SBI PO Mains 2017: English Quiz based on New Pattern – 12

1. One tax-reform proposal that
has gained increasing support in recent years is the flat tax, which would
impose a uniform tax rate on incomes at every level. Opponents of the flat tax
say that a progressive tax system, which levies a higher rate of taxes on
higher-income taxpayers, is fairer, placing the greater burden on those better
able to bear it. However, the present crazy quilt of tax deductions, exemptions,
credits, and loopholes benefits primarily the high-income taxpayer, who is
consequently able to reduce his or her effective tax rate, often to a level
below that paid by the lower-income taxpayer. Therefore, ______

a) higher-income taxpayers are
likely to lend their support to the flat-tax proposal now being considered by
Congress

b) a flat-tax system that allowed
no deductions or exemptions would substantially increase actual government
revenues

c) the lower-income taxpayer
might well be penalized by the institution of a flat-tax system in this country

d) The progressive nature of our
pre sent tax system is more illusory than real

2. What should be the focus of R
& D effort for the electronics industry? The Central Research Laboratory
(CRL) of BEL in Bangalore and the Electronics Research and Development Centre
(ERDC) in Trivandrum appear to vary in perception. (________). It does not
engage itself in project development, but only works on enabling technologies.

a) The BEL laboratory‘s focus is
basically on communications technology and it is working at the front end of
this.

b) Nobody seems to be quite clear
about what the focus of BEL.s R & D should be.

c) The ERDC seems to be
duplicating some of the R & D work already done by BEL.

d) The BEL engages itself in
needless .back-biting of the work done by the ERDC.

3. Teaching creationism in
Brazilian public schools has been outlawed since 1987 when the Supreme Court
ruled that the inclusion of religious material in Science classes was
unconstitutional. In recent years, however, opponents of the Theory of
Evolution – first developed by Charles Darwin, regrouped, challenging science
education with the doctrine of ―intelligent design‖, which has carefully
stripped of all references to God and religion. Unlike traditional creationism,
which claims that God created the earth in six days, proponents of intelligent
design say that the workings of this planet are too complex to be ascribed to
evolution. There must have been a designer working to a plan – that is, a
creator.

a) However, these kinds of
teachings are unacceptable to the Brazilian public.

b) However, there are many
schools that are in favor of teaching traditional creationism to the students.

c) However, such beliefs are not
substantial enough to convince the Brazilian courts to allow teaching the
subject in its schools.

d) However, some believe that the
parents should decide what subjects should be taught to their children.

4. The Ninth Schedule was created
by Jawaharlal Nehru‘s Government as a vessel to protect agrarian reform
legislation. Nehru‘s vessel became a constitutional dustbin for Indira Gandhi‘s
and later Governments to provide immunity for any kind of legislation relating
to elections, mines and minerals, industrial regulation, requisition of
property, monopolies, coal or copper nationalization, general insurance, sick
industries, acquiring the Alcock Ashdown company, Kerala Chitties Act, Tamil
Nadu reservations of 69 percent and so on.

a) This misuse is only
characteristic of the political situation in India.

b) Protection has become a veil
for rampant corruption.

c) Theoretically, all state and
Union legislations lack substance.

d) The dustbin of limitless
capacity.

5. No fewer than 85,000 workers
would have been needed to lug limestone blogs from desert miles away to the
building sites of the pyramids. Yet there is little evidence that the pharaohs
had to coerce their subjects to leave their fields and families in order to
build a monument whose completion any single worker would certainly never see.
All people apparently willingly participated in the pageant of immortality-made-real.
With no hope of a berth for themselves in the tomb, the workers nonetheless
must have taken comfort from knowing that their king, their earthly representative,
would live on for them in perpetuity.

a) Here was a culture that would
persist, just as its pharaohs would live on in their silent palaces.

b) The Egyptian hoi polloi became
immortal by proxy.

c) King Tut – and ended the brief
experiment in monotheism in favor the older religion with its promise of an
afterlife.

d) The solemn bearing of these
great structures reminds people today of the way an entire culture fashioned a
collective immortality in astonishing tone.

6. The digital story-telling
movement started in the early 1990s with performance artists such as California-based
Jaden. But the technique is just beginning to take hold in the world of
e-business. At last fall‘s national Digital Story-telling Festival in Crested
Butte, Colo., nearly half of the people signed up represented corporations.
―The stories that people are telling on the web around corporate brands are astounding‖,
says Jaden. ―Knowledge is best shared and remembered through a good story, and companies
are just starting to catch on to all that this can mean.‖

a) If so, digital story-telling
will see that computer prices continue to plummet.

b) If so, digital story-telling
will link high-speed data lines and more people to the web.

c) If so, digital story-telling
will help companies to know more than what they knew earlier.

d) If so, digital story-telling
will only become more popular.

7. The ―war‖ between science and
religion is notable for the amount of civil disobedience on both sides. Most
scientists and most religious believers refuse to be drafted into the fight. Whether
out of a live-and let-live philosophy, or a belief that religion and science
are actually compatible, or a heartfelt indifference to the question, they‘re
choosing to sit this one out. Still, the war continues, and it‘s not just a
sideshow.

a) People on both the sides of
the line have tried to win the war, but continuance of war has helped the humanity
more.

b) The balance, during the dark
ages, was in favor of religion, but now it is tilted in favor of science.

c) On both sides, there are
intensely motivated and vocal people making serious and conflicting claims.

d) The faith that science and
religion are complementary has never been stronger.

8. Creativity has long been a
focus of academics in fields ranging from anthropology to neuroscience, and has
enticed management scholars as well. Therefore, a substantial body of work on
creativity has been available to any businessperson inclined to step back from
the fray of daily management and engage in its questions. And that‘s suddenly
very fortunate, because what used to be an intellectual interest for some
thoughtful executives has now become an urgent concern for many.

a) The shift to a more
innovation-driven economy has been abrupt.

b) Academicians have now pushed
the ball in the management‘s court and it remains to be seen how executives
will cope up with this.

c) Management has now joined the
long list of subjects that have a bias towards the arts rather than the
science.

d) Still many are unruffled by
this race for creativity and we can, somehow, surmise their future.

9. Sports psychologists have
found that losing does indeed make fans unhappy, just as winning brings joy.
While little work has been done to assess the durability of these emotions,
they can be quite powerful- one survey, for example, found that West Germans
professed themselves more pleased with the national economy and their own jobs
after their national soccer team won a game at the 1982 World Cup. But what is
particularly striking is the almost comical extent to which fans appropriate
the successes and failures of their team.

a) Along with their mothers they
see their accomplishments rise and fall with the fortunes of the team

b) Accomplishments of their team
are seen as fulfillment of personal goals of the stage moms.

c) Like a stadium full of stage
moms, they see the accomplishments of their team as reflections of themselves

d) Winning teams are always
accompanied by their moms to help accomplish the desired goals.

10. The story follows 110 years
in the life of Ponta d‘Ouro, a village founded by James Abourezk and occupied
by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor‘s name: his sons,
James Abourezk and Adanna, and grandsons, Abena Abourezk, Adaeze Abourezk, and
Adisa Abourezk. Then there are the women- the two Úrsulas, a handful of
Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar- who struggle to remain grounded even as their
menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly
comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does
the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives
are lost.

a) Yet the womenfolk continue to
lament their sorrows in a manner which would put most to shame.

b) Yet the effect is literary
pentimento, with sorrow‘s outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García
Márquez‘s magical realism.

c) Yet the sufferings of the
descendants are not quenched in this Saga of Magical Realism.

d) A ghastly theme for a magical
realism story.

1. (d). The sentence after
therefore must be the conclusion of the discussion above in the passage. Option
(d) recapitulates the passage in the best possible way.

2. (a). Choice (a) is the most
appropriate choice which can complete the paragraph. The paragraph is about
―focus of R & D effort in electronics industry‖ and choice (1) tells us
about the focus of BEL laboratory. Choices (b), (c) and (d) cannot fit into the
blank logically. Choice (1)

3. (c). Option (a), (b), (d) are
incorrect because the paragraph does not discuss the views of the Brazilian
public or schools or views of parents. Option (c) is correct because in view of
the Brazilian courts, the tone and view are the same as that of the paragraph.

4. (d). Option (a) is incorrect
because scope has changed from Indira Gandhi‘s and later governments to entire
political situation. Option (b) is out of scope as corruption is not discussed
about. Option (c) encompasses all legislations and includes both state and
Union, unlike the paragraph. Option (d) is correct as the tone is disapproving
and refers to the continuity.

5. (b). Option (a) is incorrect
as culture has not been discussed in the paragraph. Option (c) is incorrect
because a single King is talked about instead of the pharaoh in general. Also
this sentence is out of scope as it talks about religion. Option (d) is
incorrect as it speaks about structures and not workers. Option (b) is the best
option as workers and also continuity are talked about.

6. (d). Computer prices, high
speed data lines and web are not discussed, hence option (a) and (b) are wrong.
Option (c) is incorrect as focus is on digital story-telling and not on hoe it
helps companies. Option (d) is hence correct as the focus is only digital
story-telling and its impact.

7. (c). Option (a) is incorrect
as we cannot infer that humanity has benefited from the war. Moreover, this
does not go with the flow of the paragraph. Option (b) is incorrect as we
cannot infer that now the balance is in favor of science. Option (c) is the
correct answer as it goes with the flow of the paragraph. War still continues
and it is not a sideshow is suitably followed by option (c). Option (d) is
incorrect as it is not in flow with the paragraph. The last statement which
states that it is not a sideshow implies that the sentence should be followed
by a statement that reflects the intensity of war.

8. (a). Option (a) is the correct
answer as it continues the idea illustrated in the last sentence of the
paragraph. The tone conveyed by the author, using the word ‗suddenly‘ in the
last sentence, matches the tone conveyed by ‗abrupt‘ in option (a). Options
(b), (c) and (d) are beyond the scope of the information in the paragraph.

9. (c). The term ―Stage moms‖
refers to parents who live vicariously or moms who manage their children‘s
business, since the passage ends with a mention of something ‗comical‘, option
3 is the most amusing. Moreover, option (c) also validates the statement made
in the second last line of the argument.

10. (b). Option (b) talks of a
relevant contrast and is in line with the theme of the paragraph. The other
options are again on the tragic side and do not present an idea in contrast to
tragedy.