IBPS RRB PO/Clerk Mains English Quiz: 2nd of October 2019

IBPS RRB PO/Clerk Mains English Quiz

Chinese smartphone users have the world at their fingertips. With a few taps, they can order food, message their friends, send money, read the news, play games, hail a taxi, pay off utility bills, and more through a single app like WeChat. But there’s a catch. All this convenience comes with a heavy price: their freedom and privacy. Thanks to China’s Internet giants – Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba – the authoritarian regime now has the means to monitor a user’s every action, purchase, thought, and location in real-time. The Chinese government has long sought the means to more closely keep tabs on its citizens, but with smartphones, people are voluntarily logging their every move for the government. While tech titans like Google, Amazon, and Facebook have become essential to the daily lives of many Americans, their reach pales in comparison to their Chinese counterparts. This year, 79.1 percent of all smartphone users in China are expected to use WeChat, a messaging app, with nearly 500 million people using it at least once a month. To put that in perspective, that’s more than the entire population of the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined.
But what makes WeChat’s use so significant is how deeply integrated it is with a person’s daily life. Far more than just a messaging app, WeChat is a hub through which Chinese smartphone users access the Internet and other services. In addition to its basic communication functions, WeChat enables users to order wine, check-in for a flight, make a doctor’s appointment, get banking statements, search for books at their local library, donate to charity, pay for things offline, and more. An American venture capitalist described WeChat as being “at every point of your daily contact with the world, from morning until night.” Meanwhile, Alibaba China’s equivalent of Amazon, delivers an average of 30 million packages a day, more than the U.S. Postal Service on its busiest day in history. In 2014, 86 percent of all shopping done on smartphones in China was through Alibaba. A byproduct from all this heavy use is a torrent of rich data that reveal highly-detailed specifics about each individual user. But unlike the United States, which has laws – imperfect as they may be – about when and how the government can access this type of data, no such prohibitions exist in China. Tech companies routinely hand their data to the government which has made no secret about its efforts to integrate that data into its surveillance apparatus.

With the help of a mobile phone company, police in the city of Guiyang are tracking the movements of migrant workers in real-time. And as part of its anti-corruption crackdown, officials are monitoring social media accounts to trace spending on wine and luxury goods. China’s censors already meticulously monitor social media for taboo topics like criticizing the government or promoting democracy, and now they are going even further. The Chinese Ministry of Education has suggested cataloging the individual political sentiments of university students. By pulling data from library records, surveys, and social media posts they hope to create a political ideology database. But perhaps the most worrying development is the government’s plan to create a “social credit” rating system. An individual’s score will be determined by social, financial, and political behaviors that are drawn from a variety of databases. Infractions would include falling behind on bills, jaywalking, and violating family-planning rules. Those with low scores will have a harder time traveling, securing loans and insurance, and would be barred from privileges likes staying in a luxury hotel. Meanwhile, individuals like lawyers and journalists will be more closely monitored. According to government planning documents, the system will “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”
The rating system is currently being tested in 40 towns and cities across China with plans to expand it nationwide by 2020. The elaborate social rating system envisioned by the Chinese government can be traced to the dang’an. Created under Chairman Mao, the dang’an, or personal file, contains an individual’s grades, employment record, and reports on how they interact with others, their religious affiliations, psychological problems, and potential political liabilities. But the proposed rating system would take the dang’ an to another level. The government can now add every purchase an individual makes online as well as their search history to their digital file. Purchasing certain products could potentially affect a person’s score. In a controversial move, Alibaba’s rating system Sesame Credit, which functions like eBay seller ratings, takes into account what a user buys online. “Someone who plays video games for 10 hours a day, for example, would be considered an idle person, and someone who frequently buys diapers would be considered as probably a parent, who on balance is more likely to have a sense of responsibility,” said Li Yingyun, Sesame’s technology director.

Q1. According to the passage, why does the convenience of using the Chinese smartphones comes with a heavy price?
(I) they can do a large number of things like-messaging, reading news, paying bills, etc.
(II) they don’t have freedom to choose their course of life
(III) they are forced to lead a life full of restrictions and misery
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (III)
(c) Both (II) and (III)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) None is true

S1. Ans. (e)
Sol. Refer to paragraph1 of the passage, it is clearly mentioned that people in China have technology at their fingertips, they can do so many things like-message their friends, send money, read the news, play games, hail a taxi, pay off utility bills, and more through a single app like WeChat. But their each action is tracked down by the government so they don’t have the luxury of living life without any interference.

Q2. Why does the WeChat is considered as the ‘lifeline’ of people in China?
(a) because it can be used to order wine, book flight tickets, get banking statements, search books in library, donate to charity, pay things offline etc
(b) because people are using WeChat for different activities from morning till night
(c) as about 500 million people uses WeChat, a message app at least once a month.
(d) All of these
(e) Both (b) and (c)

S2. Ans. (d)
Sol.Read the passage carefully, it can be easily inferred that We Chat serves wide number of purposes of people in China on daily basis, in fact, people are accustomed to use We Chat from morning till evening, so it has captured the mind of the common man in China. Hence it can be called a lifeline.

Q3. Why the government is planning to roll -out the concept of “social credit” rating system in China?
(a) to calculate individual score for each individual
(b) as the government will determine the social credit score on the basis of social, financial, and political behaviors
(c) as the government will calculate social credit score from a variety of databases
(d) as it will help track the people on the basis of social credit which will further decide various actions like travel, loan, insurance, etc.
(e) Both (a) and (d)

S3. Ans. (d)
Sol. From the paragraph3 of the passage we can easily conclude that the government in China has decided to create a “social credit” rating system which will keep track of an individual’s social, financial, and political behaviors. So the government authority will have a database comprising details of each individual accordingly.

Q4. The dang’ an will indirectly slit the throat of the common people of China. What does it signify?
(a) the people won’t have any privacy of their personal data
(b)they can’t even use internet without the fear of being tracked down by some authority
(c) they can’t make any online purchase
(d) both(a) and (b)

S4. Ans. (d)
Sol. Refer to paragraph4 of the passage, it is evident that dang’ an, or personal file, contains an individual’s grades, employment record, and reports on how they interact with others, their religious affiliations, psychological problems, and potential political liabilities. Further, the government is planning to keep track over online shopping and search history of the common people of China which will definitely kill their privacy.

Q5. Give a suitable title for the passage.
(a) China- The Superpower
(b) The Dark Side of China’s Tech Boom
(c) The Gloomy world of We-Chat
(d) China’s Technical Advancement
(e) None of these

S5. Ans. (b)
Sol. In context of the passage, as compared to other options, option(b) seems to be the most appropriate title for the given passage.

Directions (6-10): In the following questions few sentences are provided. Identify and mark the sentence which may fail to become the part of the paragraph coherently. In questions where “none of these” is an option and all the sentences are meaningful and logical with the context of the paragraph mark (e) i.e., “none of these” as your answer choice.

Q6.
(a) The Armed Forces of some countries have become smaller in number, cost-effective, more lethal and civilianized.
(b) The right to form associations or unions is a fundamental right under Part III of our Constitution.
However, it is not available to every Indian.
(c) Article 33 of the Constitution gives Parliament the power to modify the fundamental rights of the members of the Armed Forces, intelligence services, and those employed in the telecommunication systems of these organizations‘ for ensuring the proper discharge of their duties’ and ‘for the maintenance of discipline among them’.
(d) The legislation governing the Armed Forces and central police forces restrict the members’ fundamental right to form a trade union, to attend or address any political demonstration and to communicate with the press.
(e) None of these

S6. Ans. (a)
Sol. These sentences can be arranged in the sequence of bcd to form a coherent paragraph describing about the rights of citizens regarding the formations of unions and associations. However, article 33 modifies this right for armed forces and intelligence services. Sentence (a) fails to become the part of the coherent paragraph as it is describing about features of armed forces in some countries. Since sentence (a) doesn’t find a logical place in the coherent paragraph, option (a) becomes the most viable answer choice.

Q7.
(a) PM Narendra Modi did well to declare that he was not scared to be seen in the company of corporate chieftains.
(b) The selection process of particular industrialists for vital projects such as building warplanes and aid-funded power plants in other countries should be transparent.
(c) This false discourse must be abandoned and those who create wealth, produce goods, generate jobs, pay taxes and, in these days of mandated corporate social responsibility, even shoulder many of the governance tasks that rightfully are the responsibility of the state, accorded the respect they are due.
(d) This comes not a day too soon. With bad loans and flighty industrialists dominating the news, a narrative has once again been building up in which people who run companies are cast as villains.
(e) none of these

S7. Ans(b)
Sol. These sentences can be logically tied in the sequence of adc to form a coherent paragraph. The rearranged coherent paragraph is describing about the tarnished profile of the industrialists which needs to be rectified in the eyes of the society. PM Narendra Modi is helping to achieve this cause. Except for sentence (b) which is describing about the way to select the industrialists, all the other sentences find relevance with each other. Hence, option (b) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q8.
(a) Monetary policy, however, is about more than just the current situation: the signaling function of policy is forward-looking and is articulated to anchor inflationary expectations at least a year ahead.
(b) Our own view is that the uncertainty in the current economic environment should tip the scale for a hold on the repo rate and a “wait and watch” neutral stance.
(c) The RBI implements the monetary policy through open market operations, bank rate policy, reserve system, credit control policy, moral persuasion and through many other instruments.
(d) The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will have persuasive arguments either for continuing with a second consecutive hike in repo rate or remaining on hold.
(e) none of these

S8. Ans. (c)
Sol. A coherent paragraph can be formed by arranging the sentences in the logical sequence as dba. The paragraph is describing about the fixation of repo rates by monetary policy committee. It also mentions about the risks involved in stabilization or hiking of the repo rates. However, sentence (c) fails to find a logical place to adhere the theme of the paragraph as it is merely describing about the instruments of monetary policy. Hence, option (c) is the most viable answer choice.

Q9.
(a) The All India Survey of Higher Education 2016-17 showed continued higher enrolment of women and Muslims in higher education in the country.
(b) Women’s enrolment has shown a 45% increase, from 12 million in 2010-11 to 17.4 million in 2017-18.
(c) The number of Muslims who are enrolled in higher education institutes has also increased by 37% over the past five years, compared to the increase of 18% across all categories of students.
(d) In 2001, as per the Sachar report, while Muslims constituted just 6.3% of all graduates across the country—lower than the 8.2% share for SCs/STs—amongst the 20-year-plus population of Muslims, the community’s graduates accounted for just 3.6%.
(e) None of these

S9. Ans. (e)
Sol. All the sentences in the sequence of abcd forms a coherent paragraph providing a comparative data of higher education among women, Muslims and SCs/STs. Since, all the statements find relevance with each other, option (e) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q10.
(a) Therefore, prior to finalizing an e-commerce policy government has to make sure that all laws dealing with data, privacy, and digital transactions are consistent.
(b) Big business is increasingly supposed to be a policy innovator, in addition to its more traditional role of innovator in technology and in business practices.
(c) An important part of the draft overlaps the recommendations of the BN Srikrishna panel on data protection.
(d) India’s national draft e-commerce policy which was unveiled on Monday gives the first clear sense of the framework government has in mind for the rapidly evolving sector.
(e) None of these

S10. Ans. (b)
Sol. The sentences can be logically arranged in the sequence of dca. The rearranged coherent paragraph thus provides information regarding the draft formulated about the e-commerce policy. However, sentence (b) is describing about the changes required by big business to flourish which is irrelevant with the context of the paragraph. Hence, option (b) is the most viable answer choice.

Directions (11-15): In the questions given below few sentences are given which are grammatically correct and meaningful. Connect them by the word given above the statements in the best possible way without changing the intended meaning. Choose your answer accordingly from the options to form a correct, coherent sentence.

Q11. ALTHOUGH
(A) The fastest-growing Top 10 US import commodity from the European Union through May was unsweetened waters.
(B) The Trump administration unveiled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March.
(C) US trans-Atlantic containerized trade growth with the European Union slowed in the first five months of the year.
(D) Tariffs did not apply to the European Union until the start of June.
(a) Only (B) – (D)
(b) Only (A) – (C)
(c) Both (A) – (B) and (B) – (C)
(d) Both (C) – (D) and (A) – (C)
(e) None of these

S11. Ans. (a)
Sol. Statements (B) and (D) form the precise combination to mold a coherent sentence using the subordinating conjunction “Although”. Although is used to express “in spite of the fact that; even though.” Therefore, the coherent sentence thus formed is “Although the Trump administration unveiled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March, they did not apply to the European Union until the start of June.” All the other combinations fail to form a grammatically correct and contextually meaningful sentence. Hence, option (a) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q12. NOT ONLY…BUT ALSO
(A) Cars would be freed from their reliance on planet-killing fossil fuels.
(B) Researchers are working on making solar panels lighter, nicer looking, and more efficient.
(C) The next generation of solar materials will be applied like paint, turning a whole vehicle (or just about anything else) into a solar panel.
(D) Cars will be spared from the need for a charging infrastructure whose slow growth remains a major pain point.
(a) Only (B) – (C)
(b) Only (A) – (B)
(c) Only (A) – (D)
(d) Both (A) – (D) and (B) – (C)
(e) None of these

S12. Ans. (c)
Sol. Statements (A) and (D) form the precise combination to mold a coherent sentence using the correlative conjunction “not only…but also”. When using ‘not only’ and ‘but also’ in a sentence, they must have parallel structure or include the same parts of speech for each piece of information. Therefore, the grammatically correct sentence thus formed is “Cars would be freed not only from their reliance on planet-killing fossil fuels but also from the need for a charging infrastructure whose slow growth remains a major pain point”. Hence, option (c) is the most viable answer choice.

Q13. BY VIRTUE OF
(A) Many brilliant, forceful leaders truly believe that there is in the world one person who is truly indispensable.
(B) His long experience at the United Nations makes him indispensable to the talks.
(C) In order to cut costs, my boss has asked me to eliminate all positions that are not indispensable to day-to-day operations.
(D) Leaders become indispensable by making it to the top of whatever empire they run, they are made for life.
(a) Only (B) – (C)
(b) Only (A) – (B)
(c) Only (A) – (D)
(d) Both (A) – (D) and (B) – (C)
(e) None of these

S13. Ans. (c)
Sol. Statements (A) and (D) can be joined together using the connector “by virtue of” to form a coherent sentence. “By virtue of” is used to express “on account of or by reason of”. Therefore, the sentence thus formed is “Many brilliant, forceful leaders truly believe that there is in the world one person who is truly indispensable and that by virtue of making it to the top of whatever empire they run, they are made for life.” Therefore, option (c) becomes the most suitable answer choice.

Q14. UNLESS
(A) With the nation in the grip of a heatwave, MPs have warned that heat-related deaths in the UK will treble by the middle of the century.
(B) the government should intervene urgently to control the prices of new cars, claimed by a leading motor figure.
(C) the government needs to tackle the new public health emergency of heat-related deaths.
(D) New car prices could soar by €3,000 under a new emissions system.
(a) Only (B) – (C)
(b) Only (D) – (B)
(c) Only (A) – (C)
(d) Both (D) – (B) and (A) – (C)
(e) None of these

S14. Ans. (d)
Sol. Both the combinations of sentences (D) – (B) and (A) – (C) successfully form coherent sentences using the conjunction “unless”. “Unless” means except if (used to introduce the case in which a statement being made is not true or valid). Therefore, the meaningful sentences thus formed is “New car prices could soar by €3,000 under a new emissions system unless the government intervenes urgently, a leading motor figure has claimed” and “With the nation in the grip of a heatwave, MPs have warned that heat-related deaths in the UK will treble by the middle of the century unless the government tackles this new public health emergency” respectively. Hence, option (d) is the most suitable answer choice.

Q15. BECAUSE
(A) The fuel economy of an automobile is the relationship between the distance traveled and the amount of fuel consumed by the vehicle.
(B) The New European Driving Cycle is a driving cycle, last updated on 1997, designed to assess the emission levels of car engines.
(C) Tests under the more realistic Worldwide harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure system are producing mostly higher figures for emissions.
(D) Fuel consumption is shown to be higher than it was under the outdated New European Driving Cycle regime.
(a) Only (B) – (C)
(b) Only (C) – (D)
(c) Only (A) – (C)
(d) Both (D) – (B) and (A) – (C)
(e) None of these

S15. Ans. (b)
Sol. Statements (C) and (D) form the precise combination to mold a coherent sentence using the conjunction “because”. ‘Because’ means ‘for the reason that; since’. Therefore, the grammatically correct sentence thus formed is “Tests under the more realistic Worldwide harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure system are producing high figures for emissions because fuel consumption is shown to be higher than it was under the outdated New European Driving Cycle regime”. Hence, option (b) is the most viable answer choice.

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