English Quiz for SBI PO 2015-16 - Set 3

Some of the words in the following passage has been printed in BLUE. Answer the following questions below.

It is churlish of the USCIRF, therefore, to rake up the issue of religious intolerance in India on the basis of the condemnable acts of a few fringe groups which have been roundly excoriated by the prime minister himself as well as his party. It is well known to historians and sociologists that India’s proud record of social cohesion dates back to the time of Emperor Asoka and even earlier, which is why pluralism is ingrained in the country’s genes. It is for this reason that when the Persians felt threatened in their own country in the 7th century from Muslim invaders, they took shelter in India and came to be known as Parsis. Similarly, 1,300 years later when the Tibetans felt threatened in their own country by the Chinese communists, they had no hesitation to come to India and become its honoured guests.

No other country in the world can match this record, least of all America which, notwithstanding its promise to accommodate the “huddled masses”, has very nearly exterminated the Native Americans, also known as Indians, and subjected the blacks to cruelty and social ostracism even after they emerged from years of degrading slavery. It is no secret that anyone who is not a WASP (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant) can expect insult and ill-treatment in public places. The US has long forfeited the right, therefore, to pretentious conduct, especially towards India whose multicultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society is like a beacon to the world on harmonious living.

Directions Q. 1 – 4 : Choose the words most opposite to the meaning

1. Churlish

(a) courteous

(b) guile

(c) ingenuity

(d) jocular

(e) contented

2. Condemnable

(a) censurable

(b) commendable

(c) amicable

(d) pedantic

(e) sedulous

3. Ostracism

(a) expulsion

(b) inclusion

(c) introduction

(d) moderation

(e) fabrication

4. Pretentious

(a) sincere

(b) con

(c) jovial

(d) modest

(e) ostentatious

Directions 5-10: Choose the word which is most Similar to the meaning

5. Excoriated

(a) creditable

(b) lambaste

(c) eulogize

(d) agonize

(e) vigorous

6. Cohesion

(a) solidarity

(b) rivalry

(c) friendly

(d) strife

(e) contention

7. Hesitation

(a) irresolute

(b) certain

(c) vie

(d) eccentric

(e) misfit

8. Exterminated

(a) nascent

(b) poignant

(c) pesticide

(d) robust

(e) obliterate

9. Ingrained

(a) tort

(b) entwined

(c) entrenched

(d) paradigm

(e) veritable

10. Beacon

(a) frequency

(b) laser

(c) fire

(d) beam

(e) illumination