Idioms and Phrases Questions & Answers (Compiled from UPSC, SSC ,PSC ,IBPS previous question papers)

Directions (next ten questions) Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given. Certain words have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the question.

We are told that economy is growing and that such growth benefits all of us. However, what you see is not what you always get. Most people are experiencing declining economic security in response to the problems of the global system, many communities have turned to Local Exchange System (LESs) to help regain some control over their economic situations.

Local exchange systems come in many forms. They often involve the creation of a local currency, or a system of bartering labour, or trading of agricultural products as a means of supporting the region in which they are traded. Such a system help preserve the viability of local economies.

Local currencies allow communities to diversify their economies, reinvest resources back into their region and reduce dependence on the highly concentrated and unstable global economy. Each local currency system serves as an exchange bank for skills and resources that individuals in the community are willing to trade. Whether in the form of paper money, service credits, or other units, a local currency facilitates the exchange of services and resources among the members of a community.

By providing incentives for local trade, communities help their small businesses and reduce under-employment by providing the jobs within the community. In addition, the local exchange of food and seeds promotes environmental conservation and community food security. Local food production reduces wasteful transportation and promotes self-reliance and genetic diversity. Each transaction within a local exchange system strengthens the community fabric das neighbours interact and meet one another.

There are over 1000 local exchange programs worldwide – more than 30 local paper currencies in North America and at least 800 Local paper currencies in North America and at throughout Europe. New Zealand and Australia Local Exchange Systems vary and evolve in accordance with the needs and circumstances of the local area. This diversity is critical to the success of the local currencies. For instance, a bank in rural Massachusetts refused to lend a farmer the money needed to make it through the winter. In response, the farmer decided to print his own money Berkshire Farm Preserve Notes. In winter, customers buy the notes for $ 9 and they may redeem them in the summer for $ 10 worth of vegetables. The system enabled the community to help a farm family after being abandoned by the centralized monetary system. As small family farms continue to disappear at an alarming rate, local currencies provide tools for communities to bind together, support their local food growers and maintain their local food suppliers.

Local Exchange System are not limited to developed countries. Rural areas of Asia, Latin America and Africa have offered some of the most effective and important programs, by adopting agriculture-based systems of exchange rather than monetary ones. In order to preserve genetic diversity, economic security and avoid dependence on industrial seed and chemical companies, many villages have developed seed saving exchange banks. For example, the village women in Ladakh have begun to collect and exchange rare seeds selected for their ability to grow in a harsh mountain climate. This exchange system protects agriculture diversity while promoting self-reliance. There is no one blueprint for a local exchange system, which is sustainability. They promote local economic diversity and regional self-reliance while responding to a region’s specific needs. Local exchange systems play a pivotal role in creating models for sustainable societies. They are an effective educational tool, raising awareness about the global financial system local and local economic matters. Local exchange system also demonstrate that tangible, creative solutions exist and that communities can empower themselves to address global problems.

Directions (next ten questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given. Certain words/phrases have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

From a technical and economic perspective, many assessments have highlighted the presence of cost-effective opportunities to reduce energy use in buildings. However several bodies note the significance of multiple barriers that prevent the take-up of energy efficiency measures in buildings. These include lack of awareness and concern, limited access to reliable information from trusted sources, fears about risk, disruption and other 'transaction costs', concerns about up-front costs and inadeuqate 

Access to suitably priced finance, a lack of confidence in suppliers and technologies and the presence of split incentives between landlords and tenants. The widespread presence of these barriers led experts to predict that without a concerned push from policy, two-thirds of the economically viable potential to improve energy efficiency will remain unexploited by 2035. These barriers are albatross around the neck that represent a classic market failure and a basis for governmental intervention.

While these measurements focus on the technical, financial or economic barriers preventing the take-up of energy efficiency options in buildings, others emphasize the significance of the often deeply embedded social practices that shape energy use in buildings. These analyses focus not on the preferences and rationalities that might shape individual behaviours, but on the ‘entangled’ cultural practices, norms, values and routines that underpin domestic energy use. Focusing on the practice-related aspects of consumption generates very different conceptual framings and policy prescriptions than those that emerge from more traditional or mainstream perspectives. But the underlying case for government intervention to help to promote retrofit and the diffusion of more energy efficient particles is still apparent, even though the forms of intervention advocated are often very different to those that emerge from a more technical or economic perspective.

Based on the recognition of the multiple barriers to change and the social, economic and environmental benefits that could be realized if they were overcome, government support for retrofit (renovating existing infrastructure to make it more energy efficient) has been widespread. Retrofit programmes have been supported and adopted in diverse forms in many settings and their ability to recruit householders and then to impact their energy use has been discussed quite extensively. Frequently, these discussions have criticized the extent to which retrofit schemes rely on incentives and the provision of new technologies to change behaviour and the provision of new technologies to change behaviour whilst ignoring the many other factors that might limit either participation in the schemes or their impact on the behaviours and practices that shape domestic energy use. These factors are obviously central  to the success of retrofit schemes, but evaluations of different schemes have found that despite these they can still have significant impacts.

Few experts that the best estimate of the gap between the technical potential and the actual insitu performance of energy efficiency measures is 50 % , with 35% coming from performance gaps and 15% coming from ‘comfort taking’ or direct rebound effects. They further suggest that the direct rebound effect of energy efficiency measures related to household heating is likely to be less than 30% while rebound effects for various domestic energy efficiency lead to increased demand for other goods and services). Other analyses also note that the gap between technical, potential and actual performance is likely to vary by measure, with the range extending from 0% for measures such as solar water heating to 50% for measures such as improved heating controls. And others note that levels of comfort taking are likely to vary according to the levels of comfort taking are likely to vary according to the levels of consumption and fuel poverty in the sample of homes where insulation is installed, with the range extending from 30% when considering homes across all income groups to around 60% when considering only lower income homes. The scale of these gaps is significant because it materially affects the impacts of retrofit schemes and expectations and perceptions of these impacts go on to influence levels of political, financial and public support for these schemes.

The literature on retrofit highlights the presence of multiple barriers to change and the need for government support, if these are to be overcome. Although much has been written on the extent to which different forms of support enable the wider take-up of domestic energy efficiency measures, behaviours and practices, various areas of contestation remain and there is still an absence of robust ex-post evidence on the extent to which these schemes actually do lead to the social, economic and environmental benefits that are widely claimed.

Directions (next ten questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions. Certain words/phrases have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

Virtual currencies are growing in popularity. While the collective value of virtual currencies is still a fraction of the total U.S. Dollars in circulation, the use of virtual currencies as a payment mechanism of transfer of value is gaining momentum. Additionally, the number of entities (issuers, exchange and intermediaries, to name just a few) that engage in virtual currency transactions is increasing and these entities often need access to traditional banking services.

Virtual currencies are digital representations of value that function as a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value (buy now redeem later policy). In many cases, virtual currencies are "convertible" currencies; they are not legal lenders, but they have an equivalent value in real currency, Despite what seems to be a tremendous interest in virtual currencies their overall value is still extemely small relative to other payment mechanisms, such as cash, cheques and credit and debit cards. The virtual currency landscape includes many participants from the merchant, that accepts the virtual currency, to the intermediary that exchanges the virtual currency on behalf of the merchant, to the exchange that actually converts the virtual currency to the real currency to the electronic wallet provider that holds the virtual currency on behalf of the merchant, to the exchange that actually converts the virtual currency to the real currency to the electronic wallet provider that holds the virtual currency on behalf of its owner. Accordingley, opportunities abound for community banks to provide services to entitles engaged in virtual currency activities. Eventually, it is also possible that community banks may find themselves holding virtual currency on their own balance sheets.

Lanched in 2009, Silicon is currently the largest and most popular virtual currency. However, many other virtual currencies have emerged over the past few years, such as Litecoin, Dogecoin, Peercoin and these provide even more anonymity to its users than that provided by Bitcoin.

As the virtual currency landscape is fraught with dangers, what important risks should community bankers consider? The most significant is compliance risk- a subset of legal exchangers may present risks similar to other money transmitters, as well in presenting their own unique risks. Quite simply, many users of virtual currencies do so because of the perceptions that transactions conducted using virtual currencies are anonymous. The less-than transparent nature of the transactions, may make it more difficult for a financial institution to truly know and understand the activities of its customer and whether the customer's activities are legal. Therefore, these transactions may present a higher risk for banks and require additional due diligence and monitoring.

Another important risk for community banks to consider is credit risk. How should a community bank respond if a borrower wants to specifically post Bitcoin or another virtual currency as collateral for a loan? For many, virtual currencies are simply another form of cash, so it is not hard to analyse that bankers will face such a scenario at some point. IN this case, caution is appropriate. Bankers should carefully weigh the pros and cons of extending any loan secured by Bitcoin or other virtual currencies (in whole or in part), or where the source of loan repayment is in some way dependent on the virtual currency. For one, the value of Bitcoin in particular has been volatile. Then, the collateral value could fluctuate widely from day-to-day. Bankers also need to think about control over the account. ‘How does the banker control access to a virtual wallet, and how can it control the borrower’s access to the virtual wallet? In the event of a loan default, the bank would need to take control of the virtual currency. This would require access to the borrower’s virtual wallet and private key. All of the suggests that the loan agreement need to be carefully crafted and that additional steps need to be taken to ensure the bank has a perfected lift on the virtual currency.

Virtual currencies bring with them, both opportunities and challenges, and they are likely here to stay. Although, it is too early to determine just how prevalent they will be in the coming years, we too expect that the virtual participants in the virtual currency ecosystem will increasingly intersect with the banking industry.

Directions (NEXT ten questions) In these questions you have a passage with 10 questions. Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four.

The postmaster first took up his duties in the village of Ulapur. Though the village was a small one, there was an indigo factory nearby and the propritor, an Englishman, had managed to get a post office established.
Our postmaster belonged to Calcutta. He felt like a fish out of water in this remove village. His office and living-room were in a dark thatched shed, not far from a green, silmy pond, surrounded on all sides by a dense growth.
The men employed in the indigo factory had no leisure, moreover they were hardly desirable companions for decent folk. Nor is a Calcutta boy an adept in the art of associating with others. Among strangers he appears either proud or ill at ease. At any rate the postmaster had but little company, nor had he much to do.
At times he tried his hand at writing a verse or two. That the movement of the leaves and clouds of the sky were enough to fill life with joy - such were the sentiments to which he sought to give expression. But God knows that the poor fellow would have felt it as the gift of a new life, if some genie of the Arabian Nights had in one night swept away the trees, leaves and all, and replaced them with a macadamised road, hiding the clouds from view with rows of tall houses.

Directions:

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.

Passage (Five Questions)

The question of race has caused bloodbaths throughout history. Take the case of the Negro, a negro is someone with black skin who comes from Africa. It is an old fashioned word and is offensive. Some people used to write that way deliberately. The word “nigger” is also very offensive. The word was later replaced by “coloured” which gave way to “black”. Black is a colour with negative suggestions. So we have expressions like “black deed”, “black day” and “blackmail”. So no wonder the word “black” too assumed unfavourable meanings. (Although in the 1960’s the famous slogan ‘Black is beautiful’ was coined, and it did not help.) The blacks of the United States therefore came to be called Afro-Americans. Now, the politically correct phrase is African American.

Directions (next 10 questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. Today, the discipline of science that Sir Isaac Newton helped found in the second half of the 17^th Century has extended humanity’ s horizons to a degree he could scarcely have envisaged. Even though Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, with the discovery of other similarly sized bodies nearby , the latest mission of America’s space agency NASA to Pluto is expected to produce plenty of data for planetary scientists to pore over. But then the stream of mission to the outer planets namely- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune- turns into a trickle. At the same time, Cassini was launched in 1997 to explore Saturn and its moons but by 2017 its propellant will be depleted and provided it survives a series of fly-bye through Saturn’s rings- It will burn up as it plunges through the planet’s thick atmosphere. Sometime, before 2025 even the stalwart voyage probes, both launched in 1977, will lack the power to continue sending back data. Voyager-1, now in interstellar space, is the most distant man-made object in the Universe, and Voyage-2 is not far behind. The upshot is that for a decade or so, discoveries will come mostly from objects closer to Earth, regular excursions to Mars are planned. There will also be plenty of instruments launched to look at Earth itself. The hiatus might not end until two proposed space missions are launched in the early 2020s.

It seems an abrupt slowdown after a golden age of missions by NASA and European Space Agency (ESA). But, building a space probe in both complicated and expensive, it takes years of planning and jostling for funds as well as hefty dose of lack to ensure that complex equipment works well. We are travelling today from some good science and good funding in the 1990s. And money has become much scarcer in recent years. In 1981, the recent high-water mark for NASA, the agency received $25 billion. Its budget fell to a low of $16.9 billion in 2013. Some of NASA’S cash has been shifted to other projects. NASA’S co-operation with ESA on future missions has also been scaled back as a result of budget cuts. The Europeans, by contrast, have kept their funding fairly steady. But ESA’s budget is just £ 4.4 billion ($4.9 billion). Other countries are interested in space and have missions under way or in the making, including China, Japan and India. But so far they have no ambitions to venture beyond mars.

Does the coming gap in planetary exploration matter ? Studying the geology, atmospheres and evolution of plants, and comets provides valuable science. Others have loftier ambitions-Keeping planetary science going is critical to the long term survival of the species on this planet. Because space missions have such long lead times, the looming urn of years will have deleterious effects even if budgets start to rise again. The concern is that when funding does get back, there will be a missing generation of valuable knowledge almost. It’s really difficult to go through boom and bust cycles since you’ve got to keep the scientific community and the engineers ticking over to maintain the expertise will have in outer solar-system exploration.

Directions (next 10 questions) : Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them, while answering some of the questions.

In 2012, the Arctic was hot. But while it still matters for environmental reasons, the surge of interest in its economy has ebbed. That surge was driven by three things. First, the Arctic contains vast amounts of energy which could become accessible as the world warms and the ice retreats in summer. The US  Geological Survey has said that about a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas lies in Arctic waters. Send, the melting ice allows cargo ships to sail round Russia’s northern coast for about two months in summer. This cuts the distance for ships travelling from Shanghai to Rotterdam by almost a quarter and the transit time by about two weeks. It was once said the Northern Sea Route would one day rival the Suez Canal as the best way to ship goods from East Asia to Europe. Third, the Arctic seemed a model of international co-operation. The eight countries with territory inside the Arctic Circle settled through the Arctic Council, originally a scientific forum which in 2011-13 signed its first treaties, on search and rescue missions and cleaning up oil spills. Nothing exemplified is popularity better than the r4ush of tropical Asian countries to join. China, India and Singapore were granted observer status in 2013.

But since mid-2014, the Arctic’s allure has lessened. Its energy is pricey. Even at $100 a barrel, many fields were marginal because the weather is so extreme. A Russian and Norwegian firm together developing one of the largest gasfields ever discovered, mothballed the project in 2012. With oil at $50 a barrel, few Arctic fields would be economic. Energy exploration in the Arctic fields would be economic. Energy exploration in the Arctic is in fact referred to by some as a licence to lose money. With regard to the Northern Sea Route- In 2013, 71 ships traversed Russia’s Arctic, according to the Northern Sea Route information Office: a large increase since 2010, when  the number was just four. But 16,000 ships passed through the Suez Canal between Europe and Asia in 2013, so the northern route is not starting to compete. In 2014 traffic alone the Northern Sea Route fell to 53 ships, only four of which sailed from Asia and docked in Europe (the rest went from one Russian port to another). The route does not yet link Europe and East Asia. The decline in 2014 was partly caused by the weather. Less sea ice melted last summer than in 2013, so the route was more dangerous. But its limitations go beyond that. Cutting a week or two off transit time is not the benefit it may seem if the vessel arrives a day late. In shipping, just-in-time arrival matters, not only speed. The new-generation container ships are too cumbersome to use the Arctic so, as these become more common, the northern route becomes less attractive.

The Arctic council continues to expand: it is setting up a new economic body to boost business. But however much its members co-operate, the council cannot offset hostilities between Russia and the West-hostilities which affect the Arctic, too. Russia is stepping up its military operations there. This does not mean fighting is about to break out in the Arctic; nor are shipping and energy exploration about to end.

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The Arctic is the canary in global-warming. Canaries expired in contact with gases such as carbon monoxide and methane, warning miners to leave the area. The Arctic sea is similarly sensitive to changes which might otherwise not be obvious as the Earth warms up in response to more of another gas, carbon dioxide. The area of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice at the height of summer has been shrinking by 11% a decade for the past 35 years. But the details are obscure-because gathering data in the Arctic Ocean is hard. But, a systematic approach to that gathering has begun. The Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) programme, paid for by the United States Navy, has laid dozens of devices. These measure the thickness of the icy layer, and also the salinity, temperature, oxygen concentration, organic-matter composition and movement of the seawater beneath. With luck, the MIZ's researchers with their elaborate network of sensors and instrument-laden robots known as Seagliders will gather the largest quantity of data yet collected on the seasonal melting of the Arctic ice sheet and thus find out exactly what song the Arctic canary is singing.

Monitoring sea ice is a fairly recent activity. It began seriously in the 1950s, from aboard nuclear submarines. Satellite monitoring started in 1979. Since then the summer sea ice has shrunk by 12% a decade. That is consistent with the trend predicted by climate-change models over the past three decades, an indication that their mathematical simulations of global warming are roughly right. Scientists have constructed a record of the Arctic past suggest that the summer sea ice is at its lowest level for at least 2000 years. Six of the hottest years on record- going back to 1880- have occurred since 2004. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the last time the polar regions were significantly warmer was about 1,25,000 years ago. This transformation is in fact happening faster than anyone had predicted. According to the scientists, the average thickness of the pack ice has fallen by roughtly half since the 1970s, probably for two main reasons. In the summer of 2007, coastal parts of the Arctic Occean rose to 7⁰C- bracingly swimmable. The other was a prolonged eastward shift in the early 1990s in the Arctic's prevailing winds, known as the Arctic Oscillation. This moved a lot of ice into the Atlantic and has not been replaced.

Attention has recently also been focused on lesser-known greenhouse gases, including ozone and methane, and on soot from diesel exhaust and forest fires. These are known as "short-lived climate forcers". Though they linger in the atmosphere for a relatively short time, they can have a powerful greenhouse effect. Soot, or black carbon, stays in the atmoshere for an average of six days, whereas carbon dioxide lasts for centuries, even millennia. Yet black carbon has an unusually potent warming effect in the snowy Arctic because the dark soot, after being rained or snowed onto bright snow or ice, continues to absorb heat. The UN's Environment programme estimates that reducing black carbon and methane emission could cut Arctic warming by two-thirds over the next three decades. That would not prevent the disappearance of the summer sea ice, but it might delay it by a decade or two.