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Model Questions for UPSC PRE CSAT PAPER SET - 23

Passage

Studies of the factors governing reading development in young children have achieved a remarkable degree of consensus over the past two decades. The consensus concerns the causal role of ‘phonological skills’ in young children’s reading progress. Children who have good phonological skills, or good ‘phonological awareness’ become good readers and good spellers. Children with poor phonological skills progress more poorly. In particular, those who have a specific phonological deficit are likely to be classified as dyslexic by the time they are 9 or 10 years old.
Phonological skills in young children can be measured at a number of different levels. The term phonological awareness is a global one, and refers to a deficit in recognising smaller units of sound within spoken words. Development work has shown that this deficit can be at the level of syllables, of onsets and rimes, or phonemes. For example, a 4-year old child might have difficulty in recognising that a word like valentine has three syllables, suggesting a lack of syllabic awareness. A five-year-old might have difficulty in recognising that the odd word out in the set of words fan, cat, hat, mat is fan. This task required an awareness of the sub-syllabic units of the onset and the rime. The onset corresponds to any initial consonants in a syllable and the rime corresponds to the vowel and to any following consonants. Rimes correspond to rhyme in single-syllable words, and so the rime in fan differs from the rime in cat, hat and mat. In longer words, rime and rhyme may differ. The onsets in valentine are /v/ and /t/ and the rimes correspond to the spelling patterns ‘al’, ‘en’ and ‘me’.
A six-year-old might have difficulty in recognising that plea and pray begin with the same initial sound. This is a phonemic judgement. Although the initial phoneme /p/ is shared between the two words, in plea it is part of the onset ‘pl’ and in pray it is part of the onset ‘pr’. Until children can segment the onset (or the rime), such phonemic judgements are difficult for them to make. In fact, a recent survey of different developmental studies has shown that the different levels of phonological awareness appear to emerge sequentially. The awareness of syllables, onsets, and rimes appears to merge at around the ages of 3 and 4, long before most children go to school. The awareness of phonemes, on the other hand, usually emerges at around the age of 5 or 6, when children have been taught to read for about a year. An awareness of onsets and rimes thus appears to be a precursor of reading, whereas an awareness of phonemes at every serial position in a word only appears to develop as reading is taught. The onset-rime and phonemic levels of phonological structure, however, are not distinct. Many onsets in English are single phonemes, and so are some rimes (e.g. sea, go, zoo).
The early availability of onsets and rimes is supported by studies that have compared the development of phonological awareness of onsets, rimes, and phonemes in the same subjects using the same phonological awareness tasks. For example, a study by Treiman and Zudowski used a same/different judgement task based on the beginning or the end sounds of words. In the beginning-sound task, the words either began with the same onset, as in plea and plank, or shared only the initial phoneme, as in plea and pray.
In the end-sound task, the words either shared the entire rime, as in spit and wit, or shared only the final phoneme, as in rat and wit. Treiman and Zudowski showed that four-and five-year-old children found the onset-rime version of the same/different task significantly easier than the version based on phonemes. Only the six-year-olds, who had been learning to read for about a year, were able to perform both versions of the tasks with an equal level of success.

1. According to the passage which of the following statements is true?

(a) A mono-syllabic word can have only one onset
(b) A mono-syllabic word can have only one rhyme but more than one rime
(c) A mono-syllabic word can have only one phoneme
(d) All of the above

2. Which of the following is likely to emerge last in the cognitive development of a child?

(a) Rhyme
(b) Rime
(c) Onset
(d) Phoneme

3. A phonological deficit in which of the following is likely to be classified as dyslexia?

(a) Onset judgement
(b) Rime judgement
(c) Phonemic judgement
(d) Anyone or more of the above

4. The Treiman and Zudowski experiment found evidence to support which of the following conclusions?

(a) At age six reading instruction helps children perform both the same/different judgement tasks
(b) The development of onset-rime awareness precedes the development of an awareness of phonemes .
(c) At age four to five children find onset -rime version of the same/different task significantly easier
(d) The development of onset-rime awareness is a necessary and sufficient condition for the development of an awareness of phonemes

Passage

The lithosphere or outer shell of the earth is made up of about a dozen rigid plates that move with respect to one another. New lithosphere is created at mid-ocean ridges by the upwelling and cooling of magma from the earth’s’ interior. Since new lithosphere is continuously being created and the earth is not expanding to any appreciable extent, the question arises: What happens to the “old” lithosphere?
The answer came in the late. 1960s as the last major link in the theory of sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics that has revolutionised our understanding of tectonic processes, or structural deformation in the earth and ha: provided a unifying theme for many diverse observations, the earth sciences. The old lithosphere is subducted, or pushed down, into the earth’s mantle the thick shell of. red-hot rock beneath the earth’s thin, cooler crust and abo.ve its metallic(partly melted) core. As the formerly rigid plate descends, it slowly heats up and over period of millions of years, it is absorbed into the general circulation of the earth’s mantle.
The subduction of the lithosphere is perhaps the most significant phenomenon in global tectonics. Subduction no only explains what happens to old lithosphere but also accounts for many of the geologic processes that shape the earth’s surface. Most of the’ world’s volcanoes anti earthquakes are associated with descending lithospheric plates. The prominent island arcs-chains of islands such a the Aleutians, the Kuriles, the Marianas, and the islands (Japan-are surface expressions of the subduction process The deepest trenches of the world’s oceans, including the Java and Tonga trenches and all others associated wit island arcs, mark the seaward boundary of subduction zones. Major mountain belts, such as the Andes and the Himalayas, have resulted from the convergence an subduction of lithospheric plates.
To understand the subduction process, it is necessary to look at the thermal regime of the earth. The temperature within the earth at first increase rapidly with depth reaching about 1,200 degrees Celsius at a depth of 100 kilometres. Then they increase more gradually approaching 2,000 degrees C at about 500 kilometres. The minerals in peridolite, the major constituent of the upper mantle, start to melt at about 1,200 C or typically at a depth of 100 kilometres. Under the oceans, the upper mantle fairly soft and may contain some molten material at depth as shallow as 80 kilometres. The soft region of the mantle over which the rigid lithospheric plate normally moves, is the asthenosphere. It appears that in certain areas, convection currents in the asthenosphere may drive the plates and that in other regions, the plate motions may drive the convection currents.
Several factors contribute to the heating of the lithosphere as it descends into the mantle.
First, heat simply flows into the cooler lithosphere from the surrounding warmer mantle. Since the conductivity of the rock increases with temperature, the conductive heating becomes mc efficient with increasing depth.
Second, as the lithospheric slab descends, it is subjected to increasing pressure, which introduces heat of compression.
Third, the slab is heated the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium which are present in the earth’s crust and add heat at constant rate to the descending material.
Fourth, heat provided by the energy released when the minerals in t lithosphere change to denser phases, or more compact crystal structures, as they are subjected to higher pressure during descent.
Finally, heat is generated by friction, shear stresses and the dissipation of viscous motions at boundaries between the moving lithospheric plate and 1 surrounding mantle. Among all these sources, the first a fourth contribute the most toward the heating of 1 descending lithosphere.

5. According to the passage, which of the following statements is/are true of the earth’s mantle?

I. It is in a state of flux.
II. Its temperature far exceeds that of the lithosphere.
III. It eventually incorporates the subducted lithosphere.

(a) I only
(b) I and III
(c) II only
(d) I, II and III

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6. It can be inferred from the passage that the author regards current knowledge about the relationship between lithosphere plate motions and the convection currents in the asthenosphere as

(a) obsolete
(b) derivative
(c) unfounded
(d) tentative

7. The author is most probably addressing which of the following audiences?

(a) Geothermal researchers investigating the asthenosphere as a potential energy source
(b) College undergraduates enrolled in, an introductory course on geology
(c) Historians of science studying the origins of plate tectonic theory
(d) Graduate students engaged in analysing the rate of sea-floor spreading

8. Which of the following is not true of the heating of the lithosphere as it is described in the passage?

(a) The temperature gradient between the lithosphere and the surrounding mantle enables heat to be transferred from the latter to the former
(b) The more the temperature of the lithospheric slab increases, the more conductive the rock itself becomes
(c) Minerals in the lithospheric slab release heat in the course of phase changes that occur during their descent into the mantle
(d) The further the lithospheric slab descends into the mantle, the faster the radioactive decay of elements within it adds to its heat

Passage

At the Fourth World Water Forum held in Mexico City in March 2006, the 120-nation assembly could not reach a consensus on declaring the right to safe and clean drinking water a human right. Millions of people the world over do not have access to potable water supply. But it is good times for the bottled-water industry, which is cashing in on the need for clean drinking water and the ability of urban elite to pay an exorbitant price for this very basic human need. The fortunes of this more-than- $100-billion global industry are directly related to the human apathy towards the environment - the more we pollute our water bodies, the more the sales of bottled-water. It is estimated that the global consumption of bottled-water is nearing 200 billion litres - sufficient to satisfy the daily drinking water need of one-fourth of the Indian population or about 4.5 per cent of the global population.
In India, the per capita bottled-water consumption is still quite low-less than five litres a year as compared to the global average of 24 litres. However, the total annual bottled-water consumption has risen rapidly in recent times – it has tripled between 1999 and 2004 —from about 1.5 billion litres to five billion litres. These are boom times for the Indian bottled-water industry - more so because the economics are sound, the bottom line is fat and the Indian government hardly cares for what happens to the nation’s water resources. India is the tenth largest bottled-water consumer in the world.
In 2002, the industry had an estimated turnover of ‘ 10 billion (‘ 1,000 crore). Today it is one of the India’s fastest growing industrial sectors. Between 1999 and 2004, the Indian bottled-water market grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent — the highest in the world. With over a thousand bottled-water producers, the Indian bottled-water industry is big by even international standards. There are more than 200 brands, nearly 80 per cent of which are local. Most of the small-scale producers sell non-branded products and serve small markets. In fact, making bottled-water is today a cottage industry in the county. Leave alone the metros, where a bottled-water manufacturer can be found even in a one-room shop, in every medium and small city and even some prosperous rural areas there are bottled-water manufacturers.
Despite the large number of small producers, this industry is dominated by the big players —Parle, Bisleri, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Parle Agro, Mohan Meakins, SKN Breweries and so on. Parle was the first major Indian company to enter the bottled-water market in the county when it introduced Bisleri in India 25 years ago. The rise of the Indian bottled water industry began with the economic liberalisation process in 1991. The market was virtually stagnant until 1991, when the demand for bottled-water was less than two million cases a year. However, since 1991-1992 it has not looked back, and the demand in 2004–05 was a staggering 82 million cases. Bottled-water is sold in a variety of packages: pouches and glasses, 330 ml bottles, 500 ml bottles, one litre bottles and even 20 to 50 litre bulk water packs. The formal bottled-water business in India can be divided broadly into three segments in terms of cost: premium natural mineral water, natural mineral water and packaged drinking water.
Attracted by the huge potential that India’s vast middle class offers, multinational players such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been trying for the past decade to capture the Indian bottled-water market. Today, they have captured a significant portion of it. However, Parle Bisleri continues to hold 40 per cent of the market share. Kinley and Aquafina are fast catching up, with Kinley holding 20–25 per cent of the market and Aquafina approximately 10 per cent. The rest, including the smaller players, have 20–25 per cent of the market share.
The majority of the bottling plants - whether they produce bottled-water or soft drinks - are dependent on ground-water. They create huge water stress in the areas where they operate because groundwater is also the main source in most places the only source - of drinking water in India. This has created huge conflict between the community and the bottling plants. Private companies in India can siphon out, exhaust and export groundwater free because the groundwater law in the country is archaic and not in tune with the realities of modem capitalist societies. The existing law says that “the person who owns the land owns the groundwater beneath”. This means that, theoretically, a person can buy one square metre of land and take all the groundwater of the surrounding areas and the law of land cannot object to it. This law is the core of the conflict between the community and the companies and the major reason for making the business of bottled-water in the country highly lucrative.

9. According to the passage, which one of the following statements is not true?

(a) Private companies are exploiting groundwater resources in India due to outdated law
(b) The growth of Indian bottled-water industry is a pre-economic liberalisation process
(c) Manufacturers excluding bigger players have approximately 20-25% of the market share of battled-water
(d) Bottled-water production in India is a cottage industry today

10. Which brand is having the largest pie in the Indian bottled-water market?

(a) Coca-Cola
(b) Parle Bisleri
(c) Pepsi Cola
(d) Mohan Meakins