Official group for VARC | CAT Prep 2020

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice- 23rd May 2020 | General Philosophy  

Various tales in Herodotus’s The Histories display a circular means of the realization of fate. In one story involving the birth of Cyrus and his rise to power in Asia, Herodotus tells us that the Median king Astyages was having disturbing dreams about his daughter Mandane.

We are told that his first dream, in which Mandane’s urine flooded all of Asia, was interpreted ominously by the Magi. As a consequence, when the time came to marry Mandane off, Astyages made what turned out to be a fatal mistake. While there were plenty of wealthy and powerful Medes eligible for marriage, “his fear of the dream made him refuse to marry her to any of them; instead, he gave her to a Persian called Cambyses, whom he found to be of noble lineage and peaceful behavior, although he regarded him as the social inferior by far of a Mede of the middle rank.” Essentially, Astyages altered what would be a normal treatment of the marriage in order to marry his daughter to someone less threatening. 

This attempt to avoid the prophesy of the first dream backfired however, and when Mandane became pregnant, Astyages had another foreboding dream. This second dream was interpreted to mean that Mandane’s son would rule in Astyages’s place. Herodotus tells us that “[the prophecy of the second dream] was what Astyages was guarding against” when he again took action, telling his advisor Harpagus to kill the baby. This plan backfired as well since Harpagus refused to kill the baby, leading to a complicated chain of events whereby the child—later to be named Cyrus—survived and returned to conquer his grandfather’s kingdom. In this story, Astyages’s downfall is depicted as resulting directly from two major mistakes—marrying Mandane to Cambyses and telling Harpagus to kill their offspring. These mistakes in turn are shown to be motivated by fear of the prophesies of his downfall. Had not some divine force planted the dreams in his head, he would not have taken the steps necessary to fulfill those prophesies. Through this circular path, destiny is unavoidably realized.

1. Which of the following best describes the philosophical argument underlying the passage?

(A) There is no free will; humans all have a predetermined and unavoidable fate.

(B) Divine revelations are His way of communicating with us.

(C) Free will serves destiny.

(D) Human’s circumstances are his own making.

2. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?

(A) As a result of his first dream, Astyages believed the threat his daughter posed to him could be through her husband.

(B) Astyages believed that it was always best to observe the recommendations of the Magi.

(C) Astyages believed that a Persian noble was less of a threat to his position than a Median noble.

(D) Had Astyages not acted upon his dreams, he might have averted the fate that befell him.

3. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly undermine the claim that Astyages’s downfall proceeded from two major mistakes?

(A) Mandane’s husband would have deposed Astyages if he had known why his son was killed.

(B) Astyages’s first dream was in fact a warning against allowing his daughter to marry.

(C) Harpagus would not have killed the baby regardless of whether he knew the prophesy.

(D) Mandane’s son would have conquered his grandfather’s kingdom regardless of who his father was.

https://youtu.be/Gcu3zjnZQ7o

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 24th May 2020 | Business & Management

The number of women directors appointed to corporate boards in the United States has increased dramatically, but the ratio of female to male directors remains low. Although pressure to recruit women directors, unlike that to employ women in the general work force, does not derive from legislation, it is nevertheless real.

Although small companies were the first to have women directors, large corporations currently have a higher percentage of women on their boards. When the chairs of these large corporations began recruiting women to serve on boards, they initially sought women who were chief executive officers (CEO’s) of large corporations. However, such women CEO’s are still rare. In addition, the ideal of six CEO’s (female or male) serving on the board of each of the largest corporations is realizable only if every CEO serves on six boards. This raises the specter of director over-commitment and the resultant dilution of contribution. Consequently, the chairs next sought women in business who had the equivalent of CEO experience. However, since it is only recently that large numbers of women have begun to rise in management, the chairs began to recruit women of high achievement outside the business world. Many such women are well known for their contributions in government, education, and the nonprofit sector. The fact that the women from these sectors who were appointed were often acquaintances of the boards’ chairs seems quite reasonable: chairs have always considered it important for directors to interact comfortably in the boardroom.

Although many successful women from outside the business world are unknown to corporate leaders, these women are particularly qualified to serve on boards because of the changing nature of corporations. Today a company’s ability to be responsive to the concerns of the community and the environment can influence that company’s growth and survival. Women are uniquely positioned to be responsive to some of these concerns. Although conditions have changed, it should be remembered that most directors of both sexes are over fifty years old. Women of that generation were often encouraged to direct their attention toward efforts to improve the community. This fact is reflected in the career development of most of the outstandingly successful women of the generation now in their fifties, who currently serve on corporate boards: 25 percent are in education and 22 percent are in government, law, and the nonprofit sector.

One organization of women directors is helping business become more responsive to the changing needs of society by raising the level of corporate awareness about social issues, such as problems with the economy, government regulation, the aging population, and the environment. This organization also serves as a resource center of information on accomplished women who are potential candidates for corporate boards.

1. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about achievement of the “ideal” mentioned in the passage?

(A) It has only recently become a possibility.

(B) It would be easier to meet if more CEO’s were women.

(C) It is very close to being a reality for most corporate boards.

(D) It might affect the quality of directors’ service to corporations.

2. All of the following are examples of issues that the organization described in the last paragraph would be likely to advise corporations on EXCEPT

(A) long-term inflation

(B) health and safety regulations

(C) the energy shortage

(D) emerging product trends

3. It can be inferred from the passage that, when seeking to appoint new members to a corporation’s board, the chair traditionally looked for candidates who

(A) had legal and governmental experience

(B) had experience dealing with community affairs

(C) could work easily with other members of the board

(D) had influential connections outside the business world

4. The passage suggests that corporations of the past differ from modern corporations in which of the following ways?

(A) Corporations had greater input on government policies affecting the business community.

(B) Corporations were less responsive to the financial needs of their employees.

(C) The ability of a corporation to keep up with changing markets was not a crucial factor in its success.

(D) A corporation’s effectiveness in coping with community needs was less likely to affect its growth and prosperity.

5. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

(A) A problem is described, and then reasons why various proposed solutions succeeded or failed are discussed.

(B) A problem is described, and then an advantage of resolving it is offered.

(C) A problem is described, and then reasons for its continuing existence are summarized.

(D) The historical origins of a problem are described, and then various measures that have successfully resolved it are discussed.

6. It can be inferred from the passage that all of the following factors make women uniquely valuable members of modern corporate boards, EXCEPT 

(A) The nature of modern corporations

(B) The increased number of women CEO’s

(C) The careers pursued by women currently available to serve on corporate boards

(D) The cultural context in which they were brought up

https://youtu.be/37qCa0aZRyg

[theverbalmentor]

RC practice- 25th May 2020  

Because we have so deeply interiorized writing, we find it difficult to consider writing to be an alien technology, as we commonly assume printing and the computer to be. Most people are surprised to learn that essentially the same objections commonly urged today against computers were urged by Plato in the Phaedrus, against writing.

Writing, Plato has Socrates say, is inhuman, pretending to establish outside the mind what in reality can be only in the mind. Secondly, Plato‘s Socrates urges, writing destroys memory. Those who use writing will become forgetful, relying on external resource for what they lack in internal resources. Thirdly, a written text is basically unresponsive, whereas real speech and thought always exist essentially in a context of give-and-take between real persons.

Without writing, words as such have no visual presence, even when the objects they represent are visual. Thus, for most literates, to think of words as totally disassociated from writing is psychologically threatening, for literates‘ sense of control over language is closely tied to the visual transformations of language. Writing makes ―words‖ appear similar to things because we think of words as the visible marks signalling words to decoders, and we have an inability to represent to our minds a heritage of verbally organized materials except as some variant of writing. A literate person, asked to think of the word ―nevertheless‖ will normally have some image of the spelled-out word and be quite unable to think of the word without adverting to the lettering. Thus the thought processes of functionally literate human beings do not grow out of simply natural powers but out of these powers as structured by the technology of writing.

Without writing, human consciousness cannot achieve its fuller potentials, cannot produce other beautiful and powerful creations. Literacy is absolutely necessary for the development not only of science, but also of history, philosophy, explicative understanding of literature and of any art, and indeed for the explanation of language (including oral speech) itself. Literate users of a grapholect such as standard English have access to vocabularies hundreds of times larger than any oral language can manage. Thus, in many ways, writing heightens consciousness. Technology, properly interiorized, does not degrade human life but enhances it.

In the total absence of any writing, there is nothing outside the writer, no text, to enable him or her to produce the same line of thought again or even verify whether he has done so or not. In primary oral culture, to solve effectively the problem of retaining and retrieving carefully articulated thought, you have to do your thinking in mnemonic patterns, shaped for ready oral recurrence. A judge in an oral culture is often called upon to articulate sets of relevant proverbs out of which he can produce equitable decisions in the cases under formal litigation under him. The more sophisticated orally patterned thought is, the more it is likely to be marked by set expressions skilfully used. Among the ancient Greeks, Hesiod, who was intermediate between oral Homeric Greece and fully developed Greek literacy, delivered quasiphilosophic material in the formulaic verse forms from which he had emerged.

Q1). In paragraph 5 of the passage, the author mentions Hesiod in order to:

A. prove that oral poets were more creative than those who put their verses in written words.

B. show that some sophisticated expressions can be found among the preliterate ancient Greeks.

C. demonstrate that a culture that is partially oral and partially literate forms the basis of an ideal society.

D. no sophisticated expressions could be found among the pre-literate ancient Greeks.

Q2). According to the author, an important difference between oral and literate cultures can be expressed in terms of:

A. extensive versus limited reliance on memory.

B. chaotic versus structured modes of thought.

C. barbaric versus civilized forms of communication.

D. presence and absence of books

Q3). The author refers to Plato in the first and second paragraphs. He brings the philosopher up primarily in order to:

A. provide an example of literate Greek philosophy.

B. suggest the possible disadvantages of writing.

C. illustrate common misconceptions about writing.

D. define the differences between writing and computer technology.

Q4) Plato viewed writing with disdain because of all but which of the following reasons:

A. It results in a wrong projection of human ideas in the external world 

B. It lacks the dynamism of human communication

C. It undermines memory

D. It brings about a cruel alienation of human from something that is his

Q5) The passage is primarily concerned with

A. criticising those who speak against writing‘

B. emphasising the importance of writing

C. documenting the negative effects of writing

D. discussing how writing has influenced human consciousness

https://youtu.be/rHZz_myzqF8

[mesarang]

Parajumbles for CAT https://youtu.be/T_p7tIU5BBw

[theverbalmentor]

RC practice - 26th May 2020

Utilitarian models of the state, subordinating individual rights to a calculus of maximum social welfare, have long been a de facto orthodoxy among political philosophers. Yet they run counter to the basic liberal concept of fairness, which deeply characterizes the intuitive American response to injustice, and provide succor to those who espouse radical solutions to social problems—socialism on the one hand and the new conservatism on the other. Those comfortable with these dogmas should take note of the philosophical revival of the once discarded notion of the social contract. This idea receives its fullest exposition in John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice."

Rather than adopt Rousseau's vision of naturalman—a picture almost impossible to conjure up in the face of more recent scientific knowledge—the new contractarians postulate a group of rational men and women gathered for the purpose of elucidating a concept of justice which will guide their affairs. They further assume that these people make their decision behind a veil of ignorance; that is, they are totally ignorant for now of their position in society—their race, their gender, their place in the social order. Yet the principles at which they arrive will bind them once the veil is lifted.

Starting from this original position, it can be logically demonstrated that rational beings would arrive at a decision ensuring the maximum possible justice and liberty for even the meanest member of society. Thus, freedom of speech, for example, would be inviolable, whereas the utilitarian could easily justify its abridgment for a greater social good. Second, social and economic inequality, which are the inevitable result of the lottery of birth, should be arranged such that they inhere in offices and stations in life available to all and thus are, by consensus, seen to be to everyone's advantage. Injustice, then, is defined as an unequal distribution of good things, with liberty being first among them.

While it can be and has been argued that the blind choosers envisioned by the new contractarians might well choose to gamble on the outcome of the social order, such arguments are ultimately lacking in interest. The point of the contractarian view does not lie in what real people "would" do in an admittedly impossible situation. Rather, it is to provide an abstract model that is intuitively satisfactory because, in fact, it corresponds to the ideas of "fairness" so deeply rooted in the American national psyche.

1. The author most likely wrote this passage primarily to

(A) outline and defend a contractarian view of justice

(B) propose an alternative to radical solutions to social problems

(C) compare the utilitarian and contractarian theories

(D) resurrect the idea of the social contract

2. Which of the following would NOT be classified as the utilitarian way of conducting social affairs, as it has been mentioned in the passage?

(A) Prohibiting homosexual relationships because they pose a threat to the social fabric

(B) Revoking free access to education in colleges and schools 

(C) Making vaccination against a communicable disease mandatory

(D) Implementing a progressive taxation system

3. Which of the following is an assumption of the contractarian model, as presented by the author?

(A) The decision makers act before acquiring any place in the social order.

(B) All members of the contracting group will place a high value on personal liberty.

(C) Justice can only be secured by ensuring that all positions in the social order have equal power and status.

(D) The contracting parties will seek to safeguard their own liberties at the expense of the rights of others.

4. The author implies that a party to the social contract who "chose to gamble on the outcome of the social order" would select a principle of justice

(A) allowing an unequal access to liberty and other social goods

(B) based on the greatest possible equalization of both personal freedom and material circumstances

(C) that explicitly denied inherent inequalities among the members of society

(D) that valued the benefit of society in the aggregate over the freedom of the individual

5. It can be inferred that the author feels the ideas of John Rawls are relevant today because

(A) they present, in contrast to utilitarianism, an ethically-based concept of justice

(B) they outline a view of justice which results in the maximum possible liberty for all

(C) utilitarian ideas have led to social philosophies with which the author disagrees

(D) new evidence has strengthened the idea of the social contract

https://youtu.be/KWQs9lLK3hg https://youtu.be/KWQs9lLK3hg

[theverbalmentor]

RC practice - 27th May 2020 

Japanese firms have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the world automobile industry. Some observers of Japan have assumed that Japanese firms use the same manufacturing equipment and techniques as United States firms but have benefited from the unique characteristics of Japanese employees and the Japanese culture. However, if this were true, then one would expect Japanese auto plants in the United States to perform no better than factories run by United States companies. This is not the case; Japanese-run automobile plants located in the United States and staffed by local workers have demonstrated higher levels of productivity when compared with factories owned by United States companies.

Other observers link high Japanese productivity to higher levels of capital investment per worker. But a historical perspective leads to a different conclusion. When the two top Japanese automobile makers matched and then doubled United States productivity levels in the mid-sixties, capital investment per employee was comparable to that of United States firms. Furthermore, by the late seventies, the amount of fixed assets required to produce one vehicle was roughly equivalent in Japan and in the United States.

Since capital investment was not higher in Japan, it had to be other factors that led to higher productivity. A more fruitful explanation may lie with Japanese production techniques. Japanese automobile producers did not simply implement conventional processes more effectively: they made critical changes in United States procedures. For instance, the mass-production philosophy of United States automakers encouraged the production of huge lots of cars in order to utilize fully expensive, component-specific equipment and to occupy fully workers who have been trained to execute one operation efficiently. Japanese automakers chose to make small-lot production feasible by introducing several departures from United States practices, including the use of flexible equipment that could be altered easily to do several different production tasks and the training of workers in multiple jobs. Automakers could schedule the production of different components or models on single machines, thereby eliminating the need to store the buffer stocks of extra components that result when specialized equipment and workers are kept constantly active.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present the major steps of a process

(B) clarify an ambiguity

(C) chronicle a dispute

(D) correct misconceptions

2. The author suggests that if the observers of Japan mentioned in line 2 were correct, which of the following would be the case?

(A) Japanese workers would be trained to do several different production jobs.

(B) Culture would not have an influence on the productivity levels of workers.

(C) The workers in Japanese-run plants would have higher productivity levels regardless of where they were located.

(D) The production levels of Japanese-run plants located in the United States would be equal to those of plants run by United States companies.

3. Which of the following statements concerning the productivity levels of automakers can be inferred from the passage?

(A) Prior to the 1960’s, the productivity levels of the top Japanese automakers were exceeded by those of United States automakers.

(B) The culture of a country has a large effect on the productivity levels of its automakers.

(C) The greater the number of cars that are produced in a single lot, the higher a plant’s productivity level.

(D) The amount of capital investment made by automobile manufacturers in their factories determines the level of productivity.

4. Which of the following best describes the organization of the first paragraph?

(A) A thesis is presented and supporting examples are provided.

(B) Opposing views are presented, classified, and then reconciled.

(C) A fact is stated, and an explanation is advanced and then refuted.

(D) A theory is proposed, considered, and then amended.

5. It can be inferred from the passage that one problem associated with the production of huge lots of cars is which of the following?

(A) The need to manufacture flexible machinery and equipment

(B) The need to store extra components not required for immediate use

(C) The need for expensive training programs for workers, which emphasize the development of facility in several production jobs

(D) The need to increase the investment per vehicle in order to achieve high productivity levels

6. With which of the following predictive statement regarding Japanese automakers would the author most likely agree?

(A) The efficiency levels of the Japanese automakers will decline if they become less flexible in their approach to production.

(B) United States automakers will originate new production processes before Japanese automakers do.

(C) Japanese automakers will hire fewer workers than will United States automakers because each worker is required to perform several jobs.

(D) Japanese automakers will spend less on equipment repairs than will United States automakers because Japanese equipment can be easily altered.

https://youtu.be/zrbooH-8Slo

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 28th May 2020

In recent years much attention has been paid to distilling those factors that create a positive work environment for corporate employees. The goal ultimately is to discover what allows some companies to foster high employee morale while other companies struggle with poor productivity and high managerial turnover. Several theories have been posited, but none has drawn as much interest from the corporate world, or has as much promise, as value congruence, which measures the "fit" between an employee's values and those of co-workers and the company itself.

The concept of value congruence is generally intuitive – when there is a match between employee and organization value systems, positive outcomes will result. Although the link between value congruence and positive organizational outcomes has been firmly established, until recently it was not clear why this process takes place. Rather than directly causing positive outcomes, value congruence primarily leads to positive outcomes through the enhancement of communication and trust between the organization and the employee. Value Congruence -> Trust + Communication -> Positive Outcomes That is, when value congruence between an employee and the organization is high, there tends to be high levels of trust and communication between the two parties.

Value congruence can be broken into three main subcategories: person-environment ("P-E"), person-person ("P-P"), and perceptual fit ("PF"). Person-environment congruence refers to a harmony between the personal values of the employee and corporate culture of the company in which he or she works. Someone with a high P-E congruence feels personally in tune with his company's stated policies and goals. Conversely, someone with a low P-E congruence feels a sense of disharmony between his own values and the stated policies and goals of his company. A high P-P congruence indicates a sense of solidarity with one's co-workers in terms of shared values and goals. A low P-P congruence indicates a sense of isolation from co-workers brought about by an absence of shared values. Finally, strong PF suggests a strong correspondence between the values that an employee perceives his company to have (whether or not the company actually does) and the values that his co-workers perceive the company to have (again, whether or not it actually does). A weak PF implies that an employee's perception of his company's values differs significantly from that of his co-workers.

Research has shown that P-E and PF congruence are important measures of employee satisfaction, commitment, and likelihood of turnover, although P-P congruence has little bearing on these parameters. Moreover, PF is especially important in establishing harmonious relations between workers and managers. These measures give corporations a robust paradigm on the basis of which to create long-term personnel plans and productivity growth targets: in particular, P-E and PF congruence allow companies to discover dysfunctional work relationships and clarify misperceived company policies and goals. With these tools in hand, companies can look forward to increased employee satisfaction and, ultimately, improved company performance

1. The passage suggests that perceptual fit congruence would be most useful in determining which of the following?

A. whether a company ought to make its policies and goals more transparent

B. whether a company ought to provide sensitivity training for its management

C. whether a company ought to create more opportunities for interaction among workers

D. whether a company ought to address employee grievances more directly

2. Which of the following correctly represents the relationship between value-fit, communication and outcomes for a corporate in context of the passage?

A. lack of communication between employee and organization could be a sign of low value-fit

B. transparency in peer-to-peer communication brings about positive outcomes

C. the policy statement of an organization enhances trust in the company and brings about positive results

D. there is no way to enhance outcomes for a company without fostering employee trust.

3. According to the passage, which of the following was a motivation in the creation of the system of value congruence?

A. a desire to minimize the liability of upper management for employee dissatisfaction

B. a desire to help companies to improve their internal harmony

C. a desire to foster awareness of factors influencing managerial success

D. a desire to eliminate discrepancies between a company’s goals and the values of its employees

4. The primary focus of the passage is on which of the following?

A. Comparing a new theory of corporate performance to a discredited theory and predicting the usefulness of the new theory.

B. Illustrating a new approach to measuring employee satisfaction through a detailed analysis of a particular case.

C. Challenging an old view of employee commitment and suggesting that a new paradigm is necessary.

D. Promoting a new method of measuring the likelihood of corporate success by explaining its benefits.

https://youtu.be/i9KVzjh8BCM

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 29th May 2020 

Fame and fortune are both mysterious and fickle. What is it that makes one person wealthy and famous, while the rest of his or her friends or colleagues are left behind? While it's true that money can't buy you happiness, at least on a long-term basis, it can definitely buy you the freedom to do what you want in life. And that is worth a lot.

While most everyone harbors a secret (or maybe not-so-secret) desire to be either rich, famous--or both--this is particularly true for members of the Millennial generation. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of Millennials said that getting rich is their generation's first or second most important life goal, and 51 percent said the same about getting famous.

So, what is it exactly that the rich and famous do differently from the rest of us, and how can you adopt some of these habits in your own life? History might have a lesson here.

In popular wisdom, fame and fortune are often associated with virtue, industry, and a host of other attributes. However, random strokes of fate often determine such success and said commonly perceived virtues prove irrelevant. For instance, decades after her death, Coco Chanel remains the epitome of French fashion and her name, as well as the company she founded, is known throughout the world. Yet, few realize that she, while undeniably talented, initially succeeded by leveraging her status as a courtesan. As a company owner, it would be an understatement to say that she was not known for her generous treatment of her employees. During the Nazi occupation, she lived a privileged life at the Hotel Ritz and her lover at the time was a German intelligence operative.

Conversely, there is the example of Madeleine Vionnet, a professional contemporary of Chanel. She is often credited with permanently transforming fashion through her use of the bias cut—cutting material against the grain of the fabric. In the 1930’s, her gowns were worn by Hollywood stars, and her standing was second to none. She was also, in many ways, an early feminist, establishing largely unheard of employee benefits—such as day care and medicalcare—for her largely female staff. In addition, she lobbied for fashion copyright protections. When the Second World War broke out, she closed her business and simply retired. Today, she is largely unknown outside of the fashion industry.

1. The author wrote the passage to posit which of the following?

(A) that the relationship between virtue and success is inverse

(B) that an inferior designer was more successful than a superior one

(C) to contrast the aesthetic of Chanel to that of Vionnet

(D) to suggest that no causal relationship exists between personal qualities and professional legacy

2. The author discusses the employee benefits offered by Vionnet in order to

(A) differentiate her from Chanel

(B) illustrate Vionnet’s admirable qualities

(C) highlight the fact that virtues are no guarantee of success

(D) demonstrate the economic burden of her decisions that might have led to her failure

3. The Pew research shows all but which of the following about millenials?

(A) They are peculiarly fascinated with renown and riches

(B) Getting wealthy is one of their top priorities in life

(C) Their yearning for money and fame is not always evident

(D) On average, they desire fortune more than fame

4. Which of the following assertions about Chanel has been made by the author?

(A) She was not talented, but just lucky to have become so renowned

(B) Her success is attributable, at least in part, to her earlier profession

(C) She worked with the Nazi camp and was associated with a German intelligence officer

(D) She was generous to her employees

https://youtu.be/vxxOFIOGcj0

[theverbalmentor]

RC practice - 30th May 2020

In 1977 the prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, announced the opening of the first women’s studies program in Asia. Few academic programs have ever received such public attention. In broadcast debates, critics dismissed the program as a betrayal of national identity, an imitation of Western ideas, and a distraction from the real task of national unification and economic development. Even supporters underestimated the program; they thought it would be merely another of the many Western ideas that had already proved useful in Asian culture, akin to airlines, electricity, and the assembly line. The founders of the program, however, realized that neither view was correct. They had some reservations about the applicability of Western feminist theories to the role of women in Asia and felt that such theories should be closely examined. Their approach has thus far yielded important critiques of Western theory, informed by the special experience of Asian women.

For instance, like the Western feminist critique of the Freudian model of the human psyche, the Korean critique finds Freudian theory culture-bound, but in ways different from those cited by Western theorists. The Korean theorists claim that Freudian theory assumes the universality of the Western nuclear, male-headed family and focuses on the personality formation of the individual, independent of society. An analysis based on such assumptions could be valid for a highly competitive, individualistic society. In the Freudian family drama, family members are assumed to be engaged in a Darwinian struggle against each other—father against son and sibling against sibling. Such a concept projects the competitive model of Western society onto human personalities. But in the Asian concept of personality there is no ideal attached to individualism or to the independent self. The Western model of personality development does not explain major characteristics of the Korean personality, which is social and group-centered. The “self” is a social being defined by and acting in a group, and the well-being of both men and women is determined by the equilibrium of the  group, not by individual self-assertion. The ideal is one of interdependency.

In such a context, what is recognized as “dependency” in Western psychiatric terms is not, in Korean terms, an admission of weakness or failure. All this bears directly on the Asian perception of men’s and women’s psychology because men are also “dependent.” In Korean culture, men cry and otherwise easily show their emotions, something that might be considered a betrayal of masculinity in Western culture. In the kinship-based society of Korea, four generations may live in the same house, which means that people can be sons and daughters all their lives, whereas in Western culture, the roles of husband and son, wife and daughter, are often incompatible.

1. Which of the following is NOT true of the family structures in Western and Korean cultures?

(A) the former is based on the ideal of competition among the members while the latter is based on the ideal of cooperation

(B) a family member in the West would generally find himself torn between shouldering the responsibilities of being a father and a son at once

(C) a Western family man is more repressive than a Korean counterpart

(D) domestic disharmony is more common in the Western families than in the Korean ones

2. Which of the following best summarizes the content of the passage?

(A) A critique of a particular women’s studies program

(B) A report of work in social theory done by a particular women’s studies program

(C) An assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular women’s studies program

(D) An analysis of the philosophy underlying women’s studies programs

3. Which of the following conclusions about the introduction of Western ideas to Korean society can be supported by information contained in the passage?

(A) Except for technological innovations, few Western ideas have been successfully transplanted into Korean society.

(B) The introduction of Western ideas to Korean society is viewed by some Koreans as a challenge to Korean identity.

(C) The development of the Korean economy depends heavily on the development of new academic programs modeled after Western programs.

(D) The extent to which Western ideas must be adapted for acceptance by Korean society is minimal.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that the broadcast media in Korea considered the establishment of the Ewha women’s studies program

(A) imitative

(B) insignificant

(C) newsworthy

(D) praiseworthy

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the position taken by some of the supporters of the Ewha women’s studies program was problematic to the founders of the program because those supporters

(A) assumed that the program would be based on the uncritical adoption of Western theory

(B) failed to show concern for the issues of national unification and economic development

(C) were unfamiliar with Western feminist theory

(D) accepted the universality of Freudian theory

6. Which of the following statements about the Western feminist critique of Freudian theory can be supported by information contained in the passage?

(A) It recognizes that the Freudian theory is contextual

(B) It was written after 1977.

(C) It acknowledges the universality of the nuclear, male-headed family.

(D) It challenges Freud’s analysis of the role of daughters in Western society.

https://youtu.be/wgZjHcvRjj8

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 31st May 2020  

Since the 1970s, economic and occupational insecurity has become a major problem for American workers, their families, and their communities. While outsourcing, the busting and decline of unionization and welfare supports, and the rise of immigration, the prison-industrial complex, and unemployment have brought increased competition and considerable economic insecurity to working-class employees in the "traditional" blue-collar fields, there is an increasing demand for service personnel, including clerical and retail occupations. Sociologist Gosta Esping-Anderson describes these supervised service occupations as "junk jobs," as they fail to pay living wages in the face of asset and price inflation, fail to pay benefits, are often insecure, unstable, or temporary, and provide little work control and little opportunity for skill development or advancement 

Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States. Yet while we now have studies of working-class communities and culture, we know remarkably little of worklessness. When historians have paid any attention at all to unemployment, they have focused on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The narrowness of this perspective ignores the pervasive recessions and joblessness of the previous decades, as Alexander Robin shows in his recent book. Examining the period 1870-1920, Robin concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the findings applicable to other industrial areas.

The unemployment rates that Robin calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent. Yet Robin rightly understands that a better way to measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies—measuring the percentage of workers who experience any unemployment in the course of a year. Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger.

Robin also scrutinizes unemployment patterns according to skill level, ethnicity, race, age, class, and gender. He finds that rates of joblessness differed primarily according to class: those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unemployed. Yet the impact of unemployment on a specific class was not always the same. Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates. Robin uses these differential rates to help explain a phenomenon that has puzzled historians—the startlingly high rate of geographical mobility in the nineteenth-century United States. But mobility was not the dominant working-class strategy for coping with unemployment, nor was assistance from private charities or state agencies. Self-help and the help of kin got most workers through jobless spells.

While Robin might have spent more time developing the implications of his findings on joblessness for contemporary public policy, his study, in its thorough research and creative use of quantitative and qualitative evidence, is a model of historical analysis.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) recommending a new course of investigation

(B) estimating unemployment rates in the latter half of 19th century United States

(C) summarizing and assessing a study 

(D) comparing and contrasting two methods for calculating data

2. The passage suggests that before the early 1970’s, which of the following was true of the study by historians of the working class in the United States?

(A) The study was infrequent or superficial, or both.

(B) The study was repeatedly criticized for its allegedly narrow focus.

(C) The study focused more on the working-class community than on working-class culture.

(D) The study ignored working-class joblessness during the Great Depression.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of Robin’s findings concerning unemployment in Massachusetts?

(A) They tend to contradict earlier findings about such unemployment.

(B) They are possible because Massachusetts has the most easily accessible historical records.

(C) They are the first to mention the existence of high rates of geographical mobility in the nineteenth century.

(D) They are relevant to a historical understanding of the nature of unemployment in other states.

4. Which of the following statements about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression can be inferred from the passage?

(A) It was sometimes higher than 15 percent.

(B) It has been analyzed seriously only since the early 1970’s.

(C) It can be calculated more easily than can unemployment frequency.

(D) It has been shown by Robin to be lower than previously thought.

5. The author views Robin’s study with

(A) wary concern

(B) polite skepticism

(C) scrupulous neutrality

(D) qualified admiration

6. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Robin’s findings as they are described by the author?

(A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.

(B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.

(C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.

(D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished.

https://youtu.be/N90d_SAqaYM

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 1st June 2020 

It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry took them out of the household, their traditional sphere, and fundamentally altered their position in society. In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician, warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the “social, legal, and economic subordination” of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of “the whole female sex into public industry.” Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization’s effects, but they agreed that it would transform women’s lives.

Historians, particularly those investigating the history of women, now seriously question this assumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny, the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women’s economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women’s work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution was largely an extension of an older pattern of employment of young, single women as domestics. It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880’s created a new class of “dead-end” jobs, thenceforth considered “women’s work.” The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.

Women’s work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women’s household labor remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.

1. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

(A) The effects of the mechanization of women’s work have not borne out the frequently held assumption that new technology is inherently revolutionary.

(B) Recent studies have shown that mechanization revolutionizes a society’s traditional values and the customary roles of its members.

(C) Mechanization has caused the nature of women’s work to change since the Industrial Revolution.

(D) The mechanization of work creates whole new classes of jobs that did not previously exist.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that, before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of women’s work was done in which of the following settings?

(A) Textile mills

(B) Private households

(C) Offices

(D) Factories

3. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would consider which of the following to be an indication of a fundamental alteration in the conditions of women’s work?

(A) Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy white-collar positions

(B) Interviews with married men indicating that they are now doing some household tasks

(C) Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers outnumber men four to one

(D) Census results showing that working women’s wages and salaries are, on the average, as high as those of working men

4. The passage states that, before the twentieth century, which of the following was true of many employers?

(A) They did not employ women in factories.

(B) They tended to employ single rather than married women.

(C) They employed women in only those jobs that were related to women’s traditional household work.

(D) They resisted technological innovations that would radically change women’s roles in the family.

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably believes which of the following to be true concerning those historians who study the history of women?

(A) Their work provides insights important to those examining social phenomena affecting the lives of both sexes.

(B) Their work can only be used cautiously by scholars in other disciplines.

(C) Because they concentrate only on the role of women in the workplace, they draw more reliable conclusions than do other historians.

(D) While highly interesting, their work has not had an impact on most historians’ current assumptions concerning the revolutionary effect of technology in the workplace.

6. Which of the following best describes the function of the concluding sentence of the passage?

(A) It sums up the general points concerning the mechanization of work made in the passage as a whole.

(B) It draws a conclusion concerning the effects of the mechanization of work which goes beyond the evidence presented in the passage as a whole.

(C) It restates the point concerning technology made in the sentence immediately preceding it.

(D) It qualifies the author’s agreement with scholars who argue for a major revision in the assessment of the impact of mechanization on society.

https://youtu.be/ZWl_94C7VZw

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice- 3rd June 2020 (Missed 2nd June) | EASY

In explaining the foundations of the discipline known as historical sociology—the examination of history using the methods of sociology—historical sociologist Alexander Frank argues that, while people are made by society as much as society is made by people, sociologists’ approach to the subject is usually to focus on only one of these forms of influence to the exclusion of the other. Frank insists on the necessity for sociologists to move beyond these one-sided approaches to understand society as an entity constructed by individuals who are at the same time constructed by their society. Frank refers to this continuous process as “structuring”.

Frank also sees history as the result of structuring. People, both individually and as members of collectives, make history. But our making of history is itself formed and informed not only by the historical conditions we inherit from the past, but also by the prior formation of our own identities and capacities, which are shaped by what Frank calls “contingencies”—social phenomena over which we have varying degrees of control. Contingencies include such things as the social conditions under which we come of age, the condition of our household’s economy, the ideologies available to help us make sense of our situation, and accidental circumstances. The ways in which contingencies affect our individual or group identities create a structure of forces within which we are able to act, and that partially determines the sorts of actions we are able to perform.

In Frank’s analysis, historical structuring, like social structuring, is manifold and unremitting. To understand it, historical sociologists must extract from it certain significant episodes, or events, that their methodology can then analyze and interpret. According to Frank, these events are points at which action and contingency meet, points that represent a cross section of the specific social and individual forces in play at a given time. At such moments, individuals stand forth as agents of history not simply because they possess a unique ability to act, but also because in them we see the force of the specific social conditions that allowed their actions to come forth. Individuals can “make their mark” on history, yet in individuals one also finds the convergence of wider social forces. In order to capture the various facets of this mutual interaction, Frank recommends a fourfold structure to which he believes the investigations of historical sociologists should conform: first, description of the event itself; second, discussion of the social context that helped bring the event about and gave it significance; third, summary of the life history of the individual agent in the event; and fourth, analysis of the consequences of the event both for history and for the individual.

1. Given the passage’s argument, which one of the following sentences most logically completes the last paragraph?

(A) By adhering to this structure, Frank believes, historical sociologists will be able to better portray the complex connections between human agency and history.

(B) Only if they adhere to this structure, Frank believes, will historical sociologists be able to counter the standard sociological assumption that there is very little connection between history and individual agency.

(C) Unless they can agree to adhere to this structure, Frank believes, historical sociologists risk having their discipline treated as little more than an interesting but ultimately indefensible adjunct to history and sociology.

(D) By adhering to this structure, Frank believes, historical sociologists can shed light on issues that traditional sociologists have chosen to ignore in their one-sided approaches to the formation of societies.

2. The passage states that a contingency could be each of the following EXCEPT:

(A) a social phenomenon

(B) a form of historical structuring

(C) a condition controllable to some extent by an individual

(D) a partial determinant of an individual’s actions

3. Which one of the following is most analogous to the ideal work of a historical sociologist as outlined by Frank?

(A) In a report on the enactment of a bill into law, a journalist explains why the need for the bill arose, sketches the biography of the principal legislator who wrote the bill, and ponders the effect that the bill’s enactment will have both one society and on the legislator’s career.

(B) In a consultation with a patient, a doctor reviews the patient’s medical history, suggests possible reasons for the patient’s current condition, and recommends steps that the patient should take in the future to ensure that the condition improves or at least does not get any worse.

(C) In an analysis of a historical novel, a critic provides information to support the claim that details of the work’s setting are accurate, explains why the subject of the novel was of particular interest to the author, and compares the novel with some of the author’s other books set in the same period.

(D) In a presentation to stockholders, a corporation’s chief executive officer describes the corporations’ most profitable activities during the past year, introduces the vice president largely responsible for those activities, and discusses new projects the vice president will initiate in the coming year.

4. The primary function of the first paragraph of the passage is to

(A) outline the merits of Frank’s conception of historical sociology

(B) convey the details of Frank’s conception of historical sociology

(C) examine the roles of key terms used in Frank’s conception of historical sociology

(D) identify the basis of Frank’s conception of historical sociology

5. Based on the passage, which one of the following is the LEAST illustrative example of the effect of a contingency upon an individual?

(A) the effect of the fact that a person experienced political injustice on that person’s decision to work for political reform

(B) the effect of the fact that a person was raised in an agricultural region on that person’s decision to pursue a career in agriculture

(C) the effect of the fact that a person lives in a particular community on that person’s decision to visit friends in another community

(D) the effect of the fact that a person’s parents practiced a particular religion on that person’s decision to practice that religion

https://youtu.be/S3jBTQk_QR4

[interyou]

  

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Preparing for CAT 2020? Confused on how to prepare? Ask the experts! InterYOU brings a free webinar with Piyush Rath, an IIM Bangalore alumnus on "How to prepare for CAT. Join us at 12:00 PM, on 7 June.

Interested students can fill this form to get the webinar link: https://lnkd.in/gU9rghg 

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 4th June 2020  

While African-American literature is well accepted in the United States, there are numerous views on its significance, traditions, and theories. To the genre's supporters, African-American literature arose out of the experience of Blacks in the United States, especially with regards to historic racism and discrimination, and is an attempt to refute the dominant culture's literature and power. In addition, supporters see the literature existing both within and outside American literature and as helping to revitalize the country's writing. To critics, African-American literature is part of a Balkanization of American literature. In addition, there are some within the African-American community who do not like how their own literature sometimes showcases Black people.

In broad terms, African-American literature can be defined as writings by people of African descent living in the United States. It is highly varied. African-American literature has generally focused on the role of African Americans within the larger American society and what it means to be an American. Among the themes and issues explored in this literature are the role of African Americans within the larger American society, African-American culture, racism, slavery, and social equality. African-American writing has tended to incorporate oral forms, such as spirituals, sermons, gospel music, blues, or rap.

One of the most prominent scholars of African-American literature is Jean Wagner. Jean Wagner’s most enduring contribution to the study of Afro-American poetry is his insistence that it be analyzed in a religious, as well as secular, frame of reference. The appropriateness of such an approach may seem self-evident for a tradition commencing with spirituals and owing its early forms, rhythms, vocabulary, and evangelical fervor to Wesleyan hymnals. But before Wagner a secular outlook that analyzed Black poetry solely within the context of political and social protest was dominant in the field.

It is Wagner who first demonstrated the essential fusion of racial and religious feeling in Afro-American poetry. The two, he argued, form a symbiotic union in which religious feelings are often applied to racial issues and racial problems are often projected onto a metaphysical plane. Wagner found this most eloquently illustrated in the Black spiritual, where the desire for freedom in this world and the hope for salvation in the next are inextricably intertwined.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) introduce African-American literature and Jean Wagner’s influence on the same

(B) document the influence of Jean Wagner on the evolution of Afro-American poetry

(C) explain the relevance of Jean Wagner’s work to the study of Afro-American religion

(D) indicate the importance of Jean Wagner’s analysis of Afro-American poetry

2. All of the following aspects of Afro-American poetry are referred to in the passage as having been influenced by Wesleyan hymnals EXCEPT:

(A) subject matter

(B) word choice

(C) structure

(D) tone

3. It can be inferred from the passage that, before Wagner, most students of Afro-American poetry did which of the following?

(A) Contributed appreciably to the transfer of political protest from Afro-American poetry to direct political action.

(B) Ignored at least some of the historical roots of Afro-American poetry.

(C) Analyzed fully the aspects of social protest to be found in such traditional forms of Afro-American poetry as the Black spiritual.

(D) Regarded as unimportant the development of fervent emotionalism in a portion of Afro-American poetry.

4. According to the author, all but which of the following is true of Afro-American literature?

(A) It is at once a part of and independent of American literature

(B) Not all the members of the community that it represents empathize with it

(C) It is formed primarily of Blacks’ experiences in America in times of slavery

(D) It is sometimes seen as a confrontation to American literature

5. Which of the following, if true, would weaken the author’s central argument?

(A) The poetry produced by Afro-American poets had long been viewed in context of Blacks’ religious experiences even before Wagner.

(B) The religious elements in the Afro-American literature are exceptional to a few prominent poets, rather than all.

(C) Racism was a predominant theme in most of the Afro-American poetry

(D) Even the American community concedes that the Blacks’ experiences in the US were primarily formed out of their religious affiliations

https://youtu.be/zmQkIzGLKWg

[punts1]

There are many words which one can come across in a day, if reading through various sources. Noting the words after completion of an article/ looking up for the meaning, seems like a waste of time! And causes the flow to obstruct!                                                                            So, just wanted to know your strategies, of how to use those words again in a sentence, particularly keeping in view the fact, that many of those words can't be recalled, unless we have used them in our own sentences!

Also, to recall the word itself, at times, one has to move again to the particular article! TIA!

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice- 5th June 2020   

The myth persists that in 1492 the Western Hemisphere was an untamed wilderness and that it was European settlers who harnessed and transformed its ecosystems. But scholarship shows that forests, in particular, had been altered to varying degrees well before the arrival of Europeans. Native populations had converted much of the forests to successfully cultivated stands, especially by means of burning. Nevertheless, some researchers have maintained that the extent, frequency, and impact of such burning was minimal. One geographer claims that climatic change could have accounted for some of the changes in forest composition; another argues that burning by native populations was done only sporadically, to augment the effects of natural fires.

However, a large body of evidence for the routine practice of burning exists in the geographical record. One group of researchers found, for example, that sedimentary charcoal accumulations in what is now the northeastern United States are greatest where known native American settlements were greatest. Other evidence shows that, while the characteristics and impact of fires set by native populations varied regionally according to population size, extent of resource management techniques, and environment, all such fires had markedly different effects on vegetation pattern than did natural fires. Controlled burning created grassy openings such as meadows and glades. Burning also promoted a mosaic quality to North and South American ecosystems, creating forests in many different stages of ecological development. Much of the mature forestland was characterized by open herbaceous undergrowth, another result of the clearing brought about by burning.

In North America, controlled burning created conditions favourable to berries and other fire-tolerant and sun-loving foods. Burning also converted mixed stands of trees to homogeneous forest, for example the longleaf, slash pine, and scrub oak forests of the southeastern U.S. Natural fires do account for some of this vegetation, but regular burning clearly extended and maintained it. Burning also influenced forest composition in the tropics, where natural fires are rare. An example is the pine-dominant forests of Nicaragua, where warm temperatures and heavy rainfall naturally favor mixed tropical or rain forests. While they primarily grow in cooler, drier, higher elevations, regions where such vegetation is in large part natural and even prehumen, today, the Nicaraguan pines also occur where there has been clearing followed by regular burning, and the same is likely to have occurred in the past: such forests were present when Europeans arrived and were found only in areas where native settlements were substantial; when these settlements were abandoned, the land returned to mixed hardwoods. This succession is also evident elsewhere in similar low tropical elevations in the Caribbean and Mexico.

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Despite extensive evidence that native populations had been burning North and South American forests extensively before 1492, some scholars persist in claiming that such burning was either infrequent or the result of natural causes.

(B) In opposition to the widespread belief that in 1492 the Western hemisphere was uncultivated, scholars unanimously agree that naive population were substantially altering North and South American forests well before the arrival of Europeans.

(C) Although some scholars minimize the scope and importance of the burning of forests engaged in by native populations of North and South American before 1492, evidence of the frequency and impact of such burning is actually quite extensive.

(D) Where scholars had once believed that North and South American forests remained uncultivated until the arrival of Europeans, there is now general agreement that native populations had been cultivating the forests since well before 1492.

2. It can be inferred that a forest burned as described in the passage would have been LEAST likely to display

(A) numerous types of hardwood trees

(B) extensive herbaceous undergrowth

(C) various stages of ecological maturity

(D) grassy opening such as meadows or glades

3. The “succession” mentioned in line 57 refers to

(A) forest clearing followed by controlled burning of forests

(B) tropical rain forest followed by pine forest

(C) European settlement followed by abandonment of land

(D) homogeneous pine forest followed by mixed hardwoods

(E) correct the geographical record

4. Which one of the following is presented by the author as evidence of controlled burning in the tropics before the arrival of Europeans?

(A) extensive homogeneous forests at high elevation

(B) extensive homogeneous forests at low elevation

(C) extensive heterogeneous forests at high elevation

(D) extensive sedimentary charcoal accumulations at high elevation

5. With which one of the following would the author be most likely to agree?

(A) The long-term effects of controlled burning could just as easily have been caused by natural fires.

(B) Nicaraguan pine forests could have been created either by natural fires or by controlled burning.

(C) European settlers had little impact on the composition of the ecosystems in North and South America.

(D) Certain species of plants may not have been as abundant in North America without controlled burning.

6. As evidence for the routine practice of forest burning by native populations before the arrival of Europeans, the author cites all of the following EXCEPT:

(A) The similar characteristics of fires in different regions.

(B) The simultaneous presence of forests at varying stages of maturity

(C) The existence of herbaceous undergrowth in certain forests

(D) The heavy accumulation of charcoal near populous settlements

(E) The presence of meadows and glades in certain forests.

https://youtu.be/kwMAfmqAvyA

[theverbalmentor]

RC PRACTICE - 6TH JUNE 2020

Since some of the dead animals never washed ashore, the overall disaster was presumably worse; perhaps 50 percent of the population died. A dolphin die-off of this character and magnitude had never before been observed; furthermore, the dolphins exhibited a startling range of symptoms. The research team that examined the die-off noted the presence of both skin lesions and internal lesions in the liver, lung, pancreas and heart, which suggested a massive opportunistic bacterial infection of already weakened animals.

Tissues from the stricken dolphins were analyzed for a variety of toxins. Brevetoxin, a toxin produced by the blooming of the alga Ptychodiscus brevis, was present in eight out of seventeen dolphins tested. Tests for synthetic pollutants revealed that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were present in almost all animals tested.

The research team concluded that brevetoxin poisoning was the most likely cause of the illnesses that killed the dolphins. Although P. brevis is ordinarily not found along the Atlantic coast, an unusual bloom of this organism—such blooms are called “red tides” because of the reddish color imparted by the blooming algae—did occur in the middle of the affected coastline in October 1987. These researchers believe the toxin accumulated in the tissue of fish and then was ingested by dolphins that preyed on them. The emaciated appearance of many dolphins indicated that they were metabolizing their blubber reserves, thereby reducing their buoyancy and insulation (and adding to overall stress) as well as releasing stores of previously accumulated synthetic pollutants, such as PCBs, which further exacerbated their condition. The combined impact made the dolphins vulnerable to opportunistic bacterial infection, the ultimate cause of death.

For several reasons, however, this explanation is not entirely plausible. First, bottlenose dolphins and P. brevis red tides are both common in the Gulf of Mexico, yet no dolphin die-off of a similar magnitude has been noted there. Second, dolphins began dying in June, hundreds of miles north of and some months earlier than the October red tide bloom. Finally, the specific effects of brevetoxin on dolphins are unknown, whereas PCB poisoning is known to impair functioning of the immune system and liver and to cause skin lesions; all of these problems are observed in the diseased animals. An alternative hypothesis, which accounts for these facts, is that a sudden influx of pollutants, perhaps from offshore dumping, triggered a cascade of disorders in animals whose systems were already heavily laden with pollutants. Although brevetoxin may have been a contributing factor, the event that actually precipitated the die-off was a sharp increase in the dolphins’ exposure to synthetic pollutants.

1. According to the author, which of the following correctly describes the chain of events that led to the death of dolphins??

(A) The abnormal growth of alga P. brevis resulted in toxin accumulation in fish, dolphins fed on this fish, their immunity got compromised, a surge in pollutant PCB worsened their system and bacterial infection became the final nail in their coffin.

(B) An unusual surge in pollutant PCB stressed dolphins’ immune responses and led to high levels of toxins, the growth of alga P.brevis exacerbated the immune system and more PCB dumped offshore led to organ failure and death

(C) Bacterial infection compromised dolphins’ immunity, offshore dumping of PCB pollutant led to poisoning, and the toxin accumulation due to excessive growth of P.brevis led to organ failure and death

(D) An unusual surge in PCB pollutants triggered stressful immune responses, the excessive growth of P.brevis led to accumulation of toxins, further worsening their condition, and this compromised immune system probably gave up to a bacterial infection

2. The passage is primarily concerned with 

(A) assessing the effects of a devastating bacterial infection in Atlantic coast bottlenose dolphins

(B) pointing out the weaknesses in the research methodology used to explore the dolphin die-off

(C) discussing relative effects of various marine pollutants in dolphin die-off in Atlantic coast

(D) advancing possible alternative explanations for the massive dolphin die-off

3. Which one of the following is most analogous to the approach taken by author of the passage with regard to the research described in the third paragraph?

(A) A physics teacher accepts the data from a student’s experiment but questions the student’s conclusions.

(B) An astronomer provides additional observations to support another astronomer’s theory.

(C) A cook revises a traditional recipe by substituting modern ingredients for those used in the original.

(D) A doctor prescribes medication for a patient whose illness was misdiagnosed by another doctor.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements about brevetoxin?

(A) It may have been responsible for the dolphins’ skin lesions but could not have contributed to the bacterial infection.

(B) It forms more easily when both P. brevis and synthetic pollutants are present in the environment simultaneously.

(C) It damages liver function and immune system responses in bottlenose dolphins but may not have triggered this particular dolphin die-off.

(D) It is unlikely to have caused the die-off because it was not present in the dolphins’ environment when the die-off began.

5. The explanation for the dolphin die-off given by the research team most strongly supports which one of the following?

(A) When a dolphin metabolizes its blubber, the PCBs released may be more dangerous to the dolphin than they were when stored in the blubber.

(B) When P. brevis blooms in an area where it does not usually exist, it is more toxic than it is in its usual habitat.

(C) Opportunistic bacterial infection is usually associated with brevetoxin poisoning in bottlenose dolphins.

(D) The dolphins’ emaciated state was probably a symptom of PCB poisoning rather than of brevetoxin poisoning.

6. It can be inferred from the passage that opportunistic infection refers to 

(A) infections induced by humans for their greedy purposes

(B) infections caused by microbes which usually do not

(C) infections accompanied with toxins

(D) infections causing compromised immunity

https://youtu.be/X1VYNpre7EE

[theverbalmentor]

RC practice - 7th June 2020

Most office workers assume that the messages they send to each other via electronic mail are as private as a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting. That assumption is wrong. Although it is illegal in many areas for an employer to eavesdrop on private conversations or telephone calls—even if they take place on a company-owned telephone—there are no clear rules governing electronic mail. In fact, the question of how private electronic mail transmissions should be has emerged as one of the more complicated legal issues of the electronic age.

People’s opinions about the degree of privacy that electronic mail should have vary depending on whose electronic mail system is being used and who is reading the messages. Does a government office, for example, have the right to destroy electronic messages created in the course of running the government, thereby denying public access to such documents? Some hold that government offices should issue guidelines that allow their staff to delete such electronic records, and defend this practice by claiming that the messages thus deleted already exist in paper versions whose destruction is forbidden. Opponents of such practices argue that the paper versions often omit such information as who received the messages and when they received them, information commonly carried on electronic mail systems. Government officials, opponents maintain, are civil servants; the public should thus have the right to review any documents created during the conducting of government business.

Questions about electronic mail privacy have also arisen in the private sector. Recently, two employees of an automotive company were discovered to have been communicating disparaging information about their supervisor via electronic mail. The supervisor, who had been monitoring the communication, threatened to fire the employees. When the employees filed a grievance complaining that their privacy had been violated, they were let go. Later, their court case for unlawful termination was dismissed; the company’s lawyers successfully argued that because the company owned the computer system, its supervisors had the right to read anything created on it.

In some areas, laws prohibit outside interception of electronic mail by a third party without proper authorization such as a search warrant. However, these laws do not cover “inside” interception such as occurred at the automotive company. In the past, courts have ruled that interoffice communications may be considered private only if employees have a “reasonable expectation” of privacy when they send the messages. The fact is that no absolute guarantee of privacy exists in any computer system. The only solution may be for users to scramble their own messages with encryption codes; unfortunately, such complex codes are likely to undermine the principal virtue of electronic mail: its convenience.

1. Which one of the following statements most accurately summarizes the main point of the passage?

(A) Until the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in both the public and private sectors have been resolved, office workers will need to scramble their electronic mail messages with encryption codes.

(B) The legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the work place can best be resolved by treating such communications as if they were as private as telephone conversations or face-to-face meetings.

(C) Any attempt to resolve the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the workplace must take into account the essential difference between public-sector and private sector business.

(D) At present, in both the public and private sectors, there seem to be no clear general answers to the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the workplace.

2. According to the passage, which one of the following best expresses the reason some people oppose the deletion of electronic mail records at government offices?

(A) Such deletion reveals the extent of government’s unhealthy obsession with secrecy.

(B) Such deletion runs counter to the notion of government’s accountability to its constituency.

(C) Such deletion clearly violates the legal requirement that government offices keep duplicate copies of all their transactions.

(D) Such deletion violates the government’s own guidelines against destruction of electronic records.

3. Which one of the following most accurately states the organization of the passage?

(A) A problem is introduced, followed by specific examples illustrating the problem: a possible solution is suggested, followed by an acknowledgment of its shortcomings.

(B) A problem is introduced, followed by explications of two possible solutions to the problem: the first solution is preferred to the second, and reasons are given for why it is the better alternative.

(C) A problem is introduced, followed by analysis of the historical circumstances that helped bring the problem about a possible solution is offered and rejected as being only a partial remedy.

(D) A problem is introduced, followed by enumeration of various questions that need to be answered before a solution can be found: one possible solution is proposed and argued for.

4. Based on the passage, the author’s attitude towards interception of electronic mail can most accurately be described as:

(A) outright disapproval of the practice

(B) support for employers who engage in it

(C) cynicism about the motives behind the practice

(D) intellectual interest in its legal issues

5. Given the information in the passage, which one of the following hypothetical events is LEAST likely to occur?

(A) A court rules that a government office’s practice of deleting its electronic mail is not in the public’s best interests.

(B) A court upholds the right of a government office to destroy both paper and electronic versions of its in-house documents.

(C) A court upholds a private-sector employer’s right to monitor messages sent between employees over the company’s in-house electronic mail system.

(D) A court rules in favor of a private-sector employee whose supervisor stated that in-house electronic mail would not be monitored but later fired the employee for communicating disparaging information via electronic mail.

6. The author’s primary purpose in writing the passage is to

(A) demonstrate that the individual right to privacy has been eroded by advances in computer technology

(B) compare the legal status of electronic mail in the public and private sectors

(C) explain why the courts have not been able to rule definitely on the issue of the privacy of electronic mail conversations or face-to-face meeting

(D) illustrate the complexities of the privacy issues surrounding electronic mail in the workplace

https://youtu.be/4r_YD4VAp_E

[plumtick]

Hey, could anyone let me know where I can find VA exercises (Parajumbles, CR, etc.). I have only been able to find RC exercises on this group.

[theverbalmentor]

RC Practice - 8th June

It has recently been discovered that many attributions of paintings to the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Rembrandt may be false. The contested paintings are not minor works, whose removal from the Rembrandt corpus would leave it relatively unaffected: they are at its very center. In her recent book, Svetlana Alpers uses these cases of disputed attribution as a point of departure for her provocative discussion of the radical distinctiveness of Rembrandt’s approach to painting.

Alpers argues that Rembrandt exercised an unprecedentedly firm control over his art, his students, and the distribution of his works. Despite Gary Schwartz’ brilliant documentation of Rembrandt’s complicated relations with a wide circle of patrons, Alpers takes the view that Rembrandt refused to submit to the prevailing patronage system. He preferred, she claims, to sell his works on the open market and to play the entrepreneur. At a time when Dutch artists were organizing into professional brotherhoods and academies, Rembrandt stood apart. In fact, Alpers’ portrait of Rembrandt shows virtually every aspect of his art pervaded by economic motives. Indeed, so complete was Rembrandt’s involvement with the market, she argues, that he even presented himself as commodity, viewing his studio’s products as extensions of himself, sent out into the world to earn money. Alpers asserts that Rembrandt’s enterprise is found not just in his paintings, but in his refusal to limit his enterprise to those paintings he actually painted. He marketed Rembrandt.

Although there may be some truth in the view that Rembrandt was an entrepreneur who made some aesthetic decisions on the basis of what he knew the market wanted, Alpers’ emphasis on economic factors sacrifices discussions of the aesthetic qualities that make Rembrandt’s work unique. For example, Alpers asserts that Rembrandt deliberately left his works unfinished so as to get more money for their revision and completion. She implies that Rembrandt actually wished the Council of Amsterdam to refuse the great Claudius Civilis, which they had commissioned for their new town hall, and she argues that “he must have calculated that he would be able to get more money by retouching [the] painting.” Certainly the picture is painted with very broad strokes but there is no evidence that it was deliberately left unfinished. The fact is that the look of a work like Claudius Civilis must also be understood as the consequence of Rembrandt’s powerful and profound meditations on painting itself. Alpers make no mention of the pictorial dialectic that can be discerned between, say, the lessons Rembrandt absorbed from the Haarlem school of paintings and the styles of his native Leiden. The trouble is that while Rembrandt’s artistic enterprise may indeed not be reducible to the works he himself painted, it is not reducible to marketing practices either.

1. Which one of the following best summarizes the main conclusion of the author of the passage?

(A) Rembrandt was an entrepreneur whose artistic enterprise was not limited to the paintings he actually painted himself.

(B) The aesthetic qualities of Rembrandt’s work cannot be understood without consideration of how economic motives pervaded decisions he made about his art.

(C) Rembrandt was one of the first artists to develop the notion of a work of art as a commodity that could be sold in an open marketplace.

(D) Rembrandt’s artistic achievement cannot be understood solely in terms of decisions he made on the basis of what would sell in the marketplace.

2. According to the passage, Alpers and Schwartz disagree about which one of the following?

(A) the degree of control Rembrandt exercised over the production of his art

(B) the role that Rembrandt played in organizing professional brotherhoods and academies

(C) the kinds of relationships Rembrandt had with his students

(D) the degree of Rembrandt’s involvement in the patronage system

3. In the third paragraph, the author of the passage discusses aesthetic influences on Rembrandt’s work most probably in order to

(A) suggest that many critics have neglected to study the influence of the Haarlem school painters on Rembrandt’s work

(B) suggest that Claudius Civilis is similar in style to many paintings from the seventeen century

(C) suggest that Rembrandt’s style was not affected by the aesthetic influences that Alpers points out

(D) indicate that Alpers has not taken into account some important aspects of Rembrandt’s work

4. Which one of the following, if true, would provide the most support for Alpers’ argument about Claudius Civilis?

(A) Rembrandt was constantly revising his prints and paintings because he was never fully satisfied with stylistic aspects of his earlier drafts.

(B) The works of many seventeenth-century Dutch artists were painted with broad strokes and had an unfinished look.

(C) Many of Rembrandt’s contemporaries eschewed the patronage system and sold their works on the open market.

(D) Artists were frequently able to raise the price of a painting if the buyer wanted the work revised in some way.

5. It can be inferred that the author of the passage and Alpers would be most likely to agree on which one of the following?

(A) Rembrandt made certain aesthetic decision on the basis of what he understood about the demands of the marketplace.

(B) The Rembrandt corpus will not be affected if attributions of paintings to Rembrandt are found to be false.

(C) Stylistic aspects of Rembrandt’s painting can be better explained in economic terms than in historical or aesthetic terms.

(D) Most of Rembrandt’s best-known works were painted by his students, but were sold under Rembrandt’s name.

6. The author views Alpers’ argument as

(A) myopic

(B) meticulous

(C) unsubstantiated

(D) abject

https://youtu.be/HF5FaRGAJLc