You have eight 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 

Time was when people looked heavenward and prayed, “Ye Gods, give us rain, keep drought away.” Today there are those who pray. “Give us rain, keep El Nino away.” 

El Nino and its atmospheric equivalent, called the Southern Oscillation, are together referred to as ENSO, and are household words today. Meteorologists recognize 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 advances in scientific knowledge. 

Put simply, El Nino is a weather event restricted to certain tropical shores, especially 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 off 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 otherwise stubbornly barren land. These are the Peruvians’ anos de abundencia 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 upwelling 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 damning 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. 

El Nino in a layman language is  

Select the most appropriate option to substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. If there is no need to substitute it, select ‘No substitution required’.

Our new accountant fall short in my expectations.

The question below consists of a set of labelled sentences. These sentences, when properly sequenced form a coherent paragraph. Select the most logical order of sentences from among the options.

P: No partner is expected to air the views of a particular group in public.
 Q: The only requirement is that the coalition partners have to stick to a code of conduct.
 R: Every coalition party has to own the responsibility for all government policies or actions.
 S: Experience has now shown that a coalition government can run as smoothly as any single party government.

Select the most appropriate meaning of the given idiom.

Buy a lemon

Direction (A - E): In the following passage, there are blanks each of which has been numbered. These numbers correspond to the question numbers. Against each question, five words have been suggested, one of which would fill the blank appropriately.

Mark the suitable word as the answer. Use of plastic has become part of a (A) in which those who consume and litter are not supposed to be responsible for (B) cleaning after themselves or to bother about what will happen to the waste they are producing. The (C) of this kind of lifestyle are reflected in the festering garbage in the over spilling landfill sites, with the height of the Ghazipur landfill in Delhi touching 65 metres. Such (D) dumps are emerging as a serious threat to life with leachates in the mixed and untreated waste contaminating water and the carcinogenic pollution (E) when it is set to fire.

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

The given sentence contains a grammatical error. Identify the segment that contains the error.
 Judy solved the difficult problem by her own without anyone’s help. 

Direction: In the following question, out of the four alternatives, choose the one which can be substituted for the given sentence.

One who is recovering from illness_

Directions: In question four alternatives are given for the Idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentences. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the Idiom/Phrase and mark it is the Answer Sheet.

Sachin Tendulkar’s batting skills make him a cut above the rest.