reading comprehension section 3 Detailed Explanation And More Example

MOST IMPORTANT general english mcq - 13 EXERCISES

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DIRECTIONS:

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. Some words / phrases are printed in bold in the passage in order to help you locate them while answering some of the questions asked.

PASSAGE

Currently showing at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is a remarkable exhibition with aprovenance that dates back to 1925. That was the year the exhibition's subject, the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi, was born in Pune into the family of an Arab spice merchant.

Titled 'The Theatre of E. Alkazi — A Modernist Approach to Indian Theatre', the showcase is a retrospective of the life and works of Alkazi. The driving forces behind it have been his daughter, Amal Allana, a theatre doyenne in her own right, and her husband, the stage designer Nissar Allana. The exhibition continues till later this month, when Alkazi will turn 91. And in a sidelight of curated talks, Allana provides us rare insight into the man single-handedly credited with overhauling the National School of Drama into a legitimate national institution during his long tenure as its director from 1962 to 1977. Of course, before that, Alkazi had an eventful innings in Bombay. Under the aegis of the Theatre Group and the Theatre Unit, he galvanized the English theatre scene in the city.

The exhibition had its first airing in January at Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam, where the Alkazi family founded the Art Heritage Gallery in 1977. In this Mumbai outing, the archival material is distributed to the semicircular galleries arranged around the central stairwell at the NGMA. Mock-ups of posters of Alkazi's celebrated productions adorn the walls of the entrance hall. If cinema hadn't swamped popular culture with its excesses, and theatre had been much less niche, some of these imprints could have well been the iconic images of their times. For instance, the stricken countenance of Usha Amin on a poster for Medea (1961), or a fetching Alaknanda Samarth pinned to the floor as a man looms ominously over her in Miss Julie (1960), or Rohini Hattangady conferring with Naseeruddin Shah in pitch-dark make-up in Sultan Razia (1974). The original photographs were, of course, in black and white. In these reconstructions, they are overlaid with anachronistic colors and typefaces that could perhaps warrant a rethink. As with any institutional display, the occasional tackiness doesn't really detract from the substance. Peering closer, the initials of Alkazi's Theatre Unit, arranged into a pitchfork, become an unmistakable monogram of quality.

Panels emblazoned 'The Alkazi Times' present the signposts of Alkazi's life as news clippings, interspersed with actual microfiche footage — ascensions of kings and Prime Ministers, declarations of war and independence, and even snapshots from theatre history. It is certainly monumental in scale, full of information about Alkazi's genealogy, childhood, education and illustrious career. While there is the slightest whiff of propaganda, it is whittled down by Allana's skills as a self-effacing raconteur during the talks. Her accounts are peppered with heart-warming personal anecdotes that give us a measure of the real person behind the bronzed persona.

We learn of how Alkazi came to take up the reins of Theatre Group after the untimely passing of Sultan 'Bobby' Padamsee, the young genius who was one of his formative influences. One of their earliest collaborations was Padamsee's version of Oscar Wilde's Salomé. The play was barred from performance at their alma mater, St Xavier's College, because of its risqué material and Wilde's festering notoriety as a gay felon even in India. It was ultimately performed at the very venue that is now housing the exhibition. Allana is thus able to touchingly fashion the showcase as a homecoming soirée. Later, there is a piquant episode at England's Dartington Hall. As a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Alkazi had requested Dartington founder Leonard Elmhirst the princely sum of £4 so to return to India by ship. Elmhirst graciously complied. The letters exchanged still exist, and have been preserved (though they are not part of this exhibit).

The galleries themselves, chock-a-block with photographs, come across more like a feat of collation than curation. Yet, within this preponderance of imagery, there are stories that can be pieced together. The clarion call of Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug (directed by Alkazi in 1962) sounded off from the ramparts of Feroze Shah Kotla changed the manner in which Hindi theatre was presented. Its political echoes found resonance in a country undergoing massive blood-letting. Nehru and his mandarins all attended one of the earliest stagings, and the play placed Alkazi firmly on the national stage. His earlier work, though innovative, appeared to cater to the bourgeoisie.

In the NSD years, we see a coalescing of a strident western approach to drama with the 'theatre of roots' in India — traditions lying on the cusp of an imminent decrepitude. This amalgamation may have led to the derivative mongrelisation we observe so frequently in today's contemporary theatre. Yet at that time, it must have provided an active ferment for experimentation.

The photographic stills, it must be said, are mostly posed publicity shots. They capture the calculated repose of a burnished generation of actors, many recognizable faces among them. Some, grainier in texture, but with more character, appear to have been taken mid-performance. The living breathing form, theatre's raison d'être, is almost always absent, raising questions about the kind of archiving that would best serve theatre. In an upstairs gallery, video clips of a Hindi adaptation of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba, featuring Zohra Sehgal, are looped in perpetuity. They do provide insight into his working, but are woefully inadequate as a show reel for a man whose career spanned decades. Film, in any case, can never capture the truthfulness of a live form.

Such a display of theatre royalty comes inextricably linked with the idea of privilege, that of wealth, class or language perhaps, but primarily of pioneer-ship. Being the first off the stumbling blocks with his revolutionary ideas for theatre, Alkazi forged new ground at every step. Certainly, the politics of language added lustre to this glory. The power of English as an aspirational tongue has dimmed somewhat in recent times. Its colonial baggage has hopefully been obliterated. One can only speculate about how much these notions were amplified in the late 40s and 50s in a country just delivered from British rule.

Yet, the imprimatur of excellence that Alkazi brought to his works does not need to be rationalized to be made sense of. In order to recreate history, it is important to bring together all the elements that went in the making of an epoch. Nissar Allana has recreated miniature facsimiles of sets from Alkazi's plays and of the venues he nurtured himself, like the Meghdoot terrace. These are reproduced assiduously from photographs. In one reconstruction, Macbeth's scope is enhanced in an outdoor set that exudes both Greek grandeur and an artistic sparseness. That those were heady days is an idea one cannot escape from, when we look at how close to penury theatre practitioners operate in these days.

The following question based on reading comprehension topic of general english mcq

Questions : Which among the following is SIMILAR in meaning to the word laudably as used in the passage?

(a) Justly

(b) Appreciatively

(c) Properly

(d) Readily

e) None of the above

The correct answers to the above question in:

Answer: (a)

In the context of the passage, the Supreme Court has made a just intervention in the management of the wealthiest sports body in the world i.e. BCCI.

This makes option (a) the right choice among the given options

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Read more reading comprehension Based General English Questions and Answers

Question : 1

Which among the following is OPPOSITE in meaning to the word nihilism as used in the passage?

a) Appreciation

b) Alteration

c) Praise

d) Approval

e) Altercation

Answer: (d)

The word means that sports administrators believe that nothing is going to change in sports affairs in our country.

This makes option (d) the right choice since it is about approving the change in the state of affairs instead of the refusal to believe the same.

Question : 2

Which among the following is OPPOSITE in meaning to the word Chimerical as used in the passage?

a) Absurd

b) Realistic

c) Fanciful

d) Sensitive

e) Romantic

Answer: (b)

The word chimerical in the passage implies that everybody thinks there is nothing that can change the state of affairs in the case of sports management in India. This is something fanciful if we are thinking of any change in the state of affairs in the sports administration in our country.

This makes option (b) the right choice among the given options as realistic means that something can actually happen regarding this.

DIRECTIONS:

Read the fol lowing passages carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some of the questions.

PASSAGE

After the "Liberal" a new catch-phrase is being coined: `A New Health Order'. Talking about setting it up is the theme of the WHO-sponsored international conference on primary health and medical care, currently being held at Milan in Italy. While much has been said and written on establishing "new order", little has actually been done. Will the conference at Milan too swear by the "new health order", go home and then forget about it, while the present medical and healthcare set-up in poor countries further entrenches itself? This does not have to be the fate of the radical resolutions that will undoubtedly be passed at Milan. Unlike creating a new world economic or information order, establishing a new health setup is essentially a matter for individual countries to accomplish. No conflict of international interests is involved. But this advantage is, at least until it begins to take concrete shape, only theoretical. The milliondollar question is whether individual third-world governments are able and willing to muster the will, the resources, the administrative and other infrastructure to carry out what it is entirely within their power to attain and implement.

The dimensions of the problem are known and the solutions broadly agreed on. The present medical and health-care system is urban-based, closely geared to drugs, hospitals and expensively trained apathetic doctors. The bulk of the population in poor countries, who live in rural areas, are left untouched by all this and must rely on traditional healers. The answer is to turn out medical/health personnel sufficiently, but not expensively, trained to handle routine complaints and to get villagers to pay adequate attention to cleanliness, hygienic sanitation, garbage disposal and other elementary but crucial matters. More complicated ailments can be referred to properly equipped centres in district towns, cities and metropolises. Traditional healers, whom villagers trust, can be among these intermediate personnel. Some third-world countries, including India, have launched or are preparing elaborate schemes of this nature. But the experience is not quite happy. There is resistance from the medical establishment which sees them as little more than licensed quackery but is not prepared either to offer condensed medical courses such as the former licentiate course available in this country and unwisely scrapped. There is the question of how much importance to give to indigenous system of medicine. And there is the difficult matter of striking the right balance between preventive healthcare and curative medical attention. These are complex issues and the Milan conference would perhaps be more fruitful if it were to discuss such specific subjects.

Question : 3

The author is doubtful whether ....

a) under-developed countries have the capacity to organize their resources.

b) traditional healers could be trained as intermediate health personnel.

c) the Milan conference would pass radical resolutions.

d) an individual country can set up a new health order.

e) the problem has been understood at all.

Answer: (a)

Go through the last line of the first paragraph.

Question : 4

Which among the following is SIMILAR in meaning to the word pragmatic as used in the passage?

a) Realistic

b) Hotheadedness

c) Ballistic

d) Sensible

e) None of the above

Answer: (a)

The word in the passage is used in the sense that the Supreme Court has made a practical intervention in the case of BCCI management in our country.

This makes option (a) the right choice among the given options

Question : 5

Which among the following, according to the passage, describes the pathetic attitude of sports administrators towards the game, in our country?

a) The sports administrators and the players are not even in touch properly

b) The sports administrators are arm chair critics who never do anything for development of sports in the country

c) The sports bodies do not have enough knowledge about the welfare of the sportspersons they are supposed to take care of

d) The sports bodies do not know the way to go forward in case of any innovative planning

e) Other than those given in options

Answer: (a)

There is an instance in the passage in which a player failed to recognize a prominent sports administrator when the player was greeted by him. This indicates the relationship between the players and the sports administrators in our country.

This is explained in option (a) and it is the right choice among the given options.

Question : 6

Which among the following can be a title for the passage apart from the given one?

a) Sports is important but to what extent

b) Sports management is the way forward for professional management of sports in the country

c) Sports management is more important that athletic expertise

d) Sports administration taking a backseat in our country

e) Other than those given in options

Answer: (b)

According to the given passage, the sports administration in our country needs to be more professional in order to make sports the most important thing regarding sports administration in our country.

Option (b) describes that and that is why it is the right option among the given options.

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