English Quiz for SBI Clerk Pre
Improve your English with English quiz. English Quiz to help you improve your score for exams like Bank, SSC, Railway, UPSC, UPSSSC, CDS, UPTET, KVS, DSSSB and other Government exams.
Directions (1- 10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
Paragraph 1: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, had once said: “Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.” Today this combination of art and science is ubiquitous, used in a variety of everyday products. However, has software really affected the production process in traditional manufacturing industries, like automobiles and aerospace? A recent working paper, “Get With the Program: Software-driven Innovation in Traditional Manufacturing” by Lee G. Bransetter and Namho Kwan (Carnegie Melon University), and Matej Drev (Georgia Institute of Technology), has documented the increasing prevalence of software in traditional manufacturing industries, at the cost of traditional processes like mechanical and chemical engineering, to develop and innovate products. The researchers find that firms resistant to adopting software-based techniques are being outperformed by their peers.
Paragraph 2: The importance of software in the innovation process has been measured by the patents citing software-based technologies in these industries. These have seen a large uptick over the last few decades. In the US, for example, the share of software patents has increased threefold over a 20-year period, from only 5% of all patents in the 1980s to around 15% in 2005. More importantly, the share of patents citing previous software patents has also doubled over this period. These are patents in non-software industries like automobiles, and these are an important measure of software intensity in traditional manufacturing. The researchers use some insightful anecdotes to give the readers an idea. Up to 40% of the cost of a new car is determined by electronics and software content, and most premium cars are equipped with 70-80 microprocessors. The Boeing 777 contains no less than 1,280 on-board processors that use more than four million lines of computer code. More than 50% of medical devices contain software, with a modern pacemaker containing up to 80,000 lines of computer code.
Paragraph 3: These findings beg the question: If there are so many benefits of being software-intensive, why aren’t all firms using more software? Why are some firms lagging behind? Armed with the fact that US firms tend to be much more software-intensive than European and Japanese firms, the researchers argue that availability of talented human resources is a crucial reason why this phenomenon exists. In fact, they argue, the availability of talented and inexpensive software engineers from India is one of the key reasons the US has a competitive advantage over these other nations.
Paragraph 4: A focus on software intensity in a country with surplus labour like India may raise a few eyebrows. But, a look at some recent trends highlights the importance of patents. Manufacturing growth and patent filing growth by Indian residents has shown strong positive correlation over the last decade, with a correlation coefficient of 0.62. Both of them plummeted to the 2% mark in 2008-09, followed by a period of resurgence, where patent and manufacturing growth increased to 17% and 8.5%, respectively, in 2010-11. Both shrank sharply in 2011-12, and since then have stabilised and continued to move in tandem. The relationship between growth of patent filing by Indian citizens and growth in gross domestic product shows a similar picture, with a positive correlation coefficient of 0.53. Further, the growth rates almost converged in 2015-16, indicating a crucial role played by software and patents in assessing the health of an economy.
Paragraph 5: India’s quest to become a manufacturing powerhouse will, to a large extent, depend on how it embraces software and technology. India is already losing its low-cost advantage in employment generating sectors, like textiles and electronic equipment, to Bangladesh and Vietnam, respectively. But it can certainly take the lead in software engineers’ labor market. Information technology (IT) and software professionals from India are regarded among the best in the world. But hardly any of the most skilled professionals stay back in India. The US has earned great dividends by attracting and retaining the top software talent from India, and around the world, through its prestigious universities and attractive STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) visa programmes. Thus software can allow India to differentiate its products from the low-end products of its competitors and enjoy a lasting manufacturing boom.
Q1. What of the following sentences correctly characterize the software as mentioned in the passage?
(I) Software industries are performing well than any other industry.
(II) The combination of art and science is software that is prevalent in various products.
(III) Nearly all the manufacturing industries have realized the importance of software.
(IV) The software- intensive firms have more value than less software intensive firms.
(a) Only (I) and (II)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (I) and (IV)
(e) All are correct
Q2. How is it correct to say that manufacturing industries are increasingly using software?
(I) All the research equipments contain large number of microprocessors.
(II) Most cars are equipped with software that determines its cost.
(III) There are large number of medical devices that contain software.
(IV) There is a rise in share of software patents in manufacturing industries.
(a) Only (I) and (II)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (I) and (IV)
(e) All are correct
Q3. According to the passage, software intensive firms are proportional to
(a) size of labor in a firm
(b) the proportion of capital in a firm
(c) talented human resources
(d) developed nation
(e) All of the above
Q4. Which is the most appropriate title of the passage?
(a) Benefits of being software-intensive
(b) U.S.: The software intensive nation
(c) Research and development productivity gap
(d) The role of software in manufacturing in India
(e) Requirement of talented labor in manufacturing industries
Q5. According to the passage, how India can put efforts to grow its GDP?
(a) raising the employment rate.
(b) employing more skilled professionals.
(c) raising the patent filing.
(d) both (b) and (c)
(e) All of the above
Q6. Which of the following sentences holds true in context to the passage?
(a) Japan has the largest software- intensive firms in the world.
(b) The twin jet plane contains many microprocessors having number of computer codes.
(c) The U.S. went through a declination of patent filing.
(d) India’s growth in Information technology has marked a disrupt slump.
(e) All are correct
Direction (7- 8): Which of the following alternatives among the five options provides the most similar meaning(s) of the word given in BOLD as used in the passage?
Q7. Tandem
(I) surplus
(II) sparse
(III) rival
(IV) lineup.
(a) Only (I) and (III)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (IV)
(e) All are correct
Q8. Ubiquitous
(I) pervasive
(II) Taper
(III) omnipresent
(IV) concoction
(a) Only (I) and (III)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (IV)
(e) All are correct
Direction (9- 10): Which of the following alternatives among the five options provides the most opposite meaning(s) of the word given in BOLD as used in the passage?
Q9. Plummeted
(I) dissuade
(II) plunge
(III) copious
(IV) ascend
(a) Only (I) and (III)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (IV)
(e) All are correct
Q10. Embrace
(I) repudiate
(II) reticent
(III) reject
(IV) nuance
(a) Only (I) and (III)
(b) Only (II), (III) and (IV)
(c) Only (I), (II) and (III)
(d) Only (IV)
(e) All are correct
Recommended PDF’s for 2021:
- Computer Capsule 2021 : Download PDF
- Quantitative Aptitude Topic-Wise Online Test Series 2021
- Banking Awareness (Theory+MCQ’s) Complete PDF : Download Now
- Get FREE Study Materials & PDFs for IBPS , RBI, SBI, LIC AAO , LIC Assistant, NIACL & Other Exams Over the mail and Whatsapphttps://forms.gle/YvJrM3QKoWxUJ4F68
2021 Preparation Kit PDF |
|
Most important PDF’s for Bank, SSC, Railway and Other Government Exam : Download PDF Now |
|
| AATMA-NIRBHAR Series- Static GK/Awareness Practice Ebook PDF | Get PDF here |
| The Banking Awareness 500 MCQs E-book| Bilingual (Hindi + English) | Get PDF here |
| AATMA-NIRBHAR Series- Banking Awareness Practice Ebook PDF | Get PDF here |
| Computer Awareness Capsule 2.O | Get PDF here |
| AATMA-NIRBHAR Series Quantitative Aptitude Topic-Wise PDF 2020 | Get PDF here |
| Memory Based Puzzle E-book | 2016-19 Exams Covered | Get PDF here |
| Caselet Data Interpretation 200 Questions | Get PDF here |
| Puzzle & Seating Arrangement E-Book for BANK PO MAINS (Vol-1) | Get PDF here |
| ARITHMETIC DATA INTERPRETATION 2.O E-book | Get PDF here |
