Reading Comprehension Set I(Exams > Cat > Verbal ) Questions and answers for exam Preparation

Exams > Cat > Verbal

READING COMPREHENSION SET I MCQs

Total Questions : 290 | Page 5 of 29 pages

Question 41. Zelizer refers to all of the following as important influences in changing the assessment of children’s worth EXCEPT changes in:

the mortality rate
the nature of industry
the nature of the family
attitudes toward reform movements

Discuss Question

Answer: Option D. -> attitudes toward reform movements
:
D
D is the best answer.
Although reform movements are mentioned in lines 39-45, the passage does not discuss attitudes or changes in attitudes toward those movements. This choice is therefore NOT among the influences Zelizer is said to regard as important in changing the assessment of children’s worth. A, B and C are mentioned in lines 48-58 as factors Zelizer regards as “critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth”.

Question 42. The author’s claim that, since the mid-1970’s, a new strategy has emerged in the unionization of public-sector clerical workers would be strengthened if the author:

compared the organizing strategies employed by private-sector unions with those of public-sector unions
explained why politicians and administrators sometimes oppose unionization of clerical workers
indicated that the number of unionized public-sector clerical workers was increasing even before the mid-1970’s
showed that the factors that favored unionization drives among these workers prior to 1975 have decreased in importance

Discuss Question

Answer: Option D. -> showed that the factors that favored unionization drives among these workers prior to 1975 have decreased in importance
:
D
D is the best answer.
The question asks what would strengthen the author’s claim that a new strategy for unionization has emerged since the mid-1970’s. Lines 30-31 cite the appearance of the new strategy. The paragraphs that follow describe the changed circumstances that provided a context for such new strategies. Lines 70-76 explain precisely how these changed circumstances created a reason for new unionizing strategies. The author’s claim would be strengthened if it could be shown not only that there are such new circumstances, but that the old circumstances discussed in the first paragraph have become less important further necessitating the adoption of a new strategy in place of an old strategy suitable to those older circumstances.

Question 43. It can be inferred from the passage that in the early 1800’s children were generally regarded by their families as individuals who:

needed enormous amounts of security and affection
required constant supervision while working
were important to the economic well-being of a family
were financial burdens assumed for the good of society

Discuss Question

Answer: Option C. -> were important to the economic well-being of a family
:
C
C is the most appropriate answer.
The answer can be inferred easily by reading the 2nd paragraph of the passage carefully.

Question 44. The author cites union efforts to achieve a fully unionized work force (line 13-19) in order to account for why-

politicians might try to oppose public-sector union organizing
public-sector unions have recently focused on organizing women
early organizing efforts often focused on areas where there were large numbers of workers
unions sometimes tried to organize workers regardless of the workers’ initial interest in unionization

Discuss Question

Answer: Option D. -> unions sometimes tried to organize workers regardless of the workers’ initial interest in unionization
:
D
D is the best answer.
In lines 17-24, the author describes the reasoning behind the multioccupational unions’ attempt to achieve a fully unionized workplace. This reasoning is provided to explain why “the multioccupational unions would often try to organize them (clerical workers)regardless of the workers’ initial receptivity”(lines 15-17). A helps to explain, but is not explained by, the attempt to achieve a fully unionized work force. An explanation for C is given in lines 4-7. B isexplained in the second paragraphof the passage.

Question 45. It can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death damage awards in America during the nineteenth century tended to be based principally on the:

earnings of the person at time of death
wealth of the party causing the death
degree of culpability of the party causing the death
amount of suffering endured by the family of the person killed

Discuss Question

Answer: Option A. -> earnings of the person at time of death
:
A
A is the most suitable answer.
Read t the 2nd paragraph carefully and browse through the options to deduce the correct answer choice.

Question 46. Which one of the following CANNOT be reasonably attributed to the labelling strategy followed by wine producers in English-speaking countries?

Consumers buy wines on the basis of their familiarity with a grape variety's name.
Even ordinary customers now have more access to technical knowledge about wine.
Consumers are able to appreciate better quality wines.
Some non-English speaking countries like Brazil indicate grape variety names on their labels.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option C. -> Consumers are able to appreciate better quality wines.
:
C
Option (c)
Only a connoisseur can appreciate better quality wines, taste is not written on labels.

Question 47. The author states that which of the following is a consequence of the women’s movement of recent years?

A structural change in multioccupational public-sector unions
A more positive attitude on the part of women toward unions
An increase in the proportion of clerical workers that are women
An increase in the number of women in administrative positions

Discuss Question

Answer: Option B. -> A more positive attitude on the part of women toward unions
:
B
B is the most suitable answer.
Read the 3rd pararaph carefully. The correct answer can be deduced from the lines "the women’s movement has succeeded in legitimizing the economic and political activism of women on their own behalf, thereby producing amorepositive attitude toward unions".

Question 48. According to the passage, the public-sector workers who were most likely to belong to unions in 1977 were:

professionals
clerical workers
service workers
blue-collar workers

Discuss Question

Answer: Option A. -> professionals
:
A
A is the correct answer.
Read the 2nd pararaph. We can clearly cateorize the public-sector workers who were most likely to belong to unions in 1977 as professionals.

Question 49. The main concern of the passage is to:

advocate particular strategies for future efforts to organize certain workers into labor unions.
explain differences in the unionized proportions of various groups of public-sector workers.
evaluate the effectiveness of certain kinds of labor unions that represent public-sector workers.
analyzed and explain an increase in unionization among a certain category of workers.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option D. -> analyzed and explain an increase in unionization among a certain category of workers.
:
D
D is the best answer.
In the first paragraph of the passage, the author asserts that efforts to unionize public-sector clerical workers prior to 1975 were limited and then goes on to describe these limited efforts. In the second paragraph, the author asserts that a new strategy developed after 1975 and cites an increase in union membership among public-sector clerical workers. The author begins the last paragraph by asking what can explain this increase in union membership, and then proceeds to provide an explanation. Thus, the passage is primarily concerned with analyzing and explaining the increase in unionization among public-sector clerical workers.

Question 50. Which of the following alternative explanations of the change in the cash value of children would be most likely to be put forward by sociological economists as they are described in the passage?

The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because parents began to increase their emotional investment in the upbringing of their children.
The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because compulsory education laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs, of available child labor.
The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because of changes in the way negligence law assessed damages in accidental-death cases.

Discuss Question

Answer: Option B. -> The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
:
B
B is the most suitable answer.
In stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s worth, Zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new “sociological economics,” who have analyzed such traditionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, education, and health solely in terms of their economic determinants.Allowing only a small role for cultural forces in the form of individual “preferences,” these sociologists tend to view all human behaviors as directed primarily by the principle of maximizing economic gain.Zelizer is highly critical of this approach, and emphasizes instead the opposite phenomenon: the power of social values to transform price. As children becamemorevaluable in emotional terms, she argues, their “exchange” or “surrender” value on the market, that is, the conversion of their intangible worth into cash terms, became much greater.