Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The landslides were caused by torrential rain.

The passage opens with the sentence 'Fresh landslides have occurred on the northern side of the Teesta bridge towards Sikkim causing severe damage at several places following torrential rain last night.' The rain is named as the cause in the very first line.

Floods are mentioned later, but only as the rivers of North Bengal rising, not as the cause of the landslides. Snowfall and cyclone are not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

Answer: C

According to local people the landslides are much worse than last September's.

The passage says 'Local villagers said that the landslides were much worse than last September when the highway had been reopened after a week'. The comparison with last September is stated, and the degree is 'much worse'.

'As bad as' denies any difference, and 'worse than' drops the force of 'much'. The option that says such landslides never occurred before is contradicted by the mention of the landslides of last September.

Answer: B

Traffic is blocked for Gangtok and Kalimpong.

The passage says that the General Reserve Engineering Force had partially cleared the highway, 'but fresh landslides again block traffic bound for Gangtok and Kalimpong'. These are also the two places said to remain cut off since July 8.

Siliguri, Darjeeling and Nepal are not named as blocked destinations. Siliguri appears only as the reference point for the distance of Likhuvir and as a town flooded by rain.

Answer: A

The Teesta was rising alarmingly.

The passage says 'The Teesta was rising alarmingly this morning posing a further threat to the railway lines at Mongpo.' The adverb is taken straight from the text.

Slowly and moderately describe the opposite of an alarming rise. 'Vigorously' sounds close, but the passage uses a word about danger, 'alarmingly', and not a word about force.

Answer: C

Likhuvir is about 50 Km from Siliguri.

The second sentence of the passage says the rain made repair of National Highway 31A 'at Likhuvir about 50 Km. from Siliguri, impossible'. The distance is measured from Siliguri.

Gangtok and Kalimpong are the places cut off by the landslides, and the Sikkim Government maintains supplies by transhipment at Likhuvir, but no distance from them is given. Darjeeling is not mentioned in the passage at all.

Answer: D

The boulders are dumped into the river to check erosion.

The passage says 'A hundred truck loads of boulders are being dumped into the river to check erosion.' The purpose is given in the same sentence.

The other options are tempting results of the work, but none is the stated purpose. Controlling flood, protecting the highway and repairing an embankment are not given as reasons for dumping the boulders.

Answer: A

The railway lines are threatened at Mongpo, printed as 'Mangpo' in the option.

The passage says the rising Teesta posed 'a further threat to the railway lines at Mongpo'. The option spells the place slightly differently from the passage, and it is the only option that names that place.

Siliguri and Gangtok appear in the passage in other connections, and Likhuvir is where the highway repair was impossible. None of them is the place where the railway lines were threatened.

Answer: A

The answer is People think they are underrated in their intelligence and understanding.

The passage says we look upon the giver of advice as offering an affront to our understanding and intelligence, treating us as children or idiots, and that we take the instruction as an implicit censure. Option A restates this.

Nothing in the passage calls advice old-fashioned or unnecessary (B), says people fail to understand it (C), or says they believe they already know it (D); the objection it gives is about being talked down to.

Answer: D

The answer is Through use of chosen words, show of wit and by using short and precise expressions as used in proverbs and fables.

The passage lists the devices of great writers: best chosen words, a flash of wit, precise expressions like proverbs, and above all the fable. Option D gathers these.

Quoting religious or other texts (A), help from rulers (B) and finest poetry (C) are not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

Answer: C

The answer is Because they present an imaginary world and the criticism contained in them is never direct.

The passage ends by saying a fable pleases most universally because it is not directly related to our everyday world and contains no direct attack. Option C puts this in other words.

The passage does not say fables come from ancient writers (A), that they are complete stories (B), or that they share one subject everywhere (D).