1.

The choices we make on a daily basis—wearing a seatbelt, lifting heavy

objects correctly or purposely staying out of any dangerous situation—can
either ensure our safety or bring about potentially harmful circumstances.

You and I need to make a decision that we are going to get our lives in order.
Exercising self-control, self-discipline and establishing boundaries and
borders in our lives are some of the most important things we can do. A life
without discipline is one that’s filled with carelessness.

We can think it’s kind of exciting to live life on the edge. We like the image of
“Yeah! That’s me! Living on the edge! Woo-hoo!” It’s become a popular way
to look at life. But if you see, even highways have lines, which provide
margins for our safety while we’re driving. If we go over one side, we’ll go
into the ditch. If we cross over the line in the middle, we could get killed. And
we like those lines because they help to keep us safe. Sometimes we don’t
even realize how lines help to keep us safe.

I’m not proud of this, but for the first 20 years of my life at work, I ignored
my limits. I felt horrible, physically, most of the time. I used to tell myself, “I
know I have limits and that I’ve reached them, but I’m going to ignore them
and see if or how long I can get by with it.” I ran to doctors, trying to make
myself feel better through pills, vitamins, natural stuff and anything I could
get my hands on. Some of the doctors would tell me, “It’s just stress.” That
just made me mad. I thought stress meant you don’t like what you do or
can’t handle life, and I love what I do. But I kept pushing myself, travelling,
doing speaking engagements and so on— simply exhausting myself.

Finally, I understood I was living an unsustainable life and needed to make

some changes in my outlook and lifestyle.

You and I don’t have to be like everyone else or keep up with anyone else.
Each of us needs to be exactly the way we are, and we don’t have to
apologize for it. We’re not all alike, and we need to find a comfort zone in
which we can enjoy our lives instead of making ourselves sick with an
overload of stress and pressure.

On the basis of understanding the passage, answer ANY TEN

questions from the twelve that follow. (1×10=10)
Q1) Which of the characteristics are apt about the writer in the following
context: “I know I have limits and that I’ve reached them, but I’m going to
ignore them and see if or how long I can get by with it.” ?

1. negligent

2. indecisive

3. spontaneous

4. reckless

5. purposeless

6. patient

a) 2 and 5

b) 3 and 6

c) 1 and 4

d) 2 and 3

Q2) The reason why living on the edge has become popular is because of the

a) constant need for something different.

b) population being much younger.

c) exhausting effort to make changes.

d) strong tendency to stay within our limits.

Q3) The phrase “potentially harmful circumstances” refers to circumstances

that can

(a) certainly be dangerous.

(b) be fairly dangerous.

(c) be possibly dangerous.

(d) seldom be dangerous.

Q4). Choose the option that correctly states the two meanings of ‘outlook’,
as used in the passage.

1. A person’s evaluation of life

2. A person’s experiences in life

3. A person’s point of view towards life

4. A person’s regrets in life

5. A person’s general attitude to life

a) (1) and (4)

b) (2) and (3)

c) (3) and (5)

d) (4) and (5)

Q5) Choose the option that best captures the central idea of the passage
from the given quotes.

1. It’s all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and
friends.

2. To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

3. Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

4. Balance is not something you find. It’s something you create.

a) Option (1)

b) Option (2)

c) Option (3)

d) Option (4)
Q6) The author explains the importance of discipline and boundaries in our
lives using the example of

a) road accidents.

b) traffic rules.

c) lines on the highway.

d) safe driving.

Q7) The author attempts to __________________ the readers through this write-
up.

a) rebuke

b) question

c) offer aid to

d) offer advice to

Q8) What is the message conveyed in the last paragraph of the passage?

a) Love what you do.

b) Love yourself to love others.

c) Be the best version of yourself.

d) Be yourself

Q9) Which of the following will be the most appropriate title for the passage?

a) Much too soon

b) Enough is enough

c) How much is too much?

d) Have enough to do?

Q10) The author uses colloquial words such as “yeah” and “Woo-hoo!”.
Which of the following is NOT a colloquial word?

a) hooked

b) guy

c) stuff

d) stress

Q11) Select the option that makes the correct use of “unsustainable”, as
used in the passage, to fill in the blank space.

a) In the long run, the ______ officials followed emergency procedures.

b) Emergency procedures were _______ by the officials.

c) Officials reported an ________ set of events during the emergency.

d) Officials admit that the emergency system is _______ in the longer run.

Q12) What does the author mean when he says, “to get our lives in order”?

a) To resume our lives.

b) To organize our lives.

c) To rebuild our lives.

d) To control our lives.

[Link]:

1) (c) 1 and 4

2) (a) constant need for something different.

3) (c) be possibly dangerous

4) (c) (3) and (5)

5) (d) Option (4)

6) (c) lines on the highway.

7) (d) offer advice to

8) (c) Be yourself

9) (c) How much is too much?

10) (d) stress

11) (d) Officials admit that the emergency system is __________ in the longer
run.

12) (b) To organize our lives.

2.

1. (iv) visiting public memorials

2. (iii) 75 or more year-olds

3. (ii) 2016

4. (iii) Lincoln Liberty Memorial

5. (iii) the memorial sites.

6. (iv) educational attainment

7. (i) 11 percentage

8. (iii) tranquilizing

9. (ii) who finished their studies with a high school diploma.

10. (ii) decline

11. (i) Data from the National Park Service (NPS) only indicate the types of
historic sites visited most.

12. (iv) combine.

[Link] addition to using libraries and visiting art museums, historic site
visitation is another common form of public engagement with the
humanities. According to the National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of
Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). the percentage of people making at
least one such visit fell steadily from 1982 to 2012, before rising somewhat
in 2017. Visits to historic sites managed by the National Park Service (NPS)
were substantially higher in 2018 than 1980, despite a decline in recent
years. In 2017, 28% of American adults reported visiting a historic site in the
previous year. This represented an increase of 4.4 percentage points from
2012 but a decrease of 8.9 percentage points from 1982. The bulk of the
decline in visitation occurred from 2002 to 2008. The recent increases in
visitation rates were statistically significant for the 35-44- and 45-54-yearold
age groups 1. The larger change was found among 35-to-44-year-olds,
whose visitation rate increased 8.7 percentage points. Despite the increase
from 2012 to 2017 for these groups, there was a net decline in historic site
visitation since 1982 for Americans of virtually all ages. Only among the
oldest Americans (age 75 or older) was the rate of visitation higher in 2017
than 35 years earlier. From 1982 to 2017, the differences among age groups
with respect to rates of historic site visitation decreased. For example, in
1982, the rate of visitation among 25-to-34-year-olds (the group most likely
to visit a historic site in that survey) was approximately 11 percentage points
higher than that of the youngest age group (18-to-24-year-olds). and more
than 17 points higher than that of people ages 65-74. By 2017, however, the
visitation rate of 25-to-34-year-olds had dropped to within five percentage
points of the younger cohort and was virtually identical of that for the older
group. While visitation rates are converging among the age cohorts, the
differences by level of educational attainment are still pronounced. In 2017,
as in earlier years, the visitation rate among college graduates was more
than twice as high as the rate among those who finished their studies with a
high school diploma (43% as compared to 17%). Among those who did not
finish high school, visitation rates were below 10% throughout the 2008-
2017 time period. Conversely, among Americans with a graduate or
professional degree, visitation rates were in the vicinity of 50% during these
years. Data from the National Park Service (NPS) indicate the types of
historic sites visited most and also the demands made of these sites’
physical infrastructure and staff. Visits to NPS historic sites rose from
approximately 59.5 million in 1980 to almost 112 million in 2018. Throughout
this time period, visits to historic sites constituted approximately a third of
total NPS recreational visitation. Since hitting a recent low in visits in 1995,
total visits to historic sites of all types increased 58% to a high of 120.3
million in 2016, before falling 7%, to 111.9 million visits in 2018. Much of the
recent growth in visits to historic sites occurred among parks classified as
national memorials and was driven by a particularly high level of visitation at
sites that did not exist in 1995, such as the Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Memorial (3.3 million visitors in 2018), the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
(3.6 million visitors), and the World War II Memorial (4.7 million visitors). As a
result, visits to national memorials increased more than 300% from 1995 to
2016, even as the number of sites increased just 26% (from 23 to 29). In
comparison, visits to national monuments increased only 3%, even as the
number of sites in the category increased by 9% (from 64 to 70). From 2016
to 2018, the number of visits fell in every category, with the largest decline
occurring at the memorial sites (down 10%), and the smallest drop at
national monuments (3%).

On the basis of your understanding of the given passage, answer ANY TEN
questions from the twelve that follow. (1x10=10)

(a) Which of the following is NOT a common form of public engagement with
the humanities ?

(i) visiting art museums

(ii) using libraries

(iii) historic site visitation

(iv) visiting public memorials

(b) Which age group had a higher rate of visitation to historic sites in 2017
than 35 years earlier in America ?
(i) 35-44 year-olds
(ii) 45-54 year-olds
(iii) 75 or more year-olds
(iv) 25-34 year-olds
(c) After the year 1995, total visits to historic sites of all types increased 58%
in the year .......... . (i) 2015
(ii) 2016
(iii) 2017
(iv) 2018
(d) Which of the following is NOT a historical memorial in America ?
(i) World War II Memorial
(ii) Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
(iii) Lincoln Liberty Memorial
(iv) Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
(e) The number of historical sites visits fell in every category from the year
2016 to the year 2018, with the largest decline occurring at :
(i) the archaeological sites.
(ii) the art museums.
(iii) the memorial sites.
(iv) the national monuments.
(f) Though the visitation rates are converging among the age groups, the
differences by the level of .......... are still pronounced.
(i) employment attainment
(ii) gender category
(iii) international visitation
(iv) educational attainment
(g) The rate of visitation among 25-to-34-year-olds was approximately ..........
points higher than that of the youngest age group i.e. 18-to-24-year-olds.
(i) 11 percentage
(ii) 20 percentage
(iii) 15 percentage
(iv) 7 percentage
(h) Choose an option that is clearly NOT similar in meaning to the word
‘attainment’.
(i) achievement
(ii) realization
(iii) tranquilizing
(iv) obtaining
(i) In earlier years the visitation rate among college graduates was more than
twice as high as the rate among those :
(i) who had a graduate or professional degree.
(ii) who finished their studies with a high school diploma.
(iii) who did not finish high school.
(iv) who were employed individuals.
(j) In America most of the .......... in visitation of historic sites occurred from
the year 2002 to the year 2008.
(i) increase
(ii) decline
(iii) converging
(iv) diverging
(k) Choose an option that lists a statement that is NOT TRUE.
(i) Data from the National Park Service (NPS) only indicate the types of
historic sites visited most.
(ii) In 2017, 28% of American adults reported visiting a historic site in the
previous year.
iii) The recent increases in visitation rates of historical sites were statistically
significant for the 35-44 and 45-54 year-old age groups.
(iv) Visits to historic sites managed by the National Park Service (NPS) were
substantially higher in 2018 than 1980, despite a decline in recent years.
(l) Choose an option that is an antonym of the word ‘classified’.
(i) categorised
(ii) divided
(iii) distribute
(iv) combine