Reading Comprehension

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Financial services and financial accounting are the areas of finance that rely on and benefit from Excel spreadsheets the most. In the 1970s and early 1980s, financial analysts would spend weeks running advanced formulas either manually or (beginning in 1983) on programmes like Lotus 1-2-3. Now, you can perform complex modelling in minutes with Excel. Walk through the finance or accounting department of any major corporate office, and you will see computer screens filled with Excel spreadsheets crunching numbers, outlining financial results, and creating budgets, forecasts, and plans used to make major business decisions.

Direction: 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Initial analysis (as yet unpublished) of Australia’s major cities suggests a shift to cars will produce severe traffic congestion if even a modest proportion of the workforce returns to their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.

The author has used the word ‘trajectory’ in the third paragraph to indicate

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Cats primarily eat meat, so they are considered obligate carnivores, and this should be reflected in the food we feed them. A lot of research has been done to determine the dietary needs of a house cat, so the food options that are available to cat owners are plentiful. But not all foods are created equal. Adult cats cannot digest large amounts of carbohydrates, so these are unnecessary ingredients in their food. Carbohydrates can even decrease how much protein is digested, so they are in fact harmful to a cat. Proteins, on the other hand, are very important to a cat. Cats require a large amount of protein when compared to dogs due to their unique digestive systems. This means the average cat needs to consume at least twenty grammes of protein each day and often much more. Essential amino acids are also very important to cats.

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Financial services and financial accounting are the areas of finance that rely on and benefit from Excel spreadsheets the most. In the 1970s and early 1980s, financial analysts would spend weeks running advanced formulas either manually or (beginning in 1983) on programmes like Lotus 1-2-3. Now, you can perform complex modelling in minutes with Excel. Walk through the finance or accounting department of any major corporate office, and you will see computer screens filled with Excel spreadsheets crunching numbers, outlining financial results, and creating budgets, forecasts, and plans used to make major business decisions.

The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Cats primarily eat meat, so they are considered obligate carnivores, and this should be reflected in the food we feed them. A lot of research has been done to determine the dietary needs of a house cat, so the food options that are available to cat owners are plentiful. But not all foods are created equal. Adult cats cannot digest large amounts of carbohydrates, so these are unnecessary ingredients in their food. Carbohydrates can even decrease how much protein is digested, so they are in fact harmful to a cat. Proteins, on the other hand, are very important to a cat. Cats require a large amount of protein when compared to dogs due to their unique digestive systems. This means the average cat needs to consume at least twenty grammes of protein each day and often much more. Essential amino acids are also very important to cats.

Four jumbled up sentences, related to a topic, are given below. Three of them can be put together to form a coherent paragraph. Identify the odd one out.

1. On 12 October a team of investigators – made up of locals, government officials, and employees for Shell's Nigerian offshoot, Shell Petroleum Development Company – located the source of the leak: an 18-inch hole in an exposed portion of the pipeline.
2. They temporarily plugged the split pipeline with wood chips and later sealed it with a clamp, but over the course of the three-day leak, the operators never shut off the flow of oil at its source.
3. The report suggests at least three types of deep, long-term reforms to foster and sustain pro-poor growth and raise Nigerians out of poverty.
4. By then, more than 23,000 litres of oil had spilled and nearly 40 acres of mangrove forest had burned, poisoning the land and fishponds that were the lifeblood of the village.