Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: If you're in Florence, Italy, and see a man on a ladder wiping the dust off statues and buildings, don't worry.It's just Alessandro Ricci gathering material for his famous smog paintings. Ricci is not a common artist, because he used smog as the main medium of his artworks. Unlike other painters seeking fast recognition of their talent, he doesn't really care about "being this big artist".Instead he is more concerned about bringing attention to how much smog there really is in his home town and how it's destroying both its monuments and people. Although he did take a couple of art classes a few years back, he is mainly self-taught, doesn't work in a studio, donates most of his work, and refuses to play by the rules of the Florentine Art Gallery, which he considers corrupt.Alessandro Ricci believes selling his smog paintings will not only compromise his principles, but also contradict the very thing he's trying to do-raise awareness about smog pollution in this city. Alessandro lives with his parents nearby Florence, but almost every day he visits the streets of the city, and collects smog for his paintings.He gets it from several meters above ground, from clean surfaces like marble, plastic and stone, using damp pieces of cotton.Then he applies the smog directly onto a cloth and creates street scenes and reproductions of the very buildings from which he got the dangerous material.Finally, he seals his paintings with a natural resin . His actions helped win a small victory for the people of Florence, as in October 25, 2012 the Duomo area of the city was made pedestrian-only.But there is still a long way to go, the artist believes, and only cleaning the thick layer of smog that has accumulated throughout Florence would take several years.Still, he continues to paint his unique smog artworks and let the people know how polluted the environment they live in really is. Question: In what way is Ricci quite different from other artists? - He lacks talent in art work. - He cares little about fame. - He hates all the art Galleries. - He likes to do things at will.
Ans: He cares little about fame.

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: It was a weeknight. We were a half dozen guys in our late teens, hanging around "the flat" -- as usual. The flat was poorly furnished, which, after some time, grew tiresome. We wanted action. We got in a car, big enough for all of us to crowd into -- and off we went, in search of adventure. We soon found ourselves at Blue Gum Corner, a place named after the huge old blue gum tree that stood by there, a well-known local landmark. It stands at a minor crossroad leading to our town. The trunk is tall and smooth with no handholds for climbing. About six metres from the ground the first branch sticks out over the road. We parked beneath the huge old tree and discussed what we might do. All of a sudden we hit upon an idea -- a hanging! I was chosen as "hangee". The plan was quite simple. As I stood upon the roof of the car, the rope was threaded down my jacket through my collar and down one leg of my jeans. I put my foot through the loop at the bottom. There I hung, still. The boys rolled about laughing until, a car, I hear a car! Before they ran to hide in the nearby field, they gave me a good push so that "the body" would swing as the car drove by. To our disappointment, the car simply turned off for town without even slowing. The boys came out of their hiding places and we discussed the situation. Surely they had seen me, hadn't they? Then we heard another car. The act was repeated, but still without any obvious reaction. We played the game about five or six times, but as no one seemed to notice, we abandoned the trick. What we did not know was that every car that had passed had unquestionably seen "the body" and each one, too scared to stop, had driven directly to the local Police Station. Now at that time of the night, the local policeman was sound asleep in his bed, so the first person sent to the scene was the traffic officer that happened to be on duty that particular night. He had been informed that some person had been killed, by hanging, at Blue Gum Corner. When he arrived, the body was gone! And he... Question: What is conveyed in the passage? - Actions speak louder than words. - The truth lies beneath the surface. - Experience is the best teacher. - To see is to believe.
Ans: The truth lies beneath the surface.

Ques: Read the following article and select the best answer. Article: The works of Shakespeare and Wordsworth are boosters to the brain and better therapy than some guide books, researchers say this week. Scientists, psychologists and English academics at Liverpool University have found that reading the works of the Bard and other classical writers has a beneficial effect on the mind, catches the reader's attention and triggers moments of self-reflection. Using scanners , they monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they read works by William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, T.S Eliot and others. They then "translated" the original texts into more "straightforward", modern language and again monitored the readers' brains as they read the words. Scans showed that the more "challenging" essays and poetry set off far more electrical activity in the brain than the much plainer versions. Scientists were able to study the brain activity as it responded to each word and record how it was "activated" as the readers encountered unusual words, surprising phrases or difficult sentence structure. This "activation" of the mind lasts longer, shifting the brain to a higher speed, encouraging further reading. The research also found that reading poetry, in particular, increases activity in the right hemisphere of the brain, helping the reader to reflect on their own experiences, which they compare with what they have read. This, according to the researchers, meant that the classic works were more useful than guide books. Philip Davis, an English professor believes "The research shows the power of literature to shift thinking patterns, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and adults alike." Question: What might be the author's attitude towards reading classics as therapy? - Doubtful - Positive - Indifferent - Opposing
Ans:
Positive