Reading Comprehension Test 54

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Question 1
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Directions For Questions

[passage-header]Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows. [/passage-header]1. We often make all things around us the way we want them. Even during our pilgrimages we have begun to look for whatever makes our heart happy, gives comfort to our body and peace to the mind. It is as if external solutions will fulfil our needs, and we do not want to make any special efforts even in our spiritual search. Our mind is resourceful - it works to find shortcuts in simple and easy ways.
2. Even pilgrimages have been converted into tourism opportunities. Instead, we must awaken our conscience and souls and understand the truth. Let us not tamper with our own nature of that of the Supreme.
3. All our cleverness is rendered ineffective when nature does a dance of destruction. Its fury can and will wash away all imperfections. Indian culture, based on Vedic treatises, assists in human evolution, but we are using our entire energy in distorting these traditions according to our convenience instead of making efforts to make ourselves worthy of them.
4. The irony is that humans are not even aware of the complacent attitude they have allowed themselves to sink to. Nature is everyone's Amma and her fierce blows will sooner or later corner us and force us to understand this truth. Earlier, pilgrimages to places of spiritual significance were rituals that were undertaken when people became free from their worldly duties. Even now some seekers take up this pious religious journey as a path to peace and knowledge. Anyone travelling with this attitude feels and travels with only a few essential items that his body can carry. 'Pilgrims traditionally travelled light, on foot, eating light, dried chickpeas and fruits or whatever was available. Pilgrims of olden days did not feel the need to stay in special AC bedrooms, or travel by luxury cars or indulge themselves with delicious food and savouries.
5. Pilgrims traditionally moved ahead, creating a feeling of belonging towards all, conveying a message of brotherhood among all they came across whether in small caves, ashrams or local settlements. They received the blessings and congregations of yogis and mahatmas in return while conducting the dharma of their pilgrimage. A pilgrimage is like penance of sadhana to stay near nature and to experience a feeling of oneness with it, to keep the body healthy and fulfilled with the amount of food, while seeking freedom from attachments and yet remaining happy while staying away from relatives and associates.
6. This is how a pilgrimage should be rather than making it like a picnic by taking a large group along and living in comfort, packing in entertainment, and tampering with the environment. What is worse is giving a boost to the ego of having had a special darshan. Now alms are distributed, charity is done while they brag about their spiritual experience!
7. We must embark on our spiritual journey by first understanding the grace and significance of a pilgrimage and following it up into the ultimate and beautiful medium of spiritual evolution. There is no justification for tampering with nature.
8. A pilgrimage is symbolic of contemplation, meditation, and acceptance, and is a metaphor for the constant growth or movement and love for nature that we should hold in our hearts.
9. This is the truth!

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How can a pilgrim keep his body healthy?

A
By travelling light

B
By eating small amounts of food

C
By keeping free from attachments

D
Both (a) and (b)

Question 2
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Directions For Questions

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. 68146The impression was communicated to the waters53087; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 79737great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 55567a 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 sun.31229
23078But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt27450 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 24201the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.19659
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: 37755they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities54003, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a 90364declining empire and a sinking world.

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Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

A
The Roman Empire lost 50,000 people.

B
Homes were destroyed by the rift in the earth.

C
The earthquakes in Bithnyia and Palestine were not as destructive as this earthquake.

D
The Mediterranean's tides were permanently affected

E
The damage was primarily caused by a surge of water

Question 3
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Directions For Questions

ROSE: Time 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?
ROSE: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
BONO: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
TROY: 78267There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow . . . what's that fellow they had laying right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
ROSE: Selkirk?
TROY: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting. 269, understand? 269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting. 432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting. 269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's* daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
ROSS: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
TROY: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don't care what color you were. Come telling me I come along to early. If you could play ...then they ought to have let you play. (Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
ROSE: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that.
TROY: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist height, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it . . . and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
BONO: Now, you telling the truth there. I see you do it.
TROY: If I''m lying . . . that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
ROE: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death.
TROY: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.

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Troy begins a speech by personifying death and then proceeds to _________.

A
ignore Rose's well-meaning advice

B
revert to his previous bragging about his prowess as a baseball player

C
make a comparison expressing his fearlessness of death

D
make an analogy that sows that he believes he can evade death

E
explain what he believes it will feel like to die

Question 4
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Directions For Questions

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. 68146The impression was communicated to the waters53087; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 79737great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 55567a 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 sun.31229
23078But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt27450 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 24201the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.19659
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: 37755they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities54003, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a 90364declining empire and a sinking world.

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It can be inferred from the passage that people affected by the earthquake were _______.

A
homogenous

B
superstitious

C
reactonary

D
insightful

E
regretful

Question 5
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Directions For Questions

ROSE: Time 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?
ROSE: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
BONO: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
TROY: 78267There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow . . . what's that fellow they had laying right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
ROSE: Selkirk?
TROY: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting. 269, understand? 269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting. 432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting. 269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's* daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
ROSS: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
TROY: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don't care what color you were. Come telling me I come along to early. If you could play ...then they ought to have let you play. (Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
ROSE: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that.
TROY: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist height, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it . . . and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
BONO: Now, you telling the truth there. I see you do it.
TROY: If I''m lying . . . that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
ROE: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death.
TROY: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.

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Troy's attitude toward death is primarily one of ________.

A
contemptuous denial

B
naive self-delusion

C
boastful nonchalance

D
awed anticipation

E
thinly veiled cowardice

Question 6
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Directions For Questions

ROSE: Time 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?
ROSE: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
BONO: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
TROY: 78267There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow . . . what's that fellow they had laying right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
ROSE: Selkirk?
TROY: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting. 269, understand? 269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting. 432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting. 269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's* daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
ROSS: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
TROY: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don't care what color you were. Come telling me I come along to early. If you could play ...then they ought to have let you play. (Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
ROSE: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that.
TROY: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist height, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it . . . and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
BONO: Now, you telling the truth there. I see you do it.
TROY: If I''m lying . . . that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
ROE: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death.
TROY: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.

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From the passage, it can be inferred that Troy and Bono are ________.

A
opponents in a long-standing dispute

B
former teammates of Josh Gibson

C
baseball players of two different generations

D
flirtatious colleagues

E
old friends

Question 7
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Directions For Questions

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. 68146The impression was communicated to the waters53087; the shores of the Mediterranean were left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; 79737great quantities of fish were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and 55567a 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 sun.31229
23078But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt27450 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 24201the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation.19659
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: 37755they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities54003, and their fearful vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a 90364declining empire and a sinking world.

...view full instructions

Which of the following quotes best describes the reason the Romans were so frightened by the earthquake?

A
"they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities" (lines 37755-54003)

B
"the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation" (lines 24201-19659)

C
"a 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 sun" (lines 55567-31229)

D
"great quantities of fish were caught with the hand;" (line 79737)

E
"But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt" (lines 23078-27450)

Question 8
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Directions For Questions

"Blue Girls"
Twirling your blue skirts, travelling the sward
Under the towers of your seminary,
Go listen to your teachers old and contrary
Without believing a word.
Tie the white fillets then about your hair
And think no more of what will come to pass
Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass
And chattering on the air.
Practice your beauty, blue girls, before it fail;
And I will cry with my loud lips and publish
Beauty which all our power shall never establish,
It is so frail.
For I could tell you a story which is true;
I know a woman with a terrible tongue,
Blear eyes fallen from blue,
All her perfections tarnished - yet it is not long
Since she was lovelier than any of you.

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What kind of a story can the poet tell them?

A
true

B
incredible

C
false

D
unbelievable

E
hopeful

Question 9
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Directions For Questions

ROSE: Time 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?
ROSE: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
BONO: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
TROY: 78267There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow . . . what's that fellow they had laying right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
ROSE: Selkirk?
TROY: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting. 269, understand? 269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting. 432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting. 269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's* daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
ROSS: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
TROY: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don't care what color you were. Come telling me I come along to early. If you could play ...then they ought to have let you play. (Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
ROSE: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that.
TROY: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist height, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it . . . and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
BONO: Now, you telling the truth there. I see you do it.
TROY: If I''m lying . . . that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
ROE: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death.
TROY: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.

...view full instructions

Which of the following best expresses the meaning of Troy's statement that "there ought not never have been no time called too early!" (line 78267)

A
We should judge past conditions in light of their historical context.

B
It is a shame that we must wait for society's flaws to be corrected by progress and social change.

C
Most individuals are born before the time period in which they could most prosper or succeed.

D
The language we use to describe the world affects the way we experience the world.

E
Despite the appearance of progress, social conditions do not really improve.

Question 10
1 / -0

Directions For Questions

ROSE: Time 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?
ROSE: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football.
BONO: You right about that, Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early.
TROY: 78267There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow . . . what's that fellow they had laying right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees.
ROSE: Selkirk?
TROY: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting. 269, understand? 269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting. 432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting. 269 and playing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's* daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that!
ROSS: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson.
TROY: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don't care what color you were. Come telling me I come along to early. If you could play ...then they ought to have let you play. (Troy takes a long drink from the bottle.)
ROSE: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that.
TROY: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wrastled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono . . . am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist height, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it . . . and good god! You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying?
BONO: Now, you telling the truth there. I see you do it.
TROY: If I''m lying . . . that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner.
ROE: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death.
TROY: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die.

...view full instructions

Troy's tone in lamenting the injustice of his baseball career is one of ______.

A
evenhanded objectivity

B
harsh political fervor

C
lingering resentment

D
naive idealism

E
pompous self-ity

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Question Analysis

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Unanswered - 10

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Reading Compreh...

Question 1

By travelling light

By eating small amounts of food

By keeping free from attachments

Both (a) and (b)

Question 2

The Roman Empire lost 50,000 people.

Homes were destroyed by the rift in the earth.

The earthquakes in Bithnyia and Palestine were not as destructive as this earthquake.

The Mediterranean's tides were permanently affected

The damage was primarily caused by a surge of water

Question 3

ignore Rose's well-meaning advice

revert to his previous bragging about his prowess as a baseball player

make a comparison expressing his fearlessness of death

make an analogy that sows that he believes he can evade death

explain what he believes it will feel like to die

Question 4

homogenous

superstitious

reactonary

insightful

regretful

Question 5

contemptuous denial

naive self-delusion

boastful nonchalance

awed anticipation

thinly veiled cowardice

Question 6

opponents in a long-standing dispute

former teammates of Josh Gibson

baseball players of two different generations

flirtatious colleagues

old friends

Question 7

"they considered these alarming strokes as the prelude only of still more dreadful calamities" (lines 37755-54003)

"the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation" (lines 24201-19659)

"a 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 sun" (lines 55567-31229)

"great quantities of fish were caught with the hand;" (line 79737)

"But the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible deluge, which was severely felt" (lines 23078-27450)

Question 8

true

incredible

false

unbelievable

hopeful

Question 9

We should judge past conditions in light of their historical context.

It is a shame that we must wait for society's flaws to be corrected by progress and social change.

Most individuals are born before the time period in which they could most prosper or succeed.

The language we use to describe the world affects the way we experience the world.

Despite the appearance of progress, social conditions do not really improve.

Question 10

evenhanded objectivity

harsh political fervor

lingering resentment

naive idealism

pompous self-ity

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