UNIT 3

COMPREHENSION
1. COMPREHENSION OF A PASSAGE
► Introduction:
'Comprehension' is an exercise in which you have to study a given passage and answer
the questions that follow it. Just like précis-writing, you should read the given passage
carefully twice or thrice before writing the answers.
The very word 'Comprehension' suggests 'to understand'. Comprehension passages
are meant to enable the student to develop her/his reference skills, understanding
ability, analytical ability, vocabulary and finally inference skills. In every entrance exam
for higher studies, or for exams like IELTS, GRE, TOFEL, GMAT and others like CAT or
the Civil Services, Comprehension passages are always a part. As you go higher, these
comprehension passages keep on getting difficult and more complex. Hence at this
stage, you have to develop the habit of reading each passage carefully at least twice
before answering it.
Below are given a couple of passages with answers. Read them carefully.
Passage No. 1
States are honoured by historians judging on their military strength. This criterion has
been the commonest one invoked while estimating the worth of States. Military
greatness comes from one's power to slaughter and subjugate other nations. They use
the word prestige which does not rest upon humanity, honesty and friendship or fidelity
to alliances. In the words of Earl Baldwin, it rests upon whether a country has "the
strength to command respect and attention". In fact, it depends upon the number of
planes it possesses and the ability to bombard and destroy life. It is, in reality, the power
of the bully and blackmail.
Few would have thought prestige has something to do with the tenets of Christianity. It
is against the principles of civilized life. Generals and admirals are given statues in
relation to the success in large scale slaughter. History shows that aggressive militarism
has ruined the nation which practiced it. The Greek States perished because they were
belligerent and so did the warlike African tribes. Carthage was ruined by Hannibal. Only
friendly and peace-loving nations survived.
Questions:
1. What criteria did historians use to honour nations?
2. What is meant by military greatness?
3. In what connection did they use the word prestige?
4.What, according to the author, are the real criteria for assessing a country’s
greatness?
5. How do belligerent nations try to command respect and attention?
6. What words does the author use to describe the nature of the so-called prestigious
States?
7. What sort of people are honoured by giving them states in Europe?
8. Why did the African tribes perish?
Answers:
1. While honouring a nation, historians used the criteria of the strength of its army and
navy, the way these states honour their generals, the efficiency with which they slaughter
their enemies. They also considered the number of planes they possessed and their ability
to destroy life.
2. In this passage, military greatness refers to the possession, by a State, of powerful
armies and navies and generals and admirals. It also refers to, the ability of such an army
to destroy life in the enemy State.
3. The word prestige refers to the ruthless efficiency of the military power.
4. The real criterion for assessing a country's greatness should be its humanity, its truth
telling, its friendship for the weak, its case for its citizens and its fidelity to its alliances.
5. Belligerent nations try to command respect and attention by a show of its power.
6. The author uses the words 'bully' and 'blackmail' to describe the nature of the so-called
prestigious States.
7. Those who have not been successful in organizing large scale
slaughter are honoured. The highest monuments and statues are reserved for such
people. 8. The African tribes perished because they were belligerent.
Below are given some very simple passages without answers. We are confident that the
students will be able to solve each one of them easily.
Passage No. 1
The state of Rajasthan is in the north-west of India, and running through it from north-east
to south-west is a ridge of very old rocks, which form the Aravalli Range. To the north-
west of this Range the area is very dry and it falls gradually towards the Indian valley. This
very large area between the Aravalli Range and the plain forms the Thar Desert.
Its annual rainfall is very low usually less than 250 mm. Moreover, it is very irregular, and
falls mainly during sudden storms. Although this figure is higher than in the Indus Valley,
there are no large rivers which can be used for irrigation. Because of this, it remains a
sandy wasteland, with bare hills and waterless valleys. The ground is often completely
bare of vegetation, though in some places a few bushes or plants can be seen.
The desert has only a very few inhabitants. Sometimes, a village is started where, for a
time, there is a little water, and some millet can be grown. But when the water runs out,
the villagers have to leave and move somewhere else.
Some people own camels, which they use to carry on trading in the region, but
travelling across the desert has always been made difficult by the lack of water. In spite
of this, there are some towns: Jaisalmer is an important centre for such trading routes,
and Bikaner is famous for the goods which it makes from camel hair and cotton.
Questions:
1. What do we find running through Rajasthan north-east to south-west?
2. Why is the north-west of Rajasthan a desert?
3. Why should people in certain areas of Rajasthan move out of their places?
4. What makes the travel across the desert difficult?
5. What makes life really difficult in Rajasthan?
Passage No. 2
Coins were first issued in the eastern part of the world around the eight century B.C.,
and since then their use has spread over the whole civilized world. Unlike many
objects in everyday use, they have always been highly prized by their owners, and
were therefore frequently hidden in secret chambers, and were also obtained through
unfair means. Many people in the eastern part of the globe would bury these coins in
order to keep them safe; hence, in excavations it is a common sight for these coins to
be found. Coins cannot be destroyed very fast and very easily; hence, they still exist in
vast numbers across the globe. In comparison to the other artefacts of lost civilisations,
coins are found in greater quantity in good condition. The study of coins may therefore
be expected to yield a considerable amount of information about the past.
Coins give us some idea of ancient states and cities. about the wealth and importance
They give us an idea about their value in the past civilisation and culture and also
indicate the kind and extent of trade and commerce that was carried out in those times.
Coins give us a perfect story about the life and times of ancient civilisations and
culture.
Questions:
1. How old are coins in the east?
2. Why did people bury coins or obtain them through unfair means?
3. What information would the study of coins yield to us?
4. What clues would these ancient coins give us about our past?
Passage No. 3
Chinese Printing Press
Printing is a process for reproducing text and images, typically with ink on paper using a
printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process and is an
essential part of publishing and transaction printing.
The development of printing was begun by the use of cylinder seals in Mesopotamia
developed in 3500 R.C., and other related stamp seals. The earliest form of printing was
woodblock printing, with existing examples from China dating to before 220 A.D. and
Egypt to the fourth century. Later developments in printing include the movable type, first
developed by Bi Sheng in China, and the printing press, a more efficient printing process
for western languages with their more limited alphabets, developed by Johannes
Gutenberg in the fifteenth century.
Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns that was used
widely throughout East Asia. It originated in China in antiquity as a method of printing on
textiles and later on paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving
examples from China date to before 220 A.D. and examples from Roman Egypt date to
the fourth century.
The earliest surviving woodblock printed fragments are from China and are of silk printed
with flowers in three colours from the Han Dynasty (before 220 A.D.), and the earliest
example of woodblock printing on paper appeared in the mid-seventh century in China.
Block printing first came to Christian Europe as a method for printing on cloth, where it
was common by 1300 A.D. Images printed on cloth for religious purposes could be quite
large and elaborate, and when paper became relatively easily available, around 1400
A.D., the medium transferred very quickly to small woodcut religious images and playing
cards printed on paper. These prints were produced in very large numbers from about
1425 onward.
Around 1040, the first known movable type system was created in China by Bi Sheng out
of porcelain. Sheng used clay type, which broke easily, but Wang Zhen later carved a
more durable type from wood by 1298 C.E., and developed a complex system of
revolving tables and number-association with written Chinese characters that made
typesetting and printing more efficient. The main method in use there remained
woodblock printing. Xylography, however, "proved to be cheaper and more efficient for
printing Chinese, with its thousands of characters".
Copper movable type printing originated in China at the beginning of twelfth century. It
was used in large scale printing of paper money issued by the Northern Song dynasty.
(Source: Google.com - Wikipedia)
Questions:
1.What is printing?
2.Where did printing blocks first develop?
3. Which Chinese printer invented the movable print type?
4. Who is Johannes Gutenberg? What is his contribution in the printing process?
5. What is woodblock printing? Where did it originate?
6. How did block printing come to Europe? What was it used for?
7. What improvement did Wang Zhen do to the movable type system? How did it
facilitate Chinese characters?
8. Where did copper movable type originate? What was it used for?
Passage No. 4
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New
South Wales, Australia. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn
Utzon, opening in 1973 after a long gestation that had begun with his competition-
winning design in 1957.
Utzon received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003. The Pritzker
Prize citation stated :
There is no doubt that the Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great
iconic buildings of the 20th century, an image of great beauty that has become known
throughout the world - a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country and continent.
The Sydney Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007.
It is one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous
performing arts centres in the world.
The Sydney Opera House is on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. It sits at the northeastern tip of the Sydney central business
district (the CBD), surrounded on three sides by the harbour (Sydney Cove an Farm
Cove) and inland by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Contrary to its name, the building houses multiple performance venues. The Sydney
Opera House is among the busiest performing arts centres in the world, hosting over
1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. It provides a venue
for many performing-arts companies, including the four key resident companies Opera
Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney
Symphony Orchestra, and presents a wide range of productions on its own account. It
is also one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, with more than seven
million people visiting the site each year, 300,000 of whom take a guided tour.
The Sydney Opera House is administered by the Sydney Opera House Trust, under the
New South Wales Ministry of the Arts.
(Source: Google.com - Wikipedia)
Questions:
1. Who designed the Sydney Opera House?
2. For what purpose was the Sydney Opera House built?
3. What honour did the architect of the Sydney Opera House receive?
4. When was the Sydney Opera House made a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Why?
5. Where is the Sydney Opera House located ?
6. Why will you say that the Sydney Opera House is among the busiest art centres?
7. Which are the four key resident companies of the Sydney Opera House?
8. Who administers the Sydney Opera House?
Passage No. 5
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports,
in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic
Games have come to be regarded as the world's foremost sports competition where
more than 200 nations participate. The Games are currently held every two years, with
Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years
within their respective seasonal games. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were
held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de
Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. The IOC has
since become the governing body of the Olympic Movement, whose structure and
actions are defined by the Olympic Charter.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted
in several changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the
creation of the Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for
athletes with a physical disability, and the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes.
The IOC has had to adapt to the varying economic, political, and technological realities
of the 20th century. As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pure amateurism, as
envisioned by Coubertin, to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing
importance of the mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and
commercialization of the Games. World Wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940,
and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980
and 1984 Games.
The Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations (IFs), National
Olympic Committees (NOCs), and organizing committees for each specific Olympic
Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city
for each Olympic Games. The host city is responsible for organizing and funding a
celebration of the Games consistent with the Olympic Charter. The Olympic program,
consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games, is also determined by the IOC.
The celebration of the Games encompasses many rituals and symbols, such as the
Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. Over 13,000
athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympics in 33 different sports and nearly
400 events. The first, second, and third place finishers in each event receive Olympic
medals; gold, silver, and bronze, respectively.
(Source: Google.com - Wikipedia)
Questions:
1. What are the two editions of the Olympic Games?
2. In what way can you say that the Olympic Games are a major international event?
3. Where were the Olympic Games held originally? In what period?
4. Who established the International Olympic Committee? When?
5. List the changes introduced in the Olympic Games by the IOC in the 20th and 21st
centuries.
6. Which Olympic Games were cancelled? Why?
7. When was limited participation witnessed in the Olympics? Why?
8. What does the Olympic Movement consist of?
9. Who chooses the host city for the Olympic Games? What is the host city responsible
for?
10. What are the rituals and symbols of the Olympic Games?
11. Approximately how many athletes participate in the Games and in how many sporting
events?