The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

Sociologists working in the Chicago School tradition have focused on how rapid or dramatic social change causes increases in crime. Just as Durkheim, Marx, Toennies, and other European sociologists thought that the rapid changes produced by industrialization and urbanization produced crime and disorder, so too did the Chicago School theorists. The location of the University of Chicago provided an excellent opportunity for Park, Burgess, and McKenzie to study the social ecology of the city. Shaw and McKay found . . . that areas of the city characterized by high levels of social disorganization had higher rates of crime and delinquency.

In the 1920s and 1930s Chicago, like many American cities, experienced considerable immigration. Rapid population growth is a disorganizing influence, but growth resulting from in-migration of very different people is particularly disruptive. Chicago's in-migrants were both native-born whites and blacks from rural areas and small towns, and foreign immigrants. The heavy industry of cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh drew those seeking opportunities and new lives. Farmers and villagers from America's hinterland, like their European cousins of whom Durkheim wrote, moved in large numbers into cities. At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century's mid-point most lived in urban areas. The social lives of these migrants, as well as those already living in the cities they moved to, were disrupted by the differences between urban and rural life. According to social disorganization theory, until the social ecology of the ''new place'' can adapt, this rapid change is a criminogenic influence. But most rural migrants, and even many of the foreign immigrants to the city, looked like and eventually spoke the same language as the natives of the cities into which they moved. These similarities allowed for more rapid social integration for these migrants than was the case for African Americans and most foreign immigrants.

In these same decades America experienced what has been called ''the great migration'': the massive movement of African Americans out of the rural South and into northern (and some southern) cities. The scale of this migration is one of the most dramatic in human history. These migrants, unlike their white counterparts, were not integrated into the cities they now called home. In fact, most American cities at the end of the twentieth century were characterized by high levels of racial residential segregation . . . Failure to integrate these migrants, coupled with other forces of social disorganization such as crowding, poverty, and illness, caused crime rates to climb in the cities, particularly in the segregated wards and neighborhoods where the migrants were forced to live.

Foreign immigrants during this period did not look as dramatically different from the rest of the population as blacks did, but the migrants from eastern and southern Europe who came to American cities did not speak English, and were frequently Catholic, while the native born were mostly Protestant. The combination of rapid population growth with the diversity of those moving into the cities created what the Chicago School sociologists called social disorganization.

51.

A fundamental conclusion by the author is that:

 

• A. 

  the best circumstances for crime to flourish are when there are severe racial disparities.

• B. 

  to prevent crime, it is important to maintain social order through maintaining social segregation.

• C. 

  according to European sociologists, crime in America is mainly in Chicago.

• D. 

  rapid population growth and demographic diversity give rise to social disorganisation that can feed the growth of crime.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Refer to the last line: "The combination of rapid population growth with the diversity of those moving into the cities created what the Chicago School sociologists called social disorganization". Rapid or dramatic social change, according to the passage, causes increases in crime. So, a fundamental conclusion by the author is that rapid population growth and demographic diversity give rise to social disorganisation that can feed the growth of crime.
Option A blames racial disparities for the flourishing of crime. This is incorrect. The passage only says that where there is massive migration of people of different races into cities without social integration, crime flourishes.
Option B is the opposite of what the passage says.
Option C is incorrect. The passage does not say that according to European sociologists, crime in America is mainly in Chicago.

52.

The author notes that, "At the start of the twentieth century, Americans were predominately a rural population, but by the century's mid-point most lived in urban areas." Which one of the following statements, if true, does not contradict this statement?

 

• A. 

  Demographic transition in America in the twentieth century is strongly marked by an out-migration from rural areas.

• B. 

  A population census conducted in 1952 showed that more Americans lived in rural areas than in urban ones.

• C. 

  The estimation of per capita income in America in the mid-twentieth century primarily required data from rural areas.

• D. 

  Economists have found that throughout the twentieth century, the size of the labour force in America has always been largest in rural areas.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The question can be rephrased as "Which statement, if true, is in line with the given statement?"
Option A states that demographic transition in America in the twentieth century is strongly marked by an out-migration from rural areas. If true, this is in line with the statement that Americans were predominantly rural at the start of the 20th century, but most lived in urban areas by the 1950s.
Option B states that a population census conducted in 1952 showed that more Americans lived in rural areas than in urban ones. If true this contradicts the given statement.
If the estimation of per capita income in America in the mid-twentieth century primarily required data from rural areas, then most of the population should have been living in rural areas. Option C contradicts the given statement.
If economists have found that throughout the twentieth century, the size of the labour force in America has always been largest in rural areas, then that contradicts the given statement too.

53.

Which one of the following is not a valid inference from the passage?

 

• A. 

  The failure to integrate in-migrants, along with social problems like poverty, was a significant reason for the rise in crime in American cities.

• B. 

  According to social disorganisation theory, fast-paced social change provides fertile ground for the rapid growth of crime.

• C. 

  The differences between urban and rural lifestyles were crucial factors in the disruption experienced by migrants to American cities.

• D. 

  According to social disorganisation theory, the social integration of African American migrants into Chicago was slower because they were less organised.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Option D is not a valid inference from the passage. The passage does not say that African American migrants into Chicago were 'less organised' and hence unable to integrate into society.
All other statements given are based on key ideas in the passage and can be easily inferred.

 

54.

Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best encapsulates the issues discussed in the passage?

 

• A. 

  Durkheim; Marx; Toennies; Shaw

• B. 

  Chicago School; Native-born Whites; European immigrants; Poverty

• C. 

  Chicago School; Social organisation; Migration; Crime

• D. 

  Rapid population growth; Heavy industry; Segregation; Crime

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Chicago School, social organisation,migration and crime are key ideas in the passage.
Option A names some sociologists mentioned in the passage. This can be easily ruled out. Option B does not mention 'crime' which is a key idea. Option D includes 'heavy industry' which is not a key idea.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

Interpretations of the Indian past . . . were inevitably influenced by colonial concerns and interests, and also by prevalent European ideas about history, civilization and the Orient. Orientalist scholars studied the languages and the texts with selected Indian scholars, but made little attempt to understand the world-view of those who were teaching them. The readings therefore are something of a disjuncture from the traditional ways of looking at the Indian past. . . .

Orientalism [which we can understand broadly as Western perceptions of the Orient] fuelled the fantasy and the freedom sought by European Romanticism, particularly in its opposition to the more disciplined Neo-Classicism. The cultures of Asia were seen as bringing a new Romantic paradigm. Another Renaissance was anticipated through an acquaintance with the Orient, and this, it was thought, would be different from the earlier Greek Renaissance. It was believed that this Oriental Renaissance would liberate European thought and literature from the increasing focus on discipline and rationality that had followed from the earlier Enlightenment. . . . [The Romantic English poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge,] were apprehensive of the changes introduced by industrialization and turned to nature and to fantasies of the Orient.

However, this enthusiasm gradually changed, to conform with the emphasis later in the nineteenth century on the innate superiority of European civilization. Oriental civilizations were now seen as having once been great but currently in decline. The various phases of Orientalism tended to mould European understanding of the Indian past into a particular pattern. . . . There was an attempt to formulate Indian culture as uniform, such formulations being derived from texts that were given priority. The so-called 'discovery' of India was largely through selected literature in Sanskrit. This interpretation tended to emphasize non-historical aspects of Indian culture, for example the idea of an unchanging continuity of society and religion over 3,000 years; and it was believed that the Indian pattern of life was so concerned with metaphysics and the subtleties of religious belief that little attention was given to the more tangible aspects.

German Romanticism endorsed this image of India, and it became the mystic land for many Europeans, where even the most ordinary actions were imbued with a complex symbolism. This was the genesis of the idea of the spiritual east, and also, incidentally, the refuge of European intellectuals seeking to distance themselves from the changing patterns of their own societies. A dichotomy in values was maintained, Indian values being described as 'spiritual' and European values as 'materialistic', with little attempt to juxtapose these values with the reality of Indian society. This theme has been even more firmly endorsed by a section of Indian opinion during the last hundred years.

It was a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its perceived inability to counter the technical superiority of the west, a superiority viewed as having enabled Europe to colonize Asia and other parts of the world. At the height of anti-colonial nationalism it acted as a salve for having been made a colony of Britain.

51.

It can be inferred from the passage that to gain a more accurate view of a nation's history and culture, scholars should do all of the following EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  develop an oppositional framework to grasp cultural differences.

• B. 

  examine the complex reality of that nation's society.

• C. 

  read widely in the country's literature.

• D. 

  examine their own beliefs and biases.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The passage says that Orientalist scholars who studied Indian texts made "little attempt to understand the world-view of those who were teaching them". The author argues that the idea of the 'spiritual' East as opposed to the 'materialistic' West promoted by European intellectuals was at a disjuncture from traditional ways of looking at the Indian past. So, it can be inferred from the passage that to gain a more accurate view of a nation's history and culture, scholars should not attempt to develop an oppositional framework to grasp cultural differences.
In light of the passage, it can be inferred that scholars must try to read the country's literature widely, examine their own beliefs and biases and examine the complex reality of that nation's society in order to gain an accurate view of the country's history.

52.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author is not likely to support the view that:

 

• A. 

  the Orientalist view of Asia fired the imagination of some Western poets.

• B. 

  India's culture has evolved over the centuries.

• C. 

  Indian culture acknowledges the material aspects of life.

• D. 

  India became a colony although it matched the technical knowledge of the West.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The author says that the dichotomy of values maintained by European intellectuals "was a consolation to the Indian intelligentsia for its perceived inability to counter the technical superiority of the west, a superiority viewed as having enabled Europe to colonize Asia and other parts of the world." The author is hence not likely to support the view that India became a colony although it matched the technical knowledge of the West.
According to the passage, "The Romantic English poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge, were apprehensive of the changes introduced by industrialization and turned to nature and to fantasies of the Orient." So, the author is likely to support the view that the Orientalist view of Asia fired the imagination of some Western poets.
The author argues that European intellectuals paid "little attention was given to the more tangible aspects" of the Indian pattern of life and tried to maintain a dichotomy in values with "little attempt to juxtapose these values with the reality of Indian society". So, the author is likely to support the view that Indian culture acknowledges the material aspects of life.
That Indian culture has evolved over the centuries is again a view that the author is likely to support.

53.

Which one of the following styles of research is most similar to the Orientalist scholars' method of understanding Indian history and culture?

 

• A. 

  Reading about the life of early American settlers and later waves of migration to understand the evolution of American culture.

• B. 

  Reading 18^th century accounts by travellers to India to see how they viewed Indian life and culture of the time.

• C. 

  Studying artefacts excavated at a palace to understand the lifestyle of those who lived there.

• D. 

  Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

On the Orientalist scholars' method of understanding Indian history and culture, the author says that "The various phases of Orientalism tended to mould European understanding of the Indian past into a particular pattern. . . . There was an attempt to formulate Indian culture as uniform, such formulations being derived from texts that were given priority. The so-called 'discovery' of India was largely through selected literature in Sanskrit." In other words, there was an attempt to selectively analyze material that conformed to a specific view of India. Analysing Hollywood action movies that depict violence and sex to understand contemporary America is similar to this.

54.

In the context of the passage, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT:

 

• A. 

  Orientalist scholarship influenced Indians.

• B. 

  Indian texts influenced Orientalist scholars.

• C. 

  India's spiritualism served as a salve for European colonisers.

• D. 

  Orientalists' understanding of Indian history was linked to colonial concerns.

   

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The last line of the passage implies that India's spiritualism served as a salve for anti-colonial nationalists. Option C is clearly incorrect.
That Oriental scholarship influenced Indians is implied from the first line of the paragraph. The passage says that Orientalist scholars tried to 'discover' India through 'selected literature' in Sanskrit. So, option B is also true. That Orientalists' understanding of Indian history was linked to colonial concerns can also be inferred from passage

When researchers at Emory University in Atlanta trained mice to fear the smell of almonds (by pairing it with electric shocks), they found, to their consternation, that both the children and grandchildren of these mice were spontaneously afraid of the same smell. That is not supposed to happen. Generations of schoolchildren have been taught that the inheritance of acquired characteristics is impossible. A mouse should not be born with something its parents have learned during their lifetimes, any more than a mouse that loses its tail in an accident should give birth to tailless mice.

Modern evolutionary biology dates back to a synthesis that emerged around the 1940s60s, which married Charles Darwin’s mechanism of natural selection with Gregor Mendel’s discoveries of how genes are inherited. The traditional, and still dominant, view is that adaptations – from the human brain to the peacock’s tail – are fully and satisfactorily explained by natural selection (and subsequent inheritance). Yet [new evidence] from genomics, epigenetics and developmental biology [indicates] that evolution is more complex than we once assumed.

In his book On Human Nature (1978), the evolutionary biologist Edward O Wilson claimed that human culture is held on a genetic leash. The metaphor [needs revision]. Imagine a dogwalker (the genes) struggling to retain control of a brawny mastiff (human culture). The pair’s trajectory (the pathway of evolution) reflects the outcome of the struggle. Now imagine the same dog-walker struggling with multiple dogs, on leashes of varied lengths, with each dog tugging in different directions. All these tugs represent the influence of developmental factors, including epigenetics, antibodies and hormones passed on by parents, as well as the ecological legacies and culture they bequeath.

The received wisdom is that parental experiences can’t affect the characters of their offspring. Except they do. The way that genes are expressed to produce an organism’s phenotype– the actual characteristics it ends up with – is affected by chemicals that attach to them. Everything from diet to air pollution to parental behaviour can influence the addition or removal of these chemical marks, which switches genes on or off. Usually these so-called ‘epigenetic’ attachments are removed during the production of sperm and eggs cells, but it turns out that some escape the resetting process and are passed on to the next generation, along with the genes. This is known as ‘epigenetic inheritance’, and more and more studies are confirming that it really happens. Let’s return to the almond-fearing mice. The inheritance of an epigenetic mark transmitted in the sperm is what led the mice’s offspring to acquire an inherited fear.

Epigenetics is only part of the story. Through culture and society, [humans and other animals] inherit knowledge and skills acquired by [their] parents. All this complexity points to an evolutionary process in which genomes (over hundreds to thousands of generations), epigenetic modifications and inherited cultural factors (over several, perhaps tens or hundreds of generations), and parental effects (over single-generation timespans) collectively informb how organisms adapt. These extra-genetic kinds of inheritance give organisms the flexibility to make rapid adjustments to environmental challenges, dragging genetic change in their wake – much like a rowdy pack of dogs.

51.

The passage uses the metaphor of a dog walker to argue that evolutionary adaptation is most comprehensively understood as being determined by:

• A. 

  genetic, epigenetic, developmental factors, and ecological legacies.

   

• B. 

  socio-cultural, genetic, epigenetic, and genomic legacies.

   

• C. 

  ecological, hormonal, extra genetic and genetic legacies.

   

• D. 

  extra genetic, genetic, epigenetic and genomic legacies.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Answer to this question is in paragraphs 3 and 5. The last paragraph states that genomes, epigenetic modifications, inherited cultural factors and parental effects affect evolutionary adaption. Paragraph 3 groups epigenetics and parental effects under ‘developmental factors’ and also mentions ecological legacies. Option 1 covers all these influences comprehensively.

52.

Which of the following options best describes the author's argument?

 

• A. 

  Darwin’s theory of natural selection cannot fully explain evolution.

   

• B. 

  Mendel’s theory of inheritance is unfairly underestimated in explaining evolution.

   

• C. 

  Darwin’s and Mendel’s theories together best explain evolution.

   

• D. 

  Wilson’s theory of evolution is scientifically superior to either Darwin’s or Mendel’s

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See the second paragraph: ‘The traditional, and still dominant, view is that adaptations ...are fully and satisfactorily explained by natural selection and subsequent inheritance. Yet new evidence from genomics, epigenetics and developmental biology indicates that evolution is more complex than we once assumed ...’.

Options 2 and 3 are clearly incorrect. There is no evidence in the passage to support the claim that Wilsons theory of evolution is scientifically superior to Darwin’s or Mendel’s.

53.

The Emory University experiment with mice points to the inheritance of:

• A. 

  acquired characteristics

   

• B. 

  psychological markers

   

• C. 

  personality traits

   

• D. 

  acquired parental fears

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See paragraph 1: ‘That is not supposed to happen. Generations of schoolchildren have been taught that the inheritance of acquired characteristics is impossible...’ Option 4 is incorrect as it is too narrow in scope, talking only of acquired parental fears.

54.

Which of the following, if found to be true, would negate the main message of the passage?

• A. 

  A study indicating the primacy of ecological impact on human adaptation.

   

• B. 

  A study highlighting the criticality of epigenetic inheritance to evolution.

   

• C. 

  A study affirming the sole influence of natural selection and inheritance on evolution.

   

• D. 

  A study affirming the influence of socio-cultural markers on evolutionary processes.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The main idea of the passage is that evolution is shaped by several factors—genomics, epigenetics and developmental biology—and cannot be fully and satisfactorily explained by natural selection and subsequent inheritance alone. Options 1, 2 and 4 would support this. Only option 3 negates the main idea of the passage.

Economists have spent most of the 20th century ignoring psychology, positive or otherwise. But today there is a great deal of emphasis on how happiness can shape global economies, or — on a smaller scale — successful business practice. This is driven, in part, by a trend in "measuring" positive emotions, mostly so they can be optimized. Neuroscientists, for example, claim to be able to locate specific emotions, such as happiness or disappointment, in particular areas of the brain. Wearable technologies, such as Spire, offer data-driven advice on how to reduce stress.

We are no longer just dealing with "happiness" in a philosophical or romantic sense — it has become something that can be monitored and measured, including by our behavior, use of social media and bodily indicators such as pulse rate and facial expressions. There is nothing automatically sinister about this trend. But it is disquieting that the businesses and experts driving the quantification of happiness claim to have our best interests at heart, often concealing their own agendas in the process. In the workplace, happy workers are viewed as a "win-win." Work becomes more pleasant, and employees, more productive. But this is now being pursued through the use of performance-evaluating wearable technology, such as Humanyze or Virgin Pulse, both of which monitor physical signs of stress and activity toward the goal of increasing productivity.

Cities such as Dubai, which has pledged to become the "happiest city in the world," dream up ever-more elaborate and intrusive ways of collecting data on well-being — to the point where there is now talk of using CCTV cameras to monitor facial expressions in public spaces. New ways of detecting emotions are hitting the market all the time: One company, Beyond Verbal, aims to calculate moods conveyed in a phone conversation, potentially without the knowledge of at least one of the participants. And Facebook [has] demonstrated that it could influence our emotions through tweaking our news feeds — opening the door to ever-more targeted manipulation in advertising and influence.

As the science grows more sophisticated and technologies become more intimate with our thoughts and bodies, a clear trend is emerging. Where happiness indicators were once used as a basis to reform society, challenging the obsession with money that G.D.P. measurement entrenches, they are increasingly used as a basis to transform or discipline individuals.

Happiness becomes a personal project, that each of us must now work on, like going to the gym. Since the 1970s, depression has come to be viewed as a cognitive or neurological defect in the individual, and never a consequence of circumstances. All of this simply escalates the sense of responsibility each of us feels for our own feelings, and with it, the sense of failure when things go badly. A society that deliberately removed certain sources of misery, such as precarious and exploitative employment, may well be a happier one. But we won't get there by making this single, often fleeting emotion, the over-arching goal.

51.

According to the author, wearable technologies and social media are contributing most to:

• A. 

  happiness as a “personal project”.

   

• B. 

  depression as a thing of the past.

   

• C. 

  disciplining individualsto be happy.

   

• D. 

  making individuals aware of stress in their lives.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Close contest between options 3 and 4 here. The first paragraph says that ‘wearable technologies... offer data-driven advice on how to reduce stress’ and the third paragraph that ‘performance evaluating wearable technology... monitor physical signs of stress and activity toward the goal of increasing productivity’.

The main idea of the passage is that happiness is being quantified by businesses—ostensibly with our best interests in heart—but, in reality used as ‘a basis to transform or discipline individuals’. This is best reflected by option 3

52.

The author’s view would be undermined by which of the following research findings?

• A. 

  There is a definitive move towards the adoption of wearable technology that taps into emotions.

   

• B. 

  Stakeholders globally are moving away from collecting data on the well-being of individuals.

   

• C. 

  A proliferation of gyms that are collecting data on customer well-being.

   

• D. 

  Individuals worldwide are utilising technologies to monitor and increase their wellbeing.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The very premise of the passage is that, increasingly, individual data is being collected in ever-more elaborate and intrusive ways and that this data is being used to manipulate or transform individuals. Options 1, 3 and 4 support this. Only 2 does not.

53.

According to the author, Dubai:

• A. 

  is on its way to becoming one of the world’s happiest cities.

   

• B. 

  collaborates with Facebook to selectively influence its inhabitants’ moods.

   

• C. 

  develops sophisticated technologies to monitor its inhabitants’ states of mind.

   

• D. 

  incentivises companies that prioritise worker welfare.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See the fourth paragraph: ‘Dubai.... ever-more elaborate and intrusive ways of collecting data on well-being - to the point where there is now talk of using CCTV cameras to monitor facial expressions in public spaces.’

54.

In the author's opinion, the shift in thinking in the 1970s:

• A. 

  was a welcome change from the earlier view that depression could be cured by changing circumstances.

   

• B. 

  introduced greater stress into people’s lives as they were expected to be responsible for their own happiness.

   

• C. 

  put people in touch with their own feelings rather than depending on psychologists.

   

• D. 

  reflected the emergence of neuroscience as the authority on human emotions.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See the last paragraph: ‘Since the 1970s, depression has come to be viewed as a cognitive or neurological defect in the individual, and never a consequence of circumstances. All of this simply escalates the sense of responsibility each of us feels for our own feelings, and with it, the sense of failure when things go badly.’

55.

From the passage we can infer that the author would like economists to:

• A. 

  incorporate psychological findings into their research cautiously

   

• B. 

  correlate measurements of happiness with economic indicators

   

• C. 

  measure the effectiveness of Facebook and social media advertising

   

• D. 

  work closely with neuroscientists to understand human behaviour.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the first paragraph, the author states that while economists ignored psychology for the most part of the 20^th century, today they put a great deal of emphasis on how happiness can shape economies and businesses. The author then goes on to say why the current trend of quantification of happiness is ‘disquieting’. We infer that the author would recommend a middle path.

Option 2 is clearly incorrect: See the reference to ‘the obsession with money that GDP measurement entrenches’ in paragraph 5. Neither option 3 nor option 4 is mentioned in the paragraph.

The Indian government has announced an international competition to design a National War Memorial in New Delhi, to honour all of the Indian soldiers who served in the various wars and counter-insurgency campaigns from 1947 onwards. The terms of the competition also specified that the new structure would be built adjacent to the India Gate – a memorial to the Indian soldiers who died in the First World War. Between the old imperialist memorial and the proposed nationalist one, India’s contribution to the Second World War is airbrushed out of existence.

The Indian government’s conception of the war memorial was not merely absentminded. Rather, it accurately reflected the fact that both academic history and popular memory have yet to come to terms with India’s Second World War, which continues to be seen as little more than mood music in the drama of India’s advance towards independence and partition in 1947. Further, the political trajectory of the postwar subcontinent has militated against popular remembrance of the war. With partition and the onset of the India-Pakistan rivalry, both of the new nations needed fresh stories for self-legitimisation rather than focusing on shared wartime experiences.

However, the Second World War played a crucial role in both the independence and partition of India. The Indian army recruited, trained and deployed some 2.5 million men, almost 90,000 of which were killed and many more injured. Even at the time, it was recognised as the largest volunteer force in the war.

India’s material and financial contribution to the war was equally significant. India emerged as a major military-industrial and logistical base for Allied operations in south-east Asia and the Middle East. This led the United States to take considerable interest in the country’s future, and ensured that this was no longer the preserve of the British government. Other wartime developments pointed in the direction of India’s independence. In a stunning reversal of its long-standing financial relationship with Britain, India finished the war as one of the largest creditors to the imperial power.

Such extraordinary mobilization for war was achieved at great human cost, with the Bengal famine the most extreme manifestation of widespread wartime deprivation. The costs on India’s home front must be counted in millions of lives.

Indians signed up to serve on the war and home fronts for a variety of reasons. Many were convinced that their contribution would open the doors to India’s freedom. The political and social churn triggered by the war was evident in the massive waves of popular protest and unrest that washed over rural and urban India in the aftermath of the conflict. This turmoil was crucial in persuading the Attlee government to rid itself of the incubus of ruling India. Seventy years on, it is time that India engaged with the complex legacies of the Second World War. Bringing the war into the ambit of the new national memorial would be a fitting – if not overdue – recognition that this was India’s War.

51.

In the first paragraph, the author laments the fact that

• A. 

  the new war memorial will be built right next to India Gate.

   

• B. 

  there is no recognition of the Indian soldiers who served in the Second World War.

   

• C. 

  funds will be wasted on another war memorial when we already have the India Gate memorial.

   

• D. 

  India lost thousands of human lives during the Second World War

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the first paragraph, the author deplores the fact that ‘India’s contribution to the second world war is airbrushed out of existence.’ That is, there is no recognition of the Indian soldiers who served in the second world war.

52.

The author lists all of the following as outcomes of the Second World War EXCEPT:

• A. 

  US recognition of India's strategic location and role in the war.

   

• B. 

  Large-scale deaths in Bengal as a result of deprivation and famine.

   

• C. 

  Independence of the subcontinent and its partition into two countries.

   

• D. 

  The large financial debt India owed to Britain after the war.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Option 4 is clearly incorrect, as the passage states that ‘ India finished the war as one of the largest creditors’ to Britain in the second world war. (see paragraph 5).

Evidence to support option 1 is in paragraph 4. That the Bengal famine was one of the dreadful outcomes of the war is explained in paragraph 6. Evidence to support option 3 is in paragraph 7.

53.

The phrase “mood music” is used in the second paragraph to indicate that the Second World War is viewed as:

• A. 

  Setting the stage for the emergence of the India–Pakistan rivalry in the subcontinent.

   

• B. 

  a backdrop to the subsequent independence and partition of the region.

   

• C. 

  a part of the narrative on the ill-effects of colonial rule on India.

• D. 

  a tragic period in terms of loss of lives and national wealth.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The author says ‘India’s second world war... continues to be seen as little more than mood music in the drama of India’s advance towards independence and partition in 1947.’ That is, the war is seen as nothing more than a background score/ backdrop that sets the mood in the drama leading to independence and partition.

54.

The author suggests that a major reason why India has not so far acknowledged its role in the Second World War is that it:

• A. 

  wants to forget the human and financial toll of the War on the country

   

• B. 

  has been focused on building an independent, non-colonial political identity.

   

• C. 

  views the War as a predominantly Allied effort, with India playing only a supporting role.

   

• D. 

  blames the War for leading to the momentous partition of the country.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See paragraph 2: The author states that ‘the political trajectory of the postwar subcontinent has militated against popular remembrance of the war...’ as both nations needed ‘fresh stories for self-legitimization rather than focusing on shared wartime experiences’. That is, rather than looking into shared wartime experiences with Pakistan, India focused on building an independent, non-colonial political identity after independence.­

There is no evidence in the paragraph to support any of the other options.

55.

The author claims that omitting mention of Indians who served in the Second World War from the new National War Memorial is:

• A. 

  a reflection of misplaced priorities of the post-independence Indian governments.

   

• B. 

  a reflection of the academic and popular view of India’s role in the War.

   

• C. 

  appropriate as their names can always be included in the India Gate memorial.

   

• D. 

  is something which can be rectified in future by constructing a separate memorial.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the second paragraph, the author clearly states that the reason why the new war memorial is conceived the way it is can be attributed to the fact that ‘both academic history and popular memory have yet to come to terms with India’s second world war’.

“Everybody pretty much agrees that the relationship between elephants and people has dramatically changed,” [says psychologist Gay] Bradshaw. “Where for centuries humans and elephants lived in relatively peaceful coexistence, there is now hostility and violence. Now, I use the term ‘violence’ because of the intentionality associated with it, both in the aggression of humans and, at times, the recently observed behavior of elephants.”

Typically, elephant researchers have cited, as a cause of aggression, the high levels of testosterone in newly matured male elephants or the competition for land and resources between elephants and humans. But, Bradshaw and several colleagues argue that today’s elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma. Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they claim, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild, and by which established elephant herds are governed, that what we are now witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture.

Elephants, when left to their own devices, are profoundly social creatures. young elephants are raised within an extended, multi-tiered network of doting female caregivers that includes the birth mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. These relations are maintained over a life span as long as 70 years. Studies of established herds have shown that young elephants stay within 15 feet of their mothers for nearly all of their first eight years of life, after which young females are socialized into the matriarchal network, while young males go off for a time into an all-male social group before coming back into the fold as mature adults.

This fabric of elephant society, Bradshaw and her colleagues [demonstrate], ha[s] effectively been frayed by years of habitat loss and poaching, along with systematic culling by government agencies to control elephant numbers and translocations of herds to different habitats. As a result of such social upheaval, calves are now being born to and raised by ever younger and inexperienced mothers. Young orphaned elephants, meanwhile, that have witnessed the death of a parent at the hands of poachers are coming of age in the absence of the support system that defines traditional elephant life. “The loss of elephant elders,” [says] Bradshaw "and the traumatic experience of witnessing the massacres of their family, impairs normal brain and behavior development in young elephants.”

What Bradshaw and her colleagues describe would seem to be an extreme form of anthropocentric conjecture if the evidence that they’ve compiled from various elephant researchers weren’t so compelling. The elephants of decimated herds, especially orphans who’ve watched the death of their parents and elders from poaching and culling, exhibit behavior typically associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related disorders in humans: abnormal startle response, unpredictable asocial behavior, inattentive mothering and hyper-aggression.

[According to Bradshaw], “Elephants are suffering and behaving in the same ways that we recognize in ourselves as a result of violence. Except perhaps for a few specific features, brain organization and early development of elephants and humans are extremely similar.”

51.

Which of the following statements best expresses the overall argument of this passage?

• A. 

  Elephants, like the humans they are in conflict with, are profoundly social creatures.

   

• B. 

  The relationship between elephants and humans has changed from one of coexistence to one of hostility

   

   

• C. 

  Recent elephant behaviour could be understood as a form of species-wide trauma-related response.

   

   

• D. 

  The brain organisation and early development of Aelephants and humans are extremely similar

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

While all given options are true statements, the overall argument of the passage is best captured by option 3.­ As against the typical explanation offered by researchers for elephant aggression (high levels of testosterone, competition for land and resources etc) Bradshaw and her colleagues argue that chronic stress is the reason for elephant behavior observed today. The passage explains the reasons for this stress in detail.

52.

In the first paragraph, Bradshaw uses the term "violence" to describe the recent change in the human-elephant relationship because, according to him:

 

 

• A. 

  Both humans and elephants have killed members of each other's species.

   

• B. 

  There is a purposefulness in human and elephant aggression towards each other.

   

• C. 

  Human-elephant interactions have changed their character over time.

   

• D. 

  Elephant herds and their habitat have been systematically destroyed by humans.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Easy one. The first paragraph clearly states ‘I use the term violence because of the intentionality associated with it...’

53.

The passage makes all of the following claims EXCEPT

• A. 

  Elephant mothers are evolving newer ways of rearing their calves to adapt to emerging threats.

   

• B. 

  The elephant response to deeply disturbing experiences is similar to that of humans.

   

• C. 

  Elephants establish e[tended and enduring familial relationships as do humans.

   

• D. 

  Human actions such as poaching and culling have created stressful conditions for elephant communities.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

While there is no evidence in the passage to support option 1, the other options can be defended by statements in the passage:

• Option 2 – See last paragraph: ‘elephants are suffering and behaving in the same ways that we recognize in ourselves as a result of violence ....’
• Option 3 – See paragraph 3: ‘young elephants are raised within an extended, multi-tiered network of doting female caregivers that includes the birth mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. These relations are maintained over a life span as long as 70 years’
• Option 4 – See paragraph 4: ‘This fabric of elephant society, Bradshaw and her colleagues demonstrate, has effectively been frayed by years of habitat loss and poaching, along with systematic culling by government agencies’

54.

Which of the following measures is Bradshaw most likely to support to address the problem of elephant aggression?

• A. 

  The development of treatment programmes for elephants drawing on insights gained from treating post-traumatic stress disorder in humans.

• B. 

  Funding of more studies to better understand the impact of testosterone on male elephant aggression.

   

• C. 

  Studying the impact of isolating elephant calves on their early brain development, behaviour and aggression.

   

• D. 

  Increased funding for research into the similarity of humans and other animals drawing on insights gained from human-elephant similarities.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The key idea of the passage is that the chronic stress elephants experience due to human activities like poaching and culling is the reason why there is hostility and violence between humans and elephants. So, to address the problem of elephant aggression, Bradshaw is likely to support a measure that helps reduce or overcome this stress. Option 1 offers a possible solution.

Bradshaw does not believe testosterone is the reason for elephant aggression; so, option 2 is ruled out.

Neither option 3 nor 4 is compelling as they do not address the problem of elephant aggression. Besides, Bradshaw has already documented evidence to show that isolating elephant calves impacts their development and behavior and that humans and elephants are similar in brain organization and early development.

55.

In paragraph 4, the phrase, “The fabric of elephant society . . . has(s) effectively been frayed by . . .” is:

 

• A. 

  an exaggeration aimed at bolstering Bradshaw's claims.

   

• B. 

  an accurate description of the condition of elephant herds today.

   

• C. 

  an ode to the fragility of elephant society today.

   

• D. 

  a metaphor for the effect of human activity on elephant communities.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The fabric of elephant society ... has effectively been frayed...

Here, the elephant society is compared to a frayed fabric. This is a metaphor, a figure of speech used to explain an idea by equating it to something else.

The only thing worse than being lied to is not knowing you’re being lied to. It’s true that plastic pollution is a huge problem, of planetary proportions. And it’s true we could all do more to reduce our plastic footprint. The lie is that blame for the plastic problem is wasteful consumers and that changing our individual habits will fix it.

Recycling plastic is to saving the Earth what hammering a nail is to halting a falling skyscraper. You struggle to find a place to do it and feel pleased when you succeed. But your effort is wholly inadequate and distracts from the real problem of why the building is collapsing in the first place. The real problem is that single-use plastic—the very idea of producing plastic items like grocery bags, which we use for an average of 12 minutes but can persist in the environment for half a millennium—is an incredibly reckless abuse of technology. Encouraging individuals to recycle more will never solve the problem of a massive production of single-use plastic that should have been avoided in the first place.

As an ecologist and evolutionary biologist, I have had a disturbing window into the accumulating literature on the hazards of plastic pollution. Scientists have long recognized that plastics biodegrade slowly, if at all, and pose multiple threats to wildlife through entanglement and consumption. More recent reports highlight dangers posed by absorption of toxic chemicals in the water and by plastic odors that mimic some species’ natural food. Plastics also accumulate up the food chain, and studies now show that we are likely ingesting it ourselves in seafood. . . .

Beginning in the 1950s, big beverage companies like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, along with Phillip Morris and others, formed a non-profit called Keep America Beautiful. Its mission is/was to educate and encourage environmental stewardship in the public. . . . At face value, these efforts seem benevolent, but they obscure the real problem, which is the role that corporate polluters play in the plastic problem. This clever misdirection has led journalist and author Heather Rogers to describe Keep America Beautiful as the first corporate greenwashing front, as it has helped shift the public focus to consumer recycling behavior and actively thwarted legislation that would increase extended producer responsibility for waste management. . . . [T]he greatest success of Keep America Beautiful has been to shift the onus of environmental responsibility onto the public while simultaneously becoming a trusted name in the environmental movement. . . .

So what can we do to make responsible use of plastic a reality? First: reject the lie. Litterbugs are not responsible for the global ecological disaster of plastic. Humans can only function to the best of their abilities, given time, mental bandwidth and systemic constraints. Our huge problem with plastic is the result of a permissive legal framework that has allowed the uncontrolled rise of plastic pollution, despite clear evidence of the harm it causes to local communities and the world’s oceans. Recycling is also too hard in most parts of the U.S. and lacks the proper incentives to make it work well.

51.

Which of the following interventions would the author most strongly support:

• A. 

  recycling all plastic debris in the seabed.

• B. 

  having all consumers change their plastic consumption habits.

• C. 

  completely banning all single-use plastic bags.

• D. 

  passing regulations targeted at producers that generate plastic products.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option D is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

The central idea of the passage is that individuals are not responsible for the ecological disaster of plastic; the plastic problem is the result of a permissive legal framework that has not put the onus on producers of plastic to manage waste (see paragraphs 4 and 5). So, the intervention the author is likely to support is the one mentioned in option 4.

52.

The author lists all of the following as negative effects of the use of plastics EXCEPT the:

• A. 

  slow pace of degradation or non-degradation of plastics in the environment.

• B. 

  air pollution caused during the process of recycling plastics.

• C. 

  poisonous chemicals released into the water and food we consume.

   

• D. 

  adverse impacts on the digestive systems of animals exposed to plastic.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Paragraph 3 lists options 1, 3 and 4 as the negative effects of the use of plastics. Only option 2 is not mentioned in the passage.

53.

In the first paragraph, the author uses “lie” to refer to the:

• A. 

  blame assigned to consumersfor indiscriminate use of plastics.

   

• B. 

  understatement of the enormity of the plastics pollution problem.

   

• C. 

  fact that people do not know they have been lied to.

   

• D. 

  understatement of the effects of recycling plastics.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

Paragraph 1 clearly states that the lie ‘is that blame for the plastic problem is wasteful consumers and that changing our individual habits can fix it’.

54.

In the second paragraph, the phrase “what hammering a nail is to halting a falling skyscraper” means:

• A. 

  relying on emerging technologies to mitigate the ill-effects of plastic pollution.

   

• B. 

  encouraging the responsible production of plastics by firms.

   

• C. 

  focusing on consumer behaviour to tackle the problem of plastics pollution.

   

• D. 

  focusing on single-use plastic bags to reduce the plastics footprint.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option C is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

In the second paragraph, the author compares consumers recycling plastic to save the Earth to ‘hammering a nail is to halting a falling skyscraper’. Note the line ‘encouraging individuals to recycle more will never solve the problem of a massive production of single-use plastic...’

55.

It can be inferred that the author considers the Keep America Beautiful organisation:

• A. 

  a "greenwash" because it was a benevolent attempt to improve public recycling habits.

   

• B. 

  a sham as it diverted attention away from the role of corporates in plastics pollution.

   

• C. 

  an important step in sensitising producers to the need to tackle plastics pollution.

   

• D. 

  an innovative example of a collaborative corporate social responsibility initiative.

Correct Answer Explanatory Answer

Option B is the correct answer.

Video Explanation

Explanatory Answer

See paragraph 4: ‘This clever misdirection .... Keep America Beautiful....the first corporate greenwashing front as it has helped shift the public focus to consumer recycling behavior and actively thwarted legislation that would increase extended producer responsibility for waste management’.