Reading Comprehension Passage 21 MCQ Test With Answers

Questions must be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage itself, and not on the basis of what you may know independently about the subject matter.

Reading Comprehension Passage 21 MCQ Test

Please wait while the activity loads.
If this activity does not load, try refreshing your browser. Also, this page requires javascript. Please visit using a browser with javascript enabled.

If loading fails, click here to try again

Start

Congratulations - you have completed Reading Comprehension Passage 21 MCQ Test. You scored %%SCORE%% out of %%TOTAL%%. Your performance has been rated as %%RATING%%

Your answers are highlighted below.

Question 1

(Please note: The following questions are related to a specific reading passage, which is available solely before the first question. Remember, it may be helpful to refer back to the reading text while answering the questions to ensure accuracy.)

THE AGE OF OSIRIS

Osiris, one of the principal deities of the ancient Egyptian religion, was ritually torn to pieces and then reborn every year, symbolizing the rhythm of life along the banks of the Nile. Like Osiris, we, too, may be going through a transformation -- the latest of a series that have marked human history, not excluding the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Industrial Revolution.

As history amply demonstrates, during such transformations the institutions that constitute the framework of a dying society degenerate and fall, which is no less than a precondition for the construction of the novel institutions of a new society. Old institutions, no doubt, block up the development of the new society. They must, therefore, die out sooner or later to give way to the institutions of a new age. Many scholars agree that such a transformation is also taking place in our day and age.

Institutions, of course, resist dissolution. It is often the case that the achievement of a stated institutional goal becomes secondary to a need to keep the institution itself alive. We witness threatened institutions fighting back: The outbreak of Islamic reaction; the rise of the so-called neo-conservative movement; and the unexpected surfacing of the Christian missionary movement in several countries are cases in point.

As a consequence, there appears to be an infinite pendulum of cycles operating, in which institutions wane and wax, leading some observers to conclude that history does nothing but repeat itself endlessly. Yet, upon closer observation, we see that the pendulum never goes back all the way.

Arnold BROWN, "The Age of Osiris", The Futurist.

Ancient Egyptians

A	showed no respect for Osiris.
B	were torn to pieces by their deities.
C	symbolized the river Nile, too.
D	had a polytheistic religion.
E	did not mind going through transformations.

Question 2

History shows us that

A	seasoned and aged institutions have no chance of survival in a changing world.
B	the older a social institution is, the more transformational it becomes.
C	social change brings a lot of turmoil and misery to everyone.
D	new institutions block up the development of old institutions.
E	all degenerate societies must fall sooner or later.

Question 3

Conservatism is

A	trying to keep an outmoded institution alive in a changing world.
B	achieving the stated institutional aims.
C	to fight against threatened institutions.
D	a reaction against the so-called neo-conservative movement.
E	essential if we mean to have peace and order in our lives.

Question 4

Choose the correct interpretation:

A	There is an unceasing cycle of events in which the same institutions just wane and wax.
B	The fact that history repeats itself endlessly is easily seen.
C	According to some modern historians, the study of history in itself is quite useless.
D	Pendulums, whether they go back all the way or not, are historically important indicators.
E	Whether we believe it or not, history never repeats itself in an identical set of events or circumstances.