GRE Test 6
1. Give Antonym for the following word: Overweening (a) humble (b) impotent (e) exaggerated (c) avid (d) acrimonious
Solution. (a) Overweening means inflated, arrogant (a) humble means kind (b) impotent means weak (c) avid means greedy, desire (d) acrimonious means bitterness of feeling (e) exaggerated means to speak hyperbolically 2. Give Antonym for the following word: Martial (a) bellicose (b) celibate (e) planetary
(c) divorced
(d) quiescent
Solution. (d) Marital means war like (a) bellicose means war like (b) celibate means unmarried state (c) divorced means severance (d) quiescent means to quiet down, silence (e) planetary means relating to planets Thus (d) is the correct answer. 3. Complete the following sentence with given options : The young man was quickly promoted when his employers saw how ................. he was. (a) indigent (b) indifferent (c) assiduous (d) lethargic (e) cursory
Solution. (c) (a) indigent means impoverished (b) indifference means unconcerned, cold (c) assiduous means unflagging, stable Thus (c) is the correct answer. 4. Complete the following sentence with given options : Harriman, Kennan and Acheson were part of that inner ............... of the American diplomatic establishment whose distinguished legacy ................... U.S. foreign policy. (a) Circle ............ grieved (b) Sanctum ............ absorbed (c) Core ............ dominated (d) Life ............ biased (e) Coterie ............ exacerbated
Solution. (c) (b) Sanctum means private place (e) Coterie is in social circle and exacerbated means make awkward. So, (c) is the correct answer. 5. Give Analogy : Wan : Colour
(a) Enigmatic : Puzzle (c) Insipid : Flavour (e) Enthusiastic : Invigorate
(b) Pallid : Complexion (d) Copulent : Weight
Solution. (b) Analogy wan refers to pale colour. Similarly, pallid refers to pale complexion. So, (b) is the correct answer. 6. Give Analogy : Basement : Attic (a) Nadir : Zenith (d) Apex : Pinnacle
(b) Zenith : Apex (e) Low : Base
(c) Zenith : Root
Solution. (a) Nadir is the lowest point and Zenith is the highest point and can be compared to basement and attic respectively. Thus answer is (a) antonym variant. DIRECTIONS for questions 7 to 9 : Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: The opposite of adaptive divergence is an interesting and fairly common expression of evolution. Whereas related groups of organisms take on widely different characters in becoming adapted to unlike environments in the case of adpative divergence, we find that unrelated groups of organisms exhibit adaptive convergence when they adopt similar modes of life or become suited for special sorts of environments. For example, invertebrate marine animals living firmly attached to the sea bottom or to some foreign object tend to develop a subcylindrical or conical form. This is illustrated by coral individuals, by many sponges, and even by the diminutive tubes of bryozoans. Adaptive convergence in taking this coral-like form is shown by some brachiopods and pelecypods that grew in fixed position. More readily appreciated is the streamlined fitness of most fishes for moving swiftly through water; they have no neck, the contour of the body is smoothly curved so as to give minimum resistance and the chief propelling organ is a powerful tail fin. The fact that some fossil reptiles (ichthyosaurs) and modern mammals (whales, dolphins) are wholly fishlike in form is an expression of adaptive convergence, for these air-breathing reptiles and mammals, which are highly efficient swimmers are not closely related to fishes. Unrelated or distantly related organisms that develop similarity of form are sometimes designated as homeomorphs (having the same form). 7. The author mentions ichthyosaurs and dolphins as examples of : (a) modern mammalian life forms that are aquatic (b) species of slightly greater mobility than brachiopods (c) air-breathing reptiles closely related to fish (d) organisms that have evolved into fish like forms (e) invertebrate and vertebrate marine animals
Solution. (d) is the correct answer. 8. According to the passage, adaptive emergence and adaptive divergence are : (a) manifestations of evolutionary patterns (b) hypothesis unsupported by biological phenomena (c) ways in which plants and animals adjust to a common environment (d) demonstrated by brachiopods and pelecypods (e) compensatory adjustments made in response to unlike environments
Solution. (a) is the correct answer. 9. It can be inferred that in the paragraph immediately preceding this passage the author discussed. (a) marine intelligence (b) adaptive divergence (c) air-breathing reptiles (d) environmental impacts (e) organisms with similar forms
Solution. (b) is the correct answer.
10.
Give Antonym for the following word: Betenoire (a) abominable (b) adorable (e) a brute
(c) charming
(d) horrible
Solution. Betenoire means a person or thing that one dislikes or fears. (a) abominable means to abhor, hate (b) adorable means to love or to worship someone. Thus (b) is the correct answer. 11. Give Antonym for the following word: Conflagration (a) destruction (b) upheavel (e) flagellate
(c) fire
(d) peace
Solution. Conflagration means great burning of fire. (e) flagellate means to whip oneself. Thus, the correct answer is (d). 12. Give Antonym for the following word: Juggernaut (a) irresistible force (b) fanaticism (e) non-chalant
(c) zealot
(d) fervour
Solution. Juggernaut means irresistible force. (b) fanaticism means extreme religious zeal. Thus (e) is the correct answer as it means indifferent to anything. 13. Give Antonym for the following word: Simulacrum (a) original (b) shadow (e) quibble
(c) real
(d) created
Solution. Simulacrum means an image, a likeness. Thus, (a) original is the correct answer. (e) quibble means turning away to non-relevant matter. 14. Complete the following sentence with given options : The management can still hire freely but ............... (a) cannot scold at will (b) cannot scold freely (c) cannot give umbrage (d) cannot scold willfully (e) cannot take decisions to scold
Solution. (a) is the correct answer. 15. Complete the following sentence with given options : Unless there is a ............... between Mohan and his partner, their business will not flourish. (a) meeting of minds (b) improvement of relation (c) honest dealing (d) patch up (e) proximity
Solution. (a) is the correct answer because idiomatically it means close understanding. 16. Give Analogy : Swerve : Veer (a) Rotate : gyrate
(b) Deviate : line
(c) Sway : surrender
(d) Fluctuate : stagnant
(e) Rise : fall down
Solution. (a) Swerve means veer (to change direction, clockwise) rotate means gyrate (circling). Thus, synonym variant. Thus (a) is the correct answer. 17. Give Analogy : Overlook : Abberation (a) Mitigate : Penitence (c) Error : Omission (e) veracity : thief
(b) Condone : Offence (d) Conviction : Criminal
Solution. (b) First is the act of neglecting the second. Thus (b) is the correct answer. DIRECTIONS for questions 18 to 20 : Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: "The emancipation of women", Jame Joyce told one of his friends, "has caused the greatest revolution in our time in the most important relationship there is that between men and women." Other modernists agreed; Virginia Woolf, claiming that in about 1910 "human character changed", and illustrating the new balance between the sexes, urged, "Read the 'Agamemnon' and see whether ........ you sympathies are not almost entirely with Clytemnestra." D.H. Lawrence wrote, "perhaps the deepest fight for 2000 years and more, has been the fight for women's independence." But if modernist writers considered women's revolt against men's domination one of their "greatest" and "deepest" themes, only recently-in perhaps the past 15 years-has literary criticism begun to catch up with it. Not that the images of sexual antagonism that abound in modern literature have gone unremarked; far from it. But what we are able to see in literary works depends on the perspectives we bring to them and now that women enough to make a difference are reforming canons and interpreting literature, the landscapes of literary history and the features of individual books have begun to change. 18. According to the passage, women are changing literacy criticism by (a) noting instances of hostility between men and women (b) seeing literature from fresh points of view (c) reviewing books written by feminists (d) resisting masculine influence (e) all of the above
Solution. (b) is the correct answer. 19. The author quotes James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence primarily in order to show that : (a) there were feminist writers (b) although well-meaning, they were ineffectual (c) modern literature is dependent on women (d) the interest in feminist issues is not new (e) there are feminist writers
Solution. (d) is the correct answer. 20. The author's attitude toward women's emancipation can best be described as one of : (a) ambivalence (b) fervour (c) detachment (d) endorsement (e) empathetic
Solution. (d) (a) ambivalence means contradictory situation. (b) fervour means ardent, zealous. (c) detachment means not related. (d) endorsement means a note of a record.
(e) empathetic means power of entering into the feeling of others. So, (d) is the correct answer where author shows his proclivity. 21. Give Antonym for the following word: Peregrination (a) Imperious (b) Roaming (e) Fixed
(c) Sleeping
(d) Singing
Solution. (e) Peregrination means travelling, wandering. (a) Imperious means superior quality or size. (e) is the correct answer. 22. Give Antonym for the following word: Jinx (a) good luck (b) ill omen (e) sculptor
(c) bad luck
(d) good news
Solution. (a) Jinx means bringer of bad luck. Thus, (a) is the correct answer. 23. Complete the following sentence with given options: Life in modern world is so fast and busy that it is not possible ................ tension. (a) to steer clear of (b) to reduce (c) to minimize (d) to curtail (e) to overpower
Solution. (a) Idiomatically "steer clear of" means to avoid so (a) is the correct answer. 24. Complete the following sentence with given options : Dubey is a ................, I have never seen him merry. (a) Quarrelsome (b) Downbeat (c) A conceited fellow (d) Sad (e) Jocular
Solution. (b) is the correct answer because downbeat means gloomy by nature. 25. Give Analogy : Amorphous : Structureless (a) Uniformity : irregularity (c) Unawareness : knowledge (e) Lassitude : weakness
(b) Energy : enervate (d) Companionship : enemy
Solution. (e) Amorphous means Shapeless, formless, structureless (e) Lassitude is weakness, faintness Thus (synonym variant) (e) is the correct answer. 26. Give Analogy : Nark : Spy (a) Shyster : lawyer (b) Police : thief (e) Idol : worship
(c) Robber : police
(d) Owl : nocturnal
Solution. (a) Nark means policy spy. Shyster means an unscurpulous lawyer. Thus (a) is the correct answer. 27. Give Antonym for the following word: Tipple (a) to drink much (b) to say much
(c) to say less
(d) teetotaller
(e) gorge Solution. (d) Tipple means to drink constantly especially alcohol gorge means to gulp down, eat fast. Thus (d) is the correct answer. Teetotaller means to abstain from alcoholic drinks. 28. Give Antonym for the following word: Resuscitate (a) conscious (b) active (e) alacrity
(c) proceedings
(d) dormant
Solution. (d) Resuscitate means to bring back to life or consciousness. (d) dormant means sleeping, inactive (e) alarcity means briskness. Thus (d) is the correct answer. DIRECTIONS for questions 29 and 30 : Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: In the West's relations with Russia, several recent setbacks confirm a worrying trend. Last month Russia abruptly decided to set new conditions for signing the Partnership for Peace, NATO's co-operative venture with its former enemies in Eastern Europe. Last week Russia's defence minister told Estonia that, if it did not mind its Ps and Qs, Russia troops pulling out of the country might march back in. Other former Soviet republics, from Ukraine to Kirgizstan, are being nudged none too gently towards a tighter Russian embrance. As western gloom about Russia deepens, hopes of a "strategic partnership" have given way to unease that the Russian bear is once more on the prowl. It is time for the West to rethink the limits of its relations with Russia. The hope that post-communist Russia would automatically support the West was always misplaced. Though shorn of the other ex-Soviet republics and some of its military might, Russia was bound to remain a greater power. It has the largest army in Europe, a superpower-sized nuclear arsenal and its own interest to assert. That need not rule out co-operation with the West, as the bad-tempered collaboration in the Balkans has shown, but it will always be tinged with competition. Closer to Russia's border, the problems look more worrying. The upheavals in Russia-from plant to market, from dictatorship to pluralism and from empire to unaccustomed statehood have predictably caused friction with its neighbours, not all of them entirely Russia's fault. Threats by some ex-Soviet countries to disenfranchise or deport resident Russians have needlessly stirred up trouble; civil wars from the Caucasus to Central Asia have given Russia a pretext to interfere; elsewhere self-inflicted economic weakness has forced governments into closer dependence on Russia. But the friction has been magnified by increasingly clumsy Russian efforts to "define" the interest of the 26 m Russians outside the motherland, not just the few in tiny Estonia but also the 11 mn in nuclear-armed Ukraine. Even so, indulgent western governments have mostly turned a blind eye. Some fear that disagreeing with Boris Yeltsin's government will win support for his ultra-nationalist foes. Yet running a blind eye is dangerous. One reason is that Russia has been emboldened, no doubt in part by Western silence, to learn harder on its neighbours. In the biggest of those, Ukraine, the tensions between it and Russia and amongst its own citizens could get explode into violence. That prospect ought to be enough to remind western governments that what Russia claims as its "near abroad" is their not-so-far abroad too. 29. The phrase "mind your Ps and Qs" most probably means (a) 'be on your best behaviour' (b) 'have Patience and do not ask questions' (c) 'if you have problems then ask Questions' (d) 'improve your language to improve relations' (e) mind your language
Solution. (a) The phrase "mind your Ps and Qs" means to be on your best behaviour so the correct answer is (a).
30.
How many countries are actually names in the passage? (a) One (b) Two (c) Three (e) Six
(d) Four
Solution. (d) is the correct answer.