English Quiz On Passage Inference Day 16 Bag

English Quiz On Passage Inference Day 16 Bag

---

Buy Quant & Reasoning Tricks Book – Buy Now

 

Passage 1

 

The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its introduction into education would remove the conventionality, artificiality, and backward-lookingness which were characteristics  of classical studies, but they were gravely disappointed. So, too, in their time had the humanists thought that the study of the classical authors in the original would banish at once the dull pedantry and superstition of mediaeval scholasticism. The professional schoolmaster was a match for both of them, and has almost managed to make the understanding of chemical reactions as dull and as dogmatic an affair as the reading of Virgil’s Aeneid. The chief claim for the use of science in education is that it teaches a child something about the actual universe in which he is living, in making him acquainted with the results of scientific discovery, and at the same time teaches him how to think logically and inductively by studying scientific method. A certain limited success has been reached in the first of these aims, but practically none at all in the second. Those privileged members of the community who have been through a secondary or public school education may be expected to know something about the elementary physics and chemistry of a hundred years ago, but they probably know hardly more than any bright boy can pick up from an interest in wireless or scientific hobbies out of school hours. As to the learning of scientific method, the whole thing is palpably a farce. Actually, for the convenience of teachers and the requirements of the examination system, it is necessary that the pupils not only do not learn scientific method but learn precisely the reverse, that is, to believe exactly what they are told and to reproduce it when asked, whether it seems nonsense to them or not. The way in which educated people respond to such quackeries as spiritualism or astrology, not to say more dangerous ones such as racial theories or currency myths, shows that fifty years of education in the method of science in Britain or Germany has produced no visible effect whatever. The only way of learning the method of science is the long and bitter way of personal experience, and, until the educational or social systems are altered minority of people who are able to acquire some of the techniques of science and a still smaller minority who are able to use and develop them.

 

1. The author implies that the ‘professional schoolmaster’ has
2. no interest in teaching science
3. thwarted attempts to enliven education
4. aided true learning
5. supported the humanists
6. been a pioneer in both science and humanities.

 

1. thwarted attempts to enliven education

 

2. The author�s attitude to secondary and public school education in the sciences is

 

1. ambivalent
2. neutral
3. supportive
4. satirical
5. contemptuous

 

1. contemptuous

 

3. The word �palpably� most nearly means

 

1. empirically
2. obviously
3. tentatively
4. markedly
5. ridiculously

 

1. obviously

 

4. The author blames all of the following for the failure to impart scientific method through the education system except

 

1. poor teaching
2. examination methods
3. lack of direct experience
4. the social and education systems
5. lack of interest on the part of students

 

1. lack of interest on the part of students

 

5. If the author were to study current education in science to see how things have changed since he wrote the piece, he would probably be most interested in the answer

to which of the following questions?

 

1. Do students know more about the world about them?
2. Do students spend more time in laboratories?
3. Can students apply their knowledge logically?
4. Have textbooks improved?
5. Do they respect their teachers?

 

1. Can students apply their knowledge logically?

 

6. Astrology is mentioned as an example of

 

1. a science that needs to be better understood
2. a belief which no educated people hold
3. something unsupportable to those who have absorbed the methods of science
4. the gravest danger to society
5. an acknowledged failure of science

 

1. something unsupportable to those who have absorbed the methods of science

 

7. All of the following can be inferred from the text except

 

1. at the time of writing, not all children received a secondary school education
2. the author finds chemical reactions interesting
3. science teaching has imparted some knowledge of facts to some children
4. the author believes that many teachers are authoritarian
5. it is relatively easy to learn scientific method.

 

1. it is relatively easy to learn scientific method.

 

Passage 2

Recent years have brought minority-owned  businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities-as well as new and significant risks.Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government. Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $77 million in 1972 to $1.l billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over 53 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade. Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too.First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer. A second risk is that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil rights groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as “fronts” with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures. Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often run the danger of becoming–and remaining—dependent.Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies

(B) describe a situation and its potential drawbacks

(C) propose a temporary solution to a problem

(D) analyze a frequent source of disagreement

(E) explore the implications of a finding

 

Ans: (B) describe a situation and its potential drawbacks

 

2. The passage supplies information that would answer which of the following questions?

(A) What federal agencies have set percentage goals for the use of minority-owned businesses in public works contracts?

(B) To which government agencies must businesses awarded federal contracts report their efforts to find minority subcontractors?

(C) How widespread is the use of minority-owned concerns as “fronts” by White backers seeking to obtain subcontracts?

(D) How many more minority-owned businesses were there in 1977 than in 1972?

(E) What is one set of conditions under which a small business might find itself financially over extended?

 

Ans: (E) What is one set of conditions under which a small business might find itself financially over extended?

 

3. According to the passage, civil rights activists maintain that one disadvantage under which minority- owned businesses have traditionally had to labor is that they have

(A) been especially vulnerable to governmental mismanagement of the economy

(B) been denied bank loans at rates comparable to those afforded larger competitors

(C) not had sufficient opportunity to secure business created by large corporations

(D) not been able to advertise in those media that reach large numbers of potential customers

(E) not had adequate representation in the centers of government power

 

Ans: (C) not had sufficient opportunity to secure business created by large corporations

 

4. The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to

(A) experience frustration but not serious financial harm

(B) face potentially crippling fixed expenses

(C) have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government

(D) increase its spending with minority subcontractors

(E) revise its procedure for making bids for federal contracts and subcontracts ‘

 

Ans: (A) experience frustration but not serious financial harm

 

5. The author implies that a minority-owned concern that does the greater part of its business with one large corporate customer should

(A) avoid competition with larger, more established concerns by not expanding

(B) concentrate on securing even more business from that corporation

(C) try to expand its customer base to avoid becoming dependent on the corporation

(D) pass on some of the work to be done for the corporation to other minority-owned concerns

(E) use its influence with the corporation to promote subcontracting with other minority concerns

 

Ans: (C) try to expand its customer base to avoid becoming dependent on the corporation

 

6. It can be inferred from the passage that, compared with the requirements of law, the percentage goals set by “some federal and local agencies ” are

(A) more popular with large corporations

(B) more specific

(C) less controversial

(D) less expensive to enforce

(E) easier to comply with

 

Ans: (B) more specific

 

7. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author’s assertion that, in the 1970’s, corporate response to federal requirements was substantial

(A) Corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses totaled $2 billion in 1979.

(B) Between 1970 and 1972, corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses declined by 25 percent.

(C) The figures collected in 1977 underrepresented the extent of corporate contracts with minority owned businesses.

(D) The estimate of corporate spending with  minority-owned businesses in 1980 is approximately $10 million too high.

(E) The $1.1 billion represented the same percentage of total corporate spending in 1977 as did $77 million in 1972.

 

Ans: (E) The $1.1 billion represented the same percentage of total corporate spending in 1977 as did $77 million in 1972.

 

8. The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements about corporate response to working with minority subcontractors?

(A) Annoyed by the proliferation of “front” organizations, corporations are likely to reduce their efforts to work with minority-owned  subcontractors in the near       future.

(B) Although corporations showed considerable interest in working with minority businesses in the 1970’s, their aversion to government paperwork made them reluctant       to pursue many government contracts.

(C) The significant response of corporations in the 1970’s is likely to be sustained and conceivably be increased throughout the 1980’s.

(D) Although corporations are eager to cooperate with minority-owned businesses, a shortage of capital in the 1970’s made substantial response impossible.

(E) The enormous corporate response has all but eliminated the dangers of overexpansion that used to plague small minority-owned businesses.

 

Ans: (C) The significant response of corporations in the 1970’s is likely to be sustained and conceivably be increased throughout the 1980’s.