Free Reading Comprehension Set II - 08 Practice Test - CAT
Question 1
Among all the apprehensions that Mr. GoranLindblad expresses against Communism, which one gets admitted, although indirectly, by the author? (2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : B
Option: (b)The apprehensions of Lindblad that "different elements of communist ideology such as equality or social justice still seduce many" is indirectly accepted by the author as in the last paragraph he mentions the resistance of the Muslim world and Latin America against New Imperialism and the growing demand for social justice. The correct answer therefore is (b).
Para 1:
· Fifteen years after communism was officially pronounced dead, its spectre seems once again to be haunting Europe.
· Last month, the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly voted to condemn the "crimes of totalitarian communist regimes" linking them with Nazism.
· GoranLindblad wants to take this further.
Para 2:
· Reasons for this being a good year for Lindblad's ideological offensive.
· Paradoxically, given that there is no communist government left in Europe outside Moldova, the attacks have if anything, become more extreme as time has gone on.
· Blaming class struggle and public ownership, Lindblad explained "different elements of communist ideology such as equality or social justice still seduce many" and "a sort of nostalgia for communism is still alive."
· Real problem for Lindblad and his right-wing allies in Europe is that communism is not dead enough.
Para 3:
· The fashionable attempt in reality to equate communism and Nazism is in reality a moral and historical nonsense.
· The dominant account gives no sense of how communist regimes renewed themselves after 1956 or why Western leaders feared they might overtake the capitalist world well into the 1960s.
· For all its brutalities and failures, communism's existence helped to drive up welfare standards in the West, and provided a powerful counterweight to Western global denomination.
· Its existence helped to drive up welfare standards in the West, and provided a powerful counterweight to Western global domination.
Para 4:
· It would be easier to take the council of Europe's condemnation of communist state crimes seriously if it had also seen fit to denounce the far bloodier account of European colonialism.
· This was a system of racist despotism, which dominated the globe in Stalin's time.
· While there is precious little connection between the ideas of fascism and communism, there is an intimate link between colonialism and Nazism.
Para 5:
· Comparable atrocities were carried out by all European colonialists, but not a word of condemnation from the Council of Europe.
Para 6:
· Part of the current enthusiasm in official Western circles for dancing on the grave of communism is about relations with today's Russia and China.
· It also reflects a determination to prove there is no alternative to the new global capitalist order.
Question 2
What, according to the author, is the
real reason for a renewed attack against
communism?
(2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : B
Option: (b)The author gives the opinion of a conservative European MP. The renewed attack on communism is being made because the now existing ideology of global capitalism can be idealized only through an attack on communism. Though (a) might also appear as a correct alternative but (b) states the reason most appropriately.
Question 3
The author cites examples of atrocities perpetrated by European colonial regimes in order to(2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : E
Option: (e)
The reason to cite the atrocities committed by European colonial regime is to neutralize the argument of Lindblad against communism on the ground of violence. His intention is not to compare atrocities but to neutralize the attack on communism and prove that colonial atrocities were more than communist violence. Thus (e) is the most appropriate answer choice.
Question 4
Why, according to the author, is Nazism closer to colonialism than it is to communism? (2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : A
Option: (a)
In the fourth paragraph, the author has tried to compare Nazism with colonialism rather than comparing it with communism. Towards the end of the paragraph, the author states that many ideas coined by the German colonial regime were later inherited by the Nazi party. Thus (a) is the right answer choice.
Question 5
Which of the following cannot be inferred as a compelling reason for the silence of the Council of Europe on colonial atrocities? (2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : D
OPTION : (d)
Option (d) is correct as the council of Europe is dominated by strong European countries that were previously colonial powers. Option (b) also seems a reason for silence of council of Europe as it is condemning communist ideology and seeks support in the same. Option (c) does not seem as a compelling reason because nothing of the allies is mentioned in the passage. Thus answer choice (d) is the most appropriate one.
Question 6
A just society, as conceptualized in the passage, can be best described as: (2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : E
Option: (e)The passage is based on the central theme of defining what a just society, based on an original position, will be like. According to the passage, the just society would be fair, wherein justice will not be influenced by privileges, position, and social status of a person. This is best described by option (e). Although all other options are close to being correct but option (e) seems to be the best pick amongst all.
Para 1:
· Present a conception of justice which generalizes and carries to a higher level of abstraction the familiar theory of the social contract.
· The idea is that the principles of justice for the basic structure of society are the object of the original agreement.
· They are the principles that free and rational persons concerned to further their own interests would accept in an initial position of equality.
· These principles are to regulate all further agreements; they specify the kinds of social cooperation that can be entered into and the forms of government that can be established.
· Author calls this justice as "fairness".
Para 2:
· In "justice as fairness", no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status, nor does anyone know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence, strength and the like.
· Principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.
Para3
· Justice as fairness begins with the choice of the first principles of a conception of justicewhich is to regulate all subsequentcriticism and reform of institutions.
· Then, having chosen a conception of justice, we can suppose that they are to choose a constitution and a legislature to enact laws, and so on, all in accordance with the principles of justice initially agreed upon.
· A society satisfying the principles of justice as fairness comes as close as a society can to being a voluntary scheme, for it meets the principles which free and equal persons would assent to under circumstances that are fair.
Question 7
The original agreement or original position in the passage has been used by the author as:
SOLUTION
Solution : A
Option: (a)The 'original position' mentioned in the second paragraph has been used by the author to describe a 'hypothetical situation' where no one knows their status, position, privileges etc.. This is in order to ensure that justice is received without any influence from these categories. So, while option (b) is also close to the correct answer choice, option (a) is the most appropriate pick.
Question 8
Which of the following best illustrates the situation that is equivalent to choosing "the principles of justice' behind a "veil of ignorance'? (2006)
SOLUTION
Solution : D
Option: (d)If we look at the second paragraph, it is evident that choosing 'the principles of justice' behind a 'veil of ignorance' refers to a situation where one must not be aware of his status, position, privileges etc. while choosing the principles. If we look at options (a), (b), (c) and (e), they talk about businessmen, school children and potential immigrants who in some way or the other will be aware of at least one of the things mentioned before, resulting in building up of a hierarchy. Thus, the only possibility is that of a new birth, where one is completely ignorant of what is to come. Thus the right answer choice is option (d).
Question 9
Why, according to the passage, do principles of justice need to be based on an original agreement?
SOLUTION
Solution : B
Option: (b)
It can be inferred from the last paragraph of the passage that social institutions and laws can fair only if they are consistent with the principles of justice as initially agreed upon. Thus, option (b) clearly stands out as the right answer choice.
Question 10
Which of the following situations best represents the idea of justice as fairness, as argued in the passage?
SOLUTION
Solution : D
Option: (d)Out of all the situations mentioned above in the answer choices, the one that most aptly represents the idea of justice as fairness is the situation where all children are provided free education in similar schools. This is because this appropriately describes the concept where no one is advantaged or disadvantaged in the choice of principles by the outcome of natural chance or the contingency of social circumstances.