English Reading Comprehension Questions
Reading Comprehension Practice Test. Reading Comprehension based on different editorial like; The Hindu, Economics Times, Times of India etc. If you are preparing for Banking and Insurance Exams, you will come across Reading Comprehension Test in English language section. Here we are providing you English Reading Comprehension Test for Banking Exams , based on the latest pattern of your daily practice.
Reading Comprehension Test will help you learn concepts on important topics in English Section. This “English Reading Comprehension Test for Banking Exams” is also important for other banking exams such as SBI Clerk, IDBI Executive and Syndicate PO, IBPS PO, IBPS Clerk, SBI Clerk, IBPS RRB Officer, IBPS RRB Office Assistant, IBPS SO, SBI SO and other competitive exams.
Reading Comprehension Test for Banking Exams | Set –8
Direction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. Certain words are in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
I used to ask my mother about her life before my birth. Ma would look down at her hands, pause, and work away fastidiously without mentioning anything about her past, her desires for the moment, or the bridge that binds the past to this present. I was foolish. Today, I know not to ask about such matters.
In a land over 8,000 miles away in a place I call “home” I am not known in my own right, but as my mother’s daughter. I am told stories of my mother’s youth — of her ethereal grace, captivating charm, candour and innocence. Outside the corners of the abode, murmurs manifest as whispers: “Is Bobby back from the U.S.?” As the rustic dinner plates, the batis and thalis are retrieved from the cabinet on the special occasion of the arrival of the grandchildren, I discover they are inscribed with my mother’s name. They remind me of a time and place where my mother is still special, beyond the ordinariness of our daily existence.
My maternal grandparents were both academics who raised their daughters just as Mr. and Mrs. Banerjee raised their sons next door. While the Sinha residence looked forward, it was still far from being a microcosm of society at large. Norms do not permeate into vacuums and my mother’s upbringing was no exception. A daughter was raised to be a Renaissance woman, the perfect wife and mother, but little else was pre-ordained.
My mother had an arranged marriage. She grudges the term and prefers “introduction marriage” or “negotiated marriage”. The semantic variations aside, she married my father after meeting him once.
She wanted to be an academic, to read, study, teach. She wanted to become a dancer. A singer like her mother. Instead, she bookmarked her dreams, committed to the vision she shared with my father — greater opportunities for the children. While my mother gave me the world, I took away hers.
My mother made a sacrifice: leaving her fate to chance. She moved halfway around the world with a man she barely knew, to a country that is as fixated on order as India is to chaos. She could neither speak to other Americans, nor family; the wonders of modern telephony had not yet reached to vast swathes of India and she would have to contend with the vagaries of international mail. Correspondence with home was carefully fitted into two sheets of paper.
Even as I grew up, my mother made plans and then cancelled trips to India, vacillating between her desire to see her parents, to feel the warmth of her family back home and her duties as a wife and a mother. She did not stand alongside either of her parents when they took their last breath; instead she stood by my sister and me.
The expectations for Indian women are inordinate. They are expected to be the ideal daughter-in-law, wife, mother, and community member — respectful in the face of social criticism, subservient to those who hold stake, and diligent to maintaining the hongshar.
Immigration can be alienating. My parents joined the local Bengali Association wherever they lived. While some provided a niche to socialise with other Bengali families, reveling in traditions that were missed from back home, other Bengali Associations functioned like rumour mills in an oligarchist collective — hardly a substitute for the world she left behind.
There are nights when my mother braids my hair. As her fingers massage my scalp, she lets out advice that bares the loneliness of a home-maker. “I wouldn’t want to raise you to have my life.” I think of Jhumpa Lahiri’s insight: America “absorbs everything… it accommodates differences but always extinguishes them in some way.”
Over 25 years have passed, and I have yet to see my mother baulk from the unending task shongshar brings. There aren’t any “personal days”. I have seen my mother tidy the home with incredible impel to host a dinner for over 40 people, complete with a full suite of decadent Bengali dishes, weekend after weekend. She has sewn every rip my careless acts brought. She shuttled my sister and I through after-school activities, while quizzing us on arithmetic during the trips. Her hands work with dexterity. She never once complained she was exhausted. Never once that she was lonely. Never once asked for anyone’s help.
While she cared for our well-being and tended to our needs and desires, I’m afraid there was no reciprocation. I will never understand her pain, her tribulations, her solitude, or even the things that bring her joy. My mother traded her passions to inculcate mine in a newfound land. The oil continues to burn, producing a flame to last through and through.
As my father’s career has soared, and my sister and I work towards our goals, I cannot help think of the invisible hand that supports us all – my mother’s. As she has imbued us with dreams and aspirations for future, I will never know what became of her dreams! This is an ache that I will carry forever.
1. Why did the author say, “While my mother gave me the world, I took away hers”?
A. as her mother sacrificed her own career due to financial constraints
B. as her mother sacrificed her own career to make more opportunities available for the author
C. as the author used to take up all of her mother’s time
D. as her mother had to give up her career for the author’s treatment
E. as her mother did not want to pursue her career after the author was born
2. How was the author’s parents’ experience with the local Bengali Associations they joined?
A. those associations were a way of staying close to their traditions
B. those associations were encouraging modern versions of their traditional culture
C. those associations were working as a source of rumour in the community
D. those associations were almost invisible in terms of their significance for the community members
E. more than one of the above
3. What do the rustic dinner plates, the batis and thalis at her maternal grandparents’ home remind the author of?
A. the childhood days of her mother
B. the place where her mother has grown up
C. the days when her mother was considered special
D. the place where her mother married her father
E. the times when her mother was young and beautiful
4. What is the ache the author says she will carry forever?
A. the ache of not being able to see her mother fulfil her dreams
B. the ache of not being able to see her mother visiting her parents
C. the ache of not living up to her mother’s expectations
D. the ache of not knowing what her mother dreamt of
E. All of the above
5. Why did author’s mother use to cancel her plans of visiting her parents in India?
A. due to the high cost involved in travelling to India
B. due to author’s father’s ill health
C. due to her duties as a wife and a mother
D. due to her career commitments
E. due to her desire to be with her new family
6. What is the author’s opinion about her mother?
A. she is afraid of her
B. she feels good for her
C. she has great respect for her
D. she is yet to understand her completely
E. she is very close to her
7. How did author’s mother use to manage her household chores?
A. she used to manage the work with the help of a domestic help
B. she used to manage them efficiently on her own
C. she could never manage her work efficiently
D. she used to manage her work with the help of author’s father
E. None of the above
8. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word Ethereal as used in the passage?
A. Gladiation
B. Scintillating
C. Ephemeral
D. Exquisite
E. Malign
9.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word Diligent as used in the passage?
A. Amorphous
B. Hiatus
C. Assiduous
D. Scrumptious
E. Erroneous
10. Which of the following is farthest in meaning from the word Fastidiously as used in the passage?
A. Ardent
B. Rectified
C. Impromptu
D. Serene
E. Sloppy
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