Reading Comprehension
Reading Comprehension: English Reading Comprehension Exercises with Answers, Sample Passages for Reading Comprehension Test for GRE, CAT, IELTS preparation
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English Reading Comprehension Test Questions and Answers. Improve your ability to read and comprehend English Passages
Q161. > Women’s grassroots activism and their vision of a new civic
> consciousness lay at the heart of social reform in the United States
> throughout the Progressive Era, the period between the depression of
> 1893 and America’s entry into the Second World War. Though largely
> disenfranchised except for school elections, white middle-class women
> reformers won a variety of victories, notably in the improvement of
> working conditions, especially for women and children. Ironically,
> though, child labor legislation pitted women of different classes
> against one another. To the reformers, child labor and industrial
> homework were equally inhumane practices that should be outlawed, but,
> as a number of women historians have recently observed, working-class
> mothers did not always share this view. Given the precarious finances
> of working-class families and the necessity of pooling the wages of as
> many family members as possible, working-class families viewed the
> passage and enforcement of stringent child labor statutes as a
> personal economic disaster and made strenuous efforts to circumvent
> child labor laws. Yet reformers rarely understood this resistance in
> terms of the desperate economic situation of working class families,
> interpreting it instead as evidence of poor parenting. This is not to
> dispute women reformers’ perception of child labor as a terribly
> exploitative practice, but their understanding of child labor and
> their legislative solutions for ending it failed to take account of
> the economic needs of working-class families.
The author of the passage asserts which of the following about women reformers who tried to abolish child labor?
- They alienated working-class mothers by attempting to enlist them in agitating for progressive causes.
- They underestimated the prevalence of child labor among the working classes.
- They were correct in their conviction that child labor was deplorable but shortsighted about the impact of child labor legislation on working-class families.
- They were aggressive in their attempts to enforce child labor legislation, but were unable to prevent working-class families from circumventing them.
- They were prevented by their nearly total disenfranchisement from making significant progress in child labor
Solution : They were correct in their conviction that child labor was deplorable but shortsighted about the impact of child labor legislation on working-class families.
Q162. > Women’s grassroots activism and their vision of a new civic
> consciousness lay at the heart of social reform in the United States
> throughout the Progressive Era, the period between the depression of
> 1893 and America’s entry into the Second World War. Though largely
> disenfranchised except for school elections, white middle-class women
> reformers won a variety of victories, notably in the improvement of
> working conditions, especially for women and children. Ironically,
> though, child labor legislation pitted women of different classes
> against one another. To the reformers, child labor and industrial
> homework were equally inhumane practices that should be outlawed, but,
> as a number of women historians have recently observed, working-class
> mothers did not always share this view. Given the precarious finances
> of working-class families and the necessity of pooling the wages of as
> many family members as possible, working-class families viewed the
> passage and enforcement of stringent child labor statutes as a
> personal economic disaster and made strenuous efforts to circumvent
> child labor laws. Yet reformers rarely understood this resistance in
> terms of the desperate economic situation of working class families,
> interpreting it instead as evidence of poor parenting. This is not to
> dispute women reformers’ perception of child labor as a terribly
> exploitative practice, but their understanding of child labor and
> their legislative solutions for ending it failed to take account of
> the economic needs of working-class families.
According to the passage, one of the most striking achievements of white middle-class women reformers during the Progressive Era was
- gaining the right to vote in school elections
- mobilizing working-class women in the fight against child labor
- uniting women of different classes in grassroots activism
- improving the economic conditions of working-class families
- improving women’s and children’s working conditions
Solution : improving women’s and children’s working conditions
Q163. > Farmers have progressed the world over yet they are languishing in
> this country. Despite decades of industrial development, about 600
> million Indians, or roughly half the population, depend on growing
> crops or rearing animals to earn a living. The country still relies on
> imports of essential items, such as pulses and cooking oil. Almost
> half of the average Indian household’s expenditure is on food, an
> important factor behind inflation. Food security at the micro level
> remains elusive. The global development experience, especially of the
> BRICS countries, reveals that one percentage point growth in
> agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing
> poverty than the same degree of growth emanating from the
> non-agriculture sector.
>
> Of late, the woes of the farmer have exacerbated. Untimely rain
> damaged winter crops in northern India. The heat wave killed more than
> 2000 people - mostly working in the fields. Suicides by farmers, owing
> to the low price of their produce, are almost a recurrent tragedy.
> There is general concern over the monsoon; patchy or inadequate
> rainfall can spell disaster. Low productivity is a chronic problem
> because of the shrinking size of the cultivated plots. Two-grain
> harvests a year are fairly routine. But the yields are low by global
> standards. The policy message for reforming agriculture is very clear.
> The areas which merit urgent and concerted attention to streamlining
> agriculture revolve around investment, incentive, and institutions. We
> need to rationalise and prune input subsidies. The savings, thus
> generated, should be invested in agriculture - Research & Development
> at rural roads, rural education, irrigation and water works. Higher
> levels of investment in agriculture both by the public and private
> sector can yield much better results. Policy -makers must be bold to
> bite the bullet and drastically cut subsidies which will open the
> avenue for increasing the size of the public investment. One way to
> contain the subsidy bill is to provide subsidies directly to farmers.
> Private investment is the engine of agricultural growth. Again, it
> responds to incentives. Much of the adverse impact on incentives comes
> from strangulating the domestic market under the Essential Commodities
> Act (ECA) 1955. This law allows the state to restrict movement of
> agro-products across state boundaries. Furthermore, the law bans the
> storage of large quantities of any of the 90 commodities, including
> onions and wheat. The intention is to deter ‘hoarding’, but it has
> adversely affected investment in cold storages and warehouses.
> Therefore, a substantial quantity of crops rots before they reach the
> dining table.
Which of the following sectors is sluggish in our country compared to the others?
- Industrial sector
- Agricultural sector
- Private sector
- Technological sector
- Service sector
Solution : Agricultural sector
Q164. > Farmers have progressed the world over yet they are languishing in
> this country. Despite decades of industrial development, about 600
> million Indians, or roughly half the population, depend on growing
> crops or rearing animals to earn a living. The country still relies on
> imports of essential items, such as pulses and cooking oil. Almost
> half of the average Indian household’s expenditure is on food, an
> important factor behind inflation. Food security at the micro level
> remains elusive. The global development experience, especially of the
> BRICS countries, reveals that one percentage point growth in
> agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing
> poverty than the same degree of growth emanating from the
> non-agriculture sector.
>
> Of late, the woes of the farmer have exacerbated. Untimely rain
> damaged winter crops in northern India. The heat wave killed more than
> 2000 people - mostly working in the fields. Suicides by farmers, owing
> to the low price of their produce, are almost a recurrent tragedy.
> There is general concern over the monsoon; patchy or inadequate
> rainfall can spell disaster. Low productivity is a chronic problem
> because of the shrinking size of the cultivated plots. Two-grain
> harvests a year are fairly routine. But the yields are low by global
> standards. The policy message for reforming agriculture is very clear.
> The areas which merit urgent and concerted attention to streamlining
> agriculture revolve around investment, incentive, and institutions. We
> need to rationalise and prune input subsidies. The savings, thus
> generated, should be invested in agriculture - Research & Development
> at rural roads, rural education, irrigation and water works. Higher
> levels of investment in agriculture both by the public and private
> sector can yield much better results. Policy -makers must be bold to
> bite the bullet and drastically cut subsidies which will open the
> avenue for increasing the size of the public investment. One way to
> contain the subsidy bill is to provide subsidies directly to farmers.
> Private investment is the engine of agricultural growth. Again, it
> responds to incentives. Much of the adverse impact on incentives comes
> from strangulating the domestic market under the Essential Commodities
> Act (ECA) 1955. This law allows the state to restrict movement of
> agro-products across state boundaries. Furthermore, the law bans the
> storage of large quantities of any of the 90 commodities, including
> onions and wheat. The intention is to deter ‘hoarding’, but it has
> adversely affected investment in cold storages and warehouses.
> Therefore, a substantial quantity of crops rots before they reach the
> dining table.
According to the passage which of the following is an important factor behind inflation?
- Progress of middle class
- Expenditure on food by household
- Low agricultural productivity
- Irrational fertilizer subsidy
- Increasing rate of MSP
Solution : Expenditure on food by household
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Q165. > Farmers have progressed the world over yet they are languishing in
> this country. Despite decades of industrial development, about 600
> million Indians, or roughly half the population, depend on growing
> crops or rearing animals to earn a living. The country still relies on
> imports of essential items, such as pulses and cooking oil. Almost
> half of the average Indian household’s expenditure is on food, an
> important factor behind inflation. Food security at the micro level
> remains elusive. The global development experience, especially of the
> BRICS countries, reveals that one percentage point growth in
> agriculture is at least two to three times more effective in reducing
> poverty than the same degree of growth emanating from the
> non-agriculture sector.
>
> Of late, the woes of the farmer have exacerbated. Untimely rain
> damaged winter crops in northern India. The heat wave killed more than
> 2000 people - mostly working in the fields. Suicides by farmers, owing
> to the low price of their produce, are almost a recurrent tragedy.
> There is general concern over the monsoon; patchy or inadequate
> rainfall can spell disaster. Low productivity is a chronic problem
> because of the shrinking size of the cultivated plots. Two-grain
> harvests a year are fairly routine. But the yields are low by global
> standards. The policy message for reforming agriculture is very clear.
> The areas which merit urgent and concerted attention to streamlining
> agriculture revolve around investment, incentive, and institutions. We
> need to rationalise and prune input subsidies. The savings, thus
> generated, should be invested in agriculture - Research & Development
> at rural roads, rural education, irrigation and water works. Higher
> levels of investment in agriculture both by the public and private
> sector can yield much better results. Policy -makers must be bold to
> bite the bullet and drastically cut subsidies which will open the
> avenue for increasing the size of the public investment. One way to
> contain the subsidy bill is to provide subsidies directly to farmers.
> Private investment is the engine of agricultural growth. Again, it
> responds to incentives. Much of the adverse impact on incentives comes
> from strangulating the domestic market under the Essential Commodities
> Act (ECA) 1955. This law allows the state to restrict movement of
> agro-products across state boundaries. Furthermore, the law bans the
> storage of large quantities of any of the 90 commodities, including
> onions and wheat. The intention is to deter ‘hoarding’, but it has
> adversely affected investment in cold storages and warehouses.
> Therefore, a substantial quantity of crops rots before they reach the
> dining table.
How is Essential Commodities Act (ECA) 1955 counterproductive for the farmers?
(A) This demotivates investments in the cold storages and warehouses.
(B) Free movement of goods in the entire country is regulated.
(C) This encourages hoarding of non-essential commodities.
- Only (A)
- Only (B)
- Only (A) and (B)
- All (A), (B) and (C)
- Only (C)
Solution : Only (C)
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