Reading Comprehension - Mixed Passages

Ravi went to the party

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Ravi Shankar has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his fine sense of humour—everybody, that is except his six-year old daughter, Meenakshi. Recently one of Ravi’s friends asked him to make a speech at a reception. This is the sort of thing that Ravi loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the party with Meenakshi. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course it was a great success. As soon as he had finished, Meenakshi told him she wanted to go home. Ravi was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home, he asked Meenakshi if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she had not. Ravi asked why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him.

The author lived in a distant part of the country

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

One dull, dark day in autumn, I was traveling on horseback through a dreary stretch of the countryside. At nightfall, I came in sight of the House of Usher. This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal. It had been umpteen years since he and I had seen each other. I lived in a distant part of the country during my childhood. However, he had recently corresponded with me telling me at length of a serious illness and a mental disturbance that was troubling him. Beleaguered by his problems, Roderick was leading the existence of a hermit.

Adults cannot understand why a child finds knives so attractive because they

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Those of us who already possess knives and use them as a matter of course at our meals can hardly understand the longing of an infant to be given the freedom of so perilous an instrument. Man has been defined as a tool-using animal, and there is no other tool that appeals to the imagination as strongly as a knife. It is through long months and years, a forbidden thing, and all the more fascinating on that count. There is no glory in using a spoon. There is no honour in holding a fork in the right hand and in taking up on it little squares of meat that have been cut with a knife by some more privileged hand. Fork and spoon are little more than an extension of the fingers, and a spoon, at least, is so safe that it can be left in the hands of an infant in the cradle. But a knife is a danger against which constant warning is necessary — something out of reach and waiting as a prize at the end of a long avenue of years.

Ravi loves to

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Ravi Shankar has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his fine sense of humour—everybody, that is except his six-year old daughter, Meenakshi. Recently one of Ravi’s friends asked him to make a speech at a reception. This is the sort of thing that Ravi loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the party with Meenakshi. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course it was a great success. As soon as he had finished, Meenakshi told him she wanted to go home. Ravi was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home, he asked Meenakshi if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she had not. Ravi asked why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him.

The author came to know of his friend’s illness

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

One dull, dark day in autumn, I was traveling on horseback through a dreary stretch of the countryside. At nightfall, I came in sight of the House of Usher. This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal. It had been umpteen years since he and I had seen each other. I lived in a distant part of the country during my childhood. However, he had recently corresponded with me telling me at length of a serious illness and a mental disturbance that was troubling him. Beleaguered by his problems, Roderick was leading the existence of a hermit.

To the child, there is no glory in handling a spoon because

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Those of us who already possess knives and use them as a matter of course at our meals can hardly understand the longing of an infant to be given the freedom of so perilous an instrument. Man has been defined as a tool-using animal, and there is no other tool that appeals to the imagination as strongly as a knife. It is through long months and years, a forbidden thing, and all the more fascinating on that count. There is no glory in using a spoon. There is no honour in holding a fork in the right hand and in taking up on it little squares of meat that have been cut with a knife by some more privileged hand. Fork and spoon are little more than an extension of the fingers, and a spoon, at least, is so safe that it can be left in the hands of an infant in the cradle. But a knife is a danger against which constant warning is necessary — something out of reach and waiting as a prize at the end of a long avenue of years.

The idea that what one eats has an effect on one’s susceptibility to a disease like cancer is

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Recent research indicates that proper diet may help to reduce the risk of cancer. Since cancer develops over a long-time, typically decades, one has time to hinder or promote it. Certain foods can block the chemicals that initiate cancer. Anti-oxidants found in some vitamins and minerals can snuff out oxygen-free radicals, which are thought to make cells susceptible to cancer. They can even repair some of the cellular damage that has been done. Wheat bran, for example has been shown to shrink preconscious cells. One of the most studied anti-oxidants in vegetables and a fruit is beta-carotene concentrated in deep green, yellow and orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach, fruits such as apricots and muskmelons. Betacarotene has a direct toxic effect on cells that form malignant tumors. Inside the body, it changes to retinoic acid used in the treatment of cancer. A simple rule is that darker the vegetable more is the anti-oxidant within. Vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli reduce the risk of breast cancer. Soybeans contain at least five compounds believed to inhibit cancer. Wheat bran lowers the risk of colon cancer. The ideal diet is low in fat and calories, high in fibre and includes a variety of nutrients—rich foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds and nuts.

The child

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Those of us who already possess knives and use them as a matter of course at our meals can hardly understand the longing of an infant to be given the freedom of so perilous an instrument. Man has been defined as a tool-using animal, and there is no other tool that appeals to the imagination as strongly as a knife. It is through long months and years, a forbidden thing, and all the more fascinating on that count. There is no glory in using a spoon. There is no honour in holding a fork in the right hand and in taking up on it little squares of meat that have been cut with a knife by some more privileged hand. Fork and spoon are little more than an extension of the fingers, and a spoon, at least, is so safe that it can be left in the hands of an infant in the cradle. But a knife is a danger against which constant warning is necessary — something out of reach and waiting as a prize at the end of a long avenue of years.

The ‘privileged hand’ in this passage refers to

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Those of us who already possess knives and use them as a matter of course at our meals can hardly understand the longing of an infant to be given the freedom of so perilous an instrument. Man has been defined as a tool-using animal, and there is no other tool that appeals to the imagination as strongly as a knife. It is through long months and years, a forbidden thing, and all the more fascinating on that count. There is no glory in using a spoon. There is no honour in holding a fork in the right hand and in taking up on it little squares of meat that have been cut with a knife by some more privileged hand. Fork and spoon are little more than an extension of the fingers, and a spoon, at least, is so safe that it can be left in the hands of an infant in the cradle. But a knife is a danger against which constant warning is necessary — something out of reach and waiting as a prize at the end of a long avenue of years.

Human cells become more susceptible to cancer because of

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Recent research indicates that proper diet may help to reduce the risk of cancer. Since cancer develops over a long-time, typically decades, one has time to hinder or promote it. Certain foods can block the chemicals that initiate cancer. Anti-oxidants found in some vitamins and minerals can snuff out oxygen-free radicals, which are thought to make cells susceptible to cancer. They can even repair some of the cellular damage that has been done. Wheat bran, for example has been shown to shrink preconscious cells. One of the most studied anti-oxidants in vegetables and a fruit is beta-carotene concentrated in deep green, yellow and orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach, fruits such as apricots and muskmelons. Betacarotene has a direct toxic effect on cells that form malignant tumors. Inside the body, it changes to retinoic acid used in the treatment of cancer. A simple rule is that darker the vegetable more is the anti-oxidant within. Vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli reduce the risk of breast cancer. Soybeans contain at least five compounds believed to inhibit cancer. Wheat bran lowers the risk of colon cancer. The ideal diet is low in fat and calories, high in fibre and includes a variety of nutrients—rich foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds and nuts.

The House of Usher was the home of

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

One dull, dark day in autumn, I was traveling on horseback through a dreary stretch of the countryside. At nightfall, I came in sight of the House of Usher. This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal. It had been umpteen years since he and I had seen each other. I lived in a distant part of the country during my childhood. However, he had recently corresponded with me telling me at length of a serious illness and a mental disturbance that was troubling him. Beleaguered by his problems, Roderick was leading the existence of a hermit.

The author says that the fourth-rate writers and dramatists

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

In place of old pleasures demanding intelligence and personal initiative, we have vast organisation’s personal participations and no intellectual effort of any sort. To the interminable democracies of the world, a million cinemas bring the same stale balderdash. There have always been fourth-rate writers and dramatists; but their workers, in the past, quickly died without getting beyond the boundaries of the city or the country in which they appeared. Today, the inventions of the scenario, writers go out from Los Angeles across the whole world. Countless audiences soak passively in the tepid bath of nonsense. No mental effort is demanded of them, no participation; they need to only sit and keep their eyes open.

According to this passage, most cinemas

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

In place of old pleasures demanding intelligence and personal initiative, we have vast organisation’s personal participations and no intellectual effort of any sort. To the interminable democracies of the world, a million cinemas bring the same stale balderdash. There have always been fourth-rate writers and dramatists; but their workers, in the past, quickly died without getting beyond the boundaries of the city or the country in which they appeared. Today, the inventions of the scenario, writers go out from Los Angeles across the whole world. Countless audiences soak passively in the tepid bath of nonsense. No mental effort is demanded of them, no participation; they need to only sit and keep their eyes open.

Roderick

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

One dull, dark day in autumn, I was traveling on horseback through a dreary stretch of the countryside. At nightfall, I came in sight of the House of Usher. This was the house of Roderick Usher, who had been my childhood pal. It had been umpteen years since he and I had seen each other. I lived in a distant part of the country during my childhood. However, he had recently corresponded with me telling me at length of a serious illness and a mental disturbance that was troubling him. Beleaguered by his problems, Roderick was leading the existence of a hermit.

According to this passage, the modern audience

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

In place of old pleasures demanding intelligence and personal initiative, we have vast organisation’s personal participations and no intellectual effort of any sort. To the interminable democracies of the world, a million cinemas bring the same stale balderdash. There have always been fourth-rate writers and dramatists; but their workers, in the past, quickly died without getting beyond the boundaries of the city or the country in which they appeared. Today, the inventions of the scenario, writers go out from Los Angeles across the whole world. Countless audiences soak passively in the tepid bath of nonsense. No mental effort is demanded of them, no participation; they need to only sit and keep their eyes open.

Fibre needed to reduce the risk of cancer is present in

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Recent research indicates that proper diet may help to reduce the risk of cancer. Since cancer develops over a long-time, typically decades, one has time to hinder or promote it. Certain foods can block the chemicals that initiate cancer. Anti-oxidants found in some vitamins and minerals can snuff out oxygen-free radicals, which are thought to make cells susceptible to cancer. They can even repair some of the cellular damage that has been done. Wheat bran, for example has been shown to shrink preconscious cells. One of the most studied anti-oxidants in vegetables and a fruit is beta-carotene concentrated in deep green, yellow and orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and spinach, fruits such as apricots and muskmelons. Betacarotene has a direct toxic effect on cells that form malignant tumors. Inside the body, it changes to retinoic acid used in the treatment of cancer. A simple rule is that darker the vegetable more is the anti-oxidant within. Vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli reduce the risk of breast cancer. Soybeans contain at least five compounds believed to inhibit cancer. Wheat bran lowers the risk of colon cancer. The ideal diet is low in fat and calories, high in fibre and includes a variety of nutrients—rich foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds and nuts.

Meenakshi failed to realise that

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question that follows.

Ravi Shankar has a large circle of friends and is very popular at parties. Everybody admires him for his fine sense of humour—everybody, that is except his six-year old daughter, Meenakshi. Recently one of Ravi’s friends asked him to make a speech at a reception. This is the sort of thing that Ravi loves. He prepared the speech carefully and went to the party with Meenakshi. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course it was a great success. As soon as he had finished, Meenakshi told him she wanted to go home. Ravi was a little disappointed by this but he did as his daughter asked. On the way home, he asked Meenakshi if she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she had not. Ravi asked why this was so and she told him that she did not like to see so many people laughing at him.