GENERAL ENGLISH #41
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
Directions (1-10): You have one brief passage with 10
questions following the passage. Read the passage carefully and choose the best
answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
Passage-I
Time was when people looked heavenward and prayed, “Ye
Gods, given us rain, keep drought away,” Today there are those who pray. “Give
us rain, keep EI Nino away.”
El Nino and its atmospheric equivalent, called the
Southern Oscillation, are together referred to as ENSO, and are household words
today. Meteorologists organize it as often being responsible for natural
disaster worldwide. But this wisdom dawned only after countries suffered, first
from the lack of knowledge, and then from the lack of coordination between
policy making and the advance in scientific knowledge.
Put simply, El Nino is a weather event restricted to
certain tropical shores, epically the Peruvian coast. The event has
diametrically opposite impacts on the land and sea. The Peruvian shore is a desert.
But every few years, an unusually warm ocean current - El Nino - warms up the
normally cold surface-waters of the Peruvian coast, causing very heavy rains in
the early half of the year.
And then, miraculously, the desert is matted green. Crops
like cotton, coconuts and banana grow on the other wise stubbornly barren land.
These are the Peruvians’ anos de adundencia or years of abundance. The current
had come to be termed El Nino, or the Christ Child because it usually appears
as an enhancement if a mildly warm current that normally occurs here around
every Christmas.
But this boon on land is accompanied by oceanic
disasters. Normally, the waters off the South American coast are among the most
productive in the world because of a constant upswelling of nutrient rich cold
waters from the ocean depths. During an El Nino, however waters are stirred up
only from near the surface. The nutrient-crunch pushes down primary production,
disrupting the food chain. Many marine species, including anchoveta (anchovies)
temporarily disappear.
This is just one damming effect of El Nino. Over the
years its full impact has been studied and what the Peruvians once regarded as
manna, is now seen as a major threat.
1. Meteorologist
took time to understand El Nino because ……………
(a) it was neither a disaster nor a boon for the people
living in desert areas
(b) they recognized it as an atmospheric equivalent and
hence called it Southern Oscillation
(c) they suffered from lack of knowledge about El Nino as
they were not scientifically advanced
(d) All of the above
Answer:
(c)
2. El
Nino in a layman language is ……………
(a) a natural disaster
(b) Southern Oscillation
(c) a weather event
(d) None of the above
Answer:
(c)
3. What
are the two types of landscapes that are effected by El Nino?
(a) Coastal areas and sea
(b) Tropical shores and land
(c) Deserts and oceans
(d) All of the above
Answer:
(d)
4. Which
word in Para 4 is the antonym for - ‘Fertile’?
(a) Matted
(b) Abundance
(c) Barren
(d) None of the above
Answer:
(d)
5. What,
according to the author, is a positive effect of El Nino?
(a) It causes change in atmosphere
(b) It results in vegetation of barren lands
(c) It comes around Christmas
(d) It is regarded as manna
Answer:
(b)
6. How
can we say the El Nino proves to be a boon for South American Coast?
(a) It causes and upswelling of rich nutrients making it
the most productive in the world
(b) It causes the destruction of many marine species such
as anchoveta
(c) It warms up normally cold surface waters off causing
heavy rains
(d) It enhances warm currents around every Christmas
Answer:
(a)
7. The
‘years of abundance’ is when ……………
(a) El Nino occurs during Christmas
(b) the deserts are matted green
(c) marine species is destroyed
(d) None of the above
Answer:
(a)
8. The
phrase, ‘damning effect’ means ……………
(a) negative effects
(b) destructive effects
(c) full effects
(d) disrupting effects
Answer:
(b)
9. People
today, pray to God to keep ……………
(a) rains and droughts away
(b) drought away
(c) El Nino away
(d) El Nino and droughts away
Answer:
(d)
10. The
word which means - ‘equal in value, power and meaning’ is ……………
(a) unusual
(b) current
(c) equivalent
(d) appear
Answer:
(c)
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