CAT 2021 Question Paper VARC Slot 3

The fundamental unity of humanity is the theme of Mr. Chomsky's universal grammar, and of this exciting book.

Throughout the passage, the author seems to support the points made by Mr Pinker. The above line also shows that the opinion of the author towards the book is positive, and the author does not think that the book is racist in any way, but promotes unity and cohesion. Option D captures this point correctly and is the answer.

So according to Mr. Pinker, the roots of language must be in the genes, but there cannot be a “grammar gene” any more than there can be a gene for the heart or any other complex body structure. This proposition will undoubtedly raise the hackles of some behavioral psychologists and anthropologists, for it apparently contradicts the liberal idea that human behavior may be changed for the better by improvements in culture and environment....

The book does not support that a complex anatomical structure like a 'voice box' plays a key role in determining language acquisition skills. Nor does it support the role of culture and environment in shaping human behaviour Options A and B are eliminated.

Option C portrays the book as racist, which is directly in contradiction with the author's opinion. C is eliminated too.

A half-century ago, this would have been pooh-poohed as a “black box” theory, since one could not actually pinpoint this grammatical faculty in a specific part of the brain, or describe its functioning. But now things are different. Neurosurgeons [have now found that this] “black box” is situated in and around Broca’s area, on the left side of the forebrain. . . .

On the other hand, the “language instinct,” when it first appeared among our most distant hominid ancestors, must have given them a selective reproductive advantage over their competitors (including the ancestral chimps). . . .

He effectively disposes of all claims that intelligent nonhuman primates like chimps have any abilities to learn and use language.

The above excerpts provide support for Options B, C, and D respectively. Option A is in direct contradiction with Option D, and hence, is the answer.

Unlike Mr. Chomsky, Mr. Pinker firmly places the wiring of the brain for language within the framework of Darwinian natural selection and evolution.

The passage suggests that Mr. Pinker and Mr. Chomsky agree on almost all topics. However, the above line indicates that they both disagreed on the application of the Darwinian framework to explain language instinct. Where Mr. Pinker was in favour of the same, Mr. Chomsky was against. Hence, Option C is the answer.

Since this message was couched in terms of Chomskyan theoretical linguistics, in discourse so opaque that it was nearly incomprehensible even to some scholars, many people did not hear it. Now, in a brilliant, witty and altogether satisfying book, Mr. Chomsky's colleague Steven Pinker . . . has brought Mr. Chomsky's findings to everyman.

From the above excerpt, it is clear that Mr. Pinker's style of writing is much more comprehensible to the common man. Hence, their writing styles are quite different. Also, the above excerpt mentions that the book brings Mr. Chomsky's findings to everyman, hence, it is clear that it draws heavily from the findings. Options A and D are eliminated.

Unlike Mr. Chomsky, Mr. Pinker firmly places the wiring of the brain for language within the framework of Darwinian natural selection and evolution.

The above excerpt shows that they both disagreed on a certain point. Hence, Option B is eliminated too.

Option C finds no mention in the passage, hence, is the answer.

The passage starts by highlighting that the term 'unconscious', widely held today, came in conception not long ago. With the coining of this term, many unrelated activities/ideas found a common umbrella under which they could be categorized and also allowed them to prosper. The author then writes the following line, which gives us a clear conception of the main theme:

Thus, the massive introduction of the term unconscious by Hartmann in 1869 appeared to focalize many stray thoughts, affording a temporary feeling that a crucial step had been taken forward, a comprehensive knowledge gained a knowledge that required only further elaboration, explication, and unfolding in order to bring in a bounty of higher understanding.

Thus, the passage is about the assembly of many stray thoughts under the banner of the unconscious. Option C perfectly captures this, and hence, is the answer.

The author does not primarily deal with the unconscious as a part of the mind. Nor does he focus upon the expansion of the vocabulary of the mind and the soul. Thus, Options A and B can be rejected.

'Psychical research' is not the main focus of the passage. The author says that the term allowed certain 'psychic' activities to flourish. He does not focus on the term as an object of psychical research. Hence, Option D can be eliminated too.

Let us try to break the sentence down and interpret its meaning:

“The enrichments of literary and intellectual language led to an altered understanding of the meanings that underlie time-honored expressions and traditional catchwords.”

In simple words |Enrichments of language| led to |change in understanding| of | time-honoured expressions|. 

In the context of the passage, the line means that when the terms related to 'the unconscious' were coined, they enriched the vocabulary of the language and this, in turn, changes the meanings of many old expressions related to this term.

Option D comes the closest in capturing the meaning, and hence, is the answer.

B: The meanings of the catchwords were altered. They were not enriched. Can be eliminated.

C: The catchwords did not cause a change. Their own meaning was changed. Can be eliminated.

Unconscious is the primary focus of the passage. Since D does not have that as a main point, it can be eliminated.

Dreams find a single, small mention as an example in the passage. Hence, Option A can be eliminated too.

Insanity finds a small mention in the passage and is not a main point. Hence, Option B is incorrect.

The author initially deals with how the enrichment of vocabulary on the matter of unconscious has a deep effect and how this later became a subject of psychoanalysis. Hence, Option C is the correct answer.

The “unconscious” burst the shell of conventional language, coined as it had been to embody the fleeting ideas and the shifting conceptions of several generations until, finally, it became fixed and defined in specialized terms within the realm of medical psychology and Freudian psychoanalysis.

In the passage, the author has clearly outlined the importance of linguistic developments in helping the knowledge of the field grow. Since the option is not extreme in certainty ('may' not have happened), Option A can be inferred.

Significantly, most if not all of these practices (for example, hypnotism in surgery or psychological magnetism) originated in the waning years of the eighteenth century and during the early decades of the nineteenth century, as did some of the disciplines (such as psychology and psychical research). The majority of topics too were either new or assumed hitherto unknown colors. Thus, before 1790, few if any spoke, in medical terms, of the affinity between creative genius and the hallucinations of the insane . . .

From the above excerpt, we can infer that the affinity between genius and insanity was not looked into before the 18th century.

At the same time, once coined, powerful new ideas attracted to themselves a whole host of seemingly unrelated issues, practices, and experiences, creating a peculiar network of preoccupations that as a group had not existed before.

The above excerpt and the examples the author provides after this excerpt can help us infer that as the knowledge of the mind grew, unrelated activities found a common title. Option D can be inferred.

The passage does not imply anywhere that the new conceptions were able to provide new knowledge only because some fields were established. Option C is out of the scope of the passage and cannot be inferred.

Back in the early 2000s, an awesome thing happened in the New X-Men comics. Our mutant heroes had been battling giant robots called Sentinels for years, but suddenly these mechanical overlords spawned a new threat: Nano-Sentinels! Not content to rule Earth with their metal fists, these tiny robots invaded our bodies at the microscopic level. Infected humans were slowly converted into machines, cell by cell.

The first paragraph talks about the X-men comics, in which the mutant heroes, that X-Men, has been battling giant robots called sentinels. But these Sentinels then developed Nano-Sentinels, which could invade bodies at the microscopic level, and the heroes would now have to fight them too. Option D perfectly captures this, and hence, is the answer.

Option A is incorrect. X-men were battling the Sentinels before the invention of Nano-Sentinels. Hence, the origin of X-men is different.

Option B is incorrect. The mechanical overlords made Nano-Sentinels to convert people into machines. It has not been said that the people were converted into the mechanical lords themselves.

We will check which option when proven false will support the passage:

A: Robots becoming a part of everyday life is neither supported nor opposed in the passage. Thus, Option A is not the answer.

B: Instead of gears and wires, it’s assembled from two kinds of molecules - some that love water and some that avoid it - which interact to allow the bot to skate on top of a pond.

Option B has been clearly mentioned in the passage. Hence, if it is proven false, it will contradict the passage. Option B is not the answer.

C: One team of researchers, for example, has developed a different kind of hydrogel that becomes sticky when exposed to a low-voltage zap of electricity and then stops being sticky when the electricity is switched off.

Option C has been mentioned in the passage. Hence, if it is proven false, it will contradict the passage. Option C is not the answer.

D: No, they won’t be invading our bodies and turning us into Sentinels...

Option D is just the opposite of what has been given in the passage. Hence, if Option D is false, it would support the passage.

A: Sentinel robots are just fiction that is mentioned in the passage to introduce the new wave of development that has taken place. Option A is eliminated.

B: The author has introduced X-men as an example only. His arguments are not related to the creation of X-men in any way. Option B can be eliminated.

C: .....but some of them could one day swim through our bloodstream to heal us.

Throughout the passage, the author is trying to highlight the positives of the new robots. Hence, a direct extension of the argument would be the robots healing us at a microscopic level, as is hinted in the above excerpt. Option C is the answer.

D: Option D, though not entirely incorrect, is not a direct extension of the arguments presented in the passage. Unlike Option C, D has not been hinted at in the passage. Hence, it can be eliminated too.

The author first introduces an arc of a comic book where nano-robots are used. He then goes on to show how that fiction is increasingly becoming reality. He then goes on to describe the various features present in today's nano-robots. Option C comes the closest in capturing this point, and hence, is the answer.

Option A is just one of the features of the modern nano-robots and is not the focus of the passage.

Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic materials are not the main point of contention here. Option B can be eliminated.

The author uses the example of X-men to introduce the development of technology today. His main contention is not the content of the comic books and how it would be affected by recent developments in technology. Option D can be eliminated too.

A: We cannot infer that the 'arrow of time' has not been tested for atomic clocks. Option A can be eliminated.

B: It has been given in the Option that since quantum computers place more emphasis on their clock's accuracy, they would produce more heat.

The researchers found that as they increased the clock’s accuracy, the heat produced in the system grew, increasing the entropy of its surroundings by jostling nearby particles...

The passage supports this inference. B is the answer.

C: The relationship that the researchers found is a limit on the accuracy of a clock, so it doesn’t mean that a clock that creates the most possible entropy would be maximally accurate - hence a large, inefficient grandfather clock isn’t more precise than an atomic clock.

The passage gives a specific example of an inefficient grandfather clock. We cannot infer whether all grandfather clocks are efficient or not.

D: The clock consists of a 50-nanometre-thick membrane of silicon nitride, vibrated by an electric current.

The clock uses electric current to produce vibrations and not the other way around. Option D can be eliminated.

There is an evident confusion between Option B and Option C; however, the official answer key marked Option B as the correct choice. Let us try to rationalise this decision. Options A and D can be understood from the passage:

Option A follows from {...We can’t be sure yet that these results are actually universal, though, because there are many types of clocks for which the relationship between accuracy and entropy haven’t been tested...}

Option D follows from {...Understanding this relationship could be helpful for designing clocks in the future, particularly those used in quantum computers and other devices where both accuracy and temperature are crucial, says Ares...}

Option C: Pay heed to the following excerpt from the passage - {...The relationship that the researchers found is a limit on the accuracy of a clock, so it doesn’t mean that a clock that creates the most possible entropy would be maximally accurate - hence a large, inefficient grandfather clock isn’t more precise than an atomic clock. “It’s a bit like fuel use in a car. Just because I’m using more fuel doesn’t mean that I’m going faster or further,” says Huber...}

A simple correlation is being highlighted: higher accuracy means higher entropy; however, this does not necessarily imply that higher entropy translates to higher accuracy. The example of a grandfather clock is highlighted to emphasise this point: we will come across higher entropy in this case, but it does not mean that the grandfather clock is any more accurate than an atomic clock. In a way, the author tries to point out that the accuracy could very well be similar. This accuracy is not in absolute terms but in the way accuracy is defined by the author earlier in the passage. Thus, in a way, Option C matches the idea conveyed by the author

Option B: Pay heed to the following excerpt from the passage - {...The researchers found that as they increased the clock’s accuracy, the heat produced in the system grew, increasing the entropy of its surroundings by jostling nearby particles . . . “If a clock is more accurate, you are paying for it somehow,” says Ares. In this case, you pay for it by pouring more ordered energy into the clock, which is then converted into entropy. “By measuring time, we are increasing the entropy of the universe,” says Ares...}

The discussion about the price paid appears to be distinct from the earlier segment wherein the author states that when we push for higher accuracy, we will come across more heat. While talking about the cost at which higher accuracy is achieved, the author states that we "pour in" more 'ordered energy' and this subsequently leads to higher entropy. Hence, the focus seems to be on the connection between accuracy and entropy than between heat and its role in creating higher accuracy. We cannot conclusively infer that the "ordered energy" stated in the latter half refers to the "heat" mentioned earlier on. Thus, claiming that heat is the price we pay for generating higher accuracy might be difficult to substantiate. Hence, Option B is distorted. 

The relationship that the researchers found is a limit on the accuracy of a clock, so it doesn’t mean that a clock that creates the most possible entropy would be maximally accurate - hence a large, inefficient grandfather clock isn’t more precise than an atomic clock. “It’s a bit like fuel use in a car. Just because I’m using more fuel doesn’t mean that I’m going faster or further,” says Hube

In the above excerpt, the author gives an example that though a large, inefficient grandfather clock would produce more entropy, it is not necessarily more precise than an atomic clock. Hence, if a clock produces more entropy, it does not mean that it would be more precise than a clock that produces less entropy. Then the mentioned statement is given as an example. If a car is going faster or further, it will definitely use more fuel. But if a car is using more fuel, then the converse is not true. It could just be possible that the mileage of the car is low. Option A comes the closest to capturing this idea, and hence, is the answer. 

The maximum accuracy of a clock is directly related to how much disorder, or entropy, it creates every time it ticks.

The author highlights in the beginning of the passage that the accuracy associated with measuring time is directly related to how much entropy it creates while ticking. The author then goes on to talk about the relationship between accuracy and entropy, and how quantum mechanics and thermodynamics come in play here. Thus, the main keywords are the measurement of time, accuracy and entropy. Option C is the answer.

Electric current is just a small part of an example presented in the passage. Option A can be eliminated. The same is the case for Silicon Nitride and Membrane. These are just keywords associated with a particular experiment/example presented in the passage and are not important for the passage as a whole.

A quick read of the sentences tells us that the paragraph is about the unemployment caused by automation. The passage is best opened by 3, which provides the current state of unemployment. The politicians view globalisation as the factor exacerbating unemployment. 4 contrasts this by saying that expert analysis tells a different story. It is automation that could prove to be a crucial factor. 12 forms a pair, that further elucidate the kind and scope of impact that automation has on jobs. Hence, the correct sequence would be 3412.

A brief reading of the sentences tells us that the paragraph is about the different conceptions of relationships. 2 explains that communication is an important aspect here, and should be studied properly. 3 mentions a Foucauldian approach, that goes beyond this, and includes macrolevel regimes of truth. 1 then explains why the concept of regimes of truth is relevant here. 4 then aptly concludes the paragraph, implying how the micropractices within the relationships allude the importance of knowledge/power. Thus, the correct sequence would be 2314.

A brief reading of the sentences suggests that the paragraph must be about the disparity in the representation of different genders. Sentences 1,2,3, and 5 are concerned with the problems that arise when the representation of females is less.  

4, however, runs tangent to the discussion at hand. It talks about 'structural inequalities'. This sentence, if included in the paragraph, would render it incomplete as all the other sentences talk about gender inequality and not structural inequality. Thus, 4 is out of context here.

The main points of the passage are:

1. People increasingly view idleness as sin and industriousness as a virtue, pushing them into meaningless jobs.

2. On the other hand, this has also saved us from many of life's drudgeries.

A: Misses out on point 1.

B: A distortion. The author does not advocate idleness. Also, 1 is not covered properly.

C: Incorrect. 'led to greater idleness' is not implied anywhere in the passage.

D: Covers both the points aptly and is the answer.

A brief reading of the sentences tells us that the paragraph is about Chinese business schools and how they stand in comparison to their western counterparts. 2 mentions that thought they have a similar outlook, Chinese business schools have a different curriculum and are also different in what they have to offer. 1, 4, and 5 further talk about the peculiarity of the Chinese schools.

3, however, runs tangent to the discussion. It shifts the focus from Chinese schools and describes western schools. Hence, 3 is out of the context here.

The main points of the paragraph are as follows:

1. Intuition draws from a vast array of memories that our brain keeps in store.

2. When our brain recognises a pattern from past memories, neuron firing starts, which gives us the gut feeling of intuition. 

A: Distortion: The passage does not give any detail about big data being based on rational thought.

B: Out of scope. The paragraph does not allude to whether the decisions based on intuition are better or worse.

C: Incorrect: The passage says that intuitive decisions are based on data.

D: Correctly covers the mentioned points and hence, is the answer.

The main points of the paragraph are:

1. The Brazilian economy has been stagnant, but the popular perception is that the times have improved.

2. The reasons are falling inequality and other important services.

3. Despite this, the economy is brutally unequal.

A: Ignorance on the part of Brazilians is not implied. What the author is saying that though things have improved for the ones who say so, others are still being dealt a rough hand.

B: The paragraph does not imply that the good economic indicators are being used as subterfuge to cover up the prevailing inequality.

C: Comes the closest in capturing the three points. Hence, is the answer.

D: It has a problem similar to Option A. Things have improved for that section of people. They are not ignorant, nor are they being misled into believing something.

A brief reading of the sentences suggests that the paragraph is about restitution of articles that were taken from colonies. 3 introduces the topic at hand: European museums are trying to come to terms with their colonial legacy by returning artefacts. 2 follows 3, providing the reason why this development has taken place. 1 then further describes the current situation: the legal obstacles this action could face. 4 concludes the paragraph by saying that other than these legal obstacles, institutions in France and Germany are seriously backing the move. Hence, the correct arrangement is 3214.