Instructions:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Comprehension:
Parents all over Iceland’s capital Reykjavik embark on a two-hour evening walk around their neighbourhood every weekend, checking on youth hangouts as a 10 pm curfew approaches. The walk in Reykjavik is one step toward Iceland’s success into turning around a crisis in teenage drinking.
Focusing on local participation and promoting more music and sports options for students, the island nation in the North Atlantic has dried up a teenage culture of drinking and smoking. Icelandic teenagers now have one of the lowest rates of substance abuse in Europe.
The Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis, the institute pioneering the project for the past two decades, says it currently advises 100 communities in 23 countries, from Finland to Chile, on cutting teenage substance abuse. “The key to success is to create healthy communities and by that get healthy individuals, ” said Inga Dora Sigfusdottir, a sociology professor who founded t he Youth of Iceland programme, which now has rebranded as Planet Youth.
The secret, she says, is to keep young people busy and parents engaged without talking much about drugs or alcohol. That stands in sharp contrast to other anti-abuse programmes, which try to sway teenagers with school lectures and scary, disgusting ads showing smokers’ rotten lungs or eggs in a frying pan to represent an intoxicated brain.
“Telling teenagers not to use drugs can backlash and actually get them curious to try them,” Ms Sigfusdottir said. In 1999, when thousands of teenagers would gather in Reykjavik every weekend, surveys showed 56% of Icelandic 16-year-olds drank alcohol and about as many had tried smoking.
Years later, Iceland has the lowest rates for drinking and smoking among the 35 countries measured in the 2015 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs.
On average, 80% of European 16-year-olds have tasted alcohol at least once, compared with 35% in Iceland, the only country where more than half of those students completely abstains from alcohol.
Denmark, another wealthy Nordic country, has the highest rates of teenage drinking, along with Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic, where 92% to 96% have consumed alcohol.
In the US, teen drinking is a significant health concern, because many US teenagers are driving cars and do not have access to good public transport like teenagers in Europe.
Reykjavik mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson said the Icelandic plan “is all about society giving better options” for teens than substance abuse. He believes the wide variety of opportunities that now keep students busy and inspired has dramatically altered the country’s youth culture.
Local municipalities like Reykjavik have invested in sport halls, music schools and youth centres.To make the programmes widely available, parents are offered a 500 US dollar annual voucher toward sports or music programmes for their children.
Researchers say the Planet Youth prevention model is evolving constantly because it is based on annual surveys to detect trends and measure policy effectiveness. By law, introduced when Icelandic police routinely dealt with alcohol-fuelled street gatherings, children under 12 are not allowed to be outside after 8pm without parents and those 13 to 16 not past 10pm.
“We tell the kids if they are out too late, polite and nice, and then they go home,” said Heidar Atlason, a veteran member of the patrol. Over Iceland’s harsh winter, one parent admits, evenings sometimes pass without running into any students.

161)

"Cutting teenage substance abuse" refers to

SSC CGL 2019

A)

teenagers consuming hazardous substances such as alcohol and drugs.

B)

parents shaming their young children for their bad habits.

C)

reducing consumption of drugs and alcohol among young adults.

D)

teenagers who consume alcohol abusing their parents.

162)

The programme Planet Youth was started by

SSC CGL 2019

A)

The Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis

B)

the local municipality of Reykjavik

C)

Inga Dora Sigfusdottir

D)

Dagur B. Eggertsson

163)

Which of the following does not contribute to the success of Planet Youth programme?

SSC CGL 2019

A)

Enacting laws against late night movement of teenagers

B)

Arranging street gatherings of teenagers

C)

Arranging opportunities for music, sports etc.

D)

Ensuring parental control and influence

164)

From the passage one can conclude that

SSC CGL 2019

A)

bad habits can be checked by engaging teens in alternative activities.

B)

by showing smokers’ diseased lungs to teens, parents can influence them.

C)

parents must pay for sports and other activities for their children.

D)

strict punishment is needed as it acts as a deterrent.

165)

The word from the passage that means ‘change the image of an organisation or program’ is

SSC CGL 2019

A)

abstain

B)

rebrand

C)

invest

D)

embark

166)

‘Over Iceland’s harsh winter, one parent admits, evenings sometimes pass without running into any students.’ This means -

SSC CGL 2019

A)

parents are not motivated to get involved in the programme.

B)

students are not bothered about the efforts made for them.

C)

the programme is having the right impact on teenagers.

D)

authorities are disappointed that the programme has failed.

Instructions:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow
Comprehension:
Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,848 metres, draws adventurers from all over. But the mountain on the Nepal-China border is fast becoming a dangerous place to visit even for the hardened mountaineer. The inherent risks were highlighted with a photograph by Nirmal Purja, a Gorkha ex-soldier. The image, which went viral and altered the manner in which people worldwide imagine what it is to scale Mt. Everest, showed a long queue awaiting a final tilt at the summit, with all the dangers such a wait holds. In the 2019 season, at least 11 climbers have died or gone missing, including four Indians. Experts have been calling for Nepal to restrict the number of permits. It awarded a record 381 for this spring each fetching $11,000 (climbing from the Tibet side is more expensive). On 22nd May, 200 climbers ascended the summit, a new record for a single day. Last year, 807 managed to reach the summit. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were more than 26,000 visitors to the Everest region, and this figure has grown manifold since then. Nepal officials argue that permits are not issued recklessly, and that jams such as this year’s near the summit are on account of spells of bad weather, which result in mountaineers being compelled to reach the summit within a narrow time frame. Waiting in sub-zero temperatures at rarefied altitude can be fatal--- this season’s deaths were mostly due to frostbite, exhaustion, dehydration and lack of oxygen.
This year’s drama has caught public imagination, as happened in 1996 when eight persons died in a single day amid an unexpected storm - events of and around that day were the subject of Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book ‘Into Thin Air’. The adventure industry that is built around the human desire to scale the peak has meant many amateurs take up the challenge, confident that support teams and specialized equipment will make up for their lack of adequate mountaineering experience. The fallout is that in case of a disaster not only are some of them unable to manage but they also hold up others, putting them in harm’s way. The commercial operations have led to the Everest being called the world’s highest garbage dump as many climbers discard non-critical gear, used oxygen cylinders, plastic bottles, cans, batteries, food wrappings, fecal matter and kitchen waste on the mountains. It is unlikely, however, that this season’s tragedies will deter future summiteers, as the hypnotic lure remains intact. But the authorities must learn from this year’s tragedies and work out an optimum number of climbers and strengthen safety measures.

167)

What is the theme of this newspaper editorial?
Select the most appropriate combination of factors given below.
a. Overcrowding of Mount Everest on 22nd May, 2019.
b. The urgent necessity to introduce and implement adequate safety measures to prevent man-made disasters.
c. Not to treat the ascent of the highest peak as an adventure sport.
d. Refuse permits to amateur climbers.
e. Disallow tour operating companies from crowding the base-camp.

SSC CGL 2019

A)

c & d

B)

b & c

C)

a & e

D)

a & b

168)

Fill in the blank to complete the statement.
In 2019 ______ people have lost their lives on Mt. Everest.

SSC CGL 2019

A)

eleven

B)

eight

C)

nine

D)

ten

169)

What image has Nirmal Purja’s viral photograph captured?

SSC CGL 2019

A)

A long queue of climbers on the final stretch of a steep slope.

B)

Dead bodies of mountaineers on the route of the highest peak.

C)

The accumulated garbage on the mountain slopes.

D)

Exhausted mountaineers falling unconscious on the way up.

170)

Why was the Nepal Government criticized recently?

SSC CGL 2019

A)

For not providing optimum facilities to the mountaineers.

B)

For charging a hefty fee to issue a permit.

C)

For allowing too many tour operators at the Everest Base Camp Site.

D)

For issuing 381permits to aspiring climbers.