Comprehension For SBI PO set – 3
Comprehension set – 3
In the second week of August 1998, just a few days after the incidents of bombing the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, a high-powered, brain-storming session was held near Washington D.C., to discuss various aspects of terrorism. The meeting was attended by ten of America’s leading experts in various fields such as germ and chemical warfare, public health, disease control and also by the doctors and the law-enforcing officers. Being asked to describe the horror of possible bio-attack, one of the experts narrated the following gloomy scenario. A culprit in a crowded business centre or in a busy shopping mall of a town empties a test tube containing some fluid, which in turn creates an unseen cloud of germ of a dreaded disease like anthrax capable of inflicting a horrible death within 5 days on any one who inhales it. At first 500, or so victims feel that they have mild influenza which may recede after a day or two. Then the symptoms return again and their lungs start filling with fluid. They rush to local hospitals for treatment, but the panic-stricken people may find that the medicare services run quickly out of drugs due to excessive demand. But no one would be able to realize that a terrorist attack has occurred. One cannot deny the possibility that the germ involved would be of contagious variety capable of causing an epidemic. The meeting concluded that such attacks, apart from causing immediate human tragedy, would have dire long-term effects on the political and social fabric of a country by way of ending people’s trust on the competence of the government. The experts also said that the bombs used in Kenya and Tanzania were of the old-fashion variety and involved quantities of high explosives, but new terrorism will prove to be more deadly and probably more elusive than hijacking an aeroplane or a gelignite of previous decades. According to Bruce Hoffman, an American specialist on political violence, old terrorism generally had a specific manifesto-to overthrow a colonial power or the capitalist system and so on. These terrorists were not shy about planting a bomb or hijacking an aircraft and they set some limit to their brutality. Killing so many innocent people might turn their natural supporters off. Political terrorists want a lot of people watching but not a lot of people dead. “Old terrorism sought to change the world while the new sort is often practised by those who believe that the world has gone beyond redemption”, he added. Hoffman says, “New terrorism has no long-term agenda but is ruthless in its short-term intentions. It is often just a cacophonous cry of protest or an outburst of religious intolerance or a protest against the West in general and the US in particular. Its perpetrators may be religious fanatics or diehard opponent of a government and see no reason to show restraint. They are simply intent on inflicting the maximum amount of pain on the victim.”
1. In the context of the passage, the culprit’s act of emptying a test tube containing some fluid can be classified as
(a) a terrorist attack
(b) an epidemic of a dreaded disease
(c) a natural calamity
(d) panic created by an imaginary event
(e) None of tehse
2. In what way would the new terrorism be different from that of the earlier years?
(A) More dangerous and less baffling
(B) More hazardous for victims
(C) Less complicated for terrorists
(a) A and C only
(b) B and C only
(c) A and B only
(d) All the three
(e) None of these
3. What was the immediate provocation for the meeting held in August 1998?
(a) the insistence of America’s leading
(b) the horrors of possible bio-attacks
(c) a culprit’s heinous act of spreading germs
(d) people’s lack of trust in the government
(e) None of these
4. What could be the probable consequence of bio-attacks, as mentioned in the passage?
(A) several deaths
(B) political turmoil
(C) social unrest
(a) A only
(b) B only
(c) C only
(d) A and B only
(e) None of these
5. The author’s purpose of writing the above passage seems to explain
(a) the methods of containing terrorism
(b) the socio-political turmoil in African countries
(c) the deadly strategies adopted by modern terrorists
(d) reason for killing innocent people
(e) the salient features of terrorism of yesteryear
6. According to the author of the passage, the root cause of terrorism is
(A) religious fanaticism
(B) socio-political changes in countries
(C) the enormous population growth
(a) A only (b) B only
(c) C only (d) A and B only
(e) All the three
7. The phrase “such attacks”, as mentioned in the last sentence of the second paragraph, refers to
(a) the onslaught of an epidemic as a natural
(b) bio-attack on political people in the government
(c) attack aimed at damaging the reputation of the government
(d) bio-attack maneuvered by unscrupulous elements
(e) None of these
8. The sole objective of the old terrorism, according to Hoffman, was to
(a) plant bombs to kill innocent people
(b) remove colonial power or capitalist system
(c) make people realize the incompetence of the government
(d) give a setback to socio-political order
(e) None of these
9. Which of the following statements is true about new terrorism?
(a) Its immediate objectives area quite tragic.
(b) It has far-sighted goals to achieve.
(c) It can differentiate between the innocent people and the guilty.
(d) It is free from any political ideology.
(e) It advocates people in changing the socio-political order
Directions (q. 10-12): choose the word which is most opposite in meaning of the word printed in bold as used in the passage
10. gloomy
(a) discouraging
(b) disgusting
(c) bright
(d) tragic
(e) versatile
11. cacophonous
(a) loud
(b) melodious
(c) sonourous
(d) harsh
(e) distant
12. intolerance
(a) forbearance
(b) permissiveness
(c) adaptability
(d) acceptance
(e) faithfulness
Directions (Q. 13-15): Choose the word which is most nearly the SAME in meaning of the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
13. perpetrators
(a) opponents
(b) followers
(c) sympathizers
(d) leaders
(e) manoeuvrers
14. elusive
(a) harmful
(b) fatal
(c) destructive
(d) baffling
(e) obstructing
15. inflicting
(a) elevating
(b) imposing
(c) alleviating
(d) reflecting
(e) soothing
Answer key:
1. (a) 2. (b) 3. (e) 4. (e) 5. (c) 6. (a) 7. (d) 8. (d) 9. (a) 10. (c) 11. (b) 12. (a) 13. (b) 14. (d) 15. (b)