Question : Comprehension:

Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a Chinese-operated, large white high-altitude balloon was seen in North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. The American and Canadian militaries asserted that the balloon was for surveillance, while the Chinese government maintained it was a civilian meteorological research airship that had been blown off course. Analysts said that the balloon's flight path and structural characteristics made it dissimilar from those which have typically been used for meteorological research. The U.S. Department of State said that the balloon was capable of locating electronic communication devices, including mobile phones and radios, and that

American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft deployed to track the balloon in the air revealed that the balloon carried antennas and other equipment "clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons." The State Department said that the spy balloon was part of a global Chinese military-directed surveillance effort in which Chinese spy balloons have flown over more than 40 nations in five continents.

On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina, on the order of U.S. President Joe Biden. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.

The incident increased U.S.-China tensions. The incident prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to delay a diplomatic visit to Beijing, which was set to be his first since 2018. It also further strained Canada-China relations, as Canada summoned the Chinese ambassador because of the violation of Canadian airspace. On February 3, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that a second Chinese balloon was passing over Latin America, which China also said belonged to it. On February 10, the Air Force shot down another aerial object over U.S. territory at the order of President Biden.

Question:

The word 'contiguous' means

Option 1: adjoining

Option 2: far off

Option 3: spreading

Option 4: separated

Question : Permanent members of the UN Security Council are:

Option 1: USA, UK, Russia, Germany, China

Option 2: USA, Russia, UK, France, China

Option 3: Canada, China, UK, USA, Russia

Option 4: USA, Russia, UK, China, Japan

Question : Comprehension:
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
The Black Drongo, also known as the King Crow, is a small Asian bird of the drongo family. Previously, it was seen as a subspecies of the African Fork-tailed Drongo but is now recognised as a full species. It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka to southern China and Indonesia. It is a wholly black bird with a distinctive forked tail and measures 28 cm in length.
Feeding on insects, it is commonly found in open agricultural areas and light forest areas throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines.
The species is famous for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, and never hesitates to dive-bomb any birds of prey that invade its territory. Smaller birds often nest in the well-guarded vicinity of a nesting Black Drongo.
The Black Drongo has been introduced to some Pacific islands, where it has thrived and become abundant to the point of threatening and causing the extinction of native and endemic bird species there.
Drongos fly with strong flaps of the wing and are capable of fast manoeuvres that enable them to capture flying insects. With short legs, they sit upright on thorny bushes, bare perches or electricity wires. They may also perch on grazing animals.
The Black Drongo is found predominantly in open country and usually perches and hunts close to the ground. They are mostly aerial predators of insects but also glean from the ground or off vegetation.
They are found as summer visitors to northeastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan but are mainly resident south from the Indus Valley up to Bangladesh and into India and Sri Lanka.
Question:
Which aspect of its nature does the bird show to larger birds that attempt to violate its space?

Option 1: Its ability to fly high.

Option 2: Its tendency to sit upright on perches.

Option 3: Its ability to catch flying insects.

Option 4: Its capacity to attack.

Question : Statement 1: The literacy rate in India is higher than in Pakistan and China.

Statement 2: Government initiatives and increased access to education have contributed to higher literacy rates in India.

Option 1: Both statements are true.

Option 2: Both statements are false.

Option 3: Statement 1 is true, Statement 2 is false.

Option 4: Statement 2 is true, Statement 1 is false.

Question : Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Who would win in a fight, a lion or a tiger? Well, if size has anything to do with the matter, the tiger would win. That's because tigers are the largest of all cat species. They grow up to eleven feet long and weigh as much as 670lbs. This makes tigers the third largest land carnivore. The only larger land carnivores are polar bears and brown bears respectively. Tigers are not only large, but they are also fast. They can sprint as fast as 40 miles per hour for short distances and leap as far as 30 feet horizontally. This makes for an extremely dangerous pounce. You might not think that such large, fast, and ferocious creatures need help to survive, but they do. The tiger is an endangered species.

Despite all of the tiger's strengths, the future of the species is uncertain. Tigers face a very high risk of extinction. It is estimated that at the start of the 20th century, there were over 100,000 tigers living in the wild. By the turn of the century, the number of tigers outside of captivity dwindled to just over 3,000. Interestingly, the most serious threats that tigers face come from a much smaller species, one with an average weight of around 140lbs That species is Homo sapiens, better known as humans. Humans threaten tigers in primarily two ways: hunting and destroying habitat.
Tigers are hunted for many reasons. People have long valued the famous striped skins. Though trading tiger skins is now illegal in most parts of the world, tiger pelts are worth around 10,000 on the black-market. Though the fur would be incentive enough for most poachers, other parts of the tiger can also fetch a pretty penny. Some people in China and other Asian cultures believe that various tiger parts have healing properties. Traditional Chinese medicine calls for the use of tiger bones, amongst other parts, in some prescriptions.

Question:

What is one of the primary reasons for the threat to tigers?

Option 1: Ecological imbalance
 

Option 2: Climate change
 

Option 3: Predators
 

Option 4: Humans

Question : Comprehension:

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

The modern world (1) ________ around technology. It has advanced dramatically in the beyond twenty years, and presently, we can't envision a world without PCs and cell phones. The last century saw fast progressions in innovation and science, which were unfathomable previously. The internet is perhaps the most significant of these. Today, it is no longer a science fiction concept to communicate with people anywhere in the world. While smartphones keep us constantly connected to the virtual world, the wireless internet has eliminated the need to use a physical wire to connect with this world. Today, we rely on the Internet to pay our bills, book tickets, travel, and conduct banking transactions. Li-Fi, a new technology that uses light signals to (2) ________ data and reduces external interference, is currently in development.
On the other hand, such rapid progress comes with some (3) ________. Another sort of wrongdoing, known as digital wrongdoing, is the greatest danger to security today. WannaCry was one of the biggest recent cyberattacks. It infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries and threatened to erase valuable data unless ransom payments were made. Personal and (4) ________ data continue to be stolen frequently, and our country's cyber security is still lacking. It's also possible to say that people miss out on important experiences in the real world because they spend so much time in the virtual world. The distinction between the real and online worlds sometimes appears to blur, especially as social media grows in popularity. For instance, the internet was said to have become so addictive in China that programmes were established to help people get off of it. However, technology's benefits (5)________ its drawbacks. It all comes down to what we do with it. One thing to keep in mind is that technology can serve us well, but not completely.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank no. 4.

Option 1: secret

Option 2: confidential

Option 3: regular

Option 4: common

Question : Which of the following is the Third largest country in population after China and India ?

Option 1: Bangladesh

Option 2: United States of America

Option 3: Indonesia

Option 4: Japan

Question : Comprehension:
In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given. Select the most appropriate option for each number.

One of the myths (1)__________ with the Great Wall of China is that it is the only man-made (2)__________ that can be seen from the moon with the naked eye. The (3)_________ originated in Richard Halliburton's 1938 book. The Second Book of Marvels. However, this myth is simply not true. Richard Halliburton's claim was contradicted (4)__________ astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Yang Liwei. A more (5)_________ assumption would be to say that the Great Wall can be visible from a low orbit of the earth, which is not unique in this regard as many other artificial constructions can be seen from that height.

Question:
Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank number 3.

Option 1: lagend

Option 2: verity

Option 3: legend

Option 4: candour

Question : Comprehension:

In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Read the passage carefully and select the most appropriate option to fill in each blank.

The modern world (1) ________ around technology. It has advanced dramatically in the beyond twenty years, and presently, we can't envision a world without PCs and cell phones. The last century saw fast progressions in innovation and science, which were unfathomable previously. The internet is perhaps the most significant of these. Today, it is no longer a science fiction concept to communicate with people anywhere in the world. While smartphones keep us constantly connected to the virtual world, the wireless internet has eliminated the need to use a physical wire to connect with this world. Today, we rely on the Internet to pay our bills, book tickets, travel, and conduct banking transactions. Li-Fi, a new technology that uses light signals to (2) ________ data and reduces external interference, is currently in development.
On the other hand, such rapid progress comes with some (3) ________. Another sort of wrongdoing, known as digital wrongdoing, is the greatest danger to security today. WannaCry was one of the biggest recent cyberattacks. It infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries and threatened to erase valuable data unless ransom payments were made. Personal and (4) ________ data continue to be stolen frequently, and our country's cyber security is still lacking. It's also possible to say that people miss out on important experiences in the real world because they spend so much time in the virtual world. The distinction between the real and online worlds sometimes appears to blur, especially as social media grows in popularity. For instance, the internet was said to have become so addictive in China that programmes were established to help people get off of it. However, technology's benefits (5)________ its drawbacks. It all comes down to what we do with it. One thing to keep in mind is that technology can serve us well, but not completely.

Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blank no. 3.

Option 1: drawbacks

Option 2: snag

Option 3: hitch

Option 4: liabilities

Question : Statement 1: Urbanization rates in India, Pakistan, and China have been steadily declining.

Statement 2: Rapid urbanization has resulted in various challenges such as housing shortages and environmental pollution.

Option 1: Both statements are true.

Option 2: Both statements are false.

Option 3: Statement 1 is true, Statement 2 is false.

Option 4: Statement 2 is true, Statement 1 is false.