The Indian middle class consists of so many strata that it defies categorisation under a single term class, which would imply a considerable degree of homogeneity. Yet two paradoxical features characterise its conduct fairly uniformly; extensive practice and intensive abhorrence of corruption.
In the several recent surveys of popular perceptions of corruptions, politicians of course invariably and understandably top the list, closely followed by bureaucrats, policemen, lawyers, businessmen and others. The quintessential middle class. If teachers do not figure high on this priority list, it is not for lack of trying, but for lack of opportunities. Over the years, the sense of shock over acts of corruption in the middle class has witnessed a steady decline, as its ambitions for a better material life have soared but the resources for meeting such ambitions have not kept pace.
What is fascinating, however, is the intense yearning of this class for a clean corruptionless politics and society, a yearning that has again and again surfaced with any figure, public or obscure, who focuses on his mission of eradicating corruption. Even the repeated failure of this promise on virtually every man's part has not subjected it to the law of diminishing returns.
Who figure on top of the list of corruption?
Answer: C
Correct answer: Politicians
The passage says politicians invariably and understandably top the list, and names bureaucrats, policemen, lawyers and businessmen as following them. The order is given explicitly, so the other three options are all lower down it.
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This yearning, over the years, has
Answer: A
Correct answer: Persisted
The passage says the yearning has again and again surfaced with each new figure promising to eradicate corruption, and that repeated failure has not subjected it to the law of diminishing returns. What has declined is the sense of shock at corruption, not the yearning to be rid of it.
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Many sociologists have argued that there is a functional relationship between education and economic system. They point to the fact that mass formal education began in industrial society. They note that the expansion of the economies of industrial societies is accompanied by a corresponding expansion of their educational systems. They explain this correspondence in terms of the needs of industry for skilled and trained manpower, needs which are met by the educational system. Thus, the provision of mass elementary education in Britain in 1870 can be seen as a response to the needs of industry for a literate and numerate workforce at a time when industrial processes were becoming more complex and the demand for technical skills was steadily growing.
The industry needs a literate work-force because
Answer: D
Correct answer: its operations need intricate technical knowledge
The passage explains the 1870 provision of mass elementary education as a response to industry's need for a literate and numerate workforce at a time when industrial processes were becoming more complex and the demand for technical skills was steadily growing. Complexity of process is the reason it gives.
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The author argues that
Answer: A
Correct answer: formal education can be traced to industrial society
The sociologists' first piece of evidence is that mass formal education began in industrial society. The later expansion of education alongside the economy is a second observation, and vocational education and changes of pattern are never mentioned.
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The observations of the sociologists are based on a study of
Answer: D
Correct answer: the correlation between industry and education in a historical context
Their case rests on two historical observations set side by side: that mass formal education began in industrial society, and that educational systems expanded as industrial economies did. The 1870 example supplies the historical setting for that correlation.
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The Sociologists referred to it in the passage say that the relationship between industry and elementary education was one
Answer: B
Correct answer: based entirely on the need of the industry
The passage says the correspondence is explained in terms of the needs of industry for skilled and trained manpower, needs which are met by the educational system. Industry has the needs and education supplies them; nothing in the passage describes a need running the other way.
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By 'functional relationship' is meant
Answer: B
Correct answer: practical and utilitarian relationship
A functional relationship is one in which each part serves a purpose for the other, and the passage spells that purpose out: education produces the literate, numerate workers that industry requires. Nothing is said about how long the relationship lasts or how firmly it holds.
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Sometimes we went off the road and on a path through the pine forest. The floor of the forest was soft to walk on; the frost did not harden it as it did the road. But we did not mind the hardness of the road because we had nails in the soles and heels; the nails bit on the frozen ruts and with nailed boots it was good walking on the road and invigorating. It was lovely walking in the woods.
'Frozen ruts' means
Answer: C
Correct answer: wheel marks in which frost had become hard
A rut is a groove worn in a road by wheels, and frozen says the frost has set hard in it. That is why the road was hard while the forest floor was soft: the frost hardened the one and not the other.
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The floor of the forest was soft because
Answer: A
Correct answer: the frost did not harden it as it did the road
The passage gives the reason in the same sentence: the floor was soft to walk on because the frost did not harden it as it did the road. The boots and the nails explain why the hard road was bearable, not why the forest floor was soft.
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We did not mind the hardness of road because
Answer: A
Correct answer: we had nailed boots on
The passage says we did not mind the hardness of the road because we had nails in the soles and heels. What follows - that the walking was good and invigorating - is the result of that footing, not the reason for it.
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