Reading Comprehension Passage 26 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 26 MCQ Test

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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.)

COMMUNICATING WITH A CHIMP

Why does anyone care whether or not Washoe has language? Psychologist Roger Brown asks this question at the beginning of his critical comparison of child and chimp. Brown feels that we want the chimp to learn a language for perhaps the same reason we care about space travel. "It is very lonely being the only language-using species in the universe. We want a chimp to talk to us, so that we can say: 'Hello, out there. What is it like, being a chimpanzee?'"

Brown's humorous answer to his own question is thus a near paraphrase of a remark by Carl Jung. Jung once wrote about the necessity of finding another creature with whom we can converse if we are ever to find out what it is to be human. In The Undiscovered Self, Jung stated categorically that man remains an enigma to himself because he lacks the proper means of comparison necessary for self-knowledge. "He knows how to distinguish himself from other animals in point of anatomy and physiology," wrote Jung, "but as a conscious, reflecting being, gifted with speech, he lacks all criteria for self-judgment."

"Man is on this planet a unique phenomenon which we can compare with no other being. The possibility of comparison and hence self-knowledge would arise only if we could establish relations with quasi-human mammals, if there are any such beings, inhabiting other stars."

Perhaps, then, the thrill of speaking to Washoe arises from a feeling that there is a "quasi-human mammal" with whom we might establish relations and come to understand better what it is to be human. But why have we, up to now, ignored or downgraded any evidence of "human" behaviour in other animals?

This is because, even if there is a thrill in the idea of conversing with another creature, there is also a threat... We really did not want to talk to a chimp, and, although this may sound strange, perhaps we really have not wanted to find out what it is to be human. Perhaps, too, we still do not want to think of ourselves as being animals ourselves, even though alternative explanations are becoming increasingly convincing.

Eugene LINDEN, Apes, Men, and Language.

Brown, a psychologist, feels that the reason why we want the chimp to learn a human language is

A	probably identical with the reason why we are so interested in space travel.
B	that we really care for the humorous aspects of psychology.
C	the same reason why we compare child and chimp.
D	that we want to send chimps to space instead of astronauts.
E	that chimps are the only language-using species in the universe.

Question 2

Brown's answer is ............... a remark by Carl Jung.

A	the opposite of
B	a critical comparison of
C	almost a repetition in different words of
D	nearly as humorous as
E	very different from

Question 3

Man would know himself better if

A	he lacked the means of comparison.
B	comparison were necessary.
C	he found a means of comparison.
D	he remained an enigma to himself.
E	he were unique on this planet.

Question 4

Mark out the appropriate statement:

A	Carl Jung would never have approved of Brown's studies.
B	Now that we have Washoe to communicate with, there's no more need to look for quasi-human mammals elsewhere.
C	Carl Jung was a very lonely man toward the end of his life.
D	Washoe is a zoologist, best-known for his work on chimpanzees.
E	Man is unique on this planet and unique in the universe, as far as we know.

Question 5

Cross out the inappropriate statement:

A	Man must discover more about the chimp in order to discover more about himself.
B	Man has so far ignored or downgraded any evidence of "human" behaviour in other mammals.
C	There is less evidence now that man himself is an animal species.
D	Washoe can be regarded as a quasi-human mammal.
E	It is fairly obvious that we resist the idea of being an animal species ourselves, despite all evidence to the contrary.