English: Cloze Test Set 4
In the following passage there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, four words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately. Find out the appropriate word in each case.
The areas that constituted Pakistan in 1947 were (1)_____ by the British under different arrangements. Bengal, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (then ‘NWFP’) were provinces with elected assemblies. Balochistan was governed by an appointed Commissioner; tribal areas by Political Agents; and a number of so-called princely states (2)_____ Rajas under the paramountcy of the British Crown.
The people who were handed over the reigns of the new country on August 14 were tasked with (3)_____ out a system which allowed all the above-mentioned entities to coexist peacefully and (4)____ together. But when they sat down to figure out this formula for an equal distribution of power, every option they considered led to the same (5)______: the Bengalis were more in number than all the rest put together, and under a democracy, nothing could bar them from getting a majority share in the new state. Now that did not sit well at all with the infant country’s larger, (6)______ designs of spearheading a new Islamic renaissance and hoisting its flag on every other building in South Asia.
The dark-skinned Bengalis, who shared their language and culture with their Hindu (7)______ did not cut a figure to fit the coveted slot. This glorious feat could only be performed by the blue-blooded Muslim elite that had (8)______ from India, with a few others playing second fiddle and the rest serving as foot soldiers. So, that was the first crossroad that our nation found itself (9)______; that if the simple democratic path was to be taken, we would miss the golden opportunity to revive all of our lost glories (by losing the government to a Bengali majority). And if we stuck to this cherished goal, we would need to get around democracy and find (10)______ undemocratic solution to ‘the Bengal problem’. At the end, it didn’t turn out to be very difficult. Bengalis held faith in democracy and lost in Pakistan.
- A) construct
B) ruling
C) ruled
D) build
- A) of
B) by
C) with
D) under
- A) working
B) getting
C) having
D) making
- A) fail
B) make
C) prosper
D) prospered
- A) indifference
B) concern
C) slot
D) rule
- A) grander
B) greater
C) monumental
D) formulating
- A) partner
B) fellow
C) associates
D) compatriots
- A) remained
B) come
C) migrated
D) shift
- A) off
B) at
C) in
D) on
- A) one
B) legal
C) some
D) on