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

For months the old tanker, African Queen , lay turned over on her side, stuck fast in the sands off the coast of Maryland. She had run aground so badly that her owners had decided to leave her to her fate. It was considered impossible to refloat her and the ship began to rust and sink deeper and deeper into the sands. Men frequently came out in small boats and removed any parts that could be sold-until two men decided to attempt the impossible : to float the African Queen once more. Both men were engineers and had no experience of ships so that few people thought they could succeed. 

The men began by studying the exact state of the African Queen and came to the conclusion that she would float again if air was pumped into the tanks which were now full of sea-water. A diver was sent down to examine the underside of the ship. In the cold, dark water he found an enormous hole in her side which had been torn when the ship ran aground. It was plain that nothing could be done until the hole was repaired. As no single sheet of steel would cover it, the men were obliged to order a great number of sheets which had to be joined together. For several weeks divers worked continually to close the hole. At times, the sea was so rough that it was difficult to go down; and on more than one occasion, they had to contend with sharks. 

At last the hole was covered and the men began to pump the sea-water out of the ship’s tanks. It seemed as if they were bound to succeed, for when the tanks were full of air, the African Queen began to stir in the water. The men could not understand why she still would not float until they discovered that her rudder was embedded in mud. Huge cranes were brought to haul the sunken rudder out and the ship was again afloat. By this time, the men were almost exhausted. They had worked ceaselessly for three months to save the African Queen and had succeeded when everyone thought they would fail. Now they stood on the bridge of the ship, tired but proud, as tugs brought the African Queen into the harbour. 

The part of the ship used for steering is called  

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow it. Each question has 4 options. Choose the correct option/answer for each question:

I worked for a brief while in a college in Delhi, and among my more uncomfortable memories is a language exercise, I gave a group of eight undergraduates: I asked them to imagine that they had already graduated and wanted them to write an application for a suitable job. Seven of the eight students wrote applications for the jobs of clerks. Even in one of the good universities, and in a college that had a reputation for its academic standards, the system has snuffed out all youthful ambition.

How long did the author work in a Delhi College?

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

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

What are the two stages where ‘‘International Understanding” should be taught as a separate subject?

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

The Celts who lived in Britain before the Roman invasion of 43 AD could be said to have created the first towns. Celts in southern England lived in hill forts, which were quite large settlements. (Some probably had thousands of inhabitants). They were places of trade, where people bought and sold goods and also places where craftsmen worked. The Romans called them oppida.

However, the Romans created the first settlements that were undoubtedly towns. Roman towns were usually laid out in a grid pattern. In the centre was the forum or market place. It was lined with public buildings. Life in Roman towns was highly civilized with public baths and temples.

From the 5th century Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England. At first, the invaders avoided living in towns. However, as trade grew some towns grew up. London revived by the 7th century (although the Saxon town was, at first, outside the walls of the old Roman town). Southampton was founded at the end of the 7th century. Hereford was founded in the 8th century. Furthermore, Ipswich grew up in the 8th century and York revived. However, towns were rare in Saxon England until the late 9th century. At that time, Alfred the Great created a network of fortified settlements across his kingdom called ‘burhs’. In the event of a Danish attack, men could gather in the local burh. However, burhs were more than forts. They were also market towns. Some burhs were started from scratch but many were created out of the ruins of old Roman towns. Places like Winchester rose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of history.

The thing that would strike us most about medieval towns would be their small size. Winchester, the capital of England, probably had about 8,000 people. At that time a 'large' town, like Lincoln or Dublin had about 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants and a 'medium sized' town, like Colchester had about 2,500 people. Many towns were much smaller. However, during the 12th and 13th centuries most towns grew much larger. Furthermore, many new towns were created across Britain. Trade and commerce were increasing and there was a need for new towns. Some were created from existing villages but some were created from scratch. In those days you could create a town simply by starting a market. There were few shops so if you wished to buy or sell anything you had to go to a market. Once one was up and running, craftsmen and merchants would come to live in the area and a town would grow.

What lay in the centre of Roman towns?

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

The number of Indian students going abroad for higher studies has increased by 68.79 per cent in the past year, according to data provided by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Subhas Sarkar. As per the data provided by him in the Lok Sabha, the number of Indians enrolled in foreign varsities increased from 4.44 lakh in 2021 to 7.5 lakh in 2022. He clarified that while the Bureau of Immigration and Ministry of Home Affairs maintain departure and arrival data of Indians, there is no index for capturing the category of Indians going abroad for higher education. “Purpose of Indians going abroad for higher education is captured manually based either ontheir verbal disclosure or the type of visa of the destination country produced by them at the time of immigration clearance,” Sarkar said. According to the data provided by the ministry, the number of Indian nationals increased from 4.54 lakh in 2017 to 5.17 lakh in 2018. There was a significant increase in 2019 as well, with 5.86 lakh students flying out of the country. However, during the Covid pandemic, the number of Indian nationals in foreign varsities saw a drastic dip as only 2.59 lakh students were registered. While the number continued to remain low, it saw a slight increase in 2021 with 4.44 lakh registrations. However, the number has significantly jumped to 7.5 lakh in 2022. The increase in the number of Indian nationals abroad corresponds with the latest immigration reports from some of the popular study-abroad destinations such as the US, UK, and Australia. For the UK, the Immigration Statistics Report states that 127,731 visas were granted to Indian students in September 2022, an increase of 93,470 (+273 per cent) against 34,261 in 2019. Similarly, in the US, the number of Indian students has more than doubled, and the Open Doors Report 2022 has predicted that the number of Indian students heading to America is likely to surpass those from China in 2022-23.

In 2019, how many Indian students went abroad?

Read the following passage carefully and answer the given questions.
It is impossible for a well-educated, intellectual or brave man to make money the chief object of his thought, just as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them. All healthy people like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of their lives. So all healthy-minded people like making money-ought to like it, and to enjoy the sensation of winning it, but the main object of their life is not money, it is something better than money. A good soldier, for instance mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay, very properly so, and justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it - still his main notion of life is to win battles not to be paid for winning them. So of the doctor. They like fees, no doubt, ought to like them, yet if they are brave and well-educated, the entire object of their lives is not fees. They, on the whole, desire to cure the sick, and if they are good doctors, and the choice were fairly put to them, they would rather cure their patient, and lose the fees, than kill him and get it. And so with all other brave and rightly trained men, their work is first, their fees second - very important, no doubt, but still second. But in every nation, there are a vast number of people who are ill-educated, cowardly and stupid. And with these people, just as certainly the fee is first and work second, as with brave people the work is first and fee second.

How do unworthy people differ from right-thinking people in this matter?

Among Nature’s most intriguing phenomena are the partnerships formed by any different species. The name used for these relationships, Symbiosis, comes from Greek meaning "living together". Not all symbiotic relationships are the same. There are some called commensal relationships, in which one partner gains a benefit while the other gains little or none but is not harmed. One example is the relationship between two types of fish remoras and sharks. The remora, which is long and often striped, attaches itself to a shark (sometimes to another type of fish or a whale), using a sucker on its head. When the shark makes a kill, the hitchhiker briefly detaches itself to feed on the scraps. Another type of symbiotic relationship is parasitism, in which one partner benefits at the expense of others. Ticks and tapeworms are among familiar parasites. 

The third type of symbiotic relationship, called mutualism, is a true partnership in which both partners benefit. The relationship may be limited as when zebras and wild best graze together on the vast African grasslands. Each species can survive on its own, but together their chances of detecting predators are improved because each contributes a specially keen sense. (Zebras have the better eyesight;  wild beast, hearing and sense of smell). In a few cases partners are so interdependent that one cannot survive without the other. Most mutualistic relationships probably lie some where in between

Commensal relationship is a type of symbiosis in which the relationship is beneficial 

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

The Celts who lived in Britain before the Roman invasion of 43 AD could be said to have created the first towns. Celts in southern England lived in hill forts, which were quite large settlements. (Some probably had thousands of inhabitants). They were places of trade, where people bought and sold goods and also places where craftsmen worked. The Romans called them oppida.

However, the Romans created the first settlements that were undoubtedly towns. Roman towns were usually laid out in a grid pattern. In the centre was the forum or market place. It was lined with public buildings. Life in Roman towns was highly civilized with public baths and temples.

From the 5th century Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded England. At first, the invaders avoided living in towns. However, as trade grew some towns grew up. London revived by the 7th century (although the Saxon town was, at first, outside the walls of the old Roman town). Southampton was founded at the end of the 7th century. Hereford was founded in the 8th century. Furthermore, Ipswich grew up in the 8th century and York revived. However, towns were rare in Saxon England until the late 9th century. At that time, Alfred the Great created a network of fortified settlements across his kingdom called ‘burhs’. In the event of a Danish attack, men could gather in the local burh. However, burhs were more than forts. They were also market towns. Some burhs were started from scratch but many were created out of the ruins of old Roman towns. Places like Winchester rose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of history.

The thing that would strike us most about medieval towns would be their small size. Winchester, the capital of England, probably had about 8,000 people. At that time a 'large' town, like Lincoln or Dublin had about 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants and a 'medium sized' town, like Colchester had about 2,500 people. Many towns were much smaller. However, during the 12th and 13th centuries most towns grew much larger. Furthermore, many new towns were created across Britain. Trade and commerce were increasing and there was a need for new towns. Some were created from existing villages but some were created from scratch. In those days you could create a town simply by starting a market. There were few shops so if you wished to buy or sell anything you had to go to a market. Once one was up and running, craftsmen and merchants would come to live in the area and a town would grow.

When was Southampton founded?