Answers : SECTION-III

 

DIRECTIONS for questions 96 to 145:  Read the following Passage and answer the question that follows.

PASSAGE –1

Any analysis of the New Wave unorthodoxy must in the end boil down to an analysis of the methods of Jean-Luc Godard.
Godard decided that film could be made cheaply and quickly, and then set out boldly to work out what conventional items of expense could be dispensed with without destroying the essential purity of the art form.  In effect, this was a fresh exploration of the fundamentals of film making, and it involved the questioning of all known methods and trying out new ones in their places.  As Breathless and subsequent films proved, Godard was perfectly justified in applying rough and ready methods to film which dealt basically with unconventional people in an unconventional era.  In other words, the Godard form grew out of the Godard content, and the Godard content has always  embraced some aspect of contemporary European youth – journalist, soldier, prostitute, working girl, intellectual – caught in the whirl of modern living.  The syntax is new, the pace and rhythm are new , the conception of narrative is new.
Godard is the first director in the history of the cinema to have totally dispensed with what is known as the plot line.  Indeed, it would be right to say that Godard has devised a totally new genre for the cinema.  This genre cannot be defined, it can only be described.  It is a collage of story, tract, newsreel, reportage, quotations, allusions, commercial short, and straight TV interview – all related to a character or a set of characters firmly placed in a precise contemporary milieu.  A cinema of the head and not of the heart, and therefore , a cinema of the minority.
The means by which Godard is able to discard plot by doing away with the kind of obligatory scenes which would set the audience speculating on possible lines of development.  This forces one not to anticipate but only to watch and absorb.
Let me give an example.  Masculine-Feminine opens in a restaurant where a by and a girl, sitting at separate tables set at least twenty feet apart, strike up an acquaintance,.  They talk, but since the camera is t a distance from them, and since there is heavy traffic on the street outside (seen through the glass door), we do not make out what they are saying.  Godard here reverses convention by keeping the noise of the traffic deliberately and, if I may say so, realistically, above the level of conversation.  This goes on for some time when suddenly a man gets up from another table, walks out of the restaurant, and is immediately followed by a woman who takes out a pistol from her handbag and shoots him down at point-blank range.  The boy and the girl make some inaudible comments on this, and the scene ends.  It remains to add that the boy and the girl continue to be the focal point of the film, while the murder is never brought up again.
At a cursory viewing, it would be  easy  to dismiss the scene as pointless and incoherent.  But on second thoughts (or perhaps second viewing), it might begin to dawn on one that the scene not only presents actuality in a more truthful way than one is used to in the cinema, but it also makes some valid comments on our life and times.  Film grammar tells us that essentials should be stressed, and enumerates the various audio-visual ways of doing so; but what if a director has a totally new angle on what is essential and what is not?  In the scene just described, what has been established beyond dispute is that a boy and a girl met in a restaurant and talked.  What they said is, to Godard, inessential.  It is also established  that while they sat taking a woman murdered a man (Husband? Lover? – inessential) within their sight.  Now, it is customary for directors to arrange background action for their scenes where such action is called for.  This usually takes the form of unobtrusive but characteristic bits of business which make up- a credible atmosphere without disturbing the main lines of action in the foreground.  But what if someone uses an extremely violent bit of action in the background, if only to suggest that we live in an age where violence is all around us?  And the youthful pair’s apparent unconcern – does it not suggest the apathy to violence which can grow out of a prolonged exposure to a climate of extreme violence?
It is important  to note that with Godard the reversal of convention is not a gimmick or an affectation, but a positive and meaningful extension of the film language.
Godard is fully aware that he treads on dangerous ground when he drops all pretence of telling a story.  But being as much concerned about the audience as anybody else, he provides attractive handholds for them to latch on to in the absence of a story line.  Among these are the telling details which breathe life into the shorts, superb action from all the performers (stars even-for what else is Jean Paul Belmondo?), and quick changes of mood achieved with wit, grace and style.
In his recent films, Godard has sacrificed art for politics; but even in his best and most characteristic early works, h has been a bad model for young directors simply because his kind of cinema demands craftsmanship of the highest order, let alone various other equipment on an intellectual plane.  In order to turn a convention upside down, one needs a particularly firm grip on convention itself.  This Godard had, thanks to years of assiduous film studying at the Cinematheque in Paris.  Those who have seen his first short  story film Every Man is Called Patrick now what a sure grasp of narrative he had before he made Breathless.

Question 96.

Godard’s films in a chronological order as suggested in the passage is

A. Masculine-Feminine, Breathless, Every Man is Called Patrick
B. Every Man is Called Patrick, Masculine-Feminine, and Breathless 
C. Breathless, Masculine-Feminine, Every Man is called Patrick
D. None of the above

Question 97. Godard’s  films are unconventional/innovative because

A. he had his own unique style of filmmaking
B.  he made optimum  use  of film as a visual art
C. his films are set in contemporary times
D. he made optimum use of his budgets

Question 98. What qualities of a Godard film do audiences find interesting?

A. Watching his films require a concentrated effort
B.  They can watch the film  from any point – they don’t have to watch from the beginning
C. They throw up a lot of disconcerting questions about violence
D. They are very visual and thus a viewer’s delight

Question 99. Godard is not an ideal role model for filmmakers because

A. he concentrated more on the polities of the times
B. his films cater only to an intelligent audience 
C. he believes in enlivening every singly shot at the cost of sequence
D. One needs to be a genius with/in film formulae

Question 100. This passage is

A. descriptive
B. analytical 
C. argumentative
D. fictitious

Question 101.

91.         Which of the following statements can be deduced from the passage?

Godard’s films:
A] are an ideal for upcoming directors.
B]  have mass appeal
C]  are  a commentary on contemporary lifestyle.
D]  are a study in film narrative

A. C & D
B. A & B 
C. only C
D. none of the above

Question 102. In the example of Masculine-Feminine, following the ‘convention’ would have meant

A. increasing the violence in the action in background
B. reducing the noise level of the traffic 
C. having unrelated but interesting action in the background
D. having directly related but uninteresting action in the background

Question 103. “The Godard form grew out of the Godard content”  From this statement we can deduce that

A. Godard first works on a story line and then style
B. Godard’s films are unconventional 
C. Godard’s film language is born of his unconventional subject
D. Godard makes films according to the availability of equipment

Question 104. The scene in the film wouldn’t have made sense if

A. the girl ran up to the murdered man
B. the boy cheers the woman 
C. the rest of the movie focuses on why the woman turned murderer
D. all of the above

Question 105. If the girl had fainted after witnessing the murder

A. the film could be a murder mystery
B. the film would be a comedy 
C. the film would be a romantic suspense
D. cannot be said

 

PASSAGE -2

Contemporary New York is raucously multi-ethnic and  post-Christian, a site for the worship of Mammon and Dionysus rather that of the baby Jesus.  Specifically Christian notes, in fact, are rare in the city’s seasonal decorations.  Long gone are the days when the Jewish owners of emporiums like Bloomingdale’s and Stern’s made creches,. With tenderly smitten shepherds and resplendent gift-bearing magi the centerpiece of their display windows, Snowmen, reindeer, and the silvery sparkle of artificial frost signify the season with an unobjectionable minimalism.  Symbolized by Santa Claus, evergreens, angels, and baubles, Christmas belongs to everyone.  In his novel the Counterlife Phillip Roth  Salutes Irving Berlin for having brilliantly secularized the two major  Christian holidays with two popular songs, “white Christmas” and “Easter Parade”, that leave Christ quite out of it.

 

Christmas in New York offers foreign tourists an excellent study in the accommodations of the American melting pot.  One fourth of the new Yorkers are Jewish; Jewish energy and cleverness and warmth set the city’s tone, or, rather, have conformed to and strengthened a tone that was always there, a tone  of mercantile brashness that was haughtily noted by Bostonians and Philadelphians while the colonies were still ruled by a king across the ocean.  The eight days of Hanukkah have been blended with Christmas into “holiday season”, and the Hanukkah menorach and the Nordic pine tree have merged wit the camels carrying the magi across the Sinai peninsula and Tiny Time and Rudolph   the Red-Nosed Reindeer in a welter of acceptable Christmas imagery, available to window-dressers as elements of the message intended to excite holyday spending.

 

New York is also home to one of the world’s greatest concentrations of people of sub-Saharan Africans blood, and black-faced Santa Clauses, in white beards and mustaches, can be seen on may a street corner.  How many of these are, behind their beards, black Muslims does not bear looking into.  In an age of weakening Christian orthodoxy, the vigorous dogmas of political correctness and ethnic diversity an enforced everywhere.  Of two ten-foot wooden soldiers standing guard on the south side or Rockefeller Center, one was female and one was black.  Snowmen, once a common symbol of the season, have become, in their unalterable whiteness, something of an embarrassment, though a few survive.
Question 106. “Contemporary New York is raucously multi-ethnic and post Christian, a site for worship of Mammon and Dionysus rather than of the baby Jesus. “what does this statement mean?

A. New Yorkers no longer celebrate Christmas for religious reasons along
B. New Yorkers are mostly non-Christians who worship Pagan gods 
C. Christmas in new York is not celebrated for religious reasons
D. [B] & [C]

Question 107. Which of the following symbols are essentially Jewish?

A. Hanukkah menorah, camels carrying the magi across the Sinai peninsula
B. Nordic pine tree and Hanukkah menorah 
C. Tiny Tim and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
D. All of the above

Question 108. “Snowmen, reindeer and the silvery sparkle of artificial frost signify the season with an unobjectionable minimalism"”(Para 1).  from this statement we can infer that

A. the author regrets the loss of artistic diligence of the past
B. window dressers do not feel the need to use detailed religious themes for Christmas 
C. display window use either of this symbols to indicate Christmas
D. all of the above

Question 109. According to the passage what  are the reasons for New York Christmas being a secular festival?

A. Weakening Christian orthodoxy
B. Commercialization where profitability is priority
C. Political correctness
D. All the above

Question 110. Phillip Roth salutes  Irving Berlin because

A. two of his popular songs secularized two otherwise Christian holidays
B. ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Easter Parade’ are not hymns 
C. he popularised two of his songs
D. all of the above

Question 111. Which of the following statements are not from the passage?

A. Snowmen  are no longer a popular Christmas symbol
B. In the past, hews did take part in the Christmas spirit 
C. White Christmas is the popular anti racist song
D. New York Christmas is an excellent example of secularity

Question 112. Which of the following statements can be deduced from the passage?
A. The majority influential Jews have managed to combine their festival Hanukkah and Christmas to come up with marketing over-drive of a holiday season
B. The Jewish business community strengthen the already existing tone of mercantile brashness
 
C. The majority Jewish community is responsible for the growing Commercialization of Christmas
D. None of the above

A. A & B
B. B & C
C. only C
D. only D

Question 113. Which of the following statements of the author has definite racist undertones?
A. Of two ten foot wooden soldiers standing guard on the south side of Rockefeller Center, one was female and one was black
B. Jewish energy and cleverness and warmth set the cities tone, or rather, have confirmed to and  strengthened to tone that was always there a tone  of a mercantile brashness
C. Snowmen, once the common symbol of the season, have become, in their unalterable whiteness, some thing of an embarrassment, though a few survive
D. How many of these are behind their beards, black Muslims does not bear looking into.  In an age of weakening Christian orthodoxy, the vigorous dogmas of political correctness and ethnic diversity are enforced everywhere

A. only A
B. only B 
C. C & D
D. none of these

Question 114. The tone of the passage is

A. critical
B. racist 
C. nostalgic
D. optimistic

Question 115. In this passage the author 

A. congratulates New Yorkers on making Christmas a secular festival
B. misses the traditional ways of celebrating Christmas 
C. gives examples of Christmas  turning into a marketing orgy which then necessarily needs to be secular and politically correct
D. all of the above

Question 116. “Christmas in New York offers foreign tourists an excellent study in the accommodations of the American melting pot.”  What does the underlined word mean in the context of the passage?

A. board
B.  adapt
C. contain
D. adjust

 

PASSAGE –3

At the stroke of midnight on 14 August, when the rest of India gets set to celebrate the country’s 50th anniversary of Independence, one group of businessmen will turn uncharacteristically morose:  seafood exporters.  For that is the precise hour when their prospects of a bountiful future will come under new pressure as an EU ban on Indian seafood exports takes effect.  At Rs.4,100 crore, seafood may constitute only 4 per cent of India’s total exports, but following the end of the Kerala government’s ban on trawling during the monsoon months, the sector was poised for a big recovery.

 Nothing could have better illustrated the history of Indian trade over the last five decades.  Just when you think the worst is behind you, up springs another hurdle.  So even though total exports may have swelled from Rs.647 crore in 1951 (the first year for which detailed figures are available)  to Rs.108,478 crore in 1996, and imports from Rs.650 crore to Rs.131,944 crore, India commands a mere 1.02 per cent of world trade.

At Rs. 201 crore in 1951, cotton made-ups led Indian exports, followed by goods manufactured from jute (Rs.111 crore) and tea (Rs.80 crore).  Today, none of these figures in the list6 of top exports.  Instead, gems and jewellery, ready-made garments and engineering goods dominate.  But the composition of imports has remained constant over the year, with capital goods and oil and petroleum products ranking high.

The late 1950s saw the opening up of new export markets.  Indian goods went out for the first time to countries like Norway, Sweden and Latin America.  Simultaneously, official socialist passions stressed import substitution and restrictive trade policies.  As a result, imports of items like machinery and transport equipment, textile fibres, iron, steel and cereals decreased.

The truly marked change in Indian trade occurred in 1967, after the Indian rupee depreciated by 33 per cent.  That year’s exports jumped to Rs.1,157 crore from the previous year’s Rs.810 crore, while imports rose from Rs.1,409 crore to Rs.2,078 crore.  Yet, exports of traditional items (tea, jute, textiles, tobacco) did not grow as much since the demand for them overseas was inelastic.  The Ministry of International Trade, the precursor of today’s Ministry of Commerce, launched a number of export promotion measures like export credit at concessional prices,  supply of key inputs at international prices, duty drawback and freight concessions.

The movement of international crude oil prices has had a major impact on Indian trade.  Just when the balance had started shifting in India’s favor came the oil shock of the early 1970s.  India’s oil and petroleum products bill more than doubled, from Rs.204 crore in 1973 to Rs.560 crore in 1974.  When oil prices leaped again in 1981, the import bill jumped to Rs.5,263 crore, 42 percent of the total value of Indian imports, accounting for 90 per cent of the trade deficit.  But when crude oil prices dipped sharply in 1986, the oil import bill fell by about 55 per cent.

 Similar fluctuations have been observed in Indo-Russian trade.  This was important for strategic and defence, rather than economic, considerations.  Even at their zenith in the mid-1980s, exports to Russia were merely around Rs.2,400 crore and imports around Rs.1,200 crore.  But when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, several Indians dealing with Russia, particularly Calcutta-based jute and tea exporters, were wiped out of business

 Frequent swings between ecstasy and despondency-that has been the story of Indian trade in the last 50 years. The traders blame it all on the lack of government encouragement, abysmal infrastructure and a deep-rooted conspiracy by OECD countries to slam the door on their faces.

Yet, never will they admit that their products sorely need to be improved.  The EU ban , for example, came about because cholera germs were detected in some of the shrimp consignments shipped out.  Clearly, Indian exporters have suffered because they have neglected that most magical of mantras: quality.

 

Question 117. On 14th August 1997, the Indian seafood exporters were elated because

A. Kerala had lifted the ban on trawling during the monsoons but were worried about the EU ban of Indian seafood
B. the Kerala government had lifted the ban on trawling so they were looking forward for a big recovery 
C. their exports which constituted only 4 percent were poised for a big recovery
D. none of the above

Question 118. Which of the following statements follow from the passage?

A. India started exporting seafood in 1951
B. Indian seafood exporters have a data bank of figures since 1951 
C. There has not been a detailed compilation of figures for Indian exports prior to  1951
D. B & C

Question 119. Which of the following statements do not follow from the passage?

A. There is a change in the export trend since 1951
B. There has been a major  shift in the composition of imports since 1951 
C. There has been a shift in the composition of exports since 1951
D. Socialist India has always implemented restrictive trade policies

Question 120. In the 50s, official socialist passion led to

A. India exporting cotton ready-mades, jute and tea to Norway, Sweden and Latin America
B.  an increase of Rs.201 crores in exports
C. import of only capital goods oil petroleum
D. none of the above

Question 121. Which of the following statements best describes Indian trade in 1967?

A. The Ministry of International Trade launched a number of export promotion measures because of the increase in  income from exports
B.  India was still exporting traditional items like tea, jute, textile and tobacco
C. Through demand for Indian exports did not increase, planners saw a rise in income from exports due to the Rupee depreciation
D. Indian  exports rose from Rs.1,409 crores to Rs.2,078 crores

Question 122. The Ministry of International Trade launched a number of export promotion measures

A. because demand for Indian exports remained the same even though the rupee had depreciated
B. as the jump in exports in 1967 was not high enough 
C. to discourage imports
D. to encourage imports of items like machinery and transport equipment.

Question 123. Which  of the following statements describes best Indian economy’s budgetary dependence on International crude oil prices

A. The trade deficit is  in equal proportion to crude oil prices
B. Since crude oil tops the list of Indian imports, in 1981, the total value accounted to 42% 
C. The reduction of crude oil prices in 1986 left Indian Planners ecstatic
D. All of  the above

Question 124. Indian  exports overall have suffered in the last 50 years because of

A. India’s restrictive trade policy which led to heavy crude oil imports and the ire of OECD countries
B. Indian exporters neglect of quality of goods 
C. the policy makers concentration on strengthening Indo Russian trade even through it did not make economic sense
D. all the above

Question 125. What is the author’s proposition in this passage?

A. The movement of international oil prices has had a major impact on Indian trade
B. Just when you think the worst is behind, up springs another hurdle 
C. Indian exporters have suffered because they have neglected that most magical of mantras: quality
D. Frequent swings between ecstasy and despondency-that has been the story the Indian trade in the last fifty years

Question 126. Even at their zenith in the mid 1980’s exports to Russia were merely around Rs.2400 crore and imports around Rs.1200 crore.  What  does this example prove?

A. In the mid 1980’s even when Indo-Russian trade was at its peak, the income was significant enough to make a difference to the trade deficit
B. Economic policy makers were short sighted in encouraging Indo Russian trade 
C. Economic policy makers were short sighted in encouraging Indo Russian trade
D. Soviet union collapse in 1980 led to a loss of business for many Indian business men

  PASSAGE – 4

Many Netizens will admit to having had a magical, near-orgasmic experience when they first came online.  Being directly in touch with other people in another part of the world, being able to see and interact with their online representation of themselves, has been known to prompt and adrenaline rush alongside feelings, of warmth and empathy- a marvellous combination of responses which has largely eluded the counterculture in 50 years of searching for just this sort of high.

But the ‘one world’ feeling seems to operate according  to a law of diminishing returns.  Each time the Netizen goes online, the more the experience tends to become unexceptional.  The same goes for the Internet industry as a whole.  Already  it has recognised that the experience of simply being on the Internet is no longer a marketable commodity.  Increasingly, the industry is concerned with the content of what’s online, rather than trying to sell the novelty  of just being there.

Some commentators have referred to this process as ‘desensitization’, and inferred that we should feel a little bit guilty for allowing ourselves to become jaded so quickly.  But how else could it be?

 The initial moment of online joy is surely an expression of the desire in each and every one of us to escape our mutual alienation and reconnect with each other.  This in turn is a reflection of the  universalizing  potential of the modern world – a world which is already connected, albeit indirectly, through the global market; and which carries within it the capacity to transcend itself by putting all of its people into a direct and  creative relationship with each other.

However, this potential is continually stifled by the particular  historical form of the society in which we live – a society which prevents productive cooperation among the majority except when such cooperation profits a privileged minority: and which , as a consequence, also tends to promote atomization and individuation.  Our experience of the Internet cannot help but be shaped by this contradiction.  So it is that the more being online becomes part of every day experience as lived in our anti-social society, the more its universalizing potential tends to be obscured, and even forgotten entirely.

Furthermore, the ‘one world’ feeling is not unique to the Internet.  In the postwar period, it was thought that television would promote a sense of interconnectedness.  ‘Television offers the soundest basis for  world peace that has yet been presented’ , declared Scientific American in June 1954.  ‘Peace must be created on the bulwark of understanding.  International television will knit together the peoples of the world in bonds of mutual respect; its possibilities are vast indeed’.

Likewise, in the first half of the twentieth century, the development of the telephone  network provoked a similar response.  My father, who was brought up in rural Oxfordshire around the time of the First World War, recalls that telephone users would preface their conversations by asking ‘Are you there?’ this question which now seems absurdly quaint, must have been redolent with the sort of wonderment and naïve, pleasure, which now surrounds our initial experiences online.

In each of these historical instances, the personal experience of the world in its interconnectedness has been a source of joy, initially at least, to the individuals involved it.  But none of these pleasurable experiences was simple the result of the new technology which facilitated it.  On he contrary, the successive technologies involved were themselves dependent on the social relations which predated them.

Long before TV or even the telephone, the world was already ‘wired’ through the operation of the market (established in Europe and he United States of America in the first half of the nineteenth century)  and the international division of labour (established by means of the externalizing dynamic of imperialism towards the end of the nineteenth century).  On each occasion the connections which already existed as a consequence of the social relations of production were intensified by the introduction of new technology.  But in our antisocial society, the intensification of our connectedness also has the contradictory effect of further obscuring social relations and emphasizing our alienation.

The shift in the perceived role of television, from the expectation  of social coherence and community building in the fifties to the assumption that TV promotes atomization and  ‘couch potato’ passivity in the nineties, bears witness to this contradiction.  The culture surrounding the Internet, however, is the social/anti-social space where the contradiction between the universal and the particular finds its most intense expression.

It  often happens that individuals go online with the avowed intention of opening themselves up to a new range of experiences.  But from the point of view of the particular individual, the sheer volume of postings on the Internet seems imponderable.  So what can you do but scale down the range of sites you may consider visiting?  And in this scaling down, what tends to get left out are those sites which do not interest you when there is so much else out there, including stuff which fits your intellectual profile like a data glove.

In other words, the Netizen may set out travel the digital world by the most popular route turns out to be the path to his own backyard.
Question 127. What is the process of desensitization of a Netizen?

A. The process by which a Netizen gets used to connecting with people and stops meeting them
B. The point at which ‘one world’ feeling stops operating 
C. The process by which each time a Netizen accesses the Net, there is a reduction in the novelty and interest
D. not explained in the passage

Question 128. In the statement (Para 5)  “Our experience of the Internet cannot help but be shaped by this Contradiction”.  What is the contradiction?

A. The initial moments of online joy later turn to disappointment
B. The internet has the potential of the internet to allow human society to come together and work for the betterment of mankind.  Instead a few vested interests thwart such efforts 
C. The global market has the potential to allow human society to come together and work for the betterment of mankind.  Instead a few vested interests thwart such efforts
D. all of the above

Question 129. “Are you there?” – if taken as a symbol of 20th century technology it would mean

A]  anxiety
B]  peace and mutual respect
C]  wonderment and naïve pleasure
D]  man’s eternal quest to find new worlds, to reach out to the far beyond

A. A& B
B. only B 
C. C&D
D. only D

Question 130. “The culture surrounding the Internet, however, is the social/anti-social space where the contradiction between the universal and the particular finds its most intense expression”.  In this statement in Para 10 what is the contradiction?

A. As soon as a netizen is on the net he is cut off from the real world
B. A  netizen is not able to surf every single website on the net 
C. A netizen makes his choice to surf only those websites which interest him.   Thus joining a group of people with similar idealogies
D. All of  the above

Question 131. In this passage, the author is talking about

A. the net paves the way leading to your own backyard
B. the latest innovation – the web site has had the same effect as television, of promoting atomization and individuation because of our anti social attitudes 
C. our anti social attitudes have led 20th century innovations to narrowing our horizon
D. all of the above

Question 132. Which of the following statements cannot be directly inferred from the passage?
A]  Social relations all over the world were defined by production and markets.
B]  Foreign trade, labour specializations lead to prioritising quality control
C]  People realised the potential of new technologies that could make life easier.
D] Social relations across the world changed as a direct result of the introduction of technology


A. A & D
B. all of the above 
C. B & C
D. only B

Question 133. What  led to inventions like telephones and television?

A. These inventions were too hard to resist and became popular because they were means of  pleasure
B. The need to the wired to bring together the ‘new and the development worlds 
C. To speed up operations within the western world and reduce distances
D. To supply cheap labor to the imperialist countries

Question 134. The author begins the passage by discussing cyber space  and moves on to television and telephones because

A. all of them brought the entire world into your backyard
B. all of them helped in globalisation of  a fragmented world 
C. all of them were pleasurable experiences
D. the consequence on society contradicts the initial reasons for their introduction, in all the cases

Question 135. The extract is probably taken from

A. a book on the internet
B. a sociology book 
C. a text book on contemporary social history
D. not clear from the passage

Question 136. Which quote, illustrates best, the proposition of this passage?

A. The one world feeling seems to operate according to a law of diminishing returns
B. The culture surrounding the internet, however, is the social/anti-social space where the contradictions between the universal and the particular finds its most intense expression 
C. The Netizen may set out travel the digital world but the most popular route turns out to be the path to his own backyard
D. Increasingly,  the industry is concerned with the content of what’s on line, rather than trying sell the novelty of just being there

 

PASSAGE –5

What does it mean to simulate something?  According to Baudrillard.  “To dissimulate is to feign not to have what one has.  To simulate is to feign to have what one hasn’t.”  More than this , he says, “simulation threatens the difference between ‘true’ and ‘false’ between ‘real’ and ‘imaginary’.  Simulations can have powerful effects on our senses and constructions of reality.  Umberto Eco illustrates this with his description and analysis of Marine World in San Diego Zoo:

The symbolic center of Marine World is the Ecology Theater where you sit in a comfortable amphitheater (and if you can’t sit, the polite but implacable hostess will make you, because everything must proceed in a smooth and orderly fashio0n and you can’t sit where you choose, but if possible next to the latest to be seated, so that the line can move properly and everybody takes his place without pointless search), you face a natural area arranged like a stage.  Here, there are three girls with long blond hair and a hippie appearance;  one plays very sweet folk songs on the guitar, the other two show us, in succession, a lion cub, a little leopard, and a Bengal tiger only six months old.  The animals are on leashes, but even if they weren’t they wouldn’t seem dangerous because of their tender age and also because, thanks perhaps to a few poppy seeds in their food , they are somewhat sleepy.  One of the girls explains that the animals, traditionally ferocious, are actually quite good when they are in a pleasant and friendly environment, and  she invites the children in the audience to come up on state and pet them.  The emotion of petting a Bengal tiger isn’t an everyday occurrence and the  public is   spurting ecological goodness from every pre.  From the pedagogical has a certain effect on the young people, and surely it will tech them not to kill fierce animals.  Assuming that in their later life they happen to encounter any.  But to achieve this ‘natural peace’ (as  an indirect allegory of social peace) great efforts had to be made:  the training of the animals, the construction of an artificial environment that seems natural, the preparation of the hostesses who educate the public.  So the final essence of this apologue on the goodness of nature is Universal Taming.

Killer whale and dolphin pools are coming to possess many of the same qualities.  In many modernistic “ dolphinariums”,  constructed in 1970s or thereabouts, a concrete pool painted in garish blue, with clear, sweeping lines and expansive vistas, contains the dolphins, which are made to bounce colored balls, jump through hoops, and somersault over sticks by their youthful, brightly dressed, California surfer-style trainers.  Here nature is visibly subjugated.  Tamed and arguably even improved by the triumph of human technology.

In the post modern dolphinarium at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, however, the pool is surrounded on three sides by huge windows so the audience look out onto  and feel and inclusive part of what they imagine to be the ocean, even though it is only Lake Michigan, in which a dolphin could never live.  The vast oceanarium of which the dolphin pool is a part consists of sophisticated reconstruction of the Pacific Northwest complete with timber, islands board-walks, bird calls, and the like.  This is more like the Pacific Northwest than the Pacific Northwest itself.  Members of the audience perch on rough-hewn steps, seemingly carved out of the vary cliffs abutting the pool.;  the dolphins still do somersaults, slap their tails, and open their jaws  on command, but now their quietly spoken, wet-suited and “ecologically correct” trainers assure us that all this behavio9r is “natural”, that they tell the dolphins not what to  do, only when to do it.  More than this, they say, having the dolphins open their jaws on command makes it less stressful when they need to have their teeth checked, just as cuddling the dolphins out of the water makes it easier to administer injections when they are sick- all in the interest of their health and natural development, of course.  (Just one day after I first drafted this paragraph, two of the Aquarium’s recently captured Beluga whales died after receiving routine injections!)

 The dolphins are doing the same tricks as captive dolphins always have – but the simulated imagery gives their behavior a very different meaning.  This simulation of nature, its order and goodness, it achieved only by dissimulating the capture, control and containment of the animals which make the experience possibly even unentertaining behavior in which these animals might otherwise indulge if left to their own desires.

 This postmodern phenomenon of safe simulation has a significance that extends far beyond  the theatrical worlds of zoos, museums and theme parks.  Changing approaches to the in service training and development of teachers have some disconcerting parallels with changing approaches to the training of dolphins! This is most evident in those activities in classrooms and staff rooms, which involve creating a culture of cooperation and collaboration among students, teachers, or both.

 

Question 137. Which of the following statements describe simulation?
A. Not to feign to have what one hasn’t
B.  To make believe that one has something when in reality it isn’t so
 
C. The difference between  real and imaginary is blurred

D.  To make believe that one does not have something when in reality one does

A. B & C
B. A & D 
C. B, C & D
D. A & C

Question 138.

91.         Love for nature at the Ecology Theater
A]  is created using artificial means
B]  in reality creates an unnatural peace.
C]  introduces the animals in their true light.
D] teaches us not  to kill ferocious animals

A. C & D
B. A, B & D 
C. A & B
D. A,B &C

Question 139. Which of the following are examples of dissimulation?

A. Incident at Ecology Theater
B. Bengal tiger snaps at the audience 
C. Dolphins being taught tricks for their own good
D. To  think you have  a tame animal when you actually have a wild one

Question 140. The author feels that the effects of using simulation are far reaching because

A. soon our classrooms will  be simulated environments where real world problems will be controlled but not addressed
B. our classrooms will have more sports oriented activities 
C. teachers will issue  orders which students will unwillingly follow
D. none of the above

Question 141. The author condones

A. simulated learning
B. dissimulated learning
C. safe simulation
D. none of the above

Question 142. Where  is this extract probably taken from?

A. A book on tourist attractions
B. A book on animal training 
C. A book on education
D. A book on a new methods of teaching

Question 143. The author gives the example of Chicago Shedd Aquarium to illustrate that

A. training dolphins is essential for their own well being
B. simulated environs can fool an animal into behaving normally 
C. essentially, placing animals out of their  natural environments is harmful
D. none of the above

Question 144. The tone of the passage is

A. descriptive
B. analytical 
C. critical
D. narrative

Question 145. Which of the following statements do not follow from the passage?

A. The behavior of animals in simulated environs is natural
B. Dolphinariums and marine theatres standardise animal responses as enthusiastic and friendly 
C. Safe simulation reaches new parameters in our classrooms
D. Universal Taming is an indirect allegory of social peace

 

answers     scores      next