SSC CGL Verbal Ability Quiz - Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension in SSC CGL Tier II is the most scoring section of English. The questions are directly based on the content of the passage.

It is advised to go through all the options thoroughly and then choose the correct option.

SSC CGL Reading Comprehension Highlights

• SSC CGL Tier II is an online mode examination.
• Questions are objective in nature.
• The paper is compulsory for all the posts.

The Staff Selection Commission will hold the recruitment exam in online mode. Candidates qualifying Tier I have to appear for this Tier.

To prepare better for SSC CGL Reading Comprehension, practice with the sample comprehensions in the following article:

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Reading Comprehension 1

I felt the wall of the tunnel shiver. The master alarm squealed through my earphones. Almost simultaneously, Jack yelled down to me that there was a warning light on. Fleeting but spectacular sights snapped into an out of view, the snow, the shower of debris, the moon, looming close and big, the dazzling sunshine for once unfiltered by layers of air. The last twelve hours before re-entry were particular bone-chilling. During this period, I had to go up in to command module. Even after the fiery re-entry splashing down in 81o water in south pacific, we could still see our frosty breath inside the command module.

1. The word 'Command Module' used twice in the given passage indicates perhaps that it deals with

1. an alarming journey
2. a commanding situation
3. a journey into outer space
4. a frightful battle.

2. Which one of the following reasons would one consider as more as possible for the warning lights to be on?

1. There was a shower of debris.
2. Jack was yelling.
3. A catastrophe was imminent.
4. The moon was looming close and big.

3. The statement that the dazzling sunshine was "for once unfiltered by layers of air" means

1. that the sun was very hot
2. that there was no strong wind
3. that the air was unpolluted
4. none of above

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Reading Comprehension 2

But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. (Somehow it always seems worse to kill a large animal. Besides, there was the beast's owner to be considered. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived and asked them how the elephants had been behaving. They all said the same thing; he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.

1. The phrase 'Preoccupied grandmotherly air' signifies

1. being totally unconcerned
2. pretending to be very busy
3. a very superior attitude
4. calm, dignified and affectionate disposition

2. From the passage it appears that the author was

1. an inexperienced hunter
2. kind and considerate
3. possessed with fear
4. a worried man

3. The author did not want to shoot the elephant because he

1. was afraid of it
2. did not have the experience of shooting big animals
3. did not wish to kill animal which was not doing anybody any harm
4. did not find the elephant to be ferocious

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Reading Comprehension 3

Harold a professional man who had worked in an office for many years had a fearful dream. In it, he found himself in a land where small slug-like animals with slimy tentacles lived on people's bodies. The people tolerated the loathsome creatures because after many years they grew into elephants which then became the nation's system of transport, carrying everyone wherever he wanted to go. Harold suddenly realised that he himself was covered with these things, and he woke up screaming. In a vivid sequence of pictures this dream dramatised for Harold what he had never been able to put into words; he saw himself as letting society feed on his body in his early years so that it would carry him when he retired. He later threw off the "security bug" and took up freelance work.

1. In his dream Harold found the loathsome creatures

1. in his village
2. in his own house
3. in a different land
4. in his office

2. Which one of the following phrases best helps to bring out the precise meaning of 'loathsome creatures'?

1. Security bug and slimy tentacles
2. Fearful dream and slug-like animals
3. Slimy tentacles and slug-like animals
4. slug-like animals and security bug

3. The statement that 'he later threw off the security bug' means that

1. Harold succeeded in overcoming the need for security
2. Harold stopped giving much importance to dreams
3. Harold started tolerating social victimisation
4. Harold killed all the bugs troubled him  

4. Harold's dream was fearful because

1. it brought him face to face with reality
2. it was full of vivid pictures of snakes
3. he saw huge elephant in it
4. in it he saw slimy creatures feeding on people's bodies

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Reading Comprehension 4

Laws of nature are not commands but statements of acts. The use of the word "law" in this context is rather unfortunate. It would be better to speak of uniformities in nature. This would do away with the elementary fallacy that a law implies a law giver. If a piece of matter does not obey a law of nature it is punished. On the contrary, we say that the law has been incorrectly started.

1. If a piece of matter violates nature's law, it is not punished because

1. it is not binding to obey it
2. there is no superior being to enforce the law of nature
3. it cannot be punished
4. it simply means that the facts have not been correctly stated by law

2. Laws of nature differ from man-made laws because

1. the former state facts of Nature
2. they must be obeyed
3. they are natural
4. unlike human laws, they are systematic

3. The laws of nature based on observation are

1. conclusion about the nature of the universe.
2. true and unfalsifiable.
3. figments of the observer imagination.
4. subject to change in the light of new facts.

4. The author is not happy with word 'law' because

1. it connotes rigidity and harshness
2. it implies an agency which has made them
3. it does not convey the sense of nature's uniformity
   1. it gives rise to false beliefs

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Reading Comprehension 5

Male lions are rather reticent about expanding their energy in hunting more than three-quarters of kills are made by lionesses are in front, tensely scanning ahead, the cubs lag playfully behind and the males bring up the rear, walking slowly, their massive heads nodding with each step as if they were bored with the whole matter. But slothfulness may have survival value. With lionesses busy hunting, the males function as a guard for the cubs, protecting them, particularly from hyenas.

1. According to the passage male lions generally do not go for huntings because

1. they do not like it.
2. they want lioness to get training
3. they wish to save their vigour for other things
4. they are very lazy

2. Male lions protect their cubs

1. from the members of their own species
2. from hyenas only
3. from hyenas as much as from other enemies
4. more from hyenas than from other animals

3. Lioness go for hunting

1. all alone
2. with their male partners only
3. with their cubs and male partners
4. with their cubs only

4. When the lionesses go in search for their prey, they are very

1. serious
2. cautious
3. playful
4. sluggish

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Answer Keys

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