Class 12th

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
As we re-open our economy and workers gradually return to workplaces, overall travel will increase. However, the need to maintain social distancing means public transport can't operate at usual capacity. And fears of crowded public transport will lead to commuters making a much higher proportion of trips in private vehicles – unless they are offered viable alternatives.
Initial analysis (as yet unpublished) of Australia's major cities suggests a shift to cars will produce severe traffic congestion if even a modest proportion of the workforce returns to their usual workplaces during the COVID-19 recovery.
Globally, this trajectory is already becoming apparent. As lockdowns are eased, car use is rising much more quickly than public transport use. The latest figures from cities as diverse as Berlin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Auckland and Sydney all show this.
First, the shift to private vehicles will be a bigger problem in cities with centres traditionally served by public transport than dispersed, car-dominated regions. Modelling by Vanderbilt University in the US showed an 85% shift of mass transit riders to cars would increase daily commute times by over sixty minutes in New York, but merely four minutes in Los Angeles. This is because public transport serves a mere 5% of journeys to work in Los Angeles but 56% in New York.
In cities that rely heavily on public transport, or even those with car-dominated suburbs but transit-dominated centres such as Sydney and Melbourne, a shift to cars for CBD trips will very quickly overwhelm the capacity of the road network. Pre-pandemic, 71% of trips to the Sydney CBD and 63% to Melbourne's CBD were on public transport. So, while travel volumes may remain well below pre-pandemic levels for some time, road traffic is recovering faster than other travel modes.
Sydney's and Brisbane's road traffic volumes have already returned largely to pre-pandemic levels even while most CBD offices remain empty. Melbourne isn't far behind. Returning commuters are in for a shock.
Several commentators suggest now may be the time to apply congestion pricing – charging a fee to use roads in peak periods. However, when many people are making travel decisions based on health risks, such policy may not produce the desired behaviour change.
The alternative is to improve commuters' public transport options, rather than trying to price congestion away. The aim should be to allow it to operate more effectively while still providing room for on-board social distancing.
This is no easy task, yet it may be politically and technically easier than rapidly bringing in a comprehensive road-pricing regime. Even with social distancing restrictions, public transport will use roads more efficiently than private cars.
The return to work must be gradual and supported by considerable flexibility in working hours. This will help manage peak demands. But on its own, it's not enough if frequent public transport services continue to be offered only during a limited commuter peak.
In the longer term, a fast and frequent metropolitan transit network will leave a lasting positive legacy, supporting carbon reduction and city-shaping investments such as Sydney's Metro and Brisbane's Cross River Rail. Failure will lead to crippling congestion that erodes the economic and social strength of our previously vibrant cities.

In the first paragraph, the author has emphasised on viable alternatives, which of the following alternatives contradict author's opinion?

A new computational model shows how different patterns of crop rotation -planting different crops at different times in the same field -- can impact long-term yield when the crops are threatened by plant pathogens.

The continual evolution of plant pathogens poses a threat to agriculture worldwide. Previous research has shown that crop rotation can help improve pest control and soil quality. Other research shows that switching the environment in which a pathogen grows can limit its reproduction and change its evolution. However, these two concepts have been rarely studied together from an evolutionary point of view.

To better understand how crop rotation can protect against pests, Bargués-Ribera and Gokhale of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany developed a computational model of the technique that integrates evolutionary theory. They used the model to investigate a scenario in which cash crops (grown for profit) and cover crops (grown to benefit soil) are alternate, but are affected by a pathogen that only attacks the cash crops.

The analysis identified which patterns of crop rotation maximize crop yield over multiple decades under the given scenario, revealing that regular rotations that switch every other year may not be optimal. The findings suggest that the long-term outcome of crop rotation depends on its ability to both maintain soil quality and diminish pathogen load during the harvesting season.

Future research could apply the new model to specific species to assess crop rotation patterns for specific crops and their pests. The model could also be used to help study the combined effects of crop rotation and other pest control techniques, such as fungicides and use of crops that have been genetically modified for pest resistance.

Which of the following words best expresses the true meaning of the word 'Diminish'?

A new computational model shows how different patterns of crop rotation -planting different crops at different times in the same field -- can impact long-term yield when the crops are threatened by plant pathogens.

The continual evolution of plant pathogens poses a threat to agriculture worldwide. Previous research has shown that crop rotation can help improve pest control and soil quality. Other research shows that switching the environment in which a pathogen grows can limit its reproduction and change its evolution. However, these two concepts have been rarely studied together from an evolutionary point of view.

To better understand how crop rotation can protect against pests, Bargués-Ribera and Gokhale of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany developed a computational model of the technique that integrates evolutionary theory. They used the model to investigate a scenario in which cash crops (grown for profit) and cover crops (grown to benefit soil) are alternate, but are affected by a pathogen that only attacks the cash crops.

The analysis identified which patterns of crop rotation maximize crop yield over multiple decades under the given scenario, revealing that regular rotations that switch every other year may not be optimal. The findings suggest that the long-term outcome of crop rotation depends on its ability to both maintain soil quality and diminish pathogen load during the harvesting season.

Future research could apply the new model to specific species to assess crop rotation patterns for specific crops and their pests. The model could also be used to help study the combined effects of crop rotation and other pest control techniques, such as fungicides and use of crops that have been genetically modified for pest resistance.

Which of the following statements is/are true regarding the analysis about crop rotation?

I. Regular rotations switch every year is optimal.

II. It identified which pattern of crop rotation will advance the profits.

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
As we re-open our economy and workers gradually return to workplaces, overall travel will increase. However, the need to maintain social distancing means public transport can't operate at usual capacity. And fears of crowded public transport will lead to commuters making a much higher proportion of trips in private vehicles – unless they are offered viable alternatives.
Initial analysis (as yet unpublished) of Australia's major cities suggests a shift to cars will produce severe traffic congestion if even a modest proportion of the workforce returns to their usual workplaces during the COVID-19 recovery.
Globally, this trajectory is already becoming apparent. As lockdowns are eased, car use is rising much more quickly than public transport use. The latest figures from cities as diverse as Berlin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Auckland and Sydney all show this.
First, the shift to private vehicles will be a bigger problem in cities with centres traditionally served by public transport than dispersed, car-dominated regions. Modelling by Vanderbilt University in the US showed an 85% shift of mass transit riders to cars would increase daily commute times by over sixty minutes in New York, but merely four minutes in Los Angeles. This is because public transport serves a mere 5% of journeys to work in Los Angeles but 56% in New York.
In cities that rely heavily on public transport, or even those with car-dominated suburbs but transit-dominated centres such as Sydney and Melbourne, a shift to cars for CBD trips will very quickly overwhelm the capacity of the road network. Pre-pandemic, 71% of trips to the Sydney CBD and 63% to Melbourne's CBD were on public transport. So, while travel volumes may remain well below pre-pandemic levels for some time, road traffic is recovering faster than other travel modes.
Sydney's and Brisbane's road traffic volumes have already returned largely to pre-pandemic levels even while most CBD offices remain empty. Melbourne isn't far behind. Returning commuters are in for a shock.
Several commentators suggest now may be the time to apply congestion pricing – charging a fee to use roads in peak periods. However, when many people are making travel decisions based on health risks, such policy may not produce the desired behaviour change.
The alternative is to improve commuters' public transport options, rather than trying to price congestion away. The aim should be to allow it to operate more effectively while still providing room for on-board social distancing.
This is no easy task, yet it may be politically and technically easier than rapidly bringing in a comprehensive road-pricing regime. Even with social distancing restrictions, public transport will use roads more efficiently than private cars.
The return to work must be gradual and supported by considerable flexibility in working hours. This will help manage peak demands. But on its own, it's not enough if frequent public transport services continue to be offered only during a limited commuter peak.
In the longer term, a fast and frequent metropolitan transit network will leave a lasting positive legacy, supporting carbon reduction and city-shaping investments such as Sydney's Metro and Brisbane's Cross River Rail. Failure will lead to crippling congestion that erodes the economic and social strength of our previously vibrant cities.

All of the following statements can be inferred from the passage EXCEPT:

Direction: The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

A new computational model shows how different patterns of crop rotation -planting different crops at different times in the same field -- can impact long-term yield when the crops are threatened by plant pathogens.

The continual evolution of plant pathogens poses a threat to agriculture worldwide. Previous research has shown that crop rotation can help improve pest control and soil quality. Other research shows that switching the environment in which a pathogen grows can limit its reproduction and change its evolution. However, these two concepts have been rarely studied together from an evolutionary point of view.

To better understand how crop rotation can protect against pests, Bargués-Ribera and Gokhale of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany developed a computational model of the technique that integrates evolutionary theory. They used the model to investigate a scenario in which cash crops (grown for profit) and cover crops (grown to benefit soil) are alternate, but are affected by a pathogen that only attacks the cash crops.

The analysis identified which patterns of crop rotation maximize crop yield over multiple decades under the given scenario, revealing that regular rotations that switch every other year may not be optimal. The findings suggest that the long-term outcome of crop rotation depends on its ability to both maintain soil quality and diminish pathogen load during the harvesting season.

Future research could apply the new model to specific species to assess crop rotation patterns for specific crops and their pests. The model could also be used to help study the combined effects of crop rotation and other pest control techniques, such as fungicides and use of crops that have been genetically modified for pest resistance.

What does the findings suggest as per the given passage?

New Journalism, American literary movement in the 1960s and '70s that pushed the boundaries of traditional journalism and nonfiction writing. The genre combined journalistic research with the techniques of fiction writing in the reporting of stories about real-life events. The writers often credited with beginning the movement include Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Gay Talese.

As in traditional investigative reporting, writers in the genre immersed themselves in their subjects, at times spending months in the field gathering facts through research, interviews, and observation. Their finished works were very different, however, from the feature stories typically published in newspapers and magazines of the time. Instead of employing traditional journalistic story structures and an institutional voice, they constructed well-developed characters, sustained dialogue, vivid scenes, and strong plotlines marked with dramatic tension. They also wrote invoices that were distinctly their own. Their writing style, and the time and money that their in-depth research and long stories required, did not fit the needs or budgets of most newspapers (a notable exception was the New York Herald Tribune), although the editors of Esquire, The New Yorker, New York, and other prominent magazines sought out those writers and published their work with great commercial success. Many of those writers went on to publish their stories in anthologies or to write what became known as “nonfiction novels,” and many of those works became best sellers.

The New Journalists expanded the definition of journalism and of legitimate journalistic reporting and writing techniques. They also associated journalism with fiction when they described their work with phrases such as “nonfiction novel” and “narrative techniques of fiction.” In so doing, they ignited a debate over how much like a novel or short story a journalistic piece could be before it began violating journalism's commitment to truth and facts.

Some observers praised the New Journalists for writing well-crafted, complex, and compelling stories that revitalized readers' interest in journalism and the topics covered, as well as inspiring other writers to join the profession. They feared that reporters would be tempted to stray from the facts in order to write more dramatic s Others, however, worried that the New Journalism was replacing objectivity with a dangerous subjectivity that threatened to undermine the credibility of all journalism stories, by, for example, creating composite characters (melding several real people into one fictional character), compressing dialogue, rearranging events, or even fabricating details. Some New Journalists freely admitted to using those techniques, arguing that they made their stories readable and publishable without sacrificing the essential truthfulness of the tale. Others adamantly opposed the use of those techniques, arguing that any departure from facts, however minor, discredited a story and moved it away from journalism into the realm of fiction.

In engaging in the debate over what counts as truth in journalism, the New Journalists were contributing to a wider discussion of the nature of truth and the ability to know and present it objectively in stories, paintings, photographs, and other representational arts. Their works challenged the ideology of objectivity and its related practices that had come to govern the profession. The New Journalists argued that objectivity does not guarantee the truth and that so-called “objective” stories can be more misleading than stories told from a clearly presented personal point of view.

Based on the passage, which of the following could form an appropriate title for the passage?

As we re-open our economy and workers gradually return to workplaces, overall travel will increase. However, the need to maintain social distancing means public transport can't operate at usual capacity. And fears of crowded public transport will lead to commuters making a much higher proportion of trips in private vehicles – unless they are offered viable alternatives.

Initial analysis (as yet unpublished) of Australia's major cities suggests a shift to cars will produce severe traffic congestion if even a modest proportion of the workforce returns to their usual workplaces during the COVID-19 recovery.
Globally, this trajectory is already becoming apparent. As lockdowns are eased, car use is rising much more quickly than public transport use. The latest figures from cities as diverse as Berlin, Los Angeles, Chicago, Auckland and Sydney all show this.

First, the shift to private vehicles will be a bigger problem in cities with centres traditionally served by public transport than dispersed, car-dominated regions. Modelling by Vanderbilt University in the US showed an 85% shift of mass transit riders to cars would increase daily commute times by over sixty minutes in New York, but merely four minutes in Los Angeles. This is because public transport serves a mere 5% of journeys to work in Los Angeles but 56% in New York.

In cities that rely heavily on public transport, or even those with car-dominated suburbs but transit-dominated centres such as Sydney and Melbourne, a shift to cars for CBD trips will very quickly overwhelm the capacity of the road network. Pre-pandemic, 71% of trips to the Sydney CBD and 63% to Melbourne's CBD were on public transport. So, while travel volumes may remain well below pre-pandemic levels for some time, road traffic is recovering faster than other travel modes.

Sydney's and Brisbane's road traffic volumes have already returned largely to pre-pandemic levels even while most CBD offices remain empty. Melbourne isn't far behind. Returning commuters are in for a shock.

Several commentators suggest now may be the time to apply congestion pricing – charging a fee to use roads in peak periods. However, when many people are making travel decisions based on health risks, such policy may not produce the desired behaviour change.

The alternative is to improve commuters' public transport options, rather than trying to price congestion away. The aim should be to allow it to operate more effectively while still providing room for on-board social distancing.

This is no easy task, yet it may be politically and technically easier than rapidly bringing in a comprehensive road-pricing regime. Even with social distancing restrictions, public transport will use roads more efficiently than private cars.

The return to work must be gradual and supported by considerable flexibility in working hours. This will help manage peak demands. But on its own, it's not enough if frequent public transport services continue to be offered only during a limited commuter peak.

In the longer term, a fast and frequent metropolitan transit network will leave a lasting positive legacy, supporting carbon reduction and city-shaping investments such as Sydney's Metro and Brisbane's Cross River Rail. Failure will lead to crippling congestion that erodes the economic and social strength of our previously vibrant cities.

In the first paragraph, the author has emphasised on viable alternatives, which of the following alternatives contradict author's opinion?