Question : Comprehension:
Read the given passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
If you pay close attention to soap advertisements, you may hear of its pH value being claimed to be perfect for human skin. But is there really such a thing? Let's start at the beginning. pH (potential hydrogen) is defined as the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. pH values range between 0 and 14.7 is the neutral point, 0 being the most acidic and 14 being the most alkaline. More importantly, your skin isn't exactly pH 5.5; it falls in a range between 4.0 and 7.0, depending on diverse factors like the body part, age, genetics, ethnicity, and environmental conditions.

So, are products formulated at pH 5.5 perfect for skin? The short answer: not really! First, parameters like texture and other ingredients indicate a cleanser's quality, much better than pH alone. Second, though the skin pH rises slightly immediately after cleaning even with plain water, it reverts to its mild acidic pH in an hour. Healthy skin quickly rebalances the 'acid mantle' - a protective layer over the skin—and is unaffected in the long term by the cleanser's pH. Skin modulates pH, making skin products function optimally. So, why market pH 5.5 products as "perfect"? Well, for certain skin types (e.g., oily skin) and certain skin conditions (like acne), an increase in pH can aggravate these skin situations. This might lead to an interpretation that a skin care product needs to be at a pH for optimum cleansing. Hence, skincare experts have expressed reservations about pH being the sole criterion of product safety and 'acid mantle' preservation when factors including plain water may contribute to the same. Thus, an ideal product is almost impossible to define. So, look well beyond pH alone.

Question:
According to the passage, the pH value of human skin is generally:

Option 1: between 7 and 14

Option 2: 5.5

Option 3: between 0 and 7

Option 4: between 4 and 7

Question : There are certain words missing in the passage given below. The options given contain an answer that will fit in those given blanks. Choose the correct word to be used to make the sentence coherent and grammatically correct.

An analysis of human bones found in a/an 1) ____________________ well in Punjab has confirmed that they are the remains of Indian soldiers from the Gangetic plains who participated in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
The bones were excavated by 2) ___________________ archaeologists in Ajnala, a town in Amritsar district, in February 2014. At the time of their discovery, two theories emerged: whether they were bodies of soldiers who participated in the 1857 revolt (sometimes called the First War of Independence), or bodies of people who were killed in the mass 3) ___________________ during India’s partition in 1947.
Scientists who conducted genetic and 4) ___________________ analyses of the remains have now confirmed that the bones are 165 years old. All of them are adult males from Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and eastern Uttar Pradesh, a paper published on Thursday in the journal Frontiers in Genetics that describes the analyses said. The theory that the remains could belong to 5) __________________ of mass violence during partition was easy to rule out, since coins with engravings of Queen Victoria and the year of their make were also retrieved during the excavation. None of the marks dated beyond 1856.

Q. Choose the correct word to be used in blank 4.

Option 1:  humble
 

Option 2:  chemical
 

Option 3:  lofty
 

Option 4:  modest