Directions: Read the following passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

The most logical and intelligent people seem to go berserk when talking about snakes. Recently a reputed scientist said with a wise look in his eyes that sand boas have two heads. The other day someone walked into my office and stated that in his village at least cobras mate with rat snakes. About other places he was not sure, he added modestly, but that was how it was in his village.

These stories about snakes are myths. Sand boas have only one head; vine snakes do not peck your eyes out; no snake will drink milk. But it is interesting to try and trace the origin of these untruths. The one about the sand boas two heads obviously exists because the short, stumpy tail of this snake looks remarkably like the head, an effective device to fool predators. Or take the one about vine snakes pecking at eyes. It was ‘probably started by a vine snake that had a bad aim, as snakes, when provoked, will bite the most prominent projection of the offender, which is usually the nose.

But the most interesting one is about snakes coming to the scene of killing to take revenge. It so happens that when injured or under stress, a snake exudes, a large quantity of musk. Musk is a powerful sex attractant, the snakes’ equivalent of after-shave lotion. So after a snake is killed, the ground around still has this smell and naturally a snake of the same species passing by will lick its lips and come to investigate. The killer of the snake, who is probably worried if the pooja he performed was adequate to liquidate the killing of a snake, sees the second snake and is convinced that it was not.

The Irula tribals have a good answer to the query about whether cobras have jewels in their heads; “If they did, we wouldn’t be snake catchers, we would be rajas!”

According to the passage, musk

Select the option that corrects the misspelt words in the given sentence.
A baloon may liave the earth with a charg.

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.
 When we believe that our mind is thinking ______ thoughts at the same time, what actually is happening is that __________ thoughts are __________ in such quick ___________ so as to seem simultaneous

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:

Over the years, there have been many cases of news breaking about plastic toys and their containment of toxins. In addition to the harmful ingredients that can be found in plastic, we also have to take into account the effect on the environment that plastic usage has.

The internet is flooding with ways to reduce plastic usage and people are more aware of the need to cut down on this. Still, it’s difficult to change behaviors and somehow parents easily end up with a great number of plastic toys at home. This happens partly because you receive gifts from friends and family, and to some extent because kids prefer bright-colored plastic toys more than bland, wooden ones.

Not all toys contain toxins, but they can be found in some cases. Toys that have toxins in them are hazardous to children mainly because of their tendency to swallow and chew on the toys, which can result in the toxins being absorbed by the body. When it comes to young children, even the smallest amounts of toxins can affect their health.

The toxins can either be found in the plastic itself or they can be included in the pigments used to color toys and make them more attractive to children.

Although there are EU regulations for which toxins may or may not be included in toys, there are products that can slip through the cracks. Plastic toys may, for example, be made of, or contain, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which contains lead and cadmium — both toxins that are harmful to children.

The CE mark is supposed to be a sign of quality. The toys have gone through and followed the rigorous EU standards for toys. The EU notes, though, that this marking should only be seen as an indication, as it has been misused due to counterfeiting.

As goes for all plastic, plastic toys are made using fossil fuels, and therefore the production of them contributes to the environmental crisis at hand. Therefore, it would be a good idea to minimize the buying of new plastic toys.

Environmentalists have raised awareness around the fact that plastic toys are a big part of the plastic that ends up in landfills and oceans, which adds to the ongoing issue of plastic pollution. According to a survey done by the British Heart Foundation, 1 in 3 parents admits to having thrown away toys in working conditions. Considering that 90 percent of toys are in some way made of plastic, that quickly adds up to a lot of plastic waste.

In conclusion, yes plastic toys are damaging to the environment. Even though they have a longer life cycle than single-use plastic, they will at some point end up in a landfill — or worse in the sea as non-recyclable waste. But how can we stop this issue?

Buy sustainable and non-plastic toys if you do want to buy new toys, try to aim for toys made from more sustainable materials. There are plenty of retailers that focus on environmentally-friendly toys. For example, smaller e-commerce sites like Frida & Fritiof focus on providing non-toxic and eco-labeled toys. If you do want to buy plastic toys, try to minimize the environmental impact by buying them second-hand. There are plenty of charity shops where you can buy toys, but if that is not for you, you can use a site like eBay or any other online marketplace to find second-hand toys. Be aware, though, when buying second-hand toys that security standards might have been updated since they were produced, so double-check that they are up to today’s standards.

What can you infer from the line "Although there are EU regulations for which toxins may or may not be included in toys, there are products that can slip through the cracks."?

Directions: The question below contains five scattered segments of a sentence. Indicate the sequence which correctly assembles the segments and completes the sentence.

 A. nature of other creatures
 B. contrasts with the
 C. of human nature and
 D. curiosity is one of the
 E. distinctive characteristics

Direction: Which of the following phrases (I), (II), and (III) given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold letters to make the sentence grammatically correct? Choose the best option among the five given alternatives that reflect the correct use of phrase in the context of the grammatically correct sentence. If the sentence is correct as it is, mark (e) i.e., "No correction required" as the answer.

The “Hermit Kingdom” is increasingly isolating itself because of its nuclear ambition that threatens its neighbourhood and the world at large.

(I) isolated because of
(II) isolating themselves because of
(III) isolated themselves because of their

Identify the option that arranges the given parts in the correct order to form a meaningful paragraph.

A. Then a nurse and a doctor came

B. After the terrible accident

C. A car took Raman to the hospital

D. The two men carried him to a bed and put him in it carefully

Directions: Below, a passage is given with five blanks labelled (A)- (E). Below the passage, five options are given for each blank. Choose the word that fits each blank most appropriately in the context of the passage, and mark the corresponding answer.

Tiny plastic particles washed off products like synthetic clothing and car tyres account for up to a third of the plastic polluting oceans, __ (A) __ eco-systems and human health, a top conservationist body warned. Unlike the __ (B) __ images of country-sized garbage patches floating in the oceans, the micro plastic particles that wash off textiles and roadways leave the waterways looking __ (C) __.

But they constitute a significant part of the “plastic soup” clogging our waters — accounting for between 15% and 31% of the estimated 9.5 million tones of plastic released into the oceans each year, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In its report “Primary Micro plastics in the Oceans”, the IUCN found that in many developed countries in North America and Europe, which have __ (D) __ waste management, tiny plastic particles are in fact a bigger source of marine plastic pollution than plastic waste.

In addition to car tyres and synthetic textiles, such particles stem from everything from marine coatings and road markings, to city dust and the micro beads in cosmetics. “Plastic waste is not all there is to ocean plastics,” IUCN chief Inger Andersen said in a statement, insisting that “we must look far beyond waste management if we are to __ (E) __ ocean pollution in its entirety”.

Which of the following words most appropriately fits the blank labelled (A)?