Directions (Q.1 –5): In each of the following questions a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the five answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent.
1.There are two approaches to deciding whether to take a chance leave the outcome to luck, whether its placing a bet, hang gliding or even deciding whether to take an umbrella in case it rains – head vs. gut. ‘There’s risk as analysis, where you work out the odds of (winning) the lottery,’ says test co-creator David Spiegelhalter, professor for the understanding of risk at University of Cambridge. “Then, there’s risk as feeling, which can be influenced by you feeling ‘this is a good day for me, I’m going to take this risk, do this bold thing.” Perhaps that’s why I didn’t turn back and instead took what looked like a shortcut down a lonely road – I was feeling lucky. Was it bad luck that I had my bag snatched? Or good ;luck that I was unhurt? May be, I should have crossed my fingers. Or was there a black cat that crossed my path? (…………..). It may help us coping with chance events, such as being help us copping with chance events, such as being involved in an accident, a mugging or natural disaster, as it can help feel more optimistic when circumstances are beyond their control. (4)
(1) Belief in luck or bad luck is simply a matter of perception
(2) I usually damn care and start a new day afresh believing in me
(3) But I ask you what purpose would these considerations serve?
(4) But believing in luck can serve a useful function, psychologists say
(5) Luck is for the weak or for those who don’t want to complete the journey to the goal
2.We all know that global warming is the cost of using fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. It is estimated that in coal mining, more than 10000 people die each year. Added to this are lives gone in carrying and burning coal. And under some circumstances, smouldering coal releases more radiation into the environment than a nuclear power station under normal functioning conditions. If nuclear is too dangerous, fossil fuels are too mucky and renewable energy is too convoluted, where are we supposed to get our electricity from? (……………). Solar power stations need large amounts of copper for pipes and their production discharges uranium. Unfortunately, the Japanese catastrophe comes at a boom time for nuclear power station construction, driven by the massive demand for energy in rapidly growing economies including India. It is time for politicians to re – think, reassess nuclear power plant developments in their countries. And scientists and engineers will need to go back to the drawing board to have another look at their assumptions, designing reliable, safe nuclear plants. (5)
(1) None could be branded as completely clean energy
(2) Further, the cost per unit of renewable energy is too high to be borne by all
(3) The future holds the possibility that we may have to devise a power chart us a cocktail of all
(4) But, then the distinction between renewable and non – renewable energy must be uppermost in our mind
(5) Even solar power releases radioactivity
3.The most remarkable features of Chinese capitalism is the complete blurring of the distinction between the public and private sectors. The two work seamlessly under the overall regulatory gaze of the Chinese Communist Party. In contrast, even in the case of a few designated PPP projects, Indian capitalism operates with strongly entrenched divisions between the public and private sector. There is still a relative lack of trust between them and the perception is that only one side is acting in the national interest. (………….). Both sides are perhaps at fault. The Government continues to believe that it is the sole repository of wisdom and protector of national interest, with blanket authority to ignore private sector views, chastise it occasionally and generally subject it to overt authority. Private business in turn oscillates between either being a meek supplicant or wrongly believing and proclaiming that the Government simply does not matter and that growth will happen despite it. It is time that a more mature, trust based and mutually accountable relationship is created between the two sides. Failure on this score will result in a disastrous retrogression. (3)
(1) Truly speaking, it is a marriage of inconvenience where one works for larger welfare and the other for pure profit
(2) How come we visualize a synergic approach of the two combined without a patronizing figure overseeing them?
(3) This attitude must, change fast, if we have to fulfill our actual potential
(4) The public sector finds the private sector guilty of nurturing a flagrant profit motive
(5) The private players find the public servants ignorant, indecisive and complacent
4.India’s economic growth in the coming years will be commodity intensive. The major growth sectors namely food, textiles, housing and infrastructure as well as energy are all essentially commodity sectors – agricultural commodities (food and non – food), fibers (cotton, jute, synthetics), metals (steel, base metals) and energy products such as oil and gas etc. so, it is necessary that commodity markets receive focused attention of policymakers to ensure that production, distribution and consumption of commodities take place in a conductive and competitive environment. (……………). Price fluctuations often hurt stakeholders, especially those who take trading positions for forward months. Almost a decade ago, policy for encouraging commodity future market was designed with the clear understanding that such a system of trading would help price discovery and help market participants manage their price risks. It must be clearly understood that while cash or physical market can exist without a futures market, the latter cannot exist independent of or without the former. Given the existing skew in the country’s economic growth and income distribution, it is imperative that commodity derivatives trading must sub – serve the larger economic and social objective of advancing stakeholder interest, especially those who are vulnerable to market vagaries. If judged from this perspective, there are serious doubts about the usefulness and contribution of commodity futures markets I our country over the last seven – eight years. (3)
(1) So, that not only traders are benefitted and thereby economy but also the consumers at large feel secured of a stable system
(2) In developing economies commodity holds the centre stage of the economy
(3) By their very nature, commodity markets are volatile
(4) In view of its importance, the policymakers have dealt with the volatility of the commodity market promptly and efficiently
(5) Before the economy advances to the next stage and becomes service oriented, the policymakers must concentrate
on strengthening the commodity sector
5.Entrepreneurism is a way of thinking that can be applied to all avenues in life. It is a way of looking at the world, a mindset that is shape and enriched by experience. (……….). If an entrepreneur wants to build a thriving business, he must look beyond today’s certainties into tomorrow’s uncertainties. He must be able to hazard what is going to happen next and place himself in a position to take advantage of it. There is cliché that entrepreneurs are born and not made. This is both true and false. There are some personality traits that are common to the majority of entrepreneurs, such as self confidence, spirit of adventure, optimism and energy; a clear vision about the future and a capacity to shoulder enormous responsibility. Conversely, the globalised economy today presents innumerable opportunities to all types of people to understand and employ the entrepreneurial instinct in them. Many more people today are touched by enter price than was the case, say, a few decades ago. Today’s entrepreneur does not have to be like the nineteenth century explorer, heading off into an unknown territory without a map. (5)
(1) This is further enriched with the passage of time
(2) If one counts on one’s experience and applies it practically, one can turn entrepreneur very easily
(3) As mindset is inculcated, so is entrepreneurism
(4) It is man’s intrinsic ability to visualize risks in advance and guard against them
(5) It is the uncanny ability to turn every risk into opportunity