Free Reading Comprehension Set I - 05 Practice Test - CAT
Question 1
The passage is chiefly concerned with:
SOLUTION
Solution : A
Looking at the case given in the 3rd paragraph, followed by the explanation in the 4th paragraph, we understand that the passage talks about the unintentional consequences of trade laws. Hence, option A is the most suitable answer.
Question 2
It can be inferred from the passage that the minimal basis for a complaint to the International Trade Commission is which of the following?
SOLUTION
Solution : C
The best answer is C, which can be inferred from the case given in the 3rd paragraph.
Question 3
The last paragraph performs which of the following functions in the passage?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
The best answer is D.
Looking at the answer options, the last paragraph talks about a particular case that illustrates a problem presented more generally in the previous paragraph.
Question 4
The passage warns of which of the following dangers?
SOLUTION
Solution : C
The best answer is C. On reading the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs, we can conclude that the danger mentioned in option C is warned and none of the remaining options are stated in the passage.
Question 5
The passage suggests that which of the following is most likely to be true of United States trade laws?
SOLUTION
Solution : C
The best answer is C. The passage suggests that trade laws can be used against the US companies - this isn't what is intended.
Choice A - mentions nothing about US companies competing outside their own country. Choice B - When an answer choice makes a comparison, aspects of all sides should be known, which is not the case here. Choice D - This goes directly against the passage statements: because now it is difficult to tell who is the parent company.
Question 6
It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following about the complaint mentioned in the last paragraph?
SOLUTION
Solution : B
The best answer is B. In the passage the author states that “The bizarre aspect of the complaint was that a foreign conglomerate…was crying for help against a United States company…”. It can be inferred from the passage that import relief laws were designed to protect United States companies from foreign competition. Thus, the lodging of a complaint by a foreign conglomerate against a United States company violated the intent of the laws.
Question 7
Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
The best answer is D. The first paragraph of the passage identifies a research method (recording life stories) and explains the method’s uses. The second and third paragraphs explain limitations of the method’s results. The final paragraph explains why the research method is useful despite its limitations. Choice A, B, and C are incorrect because only one research method is discussed, not two.
Question 8
Which of the following is most similar to the actions of nineteenth-century ethnologists in their editing of the life stories of Native Americans?
SOLUTION
Solution : C
The best answer is C. Lines 22-23 suggest that ethnologists “rarely spent enough time with the tribes they were observing.” Ethnologists who did not spend enough time with tribes they were observing were unlikely to be sufficiently familiar with the culture and customs of those tribes. Such ethnologists nevertheless attempted to describe the lives of tribal members. This attempt can be seen as analogous to the announcer’s attempt to describe the actions in a team sport with which he is unfamiliar. Choice A, B, and D can be eliminated because the passage does not suggest ethnologists deliberately withheld information.
Question 9
According to the passage, collecting life stories can be a useful methodology because:
SOLUTION
Solution : A
The best answer is A, which paraphrases the passage’s assertion that life stores “are likely to throw more light on the working of the mind and emotions than any amount of speculation from an ethnologist or ethnological theorist from another culture”. Choice B is incorrect because the passage does not assess the difficulty of collecting life stories, and because the second paragraph discusses ways in which life stories became distorted. Choice C is incorrect because the passage does not specify how many research methods are available to ethnologists.Choice D can be eliminated because the third paragraph mentions distortion arising from ethnologists’ failure to recognize significant events in life stories.
Question 10
Information in the passage suggests that which of the following may be a possible way to eliminate bias in the editing of life stories?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
The best answer is D. In the third paragraph, the passage asserts that editors made their own decisions about which elements of the Native Americans’ life stories were important. It can therefore be inferred from the passage that reporting all of an informant’s information would help eliminate bias, because editing had involved subjective judgments about the intrinsic value of the information. Choice A and C can be eliminated because the passage does not attribute bias to failures in adhering to ethnological theory, to translations into the researchers’ language, or problems in the numbers and content of question posed. Choice B is not supported because the second paragraph criticizes the emotion of the report, not that of the informant, for introducing bias.
Question 11
The primary purpose of the passage as a whole is to:
SOLUTION
Solution : C
The best answer is C. The passage describes a methodology, explain the methodology’s intended uses, criticizes the methodology’s accurateness and comprehensiveness, and reaffirms the methodology’s usefulness despite its limitations. Thus, the primary purpose of the passage is to evaluate or critique a methodology.
Question 12
It can be inferred from the passage that a characteristic of the ethnological research on Native Americans conducted during the nineteenth century was the use of which of the following?
SOLUTION
Solution : B
The best answer is B. The passage states that “Native Americans recognized that the essence of their lives could not be communicated in English,” that is, in the language of the ethnologists recording the life stories. Since this statement supports the idea that “much was inevitably lost,” it can be inferred that the informants used a language other than that used to record their life stories. Choice A is incorrect because, in the second paragraph, the investigators are criticized for lacking familiarity with the cultures they study. Choice C is incorrect because ethnologists recorded life stories to “supplement their own field observations”. Choice D is incorrect because the passage indicates that life stories were edited.
Question 13
Which of the following meanings can be inferred from the lines “Do I dare Disturb the universe?”?
SOLUTION
Solution : C
Option (c)
The lines “And indeed… I presume?” spell out the circle of concern which is limited to the immediate and the temporal world, nowhere do the lines depict any issues with the larger picture in life. The author is in a ‘status quo’ and deciding what to do.
Question 14
What, according to the passage, is the reason for the author’s optimism?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
Option (d)
The passage stresses on the fact that “there will be time” for everything.
Question 15
In the first ten lines of the passage, the author embodies which of the following with human attributes?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
Option (d)
The phrase “muttering retreats” makes option (d) correct.
Question 16
In the passage, evening is compared to:
SOLUTION
Solution : B
Option (b)
In the olden days, ether was used to anesthetize patients.