Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options:

Coffee was first discovered in Eastern Africa in an area we know today as Ethiopia. A popular legend refers to a goat herder by the name of Kaldi, who observed his goats acting unusually friskily after eating berries from a bush. Curious about this phenomenon, Kaldi tried eating the berries himself. He found that these berries gave him _______ energy. The news of this energy-loaded fruit quickly moved throughout the region. Coffee berries were transported from Ethiopia to the Arabian Peninsula and were first cultivated in what today is the country of Yemen. Coffee remained a secret in Arabia before spreading to Turkey and then to the European continent by means of Venetian trade merchants.

Coffee was first eaten as food though later people in Arabia would make a drink out of boiling the beans for its narcotic effects and medicinal value. Coffee for a time was known as Arabian wine to Muslims who were banned from alcohol by Islam. It was not until after coffee had been eaten as a food product, a wine, and a medicine that it was discovered, probably by complete accident in Turkey, that by roasting the beans a delicious drink could be made. The roasted beans were first crushed and then boiled in water, creating an unrefined version of the beverage we enjoy today. The first coffee houses were opened in Europe in the 17th Century and in 1675, the Viennese established the habit of refining the brew by filtering out the grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk. If you were to explore the planet for coffee, you would find about 60 species of coffee plants growing wild in Africa, Malaysia, and other regions. But only about ten of them are actually cultivated. Of these ten, two species are responsible for almost all the coffee produced in the world: Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (usually known as Robusta). Because of ecological differences existing among the various coffee-producing countries, both types have undergone many mutations and now exist in many subspecies.

Coffee plants need special conditions to give a satisfactory crop. The climate needs to be hot-wet or hot temperate, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, with frequent rains and temperatures varying from 15 to 25 Degrees C. The soil should be deep, hard, permeable, and well irrigated, with well-drained subsoil. The best lands are the hilly ones or just-tilled woods. The perfect altitude is between 600 and 1200 meters, though some varieties thrive at 2000-2200 meters. Cultivation aimed at protecting the plants at every stage of growth is needed. Sowing should be in sheltered nurseries from which, after about six months, the seedlings should be moved to plantations in the rainy season where they are usually alternated with other plants to shield them from wind and excessive sunlight.

What did people in Arabia initially use coffee for before discovering its potential as a beverage?

Direction: In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a number.
Find the suitable word from the options given against each number and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningfully complete. Many of us have a wide variety of responsibilities- familial, employment, educational, social – most of us even have all at the same time. Considering all our duties and the fact that time management is a (A) factor in our mental health, we cannot (B) to ignore any of them. If we plan our time better, we not only get more done, we are more efficient, satisfied and (C) yet relaxed; we are less likely to procrastinate over time. We experience less stress and more self-confidence and self-esteem. Put simply, this way we can attain (D) and reach our goals easily. To do this, firstly it is important to identify what your personal obstacles are. Then write a to-do list of what needs to be done. Start with the most to least important. (E) your work based on your values. Sometimes we won’t get everything done, but if we get the right things done, your day has a good ending. Keep in mind that time management is not about doing everything that needs to be done, at all costs but rather using appropriate time (F). Finally, remember to take a break and know your (G) for stress. Overworking is counterproductive and more often than not results in burnout. Remember, it doesn’t matter what the tasks are, learning to better manage your time to do them will result in less stress and more focus, productivity, efficiency and (in the end) relaxation.

(A) Find out the appropriate word in each case.

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

Chanhudaro was a tiny settlement (less than 7 hectares) as compared to Mohenjodaro (125 hectares), almost exclusively devoted to craft production, including bead-making, shellcutting, metal-working, seal-making and weight-making. The variety of materials used to make beads is remarkable: stones like carnelian (of a beautiful red colour), jasper, crystal, quartz and steatite; metals like copper, bronze and gold; and shell, faience and terracotta or burnt clay. Some beads were made of two or more stones, cemented together, some of stone with gold caps. The shapes were numerous – disc shaped, cylindrical, spherical, barrel-shaped, segmented. Some were decorated by incising or painting, and some had designs etched onto them.

Techniques for making beads differed according to the material. Steatite, a very soft stone, was easily worked. Some beads were moulded out of a paste made with steatite powder. This permitted making a variety of shapes, unlike the geometrical forms made out of harder stones. How the steatite micro bead was made remains a puzzle for archaeologists studying ancient technology. Archaeologists’ experiments have revealed that the red colour of carnelian was obtained by firing the yellowish raw material and beads at various stages of production. Nodules were chipped into rough shapes, and then finely flaked into the final form. Grinding, polishing and finally drilling completed the process. Specialised drills have been found at Chanhudaro, Lothal and more recently at Dholavira. Nageshwar and Balakot, both settlements are near the coast. These were specialised centres for making shell objects – including bangles, ladles and inlay – which were taken to other settlements. Similarly, it is likely that finished products (such as beads) from Chanhudaro and Lothal were taken to the large urban centres such as Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

Which is the final process in the production of beads?

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.

Her name was Sulekha, but since her childhood everyone had been calling her Bholi, the simpleton. She was the fourth daughter of Ramlal. When she was ten months old, she had fallen off the cot on her head and perhaps it had damaged some part of her brain. That was why she remained a backward child and came to be known as Bholi, the simpleton. At birth, the child was very fair and pretty. But when she was two years old, she had an attack of smallpox. Only the eyes were saved, but the entire body was permanently disfigured by deep black pockmarks. Little Sulekha could not speak till she was five as she was a slow learner, and when at last she learnt to speak, she stammered. The other children often made fun of her and mimicked her. As a result, she talked very little. Ramlal had seven children — three sons and four daughters, and the youngest of them was Bholi. It was a prosperous farmer’s household and there was plenty to eat and drink. All the children except Bholi were healthy and strong. The sons had been sent to the city to study in schools and later in colleges. Of the daughters, Radha, the eldest, had already been married. The second daughter Mangla’s marriage had also been settled, and when that was done, Ramlal would think of the third, Champa. They were good-looking, healthy girls, and it was not difficult to find bridegrooms for them. But Ramlal was worried about Bholi. She had neither good looks nor intelligence. From her very childhood Bholi was neglected at home. She was seven years old when Mangla was married. The same year a primary school for girls was opened in their village. The Tehsildar sahib came to perform its opening ceremony. He said to Ramlal, “As a revenue official you are the representative of the government in the village and so you must set an example to the villagers. You must send your daughters to school.” That night when Ramlal consulted his wife, she cried, “Are you crazy? If girls go to school, who will marry them?” But Ramlal had not the courage to disobey the Tehsildar. At last his wife said, “I will tell you what to do. Send Bholi to school. As it is, there is little chance of her getting married, with her ugly face and lack of sense. Let the teachers at school worry about her.”

Bholi’s mother agreed to send her to school because:

Comprehension: Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.

Since September, at least 25 people have died and thousands have been made homeless. Every state and territory in Australia has experienced fires this summer. But the biggest fires burn along stretches of the eastern and southern coast, where most of the population lives. This includes areas around Sydney and Adelaide. More than 6.3 million hectares (63,000 sq km or 15.6 million acres) have been burned so far – one hectare is roughly the size of a sports field. To put that in perspective, around 800,000 hectares were engulfed in a bush fire in 2018 in California. Australia has always experienced bushfires – it has a "fire season". But this year they are a lot worse than normal.

Fires are usually caused by lightning strikes or accidentally by a spark – but some fires are also started deliberately. This year, a natural weather phenomenon known as the ‘Indian Ocean Dipole’ has meant a hot, dry spell across the country. This year, Australia twice set a new temperature record: an average maximum of 41.9°C was recorded on 18 December. That comes on top of a long period of drought.

Scientists have long warned that this hotter, drier climate will contribute to fires becoming more frequent and more intense. The more extreme weather patterns and higher temperatures increase the risk of bushfires and allow them to spread faster and wider. Fire fighters are spraying water and fire retardant from planes and helicopters as well as from the ground. But fighting bush fires is extremely difficult and often authorities have to focus on just stopping the spread, rather than putting the fire out. The spread can for instance be best contained by digging earth boundaries to stop the flames from spreading. The priority is saving lives.

Professional fire fighters are the first in line to battle the flames, but they are outnumbered by the thousands of volunteers. Three of them have died. There's also help coming from abroad: the US, Canada and New Zealand have sent fire fighters to help. Australia's police, military and navy are involved in rescue and evacuation efforts. While people can flee the fires and are being evacuated if need be, the flames are devastating wildlife in the affected areas. One study estimated that half a billion animals have died in New South Wales alone.

Zookeepers take animals home to save them from fire, but the fires don't only kill animals directly, they also destroy the habitat, leaving the survivors vulnerable even when the fires have gone. So the true scale of loss isn't yet clear. Experts say more than 100,000 cows and sheep may also have been lost, which is devastating for farmers.

Each state runs its own emergency operation, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised better funding for fire-fighting and payouts for volunteer fire fighters, and an additional A$2billion ($1.4billion; £1billion) for the recovery. But the national government has come under strong criticism from its opponents that it has not been doing enough against climate change. The country is one of the world's biggest per capita greenhouse gas emitters but under international agreements it has committed itself to reduction targets

“Some fires are also started deliberately”. ‘Deliberately’ here means:

You have brief passages with 10 questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives

There is a general consensus that ‘International Understanding’ need to be taught as a separate subject at the school stage as that would add to the curricular load which is already too heavy. Instead it should be woven into the curriculum and the numerous opportunities that present themselves while teaching normal school subjects may be intelligently and imaginatively used by the teacher to promote International Understanding.

The school subjects which can be most profitably used for this purpose are History, Geography, Civics, Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Social Sciences, Languages as well as Physical and Life Sciences. However, at the higher education level, international education can be prescribed as a separate subject of study. In fact, the present situation in India broadly conforms to this consensus so far as the school stage is concerned.

At the under-graduate and the post-graduate levels, courses of study in subjects like History, Geography, Economics, Political Science, International Relations, International Law and International Organization have been prescribed by most of the universities and these contain content which has a direct or indirect bearing on promoting UNESCO ideals

Which word out of the given options mean – ‘feeling of most people’?

You have brief passages with 10 questions following each passage. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives

There is a general consensus that ‘International Understanding’ need to be taught as a separate subject at the school stage as that would add to the curricular load which is already too heavy. Instead it should be woven into the curriculum and the numerous opportunities that present themselves while teaching normal school subjects may be intelligently and imaginatively used by the teacher to promote International Understanding.

The school subjects which can be most profitably used for this purpose are History, Geography, Civics, Economics, Sociology, Political Science, Social Sciences, Languages as well as Physical and Life Sciences. However, at the higher education level, international education can be prescribed as a separate subject of study. In fact, the present situation in India broadly conforms to this consensus so far as the school stage is concerned.

At the under-graduate and the post-graduate levels, courses of study in subjects like History, Geography, Economics, Political Science, International Relations, International Law and International Organization have been prescribed by most of the universities and these contain content which has a direct or indirect bearing on promoting UNESCO ideals

Find the word from the passage which means advised.

Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.

Wetlands are amongst the most productive ecosystems on the Earth and provide many important services to human society. They exhibit enormous diversity according to their genesis, geographical location, water regime and chemistry, dominant species, and soil and sediment characteristics. Globally, the areal extent of wetland ecosystems ranges from 917 million hectares (m ha) to more than 1275 m ha. One of the first widely used wetland classifications systems, devised by Cowardin et al., 1979, categorized wetlands into marine (coastal wetlands), estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangrove swamps), lacustrine (lakes), riverine (along rivers and streams), and palustrine ( marshes, swamps and bogs) based on their hydrological, ecological and geological characteristics.

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was an international treaty signed in 1971. Overall, 1052 sites in Europe; 289 sites in Asia; 359 sites in Africa; 175 sites in South America; 211 sites in North America; and 79 sites in Oceania region have been identified as Ramsar sites or wetlands of International importance.

As per the Ramsar Convention definition most of the natural water bodies (such as rivers, lakes, coastal lagoons, mangroves, peat land, coral reefs) and man- made wetlands (such as ponds, farm ponds, irrigated fields, sacred groves, salt pans, reservoirs, gravel pits, sewage farms and canals) in India constitute the wetland ecosystem distributed in different geographical regions ranging from Himalayas to Deccan plateau. As of February, 2022, India has 49 Ramsar sites covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares, the highest in South Asia. As per the estimates, India has about 757.06 thousand wetlands with a total wetland area of 15.3 m ha, accounting for nearly 4.7% of the total geographical area of the country . Out of this, areas under inland wetlands accounts for 69%, coastal wetlands 27%, and other wetlands (smaller than 2.25 ha) 4%.

Gujarat has the highest proportion (17.5%) and Mizoram has the lowest proportion (0.66%) of the area under wetlands. Among Union Territories, Lakshadweep has the highest proportion (around 96%) and Chandigarh has the least proportion (3%) of geographical area under wetlands.

Which of the following questions cannot be answered after reading the above passage?