UNSEEN PASSAGE SOLVING (FACTUAL PASSAGE)

 Factual passages: convey information in a straightforward and direct manner about a particular subject. Usually, the language and style are simple and clear. Factual passages may give instructions or descriptions or report of an event or a new finding.

Steps To Attempt Reading Comprehension

The following steps have to be attempt while reading comprehension

• Read each and every line in the Passage carefully. Reading the Passage twice is always favourable as it helps in better understanding and makes it easier for a student to find answers.
• If the title of the Passage is given, read it first as it gives the central insight of the Passage.
• Underline all the difficult words while reading the Passage, as you might be tested on these words in the vocabulary Questions.
• Always give emphasis on the beginning and end of the Passages. These paragraphs often hold the most important information of the Passage.
• While answering be sure that you’ve clearly understood the question. The answer must be relevant to the question.
• Ensure that you answer the question according to the marks it carries. Subjective Questions should be answered in complete sentences.
• Try to use your own language and modify the answer according to the question.
• Answers should be based on the information given/inference derived from the information in the Passage.
• Make sure that you use the same tense in which the question has been asked.
• In MCQ’s analyze the Questions and options carefully before selecting the correct option because some of the four options are often closely related.
• Write the correct question number on each answer sheet to avoid mistakes.

Unseen Passage with Questions answer

Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Factual Unseen Passage 

The outer solar system is the name of the planets beyond the asteroid belt. These planets are called gas giants because they are made up of gas and ice.

The first stop of our tour is the fifth planet, Jupiter. Jupiter is bigger than three hundred Earths! It is made up of hydrogen and helium and a few other gases. There are violent wind storms that circle around Jupiter. The most famous storm is called the Great Red Spot. It has been churning for more than four hundred years already. At last count, Jupiter has sixty-three known moons and a faint ring around it too.

Next in our space neighbourhood comes Saturn. It is well-known for the series of beautiful rings that circle it. They are made up of tiny bits of frozen dirt and ice. Like Jupiter, Saturn is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium. It is smaller though, at only ninety-five times the size of Earth. Saturn has sixty-two moons.

The seventh planet, Uranus and its twenty-seven moons orbit very far from the sun. In addition to helium and hydrogen, Uranus atmosphere also contains ammonia ice and methane ice. It is a very cold planet, with no internal heat source. One of the strangest things about Uranus is that it is tipped over and orbits the sun on its side at a ninety-degree angle. The twenty-seven moons it has orbit from top to bottom, instead of left to right like our moon.

The eighth planet is Neptune. Like Uranus, it is made up of hydrogen, helium, ammonia ice and methane ice. But unlike Uranus, Neptune does have an inner heat source, just like Earth. It radiates twice as much heat as it receives from the sun. Neptune’s most distinctive quality is its blue colour. Most of the information we know about it came from the Voyager 2 spacecraft passing close by it in 1989.

Pluto is the last and was considered a planet after its discovery in 1930. In 2006, Pluto was demoted and reclassified as a dwarf planet. Pluto exists in the Kuiper belt. That’s just a fancy name for the band of rocks, dust and ice that lies beyond the gas giants. Scientists have found objects bigger than Pluto in this belt. Thus, the outer solar system has many secrets to explore.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer thefollowing Questions briefly.
(i) What is the Great Red Spot?
(ii) How small is Saturn as compared to Jupiter?
(iii) Why the moons of Uranus are peculiar?
(iv) What is Neptune’s unique quality which distinguishes it from other ‘gas giants’?
(v) What may have been the reason that in 2006 Pluto was demoted and reclassified as a dwarf planet?
(vi) Why are the planets beyond the asteroid belt called ‘gas giants’?
Answer:
(i) The Great Red Spot is one of the violent wind storms that circle around Jupiter. It has already been churning for more than four hundred years.
(ii) As Jupiter is bigger than three hundred Earths and Saturn is 95 times the size of Earth, Saturn is less than 95/300 or less than 32% smaller than Jupiter.
(iii) The moons of Uranus are peculiar because they orbit the planet from top to bottom instead of left to right like our moon.
(iv) Neptune’s one unique quality which distinguishes it from other ‘gas giants’ is its blue colour.
(v) The probable reason was that scientists had found objects bigger than Pluto in the Kuiper belt.
(vi) The planets beyond the asteroid belt are called ‘gas giants’ because they are made up of gas and ice and are very.large in size than Earth.

(b) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, complete the statements given below by choosing the most appropriate option.
(i) The two gases which make up most of Jupiter and Saturn are
(a) hydrogen and ammonia
(b) hydrogen and methane
(c) hydrogen and helium
(d) None of these
Answer:
(c) hydrogen and helium

(ii) The Kuiper belt is an area of rocks, dust, and ice that
(a) is between Jupiter and Saturn
(b) is beyond Pluto
(c) includes Pluto
(d) surrounds Saturn’s rings
Answer:
(c) includes Pluto

(iii) A synonym of ‘faint’ used in paragraph 2 is
(a) indistinct
(b) slight
(c) muffled
(d) unconscious
Answer:
(a) indistinct

(iv) A synonym of ‘circle’ used in paragraph 3 is
(a) group
(b) rotate
(c) band
(d) surround
Answer:
(d) surround

(v) A synonym of ‘tipped’ used in paragraph 4 is
(a) topped
(b) tilted
(c) poured
(d) presented
Answer:
(b) tilted

(vi) A synonym of ‘passing’ used in paragraph 5 is
(a) travelling
(b) short-lived
(c) adopting
(d) overtaking
Answer:
(a) travelling

Factual Unseen Passage Practice Exercises 

Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Factual Unseen Passage – 1

The Chipko (literally ‘to cling’ in Hindi) movement or Chipko andolan is a social-ecological movement that practises the Gandhian methods of satyagraha and non-violent resistance through the act of hugging trees to protect them from being cut.

The Chipko movement started in the early 1970s in Garhwal with growing resentment towards rapid deforestation. The landmark event in this struggle took place on 26th March, 1974, when a group of peasant women in Reni village, Uttarakhand, acted to prevent the cutting of trees and reclaimed their traditional forest rights that were threatened by the contractor system of the state Forest Department. Their actions inspired hundreds of such actions throughout the region. By the 1980s the movement led to the formulation of people-sensitive forest policies, which put a stop to the cutting of trees in regions as far reaching as the Vindhyas and the Western Ghats.

The first recorded event of Chipko however, took place in village Khejrali, Jodhpur, in 1731, when 363 Bishnois led by Amrita Devi sacrificed their lives while protecting Khejri trees, considered sacred by the community, by hugging them, and braved the axes of loggers sent by the local ruler. Today, it is seen as an inspiration and an originator for Garhwal’s Chipko movement.

Though primarily a livelihood movement rather than a forest conservation movement, it went on to become a rallying point for many future movements all over the world and created a model for non-violent protest. It occurred at a time when there was hardly any environmental movement in the developing world, and its success meant that the world immediately took notice. It inspired many eco-groups by helping to slow down rapid deforestation, increase ecological awareness and demonstrate the possibility of people power. Above all, it stirred up the existing civil society in India, which began to address the issues of tribal and marginalised people. So much so that, a quarter of a century later, ‘India Today’ mentioned the people behind the ‘forest satyagraha of the Chipko movement as amongst the hundred people who shaped India.

Today, it is also being seen increasingly as an eco-feminism movement. Women were its backbone and core because they were the ones most affected by the rampant deforestation, which led to a lack of firewood and fodder as well as drinking and irrigation water. In 1987, the Chipko movement was awarded the Right Livelihood Award.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer thefollowing Questions briefly.
(i) What was the landmark event in Garhwal’s Chipko movement?
(ii) What did the Chipko movement ultimately lead to?
(iii) What event in history was an inspiration for Garhwal’s Chipko movement?
(iv) Why was the Chipko movement awarded the Right Livelihood Award?
(v) Which word in paragraph 4 means the same as ‘attend to’?
(vi) Which word in paragraph 5 is the antonym of‘afforestation’?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, complete the statements given below by choosing the most appropriate option.
(i) Practitioners of the Chipko movement
(a) are fond of Gandhiji
(b) live in cities
(c) cut trees to prevent hugging
(d) hug trees to prevent their cutting

(ii) They are counted amongst the hundred people that shaped India because they tribals and marginalised people.
(a) hid
(b) highlighted
(c) trivialised
(d) didn’t believe in

(iii) They followed the ideals of.
(a) violence and boycott
(b) boycott and strikes
(c) non-violence and satyagraha
(d) armed protest

(iv) Today it is seen as an eco-feminism movement because
(a) women were its backbone and core
(b) women want their voting rights
(c) women wanted firewood
(d) it was eco-friendly

(v) A synonym of ‘endangered’ used in paragraph 2 is
(a) resentment
(b) struggled
(c) risked
(d) threatened

(vi) A word meaning ‘holding tightly in the arms’ used in paragraph 3 is
(a) protecting
(b) hugging
(c) squeezing
(d) clinging

Factual Unseen Passage  – 2

There’s no concept of good or bad food in nutrition science. What matters is the amount of food you consume, something that can be measured in terms of portion or size of serving. Portions and sizes vary from country to country and community to community. Large portions are commonly consumed in the advanced economies while smaller size portions are found mostly in developing economies of Africa and Asia.

Incidentally, portion sizes have undergone a considerable change over the years and continue to do so even today. The trend, in general, has been towards consuming larger and larger food portions (expanding waisdines are proof of this). The human mind seems to count the number of portions rather than the portion size. For example, when people say they have only one chapatti for lunch or dinner, they rarely discuss its size.

Short-term studies have also shown that people eat more when confronted with larger portion sizes. A study at a restaurant setting showed that when pasta was served in different portion sizes on different days, people ate larger amounts on being served larger portions, regardless of the taste. Also, studies show that people do not adjust or eat less in subsequent meals if they have already had larger portions.

Technically a portion means the amount of food you choose to eat at one time – at a restaurant, from a package, or at home. A ‘serving’ size indicates the calories and nutrients in a certain serving listed under a product’s ‘nutrition facts’ or a single unit or commonly regarded unit of food. The serving size is not the recommended amount to be eaten.

Sometimes, the portion size and serving size match; sometimes they don’t. For example, one slice of bread equals one serving of bread. But the number of slices you eat would be the number of portions you have eaten, so if you have eaten two slices, you have consumed two portions.

So how do we recognise what’s the right amount of food to eat on a regular basis? Learn to recognise standard serving sizes as they help you judge how much you are eating. It may also help to compare serving sizes to common objects.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer the following Questions briefly.
(i) What does nutrition science believe in?
(ii) What do expanding waistlines prove?
(iii) What is the difference between a ‘portion’ and a ‘serving’?
(iv) What two facts about people’s eating habits have studies shown?
(v) Which word in paragraph 1 is the synonym of ‘eaten’?
(vi) Which word in paragraph 3 is the antonym of ‘avoided’?

(b) Onthe basis ofyour readingofthePassage, answer the following Questions by choosingthe most appropriate option.
(i) How do portions and sizes vary?
(a) From country to country
(b) From community to community
(c) From developed economies to developing economies
(d) All of the above

(ii) What do people do in subsequent meals after they consume large portion sizes for one meal?
(a) They skip the next meal
(b) They eat less in the next meal
(c) They do not eat less in subsequent meals
(d) They count the calories they have consumed

(iii) What is the recommended amount of food to be eaten?
(a) It is the portion size and not the serving size
(b) It is the serving size and not the portion size
(c) It is measured in terms of slices of bread
(d) It is to be decided by the individual

(iv) What is the technical meaning of a ‘portion’?
(a) The recommended amount of that particular food to be eaten at one time
(b) The amount of calories in the food you choose to eat at one time
(c) The amount of nutrition in the food you choose to eat at one time
(d) The amount of food you choose to eat at one time.

(v) What does the word ‘regarded’ mean in paragraph 4?
(a) esteemed
(b) considered
(c) contemplated
(d) studied

(vi) Which word in paragraph 6 means the same as ‘normal’?
(a) standard
(b) typical
(c) established
(d) right

Factual Unseen Passage – 3

Last week was spent glued to TV, watching India getting thrashed by a rejuvenated England at Lord’s. Like most Indians, I too was dispirited by India’s inability to live up to its reputation as the number one team. But at least there was the immense satisfaction of watching the match live and even listening to BBC’s good-humoured Test Match Special on Internet radio.

It was such a change from my schooldays when you had to tune in to a crackling short wave broadcast for intermittent radio commentary. Alternatively, we could go to the cinema, some three weeks after the match, to see a two-minute capsule in the Indian News Review that preceded the feature film.

It is not that there was no technology available to make life a little more rewarding. Yet, in 1971, when BS Chandrasekhar mesmerised the opposition and gave India its first Test victory at the Oval, there was no TV, except in Delhi.

Those were the bad old days of the shortage economy when everything, from cinema tickets to two-wheelers, had a black market premium. Telephones were a particular source of exasperation. By the 1970s, the telephone system in cities had collapsed. You may have possessed one of those heavy, black bakelite instruments but there was no guarantee of a dial tone when you picked up the receiver. The ubiquitous ‘cable fault’ would render a telephone useless for months on end.

What was particularly frustrating was that there was precious little you could do about whimsical public services. In the early 1980s, when opposition MPs complained about dysfunctional telephones, the then Communications Minister CM Stephen retorted that phones were a luxury and not a right. If people were dissatisfied, he pronounced haughtily, they could return their phones.

Inefficiency was, in fact, elevated into an ideal. When capital-intensive public sector units began running into the red, the regime’s economists deemed that their performance shouldn’t be judged by a narrow capitalist yardstick.

The public sector, they pronounced, had to exercise ‘social’ choices. ‘India’, wrote Jagdish Bhagwati (one of the few genuine dissidents of that era), “suffered the tyranny of anticipated consequences from the wrong premises.”

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer the following Questions briefly.
(i) About what was the author satisfied, even though India lost to England at Lord’s?
(ii) What were the options for Indians to watch or listen about cricket matches in England during the author’s schooldays?
(iii) What example does the author give to justify his statement about ‘whimsical public services’?
(iv) How did the government’s economists justify the losses in the public sector units?
(v) Which word in paragraph 1 is the synonym of ‘tremendous’?
(vi) Which word in paragraph 2 means the same as ‘condensed version’?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, complete the statements given below by choosing the most appropriate option.
(i) The narrator felt dispirited as his team
(a) was the number one team of the world
(b) could not perform as per people’s expectations
(c) could not play even 100 overs
(d) performed like professionals

(ii) BS Chandrasekhar played a crucial role in making India register
(a) its complaint to the match referee
(b) itself as a Test playing team
(c) its first Test win at the Oval
(d) its humiliating loss at the Oval

(iii) Telephones were a source of exasperation because
(a) cable faults made telephones unusable
(b) the telephone system in cities had collapsed
(c) the telephone instruments were heavy
(d) there was no guarantee of a dial tone when you picked up the receiver

(iv) The author calls his schooldays as ‘bad old days’because
(a) almost everything had a black market premium
(b) things were too costly
(c) his teachers would not distribute anything under welfare schemes
(d) he could not get a handsome amount of pocket money

(v) The word in paragraph 2 which means the same as ‘occurring at intervals’is
(a) ubiquitous
(b) exasperation
(c) mesmerised
(d) intermittent

(vi) In paragraph 6, the word is the antonym of ‘lowered’.
(a) promoted
(b) denigrated
(c) elevated
(d) deemed

Factual Unseen Passage – 4

Dolphins are highly intelligent marine mammals and are part of the family of toothed whales that include Orcas and pilot whales. They are found worldwide, mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. Dolphin colouration varies, but they are generally grey in colour with darker backs than the rest of their bodies. Dolphins consume a variety of prey including fish, squid and crustaceans.

It is difficult to estimate population numbers since there are many different species spanning a large geographic area.

Like bats, dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt, bouncing high pitched sounds off objects, and listening for the echoes. Most species live in shallow areas of tropical and temperate oceans throughout the world. Five species live in the world’s rivers.

Dolphins are well-known for their agility and playful behaviour, making them a favourite of wildlife watchers. Many species will leap out of the water, spy-hop (rise vertically out of the water to view their surroundings) and follow ships, often synchronising their movements with one another. Scientists believe that dolphins conserve energy by swimming alongside ships, a practice known as bow-riding.

Dolphins live in social groups of five to several hundred. They use echolocation to find prey and often hunt together by surrounding a school of fish, trapping them and taking turns swimming through the school and catching fish. Dolphins will also follow seabirds, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish they scare up or discard.

To prevent drowning while sleeping only half of the dolphin’s brain goes to sleep while the other half remains awake so they can continue to breathe.

Dolphins reproduce their kin throughout the year, although in some areas there is a peak in spring and fall. The gestation period is 9 to 17 months depending on the species. When it is time to give birth, the female will distance herself from the pod, often going near the surface of the water. The number of offspring is usually one; twins are rare. As soon as the offspring is born, the mother must quickly take it to the surface so that it can take its first breath.

The baby dolphin will nurse from 11 months to 2 years, and after it is done nursing, it will still stay with its mother until it is between 3 and 8 years old.

Questions
(a) On the basis of your reading of the Passage, answer thefollowing Questions briefly.
(i) What kind of food do dolphins consume?
(ii) What is the habitat of dolphins?
(iii) What actions of dolphins make them favourites of wildlife watchers?
(iv) What is the first action of the mother dolphin when its calf is born?
(v) Which word in paragraph 1 is the antonym of ‘paler’?
(vi) Which word in paragraph 4 is the synonym of ‘confining’?

(b) On the basis of your reading of the above Passage, complete the statements given below by choosing most appropriate option.
(i) Dolphins are mostly found in
(a) deep seas
(b) shallow seas
(c) all kinds of seas
(d) deep rivers

(ii) Dolphins swim alongside ships
(a) to conserve energy
(b) to help ships sail faster
(c) in search of their prey
(d) to attack their prey

(iii) They use echolocation to
(a) find ships in the sea
(b) be with their group
(c) enjoy themselves
(d) find food for themselves

(iv) The dolphin’s brain remains half active while sleeping to
(a) look at its surroundings
(b) save itself from ships
(c) prevent drowning
(d) find its prey

(v) The word ‘agility’ used in paragraph 3 means the same as
(a) slow moving
(b) perfection
(c) quickness
(d) gracefulness

(vi) The word ‘distance’used in paragraph 6 means the same as
(a) far away
(b) withdraw
(c) interval
(d) aloofness