Test - GRE-Reading Comprehension

Select one or more choices from the given options.

1

There seems to be no logical reasoning for the events that take place in most people's dreams. Everyone from Plato to Jung to Freud and many others have gone on and proposed theories about the meaning and import of dreams and dreaming. One often wonders if all the gaggle of voices is a tool to satisfy individual, super-size egos rather than satisfy the thirst for interpretation of a phenomenon that has puzzled, fascinated and baffled man since ages.

One school of thought goes with the idea of a conscious, a subconscious and an unconscious mind and feels that dreams are the bridges that connect these three parts of the human psyche. They feel that all that we dream is a sum result of all our desires — suppressed and expressed, our emotions — overt and covert, and our experiences — good and bad. This school feels that dreaming is an activity of the brain that exercises it when we sleep. Just as walking, running, etc are physiological workouts, the sequence of dreams—remembered and forgotten—contributes an essential and vital input in the development of the muscles of our brain. This simplistic explanation could not curry favor with the researchers looking for more esoteric explanations and that has spawned an entire industry that thrives on offering various, often discordant postulations. Cases in point are the two explanations given by Burdach and Weygandt.

While one asserts that dreams are kind of a safety valve that takes the mind away from the trials and tribulations of the present, the other view asserts that dreams are intimately and inextricably connected to our present state of affairs. Just as the former explanation finds it hard to give irrefutable evidence for its correctness; the latter also flounders when put to the rack.

The passage suggests which of the following about dream analysis?

All studies are based on unsupported hypothesis.

The more we know, the less we understand.

Understanding them is like studying Siamese twins.

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The passage is scrollable

There seems to be no logical reasoning for the events that take place in most people's dreams. Everyone from Plato to Jung to Freud and many others have gone on and proposed theories about the meaning and import of dreams and dreaming. One often wonders if all the gaggle of voices is a tool to satisfy individual, super-size egos rather than satisfy the thirst for interpretation of a phenomenon that has puzzled, fascinated and baffled man since ages.One school of thought goes with the idea of a conscious, a subconscious and an unconscious mind and feels that dreams are the bridges that connect these three parts of the human psyche. They feel that all that we dream is a sum result of all our desires — suppressed and expressed, our emotions — overt and covert, and our experiences — good and bad. This school feels that dreaming is an activity of the brain that exercises it when we sleep. Just as walking, running, etc are physiological workouts, the sequence of dreams—remembered and forgotten—contributes an essential and vital input in the development of the muscles of our brain. This simplistic explanation could not curry favor with the researchers looking for more esoteric explanations and that has spawned an entire industry that thrives on offering various, often discordant postulations. Cases in point are the two explanations given by Burdach and Weygandt.While one asserts that dreams are kind of a safety valve that takes the mind away from the trials and tribulations of the present, the other view asserts that dreams are intimately and inextricably connected to our present state of affairs. Just as the former explanation finds it hard to give irrefutable evidence for its correctness; the latter also flounders when put to the rack.

2

Select the sentence in the second paragraph that speaks about life processes.

Select one or more choices from the given options.

3

There seems to be no logical reasoning for the events that take place in most people's dreams. Everyone from Plato to Jung to Freud and many others have gone on and proposed theories about the meaning and import of dreams and dreaming. One often wonders if all the gaggle of voices is a tool to satisfy individual, super-size egos rather than satisfy the thirst for interpretation of a phenomenon that has puzzled, fascinated and baffled man since ages.

One school of thought goes with the idea of a conscious, a subconscious and an unconscious mind and feels that dreams are the bridges that connect these three parts of the human psyche. They feel that all that we dream is a sum result of all our desires — suppressed and expressed, our emotions — overt and covert, and our experiences — good and bad. This school feels that dreaming is an activity of the brain that exercises it when we sleep. Just as walking, running, etc are physiological workouts, the sequence of dreams—remembered and forgotten—contributes an essential and vital input in the development of the muscles of our brain. This simplistic explanation could not curry favor with the researchers looking for more esoteric explanations and that has spawned an entire industry that thrives on offering various, often discordant postulations. Cases in point are the two explanations given by Burdach and Weygandt.

While one asserts that dreams are kind of a safety valve that takes the mind away from the trials and tribulations of the present, the other view asserts that dreams are intimately and inextricably connected to our present state of affairs. Just as the former explanation finds it hard to give irrefutable evidence for its correctness; the latter also flounders when put to the rack.

The passage implies which of the following about dreams?

Dream analysis is more about pursuit of individual glory than anything else.

They could be a sign of unstopping activity of the brain.

They might mirror our emotional state of being.

Select one answer choice from the given options.

4

In the 1960s, atmospheric chemist James Lovelock was consulting for NASA in designing life detection instruments for Mars. He concluded that the best way to search was to simply study its atmosphere with spectrometers and look for the disequilibrium gases that life must produce. NASA ignored him and sent the billion-dollar Viking Lander, which in 1976 succeeded in landing on Mars and sending back revelatory photographs of the surface, crucial atmospheric measurements, and confusing and ambiguous biology results demonstrating that it's hard to search for life without assuming very specific and somewhat Earth-centric definitions of life's qualities and needs.

But the exoplanet revolution has revived a focus on remote detection of biosignatures—the telltale indicators of life. This assumes nothing about alien metabolisms other than that they would exchange gases with their environments and alter their entropy state—in other words that they would be alive as best we can define it. A coming generation of space telescopes should allow us to determine the composition of many exoplanet atmospheres.

Much work has gone into studying which gases are likely to be most characteristic of life—the obvious candidates are oxygen and methane—and also the possible false positives that might fool us. Wisps of methane on Mars can be seen as a possible biosignature, although geologic sources have also been proposed. Another gas at the top of the list is phosphine, a phosphorous atom bound to three hydrogens. On Earth it's almost exclusively a product of biology. It's also expected, and seen, on hydrogen-rich planets like Jupiter as the result of inorganic chemical processes—but for rocky planets like ours, it's frequently seen as a sure sign of life.

Which of the following can be inferred about life-detection mechanism used by the Viking Lander?

It provided quantitative data to detect the presence of life on Mars.

It was programmed to detect only those life forms that resemble life on Earth.

It collected graphic data which was analyzed to conclude the possibility of life on Mars.

It did not rely on a set of defined parameters of life forms for their detection.

It was designed based on the assumption that life on Mars is similar to that on Earth.

Select one answer choice from the given options.

5

In the 1960s, atmospheric chemist James Lovelock was consulting for NASA in designing life detection instruments for Mars. He concluded that the best way to search was to simply study its atmosphere with spectrometers and look for the disequilibrium gases that life must produce. NASA ignored him and sent the billion-dollar Viking Lander, which in 1976 succeeded in landing on Mars and sending back revelatory photographs of the surface, crucial atmospheric measurements, and confusing and ambiguous biology results demonstrating that it's hard to search for life without assuming very specific and somewhat Earth-centric definitions of life's qualities and needs.

But the exoplanet revolution has revived a focus on remote detection of biosignatures—the telltale indicators of life. This assumes nothing about alien metabolisms other than that they would exchange gases with their environments and alter their entropy state—in other words that they would be alive as best we can define it. A coming generation of space telescopes should allow us to determine the composition of many exoplanet atmospheres.

Much work has gone into studying which gases are likely to be most characteristic of life—the obvious candidates are oxygen and methane—and also the possible false positives that might fool us. Wisps of methane on Mars can be seen as a possible biosignature, although geologic sources have also been proposed. Another gas at the top of the list is phosphine, a phosphorous atom bound to three hydrogens. On Earth it's almost exclusively a product of biology. It's also expected, and seen, on hydrogen-rich planets like Jupiter as the result of inorganic chemical processes—but for rocky planets like ours, it's frequently seen as a sure sign of life.

Which of the following developments is likely to result in success of life-detection using biosignatures?

Understanding the processes that the aliens use to exchange gases with their environment

A list of all the gases that may be associated with biological processes of any kind

Learning possible characteristics of alien life-forms assuming them to be not similar to life on Earth

Use of high-tech telescopes to discover the atmospheric composition of other planets

Detection of gases which are not related to chemical or geological processes

Select one answer choice from the given options.

6

In the 1960s, atmospheric chemist James Lovelock was consulting for NASA in designing life detection instruments for Mars. He concluded that the best way to search was to simply study its atmosphere with spectrometers and look for the disequilibrium gases that life must produce. NASA ignored him and sent the billion-dollar Viking Lander, which in 1976 succeeded in landing on Mars and sending back revelatory photographs of the surface, crucial atmospheric measurements, and confusing and ambiguous biology results demonstrating that it's hard to search for life without assuming very specific and somewhat Earth-centric definitions of life's qualities and needs.

But the exoplanet revolution has revived a focus on remote detection of biosignatures—the telltale indicators of life. This assumes nothing about alien metabolisms other than that they would exchange gases with their environments and alter their entropy state—in other words that they would be alive as best we can define it. A coming generation of space telescopes should allow us to determine the composition of many exoplanet atmospheres.

Much work has gone into studying which gases are likely to be most characteristic of life—the obvious candidates are oxygen and methane—and also the possible false positives that might fool us. Wisps of methane on Mars can be seen as a possible biosignature, although geologic sources have also been proposed. Another gas at the top of the list is phosphine, a phosphorous atom bound to three hydrogens. On Earth it's almost exclusively a product of biology. It's also expected, and seen, on hydrogen-rich planets like Jupiter as the result of inorganic chemical processes—but for rocky planets like ours, it's frequently seen as a sure sign of life.

It can be inferred from the passage that the "false positives of oxygen" can be which of the following?

Scientists discovering lifeforms that use oxygen for processes not related to its survival.

Detection of oxygen footprint which was found to be associated with biological processes.

Locating an oxygen hotspot on an exoplanet which resulted from an active chemical process.

Select one answer choice from the given options.

7

Photographs have the kind of authority over imagination today, which the printed word had yesterday, and the spoken word before that. They seem utterly real. They come, we imagine, directly to us without human meddling, and they are the most effortless food for the mind conceivable. Any description in words, or even any inert picture, requires an effort of memory before a picture exists in the mind. But on the screen the whole process of observing, describing, reporting, and then imagining, has been accomplished for you. Any obscurity or inconsistency that exists in the imagination is removed in a picture.

The author of the passage propagates which of the following belief about photographs as a media?

Photographs simplify a much complex process of conveying a message.

Photographs are the most superior method of communicating ideas in their true form.

Pictures clarify the haze of an idea by representing it in a vivid form.

Photographs save a lot of effort on a person's part to decode a message precisely.

Pictures as a mode of communication are far more efficient than printed and spoken word.

Number	Status	Marked
1	Not answered
2	Not answered
3	Not answered
4	Not answered
5	Not answered
6	Not answered
7	Not answered

GRE-Reading Comprehension - 6

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