CBSE Class 12 English Factual Passage MCQs Set A

Factual Passage

Question. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
1. The protests against police brutality and systemic racism have seen several American and international celebrities donate to U.S. nonprofits and organizations dedicated to racial justice. On June 5, racial justice organisation Black Lives Matter confirmed it had received a $1 million donation from South Korean pop group BTS and its record label, Big Hit Entertainment.
2. Shortly after the news became public, BTS fans organized an online campaign to match the donation under the hashtag #MatchAMillion and reached their goal in just 25 hours.
3. K-pop fans are known for their prolific social media activity and have used their influence to support social justice issues. On Instagram and Twitter, they have taken over white supremacist hashtags with fancams – short videos of their favourite pop idols performing. When the Dallas Police Department asked the public to submit videos of “illegal activity” during protests to its iWatch Dallas app, fans encouraged each other to submit fancams instead, and the app went temporarily offline.
Amount raised over time
A BTS fan account called @BTS_History613 tweeted frequent screenshots of fundraising page as it was underway, helping the fanbase track the total amount raised.

4. These fanbases are sometimes generalized as young and obsessive individuals who occasionally take collective action. But they have a history of raising money for charity and breaking social media records, and BTS fans in particular are enabled by the semi-structured organization of the fanbase and the diversity within their ranks.
5. BTS is a seven-member K-pop group whose music draws from several genres, including hip-hop, pop and R&B. Since their 2013 debut, they’ve become known for their meticulous choreography, elaborate music videos with connected storylines and youth-focused lyrics that touch on themes such as self-confidence, mental health and societal norms. (Source: Reuters.com)

Question. Why have American celebrities donated to U.S. nonprofits and organizations dedicated to racial justice?
(a) due to systemic racism
(b) for George Floyd’s death
(c) for the injustices in general
(d) for coronavirus pandemic
Answer: (a)

Question. The racial justice organization Black Lives Matter confirmed that ______.
(a) it had received a $1 million donation from BTS Army
(b) it had received a $1 million donation from a celebrity
(c) it had received a $1 million donation from South Korean pop group BTS
(d) it had received a $3 million donation from South Korean pop group BTS
Answer: (c)

Question. What online campaign did the BTS fans launch?
(a) raise funds to match the donation
(b) raise funds to organize a concert
(c) get more BTS followers
(d) raise funds amounting to double the donation
Answer: (a)

Question. Choose the option that lists the CORRECT answers for the following:
1. Shan has a prolific social media presence and uses his influence to support social justice issues? What category of people does he come in according to the passage?
2. Reema is part of a pop group whose music draws from several genres, including hip-hop, pop and R&B and touches on themes such as self-confidence, mental health and societal norms. Name the group based on the passage.
(a) (1) is a fan cam and (2) is fan base group
(b) (1) is K-pop fan and (2) is BTS
(c) (1) is BTS and (2) is fan cam
(d) (1) is K-pop fan and (2) is fan base group
Answer: (b)

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the inherent qualities of fan bases.
1. people with prolific social media
2. young and obsessive individuals
3. use their influence to support media
4. organise online campaign to support donation
5. raise money for charity
6. ask police to submit videos of illegal activities
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 4
(c) 5 and 6
(d) 2 and 5
Answer: (d)

Question. What did the fans encourage each other to submit fancams in place of?
(a) “any activity” during protests
(b) “illegal activity” during police action
(c) “illegal activity” during protests
(d) the protests
Answer: (c)

Question. Which app went temporarily offline?
(a) iWatch Dallas app
(b) iWitness Dallas app
(c) iSee Dallas app
(d) iWent Dallas app
Answer: (a)

Question. Which Twitter account put up screenshots of the funds collect for #MatchAMillion initiative?
(a) BTS_History616
(b) BTS_History613
(c) BTSI_History613
(d) BTS-History613
Answer: (b)

Question. BTS army has a history of:
(a) raising money for events
(b) raising money for the band
(c) raising money for concerts
(d) raising money for charity
Answer: (d)

Question. Which word in the passage means “spread across or embedded in the whole group/body”?
(a) systemic
(b) obsessive
(c) genres
(d) meticulous
Answer: (a)

Question. The BTS band is known for ________.
(a) music
(b) charity work
(c) choreography, elaborate music videos
(d) stage performances
Answer: (c)

Question. Which word in the passage is opposite to the meaning of ‘flawed/careless’?
(a) systemic
(b) obsessive
(c) meticulous
(d) genres
Answer: (c)

Question. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
 

Rising Coal Capacity
1. Global coal capacity grew in every year between 2000 and 2019, nearly doubling from 1,066GW to 2,045GW. As far back as 1950, coal capacity has only ever risen – though this older data is less reliable. The rate of growth is slowing dramatically, however, with the 20GW net increase in 2018 the smallest in several decades.
2. The promise of cheap electricity to fuel economic growth has driven this expansion. But new coal is now more expensive than renewables in all major markets around the world, according to recently released analysis from thinktank Carbon Tracker.
3. Coal generates nearly 40% of the world’s electricity, close to its highest share in decades. And there are now 80 countries using coal power, up from 66 in 2000. Another 13 plan to join the club, notably Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, though this is down from 16 last year.
4. CO2 emissions from existing plants are enough to breach the carbon budget for 1.5 or 2C. UN secretary general António Guterres is leading calls for an end to new coal plant development.
Global coal power electricity is still rising, but the pipeline of new plants is shrinking fast
The 300 GW pipeline of proposed capacity is now one quarter its size in 2015 and construction on is down by a third
5. All unabated coal would have to close by 2040 to stay “well below” 2C, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This would mean closing 100GW of coal capacity every year for 20 years, or roughly one coal unit every day until 2040. (Some pathways have slightly slower phaseouts.)
6. For the more ambitious 1.5C limit, global coal use for all purposes would need to fall by around 80% this decade, according to Carbon Brief analysis of pathways gathered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This would be equivalent to closing every coal plant in the world.
7. Yet newspaper headlines and energy projections suggest coal growth will not stop.
8. This bleak outlook for the climate is tempered by signs of rapid change. The pipeline of plants under construction or proposed has shrunk by two-thirds since 2015, as the chart below shows. Retirements are also accelerating, reaching a cumulative 268GW between 2010 and 2019.
9. Global coal power capacity operating in 2010 through to 2019 as well as cumulative retirements and capacity being built or planned .
(Sources: Global Coal Plant Tracker 2014-2020; World Resources Institute Global Coal Risk Assessment 2012. Plans for 2010, 2011 and 2013 are interpolated from other years. Chart and report by Carbon Brief.)

Question. Though the exact data may be unreliable, which fact does the writer state unequivocally regarding usage of coal?
(a) coal capacity has only risen since 1950
(b) coal capacity has remained stagnant since 1950
(c) coal capacity has fallen since 1950
(d) coal capacity was stopped in 1950
Answer: (a)

Question. Which year saw the rate of growth of coal utilities to be the smallest in several decades?
(a) 2019
(b) 2008
(c) 2015
(d) 2018
Answer: (d)

Question. What would the coal energy industry fuel in the economy?
(a) unemployment
(b) economic growth
(c) industries
(d) none of these
Answer: (b)

Question. Choose the option that lists the CORRECT answers for the following:
1. But new coal is now more expensive than renewable in all major markets around the world, according to a recently released analysis. Whose analysis is this?
2. All unabated coal would have to close by 2040 to stay “well below” 2C. Whose analysis is this?
(a) (1) is from think tank carbon tracker and (2) is from International Energy Agency (IEA)
(b) (1) is from International Energy Agency (IEA) and (2) is from a research agency in Egypt
(c) (1) is from carbon think tank tracker and (2) is from the experts in UAE
(d) (1) is from International Energy Agency (IEA) and (2) is from the energy experts from various countries
Answer: (a)

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the inherent qualities of coal.
1. Coal has become expensive
2. Coal capacity became stagnant in every year between 2000 and 2019
3. Coal capacity declined in every year between 2000 and 2019
4. Coal generates nearly 40% of the world’s electricity
5. Coal capacity has stopped being effective
6. Coal utilisation is not essential for electricity
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 3
(c) 1 and 4
(d) 2 and 4
Answer: (c)

Question. Since the year 2000, ________ new countries have started using coal power.
(a) 14
(b) 80
(c) 66
(d) none of these
Answer: (a)

Question. What is being emitted by the existing plants which is breaching the carbon budget?
(a) CO emissions
(b) SO2 emissions
(c) NO2 emissions
(d) CO2 emissions
Answer: (d)

Question. How can you say that the UN is concerned about the rising numbers of coal plants?
(a) UNDP secretary general António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(b) UN secretary general António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(c) UN executive secretary António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(d) UN secretary general Antony Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
Answer: (b)

Question. What has IPCC’s Carbon Brief analysis said about global use of carbon?
(a) global coal use has to fall by around 90% this decade
(b) global coal use has to fall by exactly 80% this decade
(c) global coal use has to fall by around 80% this decade
(d) global coal use has to fall by around 80% this century
Answer: (c)

Question. Which word in the passage means “strikingly large extent”?
(a) tempered
(b) dramatically
(c) notably
(d) unabated
Answer: (b)

Question. Which sectors of the coal plants have shrunk by two-third?
(a) plants under construction and proposed
(b) retirement
(c) operating
(d) none of these
Answer: (a)

Question. Which word in the passage is opposite to the meaning of ‘insignificantly’?
(a) notably
(b) dramatically
(c) tempered
(d) unabated
Answer: (a)

Question. Read the passage given below :
Millions of tons of small waste from plastic bags, bottles and clothes in the world’s oceans present a serious threat to human health and marine environment. This is the stark warning issued by the U.N. in a report on the most dangerous environmental problems facing the world today. Global plastic production has increased considerably in recent years, nearly by 38%.
A poor waste management means when we have finished with our take away containers, cigarette butts and party balloons, they are worn down into trillion of even smaller particles by the waves. Therefore, there is a growing presence of these micro plastics in the world’s oceans.
It was estimated in 2010 that millions of tons of plastic was washed into the seas and has since shown up in the stomachs of whales, plankton and other marine life. Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology has said that in laboratory experiments, there is proof that micro plastic can cause harm to organisms.
More than a quarter of all fish now contain plastic, according to a recent study which analysed the guts of fish sold in California.
Scientists fear that chemicals in plastics and chemicals which attach themselves to plastic in natural environment could cause poisoning and many disorders in marine life if consumed in huge quantities.
Even humans could be adversely affected by the plastic. People could even be breathing in plastic micro particles suspended in the air with the risk of harmful effect on the lungs similar to car fumes.
Boyance Slat, a Dutch student has developed a technology that could shift dangerous plastic particles out of the ocean and sell them for profit or recycling. Richard Thompson recommended that people avoid using products with micro beads and to make sure they dispose of all plastic products in an appropriate way by recycling if possible.

Question. The warning issued by the U.N. is …………
Answer: that millions of small wastes from plastic bags, bottles and clothes in the world’s oceans present a serious threat to human health and marine environment.

Question. The scientists fear that …………
Answer: the chemicals in plastics and those which attach themselves to plastic in natural environment could cause poisoning and many disorders in marine life if consumed in huge quantities.

Question. ………… is the single most harmful effect of plastic micro particle on humans.
Answer: breathing plastic micro particles suspended in the air.

Question. Richard Thompson recommended that people should use products with micro beads and make sure they dispose of all plastic products in an appropriate way by recycling if possible. (True/False)
Answer: False.

Question. Identify the meaning of the word: Stark
(a) serious
(b) violent
(c) unpleasant
(d) angry
Answer: (a)

Question. Identify the meaning of the word: Huge
(a) impressive
(b) large
(c) constant
(d) standard
Answer: (b)

Question. Identify the meaning of the word: Micro
(a) mechanical
(b) dangerous
(c) very small
(d) tough
Answer: (c)

Question. Identify the meaning of the word: Adversely
(a) negatively
(b) clearly
(c) poorly
(d) surely
Answer: (a)

Question. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
India Covid-19 numbers explained
1. With novel Coronavirus spreading rapidly all over the country, there are only three states right now, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, that have less than 1,000 people infected with the disease.
2. Lakshadweep, of course, still hasn’t reported even a single case till now, the only region in India entirely free of the epidemic.
3. Otherwise, even the relatively smaller states now have significantly large spread of the disease. Goa, for example, has seen more than 7,000 of its people infected by the virus till now. Tripura has over 5,500 cases, while Manipur has more than 3,000, and Nagaland a little less than 2,500. Puducherry has more than 4,000 cases, while even Daman and Diu has over 1,300 people infected.
4. And in each of these states, the numbers are rising at a fast pace, at a rate higher than the national level. The infections had initially reached these states in the first and second week of May, when the lockdown was relaxed for the first time to enable people stuck in different parts of the country to return to their native places.
5. After a period of very slow growth, the number of cases have begun to rise rapidly in the last one month. In Goa, for example, the total number of infected people has nearly doubled in the last 15 days. Same has happened in Puducherry, as well.
6. Tuesday was one of those rare occasions when the number of active cases in the country, those who are yet to recover from the disease, went down compared to the previous day. That is because the number of recoveries, combined with the number of deaths, exceeded the new cases that were detected on Tuesday.
7. With over 52,500 new cases detected in the country, the total number of infections crossed 19 lakh, out of `which 12.82 lakh people have recovered from the disease. The number of dead is now close to 40,000.
8. The number of recoveries on Tuesday was the highest-ever for a single day. More than 51,700 people were declared to have been recovered. Three days earlier, the number of recoveries had crossed 50,000 for the first time, but the next two days the number had fallen to much lower levels.
[Accompanying Graph: New Cases Every Day from 16-July to 4-August]

Question. Choose the correct option to answer the questions based on the above passage and graphics. Do any ten. How are these three states - Meghalaya, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands - different from the rest of India?
(a) they are the only states to have less than 1,000 people infected with novel coronavirus
(b) they are three of the five states to have less than 1,000 people infected with novel coronavirus
(c) they are the only states to have less than 2,000 people infected with novel coronavirus
(d) none of these
Answer: (a)

Question. ___________ is the only region in India which is entirely free of the epidemic.
(a) Andaman and Nicobar Islands
(b) Maharashtra
(c) Lakshadweep
(d) Tripura
Answer: (c)

Question. What is common among Goa, Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland, Puducherry and Daman and Diu?
(a) the numbers are rising at a fast pace at rates lower than the national level
(b) the numbers are falling at a fast pace at rates equal than the national level
(c) the numbers are rising at a fast pace at rates higher than the national level
(d) none of these
Answer: (c)

Question. Choose the option that lists the correct answers for the following:
1. Manish lives in a country where there is freedom of speech, equality, liberty and fraternity. Which type of government is this?
2. Sunil lives in a country where the power lies in the hands of a single individual, it is solely on that single person as to how he uses the power. Which type of government is this?
(a) (1) is democracy and (2) is dictatorship
(b) (1) is monarchy and (2) is democracy
(c) (1) is democracy and (2) is monarchy
(d) (1) is dictatorship and (2) is monarchy
Answer: (a)

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the inherent qualities of climate in the present times.
(a) 1 and 4
(b) 2 and 6
(c) 1 and 3
(d) 3 and 5
Answer: (c)

Question. Which date in the graph shows the highest jump of detected cases in a day?
(a) July 30
(b) July 31
(c) August 1
(d) August 2
Answer: (b)

Question. Of the 19 lakh infected cases, how many have recovered?
(a) 11.82 lakh
(b) 13.82 lakh
(c) 12.81 lakh
(d) 12.82 lakh
Answer: (d)

Question. More than 51,700 people were declared to have been recovered on ______.
(a) Wednesday
(b) Sunday
(c) Tuesday
(d) Monday
Answer: (c)

Question. When had the number of recoveries crossed 50,000 for the first time?
(a) two days earlier
(b) Tuesday
(c) three days earlier than Tuesday
(d) none of these
Answer: (c)

Question. Which word in the passage means the same as “quickly”?
(a) rapidly
(b) significantly
(c) native
(d) rare
Answer: (a)

Question. Which word in the passage is opposite in meaning to “indigenous”?
(a) rapidly
(b) significantly
(c) native
(d) rare
Answer: (c)

Question. Which word in the passage is opposite in meaning to “hard to find”?
(a) rapidly
(b) significantly
(c) native
(d) rare
Answer: (d)

Question. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : (2019 OD)
1. Keep your watch accurate. For some people, moving up the time on their watch will help them get up earlier. For others, they will remember that the time on the watch is wrong and will disregard it altogether. It may be helpful to set your watch just two minutes ahead instead of five or ten.
2. Keep a clock, phone, computer or anything that displays time in each room of your house. One of the easiest ways to run late is simply by not realising that the time is passing as quickly as it is.
3. Set all your clock and watches to the same time. Don’t be an optimist. Things usually take longer than what you’d expect, even without major delays. If you have a dinner appointment at 7:30 p.m., don’t think you can work till 7 p.m., then take a bath, dress and reach on time. Realistically, calculate the time you will take at each step and then add 10 minutes more to allow for unexpected delays, or you cannot get to your job in time.
4. Wake up when you are supposed to wake up. Don’t hit the snooze button, keep on lying in bed, and watch TV at the very start of your day. Maybe try even setting your clock 10 minutes earlier than you need. If you have difficulty with this, move your alarm clock to somewhere away from you bed; that way, you have to get up to turn it off. Commit yourself to being 15 minutes early for every thing. If you have to reach your place of work at 8:00, don’t even tell yourself this. Just tell yourself (and every one else who listens—but don’t annoy them or make them think that they are late or early!) “I have to be at work at 7.45.” If you do this, you will be on time even with little unforeseen delays. You will be on time even with a traffic jam.

Question. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the questions that follow : (a) Some people believe that if ……… it will help them be earlier.
Answer: they move up the time on their watch

Question. Many others know …… they disregard it altogether.
Answer: that the time on the watch is wrong so

Question. Keep …… in each room.
Answer: a clock, phone, computer or anything that displays time

Question. One of the things that can be done is …… of five or ten minutes.
Answer: to set watch just two minutes ahead instead

Question. Many a time we do not realise that …….
Answer: the time is passing as quickly as it is

Question. Instead of pressing the snooze button …….
Answer: wake up when you are supposed to wake up

Question. If you have difficulty in getting up, then try to set your clock.
(a) ten minutes earlier
(b) five minutes earlier
(c) thirty minutes earlier
(d) fifty minutes earlier
Answer: (a)

Question. It is a good habit to move your alarm clock ………… from you.
(a) close
(b) next
(c) away
(d) near
Answer: (c)

Question. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : (2019 Delhi)
1. Few guessed that this quiet, parentless girl growing up in New York City would one day become the First Lady of the United States. Even fewer thought she would become an author and lecturer and a woman much admired and loved by people throughout the world.
2. Born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in 1884 to wealthy, but troubled parents who both died while she was young, Roosevelt was cared for by her grandmother and sent to school in England. In 1905, she married her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She and her husband had six children. Although they were wealthy, her life was not easy and she suffered several personal tragedies. Her second son died when he was a baby. In 1921, her strong athletic husband was stricken with polio, which left him physically disabled for life.
3. Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman who had great intelligence and tremendous strength of character. She never let things get her down. She nursed her husband back to good health and encouraged him to remain in politics. She then helped him to become Governor of New York, and in 1933, President of the United States.
4. While her husband was President, she took a great interest in all the affairs of the country. She became her husband’s legs and eyes; she visited prisons and hospitals; she went down into mines, up scaffoldings and into factories. Roosevelt was tireless and daring. During the depression, she travelled all over the country bringing goodwill, reassurance and help to people without food and jobs. During World War II, she visited American soldiers in camps all over the world. The United States had never known a First Lady like her.
5. Roosevelt also kept in touch with the American people through a daily newspaper column called ‘My Day’. She broadcast on the radio and delivered lectures, all first of a First Lady.

Question. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the questions that follow : (a) Eleanor Roosevelt was very quiet and parentless in her growing up years. Later, she became the ………… of the United States, an author, lecturer and a woman who was loved and admired throughout the world.
Answer: First Lady.

Question. Apart from being the First Lady …………….
Answer: she was an author, lecturer and a woman much admired by people.

Question. In her personal life, she faced many challenges. Her second son died when he was a baby. Her husband was affected by polio which left him physically disabled for life. (True/False)
Answer: True.

Question. Roosevelt nursed her husband back to good health and encouraged him to be in politics. She helped him become the …………… of New York and then, the …………… of the United States in 1933.
Answer: Governor, President.

Question. Which of the Eleanor’s baby died when it was young?
(a) First daughter
(b) Fourth son
(c) Second daughter
(d) Second son
Answer: (d)

Question. Eleanor got married in the year ……….
(a) 1981
(b) 1905
(c) 1877
(d) 1908
Answer: (b)

Question. She was married to her ………….
(a) friend
(b) cousin
(c) classmate
(d) colleague
Answer: (b)

Question. The antonym of the word ‘affluent’ is :
(a) wealthy
(b) sad
(c) happy
(d) powerful
Answer: (a)

Question. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : (2018)
1. Tourists to Jammu and Kashmir have another attraction—a floating post office on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, the first in the country. ‘Floating Post office, Dal Lake’—claimed to be the only one such post office in the world—is built on an intricately carved maroon houseboat, fastened on the western edge of the Dal Lake.
2. This post office lets you avail of all the regular postal services available in the country while being afloat. The seal used on everything posted from Floating Post Office is unique—along with the date and address, it bears the design of a boatman rowing a Shikara on the Dal Lake. The special feature of this post office is that letters posted from here carry a special design which has the picturesque scenery of Dal Lake and Srinagar city. These pictures reach wherever these letters are posted to and hence promote Kashmir as a tourist destination across the world.
3. This is actually a heritage post office that has existed since British times. It was called Nehru Park Post Office before 2011. But then the Chief Postmaster John Samuel renamed it as ‘Floating Post Office.’
4. The post office’s houseboat has two small rooms—one serves as the office and the other a small museum that traces the philatelic history of the state postal department. It has a shop that sells postage stamps and other products.
5. But for the locals, Floating Post Office is more than an object of fascination. R 1-2 crore is deposited per month in Floating Post Office by communities living in and around the Dal Lake. The lake has several islets that are home to more than 50,000 people.
6. The greatest fear is the recurrence of 2014 like floods in which the houseboat had gone for a toss uncontrollably pushed by the flood. Rescue teams had to anchor it using special mechanism in a nearby highland. Then it was brought back on the Dal Lake after the water receded. The biggest boon is that at no time of the year do you need a fan in this post office !

Question. On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer the questions that follow : (a) The location of the Floating Post Office in Srinagar is ……….
Answer: a maroon houseboat, which is intricately carved and fastened on the western edge of the Dal Lake.

Question. The seal used in the post office constitutes ………….
Answer: the date, the address as well as the design of a boatman rowing a Shikara on the Dal Lake.

Question. The letters posted from the post office bears the picturesque scenery of Dal Lake and Srinagar city which helps in promoting tourism of Kashmir as these pictures reach everywhere the letters are posted to. (True/False)
Answer: True.

Question. …… renamed the post office as ‘Floating Post Office’.
Answer: Chief Postmaster John Samuel.

Question. The lake has several islets that are home to more than ………… people.
(a) 35,000
(b) 3,000
(c) 14,000
(d) 50,000
Answer: (d)

Question. Before 2011, the floating post office was called as ……….
(a) Nehru Park Post Office
(b) Jawahar Post Office
(c) Gandhi Post Office
(d) None of above
Answer: (a)

Question. Find a word from the passage which is similar to ‘floating’.
Answer: Afloat.

Question. Find a word from the passage which is opposite to ‘ban’.
Answer: Boon.

Question. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
Australia’s 2019-2020 Bushfire Season was not Normal
1. Data from satellite sources assembled by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) World Environment Situation Room confirms that the wildfires in Australia in the last two months of 2019 and the first six weeks of 2020 were far from normal. 2019 was the second hottest year on record since 1880, and Australia recorded its warmest temperatures ever in December 2019.
2. “Rising temperatures continue to melt records. The past decade was the hottest on record. Scientists tell us that ocean temperatures are now rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second. One million species are in near term danger of extinction. Our planet is burning,” says United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
3. “The trend is very clear: 37 of the last 40 years were the warmest recorded since 1880, and the six warmest years recorded were the last six years,” says Pascal Peduzzi, Director of UNEP’s Global Resource Information Database in Geneva. “For those who think Australia is always burning, graphs clearly show that these fires were exceptional.”
4. “This service, accessible via the UNEP’s World Environment Situation Room, is provided for all countries at national and provincial levels. It identifies trends in wildfire activity since 2003, when the data first became available and monitoring began. We have sliced and diced the satellite-based data on wildfires worldwide from 2009 to the present day. We analyse the wildfires’ data by month, type of land cover, protected area, province and nation to produce information products,” Peduzzi adds.
[Accompanying Graph: Global Surface Temperature - Four independent data sources show nearly identical long-term warming trends.]

Question. Choose the correct option to answer the questions based on the above passage and graphics. Do any ten. What do the reports confirm about the 2019-20 Australian fires?
(a) the fires were not normal
(b) the fires were normal
(c) the fires were natural
(d) data inconclusive
Answer: (a)

Question. What was the difference in the recorded temperatures in 2019 from the 1880s?
(a) 2019 recorded the wettest temperatures since 1880s
(b) 2019 recorded the hottest temperatures ever
(c) 2019 recorded the cooler temperatures than 1880s
(d) 2019 recorded the warmest temperatures since 1880s
Answer: (d)

Question. What comparison has been made between the rising sea temperatures and Hiroshima?
(a) ocean temperatures are rising at the equivalent of three Hiroshima bombs a second
(b) ocean temperatures are rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second
(c) ocean temperatures are rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs an hour
(d) none of these
Answer: (b)

Question. Choose the option that lists the correct answers for the following:
1. “Rising temperatures continue to melt records. The past decade was the hottest on record. Scientists tell us that ocean temperatures are now rising at the equivalent of five Hiroshima bombs a second”. Whose statement is this?
2. “The trend is very clear: 37 of the last 40 years were the warmest recorded since 1880, and the six warmest years recorded were the last six years.” Whose statement is this?
(a) (1) is from United Nations Secretary and (2) is from the UN President
(b) (1) is from the UN President and (2) is from the UN General Secretary
(c) (1) is from United Nations Secretary and (2) is from the Director of UNEP
(d) (1) is from the UN General Secretary and (2) is from the UN President
Answer: (c)

Question. Based on your understanding of the passage, choose the option that lists the inherent qualities of climate in the present times.
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 2 and 6
(c) 3 and 4
(d) 5 and 6
Answer: (a)

Question. Which of the following independent data source is NOT PRESENT in the given graph?
(a) NASA
(b) NOAA
(c) ISRO
(d) JMA
Answer: (c)

Question. Choose the option that lists the CORRECT statement.
(a) Pascal Peduzzi is the Director of UNEP’s Global Renaissance Information Database
(b) Pascal Peduzzi is the Director of UNO’s Global Resource Information Database
(c) Pascal Peduzzi is the Manager of UNEP’s Global Resource Information Database
(d) Pascal Peduzzi is the Director of UNEP’s Global Resource Information Database
Answer: (d)

Question. How can you say that the UN is concerned about the rising numbers of coal plants?
(a) UNDP Secretary General António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(b) UN Secretary General António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(c) UN Executive Secretary António Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
(d) UN Secretary General Antony Guterres is calling for curbs on new plants
Answer: (b)

Question. UNEP’s World Environment Situation Room has been tracking the world temperatures since ________.
(a) 2003
(b) 2013
(c) 2000
(d) 2001
Answer: (a)

Question. The graph compiled with data from four different sources shows that the global surface temperatures have been _________.
(a) steady
(b) falling
(c) on the rise
(d) none of these
Answer: (c)

Question. Which word in the passage means the same as “collect”?
(a) assembled
(b) extinction
(c) exceptional
(d) provincial
Answer: (a)

Question. Which word in the passage is opposite to the meaning of ‘vague/murky’?
(a) assembled
(b) clear
(c) extinction
(d) provincial
Answer: (b)