Which of the following conclusions is best

Directions for questions 1 to 15: Select the supported by the information above?
correct alternative from the given choices. (A) People don’t despise rudeness.
1. Chinese insurance companies have started (B) Violating norms is viewed by others as a
selling a novel ‘love insurance policy’. One sign of power, even if the observers would
company stipulates that if a couple ties the otherwise judge those violations as rude or
knot between three and 13 years after buying flatly wrong.
a 99 yuan, 297 yuan or 495 yuan policy, (C) Company executives think that persons
there will be a payout of 1,999 yuan, 5,997 who are powerful do not have to respect the
yuan, and 9,995 yuan, respectively. A fourth same rules the rest of people follow.
one for 399 yuan offers a 0.5 carat heart (D) Rule breakers are better liked by people
shaped diamond with that same time-frame than people who follow rules.
caveat. Another company's payout is 10,000 3. Today, people depend on the social media
roses on a couple's wedding day but, once for their psychological sustenance. They
again, if they marry three years after buying check on their ‘timeline’ several times, and
the policy. With the declining marriage rates count the number of likes they get. Facebook
in China for several years, insurance is often flooded with snap shots of vacations
companies plan to make huge profit from and family outings. Pictures of restaurants
these policies. and good-looking dishes make their way to
Which of the following, if true, most the ‘wall’. Facebook is being trivialised by
strengthens the insurance companies’ plan? people who want to transcribe banalities of
(A) In three years, the financial condition of everyday existence in frivolous narcissistic
most couples stabilizes. detail.
(B) Chinese have a cynical outlook for Which of the following can be concluded
romance and marriage. from the passage above?
(C) Insurance actuaries estimate that 98.39% (A) The purity of private moments is getting
of Chinese couples either break up or get destroyed.
hitched before three years. (B) People have become physically
(D) Chinese couples believe that they require ‘invisible.’
at least three years to understand each other. (C) Social media has made people happier
2. A group of psychologists had a group of than before.
company executives watch a video of a man (D) Social media today serves as a stage to
at a sidewalk café put his feet on another self-brand.
chair, tap cigarette ashes on the ground and 4. The World Health Organisation (WHO)
rudely order a meal. After watching the categorises certain parasitic and bacterial
video, they rated the man as more likely to diseases as Neglected Tropical Diseases, or
"get to make decisions" and able to "get NTDs, that cause substantial illness but
people to listen to what he says" than another affect only the world’s poorest populations,
group of executives who saw a video of the affecting over a billion people, primarily
same man behaving politely. poor populations living in tropical and
subtropical climates. People affected by
these tropical diseases have a low status.

1
Clearly, NTDs are unlikely to be contained more crowded, most of their day goes in
as HIV or Ebola have been. commuting up and down. There is no time
Which of the following is an assumption on for exercise or for relaxation.
which the argument depends? From the passage above, it can be properly
(A) HIV and Ebola are more dangerous inferred that future incidence of lifestyle
than NTDs. diseases can be brought down by doing
(B) Inadequate funding is the major cause which of the following, assuming that each is
for the spread of NDTs. a realistic possibility?
(C) Diseases affecting only the poor get (A) Planning urban development properly
less funding for management and research. – 500 003.
(D) Only scary diseases like HIV and Ebola (B)SM1002117/0 Providing free health care
receive financial support for their to those above 35
management. (C) Spreading the message of exercise as
5. The immunity of pregnant women can be daily routine
affected by the gender of the baby, say (D) Equipping city hospitals with gyms
researchers from The Ohio State University 7. Some researchers found that mice
in the U.S. They followed 80 pregnant suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
women through the course of their pregnancy have a different composition of intestinal
to find out if they exhibited different levels bacteria compared to mice that are healthy.
of immune markers called cytokines based Such mice had a large amount of beta-
on the gender of the foetus and found that amyloid plaque – lumps that form at the
women carrying female foetuses showed a nerve fibres in cases of AD – in the brain.
heightened inflammatory response. The researchers argue the bacteria in your gut
Inflammation is a critical part of the immune may play a major role in the development of
response involved in wound healing and AD, the most common form of dementia.
responses to viruses, bacteria and chronic The answer to which of the following
illnesses. questions is most relevant to establishing the
If the statements above are true, which of the validity of the researchers’ finding?
following can be inferred on the basis of (A) Is the presence of this type of bacteria
them? related to our diet?
(A) Women carrying female fetuses are more (B) Does the presence of the bacteria have
likely to abort than women carrying male any impact on our general health?
fetuses. (C) Do mice that do not have this type of
(B) Mothers-to-be are likely to experience bacteria have a significantly smaller amount
exacerbated symptoms of some medical of beta-amyloid plaque?
conditions, including asthma, when carrying (D) Can the present antibiotics kill this type
a female foetus. of bacteria?
(C) Excessive inflammation may prove fatal 8. Swarming behaviour in honeybees is
during pregnancy. unique and interesting because it is a flexible
(D) During the advanced stage pregnancy and distributed decision-making process. For
immunity level can drop considerably for example, when bees decide to abandon their
women carrying female fetuses. old hive, a set of scouts goes out and forages
6. Doctors say that at hospitals located in the for information on viable sites for a new
city, the numbers and profiles of patients hive. They return and communicate their
who come in with lifestyle diseases have information on likely places by a waggle
increased by 30 to 40 per cent over the past dance. The rest of the bees, without apparent
ten years. They opine that as people have social pressures to conform, independently
moved further away from the city as it gets vote by a waggle dance of their own. Once a

2
minimum number of positive votes (a The noise cancellation headphones come
quorum) is reached, the bees make the with a little device that listens to these sounds
decision to swarm without waiting for a and accurately produces the same
unanimous endorsement. wavelength of sound waves to cancel
Which of the following is similar to the ambient noise. The technology that powers
behaviour of the bees above? noise-cancellation headphones is a big
(A) A group of students decide to boycott advancement which is really fascinating.
classes because such a boycott in a To support the conclusion that the noise
neghbouring college secured them better cancellation headphone is a fascinating
facilities. technology, which of the following
(B) A swarm of butterflies approach a vast additional pieces of information must be
sun flower field full of flowers that sway in true?
the breeze. (A) Certain wave lengths of sounds are
(C) Vultures never feed on carcasses sometimes unbearable to humans.
individually; they always feed in wakes. (B) The sounds that constitute ambient noise
(D) A person responds to a particular are ones that aren’t under our control.
Facebook post not just because of that post (C) Technology has advanced to such an
but because of the larger set of posts across extent that what was considered impossible,
the entire news feed. happens now.
9. C. diff, a bug identified in the 1930s, has (D) Any device produces any wavelength of
become one of the country’s prime health sound waves.
concerns, after a particularly virulent and 11. Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg
drug-resistant strain called NAP1 emerged in in 2004, has more than 1.86 billion members
the 2000s. By 2011, an analysis by the today. People use Facebook to connect with
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strangers who have the same rare disease, to
estimated there were 543,000 cases a year post politician diatribes, and to share news
and 29,300 deaths from the infection. Two links. Facebook has also pushed its users to
years later, the C.D.C. categorized C. diff as register to vote, to donate to causes, to mark
an “urgent threat.” Most cases arise after a themselves safe after natural calamities, and
course of antibiotics, especially a class called to “go live.”
fluoroquinolones, wipes out the protective If the statements above are true, which of the
microbes normally found in the colon. That following can be properly inferred on the
allows C. diff to flourish and produce the basis of them?
toxins that cause illness. (A) Mark Zuckerberg is likely to become
From the passage, it can be inferred that an richer with more members joining Facebook.
effective strategy to check C. diff infection (B) Facebook is likely to become a utility in
would be which of the following, assuming future.
that each is a realistic possibility? (C) Facebook is connecting families and
(A) Reducing antibiotic use friends.
(B) Replacing antibiotics with placebos (D) Facebook is likely to be an infallible
(C) Isolating patients infected with C. diff antidote to rising tide of isolationism.
bugs 12. An article in a newspaper argues: India’s
(D) Avoiding hospitalization for transient working age population is increasing; the
illnesses average age of the country will remain young
10. There are headphones that effectively for a long time. In four years, India will have
minimize ambient noise and thereby the world's largest population of working
enhancing the sounds that we are listening to. people, about 87 crore in all. This will lead to
These noises are effectively sound waves. great advantage for the Indian economy.

3
Which of the following is an assumption on the hybrid animal in the womb of a female
which the argument depends? elephant which will serve as a surrogate
(A) Indian work force is highly skilled mother.
compared to the workforce of other The conclusion above is based on which of
countries. the following assumptions?
(B) The economic environment is capable of (A) The Asian elephant is the closest living
absorbing Indian labour force. relative of woolly mammoth.
(C) New jobs are being created all over the (B) The woolly mammoth is believed to
world. resemble an elephant.
(D) Indian labour force will contribute to (C) Earlier attempts to develop a woolly
world economic growth. mammoth failed.
13. Founders of start-ups need to take care of (D) An elephant looks exactly like the woolly
business, finance, logistics, warehousing and mammoth.
a dozen other things. Say, an X task takes a 15. More than 620,000 people in the UK
founder six hours to complete. Also imagine have a faulty gene that puts them at risk of
that in those six hours he could be doing heart disease and sudden death from heart
something better and making `5,000. attacks or cardiac arrests, and most of them
Wouldn’t he be better off paying someone are unaware of the risk, warns the British
`1,000 to do it so that he can focus on Heart Foundation. This condition known as
building more wealth? Consider he wants to arrhythmogenic right ventricular
get certain video animations done. If he were cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is caused by a
to hire an employee to do it, he would change or mutation in one or more genes, it
demand a computer with higher says. The progressive condition causes heart
specifications and would also ask for many muscle to be replaced by fibrous tissue and
tools and software that would add to the fat so the ventricle becomes thin and
costs. Is it not better to invest a much less stretched, meaning the heart does not pump
sum in someone who already has all these blood around the body properly and there is
tools and a system for this job? a risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
Which of the following can be logically Which of the following can be concluded
concluded from the passage? from the passage?
(A) Hiring full-time employees is a waste of (A) ARVC cannot be cured.
money. (B) ARVC is a new medical condition
(B) An employee need not sit beside the boss prevalent in the UK.
of a start-up to do a specified task. (C) Parents can pass on ARVC to their
(C) For start-ups, outsourcing saves costs and children.
increases productivity. (D) Gene editing technology appears to be
(D) Projects outsourced at start-ups work the only remedy for ARVC.
better than those done by regular employees.
14. The woolly mammoth vanished from the
earth 4,000 years ago, but now scientists say
they are on the brink of resurrecting the
ancient beast in a revised form, through an
ambitious feat of genetic engineering.
Scientists leading this “de-extinction” effort
say they are just two years away from
creating a hybrid embryo, in which
mammoth traits would be programmed into
an Asian elephant. The team hopes to grow