Comprehension

Power and possession have been central pursuits of modern civilization for a long time. They blocked out or distorted other features of the westernized renaissance (revival), which promised so much for humanity. What people have been and are still being taught to prize is money, success, control over the lives of others; acquisition of more and more objects.

Modern social, political and economic systems, whether capitalist, fascist or communist, reject in their working the basic principle that the free and creative unfoldment of every man, woman and child is the true measure of the worth of any society. Such unfoldment requires understanding and imagination, integrity, compassion and cooperation among people and harmony between the human species and the rest of nature.

Acquisitiveness and the pursuit of power have made modern man an aggressor against everything that is non human, an exploiter and oppressor of those who are poor, meek and unorganized. He has become a pathological type who hates and distrusts the world and suffers from both acute loneliness and false pride.

The need for a new renaissance is deeply felt by those sensitive and conscientious men and women who not only perceive the dimensions of the crisis of our age but who also realize that only through conscious and cooperative human effort will this crisis be met and probably even overcome.

Question: 1

Which of the following statements is not true in context of the given passage?

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Look at how the passage describes modern man's traits, self centered, acquisitive, lonely, and decide if that fits an individualist or not.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • There is a need for a new renaissance
  • The poor and needy are oppressed by modern man
  • Modern man is not an individualist
  • Western renaissance has held a great deal of promise for mankind
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Check each option against the passage line by line to find the false one.

  1. (a): The last paragraph opens by saying the need for a new renaissance is deeply felt. This matches the passage, so it is true and not the answer.
  2. (b): The third paragraph names modern man an exploiter and oppressor of the poor, meek and unorganized. This matches the passage, so it is true and not the answer.
  3. (c): The passage paints modern man as an aggressor who craves power and possession for himself and suffers from loneliness and false pride. That is the picture of a person absorbed in his own gain, which makes him an individualist. So this option contradicts the passage and is false.
  4. (d): The opening paragraph says the westernized renaissance promised so much for humanity. This matches the passage, so it is true and not the answer.

The statement that does not hold up against the passage is option (c), Modern man is not an individualist.

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Question: 2

The author hopes that the present crisis can be solved by

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Focus on the closing sentence of the passage about conscious and cooperative human effort.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Devoted individual efforts
  • Different political systems
  • Spiritual individuals
  • Purposeful and collective efforts
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Locate the sentence in the passage that names the way out of the crisis, then match it to the options.

  1. (a): A lone individual working alone is not what the passage describes, so this is ruled out.
  2. (b): The passage already rejects capitalist, fascist and communist systems as inadequate, so a new political system cannot be the author's answer.
  3. (c): Spirituality is not raised anywhere in the passage as the fix, so this option has no textual support.
  4. (d): The closing lines say the crisis will be met only through conscious and cooperative human effort. Conscious effort means purposeful, and cooperative means collective, so this option is a near word for word match.

The passage points to option (d), purposeful and collective efforts, as the way forward.

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Question: 3

The author appears to be advocating which of the following approaches to be adopted by the society?

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Notice the second paragraph rejects capitalist, fascist and communist systems alike, then see what values it praises instead.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Capitalist
  • Communist
  • Humanistic
  • Socialist
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Work by elimination using the systems the passage explicitly names and rejects.

  1. (a): Capitalist systems are listed by the author as ones that fail to honor human worth, so this is not the answer.
  2. (b): Communist systems are listed right alongside capitalist and fascist ones as equally flawed, so this is also not the answer.
  3. (d): Socialist is never named in the passage, so there is no basis to pick it.
  4. (c): What remains is the set of values the author actually praises, understanding, imagination, integrity, compassion, cooperation and free unfoldment of every man, woman and child. These values describe a humanistic outlook that puts human worth above any political or economic system.

By elimination and by the values the author praises, the answer is option (c), Humanistic.

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Question: 4

The modern value systems encourage the importance of which of the following?

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Reread the opening lines about what people are taught to prize, money, success and control.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • Craving for power and possession
  • Basic respect for all individuals
  • Spiritual development of an individual
  • Spirit of inquiry and knowledge
Show Solution

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Match each option against the very first paragraph of the passage, since that is where modern values are described.

  1. (b): Respect for individuals is the opposite of what the passage describes. The second paragraph says modern systems reject the free unfoldment of every man, woman and child, so this option fails.
  2. (c): Spiritual growth is never linked to modern value systems anywhere in the passage, so this option has no support.
  3. (d): A spirit of inquiry and knowledge is also never mentioned as a value modern systems push, so this option is ruled out too.
  4. (a): The very first lines say power and possession have been central pursuits for a long time, and that people are still taught to prize money, success, control over others and more objects. That is exactly a craving for power and possession.

The passage supports option (a), craving for power and possession, as what modern value systems encourage.

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Question: 5

According to the passage, why has modern man turned out to be an enemy of everything that is non human?

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Look at the first sentence of the third paragraph that names the two drives behind man's aggression.
Updated On: Jul 21, 2026
  • He hates and distrusts other human beings
  • He has been dominated by the drives of acquisitiveness and power
  • He consciously practices the spirit of cooperation
  • He is preoccupied with his own self
Show Solution

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Find the sentence in the passage that gives the cause and effect for man's hostility to non human things.

  1. (a): Hating and distrusting the world is mentioned as an effect on man's relations with people, appearing later in the same paragraph, not as the reason he attacks non human things.
  2. (c): Cooperation is something the author wants to see more of in the future, not a trait modern man already practices, so this option contradicts the passage.
  3. (d): Self preoccupation is close but too general, the passage names two specific drives rather than plain self focus.
  4. (b): The third paragraph states plainly that acquisitiveness and the pursuit of power have made modern man an aggressor against everything that is non human. This sentence is the direct cause and effect the question is asking about.

The passage gives option (b), domination by acquisitiveness and power, as the reason for man's hostility to the non human world.

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Top Questions on Reading Comprehension

Questions Asked in IBSAT exam

Although cynics may like to see the government’s policy for women in terms of the party’s internal power struggles, it will nevertheless be churlish to deny that it represents a pioneering effort aimed at bringing about sweeping social reforms. In its language, scope and strategies, the policy document displays a degree of understanding of women’s needs that is uncommon in government pronouncements. This is due in large part to the participatory process that marked its formulation, seeking the active involvement right from the start of women’s groups, academic institutions and non-government organizations with grass roots experience.
The result is not just a lofty declaration of principles but a blueprint for a practical programme of action. The policy delineates a series of concrete measures to accord women a decision-making role in the political domain and greater control over their economic status. Of especially far-reaching impact are the devolution of control of economic infrastructure to women, notably at the gram panchayat level, and the amendments proposed in the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 to give women coparcenary rights.
 An enlightened aspect of the policy is its recognition that actual change in the status of women cannot be brought about by the mere enactment of socially progressive legislation. Accordingly, it focuses on reorienting development programmes and sensitizing administrations to address specific situations as, for instance, the growing number of households headed by women, which is a consequence of rural-urban migration. The proposal to create an equal-opportunity police force and give women greater control of police stations is an acknowledgement of the biases and callousness displayed by the generally all-male lawenforcement authorities in cases of dowry and domestic violence. While the mere enunciation of such a policy has the salutary effect of sensitizing the administration as a whole, it does not make the task of its implementation any easier. 
This is because the changes it envisages in the political and economic status of women strike at the root of power structures in society and the basis of man woman relationships. There is also the danger that reservation for women in public life, while necessary for their greater visibility, could lapse into tokenism or become a tool in the hands of vote seeking politicians. Much will depend on the dissemination of the policy and the ability of elected representatives and government agencies to reorder their priorities.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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Generally, people experience stress in their day-to-day lives, but more than thirty million Americans suffer from something more intense than that. Anxiety disorders are the second-most-common mental health problem in the country, and they can be paralyzing. Sometimes, day-to-day stress and anxiety are hard to tell apart, but the easiest way to distinguish them is that stress is brought on by actual events, and then dissipates, whereas anxiety is a more pervasive worry, that often attaches itself to specific areas of your life, like your relationship, job or health, says psychologist Terry Mooney.
This anxiety does not dissipate, and in fact, it can increase to the level where it begins to change your behavior. That’s when it’s characterized as an anxiety disorder. Anxiety can keep you safe, helping you recognize danger, and cope with it, says Mooney. But if you begin to see danger lurking around every corner, or worry over and over again about the same events, then you might be dealing with something more substantial, like an anxiety disorder. 
People with anxiety disorders often begin to avoid activities or circumstances that make them anxious, said John Forsyth, associate professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany and director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Programme at the university. People may stop driving, or stop going to parties. They may stop travelling or even avoid leaving the house. It’s this curtailing of activities that causes the suffering, Forsyth said, making you feel that ‘life is shrinking around you.’
 Anxiety disorders come in a variety of forms and manifest themselves in different ways. Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by ongoing worry about everyday tasks, even when there is no clear reason to worry. People with social anxiety disorder experience intense worry over social interactions, and often feel judged by people or worry that they will embarrass themselves. Post-traumatic stress disorder, which is characterized by people re-living a frightening event over and over again, is also considered an anxiety disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is when people take on obsessive rituals that help them maintain the illusion of control. Often repetitive in nature, obsessive compulsive rituals can include cleaning, checking and rechecking something, counting or endlessly reviewing conversations in their mind. Treatment is available for anxiety disorders. People can use a variety of approaches, including therapy, medication and exercise.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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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.
  • IBSAT
  • Reading Comprehension
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