Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The mood is somber and grieved.

The speaker contrasts the happy fisherman's boy and sailor lad with his own loss: he longs for 'the touch of a vanish'd hand, / And the sound of a voice that is still', and ends that 'the tender grace of a day that is dead / Will never come back to me'. These lines express grief for someone who has died.

The poem is not hopeful, because nothing will come back; not lighthearted, because the cheerful children only sharpen the sorrow; and not energized, because the speaker cannot even find words for his thoughts.

Answer: C

The speaker does not observe a lady in a tower.

The poem mentions the fisherman's boy shouting with his sister at play (children playing), the sailor lad singing in his boat on the bay, and the 'stately ships' going on to their haven (ships coming in).

No lady or tower appears anywhere in the poem, so that is the one thing in the list that he does not see.

Answer: C

The speaker cannot speak.

He says 'I would that my tongue could utter / The thoughts that arise in me', which means he wishes he could put his feelings into words and cannot. His grief is overwhelming but wordless.

He can feel, since the poem is about his sorrow. He can see the ships, the boy and the sailor lad. He can hear the song of the sailor lad and the sea breaking, though not the voice that is still.

Answer: B

In the first two lines the poet uses apostrophe.

Apostrophe is the device of speaking directly to something that cannot answer, such as an abstract idea or a part of nature. The speaker addresses the sea: 'Break, Break, Break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!', giving it a command and calling it 'thy' and 'O Sea'.

It is not a simile, because nothing is compared with 'like' or 'as', and not a metaphor, because nothing is said to be something else. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, which is not what makes these lines notable.

Answer: C

The phrase is an example of alliteration.

Alliteration is the repetition of the same initial consonant sound in nearby words. In 'haven under the hill', 'haven' and 'hill' both begin with the same h sound.

It is not a simile or a metaphor, because the ships' harbour is meant literally and no comparison is made. It is not personification either, because the haven is not given human qualities.

Answer: D

The author is conveying that Indian IT firms are engaging in expanding their presence internationally.

The sentence opens a passage about the 'outsourcing giants' that are 'aggressively expanding beyond their usual stomping grounds into the developing world; setting up programming centres, chasing new clients and hiring local talent'. Having been created by the globalization of the American economy, the sector now spreads out itself, which is what 'some globalization of its own' means.

The other options misread it. India has not taken the leading position from the US: the US still supplies 60% of export revenue. The firms are not competing with other emerging nations for American business, since they are going into those nations to find new customers. And they are not 'considering outsourcing' to developing economies, because they are setting up operations and hiring locals there.

Answer: A

The answer is None: none of A, B or C is given as a reason.

The passage says Indian IT rose because American executives 'were quick to capitalize on the cost savings to be gained by outsourcing noncore operations, such as systems programming and call centres'. The attraction was therefore lower cost for routine work, so statement A, expertise in rare core operations, contradicts the text.

Statement B, that the US lacked infrastructure and personnel, is not claimed anywhere; the reason was saving money, not a shortage. Statement C is not in the passage either: other developing countries are said to be equally low cost today, and nothing is said about them failing to meet American policies. So 'Only A', 'Only A and B' and 'Only C' each include a claim the passage does not make.

Answer: B

The closest answer is the demands of these markets are different from those of India's traditional customers.

The passage says Indian firms 'can't compete on price alone' in emerging economies, so to adapt they set up 'major local operations', hire locals, and 'work extra hard to woo business' from companies 'unaccustomed to the concept of outsourcing'. That is a change in how they do business, brought about by the character of these customers and markets, which the key states as different demands.

The other options are not supported. No shortage of capacity is mentioned. Wages are not higher: 'costs in other emerging economies [are] equally low'. And stringent laws are never mentioned. What could not be confirmed is that the passage itself states the cause in the key's words; option B is the best fit among four, not a quotation.

Answer: A

The key's answer is drop in demand for IT services by Europe and the US.

The passage says NASSCOM forecasts that the growth rate of India's exports of IT and other business services to the US and Europe 'will drop to at most 7% in the current fiscal year, down from 16% last year and 29% in 2007-08'. The statistics therefore show slowing demand from those two markets during the recession.

To be exact, the figures are a falling growth rate and not an absolute fall, so the option is the closest reading and not a precise one. The other options claim things the passage never says: that Indian firms overcharge, that India has lost out to other emerging IT hubs, or that the sector must be restructured.

Answer: C

The statement that is not a difficulty is that the US is their preferred outsourcing destination.

The passage lists three difficulties in emerging markets: companies there are 'unaccustomed to the concept of outsourcing' (a mindset resistant to outsourcing), 'costs in other emerging economies [are] equally low' (local services are equally cost-effective, so price alone does not win business), and 'cultural conflicts arise at times while training new recruits'.

The US is the established market where the firms already do well, accounting for 60% of export revenue; that is why they are looking elsewhere, and it is not a difficulty of working in emerging markets.