Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct sequence for the following passage:
I am wearing for the first time some (i)______ that I have never been able to wear for long at a time, as they are horribly tight. I usually put them on just before giving a lecture. The painful pressure they exert on my feet goads my oratorical capacities to their utmost. This sharp and overwhelming pain makes me sing like a nightingale or like one of those Neapolitan singers who also wear (ii) _______ that are too tight. The visceral physical longing, the overwhelming torture provoked by my (iii)_______, forces me to extract from words distilled and sublime truths, generalized by the supreme inquisition of the pain my (iv) _______suffer.
Fill in the blanks by choosing the correct sequence for the following passage:
I am wearing for the first time some (i)______ that I have never been able to wear for long at a time, as they are horribly tight. I usually put them on just before giving a lecture. The painful pressure they exert on my feet goads my oratorical capacities to their utmost. This sharp and overwhelming pain makes me sing like a nightingale or like one of those Neapolitan singers who also wear (ii) _______ that are too tight. The visceral physical longing, the overwhelming torture provoked by my (iii)_______, forces me to extract from words distilled and sublime truths, generalized by the supreme inquisition of the pain my (iv) _______suffer.
Show Hint
(i) patent-leather belt (ii) belts (iii) patent-leather belt (iv) waist
(i) patent-leather shoes (ii) bands (iii) patent-leather bands (iv) wrist
(i) patent-leather shoes (ii) shoes (iii) patent-leather shoes iv) feet
(i) patent-leather jacket (ii) jacket (iii) patent-leather jacket (iv) body
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Context analysis. The passage speaks of something "horribly tight" that exerts pressure on the feet. Hence, the item must be shoes, not belts, jackets, or bands.
Step 2: Matching the blanks. - (i) "I am wearing for the first time some (i) ______" $\Rightarrow$ only shoes fit the description, as belts/jackets aren't worn on feet.
- (ii) "like those singers who also wear (ii) ______ that are too tight" $\Rightarrow$ again, shoes are logical.
- (iii) "the overwhelming torture provoked by my (iii) ________" $\Rightarrow$ the pain is caused by shoes.
- (iv) "the pain my (iv) _________ suffer" $\Rightarrow$ feet suffer from tight shoes.
Step 3: Elimination of wrong options. - (A) Belt/waist: doesn't match the reference to feet.
- (B) Bands/wrist: irrelevant.
- (D) Jacket/body: no link to feet.
Therefore, the only consistent sequence is option (C):
\[ \boxed{(i)\ \text{patent-leather shoes},\ (ii)\ \text{shoes},\ (iii)\ \text{patent-leather shoes},\ (iv)\ \text{feet}} \]
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
Read the extract and complete the activities given below :
I spent 32 years in Information Technology out of which I was a Chief Executive Officer or MDorthe software head for 23 years for large global multinational software companies with thousands of software professionals worldwide and 6 offices in the US, 3 in Europe, 1 in Japan and 1 in Australia. I had to travel all over the globe around 150 times for business. During this period, I had also written 4 books with 500-700 pages each on Information Technology published by Tata McGraw-Hill and then translated into Chinese for global distribution.
I learnt a lot of things when I was running these large companies. The first one was the importance of team work. In today’s world, nothing is possible without team work. You cannot be successful if you are a loner and an egoistic person. Secondly, you need to lead from the front by setting a good example in front of your staff. Third was that you need to treat your subordinates and your colleagues as friends. In my career, I made a few mistakes, but learnt a lot about motivation, being a good listener, target setting and the art of delegation which forms such an important part of today’s management.
After working for all these software companies for so many years, I wanted to retire from my line of work and write on various subjects concerning human life and existence. Therefore, I gave up two offers of around 3 crore rupees per annum to become a writer. This is how my second innings as a writer in Marathi began.
After this, I have written about 34 books in Marathi. Most of them have become bestsellers with tens of thousands of copies sold for each. However it is not sales or the money that is important to me as much as the fact that these books have brought about very good changes in the lives of thousands of readers.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Change is the only constant and disruptive technologies are only quickening its pace. “I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life. Never has the pace of change been as high as it is today. Today, we are facing a large number of disruptive forces, especially those caused by technology,” Nilekani said. He shared the example of the iPhone, which is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. “What we have seen in the past 10 years is a complete change in the balance of technology from serving the enterprise to serving the consumer. Today, when you look at the leading companies in the world by Market Capitalisation, they are all companies that service consumers like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and so on. This is because the balance of power has shifted to consumer technology,” He said. The constant change will require constant learning and relearning. The core message from Nilekani therefore was: Lifetime learning. “The good news is that you have got degree from IIT Madras. The not so good news is that you can’t stop learning. You will have to keep learning for the rest of your life because we are now entering an era of lifelong learning,” he said. And by life-long learning, he didn’t mean “going to a campus and have fun for five years.” It will be learning in short bursts, any time learning, anywhere learning. It’s going to be just in time learning. A lot of it will even be online learning.
This need for constant learning and relearning will come because of our collective inability to predict the kind of jobs that will be done in future or the kind of organisations that people will be working for in future. The high rate of automation in the jobs will have an impact on the way jobs are done. We have seen in the past that technology has made repetitive jobs go away as computers became more and more powerful. In the past 10-15 years, you are seeing the rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning. And increasingly, in the last 5-6 years, you are seeing the rise of deep learning, which allows you to use a new kind of technology called neural networks that can make computers smarter and smarter.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer.- Maharashtra Class XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Early rising leads to health and happiness. The man who rises late, can have little rest in the course of the day. Anyone who lies in bed late is compelled to work till a late hour in the evening. He has to do without the evening exercise which is so necessary for his health. In spite of all his efforts his work will not produce as good results as that of the early riser. The reason for this is that he cannot take advantage of the refreshing hours of the morning. Some people say that the quiet hour of midnight is the best time for working. Several great thinkers say that they can write best only when they burn the midnight oil. Yet it is true to say that few men have a clear brain at midnight when the body needs rest and sleep. Those who work at that time, soon ruin their health. Bad health must, in the long run, have a bad effect on the quality of their work.
What is the effect of health on one's work?- UP Board XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Early rising leads to health and happiness. The man who rises late, can have little rest in the course of the day. Anyone who lies in bed late is compelled to work till a late hour in the evening. He has to do without the evening exercise which is so necessary for his health. In spite of all his efforts his work will not produce as good results as that of the early riser. The reason for this is that he cannot take advantage of the refreshing hours of the morning. Some people say that the quiet hour of midnight is the best time for working. Several great thinkers say that they can write best only when they burn the midnight oil. Yet it is true to say that few men have a clear brain at midnight when the body needs rest and sleep. Those who work at that time, soon ruin their health. Bad health must, in the long run, have a bad effect on the quality of their work.
Why do some thinkers burn the midnight oil?- UP Board XII - 2025
- English
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in GATE XH- C3 exam
The 12 musical notes are given as \( C, C^\#, D, D^\#, E, F, F^\#, G, G^\#, A, A^\#, B \). Frequency of each note is \( \sqrt[12]{2} \) times the frequency of the previous note. If the frequency of the note C is 130.8 Hz, then the ratio of frequencies of notes F# and C is:
- Had I learnt acting as a child, I ________ a famous film star.
Select the most appropriate option to complete the above sentence. Here are two analogous groups, Group-I and Group-II, that list words in their decreasing order of intensity. Identify the missing word in Group-II.
Abuse \( \rightarrow \) Insult \( \rightarrow \) Ridicule
__________ \( \rightarrow \) Praise \( \rightarrow \) Appreciate
- A car started from city P at 9:40 AM. The time taken for the car to reach city Q is 4 hours and 50 minutes. The time of arrival of the car at city Q is:
- Consider a square field ABCD. The diagonal AC is 50 meter. The cost of laying grass in the field is Rs. 5 per square-meter. The total cost for laying grass in the field ABCD is Rs. ________ (rounded off to two decimal places).