English Quiz

Directions (1-4): Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the five given alternatives.

The transfer of heat and water vapour from the ocean to the air above, it depends on a disequilibrium at the interface of the water and the air. Within about a millimeter of the water, air temperature is close to that of the surface water, and the air is nearly saturated with water vapour. But the differences, however small, are crucial, and the disequilibrium is maintained by air near the surface mixing with air higher up, which is typically appreciably cooler and lower in water-vapour content. The air is mixed by means of turbulence that depends on the wind for its energy. As wind speed increases, so does turbulence, and thus the rate of heat and moisture transfer. Detailed understanding of this phenomenon awaits further study. An interacting – and complicated – phenomenon is wind-to-water transfer of momentum that occurs when waves are formed. When the wind waves, it transfers important amounts of energy–energy that is, therefore, not available to provide turbulence.

Q1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(a) resolve a controversy

(b) describe a phenomenon.

(c) outline a theory.

(d) classify various observations.

(e) absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules.

Q2. According to the passage, wind over the ocean generally does which of the following?

I. Causes relatively cool, dry air to come into proximity with the ocean surface.

II. Maintains steady rate of heat and moisture transfer between the ocean and the air.

III. Causes frequent changes in the temperature of the water at the ocean’s surface.

(a) I only

(b) II only

(c) I and II only

(d) II and III only

(e) none of these.

Q3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author regards current knowledge about heat and moisture transfer from the ocean to air as:

(a) Revolutionary

(b) Outdated

(c) Incomplete

(d) Derivative

(e) destitute

Q4. The passage suggests that if on a certain day the wind were to decrease until there was no wind at all, which of the following would occur?

(a) The air closest to the ocean surface would become saturated with water vapour.

(b) The air closest to the ocean surface would be warmer than the water.

(c) The amount of moisture in the air closest to the ocean surface would increase.

(d) The rate of heat and moisture transfer would increase.

(e) absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules.

Directions (5-11): Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the five given alternatives.

The molecules of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere affect the heat balance of the Earth by acting as a one-way screen. Although these molecules allow radiation at visible wavelength, where most of the energy of sunlight is concentrated, to pass through, they absorb some of the longer-wavelength, infrared emissions radiated from the Earth’s surface, radiation that would otherwise be transmitted back into space. For the Earth to maintain a constant average temperature, such emissions from the planet must balance incoming solar radiation. If there were no carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, heat would escape from the Earth mush more easily. The surface temperature would be so much lower that the oceans might be a solid mass of ice.

Today, however, the potential problem is too much carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 15 percent in the last hundred years, and we continue to add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Could the increase in carbon dioxide cause a global rise in average temperature, and could such a rise have serious consequences for human society? Mathematical models that allow us to calculate the rise in temperature as a function of the increase indicate that the answer is probably ‘yes’.

Under present conditions, a temperature of - 18 C can be observed at an altitude of 5 to 6 kilometers above the Earth. Below this altitude (called the radiating level), the temperature increases by about 6 C per kilometer approaching the Earth’s surface, where the average temperature is about 15 C. An increase in the amount of carbon dioxide means that there are more molecules of carbon dioxide to absorb infrared radiation. As the capacity of the atmosphere to absorb infrared radiation increases, the radiating level and the temperature of the surface must rise.

One mathematical model predicts that doubling the atmospheric carbon dioxide would rise the global mean surface temperature by 25 C. This model assumes that the atmosphere’s relative humidity remains constant and the temperature decreases with altitude at a rate of 6.5 C per kilometer. The assumption of constant relative humidity is important, because water vapour in the atmosphere is another efficient absorber of radiation as infrared wavelengths. Because warm air can hold more moisture than cool air, the relative humidity will be constant only if the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere increases as the temperature rises. Therefore, more infrared radiation would be absorbed and redirected back to the Earth’s surface. The resultant warming at the surface could be expected to melt snow and ice, reducing the Earth’s reflectivity. More solar radiation would then be absorbed, leading to a further increase in temperature.

Q5. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(a) warn of the dangers of continued burning of fossil fuels.

(b) discuss the significance of increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

(c) explain how a constant temperature is maintained on the Earth’s surface.

(d) describe the ways in which various atmospheric and climatic conditions contribute to the Earth’s weather.

(e) he air closest to the ocean surface would be warmer than the water.

Q6. According to the passage, the greatest part of the solar energy that reaches the Earth is

(a) concentrated in the infrared spectrum.

(b) concentrated at visible wavelengths.

(c) absorbed by carbon dioxide molecules.

(d) absorbed by atmospheric water vapour.

(e) Maintains steady rate of heat and moisture transfer between the ocean and the air.

Q7. According to the passage, atmospheric carbon dioxide performs all of the following functions except

(a) absorbing radiation at a visible wavelengths.

(b) absorbing infrared radiation.

(c) absorbing outgoing radiation from the Earth.

(d) helping to retain heat near the Earth’s surface.

(e) the designation of characteristics as being maladaptive must always remain highly tentative.

Q8. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude towards the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its consequences?

(a) Incredulous

(b) Completely detached

(c) Objective yet concerned

(d) Angry yet resigned

(e) incredible

Q9. It can be concluded from information contained in the passage that the average temperature at an altitude of 1 kilometer above the Earth is about:

(a) 15°C

(b) 9°C

(c) 2.5°C

(d) – 12°

(e) 36°

Q10. It can be inferred from the passage that the construction of the mathematical model mentioned in the passage involved the formulation of which of the following?

(a) An assumption that the amount of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere would in reality steadily increase.

(b) An assumption that human activities are the only agencies by which carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere.

(c) Assumption about social and political consequences of any curtailment of the use of fossil fuels.

(d) Assumptions about the physical conditions that are likely to prevail during the period for which the model was made.

(e) The ability of even the least fortunate people to show compassion as against people’s inability to mask their feelings completely.

Q11. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the last hundred years?

(a) Fossil fuels were burned for the first time.

(b) Greater amounts of land were cleared then at any time before.

(c) The average temperature of the Earth’s surface has become 2 C cooler.

(d) The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased measurably.

(e) the designation of characteristics as being maladaptive must always remain highly tentative.

Directions (12-15): Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the five given alternatives.

Some modern anthropologists hold that biological evolution has shaped not only human morphology but also human behaviour. The role those anthropologists ascribe to evolution is not of dictating the details of human behaviour but one of imposing constraints – ways of feeling, thinking, and acting that “come naturally” in archetypal situations in any culture. Our “frailties” – emotions and motives such as rage, fear, greed, gluttony, joy, lust, love – may be a very mixed assortment, but they share at least one immediate quality: we are, as we say, “in the grip” of them. And thus they give us our sense of constraints.

Unhappily, some of those frailties – our need for ever-increasing security among them-are presently maladaptive. Yet, beneath the overlay of cultural detail, they too said to be biological in direction, and therefore, as natural to us as are our appendixes. We would need to comprehend thoroughly their adaptive origins in order to understand how badly they guide us now. And we might then begin to resist their pressure.

Q12. The primary purpose of the passage is to present

(a) a position on the foundations of human behaviour and on what those foundations imply.

(b) a theory outlining the parallel development of human morphology and of human behaviour.

(c) a diagnostic test for separating biologically determined behaviour patterns from cultures specific detail.

(d) a practical method for resisting the pressures of biologically determined drives.

(e) absorbing outgoing radiation from the Earth.

Q13. The author implies that control to any extent over the “frailties” that constraint our behaviour is thought to presuppose

(a) that those frailties are recognized as currently beneficial and adaptive.

(b) that there is little or no overly of culture detail that mask their true nature.

(c) that there are cultures in which those frailties do not “come naturally” and from which such control can be learned.

(d) a full understanding of why those frailties evolved and of how they function now.

(e) An assumption that human activities are the only agencies by which carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere.

Q14. Which of the following most probably provides an appropriate analogy from human morphology for the “details” versus “constraints” distinction made in the passage in relation to human behaviour?

(a) The ability of most people to see all the colours of the visible spectrum as against most people’s inability to name any but the primary colours.

(b) The ability of even the least fortunate people to show compassion as against people’s inability to mask their feelings completely.

(c) The greater lung capacity of mountain peoples that helps them live in oxygen-poor air as against people’s inability to fly without special apparatus.

(d) The psychological profile of those people who are able to delay gratification as against people’s inability to control their lives completely.

(e) the designation of characteristics as being maladaptive must always remain highly tentative.

Q15. It can be inferred that in his discussion of maladaptive frailties the author assumes that

(a) evolution does not favour the emergence of adaptive characteristics over the emergence of maladaptive ones.

(b) changes in the total human environment can outpace evolutionary change.

(c) maladaptive characteristics, once fixed, make the emergence of other maladaptive characteristics more likely.

(d) the designation of characteristics as being maladaptive must always remain highly tentative.

(e) that those frailties are recognized as currently beneficial and adaptive.

Solutions

S1. Ans.(b) 

Sol. describe a phenomenon.

S2. Ans.(a) 

Sol. Causes relatively cool, dry air to come into proximity with the ocean surface.

S3. Ans.(c) 

Sol. Incomplete is the correct word.

S4. Ans.(a) 

Sol. The air closest to the ocean surface would become saturated with water vapour.

S5. Ans.(b) 

Sol. discuss the significance of increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

S6. Ans.(b) 

Sol. concentrated at visible wavelengths.

S7. Ans.(a) 

Sol. absorbing radiation at a visible wavelengths.

S8. Ans.(c) 

Sol. Objective yet concerned

S9. Ans.(b) 

Sol. 9 C

S10. Ans.(d) 

Sol.  Assumptions about the physical conditions that are likely to prevail during the period for which the model was made.

S11. Ans.(d) 

Sol.  The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased measurably.

S12. Ans.(a) 

Sol.  a position on the foundations of human behaviour and on what those foundations imply.

S13. Ans.(d) 

Sol.  a full understanding of why those frailties evolved and of how they function now.

S14. Ans.(c) 

Sol.  The greater lung capacity of mountain peoples that helps them live in oxygen-poor air as against people’s inability to fly without special apparatus.

S15. Ans.(b) 

Sol.  changes in the total human environment can outpace evolutionary change.