INTERVIEW FOR CSE 2019
All ForumIAS members selected for CSE 2019 Personality Test must submit their details and DAF and register below to receive further instructions and guidance from ForumIAS. Click here to register now
INTERVIEW 2020 CHANNEL
ForumIAS Channel for Interview Preparation is now Active! Please join the channel by clicking here
We are hiring!

[CSAT] Reading Comprehension practice thread

168101112

Comments

  • edited August 2014
    @abhinitb Yes, I frame these questions myself. :) and yes, this is an article from the hindu only.

    Regarding answers, i would like to wait for at least one more response :)
  • #RC013

    Two relatively recent independent developments stand behind the current major research effort on nitrogen fixation, the process by which bacteria symbiotically render leguminous plants independent of nitrogen fertilizer. The one development has been the rapid, sustained increase in the price of nitrogen fertilizer. The other development has been the rapid growth of knowledge of and technical sophistication in genetic engineering. Fertilizer prices, largely tied to the price of natural gas, huge amounts of which go into the manufacture of fertilizer, will continue to represent an enormous and escalating economic burden on modern agriculture, spurring the search for alternatives to synthetic fertilizers. And genetic engineering is just the sort of fundamental breakthrough that opens up prospects of wholly novel alternatives. One such novel idea is that of inserting into the chromosomes of plants discrete genes that are not a part of the plants' natural constitution: specifically, the idea of inserting into nonleguminous plants the genes, if they can be identified and isolated, that fit the leguminous plants to be hosts for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Hence, the intensified research on legumes.

    Nitrogen fixation is a process in which certain bacteria use atmospheric nitrogen gas, which green plants cannot directly utilize, to produce ammonia, a nitrogen compound plants can use. It is one of nature's great ironies that the availability of nitrogen in the soil frequently sets an upper limit on plant growth even though the plants' leaves are bathed in a sea of nitrogen gas. The leguminous plants—among them crop plants such as soybeans, peas, alfalfa, and clover—have solved the nitrogen supply problem by entering into a symbiotic relationship with the bacterial genus Rhizobium; as a matter of fact, there is a specific strain of Rhizobium for each species of legume. The host plant supplies the bacteria with food and a protected habitat and receives surplus ammonia in exchange. Hence, legumes can thrive in nitrogen-depleted soil.

    Unfortunately, most of the major food crops—including maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes—cannot. On the contrary, many of the high-yielding hybrid varieties of these food crops bred during the Green Revolution of the 1960's were selected specifically to give high yields in response to generous applications of nitrogen fertilizer. This poses an additional, formidable challenge to plant geneticists: they must work on enhancing fixation within the existing symbioses. Unless they succeed, the yield gains of the Green Revolution will be largely lost even if the genes in legumes that equip those plants to enter into a symbiosis with nitrogen fixers are identified and isolated, and even if the transfer of those gene complexes, once they are found, becomes possible. The overall task looks forbidding, but the stakes are too high not to undertake it.

    1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

    expose the fragile nature of the foundations on which the high yields of modern agriculture rest
    argue that genetic engineering promises to lead to even higher yields than are achievable with synthetic fertilizers
    explain the reasons for and the objectives of current research on nitrogen-fixing symbioses
    argue that the capacity for nitrogen-fixing symbioses is transferable to nonleguminous plants
    describe the nature of the genes that regulate the symbiosis between legumes and certain bacteria

    2. According to the passage, there is currently no strain of Rhizobium that can enter into a symbiosis with

    alfalfa
    clover
    maize
    peas
    soybeans

    3. The passage implies that which of the following is true of the bacterial genus Rhizobium?

    Rhizobium bacteria produce some ammonia for their own purposes.
    Rhizobium bacteria are found primarily in nitrogen-depleted soils.
    Some strains of Rhizobium are not capable of entering into a symbiosis with any plant.
    Newly bred varieties of legumes cannot be hosts to any strain of Rhizobium.
    Rhizobium bacteria cannot survive outside the protected habitat provided by host plants.


    4. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following was the most influential factor in bringing about intensified research on nitrogen fixation?

    The persistent upward surge in natural gas prices
    The high yields of the Green Revolution
    The variety of Rhizobium strains
    The mechanization of modern agriculture
    The environmental ill effects of synthetic fertilizers

    5. Which of the following situations is most closely analogous to the situation described by the author as one of nature's great ironies ?

    That of a farmer whose crops have failed because the normal midseason rains did not materialize and no preparations for irrigation had been made
    That of a long-distance runner who loses a marathon race because of a wrong turn that cost him twenty seconds
    That of shipwrecked sailors at sea in a lifeboat, with one flask of drinking water to share among them
    That of a motorist who runs out of gas a mere five miles from the nearest gas station
    That of travelers who want to reach their destination as fast and as cheaply as possible, but find that cost increases as travel speed increases

    6. According to the passage, the ultimate goal of the current research on nitrogen fixation is to develop

    strains of Rhizobium that can enter into symbioses with existing varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes
    strains of Rhizobium that produce more ammonia for leguminous host plants than do any of the strains presently known
    varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that yield as much as do existing varieties, but require less nitrogen
    high-yielding varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that are genetically equipped to fix nitrogen from the air without the aid of bacteria
    varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that maintain an adequate symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and produce high yields

    7. The author regards the research program under discussion as

    necessary and ambitious but vulnerable to failure
    original and extensive but ill-defined as to method
    cogent and worthwhile but severely under-funded
    prohibitively expensive but conceptually elegant
    theoretically fascinating but practically useless

    8. Most nearly parallel, in its fundamental approach, to the research program described in the passage would be a program designed to

    achieve greater frost resistance in frost-tender food plants by means of selective breeding, thereby expanding those plants' area of cultivation
    achieve greater yields from food plants by interplanting crop plants that are mutually beneficial
    change the genetic makeup of food plants that cannot live in water with high salinity, using genes from plants adapted to salt water
    find inexpensive and abundant natural substances that could, without reducing yields, be substituted for expensive synthetic fertilizers
    develop, through genetic engineering, a genetic configuration for the major food plants that improves the storage characteristics of the edible portion of the plants

  • @oceanus
    My take on RC 012
    1a
    2a
    3a
    4b
    5d
  • edited August 2014
    @abhinitb

    My take on RC013
    1 explain the reasons for and the objectives of current research on nitrogen-fixing symbioses
    2 maize
    3 Some strains of Rhizobium are not capable of entering into a symbiosis with any plant.
    4 The high yields of the Green Revolution
    5 That of travelers who want to reach their destination as fast and as cheaply as possible, but find that cost increases as travel speed increases
    6 varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that maintain an adequate symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and produce high yields
    7 necessary and ambitious but vulnerable to failure
    8 develop, through genetic engineering, a genetic configuration for the major food plants that improves the storage characteristics of the edible portion of the plants
  • #RC012 1(d) 2(d) 3 (b) 4(c) 5(a)


    #RC013
    1. explain the reasons for and the objectives of current research on nitrogen-fixing symbioses
    2. maize
    3. Rhizobium bacteria are found primarily in nitrogen-depleted soils.
    4. The persistent upward surge in natural gas prices
    5. --
    6. varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that maintain an adequate symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and produce high yields
    7. original and extensive but ill-defined as to method
    8. find inexpensive and abundant natural substances that could, without reducing yields, be substituted for expensive synthetic fertilizers
  • #RC013 - Answers

    1. explain the reasons for and the objectives of current research on nitrogen-fixing symbioses
    2. Maize
    3. Rhizobium bacteria produce some ammonia for their own purposes.
    4. The persistent upward surge in natural gas prices
    5. That of shipwrecked sailors at sea in a lifeboat, with one flask of drinking water to share among them
    6. varieties of wheat, rice, and other nonlegumes that maintain an adequate symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and produce high yields
    7. necessary and ambitious but vulnerable to failure
    8. change the genetic makeup of food plants that cannot live in water with high salinity, using genes from plants adapted to salt water
  • Guys, Need your help.

    Can somebody please help me out with Assumption Questions in RC passages ??

    From what I have seen in various websites, they say that assumption is the premise the author has based his passage on and should be outside of the passage and cannot be derived from it.

    Is there any specific methodology or techniques to go about in these kinda questions ???

    Thanks in advance....
  • @Oceanus

    Thanks got all correct :D
  • @Sanjeev0120 The passages shared by me are created by me only. I have made the questions based on snippets from different sources. I don't vouch for them being 100% correct, but i am open to discussion and if anyone has any doubt regarding any of the answers, we can always discuss it and if needed, rectify it too. :)
Sign In or Join to comment.

Welcome!

We are a secret self-moderated community for Civil Services preparation. Feel free to join, start a discussion, answer a question or just to say Thank you.

Just dont spread the word ;)

Sign in or join with Facebook or Google