Instructions:
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Comprehension:
A few years ago it seemed as if the moment for stand-up comedy had arrived. By the end of 2017, stand-up comedians were on the cover of a magazine, signaling the coming of age of the industry.
The stand-up game attracted investors in the right places: on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, apart from increasing open mic schedules in venues across cities. Two major companies Comedy Store and Canvas Laugh Club arrived on the scene and were game changers.
But despite a heady start, the comic landscape has changed drastically today with stand- up comedians feeling the brunt of faltering payments and cancelled shows.Despite a good start, the Indian stand-up industry is still unorganized and uncertain for comics.
If you ask viral comic Kunal Kamra about the scene, he says that the audience isn’t really ‘invested’ in the art form at the moment and that only ten or twenty tickets would sell if comics weren’t on the internet promoting themselves. And this is despite the surge in open mics and more stand-ups coming in.
Last year, new-age Indian comedy’s reputation came under strain when allegations under the #MeToo movement exposed a darker side of the circuit. Since then, the big three comedy groups: All India Bakchod, SNG Comedy and East India Comedy, have either disbanded or had founding members quit.
Jeeya Sethi, a leading comedian says, “It’s a good thing that these -collectives have died because they mostly had men with no women being showcased.”
Sethi adds saying that it isn’t as easy as it sounds. “In a fledgling industry, a viral YouTube video isn’t a sign that you’ve made it”. Craft takes time. Every comic who does two open mics calls himself a comedian. In my opinion, you have to do comedy for more than 20 years to be a comic. It takes at least five years to find your voice.”
SSC CGL 201911)By saying ‘the audience has not invested in the stand-up comedy art form’ the author means that-
it is a new art form and it will take time to build an audience.
SSC CGL 201912)The stand-up comedy show had a wonderful start because-
1. Open mic shows were held in venues across cities.
2. Leading companies came forward to support artists.
3. Payments to artists were prompt and good.
4. Some Bollywood directors offered them roles.
5. Comedians were given good media coverage.
1, 2 & 5
SSC CGL 201913)Select the word which means the same as ‘fledgling’ in the given context-
a fairly new company or industry
SSC CGL 201914)How has the situation been reversed from the early success of stand-up comedy?
Comedy groups are packing up and founders are resigning.
SSC CGL 201915)Sethi believes that-
1. The road to success is only through YouTube.
2. A a viral YouTube video is a sign of success.
3. Comedy is an art form and takes hard work and patience.
4. The true comic artist takes years to find one’s voice.
3 & 4
According to a new American study headed by Dr. Willis, it has been found that people who exercise in the morning seem to lose more weight than people completing the same workouts later in the day.
These findings help shed light on the vexing issue of why some people shed considerable weight with exercise and others almost none. The study adds to the growing body of science suggesting that the timing of various activities, including exercise, could affect how those activities affect us.
The relationship between exercise and body weight is somewhat befuddling. Multiple past studies show that a majority of people who take up exercise to lose weight drop fewer pounds than would be expected, given how many calories they are burning during their workouts.Some gain weight. But a few respond quite well, shedding pound after pound with the same exercise regimen that prompts others to add inches.
The Midwest Trial 2, was conducted in the University of Kansas, U.S. on how regular, supervised exercise influences body weight.
The trial involved 100 overweight, previously inactive young men and women who were made to work out five times a week at a physiology lab, jogging or otherwise sweating until they had burned up to 600 calories per session.
After 10 months of this regimen, almost everyone had dropped pounds. But the extent of their losses fluctuated wildly, even though everyone was doing the same, supervised workout. A team of researchers started brainstorming what could be responsible for the enormous variability in the weight loss.
They hit upon activity timing. They decided to do a Follow -up study of the Mid West Trial 2. In this new study,the Mid West Trial 2 Follow up study the researchers now studied a team of participants who could visit the gym whenever they wished between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. They also tracked everyone’s calorie intakes and daily movement habits throughout the 10 months. They knew, too, whether and by how much people’s weights had changed.Now, they checked weight change against exercise schedules and quickly noticed a consistent pattern.
Those people who usually worked out before noon had lost more weight, on average, than the men and women who typically exercised after 3 p.m.
The researchers uncovered a few other, possibly relevant differences between the morning and late-day exercisers. The early-exercise group tended to be slightly more active throughout the day, taking more steps in total than those who worked out later. They also ate less.These factors may cumulatively have contributed to the striking differences in how many pounds people lost, Dr. Willis says.
Thus it seems that people who worked out before noon lost more weight, on average, than those who typically exercised after 3 p.m.
But Dr. Willis also points out that most of those who worked out later in the day did lose weight, even if not as much as the larkish exercisers, and almost certainly became healthier. “I would not want anyone to think that it’s not worth exercising if you can’t do it first thing in the morning,” he says. “Any exercise, at any time of day, is going to be better than none.”
SSC CGL 201916)The Mid West Trail 2 was a
U.S based study on 100 participants who exercised 5 times a week and burnt 600 calories.
SSC CGL 201917)The Mid West Trial 2 duration was -
10 months
SSC CGL 201918)Select the option that is not true as per the passage.
Several studies show that as a result of the workout-
most gained a lot of weight.
SSC CGL 201919)What was the difference between the Mid West Trial 2 study and the Mid West Trial 2 Follow-up study that was taken up later?
The calorie intake and the time of exercise were examined.
SSC CGL 201920)The finding of the Mid West Trial 2 Follow- up study was that the best time for exercise was-
before noon.