CDS English Exam Paper – 26 October 2014

Combined Defense Services (CDS) English solved exam paper conducted by UPSC on  26 October 2014 available here. UPSC organizes CDS Exam twice in a year. This is a second CDS exam paper of year 2014. 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 :— 26 October 2014

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

CDS (English) solved exam paper (2^nd) 2014

ANTONYMS

Directions– each item in the section consists of a words as (A), (B), (C) and (D). select the word which is nearly opposite to the meaning of the original word and mark the correct response as (A), (B), (C) or (D) as the case may be, in your answer sheet.

1. FRESH
A. laden
B. soft
C. sour
D. stale

2. DENY
A. accept
B. accuse
C. curse
D. except

3. CHEERFUL
A. sad
B. happy
C. expensive
D. careless

4. AFFLUENCE
A. continuance
B. poverty
C. diffidence
D. insurance

5. TIMID
A. bold
B. bashful
C. nervous
D. soft

6. CREATE
A. destroy
B. envy
C. satisfy
D. begin

7. FORBID
A. defy
B. dislike
C. permit
D. understand

8. MASTER
A. companion
B. follower
C. slave
D. boss

COMPREHENSION

Directions– In this section, there are four short passages. After each passage, you will find a few questions each based on what is stated or implied in the passage. First read a passage and then answer the questions following that passage.

PASSAGE-I

During the summer I was introduced to the game of cricket, and i felt my inherent foreignness for the first time. The ball is far too hard for my taste. Even during my last games at the school, angry spectators would shout. “Butter fingers !” but i smiled. Everyone knew in their hearts that I was going to drop the ball anyway, and nobody expected me to be able to play the game.

9. The author first played cricket
A. as a child in his own country
B. when he was a school boy
C. when he was a tourist
D. when he returned home after his studies

10. “Felt my inherent foreignness” means-
A. felt very strange
B. felt very interested and excited
C. he often dropped the ball
D. he was very good at the game

11. ‘Spectator’ means-
A. glasses
B. onlooker
C. watchman
D. player

PASSAGE -II

How can you improve your reading speed ? by taking off the brakes. You wouldn’t think of driving a car with the brake on. Yet as a reader you probably have several brakes slowing you down.
One very common brake is regressing-looking back every now and then at something already read. It is like stepping backwards every few metres as you walk-hardly the way to move ahead quickly. Regression may arise from a lack of confidence, vocabulary deficiency, or actually missing a word or phrase. It makes a long sentence seem even more complex as the eyes frequently regress. Eye movement photographs of 12,000 readers in america showed that university students regress an average of 15 times in reading only 100 words. The average student of class four was found to look back 20 times. In short, regression consumes one-sixth of your precious reading time. Release this brake and enjoy a spurt in reading speed.

12. ‘Spectator’ means-
A. glasses
B. onlooker
C. watchman
D. player

13. In the context of the passage, what does ‘regression’ mean ?
A. lack of desire to improve the reading speed
B. looking back at what is already read
C. lack of proper understanding of what one reads
D. comparing the reading speed of school and university students

14. In order to be a good reader you should-
A. regress whenever necessary
B. be like a careful driver
C. not look back frequently while reading
D. test your vocabulary frequently

15. According to the author reading with regression is like-
A. driving with poor quality brakes
B. stepping backwards while walking
C. using several brakes in order to slow down
D. making sudden spurts in reading speed

PASSAGE-III

Even in the most primitive societies the great majority of people satisfy a large part of their material needs by exchanging goods and services. Very few people indeed can make for themselves everything they need-all their food, their clothes, their housing, their tools. Ever since men started living in communities, they have been satisfying their needs by means of specialization and exchange; increasingly each individual has concentrated on what he can do best, and has produced more of the special goods or services in which he has concentrated, than he can consume himself. The surplus he has exchanged with other members of the community, acquiring, in exchange the things he needs that others have produced.

16. Very few people can satisfy their needs today by-
A. providing things for themselves
B. exchanging goods and services
C. concentrating on what they can do best
D. individual specialization

17. Exchange of goods becomes possible only when-
A. there is no specialization
B. goods are produced in surplus
C. primitive societies become modem
D. individuals make things for themselves

18. Specialization and exchange began when men started-
A. big industries
B. concentrating on their work
C. producing things for individual use
D. living in communities

19. Exchange of goods and services becomes necessary because-
A. man is a social being
B. reciprocity is the law of life
C. trade and commerce are means of progress
D. we cannot produce everything we need ourselves

PASSAGE -IV

Soil scientists have shown that the soil teems with millions of living things, many of them useful, others harmful. The living things which are useful include earthworms and various kinds of bacteria. Earthworms loosen the soil and so enable air and water to enter it. Bacteria, which are microscopic living things break down dead plants and animals and make humus, or take nitrogen from the air and change it into substances that plants use. The living things that do harm in lude other bacteria and fungi which cause diseases. Other harmful things are pests such as wire worms which feed on the roots of grass and other plants. While the farmer can usually keep weeds in check by careful cultivation, this alone may not protect his crops from insects, pests and diseases. Now-a-days, however, he is much better able to control these enemies. He may plant specially resistant types of seeds or he may keep the pests and diseases in check with chemicals. With better seeds farmers have been able to increase their crop yields. They can grow crops that ripen more quickly and have a stronger resistance to disease, frost or drought.

20. Scientists who study soil believe that-
A. all insects and bacteria are harmful
B. only microscopic living things are useful
C. only earthworms are useful
D. not all worms and bacteria are harmful

21. The living things that do harm-
A. break down plants and animals
B. use up the nitrogen from the air
C. cause diseases in the plants
D. loosen up the soil from air and water

22. Farmers are always careful-
A. to control insects and fungi that attack plants
B. to encourage pests in the soil
C. to eliminate all bacteria from the soil
D. to foster all kinds of worms in the earth

23. Now-a-days it is possible to reduce the loss caused by pests and harmful bacteria –
A. with the use of chemical fertilizers
B. through the development of resistant seeds
C. by using weeds as killers
D. by controlling earthworms

24. The farmers today can also select seeds-
A. of slow ripening variety
B. resistant to frost and drought
C. for economy in costs
D. of lower resistance to disease

ORDERING OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE

Directions- In each of the items there is a sentence of which some parts have been jumbled up. You are required to rearrange these parts which are labelled P, Q, R and S, to produce the correct sentence. Choose the correct sequence and mark in your answer sheet accordingly.
25. The soldiers
P. decided to hold out
Q. in the fort
R. was killed
S. till the last man among them.
A. QPSR
B. PQSR
C. QRSP
D. SRPQ

26. Her friend
P. when she was
Q. very ill last year
R. on sheila
S. could not attend.
A. PQRS
B. SRPQ
C. RSPQ
D. RPQS

27. The poems and stories
P. have been taken
Q. for this book
R. from a variety of sources
S. that have been selected.
A. SQPR
B. RPQS
C. QPSR
D. PQRS

28. The belief
P. that the moon has great influence
Q. still exists with great force
R. over the weather
S. among many people.
A. PRQS
B. QPRS
C. PQSR
D. QSPR

29. There is an old saying in our country
P. that soldiers
Q. not only cover themselves with glory on the earth
R. who die for their mother-land
S. but attain heaven
A. PSQR
B. SPRQ
C. QPSR

D. PRQS

30. Boys are
P on their parents
Q. invariably dependent
R. until they can earn
S. money to support themselves.
A. RSQP
B. QRSP
C. RPQS
D. QPRS

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