New GRE (Revised) Reading Comprehension Sample Questions

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  Ankita Katdare

  Democratic institutions are devices for reconciling social
  order with individual freedom and initiative, and for making
  the immediate power of a country's rulers subject to the
  ultimate power of the ruled. The fact that, in Western Europe
  5 and America, these devices have worked, all things considered,
  not too badly is proof enough that the eighteenth century
  optimists were not entirely wrong. Given a fair chance, I
  repeat; for the fair chance is an indispensable prerequisite.
  No people that pass abruptly from a state of subservience
  10 under the rule of a despot to the completely unfamiliar state
  of political independence can be said to have a fair chance
  of being able to govern itself democratically. Liberalism
  flourishes in an atmosphere of prosperity and declines as
  declining prosperity makes it necessary for the government
  15 to intervene ever more frequently and drastically in the
  affairs of its subjects. Over-population and
  over-organization are two conditions which ... deprive a
  society of a fair chance of making democratic institutions
  work effectively. We see, then, that there are certain
  20 historical, economic, demographic and technological
  conditions which make it very hard for Jefferson's rational
  animals, endowed by nature with inalienable rights and an
  innate sense of justice, to exercise their reason, claim
  their rights and act justly within a democratically organized
  25 society. We in the West have been supremely fortunate in
  having been given a fair chance of making the great experiment
  in self-government. Unfortunately, it now looks as though,
  owing to recent changes in our circumstances, this infinitely
  precious fair chance were being, little by little, taken
  30 away from us.

  1. The author’s primary purpose is apparently to
  
  A. Explain a requirement and introduce a warning about that requirement 

  B. Argue for the limitation of a certain form of government 

  C. Define the conditions for social order 

  D. Advocate liberalism in government of a certain era 

  E. Credit certain thinkers with foresight
  
  2. The ‘infinitely precious fair chance’ highlighted in the last sentence, according to the author is
  
  A. Unlikely to emerge in an atmosphere of liberalism
  
B. Incompatible with Jefferson’s views 

  C. Vitiated in an atmosphere of prosperity 

  D. An essential precondition for the success of democracy
  
E. Only possible in a large, advanced and highly organised society
  
  3. The author’s attitude to the way democratic institutions have functioned in Western Europe and America can best be described as
  
  A. Deliberate neutrality 

  B. Cautious approval 

  C. Qualified disapproval 

  D. Wholehearted endorsement
  
E. Mocking disdain
  
  Try to answer them all. Answers will be revealed soon.
• 

  shihan

  1.d
  2.d
  3.b
  plz give the answer
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  silverscorpion

  I would go for
  
  1. A
  2. D
  3. B
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  Ankita Katdare

  Anyone is not trying the first paragraph?
  
  Anyway,
  
  The correct answers to second para are:
  1. A
  2. D
  3. B
  
  Explanation for the first:
  
  The ‘requirement’ in answer A is the need for democracy to be given a ‘fair chance’ which is what the author keeps reiterating. In the last sentence he warns that the chance may be being taken away. He is not arguing to limit democracy (eliminate B); nor is he defining conditions for social order in general (eliminate C). Answers D and E are too narrow to be the main point of the whole extract.
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  anujd1488

  answers for the first passage are 1)a 2)ac ..??
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  Ankita Katdare

  @anuj: The correct answers are
  1. e
  2. ac.
  
  
  For Question No. 3:
  Almost every sentence in the passage refers to incorporating rock music in classical compositions, but only the last sentence distinguishes two ways of doing so. It distinguishes between writing rock music in a way that will make it attractive to classical listeners and writing classical music that will be attractive to listeners familiar with rock. Thus the correct answer is the last sentence of the passage.