CAT VARC Questions
Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
1. Animals have an interest in fulfilling their basic needs, but also in avoiding suffering, and thus we ought to extend moral consideration.
2. Singer viewed himself as a utilitarian, and presents a direct moral theory concerning animal rights, in contrast to indirect positions, such as welfarist views.
3. He argued for extending moral consideration to animals because, similar to humans, animals have certain significant interests.
4. The event that publicly announced animal rights as a legitimate issue within contemporary philosophy was Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation text in 1975.
5. As such, we ought to view their interests alongside and equal to human interests, which results in humans having direct moral duties towards animals.
Five jumbled up sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), related to a topic, are given below. Four of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd sentence and key in the number of that sentence as your answer.
1. Urbanites also have more and better options for getting around: Uber is
ubiquitous; easy-to-rent dockless bicycles are spreading; battery-powered scooters
will be next.
2. When more people use buses or trains the service usually improves because
public-transport agencies run more buses and trains.
3. Worsening services on public transport, terrorist attacks in some urban metros
and a rise in fares have been blamed for this trend.
4. It seems more likely that public transport is being squeezed structurally as
people’s need to travel is diminishing as a result of smartphones, video-
conferencing, online shopping and so on.
5. There has been a puzzling decline in the use of urban public transport in many
countries in the west, despite the growth in urban populations and rising
employment.
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the
best answer for each question.
Landing in Australia, the British colonists weren’t much impressed with the small-bodied,
slender-snooted marsupials called bandicoots. “Their muzzle, which is much too long, gives
them an air exceedingly stupid,” one naturalist noted in 1805. They nicknamed one type the
“zebra rat” because of its black-striped rump.
Silly-looking or not, though, the zebra rat—the smallest bandicoot, more commonly known
today as the western barred bandicoot—exhibited a genius for survival in the harsh outback,
where its ancestors had persisted for some 26 million years. Its births were triggered by
rainfall in the bone-dry desert. It carried its breath-mint-size babies in a backward-facing
pouch so mothers could forage for food and dig shallow, camouflaged shelters.
Still, these adaptations did not prepare the western barred bandicoot for the colonial-era
transformation of its ecosystem, particularly the onslaught of imported British animals, from
cattle and rabbits that damaged delicate desert vegetation to ravenous house cats that soon
developed a taste for bandicoots. Several of the dozen-odd bandicoot species went extinct,
and by the 1940s the western barred bandicoot, whose original range stretched across much
of the continent, persisted only on two predator-free islands in Shark Bay, off Australia’s
western coast.
“Our isolated fauna had simply not been exposed to these predators,” says Reece Pedler, an
ecologist with the Wild Deserts conservation program.
Now Wild Deserts is using descendants of those few thousand island survivors, called Shark
Bay bandicoots, in a new effort to seed a mainland bandicoot revival. They’ve imported 20
bandicoots to a preserve on the edge of the Strzelecki Desert, in the remote interior of New
South Wales. This sanctuary is a challenging place, desolate much of the year, with one of
the world’s most mercurial rainfall patterns—relentless droughts followed by sudden
drenching floods.
The imported bandicoots occupy two fenced “exclosures,” cleared of invasive rabbits
(courtesy of Pedler’s sheepdog) and of feral cats (which slunk off once the rabbits
disappeared). A third fenced area contains the program’s Wild Training Zone, where two other
rare marsupials (bilbies, a larger type of bandicoot, and mulgaras, a somewhat fearsome
fuzzball known for sucking the brains out of prey) currently share terrain with controlled
numbers of cats, learning to evade them. It’s unclear whether the Shark Bay bandicoots,
which are perhaps even more predator-naive than their now-extinct mainland bandicoot kin,
will be able to make that kind of breakthrough.
For now, though, a recent surge of rainfall has led to a bandicoot joey boom, raising the Wild
Deserts population to about 100, with other sanctuaries adding to that number. There are also
signs of rebirth in the landscape itself. With their constant digging, the bandicoots trap
moisture and allow for seed germination so the cattle-damaged desert can restore itself.
They have a new nickname—a flattering one, this time. “We call them ecosystem engineers,”
Pedler says.
According to the text, the western barred bandicoots now have a flattering name
because they have
Which one of the following statements provides a gist of this passage?
Which one of the following options does NOT represent the characteristics of the
western barred bandicoot?
The text uses the word ‘exclosures’ because Wild Deserts has adopted a measure of
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and
decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Comprehending a wide range of emotions, Renaissance music nevertheless
portrayed all emotions in a balanced and moderate fashion.
Paragraph: A volume of translated Italian madrigals were published in London during
the year of 1588. This sudden public interest facilitated a surge of English Madrigal
writing as well as a spurt of other secular music writing and publication. ___(1)___.
This music boom lasted for thirty years and was as much a golden age of music as
British literature was with Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I. ___(2)___. The rebirth
in both literature and music originated in Italy and migrated to England; the English
madrigal became more humorous and lighter in England as compared to Italy.
Renaissance music was mostly polyphonic in texture. ___(3)___. Extreme use of and
contrasts in dynamics, rhythm, and tone colour do not occur. ___(4)___. The rhythms
in Renaissance music tend to have a smooth, soft flow instead of a sharp, well-defined
pulse of accents.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option
that best captures the essence of the passage.
Certain codes may, of course, be so widely distributed in a specific language
community or culture, and be learned at so early an age, that they appear not to be
constructed – the effect of an articulation between sign and referent – but to be
‘naturally’ given. Simple visual signs appear to have achieved a ‘near-universality’ in
this sense: though evidence remains that even apparently ‘natural’ visual codes are
culture specific. However, this does not mean that no codes have intervened; rather,
that the codes have been profoundly naturalized. The operation of naturalized codes
reveals not the transparency and ‘naturalness’ of language but the depth, the
habituation and the near-universality of the codes in use. They produce apparently
‘natural’ recognitions. This has the (ideological) effect of concealing the practices of
coding which are present.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option
that best captures the essence of the passage.
Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and
motor abilities that dwarf ours. Dogs are able to detect diseases such as cancer and
diabetes and warn humans of impending heart attacks and strokes. Elephants, whales,
hippopotamuses, giraffes, and alligators use low-frequency sounds to communicate
over long distances, often miles. Many animals also display wide-ranging emotions,
including joy, happiness, empathy, compassion, grief, and even resentment and
embarrassment. It’s not surprising that animals share many emotions with us because
we also share brain structures, located in the limbic system, that are the seat of our
emotions.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option
that best captures the essence of the passage.
Cartographers design and create maps to communicate information about phenomena
located somewhere on our planet. In the past, cartographers did not worry too much
about who was going to read their maps. Although some simple “usability” research
was done—like comparing whether circle or bar symbols worked best—cartographers
knew how to make maps. This has changed now, however, due to all kinds of societal
and technological developments. Today, map readers are more demanding—mostly
because of the tools they use to read maps. Cartographers, who are also influenced by
these trends, are now more interested in seeing if their products are efficient,
effective, and appreciated.
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the
best answer for each question.
In the summer of 2022, subscribers to the US streaming service HBO MAX were alarmed to
discover that dozens of the platform’s offerings – from the Covid-themed heist thriller Locked
Down to the recent remake of The Witches – had been quietly removed from the service . . .
The news seemed like vindication to those who had long warned that streaming was more
about controlling access to the cultural commons than expanding it, as did reports (since
denied by the show’s creators) that Netflix had begun editing old episodes of Stranger Things
to retroactively improve their visual effects.
What’s less clear is whether the commonly prescribed cure for these cultural ills – a return to
the material pleasures of physical media – is the right one. While the makers of Blu-ray discs
claim they have a shelf life of 100 years, such statistics remain largely theoretical until they
come to pass, and are dependent on storage conditions, not to mention the continued
availability of playback equipment. The humble DVD has already proved far less resilient, with
many early releases already beginning to deteriorate in quality Digital movie purchases
provide even less security. Any film “bought” on iTunes could disappear if you move to
another territory with a different rights agreement and try to redownload it. It’s a bold new
frontier in the commodification of art: the birth of the product recall. After a man took to Twitter
to bemoan losing access to Cars 2 after moving from Canada to Australia, Apple clarified that
users who downloaded films to their devices would retain permanent access to those
downloads, even if they relocated to a hemisphere where the [content was] subject to a
different set of rights agreements. Thanks to the company’s ironclad digital rights
management technology, however, such files cannot be moved or backed up, locking you into
watching with your Apple account.
Anyone who does manage to acquire Digital Rights Management free (DRM-free) copies of
their favourite films must nonetheless grapple with ever-changing file format standards, not to
mention data decay – the gradual process by which electronic information slowly but surely
corrupts. Only the regular migration of files from hard drive to hard drive can delay the
inevitable, in a sisyphean battle against the ravages of digital time.
In a sense, none of this is new. Charlie Chaplin burned the negative of his 1926 film A Woman
of the Sea as a tax write-off. Many more films have been lost through accident, negligence or
plain indifference. During a heatwave in July 1937, a Fox film vault in New Jersey burned
down, destroying a majority of the silent films produced by the studio.
Back then, at least, cinema was defined by its ephemerality: the sense that a film was as
good as gone once it left your local cinema. Today, with film studios keen to stress the
breadth of their back catalogues (or to put in Hollywood terms, the value of their IPs),
audiences may start to wonder why those same studios seem happy to set the vault alight
themselves if it’ll help next quarter’s numbers.
Which one of the following statements, if true, would best invalidate the main argument of the passage?
Netflix had begun editing old episodes of Stranger Things to retroactively improvetheir visual effects.” What is the
purpose of this example used in the passage?
Which one of the following statements about art best captures the arguments made in the passage?
Which of the following statements is suggested by the sentence “Back then, at least,cinema was defined by its
ephemerality: the sense that a film was as good as gone once it left your local cinema”?
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each
question.
. . . [T]he idea of craftsmanship is not simply nostalgic. . . . Crafts require distinct skills, an all-
round approach to work that involves the whole product, rather than individual parts, and an
attitude that necessitates devotion to the job and a focus on the communal interest. The
concept of craft emphasises the human touch and individual judgment.
Essentially, the crafts concept seems to run against the preponderant ethos of management
studies which, as the academics note, have long prioritised efficiency and consistency. . . .
Craft skills were portrayed as being primitive and traditionalist.
The contrast between artisanship and efficiency first came to the fore in the 19th century
when British manufacturers suddenly faced competition from across the Atlantic as firms
developed the “American system” using standardised parts. . . . the worldwide success of the
Singer sewing machine showed the potential of a mass-produced device. This process
created its own reaction, first in the form of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th
century, and then again in the “small is beautiful” movement of the 1970s. A third crafts
movement is emerging as people become aware of the environmental impact of conventional
industry.
There are two potential markets for those who practise crafts. The first stems from the
existence of consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for goods that are deemed to
be of extra quality. . . . The second market lies in those consumers who wish to use their
purchases to support local workers, or to reduce their environmental impact by taking goods
to craftspeople to be mended, or recycled.
For workers, the appeal of craftsmanship is that it allows them the autonomy to make creative
choices, and thus makes a job far more satisfying. In that sense, it could offer hope for the
overall labour market. Let the machines automate dull and repetitive tasks and let workers
focus purely on their skills, judgment and imagination. As a current example, the academics
cite the “agile” manifesto in the software sector, an industry at the heart of technological
change. The pioneers behind the original agile manifesto promised to prioritise “individuals
and interactions over processes and tools”. By bringing together experts from different teams,
agile working is designed to improve creativity.
But the broader question is whether crafts can create a lot more jobs than they do today.
Demand for crafted products may rise but will it be easy to retrain workers in sectors that
might get automated (such as truck drivers) to take advantage? In a world where products
and services often have to pass through regulatory hoops, large companies will usually have
the advantage.
History also suggests that the link between crafts and creativity is not automatic. Medieval
craft guilds were monopolies which resisted new entrants. They were also highly hierarchical
with young men required to spend long periods as apprentices and journeymen before they
could set up on their own; by that time the innovative spirit may have been knocked out of
them. Craft workers can thrive in the modern era, but only if they don’t get too organised.
The author questions the ability of crafts to create substantial employment opportunities presently because
We can infer from the passage that medieval crafts guilds resembled mass production in that both
Which one of the following statements is NOT inconsistent with the views stated in the passage?
The most recent revival in interest in the crafts is a result of the emergence of all of the following EXCEPT:
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and
decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: The brain isn’t organized the way you might set up your home office or
bathroom medicine cabinet.
Paragraph: ___(1)___. You can’t just put things anywhere you want to. The evolved
architecture of the brain is haphazard and disjointed, and incorporates multiple
systems, each of which has a mind of its own. ___(2)___. Evolution doesn’t design
things and it doesn’t build systems—it settles on systems that, historically, conveyed
a survival benefit. There is no overarching, grand planner engineering the systems so
that they work harmoniously together. ___(3)___. The brain is more like a big, old
house with piecemeal renovations done on every floor, and less like new construction.
There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and
decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.
Sentence: Understanding central Asia’s role helps developments make more sense not
only across Asia but in Europe, the Americas and Africa.
Paragraph: The nations of the Silk Roads are sometimes called ‘developing countries’,
but they are actually some of the world’s most highly developed countries, the very
crossroads of civilization, in advanced states of disrepair. ___(1)___. These countries
lie at the centre of global affairs: they have since the beginning of history. Running
across the spine of Asia, they form a web of connections fanning out in every
direction, routes along which pilgrims and warriors, nomads and merchants have
travelled, goods and produce have been bought and sold, and ideas exchanged,
adapted and refined. ___(2)___ .They have carried not only prosperity, but also death
and violence, disease and disaster. ___(3)___. The Silk Roads are the world’s central
nervous system, connecting otherwise far-flung peoples and places…. ___(4)___. It
allows us to see patterns and links, causes and effects that remain invisible if one
looks only at Europe, or North America.
The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the
best answer for each question.
Oftentimes, when economists cross borders, they are less interested in learning from others
than in invading their garden plots. Gary Becker, for instance, pioneered the idea of human
capital. To do so, he famously tackled topics like crime and domesticity, applying methods
honed in the study of markets to domains of nonmarket life. He projected economics outward
into new realms: for example, by revealing the extent to which humans calculate marginal
utilities when choosing their spouses or stealing from neighbors. At the same time, he did not
let other ways of thinking enter his own economic realm: for example, he did not borrow from
anthropology or history or let observations of nonmarket economics inform his homo
economicus. Becker was a picture of the imperial economist in the heyday of the discipline’s
bravura.
Times have changed for the once almighty discipline. Economics has been taken to task,
within and beyond its ramparts. Some economists have reached out, imported, borrowed, and
collaborated—been less imperial, more open. Consider Thomas Piketty and his outreach to
historians. The booming field of behavioral economics—the fusion of economics and social
psychology—is another case. Having spawned active subfields, like judgment, decision-
making and a turn to experimentation, the field aims to go beyond the caricature of Rational
Man to explain how humans make decisions….
It is important to underscore how this flips the way we think about economics. For
generations, economists have presumed that people have interests—“preferences,” in the
neoclassical argot—that get revealed in the course of peoples’ choices. Interests come before
actions and determine them. If you are hungry, you buy lunch; if you are cold, you get a
sweater. If you only have so much money and can’t afford to deal with both your growling
stomach and your shivering, which need you choose to meet using your scarce savings
reveals your preference.
Psychologists take one look at this simple formulation and shake their heads. Increasingly,
even some mainstream economists have to admit that homo economicus doesn’t always
behave like the textbook maximizer; irrational behavior can’t simply be waved away as extra-
economic expressions of passions over interests, and thus the domain of other disciplines….
This is one place where the humanist can help the economist. If narrative economics is going
to help us understand how rivals duke it out, who wins and who loses, we are going to need
much more than lessons from epidemiological studies of viruses or intracranial stimuli.
Above all, we need politics and institutions. Shiller [the Nobel prize winning economist]
connects perceptions of narratives to changes in behavior and thence to social outcomes. He
completes a circle that was key to behavioral economics and brings in storytelling to make
sense of how perceptions get framed. This cycle (perception to behavior to society) was once
mediated or dominated by institutions: the political parties, lobby groups, and media
organizations that played a vital role in legitimating, representing, and excluding interests. Yet
institutions have been stripped from Shiller’s account, to reveal a bare dynamic of emotions
and economics, without the intermediating place of politics.
In the first paragraph the author is making the point that economists like Becker
We can infer from the passage that the term '‘homo economicus” refers to someone who
The author critiques Schiller’s approach to behavioural economics for
“Times have changed for the once almighty discipline.” We can infer from this statement and the associated
paragraph that the author is being