Reading Comprehension

How can the opening line of the passage be interpreted?

It is natural to be healthy, but we have wandered so far astray that disease is the rule and good health is the exception. Of course, most people are well enough to attend to their work, but nearly all are suffering from some illness, mental or physical, acute or chronic, which deprives them of a part of their power. There is too much illness, too much suffering and too many premature deaths. We are losing every year a vast army of individuals who are in their productive prime. The average individual is of less value to himself, to his family and to society than he could be. His bad habits, of which he is often not aware, have brought weakness and disease upon him. These conditions prevent him from doing his best mentally and physically. This abnormal condition has a bad effect upon his descendants, who may not be born with any special defects, but have less resistance at birth than is their due, and consequently fall prey to disease very easily. This state of impaired resistance has been passed on from generation to generation, and we of today are passing it on as a heritage to our children.
Yet it is within the power of each individual to prolong his life beyond what is now considered old age. Under favourable conditions, people should live in comfort and health to the age of one hundred years or more, useful and in full possession of their faculties. Barring accidents, which should be less numerous when people fully realise that unreasonable haste and speed are wasteful, and that life is more valuable than accumulated wealth, human life could and should be a certainty. There should be no sudden deaths resulting from the popular diseases of today.
All civilised nations of which we have record, except the Chinese, have decayed after growing and flourishing for a few centuries, usually about a thousand years or less. Many reasons are given for the decline and fall of nations. Rome especially furnishes food for much thought. However, look into the history of each known nation that has risen to prominence, glory and power, and you will find that so long as they kept in close contact with the soil they flourished on. With the advance of civilisation, the people change their mode of life from simplicity to luxuriousness and complexity. Thus, individuals decay and in the end there is enough individual decay to result in national degeneration. When this process has advanced far enough, these people are unable to hold their own. In the severe competition of nations, the strain is too great and they perish. There is a point of refinement beyond which people can not go and survive.
Nations, like individuals, generally do better in moderate circumstances, than in opulence. Nearly all can stand poverty, but only the exceptional individual or nation can bear up under riches. Nature demands of us that we exercise both body and mind.
Civilisation is not inimical to health and long life. In fact, the contrary is true, for as the people advance, they learn to master the forces of nature and with these forces under control, they are able to lead better, healthier lives, but if they become too soft and luxurious, there is decay of moral and physical fibre, and in the end, the nation must fall, for its individual units are unworthy of survival in a world which requires an admixture of brain and brawn. Civilisation is favourable to long life so long as the people are moderate and live simply, but when it degenerates to sensuous softness, individual and racial deterioration ensue. Too generous supply of food, too little exercise and alcohol are some of the luxuries which are generally introduced with civilisation.
A part of the price we must pay for being civilised is the exercise of considerable self-control and self-denial, otherwise we must suffer.
We look upon this unnecessary waste of life complacently because we are used to it and consequently think that it is natural. It is neither necessary nor natural. If we would read and heed nature's writings, it would cease. Then, people would live until their time came to fade away peacefully and beautifully, as do the golden leaves of autumn or the blades of grass.

How does environment play a role, in general formulation of a set of behaviour?

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

PASSAGE – II
A community or a social group sustains itself through continuous self-renewal, and this renewal takes place by means of the educational growth of the immature members of a group. By various agencies, unintentional and designed, a society transforms uninitiated and seemingly alien beings into robust trustees of its own resources and ideals.  Education is thus a fostering, a nurturing, a cultivating and a process. Etymologically, the word education means just a process of bringing up. When we have the outcome of the process in mind, we speak of education as shaping, forming, moulding activity - that is, a shaping into the standard form of social activity. 
Since what is required is a transformation of the quality of experience, till it partakes in the interests, purposes, and ideas current in the social group, the problem is evidently not one of mere physical forming. Things  can be physically  transported in space; they may be bodily  conveyed. Beliefs  and aspirations cannot be physically extracted and inserted. How then are they communicated? Given the impossibility of direct contagion or literal inculcation, our problem is to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old, or the older bring the young into like-mindedness with themselves. The answer, in general formulation, is: by means of the action of the environment in calling out certain responses. The required beliefs cannot be hammered in; the needed attitudes cannot be plastered on. But the particular medium in which an individual exists leads him to see and feel one thing rather than another; it leads him to have certain plans in order that he may act successfully with others; it strengthens some beliefs and weakens others as a condition of winning the approval of others. Thus it gradually produces in him a certain system of behaviour, a certain disposition of action. The word "environment" denotes something more than surroundings that encompass an individual.
They denote the specific continuity of the surroundings with his active tendencies. An inanimate being is, of course, continuous with its surroundings; but the environing circumstances do not, save metaphorically, constitute an environment. For, the inorganic being is not concerned with the influences that affect it. On the other hand, some things that are remote in space and time from a living creature, especially a human creature, may form his environment even more truly than some of the things close to him. The things with which a man varies are his genuine environment. Thus the activities of the astronomer vary with the stars. Of his immediate surroundings, his telescope is most intimately his environment. The environment of an antiquarian, as an antiquarian, consists of the remote epoch of human life with which he is concerned with, and the relics, inscriptions, etc., by which he establishes connections with that period.
In brief, the environment consists of those conditions that promote or hinder, stimulate or inhibit the characteristic activities of a living being. Water is the environment of a fish because it is necessary to the fish's activities - to its life.
The North Pole is a significant element in the environment of an arctic explorer, whether he succeeds in reaching it or not, because it defines his activities, makes them what they distinctively are. Just because life signifies not bare passive existence, but a way of acting; environment or medium signifies what enters into this activity as a sustaining or frustrating condition.

What legacy does the new generation receive from its ancestors?

It is natural to be healthy, but we have wandered so far astray that disease is the rule and good health is the exception. Of course, most people are well enough to attend to their work, but nearly all are suffering from some illness, mental or physical, acute or chronic, which deprives them of a part of their power. There is too much illness, too much suffering and too many premature deaths. We are losing every year a vast army of individuals who are in their productive prime. The average individual is of less value to himself, to his family and to society than he could be. His bad habits, of which he is often not aware, have brought weakness and disease upon him. These conditions prevent him from doing his best mentally and physically. This abnormal condition has a bad effect upon his descendants, who may not be born with any special defects, but have less resistance at birth than is their due, and consequently fall prey to disease very easily. This state of impaired resistance has been passed on from generation to generation, and we of today are passing it on as a heritage to our children.
Yet it is within the power of each individual to prolong his life beyond what is now considered old age. Under favourable conditions, people should live in comfort and health to the age of one hundred years or more, useful and in full possession of their faculties. Barring accidents, which should be less numerous when people fully realise that unreasonable haste and speed are wasteful, and that life is more valuable than accumulated wealth, human life could and should be a certainty. There should be no sudden deaths resulting from the popular diseases of today.
All civilised nations of which we have record, except the Chinese, have decayed after growing and flourishing for a few centuries, usually about a thousand years or less. Many reasons are given for the decline and fall of nations. Rome especially furnishes food for much thought. However, look into the history of each known nation that has risen to prominence, glory and power, and you will find that so long as they kept in close contact with the soil they flourished on. With the advance of civilisation, the people change their mode of life from simplicity to luxuriousness and complexity. Thus, individuals decay and in the end there is enough individual decay to result in national degeneration. When this process has advanced far enough, these people are unable to hold their own. In the severe competition of nations, the strain is too great and they perish. There is a point of refinement beyond which people can not go and survive.
Nations, like individuals, generally do better in moderate circumstances, than in opulence. Nearly all can stand poverty, but only the exceptional individual or nation can bear up under riches. Nature demands of us that we exercise both body and mind.
Civilisation is not inimical to health and long life. In fact, the contrary is true, for as the people advance, they learn to master the forces of nature and with these forces under control, they are able to lead better, healthier lives, but if they become too soft and luxurious, there is decay of moral and physical fibre, and in the end, the nation must fall, for its individual units are unworthy of survival in a world which requires an admixture of brain and brawn. Civilisation is favourable to long life so long as the people are moderate and live simply, but when it degenerates to sensuous softness, individual and racial deterioration ensue. Too generous supply of food, too little exercise and alcohol are some of the luxuries which are generally introduced with civilisation.
A part of the price we must pay for being civilised is the exercise of considerable self-control and self-denial, otherwise we must suffer.
We look upon this unnecessary waste of life complacently because we are used to it and consequently think that it is natural. It is neither necessary nor natural. If we would read and heed nature's writings, it would cease. Then, people would live until their time came to fade away peacefully and beautifully, as do the golden leaves of autumn or the blades of grass.

Directions: Choose the word which is most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.

Impaired

It is natural to be healthy, but we have wandered so far astray that disease is the rule and good health is the exception. Of course, most people are well enough to attend to their work, but nearly all are suffering from some illness, mental or physical, acute or chronic, which deprives them of a part of their power. There is too much illness, too much suffering and too many premature deaths. We are losing every year a vast army of individuals who are in their productive prime. The average individual is of less value to himself, to his family and to society than he could be. His bad habits, of which he is often not aware, have brought weakness and disease upon him. These conditions prevent him from doing his best mentally and physically. This abnormal condition has a bad effect upon his descendants, who may not be born with any special defects, but have less resistance at birth than is their due, and consequently fall prey to disease very easily. This state of impaired resistance has been passed on from generation to generation, and we of today are passing it on as a heritage to our children.
Yet it is within the power of each individual to prolong his life beyond what is now considered old age. Under favourable conditions, people should live in comfort and health to the age of one hundred years or more, useful and in full possession of their faculties. Barring accidents, which should be less numerous when people fully realise that unreasonable haste and speed are wasteful, and that life is more valuable than accumulated wealth, human life could and should be a certainty. There should be no sudden deaths resulting from the popular diseases of today.
All civilised nations of which we have record, except the Chinese, have decayed after growing and flourishing for a few centuries, usually about a thousand years or less. Many reasons are given for the decline and fall of nations. Rome especially furnishes food for much thought. However, look into the history of each known nation that has risen to prominence, glory and power, and you will find that so long as they kept in close contact with the soil they flourished on. With the advance of civilisation, the people change their mode of life from simplicity to luxuriousness and complexity. Thus, individuals decay and in the end there is enough individual decay to result in national degeneration. When this process has advanced far enough, these people are unable to hold their own. In the severe competition of nations, the strain is too great and they perish. There is a point of refinement beyond which people can not go and survive.
Nations, like individuals, generally do better in moderate circumstances, than in opulence. Nearly all can stand poverty, but only the exceptional individual or nation can bear up under riches. Nature demands of us that we exercise both body and mind.
Civilisation is not inimical to health and long life. In fact, the contrary is true, for as the people advance, they learn to master the forces of nature and with these forces under control, they are able to lead better, healthier lives, but if they become too soft and luxurious, there is decay of moral and physical fibre, and in the end, the nation must fall, for its individual units are unworthy of survival in a world which requires an admixture of brain and brawn. Civilisation is favourable to long life so long as the people are moderate and live simply, but when it degenerates to sensuous softness, individual and racial deterioration ensue. Too generous supply of food, too little exercise and alcohol are some of the luxuries which are generally introduced with civilisation.
A part of the price we must pay for being civilised is the exercise of considerable self-control and self-denial, otherwise we must suffer.
We look upon this unnecessary waste of life complacently because we are used to it and consequently think that it is natural. It is neither necessary nor natural. If we would read and heed nature's writings, it would cease. Then, people would live until their time came to fade away peacefully and beautifully, as do the golden leaves of autumn or the blades of grass.

Which of the following situations best represents the idea of environment as a means of education?

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

PASSAGE – II
A community or a social group sustains itself through continuous self-renewal, and this renewal takes place by means of the educational growth of the immature members of a group. By various agencies, unintentional and designed, a society transforms uninitiated and seemingly alien beings into robust trustees of its own resources and ideals.  Education is thus a fostering, a nurturing, a cultivating and a process. Etymologically, the word education means just a process of bringing up. When we have the outcome of the process in mind, we speak of education as shaping, forming, moulding activity - that is, a shaping into the standard form of social activity. 
Since what is required is a transformation of the quality of experience, till it partakes in the interests, purposes, and ideas current in the social group, the problem is evidently not one of mere physical forming. Things  can be physically  transported in space; they may be bodily  conveyed. Beliefs  and aspirations cannot be physically extracted and inserted. How then are they communicated? Given the impossibility of direct contagion or literal inculcation, our problem is to discover the method by which the young assimilate the point of view of the old, or the older bring the young into like-mindedness with themselves. The answer, in general formulation, is: by means of the action of the environment in calling out certain responses. The required beliefs cannot be hammered in; the needed attitudes cannot be plastered on. But the particular medium in which an individual exists leads him to see and feel one thing rather than another; it leads him to have certain plans in order that he may act successfully with others; it strengthens some beliefs and weakens others as a condition of winning the approval of others. Thus it gradually produces in him a certain system of behaviour, a certain disposition of action. The word "environment" denotes something more than surroundings that encompass an individual.
They denote the specific continuity of the surroundings with his active tendencies. An inanimate being is, of course, continuous with its surroundings; but the environing circumstances do not, save metaphorically, constitute an environment. For, the inorganic being is not concerned with the influences that affect it. On the other hand, some things that are remote in space and time from a living creature, especially a human creature, may form his environment even more truly than some of the things close to him. The things with which a man varies are his genuine environment. Thus the activities of the astronomer vary with the stars. Of his immediate surroundings, his telescope is most intimately his environment. The environment of an antiquarian, as an antiquarian, consists of the remote epoch of human life with which he is concerned with, and the relics, inscriptions, etc., by which he establishes connections with that period.
In brief, the environment consists of those conditions that promote or hinder, stimulate or inhibit the characteristic activities of a living being. Water is the environment of a fish because it is necessary to the fish's activities - to its life.
The North Pole is a significant element in the environment of an arctic explorer, whether he succeeds in reaching it or not, because it defines his activities, makes them what they distinctively are. Just because life signifies not bare passive existence, but a way of acting; environment or medium signifies what enters into this activity as a sustaining or frustrating condition.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Once there was a bear roaming freely around the woods in search of berries. After a while, he found a fallen tree in which a swarm of bees had stored their honey. The bear started searching around the log very carefully to find out if the bees were in their nest. At that moment, one of the bees came to the tree from a field with a load of sweets. The bee saw the bear and flew at him, stung him sharply and then disappeared into the log. The bear lost his temper and instantly sprang upon the log, with his tooth and claw, to destroy the nest. But this brought out the whole swarm. The poor bear was unable to bear it, and was able to save himself only by diving into a pool of water.

Bees collected loads of sweets from a _______.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Once there was a bear roaming freely around the woods in search of berries. After a while, he found a fallen tree in which a swarm of bees had stored their honey. The bear started searching around the log very carefully to find out if the bees were in their nest. At that moment, one of the bees came to the tree from a field with a load of sweets. The bee saw the bear and flew at him, stung him sharply and then disappeared into the log. The bear lost his temper and instantly sprang upon the log, with his tooth and claw, to destroy the nest. But this brought out the whole swarm. The poor bear was unable to bear it, and was able to save himself only by diving into a pool of water.

Bear saved himself from the ____.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Once there was a bear roaming freely around the woods in search of berries. After a while, he found a fallen tree in which a swarm of bees had stored their honey. The bear started searching around the log very carefully to find out if the bees were in their nest. At that moment, one of the bees came to the tree from a field with a load of sweets. The bee saw the bear and flew at him, stung him sharply and then disappeared into the log. The bear lost his temper and instantly sprang upon the log, with his tooth and claw, to destroy the nest. But this brought out the whole swarm. The poor bear was unable to bear it, and was able to save himself only by diving into a pool of water.

Bear was searching for _______ in the woods.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

A comet is an icy small solar system body made up of ices mixed with smaller amounts of dust and rock. It is no larger than few kilometers across. The main structure of a comet is know as nucleus. Comets are composed primarily of many varieties of ice including water, methane and other gases. Comets usually orbit the sun. While planets have a circular orbit, comets' orbits are usually very elliptical. As a comet moves closer to the Sun, the ices begin to fizz. The closest point in its orbit to the Sun is known as “perihelion” and the farthest one is known as “aphelion”. Comets are not any kind of spaceship or alien base. They are bits of solar system material.

_________ is the most distant point to a comet's orbit to the Sun.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

A comet is an icy small solar system body made up of ices mixed with smaller amounts of dust and rock. It is no larger than a few kilometers across. The main structure of a comet is know as the nucleus. Comets are composed primarily of many varieties of ice including water, methane and other gases. Comets usually orbit the sun. While planets have a circular orbit, comets' orbits are usually very elliptical. As a comet moves closer to the Sun, the ices begin to fizz. The closest point in its orbit to the Sun is known as “perihelion” and the farthest one is known as “aphelion”. Comets are not any kind of spaceship or alien base. They are bits of solar system material.

Comets consist of lesser amounts of ______.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Long ago, there lived a family of fisherman, in a village near the sea. The father was very cruel and he used to rule the household. All the family members obeyed his commands. Lisa, the youngest daughter, was sent to the forest each day to gather wood for the kitchen fire. Near the edge of the forest was a cave under some rocks. A stream of water fell over the rocks into a basin in the cave. This was a delightfully cool place, and Lisa often rested here on her way home after gathering wood in the forest. She would lie on the mossy bank of the stream for hours and dream. One morning, as Lisa ran along the grassy path that led to the cave, she saw a little fish in the stream. Its scales flashed out all the colours of the rainbow."I am going to keep the fish for a pet," said the girl to herself. "I will call it Rainbow." She caught the pretty fish and put it into the basin in the cave and served it food everyday. So, she got a new friend.

Lisa lived in a __________.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Long ago, there lived a family of fisherman, in a village near the sea. The father was very cruel and he used to rule the household. All the family members obeyed his commands. Lisa, the youngest daughter, was sent to the forest each day to gather wood for the kitchen fire. Near the edge of the forest was a cave under some rocks. A stream of water fell over the rocks into a basin in the cave. This was a delightfully cool place, and Lisa often rested here on her way home after gathering wood in the forest. She would lie on the mossy bank of the stream for hours and dream. One morning, as Lisa ran along the grassy path that led to the cave, she saw a little fish in the stream. Its scales flashed out all the colours of the rainbow."I am going to keep the fish for a pet," said the girl to herself. "I will call it Rainbow." She caught the pretty fish and put it into the basin in the cave and served it food everyday. So, she got a new friend.

The basin was a __________.

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Long ago, there lived a family of fisherman, in a village near the sea. The father was very cruel and he used to rule the household. All the family members obeyed his commands. Lisa, the youngest daughter, was sent to the forest each day to gather wood for the kitchen fire. Near the edge of the forest was a cave under some rocks. A stream of water fell over the rocks into a basin in the cave. This was a delightfully cool place, and Lisa often rested here on her way home after gathering wood in the forest. She would lie on the mossy bank of the stream for hours and dream. One morning, as Lisa ran along the grassy path that led to the cave, she saw a little fish in the stream. Its scales flashed out all the colours of the rainbow."I am going to keep the fish for a pet," said the girl to herself. "I will call it Rainbow." She caught the pretty fish and put it into the basin in the cave and served it food everyday. So, she got a new friend.

What did Lisa see in the stream?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

The Earth is surrounded by an ocean of gases we call the atmosphere. The atmosphere is important because it contains the air that most living things breathe. It also absorbs heat energy from the sun. It even recycles water by returning it back to the Earth as rain. Without the atmosphere, life as we know could not exist on Earth. The atmosphere extends about 600 kilometres (about 373 miles) above the surface of the Earth. Scientists discovered that the atmosphere is divided into layers, just like a layered cake. Each layer differs in thickness and in temperature. These layers also differ in composition – the types of gases that make up each layer.

Which of the following is not true about atmosphere?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

The Earth is surrounded by an ocean of gases we call the atmosphere. The atmosphere is important because it contains the air that most living things breathe. It also absorbs heat energy from the sun. It even recycles water by returning it back to the Earth as rain. Without the atmosphere, life as we know could not exist on Earth. The atmosphere extends about 600 kilometres (about 373 miles) above the surface of the Earth. Scientists discovered that the atmosphere is divided into layers, just like a layered cake. Each layer differs in thickness and in temperature. These layers also differ in composition – the types of gases that make up each layer.

Each layer differs in