CTET -1 Mini Mock Test 2023 : 97

Direction: Read the passage and answer the following questions:
When Isabella took the throne of Castile in 1474, she did so largely by her own efforts, in the teeth of a rival faction. Even her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon, who provided the military expertise for her endeavor, had been of her own making. Together they completed the reconquest from the Moors of the Iberian peninsula, laid the foundations of the Spanish and, indeed, Habsburg empires, and reshaped the western world.

Isabella’s career illustrates the dark side of power as well as the light. She is remembered for the expulsion of the Jews from the reorganized Spain, and for the introduction of the Inquisition. Even her sponsorship of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 expedition to the New World had (contrary to Isabella’s own wishes) dreadful consequences for the indigenous peoples of that region.

But Isabella’s influence changed the pattern of the globe – something few women of past centuries could say. And the working partnership she achieved, with a husband to whom she’d never cede pre-eminence, provides a notable example even for today.

Direction: Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follow (Q. Nos. 129 to 135) by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.

Water is the core of life; hence water must be central to or spiritual thinking. Water is not only most of earth, but also most of life. Therefore, water conservation must be our deepest concern.

The Himalayan mountain range is among the highest, youngest and most fragile ecosystem of the plant. The Himalaya have given us some of the great river systems of the earth including the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Nu Salween, Yangtze and the Mekong. The Himalayas are also called the ‘Third Pole’, for they contain the largest mass of ice and snow outside the earth’s polar region, the north and south poles. There is a permanent snowline above 5,000 metres. Some of the glaciers in the region are the longest outside the two poles.

The Himalayas serve as water towers, providing water on a sustained basis to more than 1,000 million people and millions of hectares of land in South Asia. The greenery, benevolent climate, highly productive ecosystems, food production and overall happiness in South Asia are in fact, attributable to the bounty of the Himalayas. They are not only beautiful; they are life-givers. Little gods.

To keep the third Pole preserved through assured conservation is one of the greatest challenges for the contemporary world. Himalayan mountains are a common but fragile natural resource. As mountain ecosystem have enormous bearing on the earth’s system, their special care, regeneration and conservation of their pristine resources would only bring more happiness, peace and prosperity to large parts of the world. In Agenda 21, Chapter 13 of the United Nations, the importance of mountains is underlined: “mountain environments are essential to the survival of global ecosystems.”

The Himalayas in the state of Uttarakhand are especially rich in water resources. This area is home to dozens of perennial streams and numerous other rain-fed rivers along with innumerable rivulets, waterfalls and ponds, etc.

निर्देश: अधोलिखितं पद्यांशं पठित्वा प्रश्नानाम् उत्तराणि लिखत -

उद्यमेन हि सिध्यन्ति कार्याणि न मनोरथै: ।
न हि सुप्तस्य सिंहस्य प्रविशन्ति मुखे मृगा: ।। 1।।

सत्येन धार्यते पृथ्वी सत्येन तपते रवि: ।
सत्येन वाति वायुश्च सर्वं सत्ये प्रतिष्ठितम् ।। 2 ।।

सद्भिरेव सहासीत् सद्भि कुर्वीत सङ्गतिम् ।
सद्भिर्विवादं मैत्रीं च नासद्भि: किञ्चिदाचरेत् ।। 3।।

मित्रेण कलहं कृत्वा न कदापि सुखी जन: ।
इति ज्ञात्वा प्रयासेन तदेव परिवर्जयेत् ।। 4 ।।

प्रियवाक्यप्रदानेन सर्वे तुष्यन्ति जन्तव: ।
तस्मात् प्रियं हि वक्तव्यं वचने का दरिद्रता ।। 5 ।।

श्रेष्ठं जनं गुरूं चापि मातरं पितरं तथा ।
मनसा कर्मणा वाचा सेवेत सततं सदा ।। 6 ।।

निर्देश: अधोलिखितं पद्यांशं पठित्वा प्रश्नानाम् उत्तराणि लिखत -

उद्यमेन हि सिध्यन्ति कार्याणि न मनोरथै: ।
न हि सुप्तस्य सिंहस्य प्रविशन्ति मुखे मृगा: ।। 1।।

सत्येन धार्यते पृथ्वी सत्येन तपते रवि: ।
सत्येन वाति वायुश्च सर्वं सत्ये प्रतिष्ठितम् ।। 2 ।।

सद्भिरेव सहासीत् सद्भि कुर्वीत सङ्गतिम् ।
सद्भिर्विवादं मैत्रीं च नासद्भि: किञ्चिदाचरेत् ।। 3।।

मित्रेण कलहं कृत्वा न कदापि सुखी जन: ।
इति ज्ञात्वा प्रयासेन तदेव परिवर्जयेत् ।। 4 ।।

प्रियवाक्यप्रदानेन सर्वे तुष्यन्ति जन्तव: ।
तस्मात् प्रियं हि वक्तव्यं वचने का दरिद्रता ।। 5 ।।

श्रेष्ठं जनं गुरूं चापि मातरं पितरं तथा ।
मनसा कर्मणा वाचा सेवेत सततं सदा ।। 6 ।।