Reading Comprehension

When was the Pulse Polio Programme launched in India?

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

India’s polio-free certification, which was awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014 for ensuring polio did not infect anyone in three straight years, took almost two decades of very hard work. Though vaccination against polio started in 1978 under India’s Expanded Programme in Immunisation, only about 40% children under five were being reached by 1984.
Following the WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative, India launched its Pulse Polio Programme in 1995 with the target to vaccinate every child under five. It took some years, but it met targets. For successive years, each one of the country’s 26 million newborns was vaccinated against the paralysing infection not once but repeatedly for the first five years of their lives. The biggest challenges were geography (for example, in the Kosi river belt in Bihar annual floods isolate several hundred families), work-related migration and ignorance: some families would refuse vaccination because they were convinced the drops would make their children impotent.
Ensuring these lifesaving drops reach around 800 million children each year — 172 million children are reached in each nationwide round of vaccination, and then there are sub-national rounds — is a spectacular feat by any standards.

What was the condition that India met for receiving a polio-free certification by WHO?

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

India’s polio-free certification, which was awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014 for ensuring polio did not infect anyone in three straight years, took almost two decades of very hard work. Though vaccination against polio started in 1978 under India’s Expanded Programme in Immunisation, only about 40% children under five were being reached by 1984.
Following the WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative, India launched its Pulse Polio Programme in 1995 with the target to vaccinate every child under five. It took some years, but it met targets. For successive years, each one of the country’s 26 million newborns was vaccinated against the paralysing infection not once but repeatedly for the first five years of their lives. The biggest challenges were geography (for example, in the Kosi river belt in Bihar annual floods isolate several hundred families), work-related migration and ignorance: some families would refuse vaccination because they were convinced the drops would make their children impotent.
Ensuring these lifesaving drops reach around 800 million children each year — 172 million children are reached in each nationwide round of vaccination, and then there are sub-national rounds — is a spectacular feat by any standards.

Which of the following words is the closest in meaning to the word ‘isolate’?

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

India’s polio-free certification, which was awarded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2014 for ensuring polio did not infect anyone in three straight years, took almost two decades of very hard work. Though vaccination against polio started in 1978 under India’s Expanded Programme in Immunisation, only about 40% children under five were being reached by 1984.
Following the WHO’s Polio Eradication Initiative, India launched its Pulse Polio Programme in 1995 with the target to vaccinate every child under five. It took some years, but it met targets. For successive years, each one of the country’s 26 million newborns was vaccinated against the paralysing infection not once but repeatedly for the first five years of their lives. The biggest challenges were geography (for example, in the Kosi river belt in Bihar annual floods isolate several hundred families), work-related migration and ignorance: some families would refuse vaccination because they were convinced the drops would make their children impotent.
Ensuring these lifesaving drops reach around 800 million children each year — 172 million children are reached in each nationwide round of vaccination, and then there are sub-national rounds — is a spectacular feat by any standards.

‘He was on the floor’ means

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

Aman tripped while he was trying to catch a bus. He was on the floor. The bus left without him. "Are you alright?" a girl asked. He was holding his arm. "I think I broke my arm," he said to the girl. The girl dialled 102. "Help is on the way," the girl said. She helped him up. He wondered why he fell. He looked down and saw his laces were untied. He had forgotten to tie his laces. He started to cry. His arm was in terrible pain. "The ambulance is coming soon," the girl said. She felt bad for the boy. She knew how much it would have hurt because she had had a similar experience a few months ago.

What does, ‘Help is on the way’ mean?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

Aman tripped while he was trying to catch a bus. He was on the floor. The bus left without him. "Are you alright?" a girl asked. He was holding his arm. "I think I broke my arm," he said to the girl. The girl dialled 102. "Help is on the way," the girl said. She helped him up. He wondered why he fell. He looked down and saw his laces were untied. He had forgotten to tie his laces. He started to cry. His arm was in terrible pain. "The ambulance is coming soon," the girl said. She felt bad for the boy. She knew how much it would have hurt because she had had a similar experience a few months ago.

What happens to an old man in the passage?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

A priest is asked by some villagers to give his blessings to a dying woman. He does and a miracle happens. The woman revives. A few days later the blessings of the priest revive two other people - an old man and a cripple. What causes these miracles? Nobody knows the answer to this question. But, wherever he goes, he heals many people of their ailments and sickness. Finally, he reaches a remote village where no sick person shows up. He is left puzzled.

Where does the priest reach in the end?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

A priest is asked by some villagers to give his blessings to a dying woman. He does and a miracle happens. The woman revives. A few days later the blessings of the priest revive two other people - an old man and a cripple. What causes these miracles? Nobody knows the answer to this question. But, wherever he goes, he heals many people of their ailments and sickness. Finally, he reaches a remote village where no sick person shows up. He is left puzzled.

What do the villagers ask the priest to do?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

A priest is asked by some villagers to give his blessings to a dying woman. He does and a miracle happens. The woman revives. A few days later the blessings of the priest revive two other people - an old man and a cripple. What causes these miracles? Nobody knows the answer to this question. But, wherever he goes, he heals many people of their ailments and sickness. Finally, he reaches a remote village where no sick person shows up. He is left puzzled.

Nobody knows

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

A priest is asked by some villagers to give his blessings to a dying woman. He does and a miracle happens. The woman revives. A few days later the blessings of the priest revive two other people - an old man and a cripple. What causes these miracles? Nobody knows the answer to this question. But, wherever he goes, he heals many people of their ailments and sickness. Finally, he reaches a remote village where no sick person shows up. He is left puzzled.

Why the priest is left puzzled?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

A priest is asked by some villagers to give his blessings to a dying woman. He does and a miracle happens. The woman revives. A few days later the blessings of the priest revive two other people - an old man and a cripple. What causes these miracles? Nobody knows the answer to this question. But, wherever he goes, he heals many people of their ailments and sickness. Finally, he reaches a remote village where no sick person shows up. He is left puzzled.

What kind of role have rivers played in history?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to the choose correct answer.

Rivers have always played a dominant role in history. Many civilizations have been built along great rivers. Rivers gave them farmland to grow crops as well as a route to travel and trade their goods with other people. As time went by some rivers turned into important waterways and were used to transport goods to the inner parts of a continent.

‘Rivers turned into important waterways and were used to transport goods,’ means

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to the choose correct answer.

Rivers have always played a dominant role in history. Many civilizations have been built along great rivers. Rivers gave them farmland to grow crops as well as a route to travel and trade their goods with other people. As time went by some rivers turned into important waterways and were used to transport goods to the inner parts of a continent.

Why were many civilizations built along great rivers?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to the choose correct answer.

Rivers have always played a dominant role in history. Many civilizations have been built along great rivers. Rivers gave them farmland to grow crops as well as a route to travel and trade their goods with other people. As time went by some rivers turned into important waterways and were used to transport goods to the inner parts of a continent.

Why did he fall?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

Aman tripped while he was trying to catch a bus. He was on the floor. The bus left without him. "Are you alright?" a girl asked. He was holding his arm. "I think I broke my arm," he said to the girl. The girl dialled 102. "Help is on the way," the girl said. She helped him up. He wondered why he fell. He looked down and saw his laces were untied. He had forgotten to tie his laces. He started to cry. His arm was in terrible pain. "The ambulance is coming soon," the girl said. She felt bad for the boy. She knew how much it would have hurt because she had had a similar experience a few months ago.

What experience had the girl had?

Directions: The passage is followed by five questions. Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows. For the question four probable answers bearing options (1), (2), (3) and (4) are given. Only one out of those is correct. You have to choose the correct answer.

Aman tripped while he was trying to catch a bus. He was on the floor. The bus left without him. "Are you alright?" a girl asked. He was holding his arm. "I think I broke my arm," he said to the girl. The girl dialled 102. "Help is on the way," the girl said. She helped him up. He wondered why he fell. He looked down and saw his laces were untied. He had forgotten to tie his laces. He started to cry. His arm was in terrible pain. "The ambulance is coming soon," the girl said. She felt bad for the boy. She knew how much it would have hurt because she had had a similar experience a few months ago.