Section I: Verbal Reasoning
Analogy
Directions: Items 1 to 14 deal with verbal analogy questions. A related pair of words written in CAPITAL letters is followed by four pairs of words or phrases. Select the letter with a pair that has the same relationship as the original CAPITALIZED pair and blacken the letter of your choice on the separate answer sheet provided.
2. ANESTHESIA: ANESTHETIST
4. DUBIOUS: INCONTROVERTIBLE
6. DEFORESTATION: DROUGHT
15. Persons : Massacre : : Buildings : ?
16. Paw : Cat : : Sole : ?
17. Sam shivered as he passed from the bright sunlight into the gloom of the alley on that brilliant January day. As he pulled his jacket collar closer to his neck, feeling miserable about his mission, the eternally childish shouts from the end of the alley echoed familiarly. He could make out his parents' silhouettes, posed like old-fashioned boxers, ahead of him in the gloom, and wondered anew at how they could always make him feel like he was the forever big brother, the forever responsible party. The paragraph could be entitled:
18. The skies were gray so long that one doubted the stars were still there. Day after day, the steady rains beat down. Factories fell silent, bread lines lengthened, and deaths rose. All smiles seemed forced. The tone of the passage is :
19. The United States has given the free world the concept of "the American Dream," and thousands from all over the earth immigrate to America to pursue it. If one works hard, educates oneself and one's children, obeys the laws, and executes the responsibilities of a citizen, one can expect prosperity. One's children can only do better. The main idea of this passage is that:
20. A set of footprints was visible, leading from the porch to the driveway. Another set, as fresh, marked the ground from the front door to the driveway. A third set, smaller but similarly puddle with the ongoing rain, marked the earth between the sandbox and the driveway. It seemed the family had recently converged and driven, or been driven away. What technique of idea development is used in the paragraph?
21. "If you give a man a fish, you feed him today. If you teach him how to fish, you feed him forever." This sentence is the same as:
22. "As I left the peaceful sleeping village, the mist over the marshes was rising, to show me the great unknown world I was entering …. " What does the writer want to say?
23. "The politicians like to throw mud at each other." This sentence means:
24. "Though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing; it profits me nothing." This is to mean:
25. 'Chris' a white man called his name from a hut at the gates. 'Coming!' Chris shouted. He laughed and slapped Johannes on the shoulder – then he saw Xuma. 'Who is this ?! 'He's called Xuma,' Johannes said. Chris smiled at Xuma and Xuma smiled back. Suddenly, the white man called Chris slapped Xuma hard in the chest. Xuma raised his fists and stepped forward. . . What can be most likely said from the above text?
26. "Children tend to accept everything they see as real". This sentence means:
27. "People used to think the earth was a kind of flat cake, with the sea all around it; but we know that it's really like a ball-not quite round, but a little flattened, like an orange". This means that:
28. The hashtag symbol, or #, has recently been named the UK's children's word of the year. Children's dictionary writers at Oxford University Press analysed 120,421 entries to BBC Radio 2's annual short story competition. They found that under thirteens were using the hashtag symbol in a new way: to add emphasis, or to signal a comment, in their story writing. According to Vineeta Gupta, head of children's dictionaries at Oxford, examples of this phenomenon might include: 'This is a wonderful day, #sunny,' or: 'I have the best family, # fantastic family." From the preceding text, we can deduce that;
Parenting in the 21st Century
I decided to write this book for several reasons. I was dissatisfied with parenting-advice literature, finding it to be riddled with oversimplified messages, and often unrelated to or at odds with current scientific knowledge. I also felt certain after years as a professor, researcher, and author of textbooks on child development that contemporary theory and research contain many vital, practical messages … ones crucial for parents to understand if they are to effectively help their children develop. Furthermore, I’ve been approached on countless occasions by uneasy parents, frustrated by a wide array of child-rearing issues. I became convinced, therefore, that parents needed a consistent way of thinking about their role to guide them in making effective decisions.
It’s little wonder that parents are perplexed about what approach to take to child-rearing. Today’s world is one which makes parenting exceedingly difficult. In many industrialized countries, the majority of mothers of preschool children are in the workforce, though not always through choice. This group in particular tends to lament the lack of practical advice for parents in their child-rearing roles. Many parents simultaneously complain that they’re busier than ever and that due to the growing demands of their jobs, they have little time for their children.
Nations of pressured, preoccupied parents have emerged in an era of grave public concern for the well-being of youth. It would seem from looking at current media that the younger generation are achieving less well than they should and that they often display a worrying lack of direction, manifested at its worst in a variety of social problems. These problems seem to have infiltrated even the most economically privileged sectors of the population, affecting young people who, on the face of things, have been granted the best of life’s chances. Accounts of children being deprived of their childhood and growing up too fast, or the dangers of promoting materialism to young people abound in the media.
In many countries there is a growing sense of ‘youth alienation’ and parents rightly fear for their own children’s futures. But agreement on what parents can and should do to shield children from underachievement and demoralization eludes those who seek it on the shelves of libraries or bookstores. Parenting advice has always been in a state of flux, at no time more so than the present. While the fundamental goal of parenting – to instill character and moral development – has stood firm amid the various passing fashions in child care over the years, the approach to accomplishing this has varied considerably.
Some authors, convinced that parents are in control of what their children become, advise a ‘get tough’ approach. The educational parallel to this ‘parent-power’ stance is to train and instruct as early as possible, and this has been justified by claims of maximizing brain growth or securing high achievement by starting sooner. Other authors, however, attribute many of today’s social problems to the excessive pressure put on children by parents. According to these ‘child-power’ advocates, children have their own built-in timetables for maturing and learning. Waiting for cues that children are ready, these experts say, will relieve the stress that fuels youth discontent and rebellion. The reality, however, is that there are no hard-and-fast rules.
Current thinking on child-rearing advice mirrors historical shifts in theories of development and education. The most disturbing trend in the literature has been a move to deny that parents make any notable contribution to their children’s development. Indeed, according to one highly publicised book, children’s genes, and secondarily their peer groups, not parents, dictate how children turn out. This public declaration of parental weakness comes at a time when many busy parents are poised to retreat from family obligations, and, indeed, it grants them license to do so.
29. The author says that one reason for writing the book was the fact that
30. What view of young people is promoted in the media?
31. Which of the following is what the author says in the fourth paragraph about parenting advice?
32. What criticism of contemporary thinking on child-rearing does the author make?
33. The weather was awful since it rained all weekend. We were _______ wet and I began to wish that I had stayed at home.
34. Are there any passengers today with _______ needs?
35. Flies, priests and lights can ______ any house.
36. The ________ of aid corresponds to need.
37. After sitting in the sink for several days, the dirty, food-encrusted dishes became ________ .
38. The _______ of a mental disorder can be brought about by some form of chemical imbalance or a traumatic event such as war or the death of a partner.
39. It was ______ to think that it could possibly snow in the middle of the desert.
40. She wrote in her ______ that her mom used to buy her cream at a local _______ .
41. Important discoveries in chemistry _______ that scientists could produce synthetic medicines in laboratories.
42. Mary became _______ at typing because she practiced every day for six months.
43. Roman's glance was a ________ invitation to speak later in private about events of the meeting.
44. She hadn't eaten all day, and by the time she got home she was ______ .
45. It is difficult to believe that charging 20% on an outstanding credit card balance isn't ________ !
46. The high-profile company CEO was given an _______ for speaking at the monthly meeting of the area business leaders' society.
47. Must we be subjected to your _______ complaints all day long?
Antonyms
Directions: Items 48 – 58 consist of words printed in capital letters, followed by four words/phrases. Choose the word or phrase that is most nearly opposite to the word in each question and blacken the letter of your choice on the separate answer sheet provided.
Directions: Each sentence below (Items 59- 60) consists of a word or a phrase in bold followed by four words or phrases. Select the word or phrase which is closest to the OPPOSITE meaning of the word or phrase in bold and blacken the letter of your choice on the separate answer sheet provided.
59. Anything that might be used as a weapon will be confiscated by the security guards.
60. The members thought that the task was feasible.
