English Comprehension-2

English – Comprehension - 2

Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.

It is surprising that anything as elusive and amorphous as a rumour could be subjected to so much scientific scrutiny. The experts start off by dividing rumour in to two species: spontaneous and premeditated. There’s general agreement that the most spontaneous rumours appear in periods of stress such as the present fuel crisis, and thrive in an atmosphere of anxiety, mistrust and repression, or utter chaos. They die when they become irrelevant. It is obvious then why good rumours are in the minority.

Premeditated rumours, as might be expected, are planted for Machiavellian purposes, particularly in highly competitive environments. They too will quickly die if stress conditions do not prevail. With either species, the rumour must be important enough to be passed on, yet shrouded in enough ambiguity so it can’t be shot down – the basic law of rumour transmission having been established as:  R (rumour) = I (importance) x A (ambiguity).     

1.    Premeditated rumours appear in a period of

a)    Stress        b) repression               c) anxiety        d) none of these

2.    Good rumours are rare because,

a)    They cannot be passed on

b)    They soon become irrelevant

c)    They lack the conditions under which rumours thrive

d)    They are premeditated

3.    Rumours thrive most when they are

a)    Important               b) ambiguous              c)  both (a) & (b)         d) spontaneous

4.    To thrive, even premeditated rumours require

a)    Conditions of stress   

b)    To be spontaneous

c)    To be Machiavellian in design

d)    A competitive environment

United Nations projections show that the urban population of the world has been growing at nearly 3 per cent per annum – about one and a half times of the current rate of world population growth. This conceals the differential rates of growth of urban population between the more developed countries and the less developed countries. While the estimated annual growth rate of urban population is only 1.7 per cent per annum in the developed countries, it is over 4 per cent per annum in the developing countries. World urban population has doubled since 1950 and seems likely to be double again before the end of this century. It has been estimated that urban population will constitute about 50 per cent of the total world population by the year 2000. ( for the information of readers, this passage is nearly two decades old)     

5.    According to the projection, the world population is growing at the rate of

a)    3%             b) 5%               c) 2%               d) none of these

6.     The world population will double in

a)    The present decade

b)    2000 A.D.

c)    1999

d)    None of the above

7.    The percentage of population that will live in non-urban areas in 2000 A.D. according to the projection will be about

a)    1.7             b) 4                  c) 50                d) 3

Answers:       1.  (d)    2.   (c)     3.   (c)      4.   (a)       5.   (d)      6.   (d)      7.   (c)