English — Set 19

Context: Study the following passage and answer the question which is based on it (10-14) The Indian middle class consist of so many strata that it defies categorisation under a single term class, which would imply a considerable degree of homogeneity. Yet two paradoxical features characterise its conduct fairly uniformly; extensive practice and intensive abhorrence of corruption. In the several recent surveys of popular perceptions of corruptions, politicians of course invariably and understandably top the list, closely followed by bureaucrats, policemen, lawyers, businessmen and others. The quintessential middle class. If teachers do not figure high on this priority list, it is not for lack of trying, but for lack of opportunities. Over the years, the sense of shock over acts of corruption in the middle class has witnessed a steady decline, as its ambitions for a better material life have soared but the resources for meeting such ambitions have not kept pace. What is fascinating, however, is the intense yearning of this class for a clean corruptionless politics and society, a yearning that has again and again surfaced with any figure public or obscure, focus on his mission of eradicating corruption. Even the repeated failure of this promise on virtually every man's part has not subjected it to the law of diminishing returns.

Context: Study the following passage and answer the question which is based on it (10-14) The Indian middle class consist of so many strata that it defies categorisation under a single term class, which would imply a considerable degree of homogeneity. Yet two paradoxical features characterise its conduct fairly uniformly; extensive practice and intensive abhorrence of corruption. In the several recent surveys of popular perceptions of corruptions, politicians of course invariably and understandably top the list, closely followed by bureaucrats, policemen, lawyers, businessmen and others. The quintessential middle class. If teachers do not figure high on this priority list, it is not for lack of trying, but for lack of opportunities. Over the years, the sense of shock over acts of corruption in the middle class has witnessed a steady decline, as its ambitions for a better material life have soared but the resources for meeting such ambitions have not kept pace. What is fascinating, however, is the intense yearning of this class for a clean corruptionless politics and society, a yearning that has again and again surfaced with any figure public or obscure, focus on his mission of eradicating corruption. Even the repeated failure of this promise on virtually every man's part has not subjected it to the law of diminishing returns.

Context: He saw nothing, he had no knife or sharp instrument, the grating of the window was of iron and he had too often assured himself of its solidity. His furniture consisted of a bed, a chair, a table, a pail, and a jug. The bed had iron clamps, but they were screwed to the wall and it would have required a screwdriver to take them off. Dantes had but one resource which was to break the jug and with one of the sharp fragments attack the wall. He left the jug fall on the floor and it broke in pieces. He concealed two or three of the sharpest fragments in his bed, leaving the rest on the floor. The breaking of the jug was too natural an accident to excite suspicion, and next morning gaoler went grumblingly to fetch another, without giving himself the trouble to remove the fragments. Dantes heard joyfully the key grate in the lock as guard departed.

Context: He saw nothing, he had no knife or sharp instrument, the grating of the window was of iron and he had too often assured himself of its solidity. His furniture consisted of a bed, a chair, a table, a pail, and a jug. The bed had iron clamps, but they were screwed to the wall and it would have required a screwdriver to take them off. Dantes had but one resource which was to break the jug and with one of the sharp fragments attack the wall. He left the jug fall on the floor and it broke in pieces. He concealed two or three of the sharpest fragments in his bed, leaving the rest on the floor. The breaking of the jug was too natural an accident to excite suspicion, and next morning gaoler went grumblingly to fetch another, without giving himself the trouble to remove the fragments. Dantes heard joyfully the key grate in the lock as guard departed.

Context: Three-fourths of the surface of our planet is covered by the sea, which both separates and unites the various races of mankind, the sea is the great highway along which man may journey at his will, the great road that has no walls or hedges hemming it in, and that nobody has to keep it in good repair with the aid of pickaxes and barrels of tar and steamrollers. The sea appeals to man's love of the perilous and the unknown, to this love of conquest, his love of knowledge, and his love of gold. It's green, grey, blue and purple water calls to him and bid him fare fort in quest of fresh fields. Beyond their horizon he has found danger and death, glory and gain. In some great continents such as America and Australia, there are towns and villages many thousands of miles from the coast, whose children have never seen or heard - or felt - the waves of the sea. But in the British Isles it is nowhere much more than a hundred miles from the most inland spot. The love of the sea is in the very blood of the British people.

Context: Pick out the most effective word from the given words to fill in the blank to make the sentence meaningfully complete.