Directions—(Q.1–10) In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.
What Indian politicians and bureaucrats share with their scientist, engineer and carpenter counterparts is their acceptance of mediocrity and lack of skill. The greatest moral failure of Indian institutions is the tolerance of incompetence, …(1)… criminality or corruption. The tolerance of incompetence in …(2)… is a result of a low cultural value attached to the creation and …(3)… of institutions. Institution building is a hard work; it requires a combination of vision, commitment and performance. Any institution involves a contract between those who …(4)… to the institution and those who support it. The support can take the form of money or votes but that support must be …(5)… continuously. In a properly functioning institutional system, the institutional contract …(6)… the institution members and their supporters takes the form : you give me support and I will give you results. Competence is the channel that sustains the flow of trust from supporters to institutions and back. If doctors don’t cure will they not lose our trust ? While blaming individual politicians and babus for their corrupt ways, let us also examine the system that accepts mediocrity and even lets it …(7)…. What we are seeing in India is a case of contract failure. The contractor who bribes an official and then builds a leaky stadium is not just being …(8)…. He is sustaining a collusive system that subverts rules regulating mutual co-operation between government institutions, market players and society as a whole. In the case of endemic contract failure everyone …(9)…, including the contractor, for once the public loses its trust in institution is even businessmen will …(10)… out on opportunities to make money. The moral status of institutions is central to continued development and prosperity.
1.
(A) as
(B) to
(C) never
(D) not
(E) for
2.
(A) turn
(B) individual
(C) world
(D) partly
(E) importance
3.
(A) destruction
(B) justification
(C) sustenance
(D) excess
(E) marginalization
4.
(A) belong
(B) work
(C) help
(D) employed
(E) trust
5.
(A) returned
(B) earned
(C) needed
(D) discouraged
(E) asked
6.
(A) suggests
(B) akin
(C) twosome
(D) centered
(E) between
7.
(A) question
(B) bolder
(C) thrive
(D) out
(E) kill
8.
(A) variant
(B) trivial
(C) immature
(D) corrupt
(E) generous
9.
(A) succeeds
(B) suffers
(C) proliferates
(D) responsible
(E) encompasses
10.
(A) storm
(B) venture
(C) lose
(D) get
(E) walk
Q (11-20):
I was born and …(11)… up in a village by my grandparents. We had two granaries to …(12)… the rice that we grew. …(13)… the better quality ‘white’ rice was kept in the granary in the front of the house, the …(14)… quality ‘red’ rice was kept in the granary at the back. We never had …(15)… money in the house, so those who came to ask for alms were given rice. My grandmother would send me to the front granary to bring rice for them, but when she cooked for …(16)… of us she would use the red rice. I was …(17)… by her behaviour. One day, I asked her why she did this ? She …(18)… and said something I will never forget. “…(19)… whenever you give something to somebody, give the best in you, never the second best.” …(20)… director of a foundation, if I help people today, it is because of this lesson she taught me.
11.
(A) raised
(B) adopted
(C) grown
(D) brought
(E) grew
12.
(A) pick
(B) save
(C) supply
(D) cultivate
(E) store
13.
(A) Instead
(B) While
(C) Yet
(D) Therefore
(E) For
14.
(A) less
(B) worse
(C) defective
(D) inferior
(E) best
15.
(A) plenty
(B) vast
(C) lots
(D) sufficiently
(E) much
16.
(A) all
(B) remaining
(C) gathering
(D) none
(E) those
17.
(A) puzzled
(B) confusing
(C) worrying
(D) frightened
(E) angry
18.
(A) pleased
(B) shouted
(C) smiled
(D) advised
(E) hugged
19.
(A) remember
(B) pray
(C) memorise
(D) think
(E) appeal
20.
(A) when
(B) since
(C) only
(D) perhaps
(E) as
Answers:
1. d
2. b
3. c
4. a
5. c
6. e
7. c
8. d
9. b
10. e
11. d
12. e
13. b
14. d
15. e
16. a
17. a
18. c
19. a
20. e
