Comprehension
I am the family face; flesh perishes. I live on, projecting trait and trace through time to times anon, and leaping from place to place over oblivion.
So wrote Thomas Hardy in his poem, Heredity, describing direct descent of life from one generation to the next. Indeed, the poem reflects the DNA in our genome. Dr.Drew Endy of MIT quoted this when he described how people at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) bypass nature’s constraint of direct descent. Scientists there have used chemistry and biochemistry to produce the first synthetic genome in the laboratory. They chemically synthesized many fragments of the DNA, encoding the 582,970-units-long genome of a bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium. Next, they assembled these fragments in perfect order to generate the genome of the bacterium.
The DNA sequence of the synthetic one was confirmed to be identical to the natural one. While the DNA pieces were synthesized chemically, the stitching together was done using the biochemical machinery of a host cell. About 100 pieces of the genome, each 5000-7000 units long in DNA sequence, were first joined to produce 25 sub-assemblies, each about 24000 base pairs long. These were then introduced into the bacterium E. coli to produce sufficient DNA for the next steps. Next, they repeated the procedure to generate large fragments comprising l/4th of the whole genome of M.genitalium.
Now, they used the clever trick of exploiting the process called homologous recombination. This is a basic essential process in every cell, which physically rearranges the two strands of DN The JCVI researchers inserted the synthesized DNA fragments into yeast and utilized its homologous recombination ability to generate the whole 580,000 long genome of M.genitalium in one step.
This is clearly a landmark work that leads into the brave new world of synthesizing life itself in the laboratory. It was hardly 200 years ago when Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea, an organic molecule, in the chemical laboratory, thus throwing out the notion of ‘vital forces’ involved in the components of living organisms. What is the next step, making life itself in the lab, bypassing nature? With single cell organisms like M.genitalium, it might not be far away. It is now possible in the lab to do so, by inserting the genome into a ‘host’ cell and asking the latter to make the bacterium of your choice. If only we find a way to insert the bacterial genome into this proto-cell, and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself! We would have chemically created life in the la This is not a pipedream; JCVI scientists are already on the job, and my bet is they will do it within a few years.
This surely raises ethical questions, a matter that JCVI is keenly aware of and is already engaged in with ethicists. Even their present work on M.genitalium was done with prior approval of ethical experts. But then, today it is M.genitalium, tomorrow it could be a more advanced, multi-cellular organism, and that could flummox even the ethicist. Assisted reproduction, which is the other side of the coin and truly a recently initiated technology, has become ethically and morally acceptable. Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has not raised any outrage, but cloning a human certainly does.
So wrote Thomas Hardy in his poem, Heredity, describing direct descent of life from one generation to the next. Indeed, the poem reflects the DNA in our genome. Dr.Drew Endy of MIT quoted this when he described how people at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) bypass nature’s constraint of direct descent. Scientists there have used chemistry and biochemistry to produce the first synthetic genome in the laboratory. They chemically synthesized many fragments of the DNA, encoding the 582,970-units-long genome of a bacterium called Mycoplasma genitalium. Next, they assembled these fragments in perfect order to generate the genome of the bacterium.
The DNA sequence of the synthetic one was confirmed to be identical to the natural one. While the DNA pieces were synthesized chemically, the stitching together was done using the biochemical machinery of a host cell. About 100 pieces of the genome, each 5000-7000 units long in DNA sequence, were first joined to produce 25 sub-assemblies, each about 24000 base pairs long. These were then introduced into the bacterium E. coli to produce sufficient DNA for the next steps. Next, they repeated the procedure to generate large fragments comprising l/4th of the whole genome of M.genitalium.
Now, they used the clever trick of exploiting the process called homologous recombination. This is a basic essential process in every cell, which physically rearranges the two strands of DN The JCVI researchers inserted the synthesized DNA fragments into yeast and utilized its homologous recombination ability to generate the whole 580,000 long genome of M.genitalium in one step.
This is clearly a landmark work that leads into the brave new world of synthesizing life itself in the laboratory. It was hardly 200 years ago when Friedrich Wohler synthesized urea, an organic molecule, in the chemical laboratory, thus throwing out the notion of ‘vital forces’ involved in the components of living organisms. What is the next step, making life itself in the lab, bypassing nature? With single cell organisms like M.genitalium, it might not be far away. It is now possible in the lab to do so, by inserting the genome into a ‘host’ cell and asking the latter to make the bacterium of your choice. If only we find a way to insert the bacterial genome into this proto-cell, and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself! We would have chemically created life in the la This is not a pipedream; JCVI scientists are already on the job, and my bet is they will do it within a few years.
This surely raises ethical questions, a matter that JCVI is keenly aware of and is already engaged in with ethicists. Even their present work on M.genitalium was done with prior approval of ethical experts. But then, today it is M.genitalium, tomorrow it could be a more advanced, multi-cellular organism, and that could flummox even the ethicist. Assisted reproduction, which is the other side of the coin and truly a recently initiated technology, has become ethically and morally acceptable. Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has not raised any outrage, but cloning a human certainly does.
Question: 1
Why does the author refer to Thomas Hardy’s poem?
Why does the author refer to Thomas Hardy’s poem?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- To estimate the role played by direct properties attributable to one’s parentage
- To underline the significance of the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next
- To emphasize the importance of the total of inherited attributes that rarely come by natural descent
- To highlight the purpose of genetic endowment which can traced through the family face
- To evaluate the function of genes that are seldom present among the descendants of one individual
Show Solution
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (B):
To underline the significance of the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next
The correct answer is "To underline the significance of the biological process whereby genetic factors are transmitted from one generation to the next".
The question asks *why* the author mentions Thomas Hardy's poem. The purpose of referencing an external work like a poem is usually to illustrate, support, or expand upon a point being made by the author. In the context of genetics and inheritance, a poem that likely discusses familial traits or resemblances would be used to highlight the process of how genetic information moves from parents to offspring. The other options are incorrect because they focus on aspects that are not the primary focus of inheritance. For instance, estimating the *role* of properties or emphasizing *importance* of the total of inherited attributes are related, but less specific to the core biological process itself. Highlighting the *purpose* or evaluating the *function* of genes are similar, but lack the direct reference to the generational transmission. The poem likely portrays how traits are passed down, making the correct answer the one that most closely describes that fundamental concept.
The question asks *why* the author mentions Thomas Hardy's poem. The purpose of referencing an external work like a poem is usually to illustrate, support, or expand upon a point being made by the author. In the context of genetics and inheritance, a poem that likely discusses familial traits or resemblances would be used to highlight the process of how genetic information moves from parents to offspring. The other options are incorrect because they focus on aspects that are not the primary focus of inheritance. For instance, estimating the *role* of properties or emphasizing *importance* of the total of inherited attributes are related, but less specific to the core biological process itself. Highlighting the *purpose* or evaluating the *function* of genes are similar, but lack the direct reference to the generational transmission. The poem likely portrays how traits are passed down, making the correct answer the one that most closely describes that fundamental concept.
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Question: 2
What did the scientists at JCVI do?
What did the scientists at JCVI do?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- They circumvented nature’s constraint of direct descent
- They bypassed nature’s laws and produced a natural gene
- They invented an imperishable gene which is synthetic in nature
- They ignored the theory of inheritance and created an intrinsic gene
- They produced a gene which can be preserved permanently
Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (A):
They circumvented nature’s constraint of direct descent
The correct answer, "They circumvented nature's constraint of direct descent," best describes the work of scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). The term "circumvented" means to overcome or bypass a restriction. In this context, it refers to the scientists' ability to create synthetic life. Nature's constraint of direct descent refers to the usual process of inheritance where offspring inherit genes from their parents. By creating a synthetic genome and inserting it into a cell, JCVI scientists essentially bypassed the need for this direct descent, creating a new life form from scratch.
Let's look at why the other options are incorrect:
* "They bypassed nature’s laws and produced a natural gene": While they worked with natural genetic code, the gene they created was synthetic, not naturally occurring in the traditional sense. Furthermore, scientists do not necessarily bypass "laws" of nature, but use the understanding of those laws to achieve a desired outcome.
* "They invented an imperishable gene which is synthetic in nature": The term "imperishable" is not accurate. While the synthetic gene they created may be durable, it is not inherently designed to be indestructible or live forever.
* "They ignored the theory of inheritance and created an intrinsic gene": The scientists did not ignore the theory of inheritance; they understood it very well. Their work built upon and expanded our understanding of genetics and inheritance. The term "intrinsic gene" is not a standard scientific term to describe their accomplishment.
* "They produced a gene which can be preserved permanently": The ability to preserve the gene is not the primary achievement. The key breakthrough was the creation of a fully synthetic genome.
Let's look at why the other options are incorrect:
* "They bypassed nature’s laws and produced a natural gene": While they worked with natural genetic code, the gene they created was synthetic, not naturally occurring in the traditional sense. Furthermore, scientists do not necessarily bypass "laws" of nature, but use the understanding of those laws to achieve a desired outcome.
* "They invented an imperishable gene which is synthetic in nature": The term "imperishable" is not accurate. While the synthetic gene they created may be durable, it is not inherently designed to be indestructible or live forever.
* "They ignored the theory of inheritance and created an intrinsic gene": The scientists did not ignore the theory of inheritance; they understood it very well. Their work built upon and expanded our understanding of genetics and inheritance. The term "intrinsic gene" is not a standard scientific term to describe their accomplishment.
* "They produced a gene which can be preserved permanently": The ability to preserve the gene is not the primary achievement. The key breakthrough was the creation of a fully synthetic genome.
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Question: 3
What was the outcome of their research?
What was the outcome of their research?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- They analyzed the DNA sequence of the synthetic gene in the laboratory for the first time
- They contrasted the properties of a synthetic gene with that of a natural one
- They created a gene sequence in artificial conditions which could undergo mutation
- They produced the first synthetic genome in the laboratory which is analogous to the natural one
- They studied the functions of a natural gene and a synthetic gene under controlled conditions of a laboratory
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (D):
They produced the first synthetic genome in the laboratory which is analogous to the natural one
The correct answer is "They produced the first synthetic genome in the laboratory which is analogous to the natural one." This is the only option that directly describes a significant and groundbreaking scientific achievement: the creation of a complete, artificial genome. The other options describe related but less impactful steps in genetic research. Analyzing DNA sequences, comparing properties of genes, or studying their functions are important parts of the research process, but they do not represent the culmination of the work, which would be the successful synthesis of an entire genome. The phrase "analogous to the natural one" highlights the key aspect of this breakthrough – that the synthetic genome functioned in a way that mimicked its natural counterpart, indicating a successful replication of the core components of life.
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Question: 4
The DNA pieces of the synthetic genome were stitched together by using
The DNA pieces of the synthetic genome were stitched together by using
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- The method of biochemical synthesis
- The biochemical machinery of a host cell
- The biochemical genome of a host cell
- The DNA sequence of a host cell
- The synthesized DNA pieces of a host cell
Show Solution
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (B):
The biochemical machinery of a host cell
The correct answer is "The biochemical machinery of a host cell". Here's why:
When assembling a synthetic genome, scientists don't typically just mix the DNA pieces together in a test tube and expect them to magically join. Instead, they leverage the natural processes found within living cells.
These cells, the "host cells", possess all the necessary tools – the "biochemical machinery" – to facilitate this complex assembly process. This machinery includes enzymes like ligases, which act like molecular glue to join DNA fragments together, as well as replication and repair mechanisms that ensure the newly constructed genome is stable and functional. The host cell provides the environment and the working tools to stitch the pieces of DNA together.
Let's look at why the other options are incorrect:
* "The method of biochemical synthesis": While the individual DNA pieces might be created using biochemical synthesis techniques, the act of putting them together into a complete genome relies on cellular machinery.
* "The biochemical genome of a host cell": The host cell's existing genome doesn't directly perform the assembly. It is the cellular machinery, not the existing genome sequence itself, that facilitates the process.
* "The DNA sequence of a host cell": The host cell's DNA sequence is useful for providing an environment but doesn't perform the action of stitching.
* "The synthesized DNA pieces of a host cell": The host cell utilizes its inherent processes.
When assembling a synthetic genome, scientists don't typically just mix the DNA pieces together in a test tube and expect them to magically join. Instead, they leverage the natural processes found within living cells.
These cells, the "host cells", possess all the necessary tools – the "biochemical machinery" – to facilitate this complex assembly process. This machinery includes enzymes like ligases, which act like molecular glue to join DNA fragments together, as well as replication and repair mechanisms that ensure the newly constructed genome is stable and functional. The host cell provides the environment and the working tools to stitch the pieces of DNA together.
Let's look at why the other options are incorrect:
* "The method of biochemical synthesis": While the individual DNA pieces might be created using biochemical synthesis techniques, the act of putting them together into a complete genome relies on cellular machinery.
* "The biochemical genome of a host cell": The host cell's existing genome doesn't directly perform the assembly. It is the cellular machinery, not the existing genome sequence itself, that facilitates the process.
* "The DNA sequence of a host cell": The host cell's DNA sequence is useful for providing an environment but doesn't perform the action of stitching.
* "The synthesized DNA pieces of a host cell": The host cell utilizes its inherent processes.
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Question: 5
What is the author’s gut feeling?
What is the author’s gut feeling?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- Scientists will invent a mechanism that might trigger a genome and convert it into the bacterium
- Scientists will succeed in creating a synthetic genome which has the characteristics of a natural one
- Scientists will improve upon the synthetic gene and find an alternative which is akin to the proto-cell of the bacterium
- Scientists will prove that the DNA structure of a proto-cell is similar to that of an artificial one
- Scientists will find a way to insert the bacterial genome into the proto-cell and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself
Show Solution
The Correct Option is
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (E):
Scientists will find a way to insert the bacterial genome into the proto-cell and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself
The author's "gut feeling," in the context of scientific writing, refers to their intuitive prediction or expectation about the outcome of a scientific endeavor, even if it's not explicitly stated as a definitive conclusion. Analyzing the given options, the correct answer, "Scientists will find a way to insert the bacterial genome into the proto-cell and somehow trigger it to make the bacterium itself," represents the most complete and likely end-goal of the research being discussed.
Here's why:
* Focus on the Core Challenge: The central aim of synthetic biology in this context is to synthesize a functional, self-replicating bacterium. The correct answer highlights the necessary steps: (1) inserting the genetic blueprint (genome) into a (2) synthetic 'proto-cell' or cell-like structure and then (3) triggering this system to function and create the bacterium. This encapsulates the problem being solved.
* Logical Progression: This answer includes the progression of the experiments and the intended result, which makes it more likely.
* Alignment with Synthetic Biology Goals: This aligns with the overall goals of synthetic biology: to create life from scratch, or, more specifically, to build a functional, self-replicating cell. The other options might be intermediate steps or partial goals, but this represents the ultimate goal.
* Comprehensive Approach: This approach shows the complete objective of the process and describes how the process will be completed.
The other options, while potentially related, represent incomplete steps or less comprehensive scenarios for the author's overall "gut feeling" about how this research will progress. This answer is thus the best indicator of the author's intuitive expectation about the final result.
Here's why:
* Focus on the Core Challenge: The central aim of synthetic biology in this context is to synthesize a functional, self-replicating bacterium. The correct answer highlights the necessary steps: (1) inserting the genetic blueprint (genome) into a (2) synthetic 'proto-cell' or cell-like structure and then (3) triggering this system to function and create the bacterium. This encapsulates the problem being solved.
* Logical Progression: This answer includes the progression of the experiments and the intended result, which makes it more likely.
* Alignment with Synthetic Biology Goals: This aligns with the overall goals of synthetic biology: to create life from scratch, or, more specifically, to build a functional, self-replicating cell. The other options might be intermediate steps or partial goals, but this represents the ultimate goal.
* Comprehensive Approach: This approach shows the complete objective of the process and describes how the process will be completed.
The other options, while potentially related, represent incomplete steps or less comprehensive scenarios for the author's overall "gut feeling" about how this research will progress. This answer is thus the best indicator of the author's intuitive expectation about the final result.
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Question: 6
Which of the following words aptly substitutes ‘flummox’ as used in the passage?
Which of the following words aptly substitutes ‘flummox’ as used in the passage?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- Control
- Petrify
- Bewilder
- Challenge
- Demystify
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (C):
Bewilder
The correct answer is bewilder. The word "flummox" means to perplex someone greatly; to confuse or bewilder. Therefore, the word "bewilder" which means to cause someone to become perplexed and confused, is the most direct and appropriate synonym from the given options. The other options do not capture the same meaning. "Control" implies command. "Petrify" means to scare or paralyze. "Challenge" suggests a test or competition. "Demystify" means to make something clear and understandable, which is the opposite of flummox.
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Question: 7
According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?
According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?
Updated On: Mar 23, 2026
- Thomas Hardy’s poem, Heredity, reflects the DNA in a human being’s genome
- Creating life in a lab will surely raise pertinent questions pertaining to ethics
- Scientists, in future, will be able to create life under artificial conditions
- Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has invited the wrath of people because the sheep soon died a miserable death
- Two centuries ago, urea was synthesized in a chemical laboratory
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (D):
Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has invited the wrath of people because the sheep soon died a miserable death
The correct answer is "Cloning of Dolly, the sheep, has invited the wrath of people because the sheep soon died a miserable death".
This statement is not necessarily true based on general knowledge or common understanding, and is likely contradicted by information in a related passage, or at least not the primary reason people were concerned. While Dolly did have health problems and a shorter lifespan than a typical sheep, the primary source of ethical concerns and public reaction regarding Dolly's cloning wasn't solely because of her eventual health issues. Rather, the concerns were focused on the philosophical implications of cloning, the potential for genetic manipulation, and the broader questions of human interference in the natural world. Therefore, the reason provided for the people's reaction is inaccurate.
The other statements could be supported by the passage (or are general truths): the poem Heredity can be linked to genetic inheritance, creating life in a lab does raise ethical questions, scientists aiming to create life artificially is a plausible future scenario, and urea synthesis in a lab is a historical scientific event.
This statement is not necessarily true based on general knowledge or common understanding, and is likely contradicted by information in a related passage, or at least not the primary reason people were concerned. While Dolly did have health problems and a shorter lifespan than a typical sheep, the primary source of ethical concerns and public reaction regarding Dolly's cloning wasn't solely because of her eventual health issues. Rather, the concerns were focused on the philosophical implications of cloning, the potential for genetic manipulation, and the broader questions of human interference in the natural world. Therefore, the reason provided for the people's reaction is inaccurate.
The other statements could be supported by the passage (or are general truths): the poem Heredity can be linked to genetic inheritance, creating life in a lab does raise ethical questions, scientists aiming to create life artificially is a plausible future scenario, and urea synthesis in a lab is a historical scientific event.
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Question: 8
A recently initiated technology, which is ethically acceptable, is
A recently initiated technology, which is ethically acceptable, is
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- Assembling the complex biological molecule
- Gene sequencing
- Assisted reproduction
- Stitching together of an artificial cell
- Inserting a proto-cell into the bacterium
Show Solution
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (C):
Assisted reproduction
The correct answer is assisted reproduction. Let's break down why and briefly look at the other options.
Assisted reproduction encompasses a range of medical techniques designed to help individuals or couples conceive a child. These include procedures like in-vitro fertilization (IVF), artificial insemination, and the use of fertility drugs. Generally, these technologies are considered ethically acceptable, especially when used to address infertility issues, and are widely practiced around the world. There are, of course, ongoing ethical considerations regarding things like embryo selection, the rights of frozen embryos, and the use of these technologies by single individuals or same-sex couples, but the core practice is widely accepted.
Now, let's examine why the other options are less appropriate:
Assembling the complex biological molecule: This is a very broad description, but the level of complexity suggested often leans into areas of synthetic biology and potentially genetic engineering. Depending on the molecule and the purpose, it might raise significant ethical concerns regarding safety, potential misuse, and unforeseen ecological consequences. While research in this area is ongoing, it's not universally accepted as ethically straightforward.
Gene sequencing: Gene sequencing, specifically for diagnostic purposes or for disease risk prediction, is generally ethically acceptable and is an increasingly common practice. However, the question asks for the *initiated* technology. While gene sequencing itself isn't new, the application of gene sequencing to design and build novel genetic sequences would be an example of initiating a new technology with many unresolved ethical questions.
Stitching together of an artificial cell: This technology pushes into the realm of synthetic biology. While there is research in the area, creating fully artificial cells that can replicate and function independently opens up many ethical questions about unintended consequences, the potential for harm, and the very definition of life itself. It's a field with significant ethical debates.
Inserting a proto-cell into the bacterium: This also delves into the complex realm of synthetic biology and genetic modification. The ethical considerations are similar to "Stitching together of an artificial cell." The potential risks and unintended consequences, the question of informed consent, and the ecological impacts are all subjects of ongoing ethical debate.
Assisted reproduction encompasses a range of medical techniques designed to help individuals or couples conceive a child. These include procedures like in-vitro fertilization (IVF), artificial insemination, and the use of fertility drugs. Generally, these technologies are considered ethically acceptable, especially when used to address infertility issues, and are widely practiced around the world. There are, of course, ongoing ethical considerations regarding things like embryo selection, the rights of frozen embryos, and the use of these technologies by single individuals or same-sex couples, but the core practice is widely accepted.
Now, let's examine why the other options are less appropriate:
Assembling the complex biological molecule: This is a very broad description, but the level of complexity suggested often leans into areas of synthetic biology and potentially genetic engineering. Depending on the molecule and the purpose, it might raise significant ethical concerns regarding safety, potential misuse, and unforeseen ecological consequences. While research in this area is ongoing, it's not universally accepted as ethically straightforward.
Gene sequencing: Gene sequencing, specifically for diagnostic purposes or for disease risk prediction, is generally ethically acceptable and is an increasingly common practice. However, the question asks for the *initiated* technology. While gene sequencing itself isn't new, the application of gene sequencing to design and build novel genetic sequences would be an example of initiating a new technology with many unresolved ethical questions.
Stitching together of an artificial cell: This technology pushes into the realm of synthetic biology. While there is research in the area, creating fully artificial cells that can replicate and function independently opens up many ethical questions about unintended consequences, the potential for harm, and the very definition of life itself. It's a field with significant ethical debates.
Inserting a proto-cell into the bacterium: This also delves into the complex realm of synthetic biology and genetic modification. The ethical considerations are similar to "Stitching together of an artificial cell." The potential risks and unintended consequences, the question of informed consent, and the ecological impacts are all subjects of ongoing ethical debate.
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Question: 9
According to the author’s opinion, what would be the result of cloning a human being?
According to the author’s opinion, what would be the result of cloning a human being?
Updated On: Jan 13, 2026
- It will invite people’s indignation
- It would be a wonderful prospect for humanity
- It might change the face of the earth
- It will be looked down as a sin
- It will prove to be a global catastrophe
Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (A):
It will invite people’s indignation
The correct answer is "It will invite people’s indignation" because the author's opinion, based on general societal reactions, would likely view human cloning with disapproval and strong negative feelings. This aligns with the common ethical and moral concerns surrounding the practice, making "indignation" (strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, or insulting) the most appropriate and likely outcome according to the author's perceived perspective of societal opinion. The other options, such as "a wonderful prospect," "change the face of the earth," "looked down as a sin," and "a global catastrophe," could possibly be outcomes depending on the author's opinion and perspective, however, "indignation" best represents the general reaction from the author's likely position.
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Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
For early postcolonial literature, the world of the novel was often the nation. Postcolonial novels were usually [concerned with] national questions. Sometimes the whole story of the novel was taken as an allegory of the nation, whether India or Tanzania. This was important for supporting anti-colonial nationalism, but could also be limiting - land-focused and inward looking.
My new book "Writing Ocean Worlds" explores another kind of world of the novel: not the village or nation, but the Indian Ocean world. The book describes a set of novels in which the Indian Ocean is at the centre of the story. It focuses on the novelists Amitav Ghosh, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Lindsey Collen and Joseph Conrad [who have] centred the Indian Ocean world in the majority of their novels. . . Their work reveals a world that is outward-looking full of movement, border-crossing and south-south interconnection. They are all very different - from colonially inclined (Conrad) to radically anti-capitalist (Collen), but together draw on and shape a wider sense of Indian Ocean space through themes, images, metaphors and language. This has the effect of remapping the world in the reader's mind, as centred in the interconnected global south. ... The Indian Ocean world is a term used to describe the very long-lasting connections among the coasts of East Africa, the Arab coasts, and South and East Asia.
These connections were made possible by the geography of the Indian Ocean. For much of history, travel by sea was much easier than by land, which meant that port cities very far apart were often more easily connected to each other than to much closer inland cities. Historical and archaeological evidence suggests that what we now call globalisation first appeared in the Indian Ocean. This is the interconnected oceanic world referenced and produced by the novels in my book. For their part Ghosh, Gurnah, Collen and even Conrad reference a different set of histories and geographies than the ones most commonly found in fiction in English. Those [commonly found ones] are mostly centred in Europe or the US, assume a background of Christianity and whiteness, and mention places like Paris and New York. The novels in [my] book highlight instead a largely Islamic space, feature characters of colour and centralise the ports of Malindi, Mombasa, Aden, Java and Bombay. . . . It is a densely imagined, richly sensory image of a southern cosmopolitan culture which provides for an enlarged sense of place in the world.
This remapping is particularly powerful for the representation of Africa. In the fiction, sailors and travellers are not all European. . . African, as well as Indian and Arab characters, are traders, nakhodas (dhow ship captains), runaways, villains, missionaries and activists. This does not mean that Indian Ocean Africa is romanticised. Migration is often a matter of force; travel is portrayed as abandonment rather than adventure, freedoms are kept from women and slavery is rife. What it does mean is that the African part of the Indian Ocean world plays an active role in its long, rich history and therefore in that of the wider world.- CAT - 2023
- Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Reading Comprehension
- The passage below is accompanied by four questions. Based on the passage, choose the best answer for each question.
Many human phenomena and characteristics - such as behaviors, beliefs, economies, genes, incomes, life expectancies, and other things - are influenced both by geographic factors and by non-geographic factors. Geographic factors mean physical and biological factors tied to geographic location, including climate, the distributions of wild plant and animal species, soils, and topography. Non-geographic factors include those factors subsumed under the term culture, other factors subsumed under the term history, and decisions by individual people.... [T]he differences between the current economies of North and South Korea ... cannot be attributed to the modest environmental differences between [them] ... They are instead due entirely to the different [government] policies ... At the opposite extreme, the Inuit and other traditional peoples living north of the Arctic Circle developed warm fur clothes but no agriculture, while equatorial lowland peoples around the world never developed warm fur clothes but often did develop agriculture. The explanation is straightforwardly geographic, rather than a cultural or historical quirk unrelated to geography. . . Aboriginal Australia remained the sole continent occupied only by hunter/gatherers and with no indigenous farming or herding ... [Here the] explanation is biogeographic: the Australian continent has no domesticable native animal species and few domesticable native plant species. Instead, the crops and domestic animals that now make Australia a food and wool exporter are all nonnative (mainly Eurasian) species such as sheep, wheat, and grapes, brought to Australia by overseas colonists.
Today, no scholar would be silly enough to deny that culture, history, and individual choices play a big role in many human phenomena. Scholars don't react to cultural, historical, and individual-agent explanations by denouncing "cultural determinism," "historical determinism," or "individual determinism," and then thinking no further. But many scholars do react to any explanation invoking some geographic role, by denouncing "geographic determinism" ... Several reasons may underlie this widespread but nonsensical view. One reason is that some geographic explanations advanced a century ago were racist, thereby causing all geographic explanations to become tainted by racist associations in the minds of many scholars other than geographers. But many genetic, historical, psychological, and anthropological explanations advanced a century ago were also racist, yet the validity of newer non-racist genetic etc. explanations is widely accepted today. Another reason for reflex rejection of geographic explanations is that historians have a tradition, in their discipline, of stressing the role of contingency (a favorite word among historians) based on individual decisions and chance. Often that view is warranted . . . But often, too, that view is unwarranted. The development of warm fur clothes among the Inuit living north of the Arctic Circle was not because one influential Inuit leader persuaded other Inuit in 1783 to adopt warm fur clothes, for no good environmental reason. A third reason is that geographic explanations usually depend on detailed technical facts of geography and other fields of scholarship ... Most historians and economists don't acquire that detailed knowledge as part of the professional training.- CAT - 2023
- Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Reading Comprehension
- [Fifty] years after its publication in English [in 1972], and just a year since [Marshall] Sahlins himself died—we may ask: why did [his essay] "Original Affluent Society" have such an impact, and how has it fared since? ... Sahlins's principal argument was simple but counterintuitive: before being driven into marginal environments by colonial powers, huntergatherers, or foragers, were not engaged in a desperate struggle for meager survival. Quite the contrary, they satisfied their needs with far less work than people in agricultural and industrial societies, leaving them more time to use as they wished. Hunters, he quipped, keep bankers' hours. Refusing to maximize, many were "more concerned with games of chance than with chances of game." . . . The so-called Neolithic Revolution, rather than improving life, imposed a harsher work regime and set in motion the long history of growing inequality ...
Moreover, foragers had other options. The contemporary Hadza of Tanzania, who had long been surrounded by farmers, knew they had alternatives and rejected them. To Sahlins, this showed that foragers are not simply examples of human diversity or victimhood but something more profound: they demonstrated that societies make real choices. Culture, a way of living oriented around a distinctive set of values, manifests a fundamental principle of collective self-determination. . .
But the point [of the essay] is not so much the empirical validity of the data-the real interest for most readers, after all, is not in foragers either today or in the Paleolithic-but rather its conceptual challenge to contemporary economic life and bourgeois individualism. The empirical served a philosophical and political project, a thought experiment and stimulus to the imagination of possibilities.
With its title's nod toward The Affluent Society (1958), economist John Kenneth Galbraith's famously skeptical portrait of America's postwar prosperity and inequality, and dripping with New Left contempt for consumerism, "The Original Affluent Society" brought this critical perspective to bear on the contemporary world. It did so through the classic anthropological move of showing that radical alternatives to the readers' lives really exist. If the capitalist world seeks wealth through ever greater material production to meet infinitely expansive desires, foraging societies follow "the Zen road to affluence": not by getting more, but by wanting less. If it seems that foragers have been left behind by "progress," this is due only to the ethnocentric self-congratulation of the West. Rather than accumulate material goods, these societies are guided by other values: leisure, mobility, and above all, freedom. . .
Viewed in today's context, of course, not every aspect of the essay has aged well. While acknowledging the violence of colonialism, racism, and dispossession, it does not thematize them as heavily as we might today. Rebuking evolutionary anthropologists for treating present-day foragers as "left behind" by progress, it too can succumb to the temptation to use them as proxies for the Paleolithic. Yet these characteristics should not distract us from appreciating Sahlins's effort to show that if we want to conjure new possibilities, we need to learn about actually inhabitable worlds.- CAT - 2023
- Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Reading Comprehension
- RESIDENTS of Lozère, a hilly department in southern France, recite complaints familiar to many rural corners of Europe. In remote hamlets and villages, with names such as Le Bacon and Le Bacon Vieux, mayors grumble about a lack of local schools, jobs, or phone and internet connections. Farmers of grazing animals add another concern: the return of wolves. Eradicated from France last century, the predators are gradually creeping back to more forests and hillsides. "The wolf must be taken in hand," said an aspiring parliamentarian, Francis Palombi, when pressed by voters in an election campaign early this summer. Tourists enjoy visiting a wolf park in Lozère, but farmers fret over their livestock and their livelihoods.
As early as the ninth century, the royal office of the Luparii-wolf-catchers-was created in France to tackle the predators. Those official hunters (and others) completed their job in the 1930s, when the last wolf disappeared from the mainland. Active hunting and improved technology such as rifles in the 19th century, plus the use of poison such as strychnine later on, caused the population collapse. But in the early 1990s the animals reappeared. They crossed the Alps from Italy, upsetting sheep farmers on the French side of the border. Wolves have since spread to areas such as Lozère, delighting environmentalists, who see the predators' presence as a sign of wider ecological health. Farmers, who say the wolves cause the deaths of thousands of sheep and other grazing animals, are less cheerful. They grumble that green activists and politically correct urban types have allowed the return of an old enemy.
Various factors explain the changes of the past few decades. Rural depopulation is part of the story. In Lozère, for example, farming and a once-flourishing mining industry supported a population of over 140,000 residents in the mid- 19th century. Today the department has fewer than 80,000 people, many in its towns. As humans withdraw, forests are expanding. In France, between 1990 and 2015, forest cover increased by an average of 102,000 hectares each year, as more fields were given over to trees. Now, nearly one-third of mainland France is covered by woodland of some sort. The decline of hunting as a sport also means more forests fall quiet. In the mid-to-late 20th century over 2m hunters regularly spent winter weekends tramping in woodland, seeking boars, birds and other prey. Today the Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs, the national body, claims 1.1 m people hold hunting licences, though the number of active hunters is probably lower. The mostly protected status of the wolf in Europe-hunting them is now forbidden, other than when occasional culls are sanctioned by the state-plus the efforts of NGOs to track and count the animals, also contribute to the recovery of wolf populations.
As the lupine population of Europe spreads westwards, with occasional reports of wolves seen closer to urban areas, expect to hear of more clashes between farmers and those who celebrate the predators' return. Farmers' losses are real, but are not the only economic story. Tourist venues, such as parks where wolves are kept and the animals' spread is discussed, also generate income and jobs in rural areas.- CAT - 2023
- Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)
- Reading Comprehension
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