XAT 2020 — VARC Question 16
Read the passage below and answer the 3 associated questions:
There is nothing spectacularly new in the situation. Most old-societies-turned-young-nation-states learn to live in a world dominated by the psychology and culture of exile. For some, the twentieth century has been a century of refugees. Others like Hannah Arendt have identified refugees as virtually a new species of human being who have come to symbolize the distinctive violence of our time. Refugees as contemporary symbols, however, proclaim something more than a pathology of a global nation-state system. They also represent a state of mind, a form of psychological displacement that has become endemic to modernizing societies. One does not even have to cross national frontiers to become a refugee; one can choose to be seduced by the ‘pull’ of self-induced displacement rather
than be ‘pushed’ by an oppressive or violent system at home. It is this changed status of territoriality in human life that explains why, in immigrant societies like the United States, the metaphor of exile is now jaded. Some have already begun to argue that human beings need not have a ‘home’ as it has been traditionally understood in large parts of the world, that the idea itself is a red herring. While the idea of exile begins to appear trite in intellectual circles, an increasingly large proportion of the world is getting reconciled to living with the labile sense of self. Exile no longer seems a pathology or an affliction. Displacement and the psychology of exile are in; cultural continuities and settled communities are out; there is a touch of ennui about them.
Read the following paragraph and answer the question that follows:
Global surface temperatures in 2019 are on track to be either the second or third warmest since records began in the mid-1800s, behind only 2016 and possibly 2017. On top of the long-term warming trend, temperatures in 2019 have been buoyed by a moderate El Niño event that is likely to persist through the rest of the year.
Which of the following statements can be BEST inferred based on the above paragraph?
Answer & solution
- A
El Niño event causes global surface temperatures to rise in the long-term.
- B
A moderate El Niño event increases temperature more than a weak El Niño event.
- C
El Niño event did not affect temperatures in 2016 and 2017.
The long-term trend of global surface temperatures is unrelated to El Niño.
- E
Global surface temperatures are increasing at a constant rate for three years.
From the passage, we can understand that El Niño is an event that has affected the global surface temperatures only in 2019 and that it
is likely to persist through the rest of the year. So it is unlikely that it will have any long term effects.
There is no comparison of moderate and weak El Niño in the passage.
There is no mention about El Niño occurrence in 2016 and 2017, therefore, it would be incorrect to assume anything.
From the data given it is clear that in 2019 the temperature, though high, is less than that of 2016 and 2017 so it is not true that global surface temperatures are increasing at a constant rate for the last three years.
Hence, option (d).