Para Summary - Previous Year CAT/MBA Questions
The best way to prepare for Para Summary is by going through the previous year Para Summary omet questions. Here we bring you all previous year Para Summary omet questions along with detailed solutions.
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Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
That’s how life plays out for all of us. We lose some. Like sportspersons, we too pack our gear and go to work. But unlike them, the gaze of the world is not upon us. Most of us do our business in anonymity, very few of us are emotionally wired to the outcomes of our day jobs. We don’t come back feeling like winners. Or losers. As sports fans we can summon empathy for those who stretch their bodies and minds to the limit in the pursuit of athletic excellence and provide such joys in the process.
But we will never experience the highs that are their reward. And we will never know the depth of their lows, which are their burden.
Still, no one will know better than Rohit and Dravid that its already a new day. There might never be a World Cup win for them. But there are loved ones to go to. Life awaits still.
Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the above passage?
- (a)
Just because we enjoy sports does not mean we understand the sportspersons.
- (b)
Life moves on, and as sports fans, we should do too.
- (c)
The wins and loss in sports do not exist in other professions.
- (d)
We should treat winning and losing as imposters.
- (e)
We should put ourselves in others shoes rather than judge them for performance.
Answer: Option A
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Text Explanation :
Let us first look at the main points of the passage.
First para talks about how sports fan can empathise with sportspersons, but fans are not as emotionally attached to what we do as sportspersons are.
Second para talks about fans not understanding the highs and lows of outcomes in sports.
Third para talks about moving on despite the world cup loss.
Option (a): This is what first para is talking about and can be the possible summary of the passage.
Option (b): The passage talks about Rohit and Dravid (sporstpersons) moving on and does not mention anything about fans. This is not the best possible summary.
Option (c): The passage mentions that in other fields people are not as emotionally attached to wins and loses as in sports. Passage does not mention that wins and loses do not exist in other professions.
Option (d): This is no where mentioned in the passage.
Option (e): Not mentioned in the passage.. This is not the best possible summary.
Hence, option (a).
Workspace:
Read the poem carefully, and answer the following question.
I smiled at you because I thought that you
Were someone else; you smiled back; and there grew
Between two strangers in a library
Something that seems like love; but you loved me
(If that’s the word) because you thought that I
Was other than I was. And by and by
We found we’d been mistaken all the while
From that first glance, that first mistaken smile
Which of the following CANNOT be inferred from the poem?
- (a)
The idea of love is different for the parties involved.
- (b)
Love may start with small acts like glancing and smiling.
- (c)
We make mistakes in love.
- (d)
We don’t fall in love with others but with ourselves.
- (e)
We fall in love with strangers.
Answer: Option D
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Text Explanation :
Option A can be inferred as that poet states that you thought I was other. Option B can also be inferred as love started between the poet and the other person by glancing and smiling only. Option C and E can also be inferred. Option D is wrong as the poet and the other persons clearly falls in love with one another so we cannot say that we don't fall in love with others.
Workspace:
Carefully read the following statement:
The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it_____ for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that _____ are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the ________ is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has ________ to rewrite its own history.
Which of the following options will BEST fill up the above blanks meaningfully?
- (a)
Possible, people, consequence, constantly
- (b)
Absurd, subjects, beauty, no reason
- (c)
Unique, senators, reason, enough
- (d)
Necessary, citizens, joy, unusually
- (e)
Unpleasant, plebeians, fact, forced
Answer: Option A
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Text Explanation :
Among the given options, we can see that only option A fits to given context.
Answer is option A.
Workspace:
Read the passage carefully and answer the following question.
Geologists have been investigating a potential cycle in geological events for a long time. Back in the 1920s and 30s, scientists of the era had suggested that the geological record had a 30-million-year cycle, while in the 1980s and 90s researchers used the best-dated geological events at the time to give them a range of the length between 'pulses' of 26.2 to 30.6 million years. Now, everything seems to be in order -27.5 million years is right about where we'd expect. A study late last year suggested that this 27.5-million-year mark is when mass extinctions happen, too.
Which of the following statements can be BEST concluded from the passage?
- (a)
Not all species go extinct once every 27.5 million years
- (b)
“Pulse” between geological events is constant
- (c)
All species go extinct once every 27.5 million years
- (d)
Geological disasters happen sporadically
- (e)
Mass extinctions and “geological pulse” are correlated
Answer: Option E
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Text Explanation :
The paragraph talks about how geological events occur in a cycle, and research has found the period of the cycle to be around 27.5million years. It also mentions that mass extinctions occur at this 27.5millions years, too.
From this we can see that geological events and mass extinctions both occur around the same time and thus are correlated to each other. Hence, option E is the answer.
Option A: the passage mentions that mass extinctions happen every 27.5million years, but it is not the main idea of the passage.
Option B: The passage says that the length between pulses is 26.2 and 30.6million years and in general occurs around 27.5million years. Thus, it is not a constant value.
Option C: It is incorrect since the paragraph only talks about mass extinction. Whether all species go extinct or not is not mentioned.
Option D: The passage is talking about geological events occurring in a cycle. Hence, it is incorrect.
Workspace:
Read the excerpt carefully and answer the following question.
The over-whelming preponderance of people have not freely decided what to believe, but, rather, have been socially conditioned (indoctrinated) into their beliefs. They are unreflective thinkers.
Which of the following statements CANNOT be concluded from the excerpt?
- (a)
A normal thinker finds it difficult to recognize what is happening to them
- (b)
Beliefs that appear normal and natural heighten their acceptance
- (c)
A lot of people end up believing what they passionately oppose
- (d)
Things that we do automatically need to be reflected upon
- (e)
The inability to criticize one’s belief leads to indoctrination
Answer: Option C
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Text Explanation :
The paragraph states that people are unreflective thinkers and are socially indoctrinated into their beliefs. They did not decide what to believe by themselves.
Option C mentions people believing what they oppose, which is not mentioned in the passage. Hence, the answer is option C.
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the question that follows.
The painting, which is in poor condition, suggests that a highly advanced artistic culture existed some 44,000 years ago, punctuated by folklore, religious myths and spiritual belief. The scene may be regarded not only as the earliest dated figurative art in the world but also as the oldest evidence for the communication of a narrative in Palaeolithic art.
"This is noteworthy, given that the ability to invent fictional stories may have been the last and most crucial stage in the evolutionary history of human language and the development of modern-like patterns of cognition” researchers said.
Which of the following can be BEST concluded from the passage?
- (a)
The painting puts chronological context to the evolution of modern-like cognitive abilities.
- (b)
Advanced cognitive abilities of Palaeolithic people is substantiated by the painting.
- (c)
Evolution of modern-day languages started with Palaeolithic era, evidenced through the painting.
- (d)
Palaeolithic people possessed advanced artistic culture, evidenced through paintings.
- (e)
The painting timestamps the beginning of the evolution of modern-like cognitive abilities.
Workspace:
Read the following passage and answer the two questions that follow.
We stand before this great world. The truth of our life depends upon our attitude of mind towards it - an attitude which is formed by our habit of dealing with it according to the special circumstance of our surroundings and our temperaments. It guides our attempts to establish relations with the universe either by conquest or by union, either through the cultivation of power or through that of sympathy.
And thus, in our realization of the truth of existence, we put our emphasis either upon the principle of dualism or upon the principle of unity.
Which of the following statements can be BEST inferred from the passage?
- (a)
Conquest and union are two ways of realising the truth of our life.
- (b)
Principle of dualism is inferior to the principle of unity.
- (c)
Our habits and surroundings determine the truth of our life.
- (d)
War and conquest are a part of the truth of our life.
- (e)
The truth of our life co-evolved with our quest for sympathetic supremacy.
Workspace:
According to the passage, our emphasis on dualism or on unity is BEST guided by:
- (a)
How we deal with our surroundings and our temperaments
- (b)
Our desire to achieve versus our focus on contentment
- (c)
Our deals with the universe, based on special circumstances
- (d)
How powerful or sympathetic our surroundings and temperament are
- (e)
Our attitude of mind, formed by our habits
Workspace:
In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique, every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned a specific place in the psychic activities of the walking state, Further, I shall endeavour to elucidate the processes the nature of the psychic forces whose conflict or cooperation is responsible for our dreams. This done, my investigation will terminate, as it will have reached the point where the problem of the dream merges into more comprehensive problems, and to solve these we must have recourse to material of a different kind.
Which of the followings would be closest to the ideas expresses in the first two sentences of the above passages?
- (a)
Overt causes can have only overt effects.
- (b)
Overt causes have only covert effects.
- (c)
Covert effects have only covert causes.
- (d)
You can’t judge a book by its cover.
- (e)
Overt effects can have covert causes.
Answer: Option E
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Text Explanation :
The passage talks about how dreams may seem strange and unrelated to any actual happening, but have a direct relation to an activity in the waking state. The first two sentences say that dreams are the clearly apparent visible manifestation of a hidden or obscure psychic cause. Option 5, which mentions that “overt” or 'plainly apparent' effects (dreams in this case) can have “covert” or 'not openly displayed' causes (“the psychic activities of the waking state” in this case), is close to the idea expressed in these two sentences.
Eliminate options 1, 2 and 3, which incorrectly attribute the qualities of overtness and covertness to the causes and effects.
Option 4 gives a proverb that bears no relation to the idea expressed in the two sentences of the passage. It is in fact somewhat contradictory to the main idea, as the proverb implies that outer effects or appearances are not related to inner hidden qualities. The passage says that there is in fact a relationship between hidden psychic forces and the outwardly apparent effects. Eliminate option 4.
Hence, the correct answer is option 5.
Workspace:
Read the following paragraph carefully and answer the question that follows:
It is one week since Uttarakhand’s worst disaster in living memory. Flash floods resulting from extremely intense rainfall swept away mountainsides, villages and towns, thousands of people, animals, agriculture fields, irrigation canals, domestic water sources, dams, roads, bridges, and buildings – anything that stood in the way.
A week later, media attention remains riveted on the efforts to rescue tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourist visiting the shrines in the uppermost reaches of Uttarakhand’s sacred rivers. But the deluge spread far beyond th Char Dhams – Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath – to cover the entire state. The catchments of many smaller rivers also witnessed flash floods but the media has yet to report on the destruction there. Eyewitness accounts being gathered by official agencies and voluntary organizations have reported devastation from more than 200 villages so far and more affected villages are being reported every day.
Which of the following would the author agree the most with?
- (a)
Char Dhams were most affected by Uttarakhand disaster.
- (b)
Entire catchment of rivers flowing in Uttarakhand was affected.
- (c)
Media attention was on Char Dham but the entire catchment area of rivers flowing in Uttarakhand was affected.
- (d)
Media cannot be trusted as it focuses only on important places and events.
- (e)
Voluntary organizations are better than media in reaching out to the affected people.
Answer: Option C
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Text Explanation :
The paragraph talks about how the floods in Uttarakhand led to widespread devastation across the state. However, the media attention remained focused on the Char Dhams.
Option 1 can be eliminated since the paragraph talks about how flash floods led to mountain sides, villages and towns being swept away besides the Char Dhams alone.
Option 2 might seem suitable but loses out to option 3 which seems more in tune with the author's opinion about the focus of the media.
Option 4 presents a rather extreme stance about the media coverage which is not supported by the passage.
Option 5 implies that the author expects the media to reach out to affected people which is not hinted at in the paragraph.
Hence, the correct answer is option 3.
Workspace:
Most of the Asian countries have trade-deficit with China. Bangladesh’s trade deficit with China this year has increased by 35%. Despite large increases in exports to China, Indonesia’s trade deficit with China continues to increase. So does that of South Korea, home of Samsung Electronics, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronic gadgets.
Which of the following, if true, would be most inconsistent with the above passage?
- (a)
China is the largest manufacturer of parts of electronic gadgets and Samsung Electronics imports parts for their gadgets from China.
- (b)
Exports to Bangladesh are insignificant in proportion of China’s total exports.
- (c)
Exports to Indonesia from China decreased.
- (d)
Indonesia’s chief exports are natural resources.
- (e)
China has trade deficit with Iran.
Answer: Option C
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Text Explanation :
Consider the second line of the information, “Despite large increases…..continues to increase”. Option 3 completely contradicts this
Hence, the correct answer is option 3.
Workspace:
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