Deriving Conclusions From Passages Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Correct answer: Probably true

The passage says space probes carry a large variety of the latest scientific instruments on board and that they have sent back close-up pictures and other data. Craft that must operate unattended and transmit data across such distances would need computers, and the reference to the latest instruments points the same way - but the passage never actually says the word, so this is a reasonable inference rather than a stated fact.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Definitely false

The passage contradicts this directly. Space probes are described as returning pictures and data about planets and other bodies in outer space, which is far beyond the earth’s atmosphere. The upper atmosphere belongs to a different sentence, about the original purpose of artificial satellites, and the word ‘only’ in the statement makes the clash unmistakable.

Answer: A

It is mentioned in the passage that the space probes have provided pictures and certain data of the outer space and the heavenly bodies. Thus, they have helped us increase our knowledge of outer space and the bodies in it.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Definitely true

The passage says Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon on 20 July 1969. A man setting foot on the moon is exactly what exploration of the moon by man means, so the inference follows from the stated fact with nothing added. Note that ‘first man’ also implies others followed, but even the one landing is enough to make the statement true.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Data inadequate

The passage says Indian ports should be benchmarked against the best ports worldwide, but it never says where those ports are. Nothing in it points to the United States or to any other country. The statement is therefore neither supported nor contradicted - it is simply outside what the passage tells us, which is what makes it a data inadequate case rather than a false one.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Data inadequate

The passage says there is a need to continually benchmark Indian ports against the best in the world. That is a recommendation about what should be done in future; it does not tell us whether any grading has already been carried out. A call for something to be done regularly is not evidence that it has never been done at all, so the passage leaves the question open.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Probably false

The passage states the opposite: pre-berthing time has been marginally increasing over the years. It is the average turn-around time that has been falling. The statement therefore runs against what is written, and since the fourth option here is worded ‘probably false’ rather than ‘definitely false’, that is the strongest verdict available - and the right one to choose when the contradiction is clear but the passage hedges with ‘marginally’.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Definitely true

This is stated almost directly. The passage says India needs higher investment in the port sector, that its ports still lag far behind international ports in container traffic, and that they need to be continually benchmarked against the best ports worldwide. Taken together those are precisely the claim that considerable development is needed to match the best, so the inference follows without any assumption of its own.

Answer: D

It is mentioned in the passage that there is a need to engage in policy efforts so as to attain prices per container 'of port services which are the lowest in the world. This indicates that at present these service charges are not the lowest.