Reading Comprehension

According to the passage, all of the following are the characteristics of Japanese management style, except:

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Although it would not be evident till nearly a century late, the reforms initiated during the Meiji era heralded the advent of Japan’s management practices that contributed to making it one of the largest economies in the world. In an effort to maintain a low trade deficit, the Japanese initiated trade practices which recompensed innovation rather than rely on trade for fulfilling the nation’s needs.
Many long-practiced management practices of Nippon set it apart from the rest of the world, especially in context of production practices. Unlike the west, workers on the production line are active participants in the process of decision making and according to industry estimates, production line workers, with their invaluable suggestions; whether on cutting costs or improving efficiency, save Japan billions of dollars each year. With the focus on production, and by being the quality production stronghold of the world, Japanese have ensured that their exports always outperform their imports. Of course, the fact that laws on imports are very restrictive also aids in maintaining the status quo.
A typically Japanese business practice called ‘keiritsu’ is the practice of having large and complex interdependent companies centered on banks owned by the same conglomerate. What that means is that the companies will buy raw material and components from one another, outsource jobs and production of key components among themselves, borrow money from the pool of common capital that is held in the form of public bank which conducts normal day-to-day operations of retail banking like any other bank, but also acts as the in house financier to the acquisitions and capital requirements of the companies within the cabal.
Another traditional feature of the Japanese business culture is the relatively lower stock in stock. While their western counterparts rely more on the stock market to raise capital, the conservative Japanese managers go to the bank to borrow capital. Decreased public holding, coupled with a culture that promotes aggressiveness amongst younger managers, allows the companies to focus on long term goals like market share and productivity without bothering too much about reporting quarterly losses and profits to the investors and share holders.
Many companies tend to be family held and even in the case of a public company, the majority or the controlling stake is held within a family or an extended family. While the phenomenon of directors from outside the family is very common in the United States, and many companies in fact pride themselves on the diversity within their board of directors, the Japanese companies are much more closely held and a non-family director would indeed be a curiosity. Unlike the west, both middle and senior management forms the board of directors in Japan. Indeed, it is very common to see directors who retain non administrative job responsibilities also.

Read the following options and select all that apply. I. The account of conqueror takes on a degree of verisimilitude. II. Cataclysms are stimulated by a dominoes effect. III. Poor governance set forth the chain of events that led to the depression.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
While historians focus mainly on the macro events that cause perceptible changes, the economists are more concerned with the minute details. It is a well known fact that many a time in history, the act of a single person has been responsible for a paradigm shift in the way the story is told. The economists go into the most exiguous detail possible to reach a conclusion. Also, the history is written by the victor, but economics thrives on various theories put forth by a multitude of experts. It therefore comes as no surprise that, even on an event of the magnitude of the Great Depression, the experts in the two subjects have conflicting views.
While the historians ascribe the meltdown to a host of macro factors like the cataclysmic crash of the stock market, the failure of the banks, and unemployment, the economists are more intent on finding the nuances and the recondite riff surrounding the turn of events. According to them, the rot in the system started much before and the Great Depression was actually a culmination of causative events rather than the starting point itself. They point towards the deflationary actions of the Federal Reserve, including regulating the currency in circulation in accordance to the Gold Standard and increasing the interest rates as some of the principal causes behind the fiasco. Also, the fact that Great Britain went back to pre World War Gold Standard also set in motion a set of protectionist policies that killed off trade between nations and added fuel to the fire. Although government spending, or rather the lack of it, is blamed for the crisis, a casual perusal of government spending in 1930 clearly points out that the governmental spending actually increased year on year in an effort to revive the economy. However, in a case of too little, too late, the actions failed to yield the desired results.
The historians cite bank failures and the reluctance of banks to lend money as a key factor. Blaming the lack of foresight by the financial regulators and the government, the economists contend that the stock market crash so frightened the common citizens that the they stopped spending. The decreased spending triggered off a chain of events that had far reaching repercussions. Businesses struggling to keep their heads above the water laid off employees to cut costs. This in turn, resulted in further reduction in consumer spending.
It is in our best interest if reconciliation between these two fields of study can be effected. It will allow us to sum up the findings with a degree of consensus that appeals not only to the scholars of economics but also to the historians who look for patterns in history.

How can the layout of the passage be described?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
While historians focus mainly on the macro events that cause perceptible changes, the economists are more concerned with the minute details. It is a well known fact that many a time in history, the act of a single person has been responsible for a paradigm shift in the way the story is told. The economists go into the most exiguous detail possible to reach a conclusion. Also, the history is written by the victor, but economics thrives on various theories put forth by a multitude of experts. It therefore comes as no surprise that, even on an event of the magnitude of the Great Depression, the experts in the two subjects have conflicting views.
While the historians ascribe the meltdown to a host of macro factors like the cataclysmic crash of the stock market, the failure of the banks, and unemployment, the economists are more intent on finding the nuances and the recondite riff surrounding the turn of events. According to them, the rot in the system started much before and the Great Depression was actually a culmination of causative events rather than the starting point itself. They point towards the deflationary actions of the Federal Reserve, including regulating the currency in circulation in accordance to the Gold Standard and increasing the interest rates as some of the principal causes behind the fiasco. Also, the fact that Great Britain went back to pre World War Gold Standard also set in motion a set of protectionist policies that killed off trade between nations and added fuel to the fire. Although government spending, or rather the lack of it, is blamed for the crisis, a casual perusal of government spending in 1930 clearly points out that the governmental spending actually increased year on year in an effort to revive the economy. However, in a case of too little, too late, the actions failed to yield the desired results.
The historians cite bank failures and the reluctance of banks to lend money as a key factor. Blaming the lack of foresight by the financial regulators and the government, the economists contend that the stock market crash so frightened the common citizens that the they stopped spending. The decreased spending triggered off a chain of events that had far reaching repercussions. Businesses struggling to keep their heads above the water laid off employees to cut costs. This in turn, resulted in further reduction in consumer spending.
It is in our best interest if reconciliation between these two fields of study can be effected. It will allow us to sum up the findings with a degree of consensus that appeals not only to the scholars of economics but also to the historians who look for patterns in history.

What according to the passage is the main cause of bickering about the Great Depression between the two fields of study?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
While historians focus mainly on the macro events that cause perceptible changes, the economists are more concerned with the minute details. It is a well known fact that many a time in history, the act of a single person has been responsible for a paradigm shift in the way the story is told. The economists go into the most exiguous detail possible to reach a conclusion. Also, the history is written by the victor, but economics thrives on various theories put forth by a multitude of experts. It therefore comes as no surprise that, even on an event of the magnitude of the Great Depression, the experts in the two subjects have conflicting views.
While the historians ascribe the meltdown to a host of macro factors like the cataclysmic crash of the stock market, the failure of the banks, and unemployment, the economists are more intent on finding the nuances and the recondite riff surrounding the turn of events. According to them, the rot in the system started much before and the Great Depression was actually a culmination of causative events rather than the starting point itself. They point towards the deflationary actions of the Federal Reserve, including regulating the currency in circulation in accordance to the Gold Standard and increasing the interest rates as some of the principal causes behind the fiasco. Also, the fact that Great Britain went back to pre World War Gold Standard also set in motion a set of protectionist policies that killed off trade between nations and added fuel to the fire. Although government spending, or rather the lack of it, is blamed for the crisis, a casual perusal of government spending in 1930 clearly points out that the governmental spending actually increased year on year in an effort to revive the economy. However, in a case of too little, too late, the actions failed to yield the desired results.
The historians cite bank failures and the reluctance of banks to lend money as a key factor. Blaming the lack of foresight by the financial regulators and the government, the economists contend that the stock market crash so frightened the common citizens that the they stopped spending. The decreased spending triggered off a chain of events that had far reaching repercussions. Businesses struggling to keep their heads above the water laid off employees to cut costs. This in turn, resulted in further reduction in consumer spending.
It is in our best interest if reconciliation between these two fields of study can be effected. It will allow us to sum up the findings with a degree of consensus that appeals not only to the scholars of economics but also to the historians who look for patterns in history.

The author seems to be making a point for

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Were we all naturally inclined to morality, the analysis of it, it is true, might have great speculative interest; but a moral system would not be needed as it is for a great practical purpose. The law, as we all know, has arisen because of transgressions, and the moralist has to meddle with human nature mainly because it is inconstant and corrupted. It is a wild horse that has not so much to be broken, once for all, as to be driven and reined in perpetually. And the art of the moralist is, by opening the mind's eye to the true end of life, to make us sharply conscious of what we lose by losing it. And the men to whom we shall chiefly want to present this end are not men, let us remember, who desire to see it, or who will seek for it of their own accord, but men who are turned away from it, and on whose sight it must be thrust. It is not the righteous but the sinners that have to be called to repentance. And not this only, not only must the end in question be thus presentable, but when presented it must be able to stand the inveterate criticism of those who fear being allured by it, who are content as they are, and have no wish to be made discontented.

In the opinion of the author, morality is I. a bitter medicine III. outdated and antiquated III. an innate quality of humans

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Were we all naturally inclined to morality, the analysis of it, it is true, might have great speculative interest; but a moral system would not be needed as it is for a great practical purpose. The law, as we all know, has arisen because of transgressions, and the moralist has to meddle with human nature mainly because it is inconstant and corrupted. It is a wild horse that has not so much to be broken, once for all, as to be driven and reined in perpetually. And the art of the moralist is, by opening the mind's eye to the true end of life, to make us sharply conscious of what we lose by losing it. And the men to whom we shall chiefly want to present this end are not men, let us remember, who desire to see it, or who will seek for it of their own accord, but men who are turned away from it, and on whose sight it must be thrust. It is not the righteous but the sinners that have to be called to repentance. And not this only, not only must the end in question be thus presentable, but when presented it must be able to stand the inveterate criticism of those who fear being allured by it, who are content as they are, and have no wish to be made discontented.

In the passage, what does the term 'by using the truncated senses' most likely refer to?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Unlike a long, very long, spiral staircase inside a lighthouse, the top of which, though invisibly lost in the mists of darkness is present, or perhaps a mountain much higher than the highest, but still having a discernable acme, the journey of consciousness does not stop at any level. Like exploring an underwater maze of caves, deep under the sea, in almost pitch darkness, the human soul transcends the boundaries and barriers of time and space. There is no life-line to haul oneself back to safety if lost or paralyzed with fear, the sense of spatial reasoning is in abeyance, the eyes are nearly blind due to the pitch darkness, and yet one must feel one’s way forward by using the truncated senses to the best of one’s ability. The darkness holds unknown fears - real, and those conjured by one’s senses, unseen challenges and pitfalls as well as good and nasty surprises within its bosom and yet the journey must go on because to stop and give up means getting stuck at the same spot for eternity. According to many scientists and philosophers, time and space are the only two anchors that give us a sense of progress, direction and spatial reasoning and if both of these are removed, as they have been suggested by thinkers and visionaries alike to be the props created by humans, then nothing is left. Our world is perhaps the creation of our mind and death erases our mind like a hard drive wiped clean of all data, till the time comes for it to start storing data again on the next plane of consciousness. It is like giving up the familiar comfort of a familiar landing and venturing out in the dark unknown again. Time is relative, we live in different time zones, there is day in one part of the world while another is shrouded by the darkness of the night. The time spent waiting for a lover makes every second seem like an eternity while the same time rushes past when the deadline for some important task approaches.

What is the author trying to convey in the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Unlike a long, very long, spiral staircase inside a lighthouse, the top of which, though invisibly lost in the mists of darkness is present, or perhaps a mountain much higher than the highest, but still having a discernable acme, the journey of consciousness does not stop at any level. Like exploring an underwater maze of caves, deep under the sea, in almost pitch darkness, the human soul transcends the boundaries and barriers of time and space. There is no life-line to haul oneself back to safety if lost or paralyzed with fear, the sense of spatial reasoning is in abeyance, the eyes are nearly blind due to the pitch darkness, and yet one must feel one’s way forward by using the truncated senses to the best of one’s ability. The darkness holds unknown fears - real, and those conjured by one’s senses, unseen challenges and pitfalls as well as good and nasty surprises within its bosom and yet the journey must go on because to stop and give up means getting stuck at the same spot for eternity. According to many scientists and philosophers, time and space are the only two anchors that give us a sense of progress, direction and spatial reasoning and if both of these are removed, as they have been suggested by thinkers and visionaries alike to be the props created by humans, then nothing is left. Our world is perhaps the creation of our mind and death erases our mind like a hard drive wiped clean of all data, till the time comes for it to start storing data again on the next plane of consciousness. It is like giving up the familiar comfort of a familiar landing and venturing out in the dark unknown again. Time is relative, we live in different time zones, there is day in one part of the world while another is shrouded by the darkness of the night. The time spent waiting for a lover makes every second seem like an eternity while the same time rushes past when the deadline for some important task approaches.

Which of the following would be a suitable title for the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Unlike a long, very long, spiral staircase inside a lighthouse, the top of which, though invisibly lost in the mists of darkness is present, or perhaps a mountain much higher than the highest, but still having a discernable acme, the journey of consciousness does not stop at any level. Like exploring an underwater maze of caves, deep under the sea, in almost pitch darkness, the human soul transcends the boundaries and barriers of time and space. There is no life-line to haul oneself back to safety if lost or paralyzed with fear, the sense of spatial reasoning is in abeyance, the eyes are nearly blind due to the pitch darkness, and yet one must feel one’s way forward by using the truncated senses to the best of one’s ability. The darkness holds unknown fears - real, and those conjured by one’s senses, unseen challenges and pitfalls as well as good and nasty surprises within its bosom and yet the journey must go on because to stop and give up means getting stuck at the same spot for eternity. According to many scientists and philosophers, time and space are the only two anchors that give us a sense of progress, direction and spatial reasoning and if both of these are removed, as they have been suggested by thinkers and visionaries alike to be the props created by humans, then nothing is left. Our world is perhaps the creation of our mind and death erases our mind like a hard drive wiped clean of all data, till the time comes for it to start storing data again on the next plane of consciousness. It is like giving up the familiar comfort of a familiar landing and venturing out in the dark unknown again. Time is relative, we live in different time zones, there is day in one part of the world while another is shrouded by the darkness of the night. The time spent waiting for a lover makes every second seem like an eternity while the same time rushes past when the deadline for some important task approaches.

How best can the organization of the passage be described?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
The Federal Reserve has announced that it will be further buying treasuries worth six hundred billion dollars in the form of long term bonds. In a statement released in the form of an article to one of the leading national dailies, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve defended his actions by stating that similar steps have successfully been used in United States as well as other nations in the past to promote healthy fiscal growth. According to the administration, the previous injection of liquidity had reversed the downward slide of the economy but had left a lot to be desired in terms of employment generation and spending stimulus. With this additional inflow, coupled with near zero short  term interest rates, the Fed hopes to boost fresh home buying and trigger off a prolonged bout of spending. The timing of the announcement, so close to the holiday season, cannot be termed as accidental, though, it remains to be seen if it will help spread the holiday cheer or if any of that cheer will come back to the beleaguered Chairman. Although it remains too premature to comment upon the long term effects of the multiple stimuli, initial signs, though not overtly encouraging, have not been depressing either, with the retail data showing an increase in spending and manufacturing data also showing a jump that is the most in the last half year.
However, the reaction in many emerging economies has been less than euphoric and from a strictly fiduciary point of view, there seems to be a lot of merit in the statements of these nations. Although no nation has come out openly and slammed the move, the strategists and analysts who function as governmental mouthpieces have been, without exception, critical of what they call ‘uncontrolled money printing’ by the United States. While the U.S.A. has been accusing China of artificially devaluing its currency, an advisor to the Central Bank of China has hit back at Washington by accusing it of employing tactics that would devalue the dollar. Even Japan, the traditional ally of America, has voiced similar concerns. Many fear that the additional liquidity will find its way into the developing nations’ capital markets and most likely create an asset bubble in the emerging markets where the capital markets have been outperforming the global indices. There are indications that the central banks of many of these nations are in touch with each other and are contemplating a collective action if a sudden surge in volumes in stock markets creates a scenario for galloping inflation. Many banks in Asia Pacific have increased interest rates or are mulling the same to curb inflation.

According to the passage, United States expects to accomplish everything with economic stimulus except

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
The Federal Reserve has announced that it will be further buying treasuries worth six hundred billion dollars in the form of long term bonds. In a statement released in the form of an article to one of the leading national dailies, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve defended his actions by stating that similar steps have successfully been used in United States as well as other nations in the past to promote healthy fiscal growth. According to the administration, the previous injection of liquidity had reversed the downward slide of the economy but had left a lot to be desired in terms of employment generation and spending stimulus. With this additional inflow, coupled with near zero short  term interest rates, the Fed hopes to boost fresh home buying and trigger off a prolonged bout of spending. The timing of the announcement, so close to the holiday season, cannot be termed as accidental, though, it remains to be seen if it will help spread the holiday cheer or if any of that cheer will come back to the beleaguered Chairman. Although it remains too premature to comment upon the long term effects of the multiple stimuli, initial signs, though not overtly encouraging, have not been depressing either, with the retail data showing an increase in spending and manufacturing data also showing a jump that is the most in the last half year.
However, the reaction in many emerging economies has been less than euphoric and from a strictly fiduciary point of view, there seems to be a lot of merit in the statements of these nations. Although no nation has come out openly and slammed the move, the strategists and analysts who function as governmental mouthpieces have been, without exception, critical of what they call ‘uncontrolled money printing’ by the United States. While the U.S.A. has been accusing China of artificially devaluing its currency, an advisor to the Central Bank of China has hit back at Washington by accusing it of employing tactics that would devalue the dollar. Even Japan, the traditional ally of America, has voiced similar concerns. Many fear that the additional liquidity will find its way into the developing nations’ capital markets and most likely create an asset bubble in the emerging markets where the capital markets have been outperforming the global indices. There are indications that the central banks of many of these nations are in touch with each other and are contemplating a collective action if a sudden surge in volumes in stock markets creates a scenario for galloping inflation. Many banks in Asia Pacific have increased interest rates or are mulling the same to curb inflation.

The author uses the phrase 'uncontrolled money printing' to convey that

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
The Federal Reserve has announced that it will be further buying treasuries worth six hundred billion dollars in the form of long term bonds. In a statement released in the form of an article to one of the leading national dailies, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve defended his actions by stating that similar steps have successfully been used in United States as well as other nations in the past to promote healthy fiscal growth. According to the administration, the previous injection of liquidity had reversed the downward slide of the economy but had left a lot to be desired in terms of employment generation and spending stimulus. With this additional inflow, coupled with near zero short  term interest rates, the Fed hopes to boost fresh home buying and trigger off a prolonged bout of spending. The timing of the announcement, so close to the holiday season, cannot be termed as accidental, though, it remains to be seen if it will help spread the holiday cheer or if any of that cheer will come back to the beleaguered Chairman. Although it remains too premature to comment upon the long term effects of the multiple stimuli, initial signs, though not overtly encouraging, have not been depressing either, with the retail data showing an increase in spending and manufacturing data also showing a jump that is the most in the last half year.
However, the reaction in many emerging economies has been less than euphoric and from a strictly fiduciary point of view, there seems to be a lot of merit in the statements of these nations. Although no nation has come out openly and slammed the move, the strategists and analysts who function as governmental mouthpieces have been, without exception, critical of what they call ‘uncontrolled money printing’ by the United States. While the U.S.A. has been accusing China of artificially devaluing its currency, an advisor to the Central Bank of China has hit back at Washington by accusing it of employing tactics that would devalue the dollar. Even Japan, the traditional ally of America, has voiced similar concerns. Many fear that the additional liquidity will find its way into the developing nations’ capital markets and most likely create an asset bubble in the emerging markets where the capital markets have been outperforming the global indices. There are indications that the central banks of many of these nations are in touch with each other and are contemplating a collective action if a sudden surge in volumes in stock markets creates a scenario for galloping inflation. Many banks in Asia Pacific have increased interest rates or are mulling the same to curb inflation.

The tone of the author can be broadly categorized as one of the following?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Unlike a long, very long, spiral staircase inside a lighthouse, the top of which, though invisibly lost in the mists of darkness is present, or perhaps a mountain much higher than the highest, but still having a discernable acme, the journey of consciousness does not stop at any level. Like exploring an underwater maze of caves, deep under the sea, in almost pitch darkness, the human soul transcends the boundaries and barriers of time and space. There is no life-line to haul oneself back to safety if lost or paralyzed with fear, the sense of spatial reasoning is in abeyance, the eyes are nearly blind due to the pitch darkness, and yet one must feel one’s way forward by using the truncated senses to the best of one’s ability. The darkness holds unknown fears - real, and those conjured by one’s senses, unseen challenges and pitfalls as well as good and nasty surprises within its bosom and yet the journey must go on because to stop and give up means getting stuck at the same spot for eternity. According to many scientists and philosophers, time and space are the only two anchors that give us a sense of progress, direction and spatial reasoning and if both of these are removed, as they have been suggested by thinkers and visionaries alike to be the props created by humans, then nothing is left. Our world is perhaps the creation of our mind and death erases our mind like a hard drive wiped clean of all data, till the time comes for it to start storing data again on the next plane of consciousness. It is like giving up the familiar comfort of a familiar landing and venturing out in the dark unknown again. Time is relative, we live in different time zones, there is day in one part of the world while another is shrouded by the darkness of the night. The time spent waiting for a lover makes every second seem like an eternity while the same time rushes past when the deadline for some important task approaches.

What is the purpose of the passage?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
A study of society starts with the human beings living together. In the process of human evolution, sociability seems a quality ingrained in human nature. Every individual has his own personality that belongs to him apart from every other individual, but the perpetuation and development of that personality is dependent on relations with other personalities and with the physical environment which limits his activity.
As an individual his primary interest is in self, but he finds by experience that he cannot survive in solitude. His impulses, his feelings, and his ideas are due to the relations that he has with that which is outside of himself. He may exercise choice, but it is within the limits set by these outside relations. He may make use of what they can do for him or he may antagonize them, at least he cannot ignore them.
How the individual may best adapt himself to his environment and adapt the environment to his own needs helps establish certain definite relationships. Any group of individuals, who have thus consciously established relationships with one another and with their social environment, is a society. The relationships through which the interplay of social forces is constantly going on make up the social organization. The readjustments of these relations for the better adaptation of one individual to another, or to his environment, make up the process of social development. A society which remains in equilibrium is termed static; that which is changing is called dynamic.

What message does the author seek to convey?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
But though it was Herbert Spencer who invested these arguments with their most systematic form, and gave them their definite place in the theory of evolution as a whole, they were widely diffused already among his immediate predecessors, as we may see by the following passage taken from an unlikely quarter. "It is," says Macaulay, in his Essay on Dryden, anticipating the exact phraseology of Spencer, "the age that makes the man, not the man that makes the age.... The inequalities of the intellect, like the inequalities of the surface of the globe, bear so small a proportion to the mass, that in calculating its great revolutions they may safely be neglected." And Macaulay is merely expressing a doctrine distinctive of his time — a doctrine which, to take one further example, dominated in a notable way the entire thought of Buckle. This doctrine, which, to a greater or less degree, merges the organism in its environment, or the individual, however great, in society, has been seized on by the more recent socialists just as the theory of Ricardo, with regard to labor and value, was seized on by Karl Marx, and has been adapted by them to their own purposes.