Reading Comprehension Exercise for SBI PO, IBPS PO, Bank, Insurance and Competitive exams

This set contains Reading Comprehension Exercise Practice Passage for upcoming exams like SBI PO, IBPS PO, Clerk and insurance exams. Reading Comprehension Passage SBI IBPS

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follows.

A DEAD rhino, with a bloody stump in place of its horn, means different things. For the species it is the danger of imminent extinction; for wildlife-lovers it is barbarism; for law-enforcers it is failure. For its poachers it means income; the horn will be exported illegally to fetch tens of thousands of dollars. For economists, it means market forces are at work.

South Africa is in the throes of a poaching epidemic. Official figures show poachers killed 1,054 rhinos in 2016, up from just 13 in 2007. In Kruger National Park, home to the world’s largest rhino population, numbers are dropping despite a fall in recorded poaching incidents. Tom Milliken of TRAFFIC, a wildlife-trade monitoring network, worries that poachers have become better at hiding the carcasses.

The problem is international. The rhino-horn supply-chain sprawls from South Africa, home to nearly three-quarters of the world’s rhinos, to Asia, and in particular to Vietnam, where rhino horn is coveted as medicine, prescribed for fevers, alcohol dependency and even cancer.

Prohibitionists call for better law-enforcement. Demand for rhino horn in China, they point out, fell sharply after the government banned its use in 1993. In the rhino’s homelands, they say, extra patrols, fences and harsher penalties have helped curb poaching in the past couple of years.

But some argue the trade ban might actually be making the problem worse. Restricted supply pushes up prices and pulls in poachers. Private rhino-ranchers argue that if they could sell their stocks of horn, they could undercut the illegal trade. Some already chop off their rhinos’ horns to make them worthless to poachers. Unlike elephant ivory, rhino horn grows back after a few years. Michael Knight, who chairs a specialist group on rhinos at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an NGO, worries that, if rhino-horn sales remain illegal, ranchers will switch to cattle. They bear the cost of security. Poachers make the money.

But by seeming to normalise rhino-horn use, legalisation might boost demand along with supply. Prohibitionists worry that any attempt to lower prices would both bring in more customers, leaving incentives to poach unchanged, and make it far easier to launder illegal, poached horn.

For them, the best form of conservation is to cut demand. A new study, requested by the Vietnamese and South African governments and overseen by the International Trade Centre, an independent arm of the WTO and the UN, provides information on where that demand comes from. Thanks to contacts in the traditional-medicine business, the academic researchers who conducted the study interviewed rhino-horn users. Disproportionately, these were well-off older men. None used it as an aphrodisiac. And nothing suggested any stigma in using it: if anything, illegality enhanced the product’s exclusivity and hence their willingness to pay. Asked how their demand would respond to price, users confirmed that cheaper horn would increase usage.

But if legalisation is risky, so is maintaining the ban. The study finds a hard-core user base of around 30% of rhino-horn users, who want the stuff regardless of the penalties. So long as doctors prescribe it demand will be difficult to eradicate. Douglas MacMillan, an author of the study, is sceptical that information campaigns persuade many people to shun it. Vietnam has already seen vigorous initiatives pointing out that rhino horn is the chemical equivalent of human hair and toenails.

Changes in the law may yield more evidence. On March 30th South Africa’s constitutional court overturned the ban on domestic trade. Now, if they have the right permit, people can trade rhino horn, but not export it. TRAFFIC’s Mr Milliken worries that this will lead to the worst of all worlds. Allowing some legal trade while the authorities are not properly enforcing the ban on illegal trade will muddy already murky waters. Once out of the country, legal and illegal horn will be all but indistinguishable. So users in Vietnam will have cheaper supplies; the illegal dealers still in control of the export trade will pocket the profits; and rhinos will keep falling to the poachers’ bullets.

1. The author says that despite fall in poaching incidents the population of rhino is decreasing. Which if the following statement supports the above statement?
   A) For poachers rhinos horn are a source of infinite income
   B) At the home of rhino, the population of rhino is decreasing
   C) Poachers have become better at hiding carcasses
   D) Extra patrols, fences and penalties have helped curb poaching
   E) None of these
   
   View Answer

   Option C
   Explanation: If Poachers can hide the dead bodies of rhino, then the authority will not come to know about poaching. Hence for them there is reduction in poaching but still rhinos are dying. So this is same as said in the statement given in question.
2. Which of the following statement gives a meaningful sense to the statement ” with a bloody stump in place of its horn”?
   A) The horn is exported illegally to fetch tens of thousands of dollar
   B) Rhino-horns are used as medicine in Vietnam
   C) Some people already chop off the horns of their Rhino to make them worthless to poachers
   D) Rhino horn is a chemical equivalent of human hair and toenails
   E) Rhino horn grows back after a few years
   
   View Answer

   Option E
   Explanation: horns grow back after a few years means that some part of the horn if left after cutting the useful portion of the horn. The part that is left that will grow. This has been expressed as stump that is now covered with blood.
3. Which steps are pointed out by Prohibitionists in the passage that can stop poaching?
   (i) Ban on use of Rhino horns
   (ii) Extra patrol on places where rhinos live
   (iii) Cut in demand of horns
   A) Both (i) and (ii)
   B) Both (ii) and (iii)
   C) Both (i) and (iii)
   D) Only (iii)
   E) All of these
   
   View Answer

   Option E
   Explanation: All three are mentioned
4. Which of the following step can stop ranchers from switching over to cattles?
   A) Making rhino horn sales illegal
   B) Making rhino horn sales legal
   C) Cutting the demand of rhino horn
   D) Stop doctors from prescribing such things
   E) Having cheaper supply of rhino horns
   
   View Answer

   Option B
   Explanation: If sale is legal, ranchers can sell the horns in market without restriction and make money that they require for the up keeping of ranches and rhinos.
5. Which of the following is not mentioned as a possible after-effect to legalizing the sale of rhino horn.
   A) laundering of illegal horn will become easy
   B) Incentives of poachers will reduce
   C) It will boost demand and supply
   D) None of them is mentioned
   E) All of them are mentioned
   
   View Answer

   Option B
   Explanation: B) It has been mentioned that incentives of poachers will remain unaffected. A) and C) have been mentioned
6. Which of the following statement as per the passage weakens the argument that people use rhino horn for medicinal purpose.
   A) Doctors prescribe it as per demand
   B) Rhino horn is chemical equivalent of human hair and toenails.
   C) Rhino horn is illegal to trade
   D) Rhino horn regrows after few years
   E) cheaper horn would increase usage
   
   View Answer

   Option B
   Explanation: If we have a close look at the passage we will find that the sentence ” Rhino horn is chemical equivalent of human hair and toenails.” Has been mentioned to emphasize a initiative that wants people to reject the use of rhino horn. Hence it is opposite to the sentence given in the questions.
7. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage as one of the Interpretation of “A dead Rhino with stolen horns”?
   A) Danger of extinction
   B) Cruelty
   C) Failure
   D) Income
   E) Drop in security level
   
   View Answer

   Option E
   Explanation: Rest all have been mentioned as an interpretation with respect to someone or the other
8. Which of the following is the most suitable title for the above passage?
   A) pros and cons of poaching
   B) Rising poaching in Africa
   C) Might legalising the rhino-horn trade actually help?
   D) Ranchers vs Poachers
   E) Medicinal use of rhino horn
   
   View Answer

   Option C
   Explanation: The author has written the article by showing both the sides of legalizing poaching and the opposite of it. And the end of the passage also points about various laws for legalizing. So c) is best suited
9. What is the writing style of the author?
   A) Judgemental
   B) Analytical
   C) Descriptive
   D) Narrative
   E) Dogmatic
   
   View Answer

   Option B
   Explanation: 1) Analytical – writers analyses some facts and adds his/her own views. In such passages, the author tries to analyze an issue, presenting the pros and cons, or compares two or more things and tells you why he feels something is better etc.
   2) Descriptive/Informative – these contains a lot of facts and data. The purpose of such passage is to increase the knowledge of reader by providing them with lots of data.
   3) Judgmental – In such passage the writer gives his  views/verdict on a particular issue.
   4) Narrative – in such passage the writer just presents an event like a narration as in case of news reading. Writer does not presents his/her own views. Just narrates about a topic.
10. Which of the following phrase correctly depicts the meaning of “muddy already murky waters” as used in the passage
    A) Make something illegal
    B) Make a difficult situation more problematic
    C) Add some relief to a difficult problem
    D) Make a dirty thing more dirty
    E) Add value to a substance
    
    View Answer

    Option B