Main Idea (Short Text)

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The student should not habitually think that the problems with which he believes himself beset are really as grave as they appear. If he can surrender his entire life with all its circumstances, and even all its aspirations, to the Higher Power, he should then patiently await the outcome of this surrender, in whatever form it manifests itself. It is the power of the other which pulls him upward out of his attachments, cajoling him to do what he cannot do of himself. This power, when so felt, we call grace. Let Grace in by responding positively to the teaching and by letting go of the ego. Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to oresee are ahead. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin. It isn't the things that happen to us, it's the things we think are going to happen to us that drive us almost crazy. None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting a few months or a few years to change all the tenor of our lives.

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

One cannot think one's way into heaven. The concept trap ensnares many spiritual seekers as we unwittingly substitute thoughts and ideas about the path for the path itself. Though words of prayer or a Divine name can orient us in the right direction, only by seeing beyond thoughts and mental imagery can we begin to touch the higher worlds. Thoughts and concepts play no role when we stand before the ineffable. Right thinking and true ideas offer two invaluable ingredients for the inner life: motivation and guidance. Great spiritual poetry and myths, stories in the holy scriptures, and other written sources contain ideas and images which can serve to raise the level of our spiritual aspirations, moving us to renew our commitment to the path, helping us through our dry spells, periods of doubt, and the inevitable and numerous obstacles we encounter along the way. Eventually, the wonders of the path itself provide ample motivation.

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

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There are two distinct vantage points from which a piece of work may be evaluated: according to the aesthetics of its medium, or according to its popularity in the market...That these distinctions are rarely made explicit causes no small mischief. As the economy grows more fiercely competitive, commercial evaluation (“Two thumbs up!”) can all but silence aesthetic criticism. Several decades ago, before competition began to intensify, there were arbiters of taste — art critics, reviewers, essayists, educators, and graybeards — within the professions who continually passed judgment on the quality of work being done. They presided over a continuing discussion about standards, which reminded society about the difference between the good and the popular. But in a world of intensifying competition in which consumers can get exactly what they want — where software can even analyse their past purchases and advise them on what else they will enjoy or find interesting — such standard-bearers seem increasingly irrelevant.

What is the theme of the passage?

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Imagine for a moment that each of us is entrusted at birth with a hope-diamond in the rough, a precious and sacred particle of the Divine Will. Through us, the Will of the Creator can enter the material world. We bear the seed, we are the seed, the growing tip of the Universal Will. In a vast and incomprehensible process, the Unconditioned Will gradually spiritualizes the material universe, drawing it more directly into its service. We may recognize this difficult and uncertain process in ourselves, if we endeavor to cooperate with this Great Work of the spirit. We cut and polish our diamond will, returning it to the service of the Divine Will from which it originates… What does service to the Divine Will consists of? In partial response we envision an immense ecology of energies. Within the Earth's living ecosystem we witness the exchange, transformation, and recycling of the energies of heat, light, and molecular bonds in the food chain. Similarly, the sacred, universal ecosystem harmonizes the exchange and transformation of the energies of sensation, consciousness, and the rest, within the great chain of being. Human beings naturally use, convert, and store energies.

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

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From the wealth of science we have selected certain parts. And our choice has in no way been influenced by a consideration of the higher interests of humanity. It has simply followed the direction of our natural tendencies. The principles of the greatest convenience and of the least effort, the pleasure procured by speed, change, and comfort, and also the need of escaping from ourselves, are the determining factors in the success of new inventions. But no one has ever asked himself how we would stand the enormous acceleration of the rhythm of life resulting from rapid transportation, telegraph, telephone, modern business methods, machines that write and calculate, and those that do all the housekeeping drudgery of former times. The tendency responsible for the universal adoption of the airplane, the automobile, the cinema, the telephone, the radio, and, in the near future, of television, is as natural as that which, in the night of the ages, led our ancestors to drink alcohol. Steam-heated houses, electric lighting, elevators, biological morals, and chemical adulteration of foodstuffs have been accepted solely because those innovations were agreeable and convenient. But no account whatever has been taken of their probable effect on human beings.

What is the theme of the passage?

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You can use the breath to send you attention to certain parts of your body. This is a good way to energize your self, to increase awareness of your body, and to promote inner calmness by being present in the moment. With every in-breath bring your awareness down to your spine and with every out breath let it rise up again. It is very helpful to visualize a ball of energy traveling down your spine on the inhalation, and climbing up your spine till the top of the head on the exhalation. After a while you can feel burning heat in the lower belly; you will feel every part of your body and the increased energy can give a tingling sensation. It is a simple way to fell a strong connection between heaven and earth; with the in-breath you sink into the body (God meets you), while on the out-breath your consciousness leaves the body (you meet God). Regular practice can lead to bliss. Breathing deeply helps to get in contact with deep seated emotions, the fears, pains and anger.

Which of the following options best represents the theme of the passage?

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Currency convertibility is not by any means an unmixed blessing. There are several issues that need to be carefully examined before rushing headlong towards full convertibility. The first, obviously, is with reference to the advantages & costs of a fully convertible currency. The second issue concerns the distinction between convertibility on the current account and on the capital account and the sequencing of the two. The final issue has to do with the preconditions that have to exist in the domestic economy before it is possible to maintain a fully convertible currency. It is a moot question whether the Indian economy will achieve these in the near future.

What is the theme of the passage?

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The truth is that the history of the ancient world is to a great extent the history of lost opportunities. Once the Neolithic breakthrough had been achieved there was no invincible reason why man should not have progressed fairly rapidly towards an advanced industrial society. Yet archaic societies are notable not only for stagnation but retrogression. Decades and centuries rolled by without specific progress: often technology deteriorated as the adventurism behind its discovery was lost to sight. Archaic technology was empirical: that is discovered by trial and error rather than by analytical reasoning. Granted the enormous natural curiosity of man, or rather some men, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the wisdom of the individual was suppressed by the conservative folly of the collective. Thus old processes were retained even after better ones were discovered it is a curious fact that the significance of inventions originating in the Near East was only realized when they were adopted by other societies. Why was this?

What is the theme of the passage?

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One of the penalties of rapid technological change is its unsettling effect on large numbers of people who view it as a threat to their well-being and to the established order. This has been true, we are told, from the very beginnings of industrial history. It is especially true, I believe, of that shining symbol of modern technology — the computer. In our adulation of the computer and other new devices and techniques, we have dwelt too much on the amazing technological capabilities of new electronic hardware and have done far too little to demonstrate its equally amazing potential for advancing human welfare. As a result, we are witnessing what might be called a human backlash — a perfectly understandable anxiety as to what will become of the individual in a society that makes increasing use of highly sophisticated machines and large organizations to do its work.

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Would you believe that the first outstanding deaf teacher in America was a Frenchman? His name was Laurent Clerc. He became a friend of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and together they founded America's first school for the deaf. At the age of 12, Laurent entered the Royal Institution for the Deaf in Paris where he excelled in his studies. After he graduated, the school asked him to stay on as an assistant teacher. He was a dedicated teacher; and consequently, was promoted to teach the highest class. Meanwhile, in America, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet was studying to be a minister when he met a young deaf girl, Alice Cogswell. He was upset to learn that there were no schools for the deaf in America. He was very concerned about the lack of educational opportunities for the deaf. Therefore, in 1815, Gallaudet sailed to London, England to seek ideas on how to teach deaf people. However, he was unable to get help and he became frustrated. While he was there, he met a French educator of the deaf who invited him to go to Paris to spend three months learning at the Royal Institution for the Deaf, the school where Laurent Clerc was teaching. Gallaudet accepted the offer, and went to the Royal Institution for the Deaf, where Clerc became his Sign Language teacher. At the school, Clerc led a busy life. He taught signs to Principal Gallaudet; he taught the pupils; and he taught hearing men who came to the school to study deaf education. At that time, the state would only pay for each student to stay at the school for five years. Therefore, Clerc had to teach his pupils as much as he could as quickly as possible.

The main idea of this passage could best be stated as

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It is truly amazing, what beavers do. They build dams to provide reservoirs of water in which to build their lodges, another amazing feat. Furthermore, they spend their time during the warmer months preparing for the colder months by cutting branches of poplar and burying them in the bottom of the ponds they create to provide them food for the winter. Obviously all this proves the beavers actions are for a purpose. But the purpose is not the beaver's. The beaver has no idea why he does what he does. He does it only because his instinct drives him to do it, and he enjoys doing it. The seemingly marvelous planning of the beaver in preparing for the winter is all a projection of what it would be if we did the same thing, but the beaver has no future purpose at all in what he does. In spite of all the provision the beaver makes for the future cold months, if the pond or brook where he has built his lodge freezes to the bottom, and he is unable to reach the provisions in the bottom of the pond, the beaver will die of starvation. The beaver will do this even if there are plenty of poplar branches available to him elsewhere.

Which of the following is true about the beaver's preparedness or otherwise for winter?