There is a one Reading Comprehension Passage will be asked in SSC CGL Tier 1 Examination. Below are the Questions asked in SSC CGL Tier 1 Exam.

Directions: A passage is given with five questions following it. Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.
Passage 1: Corruption is not a new phenomenon in India. It has been prevalent in society since ancient times. History reveals that it was present even in the Mauryan period. Great scholar, Kautilya, mentions the pressure of forty types of corruption in his contemporary society. It was practiced even in the Mughal and Sultanate period. When the East India Company took control of the country, corruption reached a new height. Corruption in India has become so common that people now are averse to thinking of public life with it. Corruption has been defined variously by scholars. But the simple meaning of it is that corruption implies perversion of morality, integrity, character or duty out of mercenary motives, i.e. bribery, without any regard to honor, right, and justice. In other words, undue favor for anyone for some monetary or other gains is corruption. Simultaneously, depriving the genuinely deserving of their right or privilege is also a corrupt practice. Shrinking from one's duty or dereliction of duty are also forms of corruption. Besides, thefts, wastage of public property constitute varieties of corruption. Dishonesty, exploitation, malpractices, scams, and scandals are various manifestations of corruption.
1. Kautilya mentions the pressure of how many types of corruption in his contemporary society?

1. 10
2. 20
3. 30
4. 40

Answer: D
2. Perversion of what is not mentioned in the passage?

1. attitude
2. morality
3. character
4. integrity

Answer: A
3. According to the passage, corruption is _____.

1. prevalent since ancient times
2. insignificant to Indian society
3. new phenomenon in India
4. prevalent only in middle-east countries

Answer: A
4. According to the passage, what all are the manifestation of corruption?

1. malpractices
2. dishonesty
3. scams and scandals
4. All of these

Answer: D
5. What people are averse of due to corruption in India?

1. thinking of stardom
2. thinking of public life
3. thinking of monetary gains
4. thinking of undue favours

Answer: B
Passage 2: Superstitions are a universal phenomena having their own peculiar place in the cultural ethos and milieu of a people. They epitomize man's fear of the unknown, fear of evil, blind faith in omens and portents. Superstitions are inter-woven with myth, legend, unnatural phenomena and disaster, customs and traditions, and are mainly the outcome of ignorance. They are unreasoned and irrational beliefs that gradually become matters of faith. When certain things and happenings are rationally inexplicable people tend to assign mysterious and supernatural reasons for their operation. Thus a natural disaster is explained in terms of God's wrath and the failure of one's project is assigned to the black cat which crossed the path just as one set out on the errand.
The primitive human beings were mainly governed by superstitions. Superstitions were widespread before the dawn of civilization when science had not advanced. Thus, ignorance of the primitive people and the resultant growth of superstitions were the direct outcomes of the lack of scientific advancement. Unenlightened people always tend to be superstitious. The belief in the sanctity of time and old traditions of the ancestors bind the people into knots of superstitious thought. Besides, the unscrupulous priests and religious officials exercise a dominating, unhealthy effect upon the people believing in religious orthodoxy. They encourage superstitions for their own ulterior motives.
Superstitions are not only universally prevalent but even have strikingly common features whether believed in India or in as far off a place as Canada. There are some common superstitions which are shared by people all over the world. Beliefs in spirits, ghosts and witches and reincarnation are quite common among all the peoples of the world. Belief in witches still prevails in India, France, Scotland, England, and many other countries. In countries of the East, especially in India, belief in ghosts and spirits still exists. The cries of certain birds like owls and ravens and the howl of cats are regarded with superstition as portents of evil throughout the world. Then there is a very common belief that the sighting of comets portends the death of kings or great men or some unforeseen catastrophe. Shakespeare refers to such a superstition in his Julius Ceaser, Halley's Comet in the twentieth century evoked a similar response in many a mind.
1. Who was mainly governed by superstitions?

1. unenlightened people
2. unscrupulous priests
3. primitive human beings
4. religious officials

Answer: C
2. Which of the following is INCORRECT with respect to passage?

1. superstitions are unreasoned and rational beliefs
2. superstitions are a universal phenomena
3. a natural disaster is regarded as a god's wrath by the superstitious people
4. superstitions is also prevailing in Canada

Answer: A
3. According to passage which of the following is not regarded as a superstition by the people?

1. crossing of path by black cat
2. cries of children
3. sighting of comets
4. howl of cats

Answer: B
4. What can only be the effective counter of superstition?

1. a broad light of scientific discovery
2. explaining the theory of reincarnation
3. awareness through plays like Julius Ceaser by Shakespeare
4. belief in the sanctity of time

Answer: A
5. What is the main reason behind once superstitions?

1. fear of the unknown
2. blind faith in omens and portents
3. ignorance
4. customs and traditions

Answer: C
Passage 3: The size of the workforce in Brazil, the number of kids at home and parents to sustain will obviously have a great impact on the extent of poverty in Brazilian households. In fact, the demographic transition that has been ongoing in Brazil for the past few decades has helped a lot in reducing poverty. Less children were born in poorer families and that's less children that ended up involved in street violence, drugs, gangs and so on. More parents were then able to push their kids to go to school and get an education.
Of course, the situation is still pretty bad in Brazilian slums (favelas), but it's estimated that the demographic transition had an impact equivalent to + 0.5% in GDP growth, which is not bad at all considering that the average GDP growth (per capita) was about 3% per year at the time. And since this transition happened over 30 years, its impact on the economy is equal to around 15% of growth in GDP (over three decades). Overall, the change in the family structure and in Brazilians' lifestyle has had a much greater impact on reducing poverty than the speed of the demographic transition itself. On the other hand, the transition did have an influence on wages (e.g. supply of labor) and interest rates in a way that worsened poverty in Brazil (less overall income).
1. What does the term 'favelas' used in the passage refer to?

1. street kids
2. interest rates prevaling in brazil
3. slums in brazil
4. labour supply

Answer: C
2. What has impacted on reducing poverty in Brazil than the speed of the demographic transition itself?

1. Brazilians lifestyle
2. Both Brazilians lifestyle and change in family structure
3. awareness among citizens
4. change in family structure

Answer: D
3. According to the passage, Brazilian children born in poorer families were not involved in which kind of activity so often?

1. bullying
2. street violence
3. gangs
4. drugs

Answer: A
4. What has helped Brazil in reducing its poverty?

1. Brazilians Lifestyle
2. demographic transition
3. initiation of peaceful activities
4. education of kids

Answer: B
5. According to the passage, which of the following doesn't have an impact on the extent of poverty in Brazilian households?

1. number of kids at home
2. size of the workforce
3. parents
4. nature of job

Answer: D
Passage 4: Great books do not spring from something accidental in the great men who write them. They are the affluence of their very core, the expression of the life itself of the authors. And literature cannot be said to have served its true purpose until it has been translated into the actual life of him who reads. It is the vast reservoir of true ideas and emotions. In a world deprived of literature, the broad, the noble, the generous would tend to disappear and life would be correspondingly degraded because the wrong idea and the petty emotion would never feel the upward pull of the ideas and emotions of genius. Only by conceiving a society without literature can it be clearly realized that the function of literature is to raise the plain towards the top level of the peaks. Literature exists so that where a man has lived finely, ten thousand may afterward live finely. it is a means of life, it concerns the living essence.
1. How have great books been written?

1. By men who think too much.
2. By great men who write them.
3. By an accidental means.
4. By men who imagine sometimes.

Answer: B
2. What does the words "effluence of their very core" mean?

1. Expression which is the outflow from the heart of the author.
2. Expression which is the influence from people's talk.
3. Expression of things that the author may have thought of.
4. Expression that the author wrote accidentally.

Answer: A
3. Literature cannot be said to have served its true purpose until it has been ______ into the actual life of the person who reads.

1. transfigured
2. transgressed
3. translated
4. transmuted

Answer: C
4. If a world is deprived of literature, what would happen to the broad, the noble and the generous?

1. They would worry themselves into petty issues.
2. They would be living a free life without care.
3. They would tend to disappear and life would be correspondingly degraded.
4. They would celebrate life.

Answer: C
5. What is the function of literature?

1. To raise everything so that it does not sink to the sea level.
2. To raise the plain above sea level.
3. To raise the plain towards the top level of the peaks.
4. To raise the peaks towards the highest mountain.

Answer: C