English Language Model paper For DVC Graduate Engineer Trainees Exam
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PASSAGE I
Modern manpower planning, especially in developing countries focuses interest on formal schooling. Its terminology is that of teacher student ratios, absorption and enrollment ratios, dropouts, and repeaters, general vs. technical education among others. The manpower planner assumes a certain demand pattern, and then valiantly plunges into the supply calculations, translating manpower requirements into an educational plan. A thousand clerks are wanted in 2010, he is told. This means several thousands must enter primary school now so that 12 years late we can get 1, 000 secondary school graduates. He has already defined a clerk to be the human being with twelve years of general education. He has calculated dropout and other relevant ratios accurately. Thus, one thousand clerks will be delivered in 2010. Problem is solved. If the reader feels a touch of sarcasm in the preceding portrayal of modern manpower planning, he is to be assured that only skepticism is intended. For, in India as in Myanmar, Pakistan that Taiwan, all densely- populated, basically agricultural countries — a great upsurge in manpower development via schooling has taken place in the last 25 years. T1e impact of such development on economic growth 1aves much to be desired. These countries are faced with severe problems in the other important areas of manpower planning, namely manpower allocation and utilization. Despite the large numbers pouring out of the schooling system, shortages persist in certain occupations and locations while redundant surpluses accumulate in others. The shortages are not explained by the need for more schooling but are due to the kind of training offered and the kind of employment desired by the graduates. In most cases one is faced with the necessity to induce the prospective graduates to accept less schooling instead of striving for more, where the ranks of the unemployed are full. The problem that cries for greater attention is that of motivation of manpower. What induces people to join certain schools and to continue their schooling? What are the incentives necessary to divert graduates from certain occupations to others?
What motivates manpower to work in certain geographic locations and avoid others? What is the effect of schooling itself on attitudes and motivation, and finally what motivates workers to produce, innovate, cooperate, take risks and achieve higher productivity?
1. According to the passage, the manpower development in developing countries
1. Has brought tremendous economic growth to these countries
2. Has increased manpower utilization
3. Has been brought through formal schooling
4. Has increased the motivation and productivity of the work-force.
Ans. (3)
2. To what does ‘a touch of Sarcasm’ refer?
1. Developing countries emphasis on transforming themselves rapidly from agricultural to industrial countries
2. Establishment of Management Information Systems cells for collection of data
3. Proliferation of second-rate schools offering low quality of training
4. A manpower planner’s simplistic assumptions and straight forward computations.
Ans. (4)
3. Which of the following is not a reason for the observed imbalance in the manpower requirements and the availability of the educated?
1. Need for more schooling
2. Kind of training offered
3. Kind of employment desired by the graduates
4. Being guided by a purely quantitative educational plan derived from various relevant ratios.
Ans. (1)
PASSAGE II
There is something people like about rappelling or abseiling. A form of controlled descent used in mountaineering, it follows the more gruelling task of climbing up. Of late, rappelling has found popularity as a staged activity. Participants walk up a cliff or rock face, while securely anchored to at least one safety rope that is released in controlled fashion from above. Some clubs keep a third line free for instructors-to come down and assist should anyone get stuck mid-route. Most important, participants are allowed adequate pauses en route for that photograph of manhood’s dawning, mama’s precious boy looking great on vertical rock. As many adventure clubs would tell you, very few of these muscle-totting, fatigues-clad youngsters return to climbing. The photograph endures; the mountain fades. Those who stick on do so because of a deeper fascination, fully acknowledging their fragility and, hardly resembling the branded image of the adventurous. Further, as with the maturity curve in Indian sports, deep purses do not always mean great talent; it is the progressive tapping of the pyramid’s bottom end that reels a wider canvas of talent. The story is little different with automobiles, where self-image precedes utility in vehicle purchase. Utility vehicles (UVs), sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and a few crossovers make up the ‘adventure vehicles’ on Indian roads. In 2004-05, total domestic IJV sales had increased by 20.46 per cent to 176,339 units from 146,388 units. As at end August 2005, the trend for 2005-06 was a sales rise of 13.67 percent to 72,686 units for the category. Crossovers sell in very small volumes. So the country’s adventure vehicle story is mainly that of UV’s of these the obviously brute types, that is, the big, expensive SUVs lord the relatively tame terrain of cities. Where else can the contrast be sharper? They thing is to be seen, seem adventurous and look capable of crushing all ‘else on the road. A well known fact is that beyond the odd automobile journalist who test-drives a ‘brute’ in testy terrain, most owners of off- road studs dare not stray from the tarmac, as the vehicles are expensive. In a cost- conscious market like India with long periods of careful ownership, you could bunch a wide range of vehicles from the cheapest Scorpio, costing around Rs. 7.3 lakhs (in Mumbai), to the costliest Porsche Cayenne, selling at Rs. 92 lakhs, into this segment. Naturally therein, the base of ownership and the tendency to punish the vehicle tapers with higher price points. So if the brutes are largely doing tame duty or, worse, showing off, where are the
real adventure vehicles? To pick out that segment, one needs to first outline the contours of Indian adventure. Like everything else, it tends to be and needs to be low cost. Indian civilian mountaineering expeditions, for and there are several every year — travel without radio contact, global positioning system or satellite phone and cut down on porters and use borrowed or hired equipment— in short, rough it out wherever possible. The limited budget is entirely skewed towards the final goal. with the highest priority in expanse for critical inputs (specialized equipment, clothing shelter and food), all else enjoying lower priority. It is a bottom of the pyramid consumer experience, one in which the final stages of transport are met by rugged, low-end UVs. ‘In the hills and mountains it is the Bolero, Sumo, Trax and their earlier brethren which remain trusted and are worked hard on rough tracks every day. Mahindra and Mahindra (M & M), Tata Motors and Force Motors (earlier Bajaj Tempo) make these vehicles. The companies are based in Maharashtra, which has the highest number of adventure clubs in the country and a strong presence of the automobile industry. While on a trek or rock climb in the Sahyadris, it is common to run into somebody from Tata Motors or Tata Power, equally strong being the likelihood of having a batch mate from one of the Tata companies if you are training at a mountaineering institute in the Himalayas. Sadly, however, the economies of mass manufacturing shy away from responding to niche segments and in India, adventure is a niche activity. The market’s darling therefore, remains the great Indian family Or that faceless bunch of strangers, jammed into a “people’s carrier” No marks for guessing which is the adventurer’s longstanding favourite for personal transport. Although the price of petrol has risen, the one vehicle that consistently captured the fancy of adventure enthusiasts was the Maruti Gypsy, now reduced to largely institutional sales. It has the perfect size to manoeuvre on mountain roads, is the best off-road vehicle around, commands respect in remote areas, allows space for others on roads and, in the true spirit of the adventurer, has a light-weight presence. No fanfare: It is the vehicle people will still give an arm and a leg to load up and head for the crags. interestingly, this size of the UV has been left unattended by all domestic manufacturers, including Maruti, which has often described the Gypsy’s small size and petrol engine as potential sales dampeners. M & ‘M has an engaging product in the larger Invader while Tata Motors and Force Motors have kept out. But Maruti’s own view was partly based on the Gypsy’s limited ability as a people mover. But the typical adventurer, the sort hailing from the bottom of the pyramid, would have been happy with a maneuverable, off- road model that was backed by the country’s largest vehicle support network. Neither Maruti nor other manufacturers found it attractive. For the present, therefore, India’s adventure vehicles are gas guzzlers, sold with little appreciation for the budget and requirement of Indian adventurers.
4. According to the author which type of items take priority due to the budget constraints for adventure trips?
1. Porters
2. Global Positioning System
3. Specialized Equipment
4. Satellite Phone
Ans. (3)
5. “It is the vehicle will still give an arm and a leg to load up and head for the crags.” Which one of the following is not a feature of the vehicle referred to in the above sentence?
I. This vehicle can be maneuvered smoothly on hilly roads.
2. The sales ΓΈ1this vehicle are mostly institutional.
3. It is well accepted in remote areas.
4. It is the best vehicle for all terrains.
Ans. (4)
6. Which of the following statements is incorrect as per the passage?
1. Abseiling has lately become popular as a staged activity.
2. India’s adventure vehicles are manufactured and sold considering requirement of Indian adventures.
3. Indian market is cost conscious with longer periods of careful ownerships.
4. Force Motors is the successor of Bajaj Tempo.
Ans. (2)
PASSAGE III
It is indisputable that in order to fulfill its many functions, water should be clean and biologically valuable. The costs connected with the provision of biologically valuable water for food production with the maintenance of sufficiently clean water are primarily production costs. Purely “environmental” costs seem to be in this respect only cost connected with the safeguarding of cultural, recreational and sports functions which the water courses and reservoirs fulfill both in nature and in human settlements. The pollution problems of the atmosphere
resemble those of the water only partly. So far, the supply of air has not been deficient as was the case with water, and the dimensions of the air-shed are so vast that a number of people will hold the opinion that air need not be economized. However, scientific forecasts have shown that the time may be already approaching when clear and biologically valuable air will become problem. No. 1. Air being ubiquitous, people are particularly sensitive about any reduction in the quality of the atmosphere, the increased contents of dust and gaseous exhalations, and particularly about the presence of odours. The demand for purity of atmosphere therefore emanates much more from the population itself than from the specific sectors of the national economy affected by a polluted or even biologically aggressive atmosphere. The households’ share in atmospheric pollution is far bigger that that of industry, which, in turn further complicates the economic problems of atmospheric purity. Some countries have already collected positive experience with the reconstruction of whole urban sectors on the basis of new heating appliances based on the combustion of solid fossil fuels; estimates of the economic consequences of such measures have also been put forward. In contrast to water, where the maintenance of purity would seem primarily to be related to the costs of production and transport, a far higher proportion of the costs of maintaining the purity of the atmosphere derives from environmental considerations. Industrial sources of gaseous and dust emission is well known and classified; their location can be accurately identified, which makes them controllable. With the exception, perhaps, of the elimination of sulphur dioxide, technical means and technological processes exist which can be used for the elimination of all excessive impurities of the air from the various emissions. Atmospheric pollution caused by the private property of individuals (their dwellings, automobiles etc) is difficult to control. Some sources such as motor vehicles are very mobile, and they are thus capable of polluting vast territories. In this particular ease the cost of anti-pollution measures will have to be borne, to a considerable extent, by individuals whether in the form of direct costs or indirectly in the form of taxes, dues, surcharges etc. The problem of noise is a typical example of an environmental problem which cannot be solved only passively, i.e. merely by protective measures, but will require the adoption of active measures, i.e. direct interventions at the source. The costs of complete protection against noise are so prohibitive as to make it unthinkable even in the economically most developed countries. At the same time it would not seem feasible, either economically or politically, to force the population to carry the costs of individual protection against noise, for example, by reinforcing the sound insulation of their homes. A solution to this problem probably cannot be found in the near future.
7. In this passage, the word ubiquitous means:
1.. being unfair
2. being everywhere
3. being iniquitous
4. ready to quit
Ans. (2)
8. According to the passage, which one of the following contributes the most to atmospheric pollution?
1. Production
2. Industry
3. Households
4. Mining
Ans. (3)
9. According to the passage, atmospheric pollution caused by private property is
1. impossible to control
2. easy to control
3. difficult to control
4. decreasing
Ans. (3)
10. Complete protection against noise:
1. is impossible to achieve
2. may be forthcoming in the near future
3. May have prohibitive costs
4. Is possible only in developed countries.
Ans. (3)
PASSAGE IV
Unemployment is an important index of economic slack and lost output, but it is much more than that. For the unemployed person it is often a damaging affront to human dignity and sometimes a catastrophic blow to family life. Nor is this cost distributed in proportion to ability to bear it. It falls most heavily on the young, the semiskilled and unskilled, the black person, the older worker, and the underemployed person in a low income rural area who is denied the option of securing more rewarding urban employment. The concentrated increase of unemployment among specific groups in the population means far greater costs to society than can be measured simply in hours of involuntary idleness or dollars of income lost. The extra costs include disruption of the careers of young people, increased juvenile delinquency, and perpetuation of conditions which breed racial discrimination in employment and otherwise deny equality of opportunity. There is another and more subtle cost. The social and economic strains of prolonged underutilization create strong pressures for cost increasing solutions. On the side of labour, prolonged high unemployment leads to “share the work” pressures for shorter hours, intensifies
resistance to technological change and to rationalization of work rules, and, in general, increase incentives for restrictive and inefficient measures to protect existing jobs. On the side of business, the weakness of markets leads to attempts to raise prices to cover high average overhead costs and to pressures for protection against foreign and domestic competition. On the side of agriculture, higher prices are necessary to achieve income objectives, when urban and industrial demand for food and fibres is depressed and lack of opportunities for jobs and higher incomes in industry keep people on the farm. In all these cases, the problems are real and the claims understandable. But the solutions suggested raise costs and promote inefficiency. By no means the least of advantages of lull utilization will be diminution of these pressures. They’ will .be weaker, and they can be more firmly resisted in good conscience, when markets are generally strong and job opportunities are plentiful. The demand for labour is derived from the demand for the goods and services which labour participates in producing. Thus, unemployment will be reduced to 4 percent of the labour force only when the demand for the myriad of goods and services—automobiles, clothing, food, electric generators, highways, and so on — is sufficiently great in total to require the productive efforts of 96 percent of the civilian labour force. Although many goods are initially produced as materials or components to meet demands related to the further production of other goods, all goods (and services) are ultimately destined to satisfy demands that can, for convenience, be classified into four categories: consumer demand, business demand for new plants and machinery and for additions to inventories, net export demand of foreign buyers, and demand of government units, federal, state, and local. Thus Gross National Product (GNP) out total output is the sum of four major components of expenditure: personal consumption expenditure, gross private domestic investment, net exports, and government purchases of goods and services. The primary line of attack on the problem of unemployment must be through measures which will expand one or more of these components of demand. Once a satisfactory level of employment has been achieved in a growing economy, economic stability requires the maintenance of a continuing balance between rowing productive capacity and growing demand. Action to expand demand is called for not only when demand actually declines and recession appears but even when the rate of growth of demand falls short of the rate of growth of capacity.
11. In this passage, the word involuntary means:
1. not free
2. without exercise of the will
3. done gratuitously
4. not desirable
Ans. (2)
12. According to the passage, a typical business reaction to a recession is to press for
1. protection against imports
2. higher unemployment insurance
3. restrictive business practices
4. restraint on union activity
Ans. (1)
13. Gross National Product (GNP) is a measure of:
1. our total output
2. our personal consumption
3. our net exports
4. our domestic investment
Ans. (1)
14. According to the passage, a satisfactory level of unemployment is
1. 90 percent of the civilian workforce
2. 85 percent of the civilian workforce
3. 4 percent unemployment
4. 2 peren4inemployment
Ans. (3)
PASSAGE V
Every profession or trade, every art, and every science has its technical vocabulary, the function of which is partly to designate things or processes which have no names in ordinary English, and partly to secure greater exactness in nomenclature. Such special dialects, or jargons, are necessary in technical discussions of any kind. Being universally understood by the devotees of ttie particular science or art, they have the precision of a mathematical formula. Besides, they save time, for it is much more economical to name a process than to describe it. Thousands of these technical terms are very properly included in every large dictionary, yet as a whole, they are rather on the outskirts of the English language than actually within its borders. Different occupations, however, differ widely in the character of their special vocabularies. In trades and handicrafts and other vocations, such as farming and fishing, that have occupied great numbers of men from remote times, the technical vocabulary is very Old. It consists largely of native words, or of borrowed words that have worked themselves into the
very fibre of our language. Hence though highly technical in many particulars, these vocabularies are more familiar in sound, and more generally understood, than most other technicalities. The special dialects of law, medicine, V divinity, and philosophy have also, in their older strata, become pretty familiar to cultivated persons, and have contributed much to the popular vocabulary. Yet, every vocation still possesses a large body of technical terms that remain essentially foreign, even to educated speech. And the proportion has been much increased in the last fifty years, particularly in the various departments of natural and political science and in the mechanic arts. Here new terms are coined with the greatest freedom, and abandoned with indifference when they have served their turn. Most of the new coinages are confined to special discussions and seldom get into general literature or conversation. Yet, no profession is nowadays, as all professions once were, a closed guild. The lawyer, the physician, the man of science and the cleric associated freely with his fellow creatures, and does not meet them in a merely professional way, Furthermore, what is called popular science makes everybody acquainted with modern views and recent discoveries. Any important• experiment, though made in a remote or provincial laboratory, is at once reported in the newspapers, and everybody is soon talking about it as in the case of the Roentgen rays and wireless telegraphy. Thus, our common speech is always taking up new technical terms and making them commonplace.
15. By saying that professions are no longer ‘closed guilds,’ the author means that
1. it is easier to become a professional today
2. there is more intercourse between professionals and others
3. popular science has revealed its secrets to the world
4. anything can be easily understood by anyone in a profession
Ans. (2)
16. The vocabulary of vocations like farming and fishing has got in the ‘fibre’ of English language, implies that
1. It consists of native words
2. It consists of borrowed words
3. It is used by large number of men
4. It is very old
Ans. (2)
PG -8 Missing ( 17 to 28 Q)
D. Once the cartels have siphoned off fuel, impoverished locals move into collect what they can for sale to passing motorists.
6. But pipelines often explode, and the practice has left about 2000 people deed in the past two years.
1. ABCD
3. CABD
2. ACBD
4. CBDA
29. 1. Reservation should not exceed 50% for the civil services for want of balance and efficiency.
A. If reservation is 50 it is adequate for aspirants from reserved category and even unreserved category to get an equal opportunity.
B. The number of aspirants to the civil services in India is very large and they come from various socio-economic backgrounds.
C. These aspirants come from both reserved and unreserved category.
D. But if reservation were to exceed 50% mark, a lot of deserving candidates from unreserved category would be deprived of a chance.
E. Thus to achieve optimum efficiency, it is essential to maintain a maximum of 50% reservation.
1. ADBC
2. BCAD
3. CABD
4. BADC
Ans. (1)
30.1. This is a company that prides itself on its carefully matured extensive distribution blocks and mentor network.
A. The company also plans a foray into the service sector by setting up a chain of launderettes across the country.
B. Yet today, pre-cooked c1atis and ready-made mixes are a big market.
C. And that’s not all.
D. Today the idea may appear a trifle ambitious but remember that it was not so long ago that the same things were said about the market for ready to eat foods and branded cereals.
E. Disposable incomes are rising in the metros and big cities and time is at a premium.
1. CADB
2. ADBC
3. ABDC
4. CABD
Ans. (4)
Directions (Questions. 31-35): In the following questions a sentence is spilt into four parts. Mark the part of the sentence that has a grammatical error.
31. 1. The best
2. idea can
3. come from the
4. newest persons
Ans. (4)
32. 1. It may also be an advertisement
2. as its opponents argue
3. but we must realize
4. that nothing come free
Ans. (4)
33. 1. by virtue of
2. how different this business is
3. all acquisitions have
4. different profit and revenue potential
Ans. (2)
34. 1. We are an UK based consultancy firm
2. and have been retained
3. to provide services to
4. an Indian client
Ans. (1)
35. 1. their reputation as a manufacturer
2. of quality generating sets
3. are backed by the number and diversity of global businesses
4. that rely on them to support their power needs.
Ans. (3)
Directions (Questions. 36-40): Each question has four words marked A, B, C and D; of which two words are most nearly SAME or OPPOSITE in meaning. Choose one such pair from the alternatives given.
36. A. altruism
B. selfishness
C. misuse
D. decision
1. A - C
2. A - B
3. B - C
4. B - D
Ans. (2)
37. A. acquittal
B. contract
C. conviction
D. replete
1. B - C
2. A - B
3. C - D
4. A - C
Ans. (4)
38. A. generous
B. mundane
C. reciprocal
D. earthly
1. B - D
2. A - B
3. B - C
4. A - C
Ans. (1)
39. A. crammed
B. frugal
C. novel
D. extravagant
1. C - D
2. A -D
3. B - C
4. B –D
Ans. (4)
40. A. adorn
B. afford
C. accumulate
D. debase
1. B - C
2. C - D
3. B - D
4. A – D
Ans. (4)
