CAT 2003 Slot 1 — VARC Question 36
The verse given below is followed by a set of questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the journey is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one,
may there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbours seen for the first time:
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind –
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting lthaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey,
without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean
Each of the questions below consists of a set of labelled sentences. These sentences, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Choose the most logical order of sentences from the options.
- A few months ago I went to Princeton University to see what the young people who are going to be running our country in a few decades are like.
- I would go to sleep in my hotel room around midnight each night, and when I awoke, my mailbox would be full of replies sent at 1:15 a.m., 2:59 a.m., 3:23 a.m.
- One senior told me that she went to bed around two and woke up each morning at seven; she could afford that much rest because she had learned to supplement her full day of work by studying in her sleep.
- Faculty members gave me the names of a few dozen articulate students, and I sent them e-mails, inviting them out to lunch or dinner in small groups.
- As she was falling asleep she would recite a math problem or a paper topic to herself; she would then sometimes dream about it, and when she woke up, the problem might be solved.
Answer & solution
- A
DABCE
- B
DACEB
ADBCE
- D
AECBD
DB and CE are mandatory pairs. In D, the author sends emails and B mentions when he gets replies.
Statement C ends with the senior stating that she studies in her sleep. Statement E continues the same by explaining how she manages to study like that. CE is present in options 1, 2 and 3. Therefore, option 4 can be eliminated.
However, if you figured out DB, you have arrived at the answer right away.
Statement A begins the paragraph. It introduces the author’s intention of getting to know Princeton university students.
DBCE are extensions of what happens at the university.
Hence, the correct answer is option 3.