PASSAGE-1 WORD COUNT: 600 aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

Our methods are based on principles of learning. Reading is assimilation-learning- and all learning
is a digestive process. But the mind can digest only so much at a time and no more. If the reader
goes twice as fast, he assimilates half as much. If he reduces his speed by half, he assimilates twice
as much. What, one might ask then, is the point of reading faster? It seems to take as long, in the
end, in relation to the amount of information that is assimilated, unless we skim through our
reading matter.
Any approach which emphasis speed and ignores efficiency has no effective answer to this. But let
us consider the position in the light of efficiency. As there is no possibility of increasing the rate at
which the brain can clear Information, the aim must be to increase the efficiency of reading; to
make the fullest possible use of the reader’s capacity and to avoid wasting it. The evidence is
unmistakable; there is an enormous waste of capacity; some of the most able people are among the
least efficient readers. This is largely the result of a technical problem of communication between
author and reader by means of the printed word; and from this problem come the main obstacles to
efficient reading. This is what happens:
First- the problem of communication. The writer, or for that matter, the speaker, conceives his
thought ‘whole’, as a unity, but must express it in a line of words; the reader, or listener must take
this line of symbols and from it reconstruct the original wholeness of thought. There is little
difficulty in oral communication, because the listener receives innumerable cues from the physical
expressions of the speaker; there is a dialogue, and the listener can out in at any time. The
advantage of group discussion is that people can overcome linear sequences of words by examining
ideas from different perspectives; which makes for wholeness of thought. But the reader is
confronted by line upon line of printed symbols, without benefit of physical tone and vocal
emphasis or the possibility of dialogue or discussion. In his very eagerness to master the technical
problem, he is prone to memorise, concentrating on the words themselves, looking at them instead
of looking for their meaning: and to the extent that he uses this most inefficient method of learning,
his capacity is wasted.
Second – assimilation is an active process of relating new information to existing knowledge. If, by
memorising, the reader turns his mind into a passive receptacle for printed words, he cannot use
his existing knowledge and his capacity is wasted.
Third – because the rate at which the brain can clear information is limited, the reader must, if he is
to read efficiently, vary his reading speed, taking more time where the work is heavy and less time
where it is light. Reading, therefore requires a wide range of speed. Readers in general seem to
become subdued by the printed word and are not nearly flexible enough in their speed: some
appear to have only one speed, whatever their knowledge of the subject or the difficulty of the
material. This inflexibility wastes capacity.
Last, if the reader becomes passive, he is inclined to mistake or ignore his purpose. Lack of purpose
is a great waste of capacity.
Our aim, therefore, is efficient reading. It is, perhaps, comforting for the reader to know that his
eyes need no training: quick results would certainly not be possible if he had to increase his visual
capacity. Although the purpose of everyday reading is complex, the requisite skills are not difficult
to acquire and the reader can expect quick improvements.
READING— END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
1. According to the author, efficient reading implies all the following, except:
(a) purposeful reading.
(b) varying reading speed.
(c) increasing visual capacity.
(d) spending more time on difficult reading matter.

2. Passivity in reading is frequently the cause of:

(a) lack of purpose.
(b) difficulty in assimilation.
(c) technical problem caused by communication.
(d) attempting to memorise communication.

3. The essence of assimilation is:

(a) varying the reading speed.
(b) overcoming the technical problems caused by the printed word.
(c) taking as much information as the brain can clear.
(d) relating new information to existing knowledge.

4. According to the author, people efficient in other spheres of activity, generally:

(a) read efficiently.
(b) are inefficient as readers.
(c) are slow readers.
(e) none of the above.

5. The technical problems of communication in conversation are fewer than those that exist
between the author and the reader because:
(a) spoken words are live while printed ones are mare symbols.
(b) the listener does not have to reconstruct the original wholeness of thought
(c) the listener can easily establish are linear sequence of ideas
(d) the listener gets many cues from the physical expressions of the speaker.
EXERCISE—END TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-2 WORD COUNT: 650 aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

For many Europeans, India evoked a picture of Maharajas, snake-charmers, and the rope-trick. This
has lent both allure and romanticism to things Indian. But in the last couple of decades, with the
increasing reference to India as an economically underdevelopment country, the image of India as a
vital, pulsating land has begun to emerge from the fog of Maharajas, snake-charmers, and the rope-
trick. The Maharajas are now fast disappearing and the rope-trick was at best a hallucination. Only
the snake-charmers remains: generally an ill-fed man who risks his life to catch a snake, remove its
poisonous fangs, and make it sway to the movement of the gourd pipe; and all this in the hope of the
occasional coin to feed him, his family, and the snake.
In the imagination of Europe, India had always been the fabulous land of untold wealth and
mystical happenings, with more than just a normal share of wise men. From the gold-digging ants
to the philosophers who lived naked in the forests, these were all part of the picture which the
ancient Greeks had of the Indians and this image persisted throughout many centuries. It might be
more charitable not to destroy it, but to preserve it would mean the perpetuation of myth.
Wealth in India, as in every other ancient culture was limited to the few. Mystical activities were
also the preoccupation of but a handful of people. It is true, however, that acceptance of such
activities was characteristic of the majority. Whereas in some other cultures the rope-trick would
have been ascribed to the promptings of the devil and all reference to it suppressed, in India it has
regarded with amused benevolence. The fundamental sanity of Indian civilization has been due to
an absence of Satan.
The association of India with wealth, magic, and wisdom remained current for many centuries. But
this attitude began to change in the nineteenth century when Europe entered the modern age, and
the lack of enthusiasm for Indian culture in certain circles became almost proportionate to the
earlier over-enthusiasm. It was now discovered that India had none of the qualities which the new
Europe admired. There was apparently no stress on the values of rational thought and
individualism. India’s culture was a stagnant culture and was regarded with supreme disdain, an
attitude perhaps best typified in Macaulay’s contempt for things Indian. The political institutions of
India, visualized largely as the rule of the Maharajas and Sultans, were dismissed as despotic and
totally unrepresentative of public opinion. And this, in an age of democratic revolutions, was about
the worst of sins.
Yet, a contrary attitude emerged from amongst a small section of European scholars who had
discovered India largely through its ancient philosophy and its literature in Sanskrit. This attitude
deliberately stressed the non-modern, non-utilitarian aspects of Indian culture, where the existence
of a continuity of religion of over three thousand years was acclaimed; and where it was believed
that the Indian pattern of life was so concerned with metaphysics and the subtleties of religious
belief that there was no time for the mundane things of life. German romanticism was the most
vehement in its support of this image of India: a vehemence which was to do as much damage to
India as Macaulay’s rejection of Indian culture. India now became the mystic land for many
Europeans, where even the most ordinary actions were imbued with symbolism. India was the
genesis of the spiritual East, and also, incidentally, the refuge of European intellectuals seeking
escape from their own pattern of life. A dichotomy in values was maintained, Indian values being
described as ‘spiritual’ and European values as ‘materialistic’, with little attempt at placing these
supposedly spiritual values in the context of Indian society (which might have led to some rather
disturbing results). This thing was taken up by a section of Indian thinkers during the last hundred
years and became a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its inability to compete with the
technical superiority of Britain.

READING— END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

1. A suitable title of the passage would be

a) How India has lost its glory?
b) Ancient India: A mere hallucination.
c) Changing approaches to Indian History.
d) Only the snake -charmer remains.

2. With the passage which set of contrasting ideas we can best relate to?
a) East :West
b) Modern : Ancient
c) Myth : Modernity
d) Materialism: Spiritualism
3. The author maintains that
a) The West is justified in its views about India
b) India is a land of uncountable riches
c) India is a land of snake-charmers
d) In ancient India wealth was in the hands of a lucky few.

4. In the phrase “Only the snake charmer remains “,the author suggests that
a) Indian mysticism is going down to its bottom level
b) Due to entering in the modern age and independently forming a democratic political system,
India has lost its great Maharajas; and from the past its only the snake charmer that remains.
c) Economically, from the ancient age to the modern era, India is under a decadence.
d) An ill-fed man in India still risks his life for living.

5. The author personally feels that

a) India can compete western materialism and technical superiority with its divine spiritualism.
b) Indian mysticism and rituals which was greatly associated with black magic, had a divine image
in the people’s mind, because Indian mythology never had a distinct face of an evil-supremo.
c) Due to the great background of magic in its history, India always has the best magician on earth.
d) Indian metaphysics and philosophy is the ultimate refuge for the war-stricken materialistic
modern Europe.

6. The passage says

a) Indian Maharajas and Sultans were very popular among the masses.
b) Romanticism always has been the feature which motivates the interest in India to the Europeans.
c) Sanskrit is still a relevant language.
d) Europeans are generally escapists.

EXERCISE—END TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-3 WORD COUNT: 110 aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
 I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the stand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on those lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains, round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
READING— END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

1. From the poem, one can infer that Ozymandias was:

(a) A tyrant. (b) A megalomaniac.
(c) A benign ruler. (d) A visionary.

2. Which of the following expressions could be considered as the central theme of the poem?
(a) Pride goes before a fall.
(b) Time and tide wait for no man.
(c) Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
(d) None of the above.

3. Why are Ozymandias’ works no longer there for all to see?

(a) Ozymandias never constructed any great monuments or structures.
(b) Construction in a desert is never permanent.
(c) His works could not stand the vagaries of time.
(d) Like his statue his other creations were demolished by his opponents.

4. The attitude of the traveller towards Ozymandias is one of:

(a) Pity. (b) Deference. (c) Derision. (d) Indifference.

5. The term visage implies:

(a) Image. (b) Vision. (c) Face. (d) Bust.
EXERCISE—END TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-4 WORD COUNT: 670 aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
Then the British came. They came not simply as men but as the symbol of the new spirit of Europe.
The British advent is a strange episode in our history. On the personal plane these newcomers
remained farther away from us than the Muslims, but as emissaries of The European spirit they
made a contact with us wider and deeper than that of all their predecessors. The dynamism of
Europe made a vigorous assault on our stagnant minds- it acted like the torrents of rain that strike
into the dry under- earth, give it vital stirrings and bring forth new life. There had been the same
kind of dynamism in the immense surge of the Renaissance washing out of Italy, overflowing the
whole continent. Its rich, varied effects were nowhere regarded as hurtful to national prestige.
Receptive minds must absorb the richness of new thought; the cross –currents of give-and-take
flow fast at the points where the intellect is alive and awake.
The spirit of the modern age has cast its radiance from the western horizon illuminating the entire
span of world history. The mind of Europe, under some tremendous urge, has projected itself into
every corner of the earth. Wherever it has gone it has made conquests. And what is the secret of its
power? The answer is to be found in the integrity of its pursuit of truth. It has not been deluded by
the intellectual lethargy, illusive fancy, superficial resemblances, or the echoing of the age-old
wisdom. It has sternly controlled the easy temptation to accept what instinct urges man to believe.
It has not tried to adapt truth to the needs of individual thinking. With stern avowal of reason, with
freedom from personal bias, it has annexed new areas to its domain of knowledge, day by day.
Here in India we are still conditioned by our surrender to the fatalism of the almanac, but there are
gaps in our walls through which the European spirit has forced itself to our inner yard. It has
brought us the great gift of knowledge in its universal aspects. It has wakened us to the all
pervasive inquiry of the intellect, keenly seeking to probe into the innermost nature of whatever is
near at hand or far away, whether big or small, whether of [practical or of theoretical value. It has
demonstrated that knowledge is indivisible and the one unbreakable thread that runs through all
phenomena. For it, no prevalent dictum, even if hoary with age and sanctity, can override the
testimony of even the least of natural happenings.
As with the physical world, so with the moral. Among the doctrines of the new age that have come
to us is the one that makes all men equal before the law. Whether a Brahmin kills a low-caste Sudra
or a Sudra kills a Brahmin, it is murder all the same, and calls for the same punishment. No ancient
injunctions in this regard can sway the scales of justice.

Revolutionary changes have come in our thoughts and attitudes. This is evident in the proposition
that those whom social usage has decreed to be untouchables should be given the right to enter
temples. There is still a section of the orthodox who seek to justify the temple entry of the casteless
on scriptural sanctions, and not moral grounds: but such lopsided advocacy makes little impression.
The inner voice of the people has begun to tell them that neither the scriptures nor tradition nor the
force of personality can set a wrong right; the moral standpoint alone counts.

The suddenness with which we stepped out of one era into another with its new meaning and
values! In our own home, in our neighborhood and community, there was still no deep awareness
of human rights, human dignity, class equality. Amide the contradictions of the day there was our
ambiguous attitude to science. Even while science knocked at our door, the scared almanac with its
star readings held its ground. All the same, the impact on us of the western cult of region was real.
READING— END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

1. According to the author:

 a) The British, as emissaries of the European spirit, made a vigorous assault on our stagnant
minds; similar to the dynamism of the events surge of the Renaissance washing out of Italy,
overflowing the whole continent.
b) The Britishers, on the personal plane came very close to us, like the Muslims did and made
wider and deeper contact with us than did any other predecessors.
c) The British influence, however, was regarded by thoughtful minds as harmful to national
prestige.
d) The British influence acted like the torrents of rain that strike into the dry under-earth and
wash away whatever lies in the path of its current.
1) a & b 2) a only 3) b& c 4) b only

2. The author says that:

a) Wherever the West has gone, it has made conquests through power.
b) The mind of Europe followed its pursuit of truth with integrity and has not tried to adapt
truth to the needs of individual thinking.
c) In India we are still conditioned by our surrender to the fatalism of the almanac and the
European spirit could not force itself to our inner yard.
1) a only 2) b only 3) c only 4) a, b & c

3. According to the passage:

a) Europe has brought us a great gift of knowledge in its universal aspects.
b) Europe has demonstrated that knowledge is indivisible and the one unbreakable thread that
runs through all phenomenon.
c) Europe has wakened us to all pervasive inquiry of the intellect , keenly seeking to probe into
the innermost nature of whatever is near at hand or far away whether of practical or of theoretical
value.
1) a only 2) b only 3) c only 4) a , b & c

4. According to the passage:

a) In our own home there was no deep awareness of human rights, human dignity and class
equality.
b) Even while science knocked at outdoor, the scared almanac with its star-readings held its
ground.
c) The impact on us of the western cult of region was real.
1) a only 2) a, b & c 3) a & b 4) b & c

5. Those who seek to justify measures like temple entry on scriptural grounds, according to the
author tend to ignore:
a) Scriptures.
b) Tradition
c) Human dignity
d) Moral grounds
EXERCISE—END TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)

PASSAGE-5 WORD COUNT: 120 aprx

START TIME :( _______: _______: ________)
The same high mental faculties which first led man to believe in unseen spiritual agencies, then in
fetishism, polytheism, and ultimately in monotheism, would infallibly lead him, as long as his
reasoning power remained poorly developed, to various strange superstitions and customs. Many
of them are terrible to think of, such as the sacrifice of human beings to a blood-loving God; the trial
of innocent persons by the ordeal of poison or fire, witchcraft, devil worship; necromancy- yet it is
well occasionally to reflect on these superstitions, these conjurations of diabolic occult powers, for
they show us what an infinite debt of gratitude we owe for the improvement of our reasons to
science, and to the accumulated knowledge science has granted us.
READING— END TIME :( _______: _______: ________)

1. The author of the passage would most likely agree with which one/two or three of the following
statements?
A. Monotheism motivated people to the sacrifice of human beings.
B. Monotheism evolved with the development of the intellect.
C. Polytheism preceded the belief in unseen spiritual forces.
(a) Only A (b) Only B
(c) Only C (d) A and B only (e) All the three

2. It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers the kind of underdeveloped
reasoning described in the passage to be a cause of
(a) apathy. (b) spontaneity.
(c) barbarity. (d) skepticism. (e) lethargy.

3. Human belief in superstitions can effectively be countered only by

(a) the high mental faculties.
(b) underdeveloped reasoning powers.
(c) sympathy for the innocents.
(d) witchcraft and devil worship.
(e) None of these.

4. If the above passage is the core part of an article, the best title of that could be
(a) Witchcraft.
(b) Theology.
(c) Scientific method.
(d) Anthropology.
(e) Organic Evolution.

5. According to the passage, we are indebted to science for our

(a) original intellectual capacity.
(b) belief in fetishism.
(c) development of laws to protect the innocent.
(d) liberation from irrational primitive beliefs.
(e) powers of conjurations.

6. According to the passage, man’s belief in unseen spiritual powers can largely be attributed to
(a) Monotheism. (b) Polytheism.
(c) Fetishism. (d) Witchcraft.
(e) None of these.

Directions (Qs. 7-8): Pick out the word which is nearly SAME in meaning as the word printed in the
capitals as used in the context of the passage.
7. CONJURATIONS
(a) invoking (b) appeasement
(c) withdrawal (d) sentiments
(e) demands

8. LED
(a) forced (b) desired
(c ) appealed (d) made (e) followed

Directions (Qs 9-10): Pick out the word which is most OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in
capitals as used in the context of the passage.
9. INFALLIBLY
(a) erringly
(b) certainly
(c) indefinitely
(d) uncompromisingly
(e) clearly

10. ORDEAL
(a) trial (b) felicitation
(c) calamity (d) endowment (e)gift
EXERCISE—END TIME: ( _______: _______: ________)