PASSAGE 1

Until anthrax spores started spreading through the mail, few people gave much thought to the minuscule particles that drift almost invisibly in the atmosphere, infiltrate buildings and plunge deep into lungs. Not so far environmental scientists, who have spent decades studying the physics and physiology of particles much like those in the most dangerous forms of biological weaponry. From the coal dust that causes black lung disease to the bacteria laden droplets that spread Legionnaires disease to second-hand cigarette smoke and plain old air pollution, particles from about 0.05 microns to 10 or 20 microns in size have long been at the focus of scientists attention. A micron is a millionth of a metre, or an inch divided into 25,400 parts. These tiny particles crop up in environmental science and germ weaponry virtually identical reasons. Once released, particles of that size can stay aloft almost indefinitely and seep into poorly sealed buildings, greatly increasing the chances of the particles being inhaled by people. Whats more the peculiar microscopic particles makes it certain that some of them, within a highly specific range of size, will be able to slip past protective nose hairs, avoid stickly bronchial walls and be deposited in the deepest reaches of the lungs, where great damage can be done. Once the particle lands, its exact composition-whether it is harmless, chemically toxic or biologically infectious comes into play. Much is known about the process too, especially through studies of Legionnaires, tuberculosis and other bacterial diseases that are transmitted through the air on particles that are, not coincidentally, a few microns in size. The existence of this knowledge, freely available in unclassified literature, is doubly-edged, say scientists. It may sap germ warfare of some of its mysteriousness, but it also shows how widely available the information needed to design the weaponry is. For many environmental scientists, who have been warning that pollution particles of that size pose a special danger to human health if they come indoors, the bioterrorism threat is one more reason to improve the quality of indoor air with powerful filters and other methods. 1. Which of the following is not true about anthrax spores? a] They can be spread through letters. b] They are not visible. c] They can enter buildings. d] They can enter the respiratory system. 2. What is the function of nose hairs, according to the passage? a] They protect the lungs from undesirable particles. b] They are an important tool in the biological arsenal. c] They have chemical toxins flow out of the nose. d] They help the environment in remaining clean. 3. What is the meaning of bronchial as used in the passage? a] of the windpipe b] of the lungs c] of the esophagus d] of the stomach 4. Who among the following have been concerned about the microscopic organisms so far? a] People across the world b] Environmental scientists c] Bio-terrorists d] All of the above 5. According to the author, the knowledge about microscopic organism a] is common. b] is a boon as it unravels the mystery of germ warfare. c] comes handy for those who design biological weaponry. d] is a boon as well as a bane.

PASSAGE 2
Tech has fallen out of investor favor, as a result of increased margin pressure and a consequent slackening of profit growth. This could hit the next quarter as well and perhaps even the one after that. Overall too, the Sensex is range

bound, struggling just to get within reach of the 3000 level. Why this should be so, however, is not very clear. Though we are at the bottom, says Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director, Motilal Oswal securities, there is too much pessimism around, whether it be SARS or the war. There have not been any big positive triggers for the market. But all is in favor of the markets today. The oil prices are down and valuations attractive. The explanation for the dismal Sensex performance, then, must be that the markets are reeling under the impact of the tech fall, with investors still to recover from the shock. Yet, as Oswal put it, valuations are attractive. So surely, there must be some good investments picks for those who make the effort to look. That still leaves the question: where to invest? While the non-tech opportunities are harder to spot, that doesnt mean they do not exist. First of all, is there a sector that can take over from where tech left off? As it turns out, there is no sector that can offer growth prospects to match the tech sectors glory phase. Biotech and nanotech, for now, are barely out of incubation to start turning money spinners anytime soon. So the search for the new new thing is out. Most other sectors are too mature for frenetic growth. But yes, there do exist some sectors that offer an attractive combination of growth and value. And some of these could well be the next market drivers. Identifying these sectors is not easy, as the usual suspects do not measure up any longer. Times have changed. The FMCG sector, for example, has suddenly trailed off. Witness how sector-leader HLL pants itself silly even for single digit growth. Then theres pharma, the third part of the tech-FMCG-pharma troika that bedazzled investors during the earlier bull phase. Some of the MNC pharma stocks are available at attractive valuations, but be warned, are also unlikely to attract enough interest to become market drivers. The globalizers amongst Indian pharma m ajors, again, offer reasonable valuations. But there are no visible triggers to boost them upwards. Also, these stocks require a lot of microscopic, drug-by-drug analysis. 6. The most appropriate title for the passage is a] Resurgence of Sensex How and Why? c] Aftermath of Tech Bubble Burst b] After Tech What New Stocks? d] Pharma Stocks The Upcoming Globalizers

7. What, according to the author, is the reason for the dull performance of Sensex? a] There is excessive pessimism in the market. b] No attractive valuations are there at present in the market. c] Sensex has not boldly risen beyond the 3000 level d] Markets are tumbling after the Tech Fall. 8. What can be said about the organisation of the passage? a] The author has offered a conclusion and then finally presented an alternative conclusion. b] The author has put forward an question and then presented a solution. c] The author has presented predominantly a sum mary of Oswals views. d] The author has put forward an issue and then proposed an alternative issue in opposition. 9. The authors attitude towards MNC pharma stocks can be best explained of a] Unqualified support b] Cautious recommendation c] Partial criticism d] Impartial support 10. What can be informed about the downfall of Sensex? a] Downfall of Tech stocks was one of the reasons causing the overall downfall. b] Downfall of Tech stocks was the only reason causing the overall downfall. c] Pharma stocks have the potential to bring Sensex up d] None of the above.

PASSAGE 3
We call a man irrational when he acts in a passion, when he cuts off his nose to spite his face. He is irrational because he forgets that, by indulging the desire which he happens to feel most strongly at the moment, he will thwart other desires which in the long run are more important to him. If men were rational, they would take a more correct view of their own interest than they do at present; and if all men acted from enlightened self-interest the world would be a paradise in comparison with what it is. I do not maintain that there is nothing better than self-interest as a motive to action; but I do maintain that self-interest, like altruism, is better when it is enlightened than when it is unenlightened. In an ordered community it is very rarely to a mans interest to do anything which is very harmful to others. The less

rational a man is, the oftener he will fail to perceive how what injures others also injures him, because hatred or envy will blind him. Therefore, although I do not pretend that enlightened self-interest is the highest morality, I do maintain that, if it became common, it would make the world an immeasurably better place than it is. Rationality in practice may be defined as the habit of remembering all our relevant desires, and not only the one which happens at the moment to be strongest. Like rationality in opinion, it is a matter of degree. Complete rationality is no doubt an unattainable ideal, but so long as we continue to classify some men as lunatics it is clear that we think some men more rational than others. I believe that all solid progress in the world consists of an increase in rationality, both practical and theoretical. To preach an altruistic morality appears to me somewhat useless, because it will appeal only to those who already have altruistic desires. But to preach rationality helps us to realise our own desires on the whole, whatever they may be. A man is rational in proportion as his intelligence informs and controls his desires. I believe that the control of our acts by our intelligence is ultimately what is of most importance, and that alone will make social life remain possible as science increases the means at our disposal for injuring each other. Education, the press, politics, religion in a word, all the great forces in the world are at present on the side of irrationality, they are in the hands of men who flatter King Demons in order to lead him astray. The remedy does not lie in anything heroically cataclysmic, but in the efforts of individuals towards a more sane and balanced view of our relations to our neighbours and to the world. It is to intelligence, increasingly widespread, that we must look for the solution of the ills from which our world is suffering. 11. What is the central idea of the passage? a] The problems of the world can best be solved by rationality and enlightened self interest. b] Altruism and rationality are the main indicators of intelligence. c] Altruism can make this world a heaven. d] Man is absolutely irrational. What is the authors attitude to modern developments in science and communications? He is: a] cynical about their use. b] sceptical about the uses they are put to. c] one of cautious acceptance. d] one of concern about their harmful potential. Rationality, according to the passage, means mainly: a] Having regard for others. b] Intelligent control of ones desires c] The ability to cultivate a balanced view of ones surroundings. d] Power to resist yielding to strong passions. The author feels that it is impractical to appeal to altruism because: a] Not all people are altruistic by nature. b] Altruism is weaker than rationality. c] Altruism is more refined than rationality. d] None of the above. The King Demos refers to a] Populace b] Politician c] Scientists d] Despot

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PASSAGE 4
As one of the masters of English prose, George Orwell (1903-50) is a puzzling case. Contemporaries knew that he was special, but often found it hard to say why. Getting him into focus grows no easier with time. His best work was political, but his policies were difficult to pin down. Shy in person, though vehement on the page, he could fairly describe himself as simultaneously a left-wing socialist, an anti-communist and a Tory anarchist. The puzzle is compounded by the variety and unevenness of Orwells writing. He is best known for two anti-totalitarian parables, Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which made him, just before his death, into one of the first truly global literary stars. Yet their immediate target, Soviet communism, has passed into history, and the second book in particular has acquired a dated feel.

The man himself strikes a notably old fashioned figure tall, gaunt, rather shabbily dressed, bent over a typewriter with permafag stuck to the lip. Yet confining Orwell to the austerity of the 1930s and 1940s is a mistake. Anyone who turns back to his finest essays or to his classic piece of war writing, Homage to Catalonia, will hear a voice that speaks as urgently to our times as it did to his. Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Bengal, where his father worked in the office that regulated Chinas opium trade. Shipped back to England as a child, he trotted obediently off to prep school. Later he wrote of its miseries in Su ch, Were the Joys, a vivid recollection of homesickness, arbitrary rule and the oppressiveness of team spirit. An underperforming scholar at Eton, he was just young enough to escape the slaughter of the first world war. Rather than follow school friends to Oxford or Cambridge, he signed up for the colonial police in Burma. The job turned him against colonialismhe was fed up, he wrote, with locking people up for doing what he would do in their shoesand he soon left. From this experience came two superb autobiographical stories, Shooting an Elephant, a self -critical piece about the disturbing power of crowds, and A Hanging , a quietly brilliant polemic against the death penalty. Back in Europe, Orwell worked in Paris in a hotel kitchen, joined tramps in London dosshouses and visited unemployment-racked regions of Britain. The results were two highly personalised documentaries, Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier. In 1936 he went to Barcelona to report on the Spanish civil war. Not content to watch, he enlisted with the Republicans, though hostile to their Soviet backers, and almost died of a neck wound. Spain was Orwells defining moment and perhaps also the high point of his life. Though recognition followed, his remaining years were hard. Tubercular lungs kept him in continual ill health. In 1945, soon after he and his wife, Eileen, adopted a son, she died during an operation for uterine cancer. When serious money came in at last with Animal Farm, releasing Orwell from day jobs, he took the toddler and a housekeeper to live on the remote tip of the Scottish island of Jura. The other side of Orwells burning conscience was an almost monkish ability to cut himself off. His health grew worse, his lungs hemorrhaged and in January 1950 he died. There are striking parallels between Orwell and Albert Camus (1913-60), another tubercular writer preoccupied with the individual in mass society, who diedin a car smashalso at 47. Camus was the better novelist, but their moral vision was remarkably close. Personal engagement and behaving decently mattered more to them in politics than policy or dogma. Neither was happy in party camps. They were distrusted by right and left alike. Both recognised the violence that could result from bad thinking and bad writinga lesson Orwell put memorably into Politics and the English Language. Both believed in the boundlessness of our duty to resist injustice, yet took a bleakly limited view of how far any of us could succeed. Orwell, who was allergic to theory and speculation of all kinds, would have hated the word, but in a sense he was Englands existentialist. Preachy Orwell certainly was. But his anti-authoritarian sermons could almost always make you laugh. He was a master of the one-liner: Good prose is like a window pane; At 50, everyone has the face he deserves. Whether his weekly column was on writing clearly, resisting tyranny or making tea, he always made it sound like a matter of life and death. Newspapers nowadays tend to have more columns than a Roman temple, all interchangeable and most of them redundant. Few, if any, have Orwells indispensable voice. 16. Why is confining Orwell to the austerity of the 1930s and 1940s a mistake according to the author? a] because he is not an old fashioned figure b] because he has written two anti-totalitarian parables c] because he is as relevant today as he was in the past d] difficult to say What is the difference between Orwell and Camus, according to the passage? A. They were distrusted by politicians B. They died at the same age C. Both were allergic to theory and speculation D. Both had health problems a] A and B but not C and D c] Only A 18. b] A and D but not B and C d] none of these

17.

Why is George Orwell a puzzling case? a] because of the variety and unevenness of Orwells writing b] several things add to the mystery surrounding him

c] because contemporaries could not say why he was special d] difficult to say 19. In the sentence, a quietly brilliant polemic against the death penalty, which of the following would best replace the word polemic? a] description b] diatribe c] controversial argument d] heated exchange While describing Orwells newspaper articles, the author gives his opinion that: a] There will never be a columnist like Orwell again b] Orwell was a passionate writer of newspaper columns. c] his columns were full of one-liners d] newspaper columns these days are quite worth less

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PASSAGE 5 The fossil remains of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs, have intrigued paleontologists for more than two centuries. How such large creatures, which weighed in some cases as much as a piloted hang-glider and had wingspans from 8 to 12 meters, solved the problems of powered flight, and exactly what these creatures were--reptiles or birds-are among the questions scientists have puzzled over. Perhaps the least controversial assertion about the pterosaurs is that they were reptiles. Their skulls, pelvises, and hind feet are reptilian. The anatomy of their wings suggests that they did not evolve into the class of birds. In pterosaurs a greatly elongated fourth finger of each forelimb supported a wing-like membrane. The other fingers were short and reptilian, with sharp claws. In birds the second finger is the principal strut of the wing, which consists primarily of feathers. If the pterosaurs walked on all fours, the three short fingers may have been employed for grasping. When a pterosaur walked or remained stationary, the fourth finger, and with it the wing, could only turn upward in an extended inverted V-shape along each side of the animal's body. The pterosaurs resembled both birds and bats in their overall structure and proportions. This is not surprising because the design of any flying vertebrate is subject to aerodynamic constraints. Both the pterosaurs and the birds have hollow bones, a feature that represents a savings in weight. In the birds, however, these bones are reinforced more massively by internal struts. Although scales typically cover reptiles, the pterosaurs probably had hairy coats. T.H. Huxley reasoned that flying vertebrates must have been warm-blooded because flying implies a high rate of metabolism, which in turn implies a high internal temperature. Huxley speculated that a coat of hair would insulate against loss of body heat and might streamline the body to reduce drag in flight. The recent discovery of a pterosaur specimen covered in long, dense, and relatively thick hairlike fossil material was the first clear evidence that his reasoning was correct. Efforts to explain how the pterosaurs became air-borne have led to suggestions that they launched themselves by jumping from cliffs, by dropping from trees or even by rising into light winds from the crests of waves. Each hypothesis has its difficulties. The first wrongly assumes that the pterosaurs' hind feet resembled a bat's and could serve as hooks by which the animal could hang in preparation for flight. The second hypothesis seems unlikely because large pterosaurs could not have landed in trees without damaging their wings. The third calls for high waves to channel updrafts. The wind that made such waves however, might have been too strong for the pterosaurs to control their flight once airborne. 21. It can be inferred from the passage that scientists now generally agree that the (A) enormous wingspan of the pterosaurs enabled them to fly great distances (B) structure of the skeleton of the pterosaurs suggests a close evolutionary relationship to bats (C) fossil remains of the pterosaurs reveal how they solved the problem of powered flight (D) pterosaurs were reptiles (E) pterosaurs walked on all fours 22. The author views the idea that the pterosaurs became airborne by rising into light winds created by waves as (A) revolutionary (B) unlikely (C) unassailable (D) probable (E) outdated

23. According to the passage, the skeleton of a pterosaur can be distinguished from that of a bird by the (A) size of its wingspan (B) presence of hollow spaces in its bones (C) anatomic origin of its wing strut (D) presence of hooklike projections on its hind feet (E) location of the shoulder joint joining the wing to its body 24. The ideas attributed to T.H. Huxley in the passage suggest that he would most likely agree with which of the following statements? (A) An animal's brain size has little bearing on its ability to master complex behaviors. (B) An animal's appearance is often influenced by environmental requirements and physical capabilities. (C) Animals within a given family group are unlikely to change their appearance dramatically over a period of time. (D) The origin of flight in vertebrates was an accidental development rather than the outcome o of specialization or adaptation. (E) The pterosaurs should be classified as birds, not reptiles. 25. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is characteristic of the pterosaurs? (A) They were unable to fold their wings when not in use. (B) They hung upside down from branches as bats do before flight. (C) They flew in order to capture prey. (D) They were an early stage in the evolution of the birds. (E) They lived primarily in a forest like habitat. 26. Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph of the passage? (A) New evidence is introduced to support a traditional point of view. (B) Three explanations for a phenomenon are presented, and each is disputed by means of specific information. (C) Three hypotheses are outlined, and evidence supporting each is given. (D) Recent discoveries are described, and their implications for future study are projected (E) A summary of the material in the preceding paragraphs is presented, and conclusions are drawn. 27. It can be inferred from the passage that some scientists believe that pterosaurs (A) lived near large bodies of water (B) had sharp teeth for tearing food (C) were attacked and eaten by larger reptiles (D) had longer tails than many birds (E) consumed twice their weight daily to maintain their body temperature