Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly or with tropical luxuriance, ad the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranthus ten feet high. A year later the same species in the same place matured in the drought at four inches. Seldom does the desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect, so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in mean temperatures, Very fertile are the desert plants in expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs, exuding thick gum, It rools up dunes about the stocky stems, encompassing and protective, and above the dunes, which may be, ad with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.

What stops the desert floras from performing their duty well?

• The desert animals

• The rain

• The desert sand

• The people who pluck them

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly or with tropical luxuriance, ad the rain admits. It is recorded in the report of the Death Valley expedition that after a year of abundant rains, on the Colorado desert was found a specimen of Amaranthus ten feet high. A year later the same species in the same place matured in the drought at four inches. Seldom does the desert herb attain the full stature of the type. Extreme aridity and extreme altitude have the same dwarfing effect, so that we find in the high Sierras and in Death Valley related species in miniature that reach a comely growth in mean temperatures, Very fertile are the desert plants in expedients to prevent evaporation, turning their foliage edge-wise toward the sun, growing silky hairs, exuding thick gum, It rools up dunes about the stocky stems, encompassing and protective, and above the dunes, which may be, ad with the mesquite, three times as high as a man, the blossoming twigs flourish and bear fruit.

The mesquite is a ..................

• a sand dune

• a desert flora

• a type of desert animal

• a tribe of people

Four alternatives are given for the idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

A close-fisted man does not know the significance of human life.

• A rich man

• A poor man

• An ill-mannered man

• A miser

Four alternatives are given for the idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

He's as daft as a brush. Don't believe a word of what he says.

• unreliable

• a liar

• very funny

• really silly

Four alternatives are given for the idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

I and my friend always go Dutch when we eat out.

• go together

• drive together

• divide the costs

• pay for each other's meal

Four alternatives are given for the idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

I hope you will back me at the meeting.

• support

• criticise

• speak after I do

• follow

Four alternatives are given for the idiom/Phrase underlined in the sentence. Choose the alternative which best expresses the meaning of the idiom/phrase.

I shall always remember my alma mater with gratitude.

• teacher who inspired me

• mother's loving care

• kindergarten days

• institution where I got education

A sentence/a part of the sentence is underlined. Below are given alternatives to the underlined part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is needed choose 'No improvement'.

The notorious criminal went to the police to go to prison.

• submitted to the police

• surrendered himself before the police

• gave himself up for the police

• No improvement

169.

A sentence/a part of the sentence is underlined. Below are given alternatives to the underlined part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is needed choose 'No improvement'.

He is somehow tall for his age.

• rather

• much

• many

• No improvement

A sentence/a part of the sentence is underlined. Below are given alternatives to the underlined part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative. In case no improvement is needed choose 'No improvement'.

We do not believe in a dual policy of the company.

• in these dual

• on these dual

• in this dual

• No improvement