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CAT 2020 Slot 3 VARC Question Paper

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to eachΒ question.

Mode of transportation affects the travel experience and thus can produce new types of travelΒ writing and perhaps even new β€œidentities.” Modes of transportation determine the types andΒ duration of social encounters; affect the organization and passage of space and time; . . . andΒ also affect perception and knowledgeβ€”how and what the traveler comes to know and writeΒ about. The completion of the first U.S. transcontinental highway during the 1920s . . . forΒ example, inaugurated a new genre of travel literature about the United Statesβ€”theΒ automotive or road narrative. Such narratives highlight the experiences of mostly maleΒ protagonists β€œdiscovering themselves” on their journeys, emphasizing the independence ofΒ road travel and the value of rural folk traditions.

Travel writing’s relationship to empire buildingβ€” as a type of β€œcolonialist discourse”—hasΒ drawn the most attention from academicians. Close connections have been observedΒ between European (and American) political, economic, and administrative goals for theΒ colonies and theirΒ manifestations in the cultural practice of writing travel books. Travel writers’ descriptions of foreign places have been analyzed as attempts to validate, promote, orΒ challenge the ideologies and practices of colonial or imperial domination and expansion. MaryΒ Louise Pratt’s study of the genres and conventions of 18th- and 19th-century explorationΒ narratives about South America and Africa (e.g., the β€œmonarch of all I survey” trope) offeredΒ ways of thinking about travel writing as embedded within relations of power betweenΒ metropole and periphery, as did Edward Said’s theories of representation and culturalΒ imperialism. Particularly Said’s book, Orientalism, helped scholars understand ways in whichΒ representations of people in travel texts were intimately bound up with notions of self, in thisΒ case, that the Occident defined itself through essentialist, ethnocentric, and racistΒ representations of the Orient. Said’s work became a model for demonstrating cultural forms ofΒ imperialism in travel texts, showing how the political, economic, or administrative fact ofΒ dominance relies on legitimating discourses such as those articulated through travel writing. .Β . .

Feminist geographers’ studies of travel writing challenge the masculinist history of geographyΒ by questioning who and what are relevant subjects of geographic study and, indeed, whatΒ counts as geographic knowledge itself. Such questions are worked through ideologicalΒ constructs that posit men as explorers and women as travelersβ€”or, conversely, men asΒ travelers and women as tied to the home. Studies of Victorian women who were professionalΒ travel writers, tourists, wives of colonial administrators, and other (mostly) elite women whoΒ wrote narratives about their experiences abroad during the 19th century have beenΒ particularly revealing. From a β€œliberal” feminist perspective, travel presented one meansΒ toward female liberation for middle- and upper-class Victorian women. Many studies from theΒ 1970s onward demonstrated the ways in which women’s gendered identities were negotiatedΒ differently β€œat home” than they were β€œaway,” thereby showing women’s self-developmentΒ through travel. The more recent post structural turn in studies of Victorian travel writing hasΒ focused attention on women’s diverse and fragmented identities as they narrated their travelΒ experiences, emphasizing women’s sense of themselves as women in new locations, but onlyΒ as they worked through their ties to nation, class, whiteness, and colonial and imperial powerΒ structures

From the passage, we can infer that feminist scholars’ understanding of theΒ experiences of Victorian women travellers is influenced by all of the following EXCEPTΒ scholars':

American travel literature of the 1920s:

From the passage, it can be inferred that scholars argue that Victorian women
experienced self-development through their travels because:

According to the passage, Said’s book, β€œOrientalism”:

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to eachΒ question.

Although one of the most contested concepts in political philosophy, human nature isΒ something on which most people seem to agree. By and large, according to Rutger BregmanΒ in his new book Humankind, we have a rather pessimistic view - not of ourselves exactly, butΒ of everyone else. We see other people as selfish, untrustworthy and dangerous and thereforeΒ we behave towards them with defensiveness and suspicion. This was how the 17th-centuryΒ philosopher Thomas Hobbes conceived our natural state to be, believing that all that stoodΒ between us and violent anarchy was a strong state and firm leadership.Β But in following Hobbes, argues Bregman, we ensure that the negative view we have ofΒ human nature is reflected back at us. He instead puts his faith in Jean-Jacques Rousseau,Β the 18th-century French thinker, who famously declared that man was born free and it wasΒ civilisation - with its coercive powers, social classes and restrictive laws - that put him inΒ chains.

Hobbes and Rousseau are seen as the two poles of the human nature argument and it’s noΒ surprise that Bregman strongly sides with the Frenchman. He takes Rousseau’s intuition andΒ paints a picture of a prelapsarian idyll in which, for the better part of 300,000 years, HomoΒ sapiens lived a fulfilling life in harmony with nature . . . Then we discovered agriculture and forΒ the next 10,000 years it was all property, war, greed and injustice. . . .

It was abandoning our nomadic lifestyle and then domesticating animals, says Bregman, thatΒ brought about infectious diseases such as measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, malaria,Β cholera and plague. This may be true, but what Bregman never really seems to get to gripsΒ with is that pathogens were not the only things that grew with agriculture - so did the numberΒ of humans. It’s one thing to maintain friendly relations and a property-less mode of livingΒ when you’re 30 or 40 hunter-gatherers following the food. But life becomes a great deal moreΒ complex and knowledge far more extensive when there are settlements of many thousands.Β Β β€œCivilisation has become synonymous with peace and progress and wilderness with war andΒ decline,” writes Bregman. β€œIn reality, for most of human existence, it was the other wayΒ around.” Whereas traditional history depicts the collapse of civilisations as β€œdark ages” inΒ which everything gets worse, modern scholars, he claims, see them more as a reprieve, inΒ which the enslaved gain their freedom and culture flourishes. Like much else in this book, theΒ truth is probably somewhere between the two stated positions.

In any case, the fear of civilisational collapse, Bregman believes, is unfounded. It’s the resultΒ of what the Dutch biologist Frans de Waal calls β€œveneer theory” - the idea that just below theΒ surface, our bestial nature is waiting to break out. . . . There’s a great deal of reassuringΒ human decency to be taken from this bold and thought-provoking book and a wealth ofΒ evidence in support of the contention that the sense of who we are as a species has beenΒ deleteriously distorted. But it seems equally misleading to offer the false choice of RousseauΒ and Hobbes when, clearly, humanity encompasses both.

None of the following views is expressed in the passage EXCEPT that:

According to the passage, the β€œcollapse of civilisations” is viewed by Bregman as:

According to the author, the main reason why Bregman contrasts life in pre-agricultural societies with agricultural societies is to:

The author has differing views from Bregman regarding:

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to eachΒ question.

I’ve been following the economic crisis for more than two years now. I began working on theΒ subject as part of the background to a novel, and soon realized that I had stumbled across theΒ most interesting story I’ve ever found. While I was beginning to work on it, the British bankΒ Northern Rock blew up, and it became clear that, as I wrote at the time, β€œIf our laws are notΒ extended to control the new kinds of super-powerful, super-complex, and potentially superΒ Β risky investment vehicles, they will one day cause a financial disaster of global-systemicΒ proportions.” . . . I was both right and too late, because all the groundwork for the crisis hadΒ already been doneβ€”though the sluggishness of the world’s governments, in not preparing forΒ the great unraveling of autumn 2008, was then and still is stupefying. But this is the firstΒ reason why I wrote this book: because what’s happened is extraordinarily interesting. It is anΒ absolutely amazing story, full of human interest and drama, one whose byways ofΒ mathematics, economics, and psychology are both central to the story of the last decadesΒ and mysteriously unknown to the general public. We have heard a lot about β€œthe two cultures” of science and the artsβ€”we heard a particularly large amount about it in 2009, because it wasΒ the fiftieth anniversary of the speech during which C. P. Snow first used the phrase. But I’mΒ not sure the idea of a huge gap between science and the arts is as true as it was half aΒ century agoβ€”it’s certainly true, for instance, that a general reader who wants to pick up anΒ education in the fundamentals of science will find it easier than ever before. It seems to meΒ that there is a much bigger gap between the world of finance and that of the general publicΒ and that there is a need to narrow that gap, if the financial industry is not to be a kind ofΒ priesthood, administering to its own mysteries and feared and resented by the rest of us.Β Many bright, literate people have no idea about all sorts of economic basics, of a type thatΒ financial insiders take as elementary facts of how the world works. I am an outsider to financeΒ and economics, and my hope is that I can talk across that gulf.

My need to understand is the same as yours, whoever you are. That’s one of the strangestΒ ironies of this story: after decades in which the ideology of the Western world was personallyΒ and economically individualistic, we’ve suddenly been hit by a crisis which shows in theΒ starkest terms that whether we like it or notβ€”and there are large parts of it that you wouldΒ have to be crazy to likeβ€”we’re all in this together. The aftermath of the crisis is going toΒ dominate the economics and politics of our societies for at least a decade to come andΒ perhaps longer.

Which one of the following, if true, would be an accurate inference from the first
sentence of the passage?

Which one of the following best captures the main argument of the last paragraph of
the passage?

According to the passage, the author is likely to be supportive of which one of the
following programmes?

All of the following, if true, could be seen as supporting the arguments in the passage,Β EXCEPT:

Which one of the following, if false, could be seen as supporting the author’s claims?

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to eachΒ question.

[There is] a curious new reality: Human contact is becoming a luxury good. As more screensΒ appear in the lives of the poor, screens are disappearing from the lives of the rich. The richerΒ you are, the more you spend to be off-screen. . . .

The joy β€” at least at first β€” of the internet revolution was its democratic nature. Facebook isΒ the same Facebook whether you are rich or poor. Gmail is the same Gmail. And it’s all free.Β There is something mass market and unappealing about that. And as studies show that timeΒ on these advertisement-support platforms is unhealthy, it all starts to seem dΓ©classΓ©, likeΒ drinking soda or smoking cigarettes, which wealthy people do less than poor people. TheΒ wealthy can afford to opt out of having their data and their attention sold as a product. TheΒ poor and middle class don’t have the same kind of resources to make that happen.

Screen exposure starts young. And children who spent more than two hours a day looking atΒ a screen got lower scores on thinking and language tests, according to early results of aΒ landmark study on brain development of more than 11,000 children that the National InstitutesΒ of Health is supporting. Most disturbingly, the study is finding that the brains of children whoΒ spend a lot of time on screens are different. For some kids, there is premature thinning ofΒ their cerebral cortex. In adults, one study found an association between screen time andΒ depression. . . .

Tech companies worked hard to get public schools to buy into programs that required schoolsΒ to have one laptop per student, arguing that it would better prepare children for their screen-based future. But this idea isn’t how the people who actually build the screen-based futureΒ raise their own children. In Silicon Valley, time on screens is increasingly seen as unhealthy.Β Here, the popular elementary school is the local Waldorf School, which promises a back-to-nature, nearly screen-free education. So as wealthy kids are growing up with less screenΒ time, poor kids are growing up with more. How comfortable someone is with humanΒ engagement could become a new class marker.

Human contact is, of course, not exactly like organic food . . . . But with screen time, there hasΒ been a concerted effort on the part of Silicon Valley behemoths to confuse the public. TheΒ poor and the middle class are told that screens are good and important for them and theirΒ children. There are fleets of psychologists and neuroscientists on staff at big tech companiesΒ working to hook eyes and minds to the screen as fast as possible and for as long as possible.Β And so human contact is rare. . . .

There is a small movement to pass a β€œright to disconnect” bill, which would allow workers toΒ turn their phones off, but for now, a worker can be punished for going offline and not beingΒ available. There is also the reality that in our culture of increasing isolation, in which so manyΒ of the traditional gathering places and social structures have disappeared, screens are fillingΒ a crucial void.

Which of the following statements about the negative effects of screen time is theΒ author least likely to endorse?

The statement β€œThe richer you are, the more you spend to be off-screen” is supportedΒ by which other line from the passage?

The author claims that Silicon Valley tech companies have tried to β€œconfuse theΒ public” by:

The author is least likely to agree with the view that the increase in screen-time isΒ fuelled by the fact that:

For the following questions answer them individually

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yieldΒ a coherent paragraph. Decide on the properΒ sequencing of the order of theΒ sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Complex computational elements of the CNS are organized according to aΒ β€œnested” hierarchic criterion; the organization is not permanent and can changeΒ dynamically from moment to moment as they carry out a computational task.
2. Echolocation in bats exemplifies adaptation produced by natural selection; aΒ function not produced by natural selection for its current use is exaptation --Β feathers might have originally arisen in the context of selection for insulation.
3. From a structural standpoint, consistent with exaptation, the living organism isΒ organized as a complex of β€œRussian Matryoshka Dolls” -- smaller structures areΒ contained within larger ones in multiple layers.
4. The exaptation concept, and the Russian-doll organization concept of livingΒ beings deduced from studies on evolution of the various apparatuses in mammals,Β can be applied for the most complex human organ: the central nervous systemΒ (CNS).

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The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yieldΒ a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of theΒ sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. It advocated a conservative approach to antitrust enforcement that espousesΒ faith in efficient markets and voiced suspicion regarding the merits of judicialΒ intervention to correct anticompetitive practices.
2. Many industries have consistently gained market share, the lion’s share - withoutΒ any official concern; the most successful technology companies have grown intoΒ veritable titans, on the premise that they advance β€˜public interest’.
3. That the new anticompetitive risks posed by tech giants like Google, Facebook,Β and Amazon, necessitate new legal solutions could be attributed to the dearth ofΒ enforcement actions against monopolies and the few cases challenging mergers inΒ the USA.
4. The criterion of β€˜consumer welfare standard’ and the principle that antitrust lawΒ should serve consumer interests and that it should protect competition rather thanΒ individual competitors was an antitrust law introduced by, and named after, theΒ 'Chicago school'.

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Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can beΒ put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in theΒ number of the sentence as your answer:
1. Machine learning models are prone to learning human-like biases from theΒ training data that feeds these algorithms.
2. Hate speech detection is part of the on-going effort against oppressive andΒ abusive language on social media.
3. The current automatic detection models miss out on something vital: context.
4. It uses complex algorithms to flag racist or violent speech faster and better thanΒ human beings alone.
5. For instance, algorithms struggle to determine if group identifiers like "gay" orΒ "black" are used in offensive or prejudiced ways because they're trained onΒ imbalanced datasets with unusually high rates of hate speech.

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Five jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can beΒ put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out and key in theΒ number of the sentence as your answer:
1. The logic of displaying one’s inner qualities through outward appearance wasΒ based on a distinction between being a woman and being feminine.
2. 'Appearance' became a signifier of conduct - to look was to be and conformity toΒ the feminine ideal was measured by how well women could use the tools of theΒ fashion and beauty industries.
3. The makeover-centric media sets out subtly and not-so-subtly, β€˜good’ and β€˜bad’ ways to be a woman, layering these over inequalities of race and class.
4. The denigration of working-class women and women of colour often centres onΒ their perceived failure to embody feminine beauty.
5. β€˜Woman’ was considered a biological category, but femininity was a β€˜process’ byΒ which women became specific kinds of women.

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The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the optionΒ that best captures the essence of the passage.

The dominant hypotheses in modern science believe that language evolved to allowΒ humans to exchange factual information about the physical world. But an alternativeΒ view is that language evolved, in modern humans at least, to facilitate social bonding.Β It increased our ancestors’ chances of survival by enabling them to hunt moreΒ successfully or to cooperate more extensively. Language meant that things could beΒ explained and that plans and past experiences could be shared efficiently.

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the optionΒ that best captures the essence of the passage.

Aesthetic political representation urges us to realize that β€˜the representative hasΒ autonomy with regard to the people represented’ but autonomy then is not an excuseΒ to abandon one’s responsibility. Aesthetic autonomy requires cultivation ofΒ β€˜disinterestedness’ on the part of actors which is not indifference. To haveΒ disinterestedness, that is, to have comportment towards the beautiful that is devoid ofΒ all ulterior references to use - requires a kind of aesthetic commitment; it is theΒ liberation of ourselves for the release of what has proper worth only in itself.

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the optionΒ that best captures the essence of the passage.

Brown et al. (2001) suggest that β€˜metabolic theory may provide a conceptualΒ foundation for much of ecology just as genetic theory provides a foundation for muchΒ of evolutionary biology’. One of the successes of genetic theory is the diversity ofΒ theoretical approaches and models that have been developed and applied. A Web ofΒ Science (v. 5.9. Thomson Reuters) search on genetic* + theor* + evol* identifies moreΒ than 12000 publications between 2005 and 2012. Considering only the 10 most-citedΒ papers within this 12000 publication set, genetic theory can be seen to focus onΒ genome dynamics, phylogenetic inference, game theory and the regulation of geneΒ expression. There is no one fundamental genetic equation, but rather a wide array ofΒ genetic models, ranging from simple to complex, with differing inputs and outputs,Β and divergent areas of application, loosely connected to each other through theΒ shared conceptual foundation of heritable variation.

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yieldΒ a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of theΒ sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Each one personified a different aspect of good fortune.
2. The others were versions of popular Buddhist gods, Hindu gods and DaoistΒ gods.
3. Seven popular Japanese deities, the Shichi Fukujin, were considered to bringΒ good luck and happiness.
4. Although they were included in the Shinto pantheon, only two of them, DaikokuΒ and Ebisu, were indigenous Japanese gods.

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