SSC CGL Tier 1 English Comprehension Questions and Answers Free Online Mock Test 20

1 .Direction : In Question nos. 1 to 10, you have brief passages with 5 questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives and mark it by blackening the appropriate oval [ ] in the Answer Sheet.
PASSAGE - I
Tagore had a very healthy contempt for mere agitational politics which he likened to an engine which continually whistles and throws out columns of smoke without ever moving. To the Pilots of Indiaâ€™s ship of destiny his advice was, â€œFear not the waves of the sea, but mind the leaks in your own vessels.â€ If we became a subjectpeople, it was not because the British were wicked but because we were weaklings. We had ceased to believe in ourselves. Instead of tapping the sources of our own power, we were content to pick rags from other peoplesâ€™ dustbins. Unlike Gandhi, Tagore believed in the power and resources of science, though he dreaded the prospect of man becoming the slave of machines instead of machines being the slaves of man. In fact, he dreaded every form of organised power, whether social, political or industrial, which ignored human values and tended to stifle the personality of man. Though outside India Tagore upheld and interpreted the Indian philosophy of life, in his own country he was the severest critic of its social instituti ons and religious practices, which encouraged superstition and inequality and tolerated injustice.

Tagore compared agitational politics with

A. an e ver-movi ng engi ne ete rnal l y spewing smoke

B. an eternally stationary engine that does not make any noise

C. a stationary engine that sometimes breathes smoke and fire

D. an engine that whistles, lets out smoke, but remains stationary

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2 .Tagore had a fear of

A. organised social and political power

B. any power that defied human values and stifled manâ€™s personality

C. power that was political and industrial

D. organised industrial and social power

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3 .According to Tagore his countrymen had become colonial subjects because

A. they were physically weak

B. they did not believe in the resources of science

C. they lacked self- belief

D. the British were wicked

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4 .By â€œagitational politicsâ€ is meant

A. politics that leads to industrial unrest

B. politics of a disruptive nature leading to unrest, political or otherwise

C. non-violent politics

D. agitated politics

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5 .By â€œleaks in your own vesselâ€ Tagore means

A. inherent weaknesses

B. leaks in a ship

C. a ship in distress

D. slavery to machines

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6 .PASSAGE - II
Violence has played a great part in the worldâ€™s history. It is today playing an equally important part and probably it will continue to do so for a considerable time. It is impossible to ignore the importance of violence in the past and present. To do so is to ignore life. Yet violence is undoubtedly bad and brings an unending trail of evil consequences with it. And worse even than violence are the motives of hatred, cruelty, revenge and punishment which very often accompany violence. Indeed, violence is bad, not intrinsically, but because of these motives that go with it. There can be violence without these motives; there can be violence for a good object as well as for an evil object. But it is extremely difficult to separate violence from these motives, and therefore, it is desirable to avoid violence as far as possible. In avoiding it, however, one cannot accept a negative attitude of submitting to other and far greater evils. Submission to violence or the acceptance of an unjust regime based on violence is the very negative of the spirit of nonviolence. The non-violence method, in order to justify itself, must be dynamic and capable of changing such a regime of social order.

Non-violence, according to the writer, means

A. violence without the evil motives

B. giving in to the tyranny of the powerful

C. accepting violence as a fact of life

D. None of the above