C2CT/MSTI/ Sample English and Reasoning Question-2.

Time: 25
min.
Read the Passage and answer the questions that follow:
The Minneapolis Star Tribune offers an article on Why is the sky blue? Facts you should know,
subtitled "Scientists offer 10 basic questions to test your knowledge". I had been planning to
write for a while on why the sky is blue, and how the conventional answers are pretty crappy.
(The short answer is "Rayleigh scattering", but that's another article for another day. Even
crappier are the common explanations of why the sea is blue. You often hear the explanation
that the sea is blue because it reflects the sky. This is obviously nonsense. The surface of the
sea does reflect the sky, perhaps, but when the sea is blue, it is a deep, beautiful blue all the
way down. The right answer is, again, Rayleigh scattering.)
The author, Andrea L. Gawrylewski, surveyed a number of scientists and educators and asked
them "What is one science question every high school graduate should be able to answer?" The
questions follow.
1.

What percentage of the earth is covered by water?

This is the best question that the guy from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute can come up
with?
It's a plain factual question, something you could learn in two seconds. You can know the
answer to this question and still have no understanding whatever of biology, meteorology,
geology, oceanography, or any other scientific matter of any importance. If I were going to
make a list of the ten things that are most broken about science education, it would be that
science education emphasizes stupid trivia like this at the expense of substantive matters.
For a replacement question, how about "Why is it important that three-fourths of the Earth's
surface is covered with water?" It's easy to recognize a good question. A good question is one
that is quick to ask and long to answer. My question requires a long answer. This one does not.
2.
What sorts of signals does the brain use to communicate sensations, thoughts and
actions?
This one is a little better. But the answer given, "The single cells in the brain communicate
through electrical and chemical signals" is still disappointing. It is an answer at the physical
level. A more interesting answer would discuss the protocol layers. How does the brain perform
error correction? How is the information actually encoded? I may be mistaken, but I think this
stuff is all still a Big Mystery.
The question given asks about how the brain communicates thoughts. The answer given
completely fails to answer this question. OK, the brain uses electrical and chemical signals. So
how does the brain use electricity and chemicals to communicate thoughts, then?
3.

Did dinosaurs and humans ever exist at the same time?

Here's another factual question, one with even less information content than the one about the
water. This one at least has some profound philosophical implications: since the answer is "no",
it implies that people haven't always been on the earth. Is this really the one question every
high school graduate should be able to answer? Why dinosaurs? Why not, say, trilobites?

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I think the author (Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times) is probably trying to strike a blow
against creationism here. But I think a better question would be something like "what is the
origin of humanity?"
4.

What is Darwin's theory of the origin of species?

At last we have a really substantive question. I think it's fair to say that high school graduates
should be able to give an account of Darwinian thinking. I would not have picked the theory of
the origin of species, specifically, particularly because the origin of species is not yet fully
understood. Instead, I would have wanted to ask "What is Darwin's theory of evolution by
natural selection?" And in fact the answer given strongly suggests that this is the question that
the author thought he was asking.
But I can't complain about the subject matter. The theory of evolution is certainly one of the
most important ideas in all of science.
5.

Why does a year consist of 365 days, and a day of 24 hours?

I got to this question and sighed in relief. "Ah," I said, "at last, something subtle." It is subtle
because the two parts of the question appear to be similar, but in fact are quite different. A year
is 365 days long because the earth spins on its axis in about 1/365th the time it takes to revolve
around the sun. This matter has important implications. For example, why do we need to have
leap years and what would happen if we didn't?
The second part of the question, however, is entirely different. It is not astronomical but
historical. Days have 24 hours because some Babylonian thought it would be convenient to
divide the day and the night into 12 hours each. It could just as easily have been 1000 hours.
We are stuck with 365.2422 whether we like it or not.
The answer given appears to be completely oblivious that there is anything interesting going on
here. As far as it is concerned, the two things are exactly the same. "A year, 365 days" it says,
"is the time it takes for the earth to travel around the sun. A day, 24 hours, is the time it takes
for the earth to spin around once on its axis."
1.
What is Rayleigh scattering?
a.
A scientific explanation to why the sky is blue?.
b.
A satisfactory explanation to 10 basic questions of science.
c.The title of another article the writer of the above article has written.
d.
A scientific explanation to why do we see colours?.
2.
What percentage of the earth is covered by water?, according to the
author of the above article, is not a good question because:
a.
Its not easy to recognize a good question.
b.
This one is not matching the criteria of the list of the ten things that are most broken
about science education.
c.It would be that science education emphasizes stupid trivia like this at the expense of
substantive matters.
d.
We are not the natural inhabitants of water.
3.
According to the author, what is good question?
a.
A question with multiple answers.
b.
A question with straight, unambiguous, clear, definite and brief answer.
c.A question that raises further scope questions.
d.
A short question with long explanatory answer.

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4.
How do the signals that the brain uses function to communicate sensations,
thoughts and actions?
a.
The single cells in the brain communicate through electrical and chemical signals.
b.
At the psychological level.
c.Through the neurons.
d.
Is still a Big Mystery.
5.
Did dinosaurs and humans ever exist at the same time? this question
successfully aims at:
a.
b.
c.What
d.

Judging the ability of a school graduate to answer a science question

striking a blow against creationism
is the origin of humanity?
Cant say

6.
What is Darwin's theory of the origin of species?- is a substantive question
because:
a.
Its unfair to say that high school graduates should be able to give an account of
Darwinian thinking.
b.
The origin of species is not yet fully understood.
c.This is a very popular science question
d.
The theory of evolution is certainly one of the most important ideas in all of science.
7.
If a day would contain 1000 hrs, then in a year how many days we would get?
a.
41.667 days
b.
365 days
c.42 days
d.
365.2422 days
8.
Which one, according to the author, would be the most interesting and
misleading question among the given?
a.
What percentage of the Pandora is covered by water?
b.
Did trilobites and humans ever exist at the same time?
c.If a day would contain 1000 hrs, then in a year how many days we would get?
d.
What is Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection?

READ THE PASSAGES AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

9.
How did they do it? By applying COMMON SENSE. For example, going by
Gemba Kaizen rules, on the first day, the linen process team just watched the
proceedings in the laundry a congested area in the Taj basement. It noticed that
every employee waits for 15 minutes to collect his or her uniform. An employee gives
the woman at the counter a piece of paper; she then shuffles through a pile of folded
uniforms before coming up with the right one. At the end of one day, they decided
that there was no need for two people to sort and hand out uniforms. The
paraphernalia of receiving and sorting a large bureau and other furniture was
removed to make way for rows of metal hangers where sarees aprons, trousers hang
neatly now. Staff put their dirty clothes in bins labeled apron, sarees etc. and pick

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up their clean clothes. If these have to be ironed, one of those two extra women
relocated to ironing will do the needful.
What point is the author trying to make with the help of said examples?
a)
The laundry department at Taj is of the highest quality.
b)
There used to wastage of both time and people at the linen department at the Taj.
c)
Gemba Kaizen is a Japanese management consultancy.
d)
Proper management can cut down on both wastage of time and money.
10.
The last few months have witnessed a strange phenomenon. While almost
everyday a new brand is being launched and crores being spent on advertisements,
the billboards in the city wear a forlorn look. Except for advertisements of Orange
Short Messaging System the billboards are relatively empty.
Which of the following best explains the said phenomenon?

a)
Advertising on billboards is very expensive and cannot be afforded by one and all.
b)
Most advertisers are not finding advertising on billboards effective enough.
c)
Billboards advertisements go unnoticed.
d)
All of the above.
11.
Brooke Bond Lipton is Indias No. 1 Food and Beverages Company with
annual sales of almost Rs. 2000 crores. It has state of the art manufacturing facilities
in instant coffee, tomato processing and frozen deserts.
Which of the following, if true, will show that the conclusion drawn above is
unwarranted?
a)
Godrej Foods has investments of more than 2000 crores in its business.
b)
Indias food market is fragmented with a very large unrecognized sector.
c)
Kellogs Foods sold cereals worth Rs. 1500 crores last year. It also sold other
foods worth Rs. 600
crore last year.
d)
Brooke Bond Liptons manufacturing facilities cannot be compared with international
food
processing plants.
12.
The Athletes decision to pull out of the race cost him a gold medal because
the athletes from USA and France were charged with doping and consequently the
gold medal was given to the Japanese athlete.
Which of the following is an underlying assumption in the passage?
a)
Had the athlete participated he would have come at least third in the race.
b)
The medal goes to the most honest participant.
c)
Had the athlete participated he would have come at least second in the race.
d)
None of these.
13.
The price of a color TV in Hydrabad is Rs. 500/- less than that in Nizamabad
for the BPL brand. Service provided at all locations directly by the company.
The above statement, if true, points to which of the following as the best course of
action for a resident of Nizamabad who wants to buy a BPL TV?
a)
A person should buy BPL TVs in Hydrabad and sell them in Nizanmabad.
b)
A person should not buy any of the brands of TVs sold in Nizamabad.
c)
A person from Nizamabad should buy his BPL TV in Hydrabad if he can
transport it to Nizamabad
for less than Rs 500/-

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d)

It is better to buy the BPL TV from Bombay where the price is Rs. 700/- less than that in
Nizamabad.
14.
Some literates can read and write.
Which of the following set of statements is the premise form which the above
conclusion is drawn?
(a) Some literates can read; some literates can write.
(b) Some literates can write; all literates can read.
(c) Some who write are literates; some who read are literates.
(d) All literates can write; all literates cannot write.

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