English Reading Comprehension | Set 4

Passage:
Until a hundred years ago as humans, we had a simple, uncomplicated biological connect. It was a straightforward equation: we drew roughly 3, 000 calories each of energy out of the Earth for our food and life’s sustenance. Today that number per capita has grown to 1, 00, 000 calories. We still need only 3, 000 calories each to nourish life itself. All the rest of this energy is what we extract from the Earth for everything else besides keeping ourselves alive. In some countries, like the US; this per capita number runs at over 2, 00, 000 calories! Some of us are concerned about this.

We fret over what we could and should really be doing to soften this abuse of resources. Little things fox us in the welter of things that we get to read. What is sustainable development? How can it be started in our homes? Beyond the ceremonial planting of green arid getting people to run marathons of various lengths in support of the environment, is there- more that we can add to the abstract value of “sustainability”? What are the little things we can do in our day-to-day lives, to reduce demand for things that people make and market? Of course, we know that it helps to avoid a plastic bag when you can use a newspaper bag, or a brown bag, or even a jute bag which you can use for many more years, unlike a plastic bag which you throw away in less than a week or after a few uses.

However, there’s actually quite a bit more than you and I can do without compromise on comfort, with very little as cost incurred, with financial savings that you can gain on energy and water use, and with solutions that are very feasible and within your reach. It is possible to understand our ecological footprint and its disastrous consequences, not merely in terms of our own behaviour as consumers, but really in terms of the impact on the environment we make.

Questions:

1. What is the primary concern of the passage?
   a) There is a need to save energy, especially in our future.
   b) All of us should not only plant trees but also run the marathon.
   c) Use of plastic bags should be completely banned.
   d) We need to respect the Earth and consume less of its calories.
2. Why does the author ask his audience to use a jute bag?
   a) Jute bags look more trendy and stylish.
   b) It is the need of the hour, to save energy, to save our ecosystem.
   c) Using jute bags helps in consuming only 3, 000 calories from the Earth.
   d) They are more easily available.
3. Which one of the following statements cannot be inferred from the passage?
   a) There are many little things we can do to save our Earth.
   b) Only running marathons of various lengths do not help.
   c) We do not depend on the Earth for our food and life sustenance.
   d) A lot many years before, our association with the Nature was quite simple.
4. A suitable title for the passage could be
   a) Lets Shift to Jute!
   b) How to Consume Few Calories?
   c) Save Energy, Save the Earth!
   d) The Earth Heading for a Disaster.

Answers:

1. d) We need to respect the Earth and consume less of its calories.
2. b) It is the need of the hour, to save energy, to save our ecosystem.
3. c) We do not depend on the Earth for our food and life sustenance.
4. c) Save Energy, Save the Earth!

Note: The above passage has been picked from IndiaTogether‘s May 10, 2010 Issue on Building green and thinking green.