CAT 2000 Question Paper

The offer of the government to make iodised salt available at a low price of one rupee per kilo is welcome, especially since the government seems to be so concerned about the ill effects of non-iodised salt. But it is doubtful whether the offer will actually be implemented. Way back in 1994, the government, in an earlier effort, had prepared reports outlining three new and simple but experimental methods for reducing the costs of iodisation to about five paise per kilo. But these reports have remained just those — reports on paper.

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the author’s contention that it is doubtful whether the offer will be actually implemented?

About 96% of Scandinavian moths have ears tuned to the ultrasonic pulses that bats, their predators, emit. But the remaining 4% do not have ears and are deaf. However, they have a larger wingspan than the hearing moths, and also have higher wing-loadings the ratio between a wing’s area and its weight — meaning higher maneuverability.
Which one of the following can be best inferred from the above passage?

Argentina’s beef cattle herd has dropped to under 50 million from 57 million ten years ago in 1990. The animals are worth less, too: prices fell by over a third last year, before recovering, slightly. Most local meat packers and processors are in financial trouble, and recent years have seen a string of plant closures. The Beef Producers’ Association has now come up with a massive advertisement campaign calling upon Argentines to eat more beef—their “juicy, healthy, rotund, plate- filling” steaks.

Which one of the following, if true, would contribute most to a failure of the campaign?

The problem of traffic congestion in Athens has been testing the ingenuity of politicians and town planners for years. But the measures adopted to date have not succeeded in decreasing the number of cars en the roads in the city centre. In 1980, an odds and evens number- plate legislation was introduced, under which odd and even plates were banned in the city centre on alternate days, thereby expecting to halve the number of cars in the city centre. Then in 1993 it was decreed that all cars in use in the city centre must be fitted with catalytic converters; a regulation had just then been introduced, substantially reducing import taxes on cars with catalytic converters, the only condition being that the buyer of such a ‘clean’ car offered for destruction a car at least 15 years old.

Which one of the following options, if true, would best support the claim that the measures adopted to date have not succeeded?

Although in the limited sense of freedom regarding appointments and internal working, the independence of the Central Bank is unequivocally ensured, the same cannot be said of its right to pursue monetary policy without co-ordination with the central government. The role of the Central Bank has turned out to be subordinate and advisory in nature.
Which of the following best supports the conclusion drawn in the passage?

The Shveta-chattra or the “White Umbrella” was a symbol of sovereign political authority placed over the monarchy’s head at the time of the coronation. The ruler so inaugurated was regarded not as a temporal autocrat but as the instrument of protective and sheltering firmament of supreme law. The white umbrella symbol is of great antiquity and its varied use illustrates the ultimate common basis of non-theocratic nature of states in the Indian tradition. As such, the umbrella is found, although not necessarily a white one, over the head of Lord Ram, the Mohammedan sultans and Chatrapati Shivaji.
Which one of the following best summarises the above passage?

The theory of games is suggested to some extent by parlour games such as chess and bridge. Friedman illustrates two distinct features of these games. First, in a parlour game played for money, if one wins the other (others) loses (lose). Second, these games are games involving a strategy. In a game of chess, while choosing what action is to be taken, a player tries to guess how his/her opponent will react to the various actions he or she might take. In contrast, the card-pastime, ‘patience’ or ‘solitaire’ is played only against chance.

Which one of the following can best be described as a “game”?

Persons X, Y, Z and Q live in red, green, yellow or blue coloured houses placed in a sequence on a street. Z lives in a yellow house. The green house is adjacent to the blue house. X does not live adjacent to Z. The yellow house is the only house in between the green and red houses. The colour of the house X lives in is:

My bag can carry no more than ten books, I must carry at least one book each of management, mathematics, physics and fiction. Also, for every management book I carry I must carry two or more fiction books, and for every mathematics book I carry I must carry two or more physics books. I earn 4, 3, 2 and 1 points for each management, mathematics, physics and fiction book, respectively, I carry in my bag. I want to maximise the points I can earn by carrying the most appropriate combination of books in my bag. The maximum points that I can earn are:

Five persons with names P, M, U, T and X live separately in any one of the following: a palace, a hut, a fort, a house or a hotel. Each one likes two different colours from among the following: blue, black, red, yellow and green. U likes red and blue. T likes black. The person living in a palace does not like black or blue. P likes blue and red. M likes yellow. X lives in a hotel. M lives in a: