CDS English Exam Paper – 08 September 2013

Combined Defense Services (CDS) English solved exam paper conducted by UPSC on 08 September 2013 available here. UPSC organizes CDS Exam twice in a year. This is a second CDS exam paper of year 2013. CDS exam will consist of three papers – English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics.

Exam Paper :— (CDS) English
Exam Organizer :— Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)
Exam Date :— 08 September 2013

(See other paper of this exam – General Knowledge Paper)

CDS (English) solved exam paper (2^nd) 2013

Comprehension

Directions – (Q. 1-27) in this section, there are seven short passages. After each passage, you will find several questions based on the passage. First, read a passage, and then answer the questions based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and opinion of the author only.

Passage I

A well-dressed young man entered a big textile shop one evening. He was able to draw the attention of the salesmen who thought him rich and likely to make heavy purchases. He was shown the superior varieties of suit lengths and sarees. But after casually examining them, he kept moving to the text section where readymade goods were being sold and further on to the hosiery section. By then, the salesmen had begun to doubt his intensions, and drew the attention of the manager. The manager asked him what exactly he wanted and he replied that he wanted courteous treatment. He explained that he had come to the same shop in casual dress that morning and drawn little attention. His pride was hurt and he wanted to assert himself. He had come in good dress only to get decent treatment, not for getting any textiles. He left without making any purchase.

1. The young man was well dressed because –
A. it was his habit to dress well
B. it was his wedding day
C. he wanted to meet the manager of the shop
D. he wanted to impress the salesmen

2. The salesmen in the shop are described as people who pay attention to –
A. only young men and women
B. pretty women
C. only rich customers
D. regular customers

3. The young man moved away to the hosiery section because he –
A. was not interested in purchasing anything now
B. did not like the readymade clothes
C. wanted better clothes
D. was restless

4. The manager asked the young man what he wanted because –
A. he would give him exactly what he was looking for
B. the salesman had drawn his attention to the indifferent attitude of the young man
C. he thought they could do more business with him that way
D. he thought the visitor was dissatisfied

5. The young man left without making purchase because he –
A. did not have money
B. could not find any item of his choice
C. had come only to make a point about the indifferent attitude of the salesmen towards casually dressed customers
D. decided to come to make the purchase later on

Passage II

The prisoner awaited his chance. For three solid years he had schemed for this opportunity. Now that escape seemed to near at hand, those three years lost some of their monotony. But he would never forget the lashes. The close confinement, low diet, and worse still the mental strain of those black days, Suddenly. The warden did what he had hoped. He stopped to unlock the lower padlock. With a dull thud he slumped forward with keys in his hands. Swiftly the prisoner seized his keys, unlocked the cell and ran into the courtyard. It took him four seconds to reach the rope-ladder secretly placed there by his accomplices, five more to clamber over the wall, and three more to jump into the waiting car to be whicked away to freedom. Even though he was guilty, the prisoner felt he had paid for his crime, for the man he hadbrobbed three years ago was still a millionaire.

6. For what crime had the prisoner been punished ?
A. murder
B. arson
C. robbery
D. kidnapping

7. When had the crime been committed ?
A. just before the escape
B. three years earlier
C. long ago
D. day ealier

8. Who slumped forward with a dull thud ?
A. the millionaire
B. the warden
C. the prisoner
D. prisoner’s accomplice

9. What did the prisoner suffer the most during imprisonment ?
A. poor health
B. mental strain
C. physical torture
D. absence from his family

Passage III

Nationalism is only a curse when it becomes narrow and fanatical. Life so many other things available to man, say, religion, it can easily lead men astray. Nationalism can lead people into thinking only of themselves, or their own struggles, of their own misery. It can also cause a nation to become suspicious and fearful of its neighbours, to look upon itself as superior, and to become aggressive. And it is when nationalism impels a state to become expansionist and seek domination over others that it becomes a positive curse and harmful internationally.

10. From the passage, which of the following statements most correctly reflects the opinion of the author ?
A. nationalism makes people self-centered and self conceited
B. it helps a nation to become superior to other nations
C. it regulates international relationships
D. it helps a nation to expand its territories and become powerful

11. Which of the following phrases most correctly suggest the central theme of the passage ?
A. nationalism and religion
B. nationalism as an inspiration for development
C. nationalism as a cause of war
D. evils of narrow and aggressive nationalism

12. From the passage which of the following statements can be assumed to be most likely to be true ?
A. the author believes that nationalism is always a curse
B. he believes that it is possible for men to misuse religion
C. he thinks that religion always leads men astrays
D. he pleads for a mix-up of religion and nationalism

Passage IV

Brown and his men, huddling round a fire, ate the last of the food that kassim had brought them that day. Cornelius sat among them, half-asleep. Then one of the crew remembered that some tobacco had been left in the boat, and said he would go and fetch it. He didn’y think there was any danger in going to the creek in the dark. He disappeared down the hillside, and a moment later he was heard climbing into the boat and then climbing out again.

13. Consider the following statements :
1. Brown and cornelius sat round the fire.
2. Cornelius lay half-asleep at a little distance from the fire.
3. All the people sat round the fire.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
A. 1 and 2
B. 2 only
C. 3 only
D. 1 and 3

14. One of them disappeared down the hill implies that –
A. the slope of the hill was slippery
B. he fell from the edge of the hill
C. there was suddenly a sea beside the hill
D. he walked down the hill

15. “He didn’t think…..in the dark.” the sentence actually implies that he –
A. was bold and adventurous
B. was addicted to smoking
C. would face some trouble
D. was the only person who knew where in the boat tobacco was

16. Was does the word ‘hudding’ imply?
A. moving around
B. falling into a slumber
C. being close together
D. merrymaking

Passage V

At soon as i saw the elephant i knew with perfect certainty that i ought not to shoot him. It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant- it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery – and obviously one ought not to do it if it can possibly be avoided. And at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow.

17. The writer was against shooting the elephant because –
A. the suspected it to be a wild one and was afraid of it
B. his heart was full of compassion for animals
C. he was certain that the elephant was innocent
D. it would amount to avoidable waste of useful property

18.the author compares the elephant to a costly machine because –
A. ivory is very expensive
B. it can do as much work as an expensive machine
C. elephants look like big machines
D. elephants and machines have similar prices

19. The elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow because –
A. it was quietly doing its work
B. unlike lions, it is a vegetarian animal
C. its tusks resemble the cow’s horns
D. cows can be very dangerous sometimes

Passage VI

I was very fond of the old soldier in our little town. He had only one leg, having lost the other somewhere in Assam in 1942. He used to tell me about his adventures. He told me that he had run away from home to join the army. He had experienced his first battle in the Libyan desert. Out of his dozens of war stories, that one i liked best was the one of his escape from a Japanese prison-of-war camp in Burma. He told me again and again, how he walked two hundred miles in two weeks. On the way he was bitten on the toe by a poisonous snake and he had to cut off part of the toe in order to survive. But by the time he got to an Indian camp the wound had turned septic and the leg had to the amputated. He is, however, quite contented with his lot.

20. The author was very fond of the old soldier because –
A. he had lost one of his legs in war
B. he used to tell the author about his adventures
C. he was contented with his lot
D. he had been to many countries

21. Why did the old soldier repeatedly tell that he walked two hundred miles ?
A. he ran away from home to join the army
B. he had to cross the libyan desert
C. he had to escape from a prison-of-war camp
D. he was a strong soldier

22. The story of the old soldier that the author like most was that about –
A. his running away from home to join the army
B. his first battle in the libyan desert
C. the loss of his leg in assam
D. his escape from a japanese prison-of-war camp

23. The old soldier, according to the author, was –
A. unhappy about his life
B. satisfied with his lot
C. angry about his fate
D. disgusted with his misfortune

24. The soldier’s leg had to be amputated because –
A. he had walked two hundred miles in two weeks
B. he was wounded in war
C. the wounded toe turned septic
D. he was shot in the leg while escaping from the japanese camp

Passage VII

A large number of people had come to attend the meeting to be addressed by the gifted speaker. The organizers had a difficult time keeping the assembled people quiet as the meeting did not commence a the scheduled time. After some time the people lost their patience and began to shout and heckle. The organizers had great difficulty in assuaging the anger of the crowd when they were forced to cancel the meeting as the speaker had to be hospitalized due to sudden illness.

25. What was the actual reason for the organizers to have a difficult time ?
A. a large number of people had come to the meeting
B. the organizers could not make proper arrangements
C. the meeting could not be started in time
D. the speaker was ill

26. What does the word ‘assuaging’ imply ?
A. accepting
B. tolerating
C. reducing
D. removing

27. Further delay resulted in the people –
A. leaving the place
B. fighting with the organizers
C. making noise
D. making the speaker ill

Spotting Errors

Directions – (Q. 28-46) each question in this section has a sentence with three parts labelled (A), (B) and (C). read each sentence to find out whether there is any error in any part and indicate your answer against the corresponding letter i.e., (A) or (B) or (C).if you find no error, your answer should be indicated as (D).

28. A. lack of winter rains
B. have delayed the sowing of
C. wheat crop in this area
D. no error

29. A. the teacher let the boy off
B. with a warning
C. thought he was convinced with his guilt
D. no error

30. A. our first trip was the most interesting one
B. but our second one
C. was even more interesting

D. no error

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