Direction Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given at the end of the passage.
By 1910 the motor car was plainly conquering the highway. The private car was now part of every rich man’s establishment although its price as yet made it an impossible luxury for most of the middle class. But for the adventuresome youth there was the motor cycle, a fearsome invention, parent of accidents and ear-splitting noises. Already the dignified carriages and smart pony traps were beginning to disappear from the roads, and coachmen and grooms, unless mechanically Minded, were finding it more difficult to make a living. ‘Re roads which had gone to sleep since the coming of the railway, now awoke to feverish activity, cars and motor cycles dashed along them at speeds which rivalled those of the express trains. and the lorry began to appear. Therefore, the road system was compelled to adapt itself to a volume and speed of traffic for which it had never been intended. Its complete adaptation was impossible; but the road surface was easily transformed and during the early years of the century the dustiness and greasiness of the highway was reduced by tar-spraying. To widen and straighten the roads and to get rid of blind corners and very steep hills were tasks which had scarcely been tackled before 1914. Yet it was not only the road system that was in need of readjustment. The nervous system of those who used and dwelt by the roads suffered. The noises caused by the conversion of the roads into speedways called for a corresponding tightening up of the nerves and the pedestrian, especially in the towns, who wished to preserve life and limb was compelled to keep his attention continually on the stretch, to practise himself in estimates of the speed of approaching vehicles, and to run or jump for his life if he ventured off the pavement.
1. A suitable title for the passage can be
(A) The Roads-Then and Now
(B) A Fearsome Invention – The Motor cycle.
(C) The Dilemma of the Unemployed Coachmen and Grooms
(D) Motor Cars and the Road System
2. Most of the middle class men did not own a car because
(A) it was noisy and caused accidents
(B) it was quite expensive
(C) they were scared of driving it
(D) this would render the grooms and coachmen unemployed
3. One of these did not contribute to feverish activity on the roads.
(A) cars
(B) motor cycles
(C) express trains
(D) pedestrians
4. Roads were ‘node ready for the new challenges by (i) tar-spraying (ii) widening • (iii)erecting gas lamps (iv) levelling blind corners and steep gradients
(A) (i), (ii) & (iii)
(B) (i), (iii), (iv),
(C) (i). (ii) & (iv)
(D) all of these
5. One of these did not contribute to the strain on the nerves of the people
(A) heavy and speedy traffic on the roads
(B) difficulty’ in. adjusting to the high speeds of cars and nsohikes
(C) the blaring of pressure.horns by irate drivers in traffic jams
(D) the inherent’ risk in venturing, off the pavement
6. The phrase tightening up of nerves means
(A) learning to cope with the noises
(B) straits on the nervous system
(C) imposing self discipline
(D) grinding teeth and clenching fists
Solutions:
1.(D)
2.(B)
3.(C)
4.(C)
5.(C)
6.(B)
