CDS English Exam Paper – 14 February 2016

Combined Defense Services (CDS) English solved exam paper conducted by UPSC on 14 February 2016 available here. UPSC organizes CDS Exam twice in a year. This is a first CDS exam paper of year 2016. CDS exam will consist of three papers – English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics.

Exam Paper :— (CDS) English
Exam Organizer :— Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Exam Date :— 14 February 2016

(See other paper of this exam – General Knowledge Paper)

CDS (English) solved exam paper (1^st) 2016

Comprehension

Directions – for the 21 (twenty one) items which follow :
In this section you have six short passage. After each passage, you will find some questions based on the passage. First read a passage and answer the questions based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.

Passage 1

To avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind is prone, no superhuman brain is required. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all errors, but from silly errors.
If the matter is one that can be settled by observation. Make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of asking Mrs. aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. Thinking that you know, when in fact you do not, is a bad mistake to which we are all prone. I believe myself that hedgehogs eat black beetles, because i have been told that they do; but if i were writing a book on the habits of hedgehogs, i should not commit myself until i had seen one enjoying this diet, aristotle, however, was less cautious. Ancient and medieval writers knew all about unicorns and salamanders; not one of them thought it necessary to avoid dogmatic statements about them because he had never seen one of them.

1. The writers believes that-
A. most people could avoid making foolish mistakes if they were clever
B. through observation we could avoid making many mistakes
C. aristotle made many mistakes because he was not observant
D. all errors are caused by our own error in thinking

2. With reference to the passage, which one of the following is the correct statement ?
A. aristotle was able to avoid the mistake of thinking that women have fewer teeth than men
B. aristotle thought women have fewer teeth than men
C. aristotle proved that women have fewer teeth by counting his wife’s teeth
D. aristotle may have thought that women have fewer teeth because he never had a wife

3. The writer says that if he was writing a book on hedgehogs –

A. he would maintain that they eat black beetles because he had been told so
B. he would first observe their eating habits
C. he would think it unnecessary to verify that they ate black beetles
D. he would make the statement that they ate black beetles and later verify it

4. The writer is of the opinion that –
A. unicorns and salamanders were observed by ancient and medieval writers but were unknown to modern writers
B. ancient and medieval writers wrote authoritatively about unicorns and salamanders though they had never seen them
C. unicorns and salamanders do not exit
D. only those who had observed the habits of unicorns and salamanders wrote about them

5. A ‘dogmatic statement’ in the context means a statement which is –
A. convincing
B. proved
C. unquestionable
D. doubtful

Passage 2

Since i had nothing better to do, i decided to go to the market bo buy a few handkerchiefs, the old ones had done vanishing trick. On the way i met an old friend of mine and i took him to a nearby restaurant for tea and snacks. Afterwards i went to the shop and selected a dozen handkerchiefs. I pulled out my purse to make the payment, and discovered that it was empty; i then realized that it was not my purse, it was a different purse altogether. How that happened is still a source of wonder to me and i refuse to believe that it was the work of my good old friend, for it was his purse that i held in my hand.

6. The man could not buy the handkerchiefs because –
A. he did not like the handkerchiefs
B. his friend did not allow him to buy them
C. the shop did not have any handkerchiefs
D. he had no money in the purse

7. When he tried to take out the purse, he discovered that –
A. it was not there
B. it was not
C. it was a new purse
D. it was his friend’s purse

Passage 3

A profound terror, increased still by the darkness, the silence and his waking images, froze his heart within him. He almost felt his hair stand on end, when by straining his eyes to their utmost, he perceived through the shadows two faint yellow lights. At first he attributed these lights to the reflection of his own pupils, but soon the vivid brilliance of the night aided him gradually to distinguish the objects around him in the cave, and he beheld a huge animal lying but two steps from him.

8. The opening of the passage suggests that –
A. darkness, silence and waking images added to his already being in profound terror
B. a profound terror increased the waking images in his frozen heart
C. the person was frightened by darkness and silence
D. a profound terror was caused in him by the silence and darkness of the night

9. When he perceived through the shadows two faint lights –
A. he experienced a great strain
B. he felt his hair stand upright
C. his eyes felt strained to their utmost
D. his pupils dilated

10. The person in the story-
A. imagined that he saw an animal
B. could not recognize the animal
C. saw the animal by chance
D. expected to see the animal

Passage 4

We are tempted to assume that technological progress is real progress and that material success is the criterion of civilization. If the eastern people become fascinated by machines and techniques and use them, as western nations do, to build huge industrial organizations and large military establishments, they will get involved in power politics and drift into the danger of death. Scientific and technological civilization brings great opportunities and great rewards but also great risks and temptations. Science and technology are neither good nor bad. They are not to be tabooed but tamed and assigned their proper place become dangerous only if they become idols.

11. According to the author, people think that real progress lies in –
A. material success and technological growth
B. imitating western nations
C. having large industries and political power
D. taking risks and facing temptations

12. According to the author, science and technology should be –
A. tabooed and eliminated from life
B. used in a controlled and careful manner
C. encouraged and liberally used
D. made compulsory in education

13. From the passage one gathers that the eastern people must –
A. appreciate scientific achievements
B. build huge industrial organizations
C. avoid being controlled by machines and techniques of industrial production
D. be fascinated by machines

14. According to the author, science and technology are –
A. totally harmless
B. extremely dangerous
C. to be treated as idols
D. useful, if they are not worshipped blindly

Passage 5

It is not luck but labour that makes men. Luck, says an american writer, is ever waiting for something so turn up; with keen eyes and strong will always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy; labour turns out at six and with busy pen and ringing hammer lays the foundation of competence. Luck whines, labour watches. Luck relies on chance; labour on character. Luck slips downwards to self-indulgence; labour strides upwards and aspires to independence. The conviction. Therefore, is extending that diligence is the mother of good luck; in other words, that a man’s success in life will be proportionate to his efforts, to his industry, to his attention to small things.

15. Which one of the following statements sums up the meaning of the passage ?
A. luck waits without exertion but labour exerts without waiting
B. luck waits and complains without working while labour achieves success although it complains
C. luck often ends in defeat but labour produces luck
D. luck is self-indulgent but labour is selfless

16. Which one of the following statements is true about the passage ?
A. luck is necessary for success
B. success depends on hard work and attention to details
C. expectation of good luck always meets with disappointment
D. success is exactly proportionate to hard work only

17. “……….labour turns out at six and with busy pen and ringing hammer lays the foundation of competence,” this statement means –
A. hard work of all kinds makes people efficient and skilled
B. the labour lays the foundation of the building
C. the writer and he labourer are the true eyes of the society
D. there is no worker who works so hard as the labourer who begins his day at six in the morning

Passage 6

The avowed purpose of the exact sciences is to establish complete intellectual control over experience in terms of precise rules which can be formally set out and empirically tested. Could that ideal be fully achieved, all truth and all error could henceforth be ascribed to an exact theory of the universe, while we who accept this theory would be relieved of any occasion for exercising our personal judgement. We should only have to follow the rules faithfully. Classical mechanics approaches this ideal so closely that it is often thought to have achieved it. But this leaves out of account a element of personal judgement involved in applying the formulae to the facts of experience.

18. The purpose of the exact sciences to –
A. form opinions about our experience
B. formulate principles which with help us to exercise our personal judgement
C. assert our intellectual superiority
D. make formal and testable rules which can help verify experience

19. An exact theory of the universe is –
A. not desirable
B. improbable
C. possible
D. yet to be made

20. In exact science –
A. Personal judgements are set aside in favour of a mechanical theory
B. one does not find answers to all questions and problems
C. one reposes faith in actual experience
D. one interprets the universe according to one’s wish

21. Classical mechanics –
A. has formulated precise rules based on experience
B. has gained intellectual control over the world
C. has formulated an exact theory of the universe
D. just fall short of achieving intellectual control over experience

Synonyms

Directions – for the following 9 (nine items) :
Each item in this in section consists of a word in capital letters followed by four words or groups of words. Select the word or groups of words that is most similar in meaning to the word in capital letters.

22. AMBIGUOUS
A. contrasting
B. connivance
C. vague
D. wilful

23. ELUCIDATE
A clarify
B. calculate
C. summarise
D. update

24. MONOTONOUS
A. dreary
B. dreadful
C. single-minded
D. monologue

25. KINDLE
A. make fun of
B. excite
C. very kind
D. kind-hearted

26. PALATIAL
A. very clean
B. very special
C. sense of taste
D. magnificent

27. TACTFUL
A. diplomatic
B. indifferent
C. intelligent
D. deceitful

28. VORACIOUS
A. very bad
B. insatiable
C. stingy
D. malicious

29. STRICTURE
A. strictness
B. stinging
C. discipline
D. censure

30. OBEISANCE
A. homage
B. pilgrimage
C. subjugation
D. obligation

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