the struggle, until the New World steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.