Reading Comprehension Questions and Answers

Answer: A

One should be indifferent (A) towards an evil subject.

The passage lists four attitudes and pairs them with subjects: friendly towards the good, merciful towards the miserable, glad when others are happy, and in its words "if it is evil, we must be indifferent".

Friendliness (C) is for a good subject and mercy (D) is for a miserable one. A negative attitude (B) is not among the four; reacting with hatred is what the passage warns against.

Answer: C

The idea the author does not want is that we ought to be happy towards unhappy people (C).

The passage asks for gladness when people are happy and mercy towards those in misery. Being happy at the sight of unhappy people reverses this pairing and is not recommended anywhere.

The other three are in the text: "we must be merciful towards those that are in misery" (A), "we must have friendship for all" (B), and "to the wicked we must be indifferent" (D).

Answer: C

When we suppress hatred or anger, good energy is stored up in our favour (C).

The passage says: "Each time we suppress hatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much good energy stored up in our favour; that piece of energy will be converted into the higher powers."

Option (A) describes what happens when we do not hold the mind down: the reaction "comes out in waves towards the object". Option (B) is the fear the author rejects, since he says we do not lose by restraining ourselves, and 'None of the above' (D) is wrong because the passage states (C).

Answer: D

The statement that is not true is that if a man does evil to us we should react in the form of hatred (D).

The passage uses that very situation as its example of failure: if a man does evil to us we instantly want to react, and "every reaction of evil shows that we are not able to hold the chitta down". The author wants the reaction restrained.

Statements (A), (B) and (C) follow the text: stored good energy with each suppression, mercy towards the miserable, and loss of control of the mind in every reaction of hatred or evil.

Answer: C

A miserable subject should be treated with mercy (C).

The passage says "if the subject of thought is one that is miserable, we must be merciful towards it".

Anger and hatred (A and D) are the reactions the author warns against, and indifference (B) is the attitude kept for the wicked, not for the miserable.

Answer: B

The one not involved is the satellite image providers (B).

The passage says that dealing with light pollution involves "potential conflicts of interest between the utility providers, environmentalists, astronomers, the lighting industry and various governmental agencies". Environmentalists, the lighting industry and government agencies are all named there.

Satellite images are mentioned only later, as a source of data on upward-beamed light, and the people who supply them are not listed among the parties in conflict.

Answer: C

It is called wasted energy because upward directed light does not provide the intended illumination (C).

The passage says: "Light pollution also indicates wasted energy, since upward directed light does not usually provide useful or intended illumination." Power spent on light that goes into the sky lights nothing that people need.

Option (A) and option (D) name real harms of light pollution, but not the reason it is called wasteful. Option (B), that most pollutions are wasteful, is a general claim the passage does not make.

Answer: C

The maps additionally furnish the growth of light pollution in developed urban areas and densely populated areas (C).

The last paragraph says the maps of calculated sky brightness "provide a vivid record of growth of light pollution in both developed urban areas and densely populated areas". That is what the maps add to the satellite images.

The scattering of light by air molecules (B) is part of the physical model used to calculate the maps, not information they furnish. The effect on the night sky (A) is what the satellite images do not give directly. Light beamed upward (D) is what the satellite images themselves measure.

Answer: A

The passage says light pollution (A) is rapidly threatening our environment.

Its first sentence reads: "Light pollution is one of the most rapidly growing threats to our environment."

Maps and satellite images are the tools used to study the problem, and the stars in the sky are what the problem damages the view of; none of them is the threat.

Answer: B

Our view of the starry sky is damaged by the increasing brightness of the night sky (B).

The passage says: "The resultant increase of brightness of the night sky is not only damaging our view of the starry sky, but is altering our perception of dark and moonlit nights".

Option (A) reverses the problem, since it is brightness and not darkness that is increasing. Water pollution and mental inertia (C and D) are not mentioned.