Being that he is most famous for creating exquisite jewelry, Louis Comfort Tiffany was also an important innovator in the fields of architecture and interior design during the Art Nouveau movement of the early 20th century.
Though the city had been bombed for fifty-seven nights in a row, the Blitz and the refusal to surrender London afterward took on almost mythic significance as evidence of British citizens' ability to resist the will of Hitler and Nazi Germany.
a>the Blitz and the refusal to surrender London afterward took on
b>London's Blitz and the refusal to surrender took after
c>the Blitz and the refusal of the city of London took over
d>London's refusal to surrender after the Blitz took on
e>London's refusal to surrender after the Blitz took up
It is possible that early American women's rights leaders such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were borrowing their ideals from the women who had lived in the contemporary Iroquois Indian nations nearby.
The political action group focuses on issues that span from public transportation, the death penalty, and constitutional and tax reform.
A controversial study suggests that the violent behavior displayed by some teenagers who play several hours of video games a day is due to developmental damage to the frontal lobe region of the brain rather than the absorption of any specifically violent content.
All of the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet, one of which is borrowed from either the Greek or Latin alphabet, represents specific sounds in spoken Russian.
Magnets and iron have an affinity for each other that is each is attracted to the other. -- Correct or Incorrect ??
Parajumble quiz :
#Easy one
Find the error :
The development of ideas are specific and logical.
Find the error :
1. I am having the answer sheet.
2. Please confirm to the rules .
Find the error ( if any)
1. My understanding is that he is not unethical
2. If i were to succeed in the exam , i would have to work hard.
where to search in pagalguy for the questions already asked in pagalguy i'm not getting there are 300+ threads how to search ..
Direction for questions 31 to 33: The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
The case for constituting political authority democratically rested on two basic assumptions: first, that no person was naturally superior to another, so any relations of authority between them stood in need of justification – in other words, each person should enjoy equal political rights unless it could be shown that everyone gained from having inequality; second, that the interests of the people were best safeguarded by making them the final repository of political authority – anyone entrusted with special powers must be accountable to the people as a whole. But this still left open exactly what role the people as a whole should play in government. Should they be directly involved in legislating, as Rousseau argued in his Social Contract, and if so how? Or should they only be involved at one step removed, by choosing representatives who would wield authority on their behalf.
In practice those political systems we call democracies give their citizens only a very limited role in government. They are entitled to vote at periodic elections, they are occasionally consulted through a referendum when some major constitutional question has to be decided, and they are allowed to form groups to lobby their representatives on issues that concern them, but that is the extent of their authority. Real power to determine the future of democratic societies rests in the hands of a remarkably small number of people – government ministers, civil servants, and to some extent members of parliament or other legislative assembly – and it is natural to ask why this is so. If democracy is the best way to make political decisions, why not make it a reality by letting the people themselves decide major questions directly? One answer that is often given at this point is that it is simply impractical for millions of ordinary citizens to be involved in making the huge number of decisions that governments have to make today. If they were to try, not only would government be paralyzed, but they would leave themselves no time to do all those other things that most people think are more important than politics. But this answer is not adequate, because it is not difficult to envisage citizens making general policy decisions whose detailed implementation would then be left to ministers and others. The electronic revolution means that it would now be quite easy to ask citizens for their views on a wide range of issues ranging from war and peace through taxation and public expenditure to animal welfare and environmental issues. So why is this done only on those rare occasions when a referendum is called?
The reason is that there is a widespread belief that ordinary people are simply not competent to understand the issues that lie behind political decisions, and so they are happy to hand these decisions over to people they regard as better qualified to deal with them. An uncompromising statement of this point of view can be found in Joseph Schumpeter's book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy(1943), where it is argued that the citizen's job is to choose a team of leaders to represent him or her, not to attempt to decide issues directly. Schumpeter claims that whereas in economic transactions, for instance, people experience the results of their decisions directly – if they buy a defective product, they soon discover their mistake – in the case of political decisions there is no such immediate feedback mechanism.
Q.31 Which of the statements given below best supports the view of the author as inferred from the passage?
a The interests of the people are best safeguarded by making them the final repository of political authority.
b Democracy is the best way to make political decisions and this can become a reality only by letting the people themselves decide major questions directly.
c Citizens should make general policy decisions and leave their implementation to ministers and others.
d In practice those political systems we call democracies give their citizens only a very limited role in government.
Q.32 Why does the author discuss the fact that referendums are rarely called?1. To underline that such an exercise needs to be justified.
2. To demonstrate that the citizen's job is to choose a team of leaders to represent him and not to decide issues directly.
3. To explain that the ordinary citizen is disinterested in decision-making.
4. To describe the popular belief that ordinary people are not competent enough to understand political decision-making.
a Only 1 b Only 4 c Both 2 and 4 d Both 3 and 4
Q.33 How does the author conclude that democracies give their citizens only a very limited role in government?a Citizens are occasionally consulted on issues through a referendum.
b Citizens only form groups to lobby their representatives on issues that concern them.
c Real power lies in the hands of a small group of government ministers, civil servants and members of parliament.
d All of the above
Directions for questions 44 to 46: The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
According to the influential mid-19th-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, the Renaissance was the moment when the modern notion of 'individuality', indeed, the very concept of the self as an autonomous entity, first fully manifested itself, eventually giving rise to an ideal, multi-talented 'Renaissance man' or uomo universale. Since the publication of Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy in 1860, scholars have vigorously debated the merit of such broad and sweeping claims and have pointed out that well-rounded, self-aware individuals can be found in earlier periods as well. Although it is notoriously difficult to prove or disprove theories about a paradigm shift in the Weltanshauung, or 'world view', of a particular age, there is no doubt that the Renaissance did see an explosion in the production of painted and sculpted portraits of recognizable individuals. Of course, independent painted portraits of a very small number of kings and pontiffs had existed long before the Renaissance, with even some slightly lower-ranked members of the elite, such as bishops or high nobles, portrayed in effigy on their tombs. Likewise, donor portraits, in which the wealthy and powerful patron of a work, such as an altarpiece, would be depicted within or at the edge of a sacred scene, had also existed since the Middle Ages .Similar portrayals of the sacred and secular elite certainly continued to be produced throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. But beginning in the early 1400s, other categories of sitters, such as women, well-to-do merchants, and even artists, also began to be represented in ever-greater numbers in independent portraits. And even in portraits of the traditional elite, a growing interest in individual psychology and physiology is evident, thereby reflecting the period's new approaches to depicting space, nature, and human anatomy increasingly naturalistically. The very interest in individual portraiture also reflected the Renaissance revival of Classical antiquity, since ancient writers had focused on the biographies of famous individuals, while ancient coins and marble busts of Roman emperors and their less exalted citizen-subjects still existed to be studied, admired, and used as models for new commissions by Renaissance patrons, collectors, and artists.
Q.44 “Renaissance did see an explosion in the production of painted and sculpted portraits of recognizable individuals.” Which of the following statements (if true) best mitigates this claim?
a Discovery of painted portraits of kings and pontiffs belonging to a period prior to the Renaissance.
b Discovery of paintings made in early 1400 with sitters including, but not restricted to, women and merchants.
c Discovery of paintings depicting self-aware individuals belonging to a period prior to the Renaissance.
d Sitters including, but not restricted to, women and merchants featured prominently in many paintings prior to the Renaissance.
Q.45 Jacob Buckhardt's theory that Renaissance gave rise to the multi talented Renaissance Man is best supported by which of the following?
a A Renaissance portrait, assiduously considered for their visual and symbolic significance, is a straightforward depiction of what the person portrayed really looked like.
b In a Renaissance portrait of a Duke, his steady, steely gaze peering out from a light-coloured face that stands out against a generally dark background is clearly meant to attest to his courage and determination.
c In a Renaissance portrait Isabella d'Este, a 60 year old patron and collector, was depicted as a teenage girl.
d Art should strive to show the 'movements of the soul' through the 'movements of the body'.
Q.46 What is the primary purpose of the author in the passage?
a To show that it is difficult to prove or disprove theories about a shift in the world view of a particular age.
b To compare the renaissance period with the pre Renaissance period.
c To trace the revival of classical antiquity during the Renaissance period.
d To discuss how the concept of individuality manifested itself in Renaissance art.
Direction for questions : The passage given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
Women's roles as patrons have attracted increasing scholarly attention in recent years. The role of the patron was crucial to art-making in the Renaissance. Indeed, one could argue that it was the patron who was the initiator of almost all significant artistic projects, and that it was the patron who determined an individual artwork's most important features and characteristics, including what material it was made from, where it was displayed, the subject it depicted, its size, and even, to a certain extent, its style and composition. Although knowing about a work's patron can never explain everything about an art object, understanding a patron's circumstances can provide us with important insights into why a particular work was commissioned and why it has some qualities rather than others. This is of particular relevance in the case of elite women patrons. Although many of their habits and concerns as patrons parallel those of their male contemporaries, there were important differences as well. By far the largest number whose patronage can be documented in this period were widows, like Atalanta Baglioni who hired Raphael to produce an altarpiece commemorating her murdered son or nuns living in convents. The prevalence of widows and nuns as art patrons is quite simple to explain: only these women had the financial and social independence to pay for works of art themselves. As a young girl or a married lady, a woman was legally and financially under the control of first her father and then her husband. Indeed, it was only if a woman outlived her husband that she could finally decide whether and how to spend her money on commissioning works of art. Likewise, until joining a convent, a young nun would have been unable to exercise any kind of independent artistic patronage within her family home. Only upon joining a female religious community could collective decisions about commissioning art be made, although in many cases it was the abbess who was in overall charge of such projects. Sticking to the secular sphere, the most common artistic commissions for women involved the tombs of their deceased husbands. Renaissance widows were exhorted to follow the Classical model of Artemisia, a widowed queen whose fabulous tomb for her husband, King Mausolus, became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and has given us the word 'mausoleum'. Like Artemisia, 15th- and 16th-century widows were also usually concerned first, foremost, and often solely, with commissioning an appropriate funerary monument for their husbands. Some, but not all, monuments included an effigy of the deceased spouse. Sculpted effigies of women were rare, although wives did sometimes appear as kneeling donors together with their husbands in painted altarpieces or frescos painted for funerary chapels as seen, for instance, in the portrait of Nera Corsi in the Sassetti Chapel – although in this case, the project was commissioned by her still-living husband . However, even if a widow did not make a personal appearance in her husband's funerary chapel, she could remind posterity of her role as its patron through an inscription or by including her own coat of arms as well as that of her spouse. At the most elite levels, a very small number of women made much more impressive and longer-lasting marks thanks to their non-funereal artistic patronage.
a They had the time to spare for works of art and so could study art deeply.
b They had the money to spend on works of art and so could commission works of art.
c They had the financial and social independence to make decisions.
d None of the above
a They wanted to make mausoleums that would be recognized as wonders of the world.
b They were concerned with the commissioning of an appropriate funerary monument for their husbands.
c All monuments included effigies of their deceased spouses.
d They appeared only in painted frescos in funerary chapels.
a Everything of the art object reflected the patron's circumstances.
b The patron decided the most important characteristics and features of the artwork.
c The works of art were only financed by art patrons.
d It was the patron who was the initiator of all artistic projects.
Polygamy in Africa has been a popular topic for social research over the past four decades; it has been analyzed by many distinguished minds and in various well-publicized works. In 1961, when Remi Clignet published his book "Many Wives, Many Powers," he was not alone in sharing the view that in Africa co-wives may be perceived as direct and indirect sources of increased income and prestige. By the 1970s, such arguments had become crystallized and popular. Many other African scholars who wrote on the subject became the new champions of this philosophy. For example, in 1983, John Mbiti proclaimed that polygamy is an accepted and respectable institution serving many useful social purposes. Similarly, G.K. Nukunya, in his paper "Polygamy as a Symbol of Status," reiterated Mbiti's idea that a plurality of wives is a sign of affluence and power in the African society. However, the colonial missionary voice provided consistent opposition to polygamy by viewing the practice as unethical and destructive of family life. While they propagated this view with the authority of the Bible, they were convinced that Africans had to be coerced into partaking in the vision of monogamy understood by the Western culture. The missionary viewpoint even included, in some instances, dictating immediate divorce in the case of newly converted men who had already contracted polygamous marriages. Unfortunately, both the missionary voice and the scholarly voice did not consider the views of African women on the matter important. Although there was some awareness that women regarded polygamy as both a curse and a blessing, the distanced, albeit scientific, perspective of an outside observer predominated both on the pulpit and in scholarly writings. Contemporary research in the social sciences has begun to focus on the protagonist's voice in the study of culture, recognizing that the views and experiences of those who take part in a given reality ought to receive close examination. This privileging of the protagonist seems appropriate, particularly given that women in Africa have often used literary productions to comment on marriage, family and gender relations .
1. Which of the following best describes the main purpose of the passage above?
(A) to discuss scholarly works that view polygamy as a sign of prestige, respect, and affluence in the African society
(B) to trace the origins of the missionary opposition to African polygamy
(C) to argue for imposing restrictions on polygamy in the African society
(D) to explore the reasons for womens acceptance of polygamy
(E) to discuss multiple perspectives on African polygamy and contrast them with contemporary research
2. The third paragraph of the passage plays which of the following roles?
(A) discusses the rationale for viewing polygamy as an indication of prestige and affluence in the African society
(B) supports the author's view that polygamy is unethical and destructive of family life
(C) contrasts the views of the colonial missionary with the position of the most recent contemporary research
(D) describes the views on polygamy held by the colonial missionary and indicates a flaw in this vision
(E) demonstrates that the colonial missionary was ignorant of the scholarly research on monogamy
3. The passage provides each of the following, EXCEPT
(A) the year of publication of Remi Clignet's book “Many Wives, Many Powers”
(B) the year in which John Mbiti made a claim that polygamy is an accepted institution
(C) examples of African womens literary productions devoted to family relations
(D) reasons for missionary opposition to polygamy
(E) current research perspectives on polygamy
4. According to the passage, the colonial missionary and the early scholarly research shared which of the following traits in their views on polygamy?
(A) both considered polygamy a sign of social status and success
(B) neither accounted for the views of local women
(C) both attempted to limit the prevalence of polygamy
(D) both pointed out polygamy's destructive effects on family life
(E) both exhibited a somewhat negative attitude towards polygamy .
Which of the following statements can most properly be inferred from the passage?
(A) Nukunya's paper “Polygamy as a Symbol of Status” was not written in 1981.
(B) John Mbiti adjusted his initial view on polygamy, recognizing that the experiences of African women should receive closer attention. (C) Remi Clignets book “Many Wives, Many Powers” was the first well-known scholarly work to proclaim that polygamy can be viewed as a symbol of prestige and wealth.
(D) Under the influence of the missionary opposition, polygamy was proclaimed illegal in Africa as a practice “unethical and destructive of family life.”
(E) A large proportion of the scholars writing on polygamy in the 1970s and 1980s were of African descent.
Which one of them is the correct representation ?
1) He is one of the men who do the work .
2) He is one of the men who does the work.
10.I have often wondered whether man's ability to think might not have arisen from a retrogressive evolutionary step. Instead of the brilliant, incisive and locked-on brain of an animal, some faulty gene gave a muddled, fuzzy indecisive brain that was always making mistakes. The locked-on brain has instant and precise recognition followed by appropriate action. The bee, the hawk, the deer have built-in circuitry that recognizes the situation and releases the appropriate action. A fuzzy and blurry brain takes much longer to recognize something. It has to learn from experience and to devise images and a sort of language in order to re-run experience at the moment of action. The fuzzy brain can also make mistakes that allow for inappropriate action and the crossing of lines that leads to creativity. __________________________
a)It could be that human matters are so complicated by interactive change and feedback loops that our ordinary linear thinking is unable to cope.
b)The human mind is incapable of taking meaningful and appropriate actions but man's relative stupidity is probably his greatest resource.
c)In order to make sense of a complex world, human thinking may have developed some habits and orthodoxies, which had a certain usefulness at first but then prevented further progress.
d)The incapacity of the human baby as compared to the operational efficiency of the fawn is remarkable
Woodrow Wilson was referring to the liberal idea of the economic market when he said that the free enterprise system is the most efficient economic system. Maximum freedom means maximum productiveness; our “openness” is to be the measure of our stability. Fascination with this ideal has made Americans defy the “Old World” categories of settled possessiveness versus unsettling deprivation, the cupidity of retention versus the cupidity of seizure, a “status quo” defended or attacked. The United States, it was believed, had no status quo ante. Our only “station” was the turning of a stationary wheel, spinning faster and faster. We did not base our system on property but opportunity—which meant we based it not on stability but on mobility. The more things changed, that is, the more rapidly the wheel turned, the steadier we would be. The conventional picture of class politics is composed of the Haves, who want a stability to keep what they have, and the Have-Nots, who want a touch of instability and change in which to scramble for the things they have not. But Americans imagined a condition in which speculators, self-makers, runners are always using the new opportunities given by our land. These economic leaders (front-runners) would thus be mainly agents of change. The nonstarters were considered the ones who wanted stability, a strong referee to give them some position in the race, a regulative hand to calm manic speculation; an authority that can call things to a halt, begin things again from compensatorily staggered “starting lines.” “Reform” in America has been sterile because it can imagine no change except through the extension of this metaphor of a race, wider inclusion of competitors, “a piece of the action,” as it were, for the disenfranchised. There is no attempt to call off the race. Since our only stability is change, America seems not to honor the quiet work that achieves social interdependence and stability. There is, in our legends, no heroism of the office clerk, no stable industrial work force of the people who actually make the system work. There is no pride in being an employee (Wilson asked for a return to the time when everyone was an employer). There has been no boasting about our social workers—they are merely signs of the system's failure, of opportunity denied or not taken, of things to be eliminated. We have no pride in our growing interdependence, in the fact that our system can serve others, that we are able to help those in need; empty boasts from the past make us ashamed of our present achievements, make us try to forget or deny them, move away from them. There is no honor but in the Wonderland race we must all run, all trying to win, none winning in the end (for there is no end).
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) criticize the inflexibility of American economic mythology
(B) contrast “Old World” and “New World” economic ideologies
(C) challenge the integrity of traditional political leaders
(D) champion those Americans whom the author deems to be neglected
(E) suggest a substitute for the traditional metaphor of a race
2. According to the passage, “Old World” values were based on
(A) ability
(B) property
(C) family connections
(D) guild hierarchies
(E) education
3. In the context of the author's discussion of regulating change, which of the following could be most probably regarded as a “strong referee” (line 30) in the United States?
(A) A school principal
(B) A political theorist
(C) A federal court judge
(D) A social worker
(E) A government inspector
4. The author sets off the word “Reform” (line 35) with quotation marks in order to
(A) emphasize its departure from the concept of settled possessiveness
(B) show his support for a systematic program of change
(C) underscore the flexibility and even amorphousness of United States society
(D) indicate that the term was one of Wilson's favorites
(E) assert that reform in the United States has not been fundamental
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably thinks that giving the disenfranchised “a piece of the action” (line 38) is
(A) a compassionate, if misdirected, legislative measure
(B) an example of Americans' resistance to profound social change (C) an innovative program for genuine social reform
(D) a monument to the efforts of industrial reformers
(E) a surprisingly “Old World” remedy for social ills
Could anybody please suggest some good online resources for practicing Reading Comprehension Questions?? @scrabbler @harshcat91 @vasuca10