English Reading Comprehension

Which of the following purposes is served by the first paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole?

PASSAGE – I

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

Autism has a strong genetic component: With one identical twin autistic, the other has a 70 percent chance of having it, a risk 10 times that of fraternal twins. Yet great, unsuccessful effort has been spent looking for its genetics. To Wigler, the key lies in spontaneous mutations — novel alterations in the parental germ line of the offspring. Last year he formed a controversial theory for it. It suggests that females, who develop autism with a 1/ 4th frequency with which males do, may carry the genetic profile for it.

Wigler attributes the failure of conventional studies to their studies on families with more than one autistic child to search for differences in one genetic base. These differences could be any alteration in a base called SNPs.  Uncovering SNPs shared by affected people would uncover high-risk people. The problem is locating the same target: they have implicated loci on 20 of the 23 human chromosomal pairs.

In his first autistic research, Wigler, with Sebat, tried to determine the role of spontaneous mutations, called copy number variations. Before human genome sequencing, researchers thought an individual always had two copies of a gene. In 2004, the team showed that even in healthy individuals, they could go missing from (or be added to) the genome via genetic rearrangements.  Studies on families with only one autistic member showed that up to 10 percent of non-inherited autism cases could be caused by these rearrangements. They found that the structural events were primarily deletions, leaving individuals with only one copy of a particular gene and leading, sometimes, to its functional disruption.

Later, Wigler unveiled a unified genetic theory, which he cobbled together by examining families with multiple autistic individuals and incorporating both hereditary and spontaneous events. Focusing on families with the first two children affected, he found that third-born male children have a 50 percent risk of acquiring the disorder, whereas the risk for third-born girls is closer to 20 percent. From there, Wigler developed a two-tiered hypothesis: The majority fall into the low-risk category, having spontaneous mutation. Contrarily, high-risk families — 25 percent of all, manifest the disease when an unaffected individual, mostly female, carries a sporadic mutation. In case of a male, the chances are roughly half.

Which of the following could have been the most suitable title for the above passage?

PASSAGE – I

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

Autism has a strong genetic component: With one identical twin autistic, the other has a 70 percent chance of having it, a risk 10 times that of fraternal twins. Yet great, unsuccessful effort has been spent looking for its genetics. To Wigler, the key lies in spontaneous mutations — novel alterations in the parental germ line of the offspring. Last year he formed a controversial theory for it. It suggests that females, who develop autism with a 1/ 4th frequency with which males do, may carry the genetic profile for it.

Wigler attributes the failure of conventional studies to their studies on families with more than one autistic child to search for differences in one genetic base. These differences could be any alteration in a base called SNPs.  Uncovering SNPs shared by affected people would uncover high-risk people. The problem is locating the same target: they have implicated loci on 20 of the 23 human chromosomal pairs.

In his first autistic research, Wigler, with Sebat, tried to determine the role of spontaneous mutations, called copy number variations. Before human genome sequencing, researchers thought an individual always had two copies of a gene. In 2004, the team showed that even in healthy individuals, they could go missing from (or be added to) the genome via genetic rearrangements.  Studies on families with only one autistic member showed that up to 10 percent of non-inherited autism cases could be caused by these rearrangements. They found that the structural events were primarily deletions, leaving individuals with only one copy of a particular gene and leading, sometimes, to its functional disruption.

Later, Wigler unveiled a unified genetic theory, which he cobbled together by examining families with multiple autistic individuals and incorporating both hereditary and spontaneous events. Focusing on families with the first two children affected, he found that third-born male children have a 50 percent risk of acquiring the disorder, whereas the risk for third-born girls is closer to 20 percent. From there, Wigler developed a two-tiered hypothesis: The majority fall into the low-risk category, having spontaneous mutation. Contrarily, high-risk families — 25 percent of all, manifest the disease when an unaffected individual, mostly female, carries a sporadic mutation. In case of a male, the chances are roughly half.

Which of the following inferences cannot be drawn from the above selection?

1. The author's idea about the development of soft tissue on the feet of birds is open to question.
2. The toad is rarely eaten, if at all, by predators.
3. The frog's original home, at the time of birth, was the water bodies.

   PASSAGE – IV

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

   It is evident that, in what is called the evolution of animal forms, the foot came in suddenly when the backboned creatures began to live on the dry land--that is, with the frogs. How it came in is a question which still puzzles the phylogenists, who cannot find a sure pedigree for the frog. There it is, anyhow, and the remarkable point about it is that the foot of a frog is not a rudimentary thing, but an authentic standard foot, like the yard measure kept in the Tower of London, of which all other feet are copies or adaptations. This instrument, as part of the original outfit given to the pioneers of the brainy, backboned, and four-limbed races, when they were sent out to multiply and replenish the earth, is surely worth considering well. It consists essentially of a sole, or palm, made up of small bones and of five separate digits, each with several joints.

   In the hind foot of a frog the toes are very long and webbed from point to point. In this it differs a good deal from the toad, and there is significance in the difference. The "heavy-gaited toad," satisfied with sour ants, hard beetles, and such other fare as it can easily pick up, and grown nasty in consequence, so that nothing seeks to eat it, has hobbled through life, like a plethoric old gentleman, until the present day, on its original feet. The more versatile and nimble-witted frog, seeking better diet and greater security of life, went back to the element in which it was bred, and, swimming much, became better fitted for swimming. The soft elastic skin between the fingers or toes is just the sort of tissue which responds most readily to inward impulses, and we find that the very same change has come about in those birds and beasts which live much in water. I know that this is not the accepted theory of evolution, but I am waiting till it shall become so. We all develop in the direction of our tendencies, and shall, I doubt not, be wise enough some day to give animals leave to do the same.

   When we pass from reptiles to birds, lo! an astounding thing has happened. That there were flying reptiles in the fossil ages we know, and there are flying beasts in our own. But the wings of these are simple mechanical alterations, which the imagination of a child, or a savage, could explain. The hands of a bat are hands still, and, though the fingers are hampered by their awkward gloves, the thumbs are free. The giant fruit bats of the tropics clamber about the trees quite acrobatically with their thumbs and feet. Here is a whole sub-kingdom, as they call it, of the animal world which has unreservedly and irrevocably bartered one pair of its limbs for a flying-machine. The apparatus is made of feathers--a new invention, unknown to amphibian or saurian, whence obtained nobody can say—and these are grafted into the transformed frame of the old limbs. The bargain was worth making, for the winged bird at once soared away in all senses from the creeping things of earth, and became a more ethereal being. But the price was heavy. The bird must get through life with one pair of feet and its mouth.

   And let us note that the art of standing began with birds. Frogs sit, and, as far as I know, every reptile, be it lizard, crocodile, alligator, or tortoise, lays its body on the ground when not actually carrying it. And these have each four fat legs. Contrast the flamingo, which, having only two, and those like willow wands, tucks up one of them and sleeps poised high on the other, like a tulip on its stem. Note also that one toe has been altogether discarded by birds as superfluous. The germ, or bud, must be there, for the Dorking fowl has produced a fifth toe under some influence of the poultry-yard, but no natural bird has more than four. Except in swifts, which never perch, but cling to rocks and walls, one is turned backwards, and, by a cunning contrivance, the act of bending the leg draws them all automatically together. So a hen closes its toes at every step it takes, as if it grasped something, and, of course, when it settles down on its roost, they grasp that tight and hold it fast till morning. But to birds that do not perch this mechanism is only an encumbrance, so many of them, like the plovers, abolish the hind toe entirely, and the prince of all two-legged runners, the ostrich, has got rid of one of the front toes also, retaining only two.

Directions: Starter to the following paragraph has been correctly provided in statement 1. However, the other sentences in the paragraph have been jumbled up. Rearrange the sentences, such as to make coherent sense.

I. The birds are summoned to meet in general council. A. The new Utopia is duly constructed, and the daring plan to secure the sovereignty is in a fair way to succeed. B. They come flying up from all quarters of the heavens, and after a brief misunderstanding, during which they come near tearing the two human envoys to pieces, they listen to the exposition of the latter's plan. C. All steam of sacrifice will be prevented from rising to Olympus, and the Immortals will very soon be starved into an acceptance of any terms proposed. D. This is nothing less than the building of a new city, to be called Nephelococcygia, or Cloud-cuckoo-town, between earth and heaven, to be garrisoned and guarded by the birds in such a way as to intercept all communication of the gods with their worshippers on earth.

According to you, the passage is sourced from

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Passing over some doubtful remains of Silurian age, we find in rocks usually regarded as Devonian the most ancient fossils that can be certainly referred to the insects, while from beds of the succeeding Carboniferous period, a number of insect remains have been disinterred. These Paleozoic insects were frequently of large size, and they show distinct affinities with our recent may-flies, dragon-flies, stone-flies, and cockroaches. In the Permian period, the latest of the divisions of the Paleozoic, lived Eugereon, an insect with hemipteroid jaws and orthopteroid wings.

All these insects must have been exopterygote in their life-history, if we may trust the indications of affinity furnished by their structure. In the Mesozoic period, however, insects with complete transformations must have been fairly abundant. Rocks of Triassic age have yielded beetles and lacewing-flies, while from among Jurassic fossils specimens have been described as representing most of our existing orders, including Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. In Cenozoic rock fossils insects of nearly six thousand species have been found, which are easily referable to existing families and often to existing genera. We may conclude then, imperfect though our knowledge of extinct insects is, that some of the most complex of insect life-stories were being worked out before the dawn of the Cenozoic era. Some instructive hints as to differences in the rate of change among different insect groups may be drawn from the study of parasites. For example, V.L. Kellogg points out that an identical species of the Mallophaga (Bird-lice) infests an Australian Cassowary and two of the South American Rheas; while two species of the same genus (Lipeurus) are common to the African Ostrich and a third kind of South American Rhea. These parasites must have been inherited unchanged by the various members of these three families of flightless birds from their common ancestors that is from early Cenozoic times at latest. On the other hand, the various kinds of such highly specialized parasites as the warble-flies of the oxen and deer must have become differentiated during those later stages of the Cenozoic period which witnessed the evolution of their respective mammalian hosts.

Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Passing over some doubtful remains of Silurian age, we find in rocks usually regarded as Devonian the most ancient fossils that can be certainly referred to the insects, while from beds of the succeeding Carboniferous period, a number of insect remains have been disinterred. These Paleozoic insects were frequently of large size, and they show distinct affinities with our recent may-flies, dragon-flies, stone-flies, and cockroaches. In the Permian period, the latest of the divisions of the Paleozoic, lived Eugereon, an insect with hemipteroid jaws and orthopteroid wings.

All these insects must have been exopterygote in their life-history, if we may trust the indications of affinity furnished by their structure. In the Mesozoic period, however, insects with complete transformations must have been fairly abundant. Rocks of Triassic age have yielded beetles and lacewing-flies, while from among Jurassic fossils specimens have been described as representing most of our existing orders, including Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. In Cenozoic rock fossils insects of nearly six thousand species have been found, which are easily referable to existing families and often to existing genera. We may conclude then, imperfect though our knowledge of extinct insects is, that some of the most complex of insect life-stories were being worked out before the dawn of the Cenozoic era. Some instructive hints as to differences in the rate of change among different insect groups may be drawn from the study of parasites. For example, V.L. Kellogg points out that an identical species of the Mallophaga (Bird-lice) infests an Australian Cassowary and two of the South American Rheas; while two species of the same genus (Lipeurus) are common to the African Ostrich and a third kind of South American Rhea. These parasites must have been inherited unchanged by the various members of these three families of flightless birds from their common ancestors that is from early Cenozoic times at latest. On the other hand, the various kinds of such highly specialized parasites as the warble-flies of the oxen and deer must have become differentiated during those later stages of the Cenozoic period which witnessed the evolution of their respective mammalian hosts.

What is the central idea of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Passing over some doubtful remains of Silurian age, we find in rocks usually regarded as Devonian the most ancient fossils that can be certainly referred to the insects, while from beds of the succeeding Carboniferous period, a number of insect remains have been disinterred. These Paleozoic insects were frequently of large size, and they show distinct affinities with our recent may-flies, dragon-flies, stone-flies, and cockroaches. In the Permian period, the latest of the divisions of the Paleozoic, lived Eugereon, an insect with hemipteroid jaws and orthopteroid wings.

All these insects must have been exopterygote in their life-history, if we may trust the indications of affinity furnished by their structure. In the Mesozoic period, however, insects with complete transformations must have been fairly abundant. Rocks of Triassic age have yielded beetles and lacewing-flies, while from among Jurassic fossils specimens have been described as representing most of our existing orders, including Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera. In Cenozoic rock fossils insects of nearly six thousand species have been found, which are easily referable to existing families and often to existing genera. We may conclude then, imperfect though our knowledge of extinct insects is, that some of the most complex of insect life-stories were being worked out before the dawn of the Cenozoic era. Some instructive hints as to differences in the rate of change among different insect groups may be drawn from the study of parasites. For example, V.L. Kellogg points out that an identical species of the Mallophaga (Bird-lice) infests an Australian Cassowary and two of the South American Rheas; while two species of the same genus (Lipeurus) are common to the African Ostrich and a third kind of South American Rhea. These parasites must have been inherited unchanged by the various members of these three families of flightless birds from their common ancestors that is from early Cenozoic times at latest. On the other hand, the various kinds of such highly specialized parasites as the warble-flies of the oxen and deer must have become differentiated during those later stages of the Cenozoic period which witnessed the evolution of their respective mammalian hosts.

Which of the following statements can be derived from the passage? I. The physical characteristics of a larva depend on its mode of living. II. Some of the beetles can be carnivores. III. Larva of some beetles is very close to its adults while some vary a lot. IV. The structural resemblance of the larva of a beetle to its adult is comparable to larva of a butterfly to its adult.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Beetles are, as a rule, remarkable among insects for the firm consistency of their chitinous cuticle, the various pieces (sclerites) of which are fitted together with admirable precision. In some families of beetles the larva also is furnished with complete chitinous armour, the sclerites, both dorsal and ventral, of the successive body-segments being hard and firm, while the relatively long legs possess well-defined segments and are often spiny. Such a larva is evidently far less unlike its parent beetle than a caterpillar is unlike a butterfly. Perhaps of all beetle larvae, the woodlouse-like grub of a carrion-beetle (Silpha) or of a semi-aquatic dascillid such as Helodes shows the least amount of difference from the typical adult, on account of the conspicuous jointed feelers. The larval glow-worm, however, is of the same woodlouse-like aspect, and in this case, where the female never acquires wings, but becomes mature in a form which does not differ markedly from that of the larva, the exceptional resemblance is closer still. In all beetle-grubs the legs are simplified, there being only one segment (a combined shin and foot) below the knee-joint, whereas in the adult there is a shin followed by five, four, or at least three distinct tarsal segments. The foot of an adult beetle bears two claws at its tip, while the larval foot in the great majority of families has only one claw. In one section of the order, however, the Adephaga comprising the predaceous terrestrial and aquatic beetles, the larval foot has like that of the adult, two claws.

Some adephagous larvae, notably those of the large carnivorous water-beetles (Dyticus), often destructive to tadpoles and young fish, have completely armoured bodies as well as long jointed legs. More commonly, as with most of the well-known Ground-beetles (Carabidae), the cuticle is less consistently hard, firm sclerites segmentally arranged alternating with considerable tracts of cuticle which remain feebly chitinised and flexible. Most of the adephagous larvae have a pair of stiff processes on the ninth abdominal segment, and the insect, from its general likeness to a bristle-tail of the genus Campodea, is often called a campodeiform larva. From such as these, a series of forms can be traced among larvae of beetles, showing an increasing divergence from the imago. The well-known wireworms--grubs of the Click-beetles (Elateridae)--that eat the roots of farm crops, have well-armoured bodies, but their shape is elongate, cylindrical, worm-like; and their legs are relatively short, the build of the insect being adapted for rapid motion through the soil. The grubs of the Chafers (Scarabaeidae) have somewhat stout bodies, for the most part, pale and flexible; suited for root-eaters, but they are less active in their habits than the wireworms, and the cuticlegs are hard and horny.

The following statements can be derived from the passage, except:

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Beetles are, as a rule, remarkable among insects for the firm consistency of their chitinous cuticle, the various pieces (sclerites) of which are fitted together with admirable precision. In some families of beetles the larva also is furnished with complete chitinous armour, the sclerites, both dorsal and ventral, of the successive body-segments being hard and firm, while the relatively long legs possess well-defined segments and are often spiny. Such a larva is evidently far less unlike its parent beetle than a caterpillar is unlike a butterfly. Perhaps of all beetle larvae, the woodlouse-like grub of a carrion-beetle (Silpha) or of a semi-aquatic dascillid such as Helodes shows the least amount of difference from the typical adult, on account of the conspicuous jointed feelers. The larval glow-worm, however, is of the same woodlouse-like aspect, and in this case, where the female never acquires wings, but becomes mature in a form which does not differ markedly from that of the larva, the exceptional resemblance is closer still. In all beetle-grubs the legs are simplified, there being only one segment (a combined shin and foot) below the knee-joint, whereas in the adult there is a shin followed by five, four, or at least three distinct tarsal segments. The foot of an adult beetle bears two claws at its tip, while the larval foot in the great majority of families has only one claw. In one section of the order, however, the Adephaga comprising the predaceous terrestrial and aquatic beetles, the larval foot has like that of the adult, two claws.

Some adephagous larvae, notably those of the large carnivorous water-beetles (Dyticus), often destructive to tadpoles and young fish, have completely armoured bodies as well as long jointed legs. More commonly, as with most of the well-known Ground-beetles (Carabidae), the cuticle is less consistently hard, firm sclerites segmentally arranged alternating with considerable tracts of cuticle which remain feebly chitinised and flexible. Most of the adephagous larvae have a pair of stiff processes on the ninth abdominal segment, and the insect, from its general likeness to a bristle-tail of the genus Campodea, is often called a campodeiform larva. From such as these, a series of forms can be traced among larvae of beetles, showing an increasing divergence from the imago. The well-known wireworms--grubs of the Click-beetles (Elateridae)--that eat the roots of farm crops, have well-armoured bodies, but their shape is elongate, cylindrical, worm-like; and their legs are relatively short, the build of the insect being adapted for rapid motion through the soil. The grubs of the Chafers (Scarabaeidae) have somewhat stout bodies, for the most part, pale and flexible; suited for root-eaters, but they are less active in their habits than the wireworms, and the cuticlegs are hard and horny.

What is the tone of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Beetles are, as a rule, remarkable among insects for the firm consistency of their chitinous cuticle, the various pieces (sclerites) of which are fitted together with admirable precision. In some families of beetles the larva also is furnished with complete chitinous armour, the sclerites, both dorsal and ventral, of the successive body-segments being hard and firm, while the relatively long legs possess well-defined segments and are often spiny. Such a larva is evidently far less unlike its parent beetle than a caterpillar is unlike a butterfly. Perhaps of all beetle larvae, the woodlouse-like grub of a carrion-beetle (Silpha) or of a semi-aquatic dascillid such as Helodes shows the least amount of difference from the typical adult, on account of the conspicuous jointed feelers. The larval glow-worm, however, is of the same woodlouse-like aspect, and in this case, where the female never acquires wings, but becomes mature in a form which does not differ markedly from that of the larva, the exceptional resemblance is closer still. In all beetle-grubs the legs are simplified, there being only one segment (a combined shin and foot) below the knee-joint, whereas in the adult there is a shin followed by five, four, or at least three distinct tarsal segments. The foot of an adult beetle bears two claws at its tip, while the larval foot in the great majority of families has only one claw. In one section of the order, however, the Adephaga comprising the predaceous terrestrial and aquatic beetles, the larval foot has like that of the adult, two claws.

Some adephagous larvae, notably those of the large carnivorous water-beetles (Dyticus), often destructive to tadpoles and young fish, have completely armoured bodies as well as long jointed legs. More commonly, as with most of the well-known Ground-beetles (Carabidae), the cuticle is less consistently hard, firm sclerites segmentally arranged alternating with considerable tracts of cuticle which remain feebly chitinised and flexible. Most of the adephagous larvae have a pair of stiff processes on the ninth abdominal segment, and the insect, from its general likeness to a bristle-tail of the genus Campodea, is often called a campodeiform larva. From such as these, a series of forms can be traced among larvae of beetles, showing an increasing divergence from the imago. The well-known wireworms--grubs of the Click-beetles (Elateridae)--that eat the roots of farm crops, have well-armoured bodies, but their shape is elongate, cylindrical, worm-like; and their legs are relatively short, the build of the insect being adapted for rapid motion through the soil. The grubs of the Chafers (Scarabaeidae) have somewhat stout bodies, for the most part, pale and flexible; suited for root-eaters, but they are less active in their habits than the wireworms, and the cuticlegs are hard and horny.

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – II:

Beetles are, as a rule, remarkable among insects for the firm consistency of their chitinous cuticle, the various pieces (sclerites) of which are fitted together with admirable precision. In some families of beetles the larva also is furnished with complete chitinous armour, the sclerites, both dorsal and ventral, of the successive body-segments being hard and firm, while the relatively long legs possess well-defined segments and are often spiny. Such a larva is evidently far less unlike its parent beetle than a caterpillar is unlike a butterfly. Perhaps of all beetle larvae, the woodlouse-like grub of a carrion-beetle (Silpha) or of a semi-aquatic dascillid such as Helodes shows the least amount of difference from the typical adult, on account of the conspicuous jointed feelers. The larval glow-worm, however, is of the same woodlouse-like aspect, and in this case, where the female never acquires wings, but becomes mature in a form which does not differ markedly from that of the larva, the exceptional resemblance is closer still. In all beetle-grubs the legs are simplified, there being only one segment (a combined shin and foot) below the knee-joint, whereas in the adult there is a shin followed by five, four, or at least three distinct tarsal segments. The foot of an adult beetle bears two claws at its tip, while the larval foot in the great majority of families has only one claw. In one section of the order, however, the Adephaga comprising the predaceous terrestrial and aquatic beetles, the larval foot has like that of the adult, two claws.

Some adephagous larvae, notably those of the large carnivorous water-beetles (Dyticus), often destructive to tadpoles and young fish, have completely armoured bodies as well as long jointed legs. More commonly, as with most of the well-known Ground-beetles (Carabidae), the cuticle is less consistently hard, firm sclerites segmentally arranged alternating with considerable tracts of cuticle which remain feebly chitinised and flexible. Most of the adephagous larvae have a pair of stiff processes on the ninth abdominal segment, and the insect, from its general likeness to a bristle-tail of the genus Campodea, is often called a campodeiform larva. From such as these, a series of forms can be traced among larvae of beetles, showing an increasing divergence from the imago. The well-known wireworms--grubs of the Click-beetles (Elateridae)--that eat the roots of farm crops, have well-armoured bodies, but their shape is elongate, cylindrical, worm-like; and their legs are relatively short, the build of the insect being adapted for rapid motion through the soil. The grubs of the Chafers (Scarabaeidae) have somewhat stout bodies, for the most part, pale and flexible; suited for root-eaters, but they are less active in their habits than the wireworms, and the cuticlegs are hard and horny.

Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

The first observers who noticed that the volume of a body could be diminished by compression or cold, or augmented by heat, and who saw a soluble solid body mix completely with the water which dissolved it, must have been compelled to suppose that matter was not dispersed continuously throughout the space it seemed to occupy. They were thus brought to consider it discontinuous, and to admit that a substance having the same composition and the same properties in all its parts – in a word, perfectly homogeneous - ceases to present this homogeneity when considered within a sufficiently small volume.

Modern experimenters have succeeded by direct experiments in placing in evidence this heterogeneous character of matter when taken in small mass. Thus, for example, the superficial tension, which is constant for the same liquid at a given temperature, no longer has the same value when the thickness of the layer of liquid becomes extremely small. Newton noticed that a dark zone is seen to form on a soap bubble at the moment when it becomes so thin that it must burst. Professor Reinold and Sir Arthur Rücker have shown that this zone is no longer exactly spherical; and from this we must conclude that the superficial tension, constant for all thicknesses above a certain limit, commences to vary when the thickness falls below a critical value, which these authors estimate, on optical grounds, at about fifty millionths of a millimetre.

From experiments on capillarity, Prof. Quincke has obtained similar results with regard to layers of solids. But it is not only capillary properties which allow this characteristic to be revealed. All the properties of a body are modified when taken in small mass; M. Meslin proves this in a very ingenious way as regards optical properties, and Mr Vincent in respect of electric conductivity. M. Houllevigue, who, in a chapter of his excellent work, Du Laboratoire à l'Usine, has very clearly set forth the most interesting considerations on atomic hypotheses, has recently demonstrated that copper and silver cease to combine with iodine as soon as they are present in a thickness of less than thirty millionths of a millimetre. It is this same dimension likewise that is possessed, according to M. Wiener, by the smallest thicknesses it is possible to deposit on glass. These layers are so thin that they cannot be perceived, but their presence is revealed by a change in the properties of the light reflected by them.

Thus, below fifty to thirty millionths of a millimetre the properties of matter depend on its thickness. There are then, no doubt, only a few molecules to be met with and it may be concluded, in consequence, that the discontinuous elements of bodies - that is, the molecules - have linear dimensions of the order of magnitude of the millionth of a millimetre. Considerations regarding more complex phenomena, for instance the phenomena of electricity by contact, and also the kinetic theory of gases, bring us to the same conclusion.

The idea of the discontinuity of matter forces itself upon us for many other reasons. All modern chemistry is founded on this principle; and laws like the law of multiple proportions, introduce an evident discontinuity to which we find analogies in the law of electrolysis. The elements of bodies we are thus brought to regard might, as regards solids at all events, be considered as immobile; but this immobility could not explain the phenomena of heat, and, as it is entirely inadmissible for gases, it seems very improbable it can absolutely occur in any state. We are thus led to suppose that these elements are animated by very complicated movements, each one proceeding in closed trajectories in which the least variations of temperature or pressure cause modifications.

What can best give the views of the author regarding opera?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – III:

There is a good deal of fascination, and some truth, in the theory that different nations enjoy opera in different ways. The Italian might be said to hear through what is euphemistically called his heart, the Frenchman through his palate, the Spaniard through his toes, the German through his brain, and the Englishman through his purse. But in truth this does not represent the case at all fairly. For, to take only modern instances, Italy, on whose congenial soil 'Cavalleria Rusticana' and the productions it suggested met with such extraordinary success, saw also in 'Falstaff' the wittiest and most brilliant musical comedy since 'Die Meistersinger', and in 'Madama Butterfly' a lyric of infinite delicacy, free from any suggestion of unworthy emotion. Among recent French operas, works of tragic import, treated with all the intricacy of the most advanced modern schools, have been received with far greater favour than have been shown to works of the lighter class which we associate with the genius of the French nation; and of late years the vogue of such works as 'Louise' or 'Pelléas et Mélisande' shows that the taste for music without any special form has conquered the very nation in which form has generally ranked highest. In Germany, on the other hand, some of the greatest successes with the public at large have been won by productions which seem to touch the lowest imaginable point of artistic imbecility; and the ever-increasing interest in musical drama that is manifested year after year by London audiences shows that higher motives than those referred to weigh even with Englishmen. The theory above mentioned will not hold water, for there are, as a matter of fact, only two ways of looking at opera: either as a means, whether expensive or not, of passing an evening with a very little intellectual trouble, some social éclat, and a certain amount of pleasure, or as a form of art, making serious and justifiable claims on the attention of rational people. These claims of opera are perhaps more widely recognised in England than they were some years ago; but there are still a certain number of persons, and among them not a few musical people, who hesitate to give opera a place beside what is usually called 'abstract' music. Music's highest dignity is, no doubt, reached when it is self-sufficient, when its powers are exerted upon its own creations, entirely without dependence upon predetermined emotions calling for illustration, and when the interest of the composition as well as the material is conveyed exclusively in terms of music. But the function of music in expressing those sides of human emotion which lie too deep for verbal utterance, a function of which the gradual recognition led on to the invention of opera, is one that cannot be slighted or ignored; in it lies a power of appeal to feeling that no words can reach, and a very wonderful definiteness in conveying exact shades of emotional sensation. Not that it can of itself suggest the direction in which the emotions are to be worked upon; but this direction once given from outside, whether by a 'programme' read by the listener or by the action and accessories of the stage, the force of feeling can be conveyed with overwhelming power, and the whole gamut of emotion, from the subtlest hint or foreshadowing to the fury of inevitable passion, is at the command of him who knows how to wield the means by which expression is carried to the hearer's mind. And in this fact lies the complete justification of opera as an art-form. The old-fashioned criticism of opera as such, based on the indisputable fact that, however excited people may be, they do not in real life express themselves in song, but in unmodulated speech, is not now very often heard. With the revival in England of the dramatic instinct, the conventions of stage declamation are readily accepted, and if it be conceded that the characters in a drama may be allowed to speak blank verse, it is hardly more than a step further to permit the action to be carried on by means of vocal utterance in music. Until latterly, however, English people, though taking pleasure in the opera, went to it rather to hear particular singers than to enjoy the work as a whole, or with any consideration for its dramatic significance. We should not expect a stern and uncompromising nature like Carlyle's to regard the opera as anything more than a trivial amusement, and that such was his attitude towards it appears from his letters; but it is curious to see that a man of such strongly pronounced dramatic tastes as Edward FitzGerald, though devoted to the opera in his own way, yet took what can only be called a superficial view of its possibilities.

What best describes the structure of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – III:

There is a good deal of fascination, and some truth, in the theory that different nations enjoy opera in different ways. The Italian might be said to hear through what is euphemistically called his heart, the Frenchman through his palate, the Spaniard through his toes, the German through his brain, and the Englishman through his purse. But in truth this does not represent the case at all fairly. For, to take only modern instances, Italy, on whose congenial soil 'Cavalleria Rusticana' and the productions it suggested met with such extraordinary success, saw also in 'Falstaff' the wittiest and most brilliant musical comedy since 'Die Meistersinger', and in 'Madama Butterfly' a lyric of infinite delicacy, free from any suggestion of unworthy emotion. Among recent French operas, works of tragic import, treated with all the intricacy of the most advanced modern schools, have been received with far greater favour than have been shown to works of the lighter class which we associate with the genius of the French nation; and of late years the vogue of such works as 'Louise' or 'Pelléas et Mélisande' shows that the taste for music without any special form has conquered the very nation in which form has generally ranked highest. In Germany, on the other hand, some of the greatest successes with the public at large have been won by productions which seem to touch the lowest imaginable point of artistic imbecility; and the ever-increasing interest in musical drama that is manifested year after year by London audiences shows that higher motives than those referred to weigh even with Englishmen. The theory above mentioned will not hold water, for there are, as a matter of fact, only two ways of looking at opera: either as a means, whether expensive or not, of passing an evening with a very little intellectual trouble, some social éclat, and a certain amount of pleasure, or as a form of art, making serious and justifiable claims on the attention of rational people. These claims of opera are perhaps more widely recognised in England than they were some years ago; but there are still a certain number of persons, and among them not a few musical people, who hesitate to give opera a place beside what is usually called 'abstract' music. Music's highest dignity is, no doubt, reached when it is self-sufficient, when its powers are exerted upon its own creations, entirely without dependence upon predetermined emotions calling for illustration, and when the interest of the composition as well as the material is conveyed exclusively in terms of music. But the function of music in expressing those sides of human emotion which lie too deep for verbal utterance, a function of which the gradual recognition led on to the invention of opera, is one that cannot be slighted or ignored; in it lies a power of appeal to feeling that no words can reach, and a very wonderful definiteness in conveying exact shades of emotional sensation. Not that it can of itself suggest the direction in which the emotions are to be worked upon; but this direction once given from outside, whether by a 'programme' read by the listener or by the action and accessories of the stage, the force of feeling can be conveyed with overwhelming power, and the whole gamut of emotion, from the subtlest hint or foreshadowing to the fury of inevitable passion, is at the command of him who knows how to wield the means by which expression is carried to the hearer's mind. And in this fact lies the complete justification of opera as an art-form. The old-fashioned criticism of opera as such, based on the indisputable fact that, however excited people may be, they do not in real life express themselves in song, but in unmodulated speech, is not now very often heard. With the revival in England of the dramatic instinct, the conventions of stage declamation are readily accepted, and if it be conceded that the characters in a drama may be allowed to speak blank verse, it is hardly more than a step further to permit the action to be carried on by means of vocal utterance in music. Until latterly, however, English people, though taking pleasure in the opera, went to it rather to hear particular singers than to enjoy the work as a whole, or with any consideration for its dramatic significance. We should not expect a stern and uncompromising nature like Carlyle's to regard the opera as anything more than a trivial amusement, and that such was his attitude towards it appears from his letters; but it is curious to see that a man of such strongly pronounced dramatic tastes as Edward FitzGerald, though devoted to the opera in his own way, yet took what can only be called a superficial view of its possibilities.

What does the author mean by کthe revival in England of the dramatic instinct?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question based on the passage.

PASSAGE – III:

There is a good deal of fascination, and some truth, in the theory that different nations enjoy opera in different ways. The Italian might be said to hear through what is euphemistically called his heart, the Frenchman through his palate, the Spaniard through his toes, the German through his brain, and the Englishman through his purse. But in truth this does not represent the case at all fairly. For, to take only modern instances, Italy, on whose congenial soil 'Cavalleria Rusticana' and the productions it suggested met with such extraordinary success, saw also in 'Falstaff' the wittiest and most brilliant musical comedy since 'Die Meistersinger', and in 'Madama Butterfly' a lyric of infinite delicacy, free from any suggestion of unworthy emotion. Among recent French operas, works of tragic import, treated with all the intricacy of the most advanced modern schools, have been received with far greater favour than have been shown to works of the lighter class which we associate with the genius of the French nation; and of late years the vogue of such works as 'Louise' or 'Pelléas et Mélisande' shows that the taste for music without any special form has conquered the very nation in which form has generally ranked highest. In Germany, on the other hand, some of the greatest successes with the public at large have been won by productions which seem to touch the lowest imaginable point of artistic imbecility; and the ever-increasing interest in musical drama that is manifested year after year by London audiences shows that higher motives than those referred to weigh even with Englishmen. The theory above mentioned will not hold water, for there are, as a matter of fact, only two ways of looking at opera: either as a means, whether expensive or not, of passing an evening with a very little intellectual trouble, some social éclat, and a certain amount of pleasure, or as a form of art, making serious and justifiable claims on the attention of rational people. These claims of opera are perhaps more widely recognised in England than they were some years ago; but there are still a certain number of persons, and among them not a few musical people, who hesitate to give opera a place beside what is usually called 'abstract' music. Music's highest dignity is, no doubt, reached when it is self-sufficient, when its powers are exerted upon its own creations, entirely without dependence upon predetermined emotions calling for illustration, and when the interest of the composition as well as the material is conveyed exclusively in terms of music. But the function of music in expressing those sides of human emotion which lie too deep for verbal utterance, a function of which the gradual recognition led on to the invention of opera, is one that cannot be slighted or ignored; in it lies a power of appeal to feeling that no words can reach, and a very wonderful definiteness in conveying exact shades of emotional sensation. Not that it can of itself suggest the direction in which the emotions are to be worked upon; but this direction once given from outside, whether by a 'programme' read by the listener or by the action and accessories of the stage, the force of feeling can be conveyed with overwhelming power, and the whole gamut of emotion, from the subtlest hint or foreshadowing to the fury of inevitable passion, is at the command of him who knows how to wield the means by which expression is carried to the hearer's mind. And in this fact lies the complete justification of opera as an art-form. The old-fashioned criticism of opera as such, based on the indisputable fact that, however excited people may be, they do not in real life express themselves in song, but in unmodulated speech, is not now very often heard. With the revival in England of the dramatic instinct, the conventions of stage declamation are readily accepted, and if it be conceded that the characters in a drama may be allowed to speak blank verse, it is hardly more than a step further to permit the action to be carried on by means of vocal utterance in music. Until latterly, however, English people, though taking pleasure in the opera, went to it rather to hear particular singers than to enjoy the work as a whole, or with any consideration for its dramatic significance. We should not expect a stern and uncompromising nature like Carlyle's to regard the opera as anything more than a trivial amusement, and that such was his attitude towards it appears from his letters; but it is curious to see that a man of such strongly pronounced dramatic tastes as Edward FitzGerald, though devoted to the opera in his own way, yet took what can only be called a superficial view of its possibilities.