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English Test 55

Directions for Questions from 1 to 3:

The passage given below is followed by a question. Choose the most appropriate answer to question.

Every civilized society lives and thrives on a silent but profound agreement as to what is to be accepted as the valid mould of experience.
Civilization is a complex system of dams, dykes, and canals warding off, directing, and articulating the influx of the surrounding fluid element; a
fertile fenland, elaborately drained and protected from the high tides of chaotic, unexercised, and inarticulate experience. In such a culture, stable
and sure of itself within the frontiers of 'naturalized' experience, the arts wield their creative power not so much in width as in depth. They do not
create new experience, but deepen and purify the old. Their works do not differ from one another like a new horizon from a new horizon, but like a
madonna from a madonna.

The periods of art which are most vigorous in creative passion seem to occur when the established pattern of experience loosens its rigidity without
as yet losing its force. Such a period was the Renaissance, and Shakespeare its poetic consummation. Then it was as though the discipline of the
old order gave depth to the excitement of the breaking away, the depth of job and tragedy, of incomparable conquests and irredeemable losses.
Adventurers of experience set out as though in lifeboats to rescue and bring back to the shore treasures of knowing and feeling which the old order
had left floating on the high seas. The works of the early Renaissance and the poetry of Shakespeare vibrate with the compassion for live
experience in danger of dying from exposure and neglect. In this compassion was the creative genius of the age. Yet, it was a genius of courage,
not of desperate audacity. For, however elusively, it still knew of harbours and anchors, of homes to which to return, and of barns in which to store
the harvest. The exploring spirit of art was in the depths of its consciousness still aware of a scheme of things into which to fit its exploits and
creations.

But the more this scheme of things loses its stability, the more boundless and uncharted appears the ocean of potential exploration. In the blank
confusion of infinite potentialities flotsam of significance gets attached to jetsam of experience; for everything is sea, everything is at sea - ....

The sea is all about us;

The sea is the land's edge also, the granite

Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses Its hints of earlier and other creation ...
- and Rilke tells a story in which, as in T.S. Eliot's poem, it is again the sea and the distance of 'other creation' that becomes the image of the poet's
reality. A rowing boat sets out on a difficult passage. The oarsmen labour in exact rhythm. There is no sign yet of the destination. Suddenly a man,
seemingly idle, breaks out into song. And if the labour of the oarsmen meaninglessly defeats the real resistance of the real waves, it is the idle
single who magically conquers the despair of apparent aimlessness. While the people next to him try to come to grips with the element that is next
to them, his voice seems to bind the boat to the farthest distance so that the farthest distance draws it towards itself. 'I don't know why and how,'
is Rilke's conclusion, 'but suddenly I understood the situation of the poet, his place and function in this age. It does not matter if one denies him
every place - except this one. There one must tolerate him.'

1. According to the passage, the term “adventurers of experience” refers to

j Poets and artists who are driven by courage

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j Poets and artists who create their own genre.
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j Poets and artists of the Renaissance.
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j Poets and artists who revitalize and enrich the past for us.
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j Poets and artists who delve in flotsam and jetsam in sea.
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2. The sea and ‘other creation’ leads Rilke to

j Define the place of the poet in his culture.

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j Reflect on the role of the oarsman and the singer.
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j Muse on artistic labour and its aim lessens
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j Understand the elements that one has to deal with
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j Delve into natural experience and real waves.
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3. In the passage, the expression “like a madonna from a madonna” alludes to

j The difference arising as a consequence of artistic license.

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j The difference between two artistic interpretations.
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j The difference between ‘life’ and ‘interpretation of life’.
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 j The difference between ‘width’ and ‘depth’ of creative power.
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j The difference between the legendary character and the modern day singer.
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Directions for Questions from 4 to 5:

Four alternative summaries are given below the text. Choose the option that best
captures the essence of the text.

4. The human race is spread all over the world, from the polar regions to the tropics. The people of whom it is made up eat different kinds of food,
partly according to the climate in which they live, and partly according to the kind of food which their country
produces. In hot climates, meat and fat are not much needed; but in the Arctic regions they seem to be very necessary for keeping up the heat of
the body. Thus, in India, people live chiefly on different kinds of grains, eggs, milk, or sometimes fish and meat. In Europe, people eat more meat
and less grain. In the Arctic regions, where no grains and fruits are produced, the Eskimo and other races live almost entirely on meat and fish.

j Food eaten by people in different regions of the world depends on the climate and produce of the region, and varies from
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j Hot climates require people to eat grains while cold regions require people to eat meat and fish.
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j In hot countries people eat mainly grains while in the Arctic, they eat meat and fish because they cannot grow grains.
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j While people in Arctic regions like meat and fish and those in hot regions like India prefer mainly grains, they have to
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j -null-
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5. You seemed at first to take no notice of your school-fellows, or rather to set yourself against them because they were strangers to you. They knew
as little of you as you did of them; this would have been the reason for their keeping aloof from you as well, which you would have felt as a
hardship. Learn never to conceive a prejudice against others because you know nothing of them. It is bad reasoning, and makes enemies of half
the world. Do not think ill of them till they behave ill to you; and then strive to avoid the faults which you see in them. This will disarm their hostility
sooner than pique or resentment or complaint.

j The discomfort you felt with your school fellows was because both sides knew little of each other. You should not complain
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j The discomfort you felt with your school fellows was because both sides knew little of each other. Avoid prejudice and
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j You encountered hardship amongst your school fellows because you did not know them well. You should learn to not make
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j You encountered hardship amongst your school fellows because you did not know them well. You should learn to not make
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Directions for Questions from 6 to 10:

The following question has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the one that completes the
paragraph in the most appropriate way.

6. We can usefully think of theoretical models as maps, which help us navigate unfamiliar territory. The most accurate map that it is possible to
construct would be of no practical use whatsoever, for it would be an exact replica, on exactly the same scale, of the place where we were. Good
maps pull out the most important features and throw away a huge amount of much less valuable information. Of course, maps can be bad as well
as good - witness the attempts by medieval Europe to produce a map of the world. In the same way, a bad theory, no matter how impressive it
may seem in principle, does little or nothing to help us understand a problem.

j But good theories, just like good maps, are invaluable, even if they are simplified.
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j But good theories, just like good maps, will never represent unfamiliar concepts in detail.
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j But good theories, just like good maps, need to balance detail and feasibility of representation.
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j But good theories, just like good maps, are accurate only at a certain level of abstraction.
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j ut good theories, just like good maps, are useful in the hands of a user who knows their limitations.
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7. Age has a curvilinear relationship with the exploitation of opportunity. Initially, age will increase the likelihood that a person will exploit an
entrepreneurial opportunity because people gather much of the knowledge necessary to exploit opportunities over the course of heir lives, and
because age provides credibility in transmitting that information to others. However, as people become older, their willingness to bear risks
declines, their opportunity costs rise, and they become less receptive to new information.

j As a result, people transmit more information rather than experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age.
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j As a result, people are reluctant to experiment with new ideas as they reach an advanced age.
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j As a result, only people with lower opportunity costs exploit opportunity when they reach an advanced age.
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j As a result, people become reluctant to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities when they reach an advanced age.
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j As a result, people depend on credibility rather than on novelty as they reach an advanced age.
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8. In the evolving world order, the comparative advantage of the United States lies in its military force. Diplomacy and international law have always
been regarded as annoying encumbrances, unless they can be used to advantage against an enemy. Every active player in world affairs professes
to seek only peace and to prefer negotiation to violence and coercion

j However, diplomacy has often been used as a mask by nations which intended to use force.
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j However, when the veil is lifted, we commonly see that diplomacy is understood as a disguise for the rule of force.
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j However, history has shown that many of these nations do not practice what they profess.
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j However, history tells us that peace is professed by those who intend to use violence.
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j However, when unmasked, such nations reveal a penchant for the use of force.
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9. Relations between the factory and the dealer are distant and usually strained as the factory tries to force cars on the dealers to smooth out
production. Relations between the dealer and the customer are equally strained because dealers continuously adjust prices - make deals - to
adjust demand with supply while maximizing profits. This becomes a system marked by a lack of long-term commitment on either side, which
maximize feelings of mistrust. In order to maximize their bargaining positions, everyone holds back information - the dealer about the product and
the consumer about his true desires.

j As a result, ‘deal making’ becomes rampant, without concern for customer satisfaction.
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j As a result, inefficiencies creep into the supply chain.
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j As a result, everyone treats the other as an adversary, rather than as an ally.
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j As a result, fundamental innovations are becoming scarce in the automobile industry.
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j As a result, everyone loses in the long run.
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10. I am sometimes attacked for imposing 'rules‘. Nothing could be further from the truth. I hate rules. All I do is report on how consumer react to
different stimuli. I may say to a copywriter, Research shows that commercials with celebrities are below average in persuading people to buy
products. Are you sure you want to use a celebrity? “Call that a rule? Or I may say to an art director, Research suggests that if you set the copy in
black type on a white background, more people will read it than if you set it in white type on a black background.”

j Guidance based on applied research can hardly qualify as ‘rules’.

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j Thus, all my so called ‘rules’ are rooted in applied research.
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j A suggestion perhaps, but scarcely a rule.
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j Such principles are unavoidable if one wants to be systematic about consumer behaviour.
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j Fundamentally it is about consumer behaviour oe not about celebrities or type settings.
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