Innovative Way of Reading Newspaper and Practice English: Part 6

Reading Comprehension

US President Donald Trump has made it clear that his administration is focused on putting America First. This is not a radical departure. President Trump’s predecessors too put the interests of the United States at the heart of their engagement with the world. Keeping the interests of the country and its people front and centre is the compass that guides every democratically elected head of state and government.
Over the last few decades, successive administrations have built a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with the United States, irrespective of the party in power in Washington or New Delhi. The tempo of the relationship manifested through increased trade, strategic partnerships and bilateral cooperation needs to be sustained. New Delhi needs to analyse Trump and his domestic appeal to identify opportunities for India to partner with the US in a manner that is beneficial to both countries. The Trump administration is still feeling its way, and India needs to seize this opportunity to focus on the areas where both countries can work together.
Challenges like terrorism, globalisation and investments will require countries to work together, and New Delhi needs to ensure that its interests are protected as Trump seeks to define his administration’s outlook on these issues. New Delhi must have the relationship with the Trump administration so that it can weigh in and put its point of view across, and negotiate with it when required.
Democracy is protected through its institutions, and the first four weeks of the Trump presidency have made it abundantly clear that institutions in the United States are alive to their responsibility. Countries like India that have been important partners and allies of the United States need to work with the newest occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to ensure that mutual interest, benefit and progress continue to be the leitmotif of the bilateral relationship. That requires a thorough understanding of Donald Trump and the ethos of his administration, as well as engaging directly with other institutions, such as Congress.
(Source : The Economic Times)

Ques 1. Choose the suitable title for the given passage: 
a. Trump's agenda
b. Putting America first
c. Trump's administration : new opportunities and challenges for India
d. Bringing New Delhi in pace with America
e. New face , new policies

Ques 2. Choose the word which is similar to the word given in bold in the passage.
Leitmotif
a. Keynote
b. Sophisticated
c. Solace
d. Gratify
e. None of these

Ques 3. Why both the countries U.S and India needs to work together?
I. To increase trade and investment
II. To deal with terrorism
III. They always worked together

a. Only I
b. Only III
c. All I, II and III are correct
d. Only I and II are correct
e. Only I and III are correct

Ques 4. Choose the word which is most opposite to the word given in bold in the passage:
Radical
a. Iconoclast

b. Intrinsic
c. Superficial
d. Incendiary
e. Nihilist

Ques 5. Choose the word which is most similar to the word given in bold in the passage:
Sustain
a. Abstrain
b. Buoy
c. Impede
d. Obstruct
e. None of these

Cloze test

Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget 2017 speech (a)_____ mention that the commodities markets require reforms for the benefit of farmers. He also (b)______ for an operational and legal framework to integrate spot and derivatives markets for commodity trading, which is unexceptionable. The capital markets regulator, Sebi, faces legal difficulties in allowing options trading in commodities, and has reportedly decided to focus, for now, on attracting (c)______ institutional players to the commodity futures market. But such segmented approach in market design will not do.
The point is to (d)______ sophisticated and well-developed financial system to better manage myriad risks across currencies, securities and derivative contracts. Options — which give the buyer the right but not the obligation to buy (or sell) a certain asset — in commodities would lead to much-needed flexibility in the futures market. Yet, we lack a firm legal framework for commodity options. The Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 1952, does have provisions that give rise to a measure of uncertainty in futures trading. While the FCRA is under the Union List, trades on the underlying commodities (e)_______ under the State List for agricultural commodities. There are various other standalone laws, such as the Warehousing Act, 2007, or the Food Safety Act, 2006, or the APMC Act that produce an incoherent ecosystem for commodity derivatives.
The reported Sebi game plan is to let private equity funds and venture funds into commodity futures, to be followed by mutual funds. And, in the next phase, insurers and other financial institutions would gain entry. But artificially compartmentalized, isolated financial markets would be wholly suboptimal and avoidable.
(Source : The Economic Times)

Ques 6.  Fill in the blank (a) 

a. Does 

b. Has 

c. Did 

d. Could

Ques 7.  Fill in the blank (b) 

a. Calls 

b. Called 

c. Call 

d. Is calling

Ques 8.  Fill in the blank (c) 

a. Much 

b. Many 

c. And 

d. More

Ques 9.  Fill in the blank (d) 

a. Had a 

b. have a 

c. A 

d. Has a

Ques 10.  Fill in the blank (e) 

a. Fall 

b. Had fall 

c. Has fallen 

d. Falls

ODD ONE OUT

Ques 11. Choose the sentence which represent different idea or theme in comparison to the other four.
a. They are under no obligation to disclose how much money they have collected and where it has come from. This needs to change.
b. In addition to the expense statement, a daily collection statement detailing the identity of the donors with their PAN card, Aadhaar card number, and full financial details must be filed with the expenditure observer overseeing every election.
c. A legal backing provides comfort, but there should be ways to prevent states from slacking off on revenue collections.
d. All candidates must reveal the sources of their electoral funding statutorily.
e. Under the existing legal dispensation, election candidates are obligated only to reveal their spending and keep it theoretically within limits prescribed by the Election Commission, a ceiling routinely violated with impunity by every candidate in every election.

Ques 12. Choose the sentence which represent different idea or theme in comparison to the other four.
a. The problems of Islam worldwide remain highly diffused with no clarity on the direction the faith wishes to follow.
b. The terrorist group, which had announced its Pakistan branch more than two years ago, has claimed a string of attacks in recent months, mostly on minority Muslim sects.
c. Current perceptions arising from the Trump administration's travel ban against seven Muslim-majority countries (now stayed by a court order) has brought to the fore the paradox of US liberal values pitted against extreme nationalism
d. India has almost 180 million Muslims, the world's largest minority segment. How should common people view Islam?
e. The one common thing is the general negativity with which followers of the faith appear to be universally viewed.

Error detection

Choose the word which is incorrectly spelt in the given sentence.
Ques 13. 1. The extraordinary sight of a lake in Bengaluru on fire, with a massive plome of smoke that could be seen from afar, is a warning sign that urban environments are crashing under the weight of official indifference.
a. extraordinary
b. afar
c. indifference
d. plome
e. None of  d

Identify the grammatical error. 
Ques 14. There is still no evidence that the Pakistani branch of the group are directed by the IS core in Mosul or Raqqah. But IS fighters in eastern Afghanistan, where the group has established a province of the ‘Caliphate’, and those in Pakistan seems to have aligned themselves with local terror groups by organisational support.

a. are....seems....for
b. is.....seems...by
c. is....seem....for
d. are....seem....for
e. None of these

Answers

1. c

2. a 

3. d 

4. c

5. b

6. c 

7. b

8. d 

9. b 

10. a

11. c

12. c

13. d

14. c