Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Dilatoriness is the word that means tending or intended to cause delay. It is the noun for being slow in doing what is required, and the passage uses it of Walker's usual habit of putting off the report the governor wanted.

Vindictively means in a way meant to take revenge, which describes Mackintosh's thoughts. Sneering means showing scorn, as in the sneer Walker is expected to give. Remonstrated means protested to someone to argue against something. Only dilatoriness has the sense of delay.

Answer: C

The key gives the third option: Walker says this because he did not understand the intelligible phrases. The passage says that if Mackintosh sought to put his meaning into an intelligible phrase, Walker would fly into a passion and ask what he cared about grammar, which fits a man who does not follow careful phrasing.

The report was late because of Walker, not Mackintosh's dilatoriness, so the first option is reversed. The distaste the passage names is for pens and paper, not for neatness, so the second option does not match. Childish expressions would be Walker's own insertions, not a reason for his outburst. The wording of the key option is loose, but it is the closest to the passage.

Answer: D

Religious teaching wants to induce an attitude of indifference to worldly things. The passage says that although religion does not forbid acquiring wealth or hold up large fortunes as evil, the tenor of its teaching by and large is to induce an attitude of indifference to worldly things.

Holding up large fortunes as evil is expressly denied. The next paragraph also denies that holding up privation and destitution as a blessing in itself was the Master's intention. That money is unnecessary for sustenance is likewise rejected, since even things of the spirit are said to need money. The attitude of indifference is the answer.

Answer: B

The words endorse the idea that people who are poor in spirit are humble before God, simple, God-fearing, teachable and faithful. The passage explains that the word poor on the lips of the Master had a spiritual significance and meant the poor in spirit.

The science of wealth is the field in which Jesus Christ is called the greatest exponent, not what the four words endorse. The passage denies that he meant to hold up privation and destitution as a blessing, and it denies that money is unnecessary for sustenance and the joys of life. The spiritual meaning of poor is the answer.

Answer: B

The student should be made to realise that the real goods of life are spiritual and that they include service of one's fellowmen. The first paragraph states this directly, naming love of things of the spirit, service of one's fellowmen and the joy of an ordered disciplined life.

The idea that money is unnecessary for sustenance is rejected later in the passage. The values attached to happiness and wealth are what the Master is said to have changed, not what students are asked to realise. Real bliss in riches is the worldly view that the Master is said to have set aside. The spiritual goods of life are the answer.

Answer: C

Money is absolutely necessary because extreme poverty leads to stagnation and impoverishment of the soul. The passage argues that even things of the spirit cannot be had without money, and that extreme poverty is as liable to lead to stagnation and impoverishment of the soul as excessive wealth.

The first option says money makes people rich, which is not an argument the author makes. The second claims money lets us show love and fellowship; the passage says love and fellowship come from being at peace with one's fellowmen, not from money. The fourth option states the worldly idea of real bliss that the passage sets aside. The stagnation of the soul is the answer.

Answer: A

The line says every religion asks a man to regard his wealth as a trust, and the passage explains this a few sentences later: all the gospels of wealth rest on the idea that no one has an absolute right to property, and everyone holds it in trust from God to promote the good of mankind. The first option restates that idea.

Giving in charity is described as an act of social justice, but that is a consequence of the trust idea, not an explanation of it. Religious institutes holding rights to private property is not said anywhere. The passage does not tell people to give away excessive wealth either; it says rights to property are subject to the obligation to God and man. The first option is the answer.

Answer: A

Parents cannot usually talk about their joys, griefs and fears. The first sentence of the passage says the joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and fears, and that parents cannot utter the one nor will they utter the other.

Their labours and their misfortunes are things children are said to affect, by sweetening the one and making the other more bitter, but the passage does not say these are unspeakable. Their affection is mentioned only in the second paragraph, where its difference among children is described, not hidden. The secret joys, griefs and fears are the answer.

Answer: D

The passage lists four things children do for parents, and the one it does not say is that they make parents feel unfortunate. Children are said to sweeten labours, to increase the cares of life and to mitigate the remembrance of death.

Sweetening the labours, increasing the cares of life and mitigating the remembrance of death are all stated in the passage, so they are things children do. The passage does say children make misfortunes more bitter, but that is a different claim from making parents feel unfortunate. Only the last option is not stated, which is why it is the answer to a NOT question.

Answer: B

The childless men are said to do the noblest and original works. The author says that a man shall see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men, who have sought to express the images of their minds where those of their bodies have failed.

Men who have posterity are the opposite group in this comparison. The passage never links noble works to men whose labours are sweetened, and it does not say that fewer cares of life lead to better works. The author's reason is that the childless put their care of posterity into works of the mind, so the childless men are the answer.