XAT 2019 — VARC Question 5
Who could resist the idea of remembering everything they wanted to, without trying? Learning would be made easy, exams a ______ and you would never forget where you left your keys. And memory-related disorders like Alzheimer’s would have met their match. So, it is of little surprise that scientists have turned their attention to ways of ______ human memory using techniques that ______, supplement or even mimic parts of the brain. The immediate goal is to treat memory disorders, but the idea of a memory ______ for everyday life is gaining ground.
Fill in the blanks in the above paragraph, with the best option from among the following:
Answer & solution
- A
breeze; exploring; simulate; aid
- B
routine; expanding; invigorate; crutch
- C
joy; augmenting; awaken; crutch
- D
routine; expanding; trigger; support
breeze; enhancing; stimulate; prosthesis
As per the paragraph, since we will remember everything we learnt, giving exams would become very easy. Thus only ‘breeze’ can fit the first blank as it means ‘an easy task’. ‘Joy’ cannot fit the first blank as even though one remembers everything, nobody likes giving exams. Thus only options 1 and 5 can be retained. Since humans will have to remember everything, their memory needs to be increased. Thus only ‘enhancing’ which means ‘raising to a higher degree’ correctly fits the second blank. ‘Exploring’ means ‘examining’ and does not fit the second blank contextually. In the third blank, ‘simulate’ means ‘creating a model or linking of something’ while ‘stimulate’ means ‘encourage’. Thus only the latter fits the third blank. In the fourth blank, ‘aid’ means ‘help’ while ‘prosthesis’ means ‘an external device that supplements a part of the body’. Thus only ‘aid’ fits the last blank.
Hence, the correct answer is option 5.