RC's can be potential game changers for your VA score ! So let's begin with our RC preparation for CAT 2015 !
puys and pirls, this thread is exclusively for the purpose of posting RC questions for practice and doubts.
So start using this thread for RC prep from now on. 😃
How many RCs do you attempt (in a mock) on an average ?
Just to get the thread kicking! :P
why is this thread moribund? puys kindly start posting RC questions.
Karl Marx’s criticism of capitalism was based, in part, on his justified claim that the Industrial Revolution had destroyed the historical relationship between craftsmen and the goods they produced. Assembly-line work turned people into cogs in a giant machine, and the machine didn’t care about workers’ need for
More recent research finds that most people approach their work in one of three ways: as a job, a career or a calling. If you see your work as a job, you do it only for the money, you look at the clock frequently while dreaming about the weekend ahead, and you probably pursue hobbies, which satisfy your
You might think that blue-collar workers have jobs, managers have careers, and the more respected professionals (doctors, scientists, clergy) have callings. Although there is some truth to that expectation, we can nonetheless paraphrase Marcus Aurelius and say, ‘Work itself is but what you deem it’. Amy Wrzesniewski, a psychologist at New York University, finds all three orientations represented in almost every occupation she has examined. In a study of hospital workers, for example, she found that the janitors who cleaned bed pans and mopped up vomit – perhaps the lowest-ranking job in a hospital – sometimes saw themselves as part of a team whose goal was to heal people. They went beyond the minimum requirements of their job description, for example, by trying to brighten up the rooms of very sick patients or anticipating the needs of the doctors and nurses rather than waiting for orders. In doing so, they increased their own occupational self-direction and created for themselves jobs that satisfied their
The optimistic conclusion coming out of this research is that most people can get more satisfaction from their work. The first step is to know your strengths, and then choose work that allows you to use your strengths every day. If you are stuck in a job that doesn’t match your strengths, recast and reframe your job so that it does. Maybe you’ll have to do some extra work for a while, like the hospital janitors who were acting on strengths of kindness, loving, emotional intelligence or citizenship. If you can engage your strengths, you’ll find more gratification in work; if you find gratification, you’ll shift into a more positive, approach-oriented mindset; and in such a mindset it will be easier for you to see the bigger picture – the contribution you are making to a larger enterprise – within which your job might turn into a calling.
What, according to the author, is the correct order of preferability of the different types of work?
RC post karo koi
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 (5) 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 (10) 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 appli- (15) cability 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.
(20) 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 (25) 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 (30) 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 of projects the competitive model of Western society onto human personalities. But in the Asian (35) concept of personality there is no ideal attached to indi vidualism or to the independent self. The Western model of personality development does not explain major char- acteristics of the Korean personality, which is social and group-centered. The “self” is a social being defined by (40) 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 “depen- (45) dency” 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 (50) 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 daugh- ters all their lives, whereas in Western culture, the roles of husband and
1. Which of the following best summarizes the content of the passage?
Same passage by me:
It can be inferred from the passage that Korean scholars in the field of women‟s studies undertook an analysis of Freudian theory as a response to which of the following?
- Their desire to encourage Korean scholars to adopt the Freudian model
- Attacks by critics of the Ewha women‟s studies program
- The superficiality of earlier critiques of Freudian theory
- Their assessment of the relevance and limitations of Western feminist theory with respect to Korean culture
- The popularity of Freud in Korean psychiatric circles
0 voters
Same passage
It can be inferred from the passage that the broadcast media in Korea considered the establishment of the Ewha women‟s studies program
Which of the following statements is most consistent with the view of personality development held by the Ewha women‟s studies group?
- Personality development occurs in identifiable stages, beginning with dependency in childhood and ending with independence in adulthood.
- Any theory of personality development, in order to be valid, must be universal.
- No theory of personality development can account for the differences between Korean and Western
- Personality development is hindered if a person is not permitted to be independent.
- Personality development is influenced by the characteristics of the society in which a person lives.
0 voters
has anybody tried www.readtheory.org . Any reviews ?
Directions for questions 48 to 50: The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
The development underlines the great danger we face from the extension of anti-terrorist measures and methods into normal life – the policing of our streets, for example, and the hounding of football fans and climate change protestors. Just as disturbing is the line of questioning by the police of those who made freedom of information requests before the alleged hacking of computers last year. In a letter to the Financial Times, Sebastian Nokes, a climate change sceptic and businessman, said he was interviewed by an officer who “wanted to know what computer I used, my internet service provider, and also to which political parties I have belonged, what I feel about climate change and what my qualifications in climate science are. He questioned me at length about my political and scientific opinions”. The police have a duty to investigate the alleged crime, but this kind of questioning smacks of something far more sinister because a person’s political and scientific views are being weighed to assess his likely criminality in the eyes of the police officer. Now you might ask how else the police are going to establish who is a suspect. After all, you would certainly ask people about their views if you investigating a string of racist attacks. But this is not a violent crime or a terrorist matter: moreover, Nokes had simply sent “an FOI request to the university’s climate unit asking whether scientists had received training in the disclosure rules and asking for copies of any emails in which they suggested ducking their obligations to disclose data”.
On that basis the police felt entitled to examine Nokes on his views. These days it’s surprising that they haven’t found a way to seize his computer and mobile phone, which is what routinely happens to those involved in climate change protests. Limits need to be set in the policing and investigation of people’s legitimate beliefs. Any future government must take a grip on the tendency of the police to watch, search, categorise and retain the personal details of those who express the political, religious or scientific beliefs. We should never forget that under this government the police have used forward intelligence teams to photograph people emerging from a climate change meeting in a cafe in Brighton; have used the ANPR system to track the movement of vehicles belonging to people travelling to demonstrations; have prevented press photographers from carrying out their lawful right to cover news events; and have combed the computers and searched the premises of an MP legitimately engaged in the business of opposition and holding the government to account. What this adds up to is a failure of understanding in the police force that one of its primary duties is to protect the various and sometimes inconvenient manifestations of a democracy, not to suppress them. That is why they have to be ultra-careful deploying specialist terrorist intelligence units and treating people’s opinions as evidence.
48. Which one of these best expresses the author’s attitude towards Sebastian Nokes? (a) The author considers Nokes’ situation as a symptom of a bigger malaise. (b) The author supports Nokes and protests against the treatment meted out to him. (c) The author questions the legality of the actions carried out by the police against Nokes. (d) The author worries about the moral implications of the involvement of the police in such cases.
49. What is the central theme explored by the author in the passage? (a) The role of police in a democracy. (b) The extension of the special powers of the police to questionable territory. (c) The abuse of power by the police. (d) The use of the police to stem opposition to the government’s ideas.
50. The author is least likely to support which of the following? (a) Tracking the movements of a person accused of corporate fraud. (b) Seizing the computer or mobile of an alleged terrorist. (c) Analysing the political beliefs of a person involved in a racist attack. (d) Banning media coverage of an event because it is likely to get violent.
"Our Revolutionary Parson." What was he like? Backward over the years we send him a grateful thought, remembering that he had no mean share in establishing America's freedom and independence, blessings that might have long been delayed, but for his timely aid and influence, and we believe when the war was over he was in harmony with the jubilant company who rejoiced that their enemy, obstinate old King George, was conquered
. A description of the Rev. Eliphalet Williams, pastor of the church in East Hartford from 1748 to 1801- a period which covered all the Revolution and years before and after-may serve as a type of the personal appearance of the Revolutionary parson. "He wore the old-time minister's dress, which consisted of a black straight-buttoned waistcoat, with the ends of its broad white bands showing on his chest, long black stockings and knee breeches, with shoe and knee buckles; a big white wig, so large that a child once called it a lamb, covered his head. On the top of all this he wore a large, stiff, broad-brimmed hat. He had a high sense of the dignity and sanctity of his office. To him the clergy were as ` Lords over the heritage of God.' "He was not, by nature, tolerant. He was never cordially loved; and no doubt he did call some of the wood his parishioners were obliged to bring him "crooked stuff," and "had the making of all the letters of the alphabet in it." Upon which remark, the owner drove promptly home, and left none of the wood. He clung to his dark views of what in the unlovely phraseology of that day was known as "Infant Damnation," until many mothers withdrew from his preaching.
The minister's position was well expressed by the word Parson. (The par-son with a capital). This was very august. He had the complete monopoly of all the material of the intellectual and spiritual life of the people, with no competition.
"The requirements were many and varied. He must be as full of facts as an encyclopedia, and full of the knowledge of human nature; interesting as a play; close to life as a newspaper. He must have the style of Ruskin, the eloquence of Carlyle, the prophet-tone of Emerson and the imagination of Shakespeare. To say nothing of calling on everyone, before he called on any-one else. A kind of miniature omnipresence."
1). According to the passage, the revolutionary parson:
(1) had a backward orientation.
(2) blessed the American Revolution.
(3) passively supported the revolution.
(4) played an important part in the revolution.
(5) supported the revolution in spite of his backward orientation.
2_From the passage, which of the following can be accurately inferred about the Parson?
(1) The parson had a strange contradiction of being revolutionary in outlook yet traditional in his rejection of infant procreation.
(2) The Parson had no doubts that he and the members of the clergy were Gods and even superior to ministers and kings.
(3) The minister's dress and the hat that he wore signified his commitment to the ruler of the times.
(4) He wanted the people to regard him as omnipresent and a person possessing the best qualities of various famous people.
(5) None of the above.
3). The statement, "To say nothing of calling on everyone, before he called on any-one else" most probably means:
(1) to visit people without informing them before informing people whom one would visit.
(2) to be completely thorough on everything before one starts to guide others.
(3) to have a commanding presence before one starts to preach.
(4) to imbibe the qualities of great people before one starts to preach.
(5) to be well versed with the arts before one starts to preach.
It has become something of a literary
cliche to bash the thesaurus, or at the very least, to warn fellow writers that
it is a book best left alone. Some admonitions might be blunt, others wistful,
as with Billy Collins musing on his rarely opened thesaurus. But beyond the
romantic anthropomorphizing of words needing to break free from 'the warehouse
of Roget', what of Collins' more pointed criticism, that 'there is no/such
thing as a synonym'? That would suggest that the whole enterprise of
constructing a thesaurus is predicated on a fiction.
It is only a fiction if one holds fast to the notion that synonyms must be exactly equivalent in their meaning, usage and connotation. Of course, under this strict view, there will never be any 'perfect' synonyms. No word does exactly the job of another. In the words of the linguist Roy Harris, 'If we believe there are instances where two expressions cannot be differentiated in respect of meaning, we must be deceiving ourselves.'
But the synonyms that we find gathered together in a thesaurus are typically more like siblings that share a striking resemblance. 'Brotherly' and 'fraternal,' for instance. Or 'sisterly' and 'sororal.' They may correspond well enough in meaning, but that should not imply that one can always be substituted for another. Consulting a thesaurus to find these closely related sets of words is only the first step for a writer looking for le mot juste: the peculiar individuality of each would-be synonym must then be carefully judged. Mark Twain knew the perils of relying on the family resemblance of words: 'Use the right word,' he wrote, 'not its second cousin.'
No matter how tempting the metaphor, though, words are not people. We cannot run genetic tests on them to determine their degrees of kinship, and a thesaurus is not a pedigree chart. We can, nonetheless, look to it as a guidebook to help us travel around the semantic space of our shared lexicon, grasping both the similarities that bond words together and the nuances that differentiate them.
(1) Which of the following is the primary purpose of the passage?
A.To outline and examine the validity of the criticisms levied against the thesaurus.
B.To demonstrate that the thesaurus is not a collection of synonyms but a collection of related words.
C.To argue that despite the criticism against it the thesaurus can still be a useful tool to understand the relationship between words.
D. To highlight the futility of trying to find the perfect synonym.
(2) Which of the following is synonymous with 'predicated' as it is used in the last sentence of the first paragraph?
A. compromised
B. grounded
C. tethered
D. balanced
Religious beliefs and practices are found in all human groups and go back to the very beginnings of human culture. Recent findings in psychology, anthropology and neuroscience offer an empirical approach, focused on the mental machinery activated in acquiring and representing religious concepts.
Religion is not a domain where anything goes, where any strange belief could appear and get transmitted from generation to generation. On the contrary, there is only a limited catalogue of possible supernatural beliefs. Even without knowing the details of religious systems in other cultures, we all know that some notions are far more widespread than others. The idea that there are invisible souls of dead people lurking around is a very common one; the notion that people's organs change position during the night is very rare. But both are equally irrefutable. So the problem, surely, is not just to explain how people can accept supernatural claims for which there is no strong evidence but also why they tend to represent and accept these particular supernatural claims rather than other possible ones. We should explain why they are so selective in the claims they adhere to.
Indeed, we should go even further and abandon the credulity-scenario altogether. Here is why:
In this scenario, people relax ordinary standards of evidence for some reason. If you are against religion, you will say that this is because they are naturally credulous, or respectful of received authority, or too lazy to think for themselves, etc. If you are more sympathetic to religious beliefs, you will say that they open up their minds to wondrous truths beyond the reach of reason. But the point is that if you accept this account, you assume that people first open up their minds, as it were; and then let it be filled by whatever religious beliefs are held by the people who influence them at that particular time. This is often the way we think of religious adhesion. There is a gate-keeper in the mind that either allows or rejects visitors, that is, other people's concepts and beliefs. When the gate-keeper allows them in, these concepts and beliefs find a home in the mind and become the person's own beliefs and concepts.
Our present knowledge of mental processes suggests that this scenario is highly misleading. People receive all sorts of information from all sorts of sources. All this information has some effect on the mind. Whatever you hear and whatever you see is perceived, interpreted, explained and recorded by the various inference systems I described above. Every bit of information is fodder for the mental machinery. But then some pieces of information produce the effects that we identify as 'belief'. That is, the person starts to recall them and use them to explain or interpret particular events; they may trigger specific emotions; they may strongly influence the person's behaviour. Note that I said some pieces of information, not all. This is where the selection occurs. In ways that a good psychology of religion should describe, it so happens that only some pieces of information trigger these effects, and not others; it also happens that the same piece of information will have these effects in some people but not others. So people do not have beliefs because they somehow made their minds receptive to belief and then acquired the material for belief. They have some beliefs because, among all the material they acquired, some of it triggered these particular effects.
1)This passage is most likely to be found in a/an:
A. Scientific journal
B. Publication of a religious organization
C. Psychology textbook
D. Encyclopaedic entry on religion
2) With which of the following would the author be most likely to agree?
A. Invisible dead people (i.e. ghosts) can be found all around us.
B.Religious beliefs are acquired when people allow themselves to be influenced by other people's beliefs.
C.Religious beliefs are mainly of the kind that cannot be verified, and therefore cannot be refuted either.
D.Not all but pieces of information gathered by us can affect our belief.
When I told my folks how much my first paper in Ohio was paying me, my father helpfully suggested I get a part-time job to augment the income. Soon afterward, the city editor chewed me out for something trivial, and I made the mistake of telling my father during a visit home. "They pay you nothing and they push you around in that business," he told me, the rage building. "Next time, you grab the guy by the throat, push him against the wall, and tell him he's a big jerk." A few years before, a guy hadn't liked the retaining wall my father and a partner had built (they were
American corporate culture is based on WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) values, whether or not WASPs are actually running the company. Everything is outwardly calm and quiet. Workers have to be reserved and unemotional, and must never show anger. It's uptight, maybe even unhealthy, and all that pent-up aggression comes out in long-knife ambushes at the 2 P.M. meeting. Regardless, if you come from the working class, you haven't got a clue how to conduct yourself when you first land in an office. You're lost if you can't navigate the landscape - if you follow blue-collar mores and speak your mind, directly challenging authority. Without tact and subtlety, without the ability to practice politics amongst the cubicles, an executive with a blue-collar background will not rise. And it's a drag watching others get promoted over you.
Language, too, is a sticking point - both what you say and how you say it. If the work environment is particularly sterile, cold, distant, and austere, then anything more than a mild giggle at a tasteful joke will raise eyebrows. And it's no secret that on-the-rise types solicit help from speech experts to bury Southern accents, Brooklyn accents, and any other perceived verbal barbarisms that would offend the ears of a genteel corporate listener. Along with sound, the right picture is imperative. Clothes, then, become vital for the proper office portrait. Straddlers (people who journey from their
Here's the dilemma: You come from a culture in which the boss is the common enemy and you're expected to be loyal only to your fellow workers. Meanwhile, you go to college, then find yourself embarking on a white-collar career, where you are required to pledge allegiance to the firm, not to your co-workers. And success is measured not by the secure stasis and comfortable consistency your parents struggled for, but by constant movement upward, spurred by a
1.The passage suggests one of the following to tide over the identity crisis a straddler is likely to face at his
a)Not to cut off one's umbilical cord.
b)Retain the essence of your culture while adapting yourself to the new circumstances.
c)To strongly identify oneself with one's culture.
d)To be a chameleon in adapting to one's environment.
2.The passage basically,
a)deals with the clash of values of working and middle classes. b)looks at a cultural phenomenon that reflects the internal conflict experienced by members of a group called straddlers.
c)talks about the extent to which a person has to morph in order to belong to the class he desires.
d)presents anecdotal evidence of the class stratification in American society.
These accounts presented a much different picture. Even in the modern era, thinkers and scientists as diverse as Goethe, Emerson, Thoreau, Jung, Oppenheimer, Herder and Schrodinger, to name a few, have acknowledged their debt to ancient Hindu achievements in science, technology and philosophy. The mosaic that emerged from this research contrasts sharply with the common portrayal in the popular media and even in academia. Modern science and medicine would be primitive and unrecognizable without the immense contribution of the ancient Hindus. They invented everyday essentials such as our base-ten number system and the concept of zero as a numeral. They developed the sophisticated system of medicine known as ayurveda, with its mind-body approach; detailed anatomical and surgical knowledge of the human body, including cataract surgery and the so-called plastic surgery. They unfolded metallurgical methods of extraction and purification of metals, including the so-called Damascus blade; knowledge of various constellations and planetary motions that was good enough to assign motion to the Earth; and the science of self-improvement popularly known as yoga. Intellectual curiosity can manifest in any circumstances, but certain conditions are particularly conducive to intellectual growth. India’s vast mineral resources, diverse plant and animal life, favorable climate and sound social ethics provided material prosperity and social stability to the region and fostered the intellectual endeavors of the Hindus. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an eminent American philosopher and poet, recognized this when he wrote: “The favor of the climate, making subsistence easy and encouraging an outdoor life, allows to the Eastern nations a highly intellectual organization—leaving out of view, at present, the genius of Hindus, whom no people have surpassed in the grandeur of their ethical statement.” Megasthenes, an ambassador of Seleucus I, visited the Indus-Saraswati region and reported that the people, “having abundant means of subsistence, exceed in consequence the ordinary stature and are distinguished by their proud bearing. They are also found to be well skilled in the arts, as might be expected of men who inhale a pure air and drink the very finest water.” The Chinese traveling monk Yijing made similar observations of the region’s prosperity: “ghee, oil, milk and cream are found everywhere. Such things as cakes and fruit are so abundant that it is difficult to enumerate them here.” Sa’id al-Andalusi, a natural philosopher from Muslim Spain, wrote a book on the history of science, Tabaqat al Umam, in which he categorized nations based on their contributions to science. Al-Andalusi credited India with its leadership in science and technology: “The first nation to have cultivated science is India. This is a powerful nation, having a large population and a rich kingdom. India is known for the wisdom of its people. Over many centuries, all the kings of the past have recognized the ability of the Indians in all branches of knowledge.” The practice of debate was ingrained and highly valued among the Hindus. In fact, it was one of the eight ways to select the groom for a bride. A medical treatise, the Caraka-Samhita, emphasizes the role of debate and discussion in the learning process. “Discussion with a person of the same branch of science increases knowledge and brings happiness. It contributes towards the clarity of understanding, increases dialectical skill, broadcasts reputation and dispels doubts regarding things heard. Hence, it is the discussion with men of the same branch of science that is applauded by the wise.” The Caraka-Samhita defines rules for such debate and suggests that we must avoid “celebration for the victor” or “any insult to the loser.” These detailed rules of shastrarth(debate), as defined in the text, predate the similar guidelines in the West’s nineteenth-century Robert’s Rules of Order by two millennia.
Q.
Which of the following options would best explain the rationale for the second paragraph?
- a Use of examples to support the assertion that India has contributed greatly to modern science and medicine.
- b Use of examples to support the assertion that India has a setting that induces growth and prosperity.
- c Use of examples to support the thought that India’s contributions have helped in the self-growth of individuals.
- d Use of examples to support the view that the Hindu race was superior to races in other Eastern nations.
0 voters
what should be the prefered novels for improving philosophical passages?