Mock 2 – Reading Comprehension Passages (Part 2)

Read the given passage and answer the questions 46 to 50 that follow.

The ‘new middle class’ in India is upwardly mobile, educated mostly in English and works in professional, technical and/or managerial careers. It is connected to global networks of consumption, consuming global brands and aspiring toward lifestyles of conspicuous consumption. The identity of this class is defined by its participation in global commodity chains. The market defines the identity of the middle class, as a site of identity formation, expression and aspiration. Also salient within the new middle class are several strata. The highest stratum is occupied by the white collar corporate mid-to-high level managers who actively participate in transnational capitalism. What connects these various groups in the elite class is a common vision of the nation-state narrated in the miracle of the market. The articulation of the market as the centre of India’s economic growth and development is the overarching anchor for the various discourses of the policy-making and implementation. The middle class in India make up a segment of India’s elite. They participate in the consumption culture of India. This culture is enabled by rapid reforms and punctuated in the rise of urban hubs of belonging. Belonging in this is recrafted in the story of consumption and lifestyles. Here consumption is equated to development and modernisation.

Read the given passage and answer the questions 46 to 50 that follow.

The ‘new middle class’ in India is upwardly mobile, educated mostly in English and works in professional, technical and/or managerial careers. It is connected to global networks of consumption, consuming global brands and aspiring toward lifestyles of conspicuous consumption. The identity of this class is defined by its participation in global commodity chains. The market defines the identity of the middle class, as a site of identity formation, expression and aspiration. Also salient within the new middle class are several strata. The highest stratum is occupied by the white collar corporate mid-to-high level managers who actively participate in transnational capitalism. What connects these various groups in the elite class is a common vision of the nation-state narrated in the miracle of the market. The articulation of the market as the centre of India’s economic growth and development is the overarching anchor for the various discourses of the policy-making and implementation. The middle class in India make up a segment of India’s elite. They participate in the consumption culture of India. This culture is enabled by rapid reforms and punctuated in the rise of urban hubs of belonging. Belonging in this is recrafted in the story of consumption and lifestyles. Here consumption is equated to development and modernisation.

Read the given passage and answer the questions 46 to 50 that follow.

The ‘new middle class’ in India is upwardly mobile, educated mostly in English and works in professional, technical and/or managerial careers. It is connected to global networks of consumption, consuming global brands and aspiring toward lifestyles of conspicuous consumption. The identity of this class is defined by its participation in global commodity chains. The market defines the identity of the middle class, as a site of identity formation, expression and aspiration. Also salient within the new middle class are several strata. The highest stratum is occupied by the white collar corporate mid-to-high level managers who actively participate in transnational capitalism. What connects these various groups in the elite class is a common vision of the nation-state narrated in the miracle of the market. The articulation of the market as the centre of India’s economic growth and development is the overarching anchor for the various discourses of the policy-making and implementation. The middle class in India make up a segment of India’s elite. They participate in the consumption culture of India. This culture is enabled by rapid reforms and punctuated in the rise of urban hubs of belonging. Belonging in this is recrafted in the story of consumption and lifestyles. Here consumption is equated to development and modernisation.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy, but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within which wealth circulates, and a cultural economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity, the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy - that from commodity to producer - is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being 'an audience' and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call “viewing television”. While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth does in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption - people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are able to afford.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy, but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within which wealth circulates, and a cultural economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity, the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy - that from commodity to producer - is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being 'an audience' and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call “viewing television”. While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth does in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption - people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are able to afford.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy, but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within which wealth circulates, and a cultural economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity, the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy - that from commodity to producer - is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being 'an audience' and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call “viewing television”. While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth does in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption - people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are able to afford.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy, but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within which wealth circulates, and a cultural economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity, the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy - that from commodity to producer - is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being 'an audience' and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call “viewing television”. While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth does in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption - people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are able to afford.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

Television is a cultural commodity. It works within an economically determined capitalist economy, but when we have said that about it we have said both much and remarkably little. There is a financial economy within which wealth circulates, and a cultural economy within which meanings and pleasures circulate, and the relationship between them is not as deterministic as some theorists have proposed. In the financial economy, television symbolises programmes and advertisements, not textuality. A programme is a commodity produced and then sold to distributors. In distribution, its role changes and it becomes not a commodity, but a producer, and what it produces is a new commodity, the audience which is then, in its turn, sold as a commodity to advertisers. The ramifications of this financial economy are fascinating. Here the role shift undergone by the programme in the financial economy - that from commodity to producer - is now undergone by the audience, who are left as a commodity sold to the advertiser. But in the cultural economy the audience rejects its role as a commodity and becomes a Producer, a Producer of meanings and pleasures, and at this moment stops being 'an audience' and becomes different materialisations of the process that we call “viewing television”. While the metaphor of a cultural economy is a productive one, we must not let it blind us to differences between it and the financial. Meanings and pleasures do not circulate in the cultural economy in the same way that wealth does in the financial. In the first place there is no exchange of money at the point of sale or consumption. Television appears to be free, however, it may be actually paid for. Payment has no direct relationship to consumption - people can consume as much as they wish and what they wish with no thought of what they are able to afford.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent — the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During the World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to standstill in north and west India.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent — the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During the World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to standstill in north and west India.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent — the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During the World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to standstill in north and west India.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent — the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During the World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to standstill in north and west India.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

Gandhi's speech in Banaras in February 1916 was, at one level, merely a statement of fact namely, that Indian nationalism was an elite phenomenon, a creation of lawyers and doctors and landlords. But, at another level, it was a statement of intent — the first public announcement of the returning expatriate's own desire to make Indian nationalism more properly representative of the Indian people. In the last month of that year, Gandhi was presented with an opportunity to put his precepts into practice. At a meeting held in Lucknow in December 1916, he was approached by a peasant from Champaran in Bihar. The peasant told him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British indigo planters. Gandhi was to spend most of 1917 in Champaran. He was seeking to obtain for the peasants security of tenure as well as the freedom to cultivate the crops of their choice. In 1918, Gandhi was involved in two campaigns in his home State of Gujarat. First, he intervened in a labour dispute in Ahmedabad to better the conditions of textile mill workers. Then he joined peasants in Kheda for remission of taxes on peasants following the failure of their harvest. These initiatives marked Gandhi as a nationalist with sympathy for the poor. These were local struggles. During the World War I, the British had instituted press censorship and permitted detention without trial. The Rowlatt committee recommended the continuation of these tough measures. Gandhiji's call for a countrywide campaign brought life to standstill in north and west India.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

The wastage of food is substantial in every country, but some studies have shown that it is more serious in developing countries. The UNFAO had estimated that one-third of all produced food may be getting wasted. The world produces twice the amount of food that is needed, but large numbers of people are deprived of it due to wastage and other reasons. Food gets wasted at the farm, when it moves to the market and is processed, stored and shifted to shops, and finally in the kitchen. Many fruits and vegetables perish soon after harvesting. There is a need to improve production and storage practices, transport and infrastructure, cold chain systems and processing techniques. Modern technologies and packaging methods are needed. But even in countries where these facilities are available, wastage is high. So, the most important requirement is to improve popular awareness of the need to ensure that food is not wasted in any form, at any stage. China has launched a clean plate campaign against wastage. It is estimated that food worth at least Rs. 1 lakh crore is wasted in India, and this does not include wastage of cooked food. A part of that should be enough to feed the larger numbers of hungry people in the country, which is ranked 94 out of 107 countries in the global hunger index. Food is wasted massively at weddings and on other occasions. The Delhi Government had, in pre-Covid times, thought of restricting the number of guests at weddings to reduce wastage of food. The UN report says that reducing food waste would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution. Avoiding food wastage should therefore become a national mission. It will have very positive environmental, social and economic impacts. In India, it is stated that the household food wastage is 50 kg per capita per year, which is less than in countries like the US and China. It is not because of efficient use of food, but because of overall availability of food.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

The wastage of food is substantial in every country, but some studies have shown that it is more serious in developing countries. The UNFAO had estimated that one-third of all produced food may be getting wasted. The world produces twice the amount of food that is needed, but large numbers of people are deprived of it due to wastage and other reasons. Food gets wasted at the farm, when it moves to the market and is processed, stored and shifted to shops, and finally in the kitchen. Many fruits and vegetables perish soon after harvesting. There is a need to improve production and storage practices, transport and infrastructure, cold chain systems and processing techniques. Modern technologies and packaging methods are needed. But even in countries where these facilities are available, wastage is high. So, the most important requirement is to improve popular awareness of the need to ensure that food is not wasted in any form, at any stage. China has launched a clean plate campaign against wastage. It is estimated that food worth at least Rs. 1 lakh crore is wasted in India, and this does not include wastage of cooked food. A part of that should be enough to feed the larger numbers of hungry people in the country, which is ranked 94 out of 107 countries in the global hunger index. Food is wasted massively at weddings and on other occasions. The Delhi Government had, in pre-Covid times, thought of restricting the number of guests at weddings to reduce wastage of food. The UN report says that reducing food waste would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution. Avoiding food wastage should therefore become a national mission. It will have very positive environmental, social and economic impacts. In India, it is stated that the household food wastage is 50 kg per capita per year, which is less than in countries like the US and China. It is not because of efficient use of food, but because of overall availability of food.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

The wastage of food is substantial in every country, but some studies have shown that it is more serious in developing countries. The UNFAO had estimated that one-third of all produced food may be getting wasted. The world produces twice the amount of food that is needed, but large numbers of people are deprived of it due to wastage and other reasons. Food gets wasted at the farm, when it moves to the market and is processed, stored and shifted to shops, and finally in the kitchen. Many fruits and vegetables perish soon after harvesting. There is a need to improve production and storage practices, transport and infrastructure, cold chain systems and processing techniques. Modern technologies and packaging methods are needed. But even in countries where these facilities are available, wastage is high. So, the most important requirement is to improve popular awareness of the need to ensure that food is not wasted in any form, at any stage. China has launched a clean plate campaign against wastage. It is estimated that food worth at least Rs. 1 lakh crore is wasted in India, and this does not include wastage of cooked food. A part of that should be enough to feed the larger numbers of hungry people in the country, which is ranked 94 out of 107 countries in the global hunger index. Food is wasted massively at weddings and on other occasions. The Delhi Government had, in pre-Covid times, thought of restricting the number of guests at weddings to reduce wastage of food. The UN report says that reducing food waste would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution. Avoiding food wastage should therefore become a national mission. It will have very positive environmental, social and economic impacts. In India, it is stated that the household food wastage is 50 kg per capita per year, which is less than in countries like the US and China. It is not because of efficient use of food, but because of overall availability of food.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

The wastage of food is substantial in every country, but some studies have shown that it is more serious in developing countries. The UNFAO had estimated that one-third of all produced food may be getting wasted. The world produces twice the amount of food that is needed, but large numbers of people are deprived of it due to wastage and other reasons. Food gets wasted at the farm, when it moves to the market and is processed, stored and shifted to shops, and finally in the kitchen. Many fruits and vegetables perish soon after harvesting. There is a need to improve production and storage practices, transport and infrastructure, cold chain systems and processing techniques. Modern technologies and packaging methods are needed. But even in countries where these facilities are available, wastage is high. So, the most important requirement is to improve popular awareness of the need to ensure that food is not wasted in any form, at any stage. China has launched a clean plate campaign against wastage. It is estimated that food worth at least Rs. 1 lakh crore is wasted in India, and this does not include wastage of cooked food. A part of that should be enough to feed the larger numbers of hungry people in the country, which is ranked 94 out of 107 countries in the global hunger index. Food is wasted massively at weddings and on other occasions. The Delhi Government had, in pre-Covid times, thought of restricting the number of guests at weddings to reduce wastage of food. The UN report says that reducing food waste would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution. Avoiding food wastage should therefore become a national mission. It will have very positive environmental, social and economic impacts. In India, it is stated that the household food wastage is 50 kg per capita per year, which is less than in countries like the US and China. It is not because of efficient use of food, but because of overall availability of food.

Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50.

The wastage of food is substantial in every country, but some studies have shown that it is more serious in developing countries. The UNFAO had estimated that one-third of all produced food may be getting wasted. The world produces twice the amount of food that is needed, but large numbers of people are deprived of it due to wastage and other reasons. Food gets wasted at the farm, when it moves to the market and is processed, stored and shifted to shops, and finally in the kitchen. Many fruits and vegetables perish soon after harvesting. There is a need to improve production and storage practices, transport and infrastructure, cold chain systems and processing techniques. Modern technologies and packaging methods are needed. But even in countries where these facilities are available, wastage is high. So, the most important requirement is to improve popular awareness of the need to ensure that food is not wasted in any form, at any stage. China has launched a clean plate campaign against wastage. It is estimated that food worth at least Rs. 1 lakh crore is wasted in India, and this does not include wastage of cooked food. A part of that should be enough to feed the larger numbers of hungry people in the country, which is ranked 94 out of 107 countries in the global hunger index. Food is wasted massively at weddings and on other occasions. The Delhi Government had, in pre-Covid times, thought of restricting the number of guests at weddings to reduce wastage of food. The UN report says that reducing food waste would also cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow the destruction of nature through land conversion and pollution. Avoiding food wastage should therefore become a national mission. It will have very positive environmental, social and economic impacts. In India, it is stated that the household food wastage is 50 kg per capita per year, which is less than in countries like the US and China. It is not because of efficient use of food, but because of overall availability of food.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

The UN (United Nations) has lost its sheen in recent times. One example is of its Secretary General Guterres' entreaty for a global ceasefire to help combat the Coronavirus has gone largely unheeded. His plea for contributions to a $10 billion emergency coronavirus response plan to help the neediest had been met with commitments totaling just a quarter of the goal. That response barely justifies the description 'tepid', said Mark Lowcock, the top UN relief official. The United Nations, which has grown from 50 members 75 years ago to 193 members and a global staff of 44,000 was intended at its inception to provide a forum in which countries large and small believed they had a meaningful voice. But its basic structure gives little real power to the main body, the General Assembly, and the most to the World War II victors – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – with each wielding a veto on the 15-seat Security Council as permanent members. The council is empowered to impose economic sanctions and is the only entity permitted to deploy military force. No permanent member seems willing to alter the power structure. The outcome is chronic Security Council deadlocks on many issues, often pitting the United States against not only China and Russia but also against US allies.

It is not only on questions of war and ceasefire where the United Nations is struggling for results. The Sustainable Development Goals, 17 UN objectives aimed at eliminating inequities that include poverty, gender bias and illiteracy by 2030 are imperiled. An expert belonging to the Global Policy Forum, a UN monitoring group, told a conference previously that the objectives were "seriously off track" even before the pandemic, according to a news site that covers the United Nations. UN veterans say multilateralism – solving the problems together, a tenet of the organisation's charter – increasingly collides with principles in the same charter emphasising national sovereignty and nonintervention in the country's internal affairs.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

The UN (United Nations) has lost its sheen in recent times. One example is of its Secretary General Guterres' entreaty for a global ceasefire to help combat the Coronavirus has gone largely unheeded. His plea for contributions to a $10 billion emergency coronavirus response plan to help the neediest had been met with commitments totaling just a quarter of the goal. That response barely justifies the description 'tepid', said Mark Lowcock, the top UN relief official. The United Nations, which has grown from 50 members 75 years ago to 193 members and a global staff of 44,000 was intended at its inception to provide a forum in which countries large and small believed they had a meaningful voice. But its basic structure gives little real power to the main body, the General Assembly, and the most to the World War II victors – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – with each wielding a veto on the 15-seat Security Council as permanent members. The council is empowered to impose economic sanctions and is the only entity permitted to deploy military force. No permanent member seems willing to alter the power structure. The outcome is chronic Security Council deadlocks on many issues, often pitting the United States against not only China and Russia but also against US allies.

It is not only on questions of war and ceasefire where the United Nations is struggling for results. The Sustainable Development Goals, 17 UN objectives aimed at eliminating inequities that include poverty, gender bias and illiteracy by 2030 are imperiled. An expert belonging to the Global Policy Forum, a UN monitoring group, told a conference previously that the objectives were "seriously off track" even before the pandemic, according to a news site that covers the United Nations. UN veterans say multilateralism – solving the problems together, a tenet of the organisation's charter – increasingly collides with principles in the same charter emphasising national sovereignty and nonintervention in the country's internal affairs.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

The UN (United Nations) has lost its sheen in recent times. One example is of its Secretary General Guterres' entreaty for a global ceasefire to help combat the Coronavirus has gone largely unheeded. His plea for contributions to a $10 billion emergency coronavirus response plan to help the neediest had been met with commitments totaling just a quarter of the goal. That response barely justifies the description 'tepid', said Mark Lowcock, the top UN relief official. The United Nations, which has grown from 50 members 75 years ago to 193 members and a global staff of 44,000 was intended at its inception to provide a forum in which countries large and small believed they had a meaningful voice. But its basic structure gives little real power to the main body, the General Assembly, and the most to the World War II victors – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – with each wielding a veto on the 15-seat Security Council as permanent members. The council is empowered to impose economic sanctions and is the only entity permitted to deploy military force. No permanent member seems willing to alter the power structure. The outcome is chronic Security Council deadlocks on many issues, often pitting the United States against not only China and Russia but also against US allies.

It is not only on questions of war and ceasefire where the United Nations is struggling for results. The Sustainable Development Goals, 17 UN objectives aimed at eliminating inequities that include poverty, gender bias and illiteracy by 2030 are imperiled. An expert belonging to the Global Policy Forum, a UN monitoring group, told a conference previously that the objectives were "seriously off track" even before the pandemic, according to a news site that covers the United Nations. UN veterans say multilateralism – solving the problems together, a tenet of the organisation's charter – increasingly collides with principles in the same charter emphasising national sovereignty and nonintervention in the country's internal affairs.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

The UN (United Nations) has lost its sheen in recent times. One example is of its Secretary General Guterres' entreaty for a global ceasefire to help combat the Coronavirus has gone largely unheeded. His plea for contributions to a $10 billion emergency coronavirus response plan to help the neediest had been met with commitments totaling just a quarter of the goal. That response barely justifies the description 'tepid', said Mark Lowcock, the top UN relief official. The United Nations, which has grown from 50 members 75 years ago to 193 members and a global staff of 44,000 was intended at its inception to provide a forum in which countries large and small believed they had a meaningful voice. But its basic structure gives little real power to the main body, the General Assembly, and the most to the World War II victors – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – with each wielding a veto on the 15-seat Security Council as permanent members. The council is empowered to impose economic sanctions and is the only entity permitted to deploy military force. No permanent member seems willing to alter the power structure. The outcome is chronic Security Council deadlocks on many issues, often pitting the United States against not only China and Russia but also against US allies.

It is not only on questions of war and ceasefire where the United Nations is struggling for results. The Sustainable Development Goals, 17 UN objectives aimed at eliminating inequities that include poverty, gender bias and illiteracy by 2030 are imperiled. An expert belonging to the Global Policy Forum, a UN monitoring group, told a conference previously that the objectives were "seriously off track" even before the pandemic, according to a news site that covers the United Nations. UN veterans say multilateralism – solving the problems together, a tenet of the organisation's charter – increasingly collides with principles in the same charter emphasising national sovereignty and nonintervention in the country's internal affairs.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

The UN (United Nations) has lost its sheen in recent times. One example is of its Secretary General Guterres' entreaty for a global ceasefire to help combat the Coronavirus has gone largely unheeded. His plea for contributions to a $10 billion emergency coronavirus response plan to help the neediest had been met with commitments totaling just a quarter of the goal. That response barely justifies the description 'tepid', said Mark Lowcock, the top UN relief official. The United Nations, which has grown from 50 members 75 years ago to 193 members and a global staff of 44,000 was intended at its inception to provide a forum in which countries large and small believed they had a meaningful voice. But its basic structure gives little real power to the main body, the General Assembly, and the most to the World War II victors – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – with each wielding a veto on the 15-seat Security Council as permanent members. The council is empowered to impose economic sanctions and is the only entity permitted to deploy military force. No permanent member seems willing to alter the power structure. The outcome is chronic Security Council deadlocks on many issues, often pitting the United States against not only China and Russia but also against US allies.

It is not only on questions of war and ceasefire where the United Nations is struggling for results. The Sustainable Development Goals, 17 UN objectives aimed at eliminating inequities that include poverty, gender bias and illiteracy by 2030 are imperiled. An expert belonging to the Global Policy Forum, a UN monitoring group, told a conference previously that the objectives were "seriously off track" even before the pandemic, according to a news site that covers the United Nations. UN veterans say multilateralism – solving the problems together, a tenet of the organisation's charter – increasingly collides with principles in the same charter emphasising national sovereignty and nonintervention in the country's internal affairs.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is now comparable to other global health risks like unhealthy diets and smoking tobacco. It is recognised "as the single biggest environmental threat to human health". WHO guidelines, which are not legally binding and intended as a reference for policymakers, advocacy groups and academics, stipulate permissible concentrations of six pollutants known to have impacts on health: two types of particulate matter known as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, as well as Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and Carbon monoxide. The guidelines could also send a message to the wider public about lifestyle and business choices - whether it is driving cars and trucks, disposing of garbage, working in industrial jobs or farming. WHO says the main human-generated sources of air pollution can vary geographically but include the energy and transportation sectors, as well as waste dumpsites and home cooking and heating. It advised people to do their part by changing their lifestyles - not running car engines uselessly; avoiding use of plastics that could end up being incinerated; and walking, riding bikes or using public transportation to get to work.

It should be noted that "because of air pollution, the simple act of breathing contributes to 7 million deaths a year. Almost everyone around the world is exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution". The harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than previously thought, the World Health Organisation has said as it has set a new standard for policymakers and the public in the first update of its air quality guidelines in 15 years. Since the last update of the WHO recommendations, better monitoring and science have cleared up the global picture about the effects of six major air pollutants on human health. According to the agency, 90% of the world's people already live in areas with at least one particularly harmful type of pollutant.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is now comparable to other global health risks like unhealthy diets and smoking tobacco. It is recognised "as the single biggest environmental threat to human health". WHO guidelines, which are not legally binding and intended as a reference for policymakers, advocacy groups and academics, stipulate permissible concentrations of six pollutants known to have impacts on health: two types of particulate matter known as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, as well as Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and Carbon monoxide. The guidelines could also send a message to the wider public about lifestyle and business choices - whether it is driving cars and trucks, disposing of garbage, working in industrial jobs or farming. WHO says the main human-generated sources of air pollution can vary geographically but include the energy and transportation sectors, as well as waste dumpsites and home cooking and heating. It advised people to do their part by changing their lifestyles - not running car engines uselessly; avoiding use of plastics that could end up being incinerated; and walking, riding bikes or using public transportation to get to work.

It should be noted that "because of air pollution, the simple act of breathing contributes to 7 million deaths a year. Almost everyone around the world is exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution". The harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than previously thought, the World Health Organisation has said as it has set a new standard for policymakers and the public in the first update of its air quality guidelines in 15 years. Since the last update of the WHO recommendations, better monitoring and science have cleared up the global picture about the effects of six major air pollutants on human health. According to the agency, 90% of the world's people already live in areas with at least one particularly harmful type of pollutant.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is now comparable to other global health risks like unhealthy diets and smoking tobacco. It is recognised "as the single biggest environmental threat to human health". WHO guidelines, which are not legally binding and intended as a reference for policymakers, advocacy groups and academics, stipulate permissible concentrations of six pollutants known to have impacts on health: two types of particulate matter known as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, as well as Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and Carbon monoxide. The guidelines could also send a message to the wider public about lifestyle and business choices - whether it is driving cars and trucks, disposing of garbage, working in industrial jobs or farming. WHO says the main human-generated sources of air pollution can vary geographically but include the energy and transportation sectors, as well as waste dumpsites and home cooking and heating. It advised people to do their part by changing their lifestyles - not running car engines uselessly; avoiding use of plastics that could end up being incinerated; and walking, riding bikes or using public transportation to get to work.

It should be noted that "because of air pollution, the simple act of breathing contributes to 7 million deaths a year. Almost everyone around the world is exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution". The harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than previously thought, the World Health Organisation has said as it has set a new standard for policymakers and the public in the first update of its air quality guidelines in 15 years. Since the last update of the WHO recommendations, better monitoring and science have cleared up the global picture about the effects of six major air pollutants on human health. According to the agency, 90% of the world's people already live in areas with at least one particularly harmful type of pollutant.

Read the following passage and answer the five questions that follow.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution is now comparable to other global health risks like unhealthy diets and smoking tobacco. It is recognised "as the single biggest environmental threat to human health". WHO guidelines, which are not legally binding and intended as a reference for policymakers, advocacy groups and academics, stipulate permissible concentrations of six pollutants known to have impacts on health: two types of particulate matter known as PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, as well as Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, Sulphur dioxide and Carbon monoxide. The guidelines could also send a message to the wider public about lifestyle and business choices - whether it is driving cars and trucks, disposing of garbage, working in industrial jobs or farming. WHO says the main human-generated sources of air pollution can vary geographically but include the energy and transportation sectors, as well as waste dumpsites and home cooking and heating. It advised people to do their part by changing their lifestyles - not running car engines uselessly; avoiding use of plastics that could end up being incinerated; and walking, riding bikes or using public transportation to get to work.

It should be noted that "because of air pollution, the simple act of breathing contributes to 7 million deaths a year. Almost everyone around the world is exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution". The harmful health effects of air pollution kick in at lower levels than previously thought, the World Health Organisation has said as it has set a new standard for policymakers and the public in the first update of its air quality guidelines in 15 years. Since the last update of the WHO recommendations, better monitoring and science have cleared up the global picture about the effects of six major air pollutants on human health. According to the agency, 90% of the world's people already live in areas with at least one particularly harmful type of pollutant.