Directions (1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer these questions. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Coffee and tea came to be popular in India essentially due to colonial history. They are both imports into our country, and we now grow them in large plantations. Today, Darjeeling Tea and Coorg Coffee are world famous and coveted. Yet, an equally popular drink, cocoa, has not became so popular. All we do is, pretty much to eat it in the solid, processed form as chocolate bars, but not as a Cuppa. Colonial history has a role in the popularisation of cocoa too, but elsewhere. Cocoa had first discovered and coveted by the Mayan civilisation of Central America. The Mayans gave the plant (and its seeds) the name cocoa (or cacao), meaning ‘The Food of the Gods’. Cocoa seeds were used in family and community functions, and even used as currency. The Aztec Indians there made a drink with cocoa powder, chilli, musk and honey, calling it Chocolatl or beaten drink; hence the name chocolate.
When the Spanish colonised much of the Americas, they popularised and monopolised cocoa, making its production a well guarded secret as they brought it to Europe. Cocoa became the drink of the super rich. A lot of romance and class was associated with it. Love songs, courting the beloved, have been written and singing (and are still done) in Europe and America. But as the Industrial Revolution made machines popular, the grinding of cocoa seeds in large amounts and making them available to “all and sundry” made cocoa or hot chocolate lose their fancy.
Today, while 10 million tons of coffee and 5 million tons of tea are produced yearly across the world, cocoa has a production of about 3 million tons. Yet, this third-in-line beverage tops the other two in health benefits. Indeed, much to the consternation of many in South India, we need to point out that coffee is a drug, albeit a mild one, because of the caffeine it contains. Because of this, many people have taken to drinking “decaf” coffee (which is neither here nor there!). Tea, on the other hand, is now recognised to be a health drink, with its content of molecules of the so called flavonoid family acting as antioxidants and cell-protecting molecules (True, it too has caffeine and theobromine, but much less than coffee). But it is cocoa that tops the list as the healthiest drink. Yet it has not become as popular as tea and coffee — a quirk of history based on who our colonials were!
Q1. Where was cocoa first discovered?
(A) Britain
(B) Europe
(C) America
(a) Only A.
(b) Only B.
(c) A and B.
(d) B and C.
(e) Only C.
Q2. Who monopolised cocoa?
(A) Americans
(B) Spanish
(C) Aztec Indians
(a) Only A.
(b) Only B.
(c) A and B.
(d) A, B and C.
(e) Only C.
Q3. What is a beaten drink?
(a) the healthiest drink.
(b) a health drink, with its content of molecules of the so called flavonoid family acting as antioxidants and cell-protecting molecules.
(c) a drink of the super rich.
(d) a drink with cocoa powder, chilli, musk and honey.
(e) None of these.
Q4. Which of the following drinks is the healthiest according to the given passage?
(A) Chocolatl
(B) Flavonoid
(C) Cocoa
(a) Only A.
(b) Only B.
(c) A and B.
(d) B and C.
(e) Only C.
Q5. Why is coffee considered as a mild drug?
(a) Because it has an alcoholic effect.
(b) Because it contains theobromine.
(c) Because it contains flavonoid molecules.
(d) Because it contains caffeine.
(e) None of these.
Q6. Which of the following phrases would replace the phrase given in bold- “has not became so popular”?
(a) has not been becoming unpopular
(b) has not become that popular
(c) have not become popular
(d) has been to become popular
(e) No change required.
Q7. Which of the following phrases would replace the phrase given in bold- “many people have taken to drinking”?
(a) many people have taken over drinking
(b) many people have taken on drink
(c) some of people have taken into drinking
(d) many people have taken drinking
(e) No change required.
Q8. Which of the following phrases would replace the phrase given in bold- “have been written and singing”?
(a) have written and sung
(b) have been written and singing
(c) were writing and sung
(d) were written and sung
(e) No change required.
Q9. Which of the following phrases would replace the phrase given in bold- “tops the other two in health benefits”?
(a) top different two in the health benefits
(b) top another two in health benefits
(c) will top on the another two in health benefits
(d) have topped health benefits
(e) No change required.
Q10. Which of the following phrases would replace the phrase given in bold- “had first discovered and coveted”?
(a) has firstly discovered and coveted
(b) had firstly discovered and coveted
(c) was first discovered and coveted
(d) was discovered and been coveted
(e) No change required.
Directions: (11- 15) Read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The letter A, B, C or D against the part is the answer. If there is no error the answer is (E). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any.)
Q11. All modern economies have (A)/ progressed by creating jobs and expanding the(B) middle class whom consumption (C)/ then becomes the main growth driver.(D)/No error.(E)
Q12. It is now increasing (A)/ bearing a disproportionately large (B)/ burden and is unlikely to be able (C) /to sustain it for long.(D)/ No error.(E)
Q13. The proposal moot that (A)/ post hearings in district courts,(B)/ appeals in all civil and criminal cases will be (C)/ heard in the courts of appeal.(D)/ No error. (E)
Q14. While the poor took solace in the illusion that (A)/ the rich were penalised by demonetisation, the middle class (B)/ stoically bore the brunt in the faith that it would ultimately (C)/ contribute a cleaner financial system.(D)/ No error. (E)
Q15. Damore said he was exploring all possible legal remedies,(A)/ and that before being fired, he had submitted a charge against (B)/ the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accusing Google (C)/ upper management of trying to shame him into silence.(D)/ No error. (E)
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