Reading Comprehension Questions for CAT
Reading Comprehension is one of the most important topics in the VARC Section of the CAT Exam. You can check out these Reading Comprehension Passages in CAT Previous year papers. In this Section, you can watch these Reading Comprehension basics to improve your RC Skills in CAT. This article will look into some important Reading Comprehension Questions for CAT. These are good sources for practice; If you want to practice these questions, you can download this CAT Reading Comprehension Questions PDF below, which is completely Free.
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Instructions
Right through history, imperial powers have clung to their possessions to death. Why, then, did Britain in 1947 give up the jewel in its crown, India? For many reasons. The independence struggle exposed the hollowness of the white man’s burden. Provincial self-rule since 1935 paved the way for full self-rule. Churchill resisted independence, but the Labour government of Atlee was anti-imperialist by ideology. Finally, the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in 1946 raised fears of a second Sepoy mutiny, and convinced British waverers that it was safer to withdraw gracefully. But politico-military explanations are not enough. The basis of empire was always money. The end of empire had much to do with the fact that British imperialism had ceased to be profitable. World War II left Britain victorious but deeply indebted, needing Marshall Aid and loans from the World Bank. This constituted a strong financial case for ending the no-longer profitable empire.
Empire building is expensive. The US is spending one billion dollars a day in operations in Iraq that fall well short of full scale imperialism. Through the centuries, empire building was costly, yet constantly undertaken because it promised high returns. The investment was in armies and conquest. The returns came through plunder and taxes from the conquered.
No immorality was attached to imperial loot and plunder. The biggest conquerors were typically revered (hence titles like Alexander the Great, Akbar the Great, and Peter the Great). The bigger and richer the empire, the more the plunderer was admired. This mindset gradually changed with the rise of new ideas about equality and governing for the public good, ideas that culminated in the French and American revolutions.
Robert Clive was impeached for making a little money on the side, and so was Warren Hastings. The white man’s burden came up as a new moral rationale for conquest. It was supposedly for the good of the conquered. This led to much muddled hypocrisy. On the one hand, the empire needed to be profitable. On the other hand, the white man’s burden made brazen loot impossible.
An additional factor deterring loot was the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. Though crushed, it reminded the British vividly that they were a tiny ethnic group who could not rule a gigantic subcontinent without the support of important locals. After 1857, the British stopped annexing one princely state after another, and instead treated the princes as allies. Land revenue was fixed in absolute terms, partly to prevent local unrest and partly to promote the notion of the white man’s burden. The empire proclaimed itself to be a protector of the Indian peasant against exploitation by Indian elites. This was denounced as hypocrisy by nationalists like Dadabhoy Naoroji in the 19th century, who complained that land taxes led to an enormous drain from India to Britain. Objective calculations by historians like Angus Maddison suggest a drain of perhaps 1.6 percent of Indian Gross National Product in the 19th century. But land revenue was more or less fixed by the Raj in absolute terms, and so its real value diminished rapidly with inflation in the 20th century. By World War II, India had ceased to be a profit center for the British Empire.
Historically, conquered nations paid taxes to finance fresh wars of the conqueror. India itself was asked to pay a large sum at the end of World War I to help repair Britain’s finances. But, as shown by historian Indivar Kamtekar, the independence movement led by Gandhiji changed the political landscape, and made mass taxation of India increasingly difficult. By World War II, this had become politically impossible. Far from taxing India to pay for World War II, Britain actually began paying India for its contribution of men and goods. Troops from white dominions like Australia; Canada and New Zealand were paid for entirely by these countries, but Indian costs were shared by the British government. Britain paid in the form of nonconvertible sterling balances, which mounted swiftly. The conqueror was paying the conquered, undercutting the profitability on which all empire is founded. Churchill opposed this, and wanted to tax India rather than owe it money. But he was overruled by Indian hands who said India would resist payment, and paralyze the war effort. Leo Amery, Secretary of State for India, said that when you are driving in a taxi to the station to catch a life-or-death train, you do not loudly announce that you have doubts whether to pay the fare. Thus, World War II converted India from a debtor to a creditor with over one billion pounds in sterling balances. Britain, meanwhile, became the biggest debtor in the world. It’s not worth ruling over people you are afraid to tax.
Question 1: Why didn’t Britain tax India to finance its World War II efforts?
a) Australia, Canada and New Zealand had offered to pay for Indian troops.
b) India has already paid a sufficiently large sum during World War I.
c) It was afraid that if India refused to pay, Britain’s war efforts would be jeopardized.
d) The British empire was built on the premise that the conqueror pays the conquered.
1) Answer (C)
Solution:
Consider the following lines from the passage: “But he was overruled by Indian hands who said India would resist payment and paralyse the war effort”. From this, we can understand the reason why the British didn’t tax India to finance its war efforts. It was afraid that if India refused to pay, Britain’s war efforts would be jeopardized. Option c) is the correct answer.
Question 2: What was the main lesson the British learned from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
a) That the local princes were allies, not foes.
b) That the land revenue from India would decline dramatically.
c) That the British were a small ethnic group.
d) That India would be increasingly difficult to rule.
2) Answer (C)
Solution:
Refer to the 5th paragraph. It says “Though crushed, it reminded the British vividly that they were a tiny ethnic group who could not rule a gigantic subcontinent without the support of the important locals”. From this, we can understand that the main lesson that the British learnt from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 was that they were a small ethnic group. Option c) is the correct answer.
Question 3: Which of the following best captures the meaning of the ‘white man’s burden’, as it is used by the author?
a) The British claim to a civilizing mission directed at ensuring the good of the natives.
b) The inspiration for the French and American revolutions.
c) The resource drain that had to be borne by the home country’s white population.
d) An imperative that made open looting of resources impossible.
3) Answer (A)
Solution:
White man’s burden refers to the claim made by the British that the natives of the conquered countries were in need of the ‘good’ provided by them. This was a justification for their conquests. Option a) captures this idea succinctly.
Question 4: Which one of the following best expresses the main purpose of the author?
a) To present the various reasons that can lead to the collapse of an empire and the granting of independence of the subjects of an empire.
b) To point out the critical role played by the ‘white man’s burden’ in making a colonizing power give up its claims to native possessions.
c) To highlight the contradictory impulse underpinning empire building which is a costly business but very attractive at the same time.
d) To illustrate how erosion of the financial basis of an empire supports the granting of independence to an empire’s constituents.
4) Answer (D)
Solution:
Throughout the passage, the author talks about the various financial reasons for conquest and explains how the British were forced to grant independence when their returns from India diminished after the war. The main idea of the passage is to illustrate how the erosion of the financial basis of an empire supports the granting of independence to an empire’s constituents. Option d) is the correct answer.
Instructions
The controversy over genetically modified food continues unabated in the West. Genetic modification (GM) is the science by which the genetic material of a plant is altered, perhaps to make it more resistant to pests or killer weeds, or to enhance its nutritional value. Many food biotechnologists claim that GM will be a major contribution of science to mankind in the 21st century. On the other hand, large numbers of opponents, mainly in Europe, claim that the benefits of GM are a myth propagated by multinational corporations to increase their profits, that they pose a health hazard, and have therefore called for government to ban the sale of genetically-modified food.
The anti-GM campaign has been quite effective in Europe, with several European Union member countries imposing a virtual ban for five years over genetically-modified food imports. Since the genetically-modified food industry is particularly strong in the United States of America, the controversy also constitutes another chapter in the US-Europe skirmishes which have become particularly acerbic after the US invasion of Iraq.
To a large extent, the GM controversy has been ignored in the Indian media, although Indian biotechnologists have been quite active in GM research. Several groups of Indian biotechnologists have been working on various issues connected with crops grown in India. One concrete achievement which has recently figured in the news is that of a team led by the former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru university, Asis Datta — it has successfully added an extra gene to potatoes to enhance the protein content of the tuber by at least 30 percent. It is quite likely that the GM controversy will soon hit the headlines in India since a spokesperson of the Indian Central government has recently announced that the government may use the protato in its midday meal programme for schools as early as next year.
Why should “scientific progress”, with huge potential benefits to the poor and malnourished, be so controversial? The anti-GM lobby contends that pernicious propaganda has vastly exaggerated the benefits of GM and completely evaded the costs which will have to be incurred if the genetically-modified food industry is allowed to grow unchecked. In particular, they allude to different types of costs.
This group contends that the most important potential cost is that the widespread distribution and growth of genetically-modified food will enable the corporate world (alias the multinational corporations – MNCs) to completely capture the food chain. A “small” group of biotech companies will patent the transferred genes as well as the technology associated with them. They will then buy up the competing seed merchants and seed-breeding centers, thereby controlling the production of food at every possible level. Independent farmers, big and small, will be completely wiped out of the food industry. At best, they will be reduced to the status of being subcontractors.
This line of argument goes on to claim that the control of the food chain will be disastrous for the poor since the MNCs, guided by the profit motive, will only focus on the high-value food items demanded by the affluent. Thus, in the long run, the production of basic staples which constitute the food basket of the poor will taper off. However, this vastly overestimates the power of the MNCs. Even if the research promoted by them does focus on the high-value food items, much of biotechnology research is also funded by governments in both developing and developed countries. Indeed, the protato is a by-product of this type of research. If the protato passes the field trials, there is no reason to believe that it cannot be marketed in the global potato market. And this type of success story can be repeated with other basic food items.
The second type of cost associated with the genetically modified food industry is environmental damage. The most common type of “genetic engineering” involved gene modification in plants designed to make them resistant to applications of weed-killers. This then enables farmers to use massive dosages of weedkillers so as to destroy or wipe out all competing varieties of plants in their field. However, some weeds through genetically-modified pollen contamination may acquire resistance to a variety of weed-killers. The only way to destroy these weeds is through the use of ever-stronger herbicides which are poisonous and linger on in the environment.
Question 5: The author doubts the anti-GM lobby’s contention that MNC control of the food chain will be disastrous for the poor because
a) MNCs will focus on high-value food items.
b) MNCs are driven by the motive of profit maximization.
c) MNCs are not the only group of actors in genetically-modified food research.
d) Economic development will help the poor buy MNC-produced food.
5) Answer (C)
Solution:
By the line “Even if the research promoted by them ………………. in both developing and developed countries”, we can say that not only MNCs but also governments are involved in the research development.
So, MNCs are not the only group actors that are involved in genetically modified food research.
Hence, option C is the answer.
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Question 6: Using the clues in the passage, which of the following countries would you expect to be in the forefront of the anti-GM campaign?
a) USA and Spain.
b) India and Iraq.
c) Germany and France.
d) Australia and New Zealand.
6) Answer (C)
Solution:
According to the passage, European nations are anti GM. So, among the given options we must select those countries that are present in Europe.
USA is not in Europe => option A is wrong.
India is not in Europe => option B is wrong.
Australia is not in Europe => option D is wrong.
Both Germany and France are in Europe => option C is the answer.
Question 7: Genetic modification makes plants more resistant to killer weeds. However, this can lead to environmental damage by
a) wiping out competing varieties of plants which now fall prey to killer weeds.
b) forcing application of stronger herbicides to kill weeds which have become resistant to weak herbicides.
c) forcing application of stronger herbicides to keep the competing plants weed-free.
d) not allowing growth of any weeds, thus reducing soil fertility.
7) Answer (B)
Solution:
Refer to the last lines of the passage:”However, some weeds through genetically-modified pollen contamination may acquire resistance to a variety of weed-killers. The only way to destroy these weeds is through the use of ever-stronger herbicides which are poisonous and linger on in the environment.” This line indicates the point made in 2 that once the weeds acquire resistance to weak herbicides, we have to apply stronger ones to eradicate them.
Question 8: According to the passage, biotechnology research
a) is of utility only for high value food items.
b) is funded only by multinational corporations.
c) allows multinational corporations to control the food basket of the poor.
d) addresses the concerns of developed and developing countries.
8) Answer (D)
Solution:
Refer to the lines made in the paragraph:”Even if the research promoted by them does focus on the high-value food items, much of biotechnology research is also funded by governments in both developing and developed countries. Indeed, the protato is a by-product of this type of research. If the protato passes the field trials, there is no reason to believe that it cannot be marketed in the global potato market. And this type of success story can be repeated with other basic food items.” Here the author wants to illustrate that biotechnology resarch helps to address the concerns of the developing countries. For this illustration, the author gives the exmaple of potatoes.
Question 9: Which of the following about the Indian media’s coverage of scientific research does the passage seem to suggest?
a) Indian media generally covers a subject of scientific importance when its mass application is likely.
b) Indian media’s coverage of scientific research is generally dependent on MNCs interests.
c) Indian media, in partnership with the government, is actively involved in publicizing the results of scientific research.
d) Indian media only highlights scientific research which is funded by the government.
9) Answer (A)
Solution:
Refer to the following lines in the passage:”It is quite likely that the GM controversy will soon hit the headlines in India since a spokesperson of the Indian Central government has recently announced that the government may use the protato in its midday meal programme for schools as early as next year. Why should “scientific progress”, with huge potential benefits to the poor and malnourished, be so controversial?” Here the author wants to highlight that the scientific progress which has a huge impact on large number of people is likely to be covered by the media.
Instructions
Social life is an outflow and meeting of personality, which means that its end is the meeting of character, temperament, and sensibility, in which our thoughts and feelings, and sense perceptions are brought into play at their lightest and yet keenest.
This aspect, to my thinking, is realized as much in large parties composed of casual acquaintances or even strangers, as in intimate meetings of old friends. I am not one of those superior persons who hold cocktail parties in contempt, looking upon them as barren or at best as very tryingly kaleidoscopic places for gathering, because of the strangers one has to meet in them; which is no argument, for even our most intimate friends must at one time have been strangers to us. These large gatherings will be only what we make of them if not anything better, they can be as good places to collect new friends from as the slavemarkets of Istanbul were for beautiful slaves or New Market for race horses.
But they do offer more immediate enjoyment. For one thing, in them one can see the external expression of social life in appearance and behaviour at its widest and most varied where one can admire beauty of body or air, hear voices remarkable either for sweetness of refinement, look on elegance of clothes or deportment. What is more, these parties are schools for training in sociability, for in them we have to treat strangers as friends. So, in them we see social sympathy in widest commonalty spread, or at least should. We show an atrophy of the natural human instinct of getting pleasure and happiness out of other human beings if we cannot treat strangers as friends for the moment. And I would go further and paraphrase Pater to say that not to be able to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us, even when we meet them casually, is on this short day of frost and sun which out life is, to sleep before evening.
So, it will be seen that my conception of social life is modest, for it makes no demands on what we have, though it does make some on what we are. Interest, wonder, sympathy, and love, the first two leading to the last two, are the psychological prerequisites for social life; and the need for the first two must not be underrated. We cannot make the most even of our intimate social life unless we are able to make strangers of our oldest friends everyday by discovering unknown areas in their personality, and transform them into new friends. In sum, social life is a function of vitality.
It is tragic, however, to observe that it is these very natural springs of social life which are drying up among us. It is becoming more and more difficult to come across fellow-feeling for human beings as such in our society and in all its strata. In the poor middle class, in the course of all my life. I have hardly seen any social life properly so-called. Not only has the grinding routine of making a living killed all desire for it in them, it has also generated a standing mood of peevish hostility to other human beings. Increasing economic distress in recent years has infinitely worsened this state of affairs, and has also brought a sinister addition class hatred. This has become the greatest collective emotional enjoyment of the poor middle class, and indeed they feel most social when they form a pack, and snarl or howl at people who are better off than they.
Their most innocent exhibition of sociability is seen when they spill out from their intolerable homes into the streets and bazaars. I was astonished to see the milling crowds in the poor suburbs of Calcutta. But even there a group of flippant young loafers would put on a conspiratorial look if they saw a man in good clothes passing by them either on foot or in a car. I had borrowed a car from a relative to visit a friend in one of these suburbs, and he became very anxious when I had not returned before dusk. Acid and bombs, he said, were thrown at card almost every evening in that area. I was amazed. But I also know as a fact that my brother was blackmailed to pay five rupees on a trumped up charge when passing in a car through one such locality.
The situation is differently inhuman, but not a whit more human, among the well-to-do. Kindliness for fellow human beings has been smothered in them, taken as a class, by the arrogance of worldly position, which among the Bengalis who show this snobbery is often only a third-class position.
Question 10: The word ‘they’ in the first sentence of the third paragraph refers to
a) Large parties consisting of casual acquaintances and strangers.
b) Intimate meetings of old friends.
c) New friends.
d) Both (1) and (2).
10) Answer (A)
Solution:
Refer to the last lines of the second paragraph:”These large gatherings will be only what we make of them if not anything better, they can be as good places to collect new friends from as the slavemarkets of Istanbul were for beautiful slaves or New Market for race horses.”
Here “They” refers to the large gatherings of casual acquaintances as illustrated in these lines.
Question 11: In this passage the author is essentially
a) showing how shallow our social life is.
b) poking fun at the lower middle class people who howl at better off people.
c) lamenting the drying up of our real social life.
d) criticizing the upper class for lavish showy parties.
11) Answer (C)
Solution:
The passage starts with the author’s perception of social life. In the whole passage the author criticises the fact that we do not possess any social life. The author also gives his opinions of social life and then moves on to lament our little social life we have left. Option b and d are not clearly the main subject of the author. Option a is inappropriate as the author do not highlight our real social life but rather complaints of the social life.
Question 12: The author’s conception of ‘social life’ requires that
a) people attend large gatherings.
b) people possess qualities like wonder and interest.
c) people do not spend too much time in the company of intimate friends.
d) large parties consist of casual acquaintances and intimate friends.
12) Answer (B)
Solution:
The author’s conception of social life is mentioned in the fourth paragraph where he says wonder and interest. Hence B is the correct answer.
Question 13: What is the author trying to show through the two incidents in the penultimate paragraph?
a) The crowds in poor Calcutta suburbs can turn violent without any provocation.
b) Although poor, the people of poor Calcutta suburbs have a rich social life.
c) It is risky for rich people to move around in poor suburbs.
d) Achieving a high degree of sociability does not stop the poor from hating the rich.
13) Answer (D)
Solution:
The author has not mentioned that crowd in poor Calcutta can turn violent => option A is wrong.
B negates the statements said by the author in the passage.
C is too generalized to be the answer for this question.
Hence, option D is the answer.
Instructions
Modern science, exclusive of geometry, is a comparatively recent creation and can be said to have originated with Galileo and Newton. Galileo was the first scientist to recognize clearly that the only way to further our understanding of the physical world was to resort to experiment. However obvious Galileo’s contention may appear in the light of our present knowledge, it remains a fact that the Greeks, in spite of their proficiency in geometry, never seem to have realized the importance of experiment. To a certain extent this may be attributed to the crudeness of their instruments of measurement. Still an excuse of this sort can scarcely be put forward when the elementary nature of Galileo’s experiments and observations is recalled. Watching a lamp oscillate in the cathedral of Pisa, dropping bodies from the leaning tower of Pisa, rolling balls down inclined planes, noticing the magnifying effect of water in a spherical glass vase, such was the nature of Galileo’s experiments and observations. As can be seen, they might just as well have been performed by the Greeks. At any rate, it was thanks to such experiments that Galileo discovered the fundamental law of dynamics, according to which the acceleration imparted to a body is proportional to the force acting upon it.
The next advance was due to Newton, the greatest scientist of all time if account be taken of his joint contributions to mathematics and physics. As a physicist, he was of course an ardent adherent of the empirical method, but his greatest title to fame lies in another direction. Prior to Newton, mathematics, chiefly in the form of geometry, had been studied as a fine art without any view to its physical applications other than in very trivial cases. But with Newton all the resources of mathematics were turned to advantage in the solution of physical problems. Thenceforth mathematics appeared as an instrument of discovery, the most powerful one known to man, multiplying the power of thought just as in the mechanical domain the lever multiplied our physical action. It is this application of mathematics to the solution of physical problems, this combination of two separate fields of investigation, which constitutes the essential characteristic of the Newtonian method. Thus problems of physics were metamorphosed into problems of mathematics.
But in Newton’s day the mathematical instrument was still in a very backward state of development. In this field again Newton showed the mark of genius by inventing the integral calculus. As a result of this remarkable discovery, problems, which would have baffled Archimedes, were solved with ease. We know that in Newton’s hands this new departure in scientific method led to the discovery of the law of gravitation. But here again the real significance of Newton’s achievement lay not so much in the exact quantitative formulation of the law of attraction, as in his having established the presence of law and order at least in one important realm of nature, namely, in the motions of heavenly bodies. Nature thus exhibited rationality and was not mere blind chaos and uncertainty. To be sure, Newton’s investigations had been concerned with but a small group of natural phenomena, but it appeared unlikely that this mathematical law and order should turn out to be restricted to certain special phenomena; and the feeling was general that all the physical processes of nature would prove to be unfolding themselves according to rigorous mathematical laws.
When Einstein, in 1905, published his celebrated paper on the electrodynamics of moving bodies, he remarked that the difficulties, which surrouned the equations of electrodynamics, together with the negative experiments of Michelson and others, would be obviated if we extended the validity of the Newtonian principle of the relativity of Galilean motion, which applies solely to mechanical phenomena, so as to include all manner of phenomena: electrodynamics, optical etc. When extended in this way the Newtonian principle of relativity became Einstein’s special principle of relativity. Its significance lay in its assertion that absolute Galilean motion or absolute velocity must ever escape all experimental detection. Henceforth absolute velocity should be conceived of as physically meaningless, not only in the particular realm of mechanics, as in Newton’s day, but in the entire realm of physical phenomena. Einstein’s special principle, by adding increased emphasis to this relativity of velocity, making absolute velocity metaphysically meaningless, created a still more profound distinction between velocity and accelerated or rotational motion. This latter type of motion remained absolute and real as before. It is most important to understand this point and to realize that Einstein’s special principle is merely an extension of the validity of the classical Newtonian principle to all classes of phenomena.
Question 14: According to the author, why did the Greeks NOT conduct experiments to understand the physical world?
a) Apparently they did not think it necessary to experiment.
b) They focused exclusively on geometry.
c) Their instruments of measurement were very crude.
d) The Greeks considered the application of geometry to the physical world more important.
14) Answer (A)
Solution:
Options B and D negate the information given in the passage => B and D are incorrect.
C is stated in the passage but does not answer the question.
Option A is the correct answer.
Question 15: The statement “Nature thus exhibited rationality and was not mere blind chaos and uncertainty” suggests that
a) problems that had baffled scientists like Archimedes were not really problems.
b) only a small group of natural phenomena was chaotic.
c) physical phenomena conformed to mathematical laws.
d) natural phenomena were evolving towards a less chaotic future.
15) Answer (C)
Solution:
In the second line after the line mentioned in the question, the author says that “the feeling was general that all the physical processes of nature would prove to be unfolding themselves according to the rigourous mathematic laws”.
Option C is the answer.
Question 16: Newton may be considered one of the greatest scientists of all time because he
a) discovered the law of gravitation.
b) married physics with mathematics.
c) invented integral calculus.
d) started the use of the empirical method in science.
16) Answer (B)
Solution:
The author says that “The next advance was due to Newton, the greatest scientist of all time if account be taken of his joint contributions to mathematics and physics.”
Joint contributions is metaphorically said as married in option B. Hence, option B is the answer.
Question 17: Which of the following statements about modern science best captures the theme of the passage?
a) Modern science rests firmly on the platform built by the Greeks.
b) We need to go back to the method of enquiry used by the Greeks to better understand the lawsof dynamics.
c) Disciplines like Mathematics and Physics function best when integrated into one.
d) New knowledge about natural phenomena builds on existing knowledge.
17) Answer (D)
Solution:
The author says that Einstein’s principle is merely an extension of classical Newtonian principle.
Option D agrees with this saying that new knowledge about natural phenomena builds on existing knowledge.
Hence, option D is the answer.
Question 18: The significant implication of Einstein’s special principle of relativity is that
a) absolute velocity was meaningless in the realm of mechanics.
b) Newton’s principle of relativity needs to be modified.
c) there are limits to which experimentation can be used to understand some physical phenomena.
d) it is meaningless to try to understand the distinction between velocity and accelerated or rotational motion.
18) Answer (C)
Solution:
The author says that “Its SIGNIFICANCE lay in its assertion that absolute Galilean motion or absolute velocity must ever escape all experimental detection.”
Here, “it” refers to Einstein’s principle.
The meaning of the sentence is that it is not always possible to experiment.
Option C gives a similar meaning. Hence, C is the answer.
