Global meat consumption is predicted to double by 2020. Yet in Europe and North America, there is growing concern about the ethics of the way meat and eggs are produced. The consumption of veal has fallen sharply since it became widely known that to produce so-called “white”- actually pale pink- veal, newborn calves are separated from their mothers, deliberately made anemic, denied roughage, and kept in stalls so narrow that they cannot walk or turn around. ___________
RC:
Much has been made of the shocking realism in George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (the basis for the TV show Game of Thrones). People die prematurely and in horrible ways, women are casually raped, and everyone suffers - a lot. But the most shocking aspect to Martin's realism may be this lavish attention he pays to the freaks and outsiders. Throughout the series, these characters matter. Their statuses grant them unique perspectives that are different from those of the majority, from those who are not excluded, and those perspectives prove important to both the structure of these novels and the workings of the plot. To be fair, the fantasy genre has long had its share of outsiders. In fact, you could argue that the whole genre is built on a very specific kind of 'outsider': the dispossessed king or exiled prince determined to reclaim his throne. From Odysseus and Rama to modern-day characters like Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter and Tarzan, they may start the story as outsiders, but they have greatness in their blood, and their rightful 'thrones' are just waiting for them to rise up and seize them.
Other famous fantasy outsiders may not be of actual royal blood, but they're called to greatness anyway, compelled to complete some important quest to which they and they alone are uniquely suited. Only Frodo has the pureness of heart to handle the One Ring without succumbing to its darker temptations. And while the Pevensie children may seem at first glance to be unlikely heroes, they're literally summoned by Aslan for greatness nonetheless - and that too, they're fulfilling ancient prophecies.
The journey of the traditional fantasy hero is all spelled out in Joseph Campbell's landmark exploration of myths, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949): first, a 'call to greatness', then a consultation with a mentor, a Merlin or a Gandalf, who explains the quest ahead. Typically, all these fantasy 'outsiders' also end up with a ragtag but stalwart band of other pseudo-misfits to help them achieve their destiny.
But just how much are these characters really outsiders? Sure, these boys and men of privilege have usually lost some of their standing in the world, and they learn valuable lessons by trying to get it back. That said, they're still almost always boys and men of privilege. This paradigm made sense in its time. After all, most of these tropes date from a pre-Enlightenment era when attitudes about minorities and outsiders were so entrenched that it was difficult to even conceive of a hero as anyone other than a boy or man of privilege. It was just obvious that big problems could only be solved by just such a person. And let's face it: it was men of privilege who were invariably financing and disseminating these stories, too.
Still, if the protagonists in these tales are outsiders at all, it's usually only due to circumstances, not as a result of anything innate about them. Meanwhile, the perspectives of true outcasts, those who were considered freaks and outcasts by their actual nature, were ignored. Ironically, they were excluded even from the story of the outcast. Basically, few authors bothered to ask a very obvious question: if the hero has a thousand faces, why are almost all of those faces male? And straight? And of average height? And of average weight? And why do they always follow the accepted gender norms? Times have changed. George R.R. Martin certainly isn't the first contemporary author to ask questions about exactly who should be front and centre in the story. A significant portion of late-twentieth-century fiction is devoted to exploring the perspective of the outsider by nature, the 'other'. Yet even today, popular entertainment focuses overwhelmingly on the slender, the heterosexual, the average-heighted, the conventionally-abled, and the traditionally gendered. This is even truer in the fantasy genre, which has only very recently started seriously exploring stories beyond the one about the exiled prince or the Chosen One seeking to claim his legacy. Despite its characters' 'outsider' sensibility, or maybe because of it, the Song of Ice and Fire series has found mainstream success in a way that few such fantasy projects have before.
What is this passage about?
1) How the fantasy genre has neglected true outsiders, until the late twentieth-century
2) How even the so-called outsiders in the fantasy genre are boys and men of privilege, not true outsiders
3) How George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, unlike others in the fantasy genre, focuses on true outsiders
4) How freaks and outsiders are the focus of in George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire
Which of the following hypothetical characters would likely be considered a true outsider in fantasy fiction, as per the criteria given in this passage?
i] A girl from a poor family who discovers that she is in fact the lost child of the king of the realm
ii] A blind woman who decides she wants to learn magic and travels far and wide to seek out mentors
iii] A eunuch who becomes the power behind the throne due to his own cunning and intelligence
iv] A boy who discovers he has the power to control other people's minds, in which he is guided by a man with similar powers
1) [i] and [ii]
2) [i] and [iv]
3) [ii] and [iii]
4) [i], [ii] and [iii]
What is the author's view about George R.R. Martin, with relation to his A Song of Ice and Fire series?
1) He thinks that Martin focuses on true outsiders, which is rare in the fantasy genre.
2) He is shocked at the realism of Martin's stories, but appreciates his focus on outsiders.
3) He points out that Martin is one of the first writers to focus on the viewpoint of outsiders.
4) He admires Martin for continuing the fantasy genre's focus on outsiders.
If this passage were to continue, what would it most likely discuss next?
1) How the theme of outsiders is found in genres other than fantasy
2) Why the Song of Ice and Fire series has been successful in the mainstream
3) Authors other than Martin who have focused on outsiders in their novels
4) The specific characters in A Song of Ice and Fire who can be considered outsiders
Which of the following statements would the author be least likely to agree with?
1) Readers like reading about outsider characters in mainstream fiction.
2) The basic plots and characters of fantasy are similar to those found in mythology.
3) The fantasy genre tends to be more conservative than literature as a whole.
4) The traditional outsider hero in fantasy is not born to privilege but achieves it on his own.
-IMS
Hey guys, i'm a little confused in the usage of 'to+verb' vs. 'for+verbing'. Which of the following do you find correct?
China and India, by contrast, possess the weight and dynamism to transform(A)/for transforming(B) the 21st century global economy
- A
- B
0 voters
Find out words out of the given options to be filled in blanks. Mark the relative Alphabet as answer.
In these days of economic liberalization or globalization etc., materialistic values have assumed ..................1. Importance. Money, physical comforts are the most sought after aspects. There has been .............2. competition.
Such competition...........3. undue stress. The stress leads to .............4. of health of the people.
1. A). More B)Usual C)least D)greater E)Tangible
2. F)Unequalled G)Unhealthy H)No I)Critical J) absolute
3. K) Deserves L)Demonstrates M) releases
N) Suppresses O) Generates
4. P) Illness Q) Neglect R) Degeneration S)Deterioration
T)Encroachment
Choose the word from given options that has the same meaning as the words in bold letters below:
1. PREDISPOSED
a)Reluctant b) Hesitant c) Ready d) Interested e)Unprepared
2. AFTERMATH
f)Devastation g) Posterity h) Consequence i) Contemporary j)Disharmony
3. STRESS
k) Enforce l)Pressurise m) emphasize n) Implement o)Suppress
Find out the error in the following sentence and mark the sr. no of the relative part as answer
1.The government should not stop 2. to recruiting of personnel in the .government offices 3. as it is not in the public interest.
Hi Guys, Hope you all are writing your NMAT exams well. Just to facilitate you guys in this process I would want to share with you a few previous years NMAT papers and word lists which I think would be extremely useful to each one of the aspirants.For that I would be sharing with you a google doc which would help me to consolidate all your email ids so that I can send the materials to each one of you. The link for the google Doc is:- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VXDSsmjHZrlxoPOVtYaZzYf5WAwQAmYh_z14_liQQCU/viewform?usp=send_form
Hope this helps!! ATB 😁
Hi Guys, Hope you all are writing your NMAT exams well. Just to facilitate you guys in this process I would want to share with you a few previous years NMAT papers and word lists which I think would be extremely useful to each one of the aspirants.For that I would be sharing with you a google doc which would help me to consolidate all your email ids so that I can send the materials to each one of you. The link for the google Doc is:- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VXDSsmjHZrlxoPOVtYaZzYf5WAwQAmYh_z14_liQQCU/viewform?usp=send_form
Hope this helps!! ATB 😁
Hi Guys, Hope you all are writing your NMAT exams well. Just to facilitate you guys in this process I would want to share with you a few previous years NMAT papers and word lists which I think would be extremely useful to each one of the aspirants.For that I would be sharing with you a google doc which would help me to consolidate all your email ids so that I can send the materials to each one of you. The link for the google Doc is:- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VXDSsmjHZrlxoPOVtYaZzYf5WAwQAmYh_z14_liQQCU/viewform?usp=send_form
Hope this helps!! ATB 😁
Is it not possible to view the 26th October PG CAT Mock questions? I missed it.
1.my sister along with/ her friends is doing/ her job at Delhi/ no err. 1 2 3 4 2. i have never /come across a/ coward Indian soldier/. no err 1 2 3 4 3.my brother earns/ ten thousand/ in a month. / no err 1 2 3 4
- 3,2,4
- 2,4,4
- 3,3,3
- 4,3,3
0 voters
is there any difference b/w
Whilst/While
if yes please state?
Median household income is still down as it had been at the end of recent recession.
According to time material it is correct. But past perfect tense is used when we are talking about two event that occurred in past. As first part is in present tense, is it apt to use past perfect here ??
RC
We are beginning to witness a paradox at the heart of capitalism, one that has propelled it to greatness but is now threatening its future: The inherent dynamism of competitive markets is bringing costs so far down that many goods and services are becoming nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject to market forces. While economists have always welcomed a reduction in marginal cost, they never anticipated the possibility of a technological revolution that might bring those costs to near zero.
Industry watchers acknowledge the creeping reality of a zero-marginal-cost economy, but argue that free products and services will entice a sufficient number of consumers to purchase higher-end goods and specialized services, ensuring large enough profit margins to allow the capitalist market to continue to grow. But the number of people willing to pay for additional premium goods and services is limited.
The unresolved question is, how will this economy of the future function when millions of people can make and share goods and services nearly free? The answer lies in the civil society, which consists of non-profit organizations that attend to the things in life we make and share as a community. What makes this social commons more relevant today is that we are constructing an Internet of Things infrastructure that optimizes collaboration, universal access and inclusion, all of which are critical to the creation of social capital and the ushering in of a sharing economy.
This zero marginal cost phenomenon is having the highest impact on the labor market, where workerless factories and offices, virtual retailing and automated logistics and transport networks are becoming more prevalent. Not surprisingly, the new employment opportunities lie in the collaborative commons in fields that tend to be nonprofit and strengthen social infrastructure. Many economists argue that the nonprofit sector is not a self-sufficient economic force but rather a parasite, dependent on government entitlements and private philanthropy. Quite the contrary. A recent study revealed that approximately 50 percent of the aggregate revenue of the nonprofit sectors of 34 countries comes from fees, while government support accounts for 36 percent of the revenues and private philanthropy for 14 percent.
As for the capitalist system, it is likely to remain with us far into the future, albeit in a more streamlined role, primarily as an aggregator of network services and solutions, allowing it to thrive as a powerful niche player in the coming era. We are, however, entering a world partly beyond markets, where we are learning how to live together in an increasingly interdependent, collaborative, global commons.
questions
What forecast does the author of the passage have for the capitalist economy?
A)
Will see a reduced role, as more of the economy's share is taken over by non-profits.
B)
Will continue to grow, but its pace will slow down.
C)
Will thrive, as it will continue to be the only reliable creator of jobs.
D)
Will maintain its status quo, as the non-profits will take a very long time to become a salient player.
questionWhat is the significant difference between a free service and one that has a zero marginal cost?
A)
The presence of fixed costs.
B)
The absence of capitalism.
C)
The funding from charity / government
D)
Both are in essence the same thing.
question
As can be inferred from the passage, all of the following industries are threatening to move away from the ambit of market forces, except.
A)
Music
B)
Newspapers
C)
Book Publishing
D)
Apparel
koi bhai bando link post
kar do Pagalguy ki aaj ka test ka?
#RC
Formal economic theory has become increasingly mathematical, elegant, and precise. It also increasingly has failed to confront the economic problems of societies. Economics, in consequence, is slowly and painfully moving away from the formal mathematical models built around a frictionless, static, conceptual structure.
Two glaring shortcomings of neoclassical theory are noteworthy: it is a frictionless theory in a world in which the frictions are where the action is, and it is static in a world where dynamic change is going on at an unprecedented rate. Remedying these defects requires that Economics builds on its strengths, modifies the unrealistic assumptions that make it frictionless, and incorporates time into the analysis to confront the issues of economic change.
The strength of neoclassical theory has been its uncompromising focus on scarcity and hence competition as the key to economics and its power as an economic way of reasoning, evinced in micro-economic theory. Its most unrealistic assumption, which underlies its frictionless character, has been the rationality assumption. Finally, time is the dimension in which human learning, the most important source of long-run economic change, occurs.
The rational choice framework assumes that individuals know what is in their self-interest and act accordingly. That may be correct for individuals making choices in the highly developed markets of modern economies, but it is patently false in making choices under conditions of uncertainty -- the conditions that characterize most of the crucial economic and political decisions that shaped (and continue to shape) economic change.
Another characteristic of this new paradigm is that firms have large fixed capital investments with a long life and (frequently) low alternative scrap value. As a result, the exchange process embodied in contracts has to be extended over long periods of time, which entails uncertainty about prices and costs and the possibility of opportunistic behavior on the part of one of the parties to the exchange. A number of organizational problems emerge from these characteristics associated with this paradigm.
First, increased resources are necessary to measure the quality of output or the performance of agents. Sorting, grading, labeling, trademarks, warranties, licensing, time and motion studies and a variety of other techniques to measure the performance of agents are all, albeit costly and imperfect, devices to measure the characteristics of goods and services and the performance of agents. In spite of the existence of such devices, the dissipation of income is evident all around us in the difficulty of measuring the quality of automobile repairs, in evaluating the safety characteristics of products and the quality of medical services, or in measuring educational output. The problems of evaluating performance are even more acute in hierarchies because of the difficulties of achieving low-cost measurement of the multiple dimensions of an agent's performance.
Second, while team production permits economies of scale to be realized, it does so at the cost of worker alienation and shirking. The "discipline" of the factory is a response to the control problem of shirking in team production. From the perspective of the employer, the discipline consists of rules, regulations, incentives, and punishments essential to effective performance. From the viewpoint of the worker, they are frequently viewed as inhuman devices to foster speed-ups and exploitation. Because there is no agreed-upon measure of output that constitutes contract performance, both are right.
a) What is the author's purpose behind writing this passage?
1. To discuss the shortcomings of neoclassical theory.
2. To discuss the direction of economics in future.
3. To discuss the relevance of neoclassical theory.
4. A general overview of today's economy.
Q..2 ) The author is likely to agree with which of the following inferences?
1. Time should be incorporated into the analysis of neoclassical theory to resolve the issues of economic change.
2. The neoclassical theory is proving to be redundant in this era of political and economic upheavals.
3. Practicing 'economies of scale' might lead to 'worker alienation and shirking'.
4. There are persistent problems pertaining to evaluating performance in hierarchies because performance is subjective.
a ) 1,2,3 b ) 2,3 c ) only 3 d ) only 2
#RC
Formal economic theory has become increasingly mathematical, elegant, and precise. It also increasingly has failed to confront the economic problems of societies. Economics, in consequence, is slowly and painfully moving away from the formal mathematical models built around a frictionless, static, conceptual structure.
Two glaring shortcomings of neoclassical theory are noteworthy: it is a frictionless theory in a world in which the frictions are where the action is, and it is static in a world where dynamic change is going on at an unprecedented rate. Remedying these defects requires that Economics builds on its strengths, modifies the unrealistic assumptions that make it frictionless, and incorporates time into the analysis to confront the issues of economic change.
The strength of neoclassical theory has been its uncompromising focus on scarcity and hence competition as the key to economics and its power as an economic way of reasoning, evinced in micro-economic theory. Its most unrealistic assumption, which underlies its frictionless character, has been the rationality assumption. Finally, time is the dimension in which human learning, the most important source of long-run economic change, occurs.
The rational choice framework assumes that individuals know what is in their self-interest and act accordingly. That may be correct for individuals making choices in the highly developed markets of modern economies, but it is patently false in making choices under conditions of uncertainty -- the conditions that characterize most of the crucial economic and political decisions that shaped (and continue to shape) economic change.
Another characteristic of this new paradigm is that firms have large fixed capital investments with a long life and (frequently) low alternative scrap value. As a result, the exchange process embodied in contracts has to be extended over long periods of time, which entails uncertainty about prices and costs and the possibility of opportunistic behavior on the part of one of the parties to the exchange. A number of organizational problems emerge from these characteristics associated with this paradigm.
First, increased resources are necessary to measure the quality of output or the performance of agents. Sorting, grading, labeling, trademarks, warranties, licensing, time and motion studies and a variety of other techniques to measure the performance of agents are all, albeit costly and imperfect, devices to measure the characteristics of goods and services and the performance of agents. In spite of the existence of such devices, the dissipation of income is evident all around us in the difficulty of measuring the quality of automobile repairs, in evaluating the safety characteristics of products and the quality of medical services, or in measuring educational output. The problems of evaluating performance are even more acute in hierarchies because of the difficulties of achieving low-cost measurement of the multiple dimensions of an agent's performance.
Second, while team production permits economies of scale to be realized, it does so at the cost of worker alienation and shirking. The "discipline" of the factory is a response to the control problem of shirking in team production. From the perspective of the employer, the discipline consists of rules, regulations, incentives, and punishments essential to effective performance. From the viewpoint of the worker, they are frequently viewed as inhuman devices to foster speed-ups and exploitation. Because there is no agreed-upon measure of output that constitutes contract performance, both are right.
a) What is the author's purpose behind writing this passage?
1. To discuss the shortcomings of neoclassical theory.
2. To discuss the direction of economics in future.
3. To discuss the relevance of neoclassical theory.
4. A general overview of today's economy.
Q..2 ) The author is likely to agree with which of the following inferences?
1. Time should be incorporated into the analysis of neoclassical theory to resolve the issues of economic change.
2. The neoclassical theory is proving to be redundant in this era of political and economic upheavals.
3. Practicing 'economies of scale' might lead to 'worker alienation and shirking'.
4. There are persistent problems pertaining to evaluating performance in hierarchies because performance is subjective.
Flavonoids are a common component of almost all plants, but a specific variety of flavonoid in apples has been found to be an antioxidant. Antioxidants are known to be a factor in the prevention of heart disease.
Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?
(A) A diet composed largely of fruits and vegetables will help to prevent heart disease.
(B) Flavonoids are essential to preventing heart disease.
(C) Eating at least one apple each day will prevent heart disease.
(D) At least one type of flavonoid helps to prevent heart disease.
20 % of the population living below the poverty line are unhappy !
(Fact or a judgement or an inference) ?