Factual Passages CUET English

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

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.

Question:  When it is said that “Pluto was demoted and reclassified”, it is meant that
a) Pluto is no longer considered a planet
b) Pluto was categorised as a different kind of planet
c) Pluto was renamed
d) Pluto was removed from our planetary system

Answer: b

Question:  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 the above

Answer: c

Question: According to the passage, our planet is made up of gases and ice. Choose the option that lists the gases not found on the planets mentioned in the passage.
1. Ammonia
2. Methane
3. Oxygen
4. Hydrogen
5. Carbon
a) 1 and 2
b) 2 and 3
c) 3 and 5
d) 3 and 4

Answer: c

Question:  Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that gives the correct sequence of planet in the ascending order of moons.
1. Earth
2. Jupiter
3. Pluto
4. Uranus
5. Saturn
a) 3,1, 4, 5,2
b) 1,3,4 2,5
c) 1,4,3,5,2
d) 4,1,3,5, 2

Answer: a

Question:  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

Question:   ................... is the name of a band of rocks, dust and ice lying beyond Neptune.
a) Asteroid belt
b) Great red Spot
c) Kuiper belt
d) Gas giants

Answer: c

Question: Which of the following options list the planets without any internal heat source?
a) Jupiter and Uranus
b) Earth and Neptune
c) Saturn and Pluto
d) Jupiter and Saturn

Answer: d

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

Answer: a

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

Answer: a

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

Answer: b

Question:  Pick the option showing the correct use of ‘churning’ as used in the passage.
a) Programme-makers seem irresponsibly about churning out violence.
b) The churning, pressing crowds made her feel laustrophobic.
c) I had my driving test that morning and my stomach was churning.
d) Guided by the churning within the planet, the crust of the Earth has been in a constant state of flux.

Answer: c

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

The kingdom of books is as vast as the universe, for there is no corner of it which they have left unexplored. There is no dearth of books on any topic, be it as simple as the composition of sodium nitrate or as intricate as the mechanism of a spacecraft. Books report the fruits of our research in various fields of knowledge, and spread our progressive view on matters which are of vital concern to our fellow beings.
In fact, no single product of human labour has been as helpful to the advancement of civilisation as books, which are written in all languages of the world and are decoratively placed in bookshelves in our homes and tastefully displayed in bookstall and libraries. If to Keats, works of ancient poets like Homer were realms of gold from which he derived much joy as well as inspiration, to the modern lover of books, the labours of all geniuses, including those of Keats, are mines of inestimable intellectual wealth which he goes on exploring for the sake of his mental and spiritual advancement.
There was a time some five centuries back, when books as we know them today did not exist, and when there were few people who could read things written on stuff which certainly was not paper. At that time our ancestors used rocks, pillars and parchment with a view to recording and perpetuating their most important thoughts and achievements in the language they then understood.
Nowadays, the book-producing machinery gives to the works of every great scientific thinker, poet or philosopher the character of permanence, reproduces in attractive forms old and rare manuscripts and caters to the differing tastes of millions of people for whom book-reading is an extremely pleasant, intellectual exercise.
Moreover, the high percentage of literacy, the growth of libraries in towns and villages and the tendency of intellectuals to have their own private collection of useful books, have given birth to a number of big publishing houses with branches in many parts of the world and publications numbering thousands.
In recent years, paperbacks have begun to reveal their attraction for the reading public, and although they have not completely thrown into neglect the hard cover markets, they have appealed to people who would not have thought of buying books not so very long ago. These paperbacks are generally reprints of popular fiction or of established classics or translations from foreign works which are in constant demand at all bookstalls.

Question: For the majority of people, book-reading is ……… .
1. an enjoyable intellectual exercise
2. a boring job
3. not interesting
a) Only 2
b) Only 3
c) Only 1
d) 2 and 3

Answer: c

Question: Books are helpful for …………… .
1. reporting research results
2. spread progressive view on vital matters
3. advancement of civilisation
4. studying for exams
a) 1 and 2
b) 2 and 3
c) 1, 2 and 3
d) Only 4

Answer: c

Question:  Which of the following have contributed to the growth of publishing houses?
a) High literacy
b) Growth of libraries
c) People’s desire to have their own collection
d) All of the above

Answer: d

Question: Which has been one of the most helpful product of human labour to the advancement of civilisation?
a) Books
b) Publishing houses
c) Paper
d) Spacecraft

Answer: a

Question: Popular paperbacks are generally reprints of …… .
a) popular fiction
b) scientific researches
c) spacecraft mechanism
d) non fiction

Answer: a

Question: Which of the following is/are not an advantage of paperbacks?
1. They are easily available.
2. They have overtaken hand cover market.
3. They appeal to people who would not have bought books otherwise.
4. They are durable.
a) 1 and 2
b) 3 and 4
c) Only 3
d) 1, 2 and 4

Answer: d

Question: The book producing machinery has facilitated ....….
a) making printing easy
b) providing permanence to the works of scientists, philosophers and thinkers
c) printing paperbacks
d) None of the above

Answer: b

Question: The word ……… in para 2 means ‘Ornamentally’.
a) Fancifully
b) Tastefully
c) Decoratively
d) None of these

Answer: c

Question: ‘Displeased’ is an antonym of the word ……… in the passage.
a) Appealed
b) Pleased
c) Enjoyed
d) Delighted

Answer: b

Question: The word ……… in the passage is an antonym of ‘Retreat’.
a) Advancement
b) Abandon
c) Backward
d) March

Answer: a

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

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 waistlines 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.

Question: 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

Answer: d

Question: According to the passage, what is central to the concept of nutritional science?
a) Portions and sizes
b) Nutritional value of food
c) Calorie intake
d) Variability of food items

Answer: a

Question: According to the passage, which of the following statements are TRUE?
1. Portion sizes are increasing.
2. Developed economies have larger portions of food.
3. Portion varies from community to community only.
4. People adjust the size of meals regularly.
a) 1 and 2
b) 3 and 4
c) 1 and 3
d) 2 and 4

Answer: d

Question: According to the passage, the problem with human mind is that it
a) counts calories intake
b) does not consider portion size
c) prefers smaller portions
d) wants everything in excess 

Answer: b

Question: What shows that portion sizes are increasing?
a) A survey report
b) A study conducted at a restaurant
c) Expanding waistlines of people
d) Health disorders

Answer: c

Question: 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

Answer: c

Question: According to the data given in the passage, which of the following is NOT CORRECT?
a) Africa and Asia have smaller portions of food.
b) Larger food portions means larger consumptions.
c) After larger food portions are consumed people opt for smaller portions.
d) Portion sizes always match.

Answer: d

Question: The word ‘confronted’ as used in the passage, can be replaced by
a) challenged
b) addressed
c) faced
d) attacked

Answer: c

Question: Pick the option showing the CORRECT use of ‘serving’ as used in the passage.
a) The number of prisoners serving life sentences has fallen.
b) He is eating one serving of pasta.
c) He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.
d) There was only one girl serving customers.

Answer: b

Question: Which of the following words cannot replace regardless as used in the passage?
a) Despite
b) Notwithstanding
c) Whatever
d) Ignoring

Answer: c

Question: 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

Answer: b

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

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.”

Question: 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

Answer: b

Question: 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

Answer: c

Question: How does the passage describe the telephone?
1. Fashionable
2. Unpredictable
3. Faulty
 4. Luxury
5. Whimsical
a) 1,2,3
b) 2,3,4
c) 3,4,5
d) 2 and 3

Answer: d

Question: Which of the following statements is CORRECT as per the passage?
a) The public services needed a revolution in the author’s childhood.
b) There was a great transparency in public services.
c) The author of the passage as a grown up did not have access to technology.
d) The telephone lines were great during the author’s childhood.

Answer: a

Question: 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

Answer: b

Question: 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

Answer: a

Question: The problem with the public services as per the author was
a) inaccountability
b) inefficiency
c) corruption
d) haughtiness

Answer: b

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

Answer: d

Question: Pick the option showing the CORRECT use of ‘whimsical’ as used in the passage.
a) Despite his kind and whimsical air, he was a shrewd observer of people.
b) The whimsical imagery of Martinez’s work plays on colour and shape.
c) Love is whimsical and temperamental.
d) All of the above

Answer: d

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

Answer: c

Question: Which word in the passage means same as ‘Condensed version’ ?
a) Elevated
b) Intermittent
c) Dispirited
d) Rejuvenated

Answer: a

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

A dance which is created or choreographed and performed according to the tenets of the Natya Shastra is called a classical dance. The two broad aspects of classical dancing are the tandava and the lasya. Power and force are typical of the tandava; grace and delicacy, of the lasya. Tandava is associated with Shiva, and lasya with Parvati. Dance which is pure movement is called nritta, and dance which is interpretative in nature is called nritya. The four main schools of classical dancing in India are Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, Manipuri and Kathak.
Bharatanatyam is the oldest and most popular dance form of India. Earlier, it was known by various names. Some called it Bharatam, some Natyam, some Desi Attam and some Sadir. The districts of Tanjore and Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu were the focal points in the development of Bharat Natyam. It was danced as a solo performance by devadasis (temple dancers) on all auspicious occasions. Later, kings and rich people lent their patronage to it and it started shedding its purely sacred character.
The dancer is directed by the natuvanar, who is a musician and, invariably, a teacher. Another musician plays the cymbals. The music for Bharatsnatyam is from the Carnatic School of music. The mridangam (a drum), played on both sides with the hands, provides the rhythm.
The home of Kathakali is Kerala. Kathakali literally means ‘story-play’. It combines music, dance, poetry, drama and mime. Its present form has evolved out of older forms such as Ramanattam and Krishnanattam.
Kathakali dance-dramas last from dusk to dawn. The artistes use elaborate costumes; mask-like make-up and towering head-dresses. The dancers are all males. Female roles are usually played by boys. There is no stage - a few mats are spread on the ground for the audience to sit on. The only ‘stage-lighting’ is a brass lamp fed with coconut oil.
Two singers provide the vocal music. The chenda, a large drum, which is beaten on one side with two slender curved sticks, is an integral part of the Kathakali performance. A metal gong, a pair of cymbals and another drum complete the orchestra. Besides providing the beat, they are also the means by which all the sound-effects are created.

Question: What is the Natya Shastra?
a) A scientific study of classical dance
b) The science of dances
c) Shiva’s sacred thread
d) None of the above

Answer: a

Question: When did Bharat Natyam start shedding its purely sacred character?
a) When the devadasis stopped dancing
b) When it was danced as a solo performance
c) When kings and the rich patronised it
d) When they used Carnatic music

Answer: c

Question: Which of the following lists the elements not present in Kathakali?
1. Drama
2. Costume
3. Mime
4. Stage
5. Dance
6. Tabla
a) 4 and 6
b) 1,2,3
c) 3,4,5
d) 1 and 3

Answer: a

Question: Bharatnatyam is most popular in
a) Kerala
b) Tanjore
c) Kanchipuram
d) Both (b) and (c)

Answer: d

Question: Which two schools of classical dance are described in the passage?
a) Bharatanatyam and Kathak
b) Kathak and Kathakali
c) Bharatanatyam and Kathakali
d) Manipuri and Kathak

Answer: c

Question: In which drama form the dancers are all males?
a) Bharatanatyam
b) Kathakali
c) Desi Attam
d) Lasya

Answer: b

Question: Kathakali, it can be said is a, ……… dance form.
a) male dominated
b) female dominated
c) stage performative
d) street performative

Answer: a

Question: The phrase ‘focal point’ indicates
a) origin
b) popularity
c) teaching center
d) home to popular dancers

Answer: d

Question: The word invariably in the passage denotes
a) the temporary nature
b) the unchanging nature
c) the domination
d) the usual

Answer: b

Question: Pick the option showing the CORRECT use of ‘serving’ as used in the passage.
a) She’s got a beautiful slender figure.
b) A slender hope still flickered within him.
c) These claims are based on slender evidence.
d) The builders have perched a light concrete dome on eight slender columns.

Answer: d

Question: Which of the following words is the synonym of ‘delicacy’ in paragraph 1?
a) Mouth-watering
b) Weakness
c) Difficulty
d) Fineness

Answer: d

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

The power of our body to fight against various disease producing agents is known as defence mechanism. This defence mechanism depends upon various factors which can be categorised mainly into two types-common factors and special factors.
Amongst the common factors, the most important is the health of human beings. For keeping good health, one should take a nutritious balanced diet. A balanced diet is that which contains carbohydrates, fat, proteins, vitamins in proportionate amount.
The skin saves us against many micro-organisms producing diseases, provided that it is intact. In case there are cuts or abrasions on it, the micro-organisms penetrate the body through those cuts and abrasions and can cause diseases. Therefore, a cut or an abrasion should never be left open. In case there is no bandage available, it may be covered by a clean cloth.
Some bacteria reside on and inside the human body. They do not cause any disease and by their presence they do not allow disease-causing organisms to settle on those places. The human body secretes a variety of fluids, which are killers for disease causing micro-organisms. For instance, gastric juice (acidic in nature) secreted by our intestinal tract kills all organisms which enter our body through food.
There are a few automatic activities of our body known as ‘reflex phenomenon or action’, which protects the body against many infections. This reflex phenomenon includes sneezing, coughing and vomiting.
Fever is one of the most important constituents of the defence mechanism of our body. The organ which regulates the temperature of our body is known as hypothalamus and is situated in the brain. When micro-organisms after entering the body release toxic products and these reach the brain through blood, the hypothalamus starts increasing the temperature of the body and the person gets fever.
This fever is very useful for the human body because due to the increase of temperature, the micro-organisms which are the root cause of the problem get killed. We are living in an environment which is full of bacteria. Many of these bacteria can produce serious diseases, but all of us do not suffer from such diseases. It is due to a special power present in our body to fight these diseases, known as innate immunity.
In a nutshell, we can say that since nature has provided us with defence mechanism to fight against so many diseases, let us maintain it or rather increase it by way of immunisation.

Question: One should have a nutritious balanced diet to ........ .
1. keep healthy
2. ensure that recommendations of a dietician are followed
3. have essential items
4. enjoy all tastes
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 2 and 3
d) Only 4

Answer: a

Question: The defence mechanism of the human body ….… .
a) checks body deterioration
b) ensures wear and tear of the body
c) saves us from depression
d) protects us from diseases

Answer: d

Question: The power of our body to fight against various diseases producing agents is called ……… .
a) defence mechanism
b) health
c) immunisation
d) fever

Answer: a

Question: Why should a cut or abrasion never be left open?
1. It causes pain.
2. It causes itching.
3. Micro-organisms penetrate the body and can cause disease.
4. It grows deeper.
a) Only 1
b) Both 1 and 2
c) Only 3
d) Only 4

Answer: c

Question: Reflex phenomenon includes ……… .
a) sneezing
b) coughing
c) vomiting
d) All of these

Answer: d

Question: Which of the following statements is/are NOT TRUE as per the passage.
1. Hypothalamus is situated in liver.
2. The power to fight the diseases is called innate immunity.
3. Fever is one of the most important constituents of our defence mechanism.
4. We should never increase our defence mechanism by immunisation.
a) Both 1 and 4
b) Both 2 and 3
c) Only 2
d) Only 3

Answer: a

Question: Few automatic activities of our body are known as ……… .
a) immunity
b) defence mechanism
c) reflex action
d) balanced diet

Answer: c

Question: The word ‘balanced diet’ in para 2 means ……… .
a) fair
b) equitable
c) varied type of food having nutritious value
d) stable

Answer: c

Question: Pick the option showing the CORRECT use of the word ‘abrasion’.
a) The abrasion is slow and steady.
b) Nutan had a small abrasion on her knee.
c) Abrasions are for one and all.
d) I like abrasion very much.

Answer: b

Question: The word .............. in para 6 means the same as poisonous.
a) serious
b) toxic
c) immunity
d) regulates

Answer: b

Question: The word ‘innate’ means ………… .
a) instinctive
b) intuitive
c) inborn
d) acquired

Answer: c