CAT 2020 Slot 1 — VARC Question 26
The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:
1. Man has used poisons for assassination purposes ever since the dawn of civilization, against individual enemies but also occasionally against armies.
2. These dangers were soon recognized, and resulted in two international declarations—in 1874 in Brussels and in 1899 in The Hague—that prohibited the use of poisoned weapons.
3. The foundation of microbiology by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch offered new prospects for those interested in biological weapons because it allowed agents to be chosen and designed on a rational basis.
4. Though treaties were all made in good faith, they contained no means of control, and so failed to prevent interested parties from developing and using biological weapons.
Answer & solution
Answer: 1324
Easy
Trace the chronological / conceptual movement: the paragraph goes from the broad, ancient use of poisons to the narrower modern story of biological weapons and the treaties against them. Order by what each sentence must logically follow.
Opener: 1. “Man has used poisons for assassination … ever since the dawn of civilization … even against armies.” The broadest, oldest statement — the natural starting point.
1→3 (poisons → biological weapons). 3 advances from poisons to the modern turn: “The foundation of microbiology by Pasteur and Koch offered new prospects for those interested in biological weapons … agents chosen on a rational basis.” This introduces the new danger.
3→2 (“These dangers”). 2 begins “These dangers were soon recognized, and resulted in two international declarations … that prohibited the use of poisoned weapons.” “These dangers” points back to the biological-weapon prospects of 3, so 3→2.
2→4 (treaties → their failure). 4 elaborates on those treaties: “Though treaties were all made in good faith, they contained no means of control, and so failed to prevent … biological weapons.” It must follow the introduction of the treaties in 2, closing the paragraph.
Sequence: 1 – 3 – 2 – 4. Ancient use of poisons (1) → microbiology opens biological weapons (3) → “these dangers” bring treaties (2) → the treaties lacked control and failed (4). Key in 1324.