English Reading Comprehension Questions for Banking Exams | Set – 7

Directions (1-5) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions.

Two decades later, the magic lingers on. On the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, social media is awash with nostalgia. While adults reminisce about how they acquired their first Potter book, children trot to parties in long black robes and rounded glasses. The Gryffindor versus Slytherin war has transcended Hogwarts and entered cyberspace. But what explains this need not just for children but also the most intelligent-sounding adults to utter gibberish, try on droopy Sorting Hats, and wave around wands that unleash no magic?

It is not as though the prose is classic, and for this Rowling must have encountered many a critic. “Descriptive in the most pedestrian way” is how one writer put it. Neither is the genre of fantasy fiction new: from Catherine Fisher to Philip Pullman and C.S. Lewis, bookshelves over the centuries have been filled with tomes on witchcraft and wizardry. But under what genre can we clump the Potter series? School stories? Horror? Children’s fiction? Adult fiction? Romance? Mythology?

Then there’s Harry himself, a wimpy protagonist with glasses and a scar, with no extraordinary powers (discounting the virtue of gallantry exhibited with the help of his friends, and what he inherited at birth). Harry Potter is not your typical macho hero: neither is he strikingly handsome like Malfoy nor remarkably intelligent like Hermione nor steadfastly loyal and unpredictable like Snape. Few rate him as their favourite character. And yet here we are in the 21st century with a new literary idol: an unlikely hero who is as popular as was Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

What works is perhaps precisely what critics think doesn’t. The Potter series may be a pastiche of styles, but that pastiche is delectable for most. There’s something for everyone: for the owl or elf-lovers, for the nerds, for the lovers of action, romance, and syrupy endings. The series contains all the elements of stories that humans have ever told and cherished. Unremarkable Harry could be any of us and that makes him relatable. Not to forget how well Rowling knows her characters and how well she makes us believe in a world that doesn’t exist.

Rowling also incorporates modern-day themes in her craft: racism, feminism, diversity — all that is discussed in the everyday lives of Muggles. I remember a quiz that was popular once on Facebook: are you as feminist as Hermione? At a time when prejudice and hate are at their peak, for many people, comfort comes from floating into a world that is full of wizards and yet so human, a world that is so alien and yet so close to our hearts. The Potter series may not galvanise minds, it might not make us literary experts. It might even be surprising that many crave magic and fantasy in a world that is striving to be more secular, rational, and scientific. Yet, the story of the boy who lived lives on and we can only guess why. When good triumphs over evil, we are all overjoyed, for that’s ultimately our hope for the world.

1.What reason did the author give to prove that Harry Potter is not an ideal hero?

1. he is not remarkable intelligent
2. he does not have a macho personality
3. he does not have extraordinary powers

2. What is the similarity among the Harry Potter series, Catherine Fisher, Philip Pullman and C.S. Lewis books?

3. According to the passage, what is our ultimate hope for the world?

4. Which of the following was a part of the 20^th anniversary celebrations of the release of Harry Potter?

1. adults posting their memories about their encounter with Harry Potter
2. elders taking kids out for picnic
3. dressed-up children going to parties

A. Both (II) and (III)
B. Both (I) and (III)
C. Only (III)
D. Only (I)
E. All (I), (II) and (III)

5. According to the author, despite the mediocrity of the Harry Potter series, what makes the series so popular among its readers?

1. the strange incidents in the protagonist’s life
2. the relatable nature of the characters
3. the series has elements of different kinds of stories in it

Directions (6-10) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions.

The National Health Policy (NHP), 2017, is long on banalities and short on specifics. In a somewhat glaring omission, little has been said about the rapid rise in the share of the old — i.e. 60 years or more — and associated morbidities, especially sharply rising non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and disabilities. In the context of declining family support and severely limited old-age income security, catastrophic consequences for destitutes afflicted with these conditions can’t be ruled out. Besides, continuing neglect and failure to anticipate these demographic and epidemiological shifts — from infectious diseases to NCDs — may result in enormously costlier policy challenges. An estimate provided for the 2014 World Economic Forum suggests that NCDs may cost as much as $4.3 trillion in productivity losses and health-care expenditure between 2012 and 2030, twice India’s annual GDP.

Detailed projections of the old in India by the United Nations Population Division (UN 2011) show that India’s population, ages 60 and older, will climb from 8% in 2010 to 19% in 2050. By mid-century, their number is expected to be 323 million.

Population dynamics and a rapidly changing age structure reflect the combined impact of increasing life expectancy and declining fertility. Life expectancy at birth in India climbed from 37 years in 1950 to 65 years in 2011, stemming from declines in infant mortality and survival at older ages due to public health improvements. The key question is whether longer lives have translated into healthier lives. Our evidence raises serious doubts.

Our analysis, based on the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2015, the only nation-wide panel survey covering the period 2005-2012, throws new light on these issues. A major advantage of the panel survey is that the same individuals are tracked over a period of seven years.

The prevalence of high blood pressure among the old almost doubled over the period 2005-12; that of heart disease rose 1.7 times; the prevalence of cancer rose 1.2 times; that of diabetes more than doubled, as also that of asthma; other NCDs rose more rapidly (i.e. by two and a half times).

A related question is whether multi-morbidity (i.e. co-occurrence of two or more NCDs) also rose over this period. Often multi-morbidities occur non-randomly or systematically. The prevalence of high blood pressure and heart disease rose more than twice while that of high blood pressure and diabetes nearly doubled.

Wealth quartiles were constructed to examine whether prevalence of NCDs varied across them and over time. Often it is asserted that the burden of NCDs is increasingly borne by less affluent sections of the population. In other words, wealth and health deprivations have a larger overlap because of more sedentary life-styles, dietary shifts towards more fatty and processed foods, rising obesity, high rates of smoking and alcohol consumption, rural-urban migration and changing age structure. The burden of NCDs shifted from the most affluent to the least affluent over this period. In both the first (least wealthy) and fourth (wealthiest) quartiles, the prevalence rose sharply in most cases but in all the rises were faster among the least wealthy. The ratio of high blood pressure in the first quartile relative to the fourth rose from 0.36 in 2005 to 0.40 in 2012; that of heart disease rose from 0.31 to 0.38; that of diabetes from 0.23 to 0.34; and that of blood pressure and heart disease rose from 0.11 to 0.58. As NCDs are associated with a large majority of deaths among the old — about 93% of the total deaths among 70 years or more in 2013 — they are now more vulnerable to mortality risk. In fact, the least wealthy have become more susceptible to this risk.

By age 60, the major burdens of disability and death arise from age-related losses in hearing, seeing or moving, and NCDs (WHO, 2015). Thus, co-occurrence of disability and NCDs poses a higher risk of mortality.

6. Which of the following had led to the current population dynamics and a rapidly changing age structure?

1. declining fertility among the population
2. increasing life expectancy
3. improving standard of living

7. As per the passage, what is multi-morbidity?

8. What factors make the condition of those who are crossing the age of 60 years even more vulnerable?

9. What is the purpose of the passage?

10. Which of the following is not responsible for the larger overlap of wealth and health deprivations?

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