What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is an integral part of any competitive examination. It involves interpreting sentences and finding out the answers to questions that are based on the passages.

There are questions on Reading comprehension under Verbal section in various entrance and competitive exams. Here we have provided variety of questions from verbal ability section on Reading comprehension.

Reading Comprehension Questions With Answers

Direction Q1- Q7) 

A fundamental principle of pharmacology is that all drugs have multiple actions. Actions that are desirable in the treatment of disease are considered therapeutic, while those that are undesirable or pose risks to the patient are called "effects." Adverse drug effects range from the trivial, e.g., nausea or dry mouth, to the serious, e.g., massive gastrointestinal bleeding or thromboembolism; and some drugs can be lethal. Therefore, an effective system for the detection of adverse drug effects is an important component of the health care system of any advanced nation. Much of the research conducted on new drugs aims at identifying the conditions of use that maximize beneficial effects and minimize the risk of adverse effects.

The intent of drug labeling is to reflect this body of knowledge accurately so that physicians can properly prescribe the drug; or, if it is to be sold without prescription, so that consumers can properly use the drug.

The current system of drug investigation in the United States has proved very useful and accurate in identifying the common side effects associated with new prescription drugs. By the time a new drug is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, its side effects are usually well described in the package insert for physicians. The investigational process, however, cannot be counted on to detect all adverse effects because of the relatively small number of patients involved in premarketing studies and the relatively short duration of the studies.

Animal toxicology studies are, of course, done prior to marketing in an attempt to identify any potential for toxicity, but negative results do not guarantee the safety of a drug in humans, as evidenced by such well known examples as the birth deformities due to thalidomide.

This recognition prompted the establishment in many countries of programs to which physicians report adverse drug effects. The United States and other countries also send reports to an international program operated by the World Health Organization. These programs, however, are voluntary reporting programs and are intended to serve a limited goal: alerting a government or private agency to adverse drug effects detected by physicians in the course of practice. Other approaches must be used to confirm suspected drug reactions and to estimate incidence rates. These other approaches include conducting retrospective control studies; for example, the studies associating endometrial cancer with estrogen use, and systematic monitoring of hospitalized patients to determine the incidence of acute common side effects, as typified by the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program.

Thus, the overall drug surveillance system of the United States is composed of a set of information bases, special studies, and monitoring programs, each contributing in its own way to our knowledge about marketed drugs. The system is decentralized among a number of governmental units and is not administered as a coordinated function. Still, it would be inappropriate at this time to attempt to unite all of the disparate elements into a comprehensive surveillance program. Instead, the challenge is to improve each segment of the system and to take advantage of new computer strategies to improve coordination and communication.

Q1) The author is primarily concerned with discussing:

A) methods for testing the effects of new drugs on humans

B) the importance of having accurate information about the effects of drugs

C) procedures for determining the long-term effects of new drugs

D) attempts to curb the abuse of prescription drugs

Solution :

Q2) The author implies that a drug with adverse side effects:

A) will not be approved for use by consumers without a doctor’s prescription

B) must wait for approval until lengthy studies prove the effects are not permanent

C) should be used only if its therapeutic value outweighs its adverse effects

D) should be withdrawn from the marketplace pending a government investigation

Solution :

Q3) Which of the following can be inferred from the given passage?

A) Drugs with serious side effects are never approved for distribution.

B) A centralized drug oversight function would improve public health

C) Most physicians are not aware that prescription drugs have side effects

D) Some rare adverse drug effects are not discovered during the limited testing

Solution :

Q4) The author introduces the example of thalidomide to show that some:

A) drugs do not have the same actions in humans that they do in animals

B) drug testing procedures are ignored by careless laboratory workers

C) drugs have no therapeutic value for humans

D) drugs have adverse side effects as well as beneficial actions

Solution :

Q5) The author of the passage regards current drug investigation procedures as:

A) important but generally ineffectual

B) lackadaisical and generally in need of improvement

C) necessary and generally effective

D) comprehensive but generally unnecessary

Solution :

Q6) The author is most probably leading up to a discussion of some suggestions about how to:

A) centralize authority for drug surveillance in the United States

B) centralize authority for drug surveillance among international agencies

C) coordinate better the sharing of information among the drug surveillance agencies

D) eliminate the availability and sale of certain drugs now on the market

Solution :

Q7) The author relies on which of the following in developing the passage?

A) Statistics

B) Analogy

C) Examples

D) Authority

Solution :

Direction Q8 - Q12)

A sanctuary may be defined as a place where Man is passive and the rest of  Nature active. Till quite recently Nature had her own sanctuaries, where man either did not go at all or only as a tool-using animal in comparatively small numbers. But now, in this machinery age, there is no place left where man cannot go with overwhelming forces at his command. He can strangle to death all the nobler wild life in the world to-day. To-morrow he certainly will have done so, unless he exercises due foresight and self-control in the mean time.

There is not the slightest doubt that birds and mammals are now being killed off much faster than they can breed. And it is always the largest and noblest forms of life that suffer most. The whales and elephants, lions and eagles, go. The rats and flies, and all mean parasites, remain. This is inevitable in certain cases. But it is wanton killing off that I am speaking of to-night. Civilized man begins by destroying the very forms of wild life he learns to appreciate most when

he becomes still more civilized. The obvious remedy is to begin conservation at an earlier stage, when it is easier and better in every way, by enforcing laws for close seasons, game preserves, the selective protection of certain species, and sanctuaries.

I have just defined a sanctuary as a place where man is passive and the rest of Nature active. But this general definition is too absolute for any special case. The mere fact that man has to protect a sanctuary does away with his purely passive attitude. Then, he can be beneficially active by destroying pests and parasites, like bot-flies or mosquitoes, and by finding antidotes for diseases like the epidemic which periodically kills off the rabbits and thus starves many of the carnivora to death. But, except in cases where experiment has proved his intervention to be beneficial, the less he upsets the balance of Nature the better, even when he tries to be an earthly Providence.

Q8) The author implies that his first definition of a sanctuary is

A) Totally wrong

B) Somewhat idealistic

C)  unhelpful

D)  indefensible

Solution :

Q9)The author’s argument that destroying bot-flies and mosquitoes would be a beneficial action is most weakened by all of the following except

A) parasites have an important role to play in the regulation of populations

B) the elimination of any species can have unpredictable effects on the balance of nature

C) the pests themselves are part of the food chain

D) these insects have been introduced to the area by human activities

Solution :

Q10) It can be inferred that the passage is

A) part of an article in a scientific journal

B) extracted from the minutes of a nature club

C) part of a speech delivered to an educated audience

D) a speech delivered in a court of law

Solution :

Q11) What should be the most appropriate central idea of this passage

A) Author argues that man kills big animals but saves mosquitoes & other parasites.

B) Man is selfish by nature so he is up against the wild life which is harmful for his survival

C) Ecological balance, if not maintained by man will be harmful in long run.

D) In view of the author man should not intervene in natural environments.

Solution :

Q12) Tone of the Author as expressed in the passage can be best described

A) Descriptive to analytical

B)  Sarcastically humorous

C) Objective to narrative

D) Sarcastically critical to suggestive

Solution :