Expected Reading Comprehension for SBI Clerk 2018

Comprehension Exercise

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow

Germany has been plunged into an anguished debate about how to encourage reluctant couples to breed after new figures showed Germany with the world's highest proportion of childless women.
Thirty percent of German women have had no children, according to European Union statistics from 2005, with the figure rising among female graduates to 40 percent. Germany's family minister, Ursula von der Leyen, said that unless the birth rate picked up the country would have to "turn the light out".

Von der Leyen, a mother of seven and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, told Stern magazine that not only women but also "deeply uncertain" men were to blame for it. "They are unsure about the role of fatherhood," she said

Last month, Von der Leyen tabled a series of radical proposals, including requiring men to take two months off work to look after a newborn child if they wished to qualify fully for state-funded child welfare support. The scheme would offer parents 67 per cent of their previous incomes while staying at home. It would be limited to a year, up to a monthly maximum of 1,800 euros. Working parents would also be able to offset 3,000 euros a year of childcare costs against tax, encouraging women to have more children. The proposals are based on scheme in Scandinavia, where birth rates are higher than those of Germany.

However, her proposals have met resistance. Several male politicians in her own Christian Democrat party have derided the idea to men abandoning work to change nappies. The Social Democrats, junior Partners in Germany's coalition government, have also expressed unease because the themes of childcare and women’s right traditionally belonged to the left.

“Compulsory paid leave for fathers is a good idea”, Professor Norbert Schneider, a sociologist at Maniz University, said. Germany now has the highest number of childless women in the world. This trend has been going on since at least the 90's. What we also know is that higher the level of education, the more likely a woman is to remain childless.

Schneider said several factors were to blame for Germany's low birth rate, including inadequate childcare provision, a school day that ends at 1 pm, and old-fashioned attitudes among employers. By the time they had finished university, and found a good job, many German women were already in their mid-30s, he said.

Directions: Choose the best answer from the given alternatives.

Question no 1:

What is Germany most worried about?
Germany is worried about:
(a) the rising population of Germany
(b) the falling population of Germany
(c) how to encourage their reluctant couples to breed
(d) how to raise the birth rate among their reluctant female graduates

ANS : (c)

Question no 2:

The percentage of childless German Women Since 2005 is:
(a) 40%
(b) 30%
(c) 50%
(d) 60%

ANS : (b)

Question no 3:

According to the German Chancellor the person(s) to be blamed for the falling birth rate of
Germany are:
(a) only women
(b) only men
(c) both men and women
(d) the government and the breeding couple

ANS : (c)

Question no 4:

The men are disinterested in breeding because of
(a) non-cooperative attitude of their wives
(b) Their unsure role of fatherhood
(c) discouraging attitude of the government
(d) Non-availability of facility of rearing them up.

ANS : (b)

Question no 5:

Birth rate of Germany can be increased if
(a) compulsory paid leave is allowed to husbands to look after their newly born babies.
(b) extra facilities are given to prospective mothers
(c) the employer's attitude is changed to suit the convenience of the educated women
(d) adequate facilities to look after children, compulsory paid leave to husband and change in the old-fashioned attitude of employers are taken care of.

ANS : (d)

Question no 6:

Which of the following statements is false in the given context of the passage:
(a) Women should not be educated
(b) Men should be made more responsive to their role of fatherhood
(c) Government should provide all facilities to encourage the prospective couples to breed.
(d) Employers' old-fashioned attitude should give way to the new realities at the work place.

ANS : (a)

Directions: Choose from the following words the word which conveys nearly the same meaning as the given word used in the passage.

Question no 7:

RADICAL
(a) Basic
(b) Essential
(c) Extreme
(d) Fundamental

ANS : (c)

Question no 8:

RESISTANCE
(a) fight
(b) Opposition
(c) Counteraction
(d) Obstruction

ANS : (b)

Directions: Choose from the following words the word which is nearly the Opposite in meaning to the given word used in the passage.

Question no 9:

COMPULSORY
(a) desirable
(b) free
(c) Voluntary
(d) Optional

ANS : (d)

Question no 10:

DERIDE
(a) Insult
(b) Respect
(c) Jeer
(d) Taunt

ANS : (b)