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Sample Reading Comprehension Questions

There are

36 Passages in the Reading Comprehension Part of the Verbal Question Bank

for GMAT

Winners

. Here is are Passages 2 & 3 with answers.

PASSAGE-2

I want to stress this personal helplessness we are all stricken with in the face of a system that has

passed

beyond

our knowledge and control, to bring it nearer home, I propose that we switch off

from the big things like

empires

and their wars to more familiar little things. Take pins for example! I

do not know why it is that I so seldom use

a pin

when my wife cannot get on without boxes of

them at hand; but it is so; and I will therefore take pins as

being

for some reason especially

important to women.

There was a time when pin makers would buy the material; shape it; make the head and the point;

ornament

it; and

take it to the market, and sell it. The making required skill in several operations.

They not only knew how the

thing

was done from beginning to end, but could do it all by

themselves. But they could not afford to sell you a

paper of

pins for a farthing. Pins cost so much

that a woman’s dress allowance was called pin money.

By the end of the 18th century Adam Smith boasted that it took 18 men to make a pin, each man

doing a little

bit of

the job and passing the pin on the next, and none of the them being able to

make a whole pin or to buy the

materials or to sell it when it was made. The most you could say for

them was that at least they had some idea

how it was made, though they could not make it. Now

as this meant that they were clearly less capable and

knowledgeable men than the old pin-makers,

you may ask why Adam Smith boasted of it as a triumph of

civilization

when its effect had so clearly

a degrading effect. The reason was that by setting each man to do just one little

bit of

the work and nothing but that, over and over again, he became very quick at it. The men, it is said,

could turn

out

nearly 5000 pins a day each; and thus pins became plentiful and cheap. The country

was supposed to be

richer

because it had more pins, though it had turned capable men into mere

machines doing their work without

intelligence and being fed by the spare food of the capitalist just

as an engine is fed with coal and oil. That

was why

the poet Goldsmith, who was a farsighted

economist as well as a poet, complained that ‘wealth accumulates,

and

men decay’.

Now-a-days Adam Smith’s 18 men are as extinct as the diplodocus. The 18 flesh-and-blood men

have been

replaced by machines of steel which spout out pins by the hundred million. Even sticking

them into pink

papers is

done by machinery. The result is that with the exception of a few people

who design the machines, nobody

knows

how to make a pin or how a pin is made: that is to say, the

modern worker in pin manufacture need not be one-

tenth so intelligent, skilful and accomplished as

the old pin maker; and the only compensation we have for this

deterioration is that pins are so

cheap that a single pin has no expressible value at all. Even with a big profit

stuck

on the cost-price

you can buy dozens for a farthing; and pins are so recklessly thrown away and wasted that

verses

have to be written to persuade children ( though without success) that it is a sin to steal, if even it’s

a pin.

Many serious thinkers, like John Ruskin and William Morris, have been greatly troubled by this, just

Goldsmith

was, and have asked whether we really believe that it is an advance in wealth to lose

our skill and degrade our

workers for the sake of being able to waste pins by the ton. We shall see

later on, when we come to consider

the

Distribution Leisure, that the cure for this is not to go back

to the old free for higher work than pin-making or

the

like. But in the meantime the fact remains that

the workers are now not able to make anything themselves

even in

little bits. They are ignorant and

helpless, and cannot lift their finger to begin their day’s work until it has all

been

arranged for them

by their employers who themselves do not understand the machines they buy, and simply

pay

other

people to set them going by carrying out the machine maker’s directions.

The same is true for clothes. Earlier the whole work of making clothes, from the shearing of the

sheep to the

turning

out of the finished and washed garment ready to put on, had to be done in the

country by the men and

women of

the household, especially the women; so that to this day an

unmarried woman is called a spinster. Now-a-days

nothing is left of all these but the sheep

shearing; and even that, like the milking of cows, is being done by

machinery as the sewing is. Give

a woman a sheep today and ask her to produce a woolen dress for you; and

not

only will she be

quite unable to do it, but you are likely to find that she is not even aware of any connection

between

sheep and clothes. When she gets her clothes, which she does by buying them at the

shop, she knows that

there is

a difference between wool and cotton and silk, between flannel and

merino, perhaps even between stockinet

and

other wefts; but as to how they are made, or what

they are made of, or how the came to be in the shop ready

for

her to buy, she knows hardly

anything. And the shop assistant from whom she buys is no wiser. The people

engaged in the

making of them know even less; for many of them are too poor to have much choice of

materials

when they buy their own clothes.

Thus, the capitalist system has produced an almost universal ignorance of how things are made

and done

whilst at

the same time it has caused them to be made and done on a gigantic scale. We

have to buy books and

encyclopedias to find out what it is we are doing all day; and as the books

are written by people who are not

doing

it, and who get their information from other books, what

they tell us is twenty to fifty years out-of-date

knowledge

and almost impractical today. Of course

most of us are too tired of our work when we come home to want to

read

about it; what we need is

cinema to take our minds off it and feel our imagination.

It is a funny place, this word of capitalism, with its astonishing spread of education and

enlightenment. There

stand

the thousands of property owners and the millions of wage workers,

none of them able to make anything,

none of

them knowing what to do until somebody tells them,

none of them having the least notion of how it is made

that they

find people paying them money,

and things in the shops to buy with it. And when they travel they are

surprised to

find that savages

and Eskimo villagers who have to make everything for themselves are more intelligent and

resourceful! The wonder would be if they were anything else. We should die of idiocy through

disuse of our

mental

faculties if we did not fill our heads with romantic nonsense out of illustrated

newspapers and novels and play

and

films. Such stuff keeps us alive, but it falsifies everything for

us so absurdly that it leaves us more or less

dangerous lunatics in the real world.

Excuse my going on like this; but as I am a writer of books and play myself, I know the folly and peril

of it better

then

you do. And when I see that this moment of our utmost ignorance and

helplessness, delusion and folly, has

been

stumbled on by the blind forces of capitalism as the

moment for giving votes to everybody, so that the few wise

women are hopelessly overruled by the

thousands whose political minds, as far as they can be said to have

any

political minds at all, have

been formed in the cinema, I realize that I had better stop writing plays for a while to

discuss

political and social realities in this book with those who are intelligent enough to listen to me.

A suitable title to the passage would be:

(a) you can’t hear a pin-drop now-a-days.

(b) capitalism and labor disintegration: Pinning the Blame.

(d) reaching the Pinnacle of Capitalistic Success.

(e) the making of a pin

Why do you think that the author gives the example of Adam Smith?

(a) Because he thinks that Adam Smith was a boaster without any facts to back his utterance.

(b) Because he wants to give us an example of something undesirable that Adam Smith was proud

of.

Smith

boasted about.

(d) Because he feels that Adam Smith was right when he said that it took 18 men to make a

pin.

(e) Because Adam Smith was a great economist.

3. Which of the following is true as far as pins are concerned?

(a) The cost of pins is more now-a-days to produce.

(b) Earlier, workmen made pin with a lot of love and care.

(d) The pins produced no-a-days are cheaper but useless.

(e) It took much longer to make a pin earlier.

The reason that children have to be taught that stealing a pin is wrong is that

(a) they have an amazing proclivity to steal them right from childhood.

(b) stealing a pin will lead to the cops being called.

(d) stealing an insignificant thing like a pin smacks of kleptomania.

(e) pins are so common and cheap that one would not even be considered stealing by them.

5. It may be inferred from the passage that the author:

(a) is a supporter of the craftsmanship over bulk mechanized production.

(b) is a supporter of assembly line production.

(d) is a supporter of men learning how to milk a cow.

(e) None of the above.

Which of the following is not against the modern capitalistic system of mass production?

(a) John Ruskin. (b) Goldsmith.

Goldsmith’s dictum, “wealth accumulates, and men decay, “in the context of the passage,

probably

means

(a) the more wealthy people get, they become more and more corrupt.

(b) the more rich people get, the more they forget the nuances of individual ability.

(d) the more a company gets wealthy, the less they take care of people.

(e) money brings in decay and disease.

8. When the author says that a woman now is likely to not know about any connection between

sheep

and clothes, he is probably being:

(a) vindictive. (b) chauvinistic. (c) satirical. (d) demeaning

(e) extremely critical

Which of the following can be a suitable first line to introduce the hypothetical next paragraph at

the

end of passage?

(a) The distribution of leisure is not a term that can be explained in a few words.

(b) If people wear clothes they hardly seem to think about the method of production.

(d) Machines are the demigods of our age.

(e) None of the above.

PASSAGE-3

Now let us turn back to inquire whether sending our capital abroad, and consenting to be taxed to

pay

emigration

fares to get rid of the women and men who are left without employment in

consequence, is all that capitalism

can do

when our employers, who act for our capitalists in

industrial affairs, and are more or less capitalists

themselves in

the earlier stages of capitalistic

development, find that they can sell no more of their goods at a profit, or

indeed at

all, in their own

country. Clearly they cannot send abroad the capital they have already invested, because it

has all

been eaten up by the workers leaving in its place factories and railways and mines and the like;

and these

cannot

be packed into a ship’s hold and sent to Africa. It is only the freshly saved capital

that can be sent out of the

country. This, as we have seen, does go abroad in heaps of finished

products. But the British land held by

him on

long lease, must, when once he has sold all the goods

at home that his British customers can afford to buy,

either

shut up his works until the customers

have worn out their stock of what they have bought, which would

bankrupt him

(for the landlord will

not wait), or else sell his superfluous goods somewhere else; that is, he must send them

abroad.

Now it is not easy to send them to civilized countries, because they practice protection, which means

that

they impose heavy taxes on foreign goods. Uncivilized countries, without protection, and

inhabited by natives

whom gaudy calicoes and cheap showy brassware are dazzling and

delightful novelties, are the best places to

make for at first.

But a trader requires a settled government to put down the habit of plundering strangers. This is

not a habit of

simple tribes, who are often friendly and honest. It is what civilized men do where

there is no law to restrain

them.

Until quite recent times it was extremely dangerous to he wrecked on our coasts, as wrecking, which

meant

plundering wrecked ships and refraining from any officious efforts to save the lives of their

crews was a well-

established business in many places on our shores. The Chinese still remember

some astonishing outbursts of

looting perpetrated by English ladies of high position, at moments

when laws were suspended and priceless

works

of art were to be had for the grabbing. When

trading with aborigines begins with the visit of a single ship, the

cannons and cutlasses carried may

be quite sufficient to overawe the natives if they are troublesome. The real

difficulty begins when so

many ships come that a little trading station of white men grows up and attracts the

white

never-do-

wells and violent roughs who are always being squeezed out of civilization by the pressure of law

and

order. It is these riff–raff who turn the place into a sort of hell in which sooner or later

missionaries are

murdered

and traders plundered. Their home governments are appealed to put a

stop to this. A gunboat is sent out and

inquiry made. The report after the inquiry is that their is

nothing to be done but set up a civilized government,

with a

post office, police, troops and the navy

in the offing. In short, the place is added to some civilized empire. And

the

civilized taxpayer pays

the bill without getting a farthing of the profits. Of course the business does not stop

there.

The riff-raff who have created the emergency move out just beyond the boundary of the annexed

territory,

and are

as great a nuisance as ever to the traders when they have exhausted the

purchasing power of the included

natives

and push on after fresh customers. Again they call on

their home government to civilize a further area; and so

bit

by bit the civilized empire grows at the

expense of the home taxpayers, without any intention or approval on

their

part, until at last

although all their real patriotism is centered on their own people and confined to their own

country,

their own rulers, and their own religious faith; they find that the centre of their beloved realm has

shifted to the

other hemisphere. That is how we in the British Islands have found our centre moved

from London to the Suez

Canal, and are now in the position that out of every hundred of our fellow

– subjects, in whose defense we are

expected to shed the last drop of our blood, only 11 are whites

or even Christians, In our bewilderment some

of us

declare that the Empire is a burden and a

blunder, whilst others glory in it as triumph. You and I need not

argue

with them just now, our point

for the moment being that, whether blunder or glory the British Empire was quite

unintentional.

What should have been undertaken only as a most carefully considered political effort has been

series of commercial adventures thrust on us by capitalists forced by their own system to cater to

foreign

customers

before their own country’s need were one-tenth satisfied.

10. It may be inferred that the passage was written

(a) when Britain was still a colonial power.

(b) when the author was in a bad mood.

(d) when the author’s country was overrun by the British.

(e) after Britain no longer remained a colonial power.

11.

According to the author, the habit of plundering the strangers

(a) is usually found in tribes of civilized nations.

(b) is usually found in the barbaric tribes of the uncivilized nations.

(d) is a usual habit with all white-skinned people.

(e) is usually not found in simple tribes but civilized people.

12.

Which of the following does not come under the aegis of capital already invested?

(a) Construction of factories. (b) Development of a mine.

(e) None of the above

13.

Which of the following may be called the main complaint of the author?

(a) The race of people he belongs to is looters and plunderers.

(b) The capitalists are taking over the entire world.

(d) The English taxpayer has to pay for the upkeep of territories he did not want.

(e) Build post offices in colonies

14. Why do capitalistic traders prefer the uncivilized countries to the civilized ones?

(a) Because they find it easier to rule them.

(b) Because civilized countries would make them pay protection duties.

(d) Because uncivilized countries like the cheap and gaudy goods of bad quality all capitalists

produce.

(e) Because uncivilized countries welcome them.

15. The word ‘officious’, in the context of the passage, means

(a) officialdom (b) official (c) rude (d) oafish

(e) self-important

16.

According to the author, the main reason why capitalist go abroad to sell their goods is

(a) that they want to civilize the underdeveloped countries of the world by giving them their goods.

(b) that they have to have new places to sell their surplus goods some where in new markets.

(d) none of the above.

(e) they want huge profits.

Answers PASSAGE -2

1. (b) The passage explains that how capitalism has led to disintegration of

Labor. Other options

are not relevant.

(b) The passage describes that author feels that Adam Smith boasted about

something that was

undesirable. Options A and C are not supported by the passage. Option D is not

supported by the

tone of the passage.

3. (e) The passage describes that there was a time when pin makers would buy the material ;

shape it;

make the head and the point ; ornament it ; and take it to the market ; sell it .They knew

each and every

process from beginning to end but they couldn’t afford to sell anybody a piper of

pins for the farthing .

Option A and C are not true and Option C only partially true.

4. (e) It can be understood that pins are so cheap that it a child steals it, it would not be considered

stealing .Option A and D are not true and Option C is not supported by passage.

5. (a) The author is clearly against machines taking the place of men.

Option B, C and E not

supported by the passage.

6. (c) The passage explains that Adam smith was the supporter of mass

production. Options A, B

and D are not supported by the passage.

7. (b) The passage explains that as people become richer they lose out on

individual abilities .This

option fully explains the statement. Other options

are not relevant or only partially true.

8. (c) He is attacking the fact by making fun of it. Other options are not true .

9. (e) None of the given statements continue with what the author has said in

the last paragraph.

Answers PASSAGE -3

10. (a) The passage refers to the British Government as the Empire and talks about the way it

takes over

the foreign territories.

11. (e) The passage stipulates that habit of plundering strangers is not the habit of simple tribes

who are

friendly and honest instead, it is the habit of civilized men where there is no law to restrain

their activities.

Options B, C and D are not supported by the passage.

12. (c) The passage explains that capital invested can’t be sent abroad as it has been eaten up by

the

workers. Moreover, it is the freshly saved capital that can be sent out of the country and it goes

abroad in the

heaps of finished products. Option A, B are examples of capital already invested and

thus not correct.

13. (d) It can be understood from the passage that civilized empire grows at the expenses of home

tax

payers, without any intention or approval on their part until real patriotism is centered on their

own people and

confined on their own country , rulers and their religious faith.

Options A, B, C and E are not supported by the passage.

14. (b) End of first paragraph of the passage says that civilized countries practice protection which

means

they impose heavy taxes on foreign goods. This makes the goods costlier. Options A, C, D

and E are only

partially true.

15.

(e) The passage states officious means self important according to the passage

16. (c) The passage explains that though the capital seem to come with intention of trade , but

soon the

gun boats follows to make inquiry and the result after inquiry is that the government is set

up in the new land.

Option A is not supported by the passage. Option B and E deal with making profits and are

therefore only

partially true.

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