ICICI Bank Exam Passage Comprehension Question And Answers

Passage Comprehension [1 x 7 = 7 Marks]

Line 1. A recent investigation by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey shows that strange animal behavior might help predict earthquakes. Investigators found such occurrences within a ten-kilometer radius of the epicenter of a fairly recent quake. Some birds screeched and flew about wildly; dogs yelped and ran around uncontrollably.

Line 5. Scientists believe that animals can perceive environmental changes several hours or even days before the mishaps. Animals were notes as being restless for several weeks before a Tashkent , Uzbekistan , earthquake. An hour before the disaster, domestic animals refused to go indoors and dogs howled and barked furiously. In 1960, an earthquake struck Agadir in Morocco . Survivors recall that stray animals, including dogs, were seen streaming out of town before the earthquake. In a safari zoo nearSan Francisco , llamas would not eat the evening before a 1979 quake, and they ran around wildly all night.

Line 12. Unusual animal behavior preceding earthquakes has been noted for centuries. British Admiral Robert Fitzroy reported huge flocks of screaming seabirds over Conception, Chile , in 1835. An hour and half later, dogs were seen fleeing, and ten minutes later the town was destroyed. Similar stories of chickens running around in apparent states of panic, horses trembling and dogs barking incessantly were recorded throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by survivors of earthquake destruction in India, Yugoslavia, Peru, Mexico and the Unites States.

Line 18. In 1976, after monitoring bizarre animal behavior, the Chinese predicted a devastating earthquake. Although hundreds of thousand of people were killed, the government was able to evacuate millions of others people and thus keep the death toll at a lower level.
1. What prediction may be made by observing animal behavior?
a. An impending earthquake
b. The number of people who will die
c. The ten-kilometer radium from the epicenter
d. The fact that an earthquake has occurred.

2. The author implies that animals are aware of an impending earthquake because
a. Of their intelligence
b. They have certain instinctive abilities to perceive that human do not possess
c. They are generally closer to the epicenter than the human observers
d. They react to other animal behaviors

3. The word “evacuate” in line 20 closest in meaning to
a. remove
b. exile
c. Destroy
d. emaciate

4. All of the following statement are true EXCEPT
a. some animals may be able to sense an approaching earthquake
b. by observing animal behavior scientist perhaps can predict earthquakes
c. the Chines have successfully predicted an earthquake and saved may lives
d. only dogs and horses seem to possess the special perception that allows them to predict earthquakes

5. In line 3 the word ” epicenter” is nearest in meaning to
a. stratosphere
b. Contour
c. Periphery
d. Core

6. The passage implies that if scientist can accurately predict earthquakes there will be
a. fewer animal going crazy
b. a lower death rate
c. fewer people evacuated
d. fewer environmental changes

7. In line 18 “devastating” means most nearly the same as
a. destructive
b. voracious
c. intense
d. forthcoming