(Papers) : IIT Madras  HSEE Papers-2017 (English)

Read the following passage and answer Q.1 to Q.5:

The way some authors subverted the conventions of novel-writing in the seventies (for example, turning real-life into books that read like fiction), architects turned the built environment inside out: putting what is usually inside a building on the outside, and bringing the outside in.
The supreme example is Pompidou Centre in Paris: a vast steel and glass shed, the size of a large department store, festooned with steel rods and colored pipes, with an extraordinary seethrough escalator hanging on its front façade. Here was a structure, the like of which the world had never seen, that caused controversy at the time and still divides opinion between those who love the building and those who consider it monstrous. Still, on the balance, it has become more beloved than reviled.
Like the Sydney Opera House, the Pompidou started with an open international competition to find a design for an arts centre that would enhance the image of a city and nation. In this case, there was also a specific political dimension in the violent student protests of May 1968. President Charles De Gaulle had quashed that uprising, which carried with it the threat of a Communist-led revolution. His successor, Georges Pompidou, had the task of healing the wounds of ‘68. One of his ideas was to give Paris a wonderful new library, one that would have free access to all, which was in itself a sop to students. This idea then expanded into a grander dream of a cultural palace that would, in part, serve to entertain and, hopefully, distract the youth of Paris from causing further civil unrest. This centre would also be the first of what became a succession of grands projets commissioned by French presidents for the glorification of Paris. Spectacular though other structures are, none were quite so bold as the Pompidou Centre. 
Q.1 The most remarkable feature of the Pompidou Centre is:
[A] it is huge and vast 
[B] it is located in the city centre
[C] it is made of steel and glass
[D] it has an unusual architecture

Q.2 Which among the following is the most important reason for constructing the Pompidou Centre:
[A] to glorify President Georges Pompidou
[B] to quash the student revolution of 1968
[C] to cause sensation in the field of architecture
[D] to enhance the image of Paris and France

Q.3 In the sentence starting with "The supreme example….", the author uses the punctuation mark colon (:) to :
[A] elaborate
[B] exemplify
[C] contradict
[D] dramatize

Q.4 In the starting sentence of the above passage, ‘To subvert the conventions’ of an art form means:
[A] to deviate from the established norms
[B] to include something in a larger group and cause it to lose its own individual character
[C] to provide evidence that proves something
[D] to state an idea that is not clearly stated but can be understood

Q.5 Angelic is to monstrous, what spectacular is to………………….
[A] overblown
[B] enthusiastic 
[C] ordinary
[D] critical

Read the following poem by John Keats and answer Q.6 to Q.8:
Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

Q.6 What is the literary form of the​​​​​​​ above poem?
[A] ballad
[B] sonnet
[C] epic
[D] elegy

Q.7 Which one among the following is a Greek god?
[A] Apollo
[B] Cortez 
[C] Chapman 
[D] Homer

Q.8 The literary device used in the lines 9-12 (Then I felt…….Cortez):
[A] simile
[B] metaphor
[C] bombast 
[D] epigram

Q.9 Read the following passage  and respond using the choices given below:
“Be with me always ── take any form ── drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this
abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I
cannot live without my soul!”
The tone in the above lines is:
[A] ironic
[B] sarcastic
[C] appreciative
[D] dark and gloomy

Q.10  The statements,
“It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious” and “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”, are examples of (choose the correct term from the list below):
[A] proverb
[B] wit 
[C] hyperbole
[D] parable

Q.11 In the lines, “how many ears must one man have, before he can hear people cry? And how many deaths will it take ‘til he knows, That too many people have died?” the poet’s intention is to (choose the correct option): 
[A] protest against the system 
[B] incite violence
[C] support war 
[D] promote patriotism

Q.12 From the expressions given below, choose the one that comes closest in meaning to the idiom ‘a Faustian bargain’:
[A] to have a weak point
[B] to start a process that will cause many problems
[C] to live in an ideal society
[D] to agree to do something bad in return for any benefit

Q.13 Complete the following, selecting the best option given below:
…………………………. , we would have been closed.
[A] If you’d arrived ten minutes later
[B] If you arrive ten minutes later
[C] If you are arriving ten minutes later
[D] If you arrived ten minutes later

Q.14 Choose the exact term from the words given below that means ‘a speech at the beginning of a play, book, or film that introduces it’:
[A] foreword
[B] prologue 
[C] prelude
[D] preface

Q.15 The term………………………………………refers  to a type of fiction that generally features a brooding atmosphere of gloom and terror, melodramatic events, and supernatural occurrences.
[A] baroque 
[B] fable
[C] gothic 
[D] aesthetic

Q.16 A soprano is commonly associated with (choose the correct option from the list below):
[A] a Nō play 
[B] a television show
[C] a gangsta rap video 
[D] an opera

Q.17 Choose the word from the following list which is NOT related to sound:
[A] humongous
[B] lilting 
[C] discordant
[D] raucous

Q.18 Fill in the blank using the correct expression given in the choices below:
The matter has been postponed……………………………….
[A] quid pro quo
[B] de facto 
[C] de rigueur
[D] sine die

Q.19 Choose the word from the list given  below which can be changed into a plural by adding an ‘s’ or an ‘es’:
[A] equipment 
[B] multiplex 
[C] furniture
[D] news

Q.20 Fill in the blank using the correct phrase given in the list below:
I am going to get the award this year, ……………………….?
[A] amn’t I?
[B] don’t I? 
[C] aren’t I?
[D] won’t I?

Q.21 Choose the ANTONYM of the word ‘Disconcerting’ from the list below:
[A] becalming
[B] disturbing 
[C] satisfying
[D] progressing

Q.22 The order of the given sentences has been jumbled. Select the correct sequence of sentences from the options given below:
P. But the other must deal with regulation that defines what corporations should not do.
Q. This also implies that we need three complementary approaches.
R. One has to be altruism, which deals with what corporations should do.
S. In fact, once this is recognized, it is apparent that, in the main, voluntary codes must characterize what corporations should do (because firms will have different preferences regarding the good they want to do, just as we do not all agree on which charities to support) and mandatory codes must address what they should not do.
T. The edifice of corporate social responsibility, however, must rest on two foundations.
The correct sequence of the sentences in the above passage is:
[A] QSTRP
[B] SQRTP
[C] QSPRT 
[D] TRPSQ

Q.23 Choose the correct word for something that “no longer exists, operates or is used”:
[A] extant
[B] defunct
[C] mordant
[D] portent

Q.24 Fill in the blank using​​​​​​​ the words given below:
We have been ……………………..people, proud of our past and of our heritage and trying to build walls and barriers to preserve it.
[A] an overachieving 
[B] an exclusive
[C] a stable
[D] a vocal

Read the following passage and answer Q.25 to Q.28:
It would be impossible to refute the claim that Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel is the most famous designer in history---the reputation outstripping that of rivals such as Dior and YSL, designers who gave much more to fashion than she did. Her great strength was her ability to read the times and moods that changed them, and she did this before anyone else did. Her story has become legendary and at least its basic facts are now part of fashion mythology. 

Q.25 The passage tells us about the
[A] enormous contribution Coco Chanel made to the world of fashion
[B] the entirely original contribution made by Coco Chanel
[C] Coco Chanel’s ability to understand the changing times
[D] None of the above

Q.26 A myth in the​​​​​​​ above context is:
[A] a story
[B] a belief
[C] an idea that many people think are true but may or may not be false
[D] All of the above

Q.27 Choose from the list below the SYNONYM for the word ‘outstripping’:
[A] rivalling
[B] adding
[C] exceeding
[D] deleting

Q.28 The closest ANTONYM of ‘refute’ is:
[A] endorse 
[B] refuse 
[C] deny
[D] object

Q.29 A novel written completely in a letter format is called:
[A] non-fiction novel
[B] epistolary novel
[C] anti-novel 
[D] magic realism novel

Read the below extract and answer Q.30 and Q.31:
At recess I went to the staffroom and told Grace how I had impulsively committed her to a talk  with the girls; she was quiet pleased about it and promised to ‘lay it on thick’:

Q.30 The expression ‘lay it on thick’ means:
[A] to behave as if something is more dangerous than it really is
[B] to be very strict and harsh, though not really necessary
[C] to be more cunning than is really required
[D] to try to persuade someone that something is better than it really is

Q.31 Identify the word in the above extract which has been wrongly spelt:
[A] recess 
[B] pleased
[C] quiet
[D] committed

Q.32 Fill in the blanks with appropriate articles:
……………………….men who had made Florence …………………..richest city in Europe, lived in grim defensive houses strong enough to withstand party feuds and popular riots.
[A] a, the 
[B] the, a
[C] the, the
[D] no article

Q.33 Although Quebec did not break its ties with the rest of Canada, it did not feel itself part of the Confederation.
In the above sentence, the clause ‘Although…..Canada’, is an example of (choose the correct option:
[A] contrast 
[B] condition
[C] addition 
[D] alternative

Q.34 The ANTONYM of the word ‘Indifferent’ is (select the best option from the list below):
[A] similar
[B] concerned 
[C] insolent
[D] different

Q.35 A situation which is not enforceable by law and only binding as a matter of honour iscalled….
[A] Murphy’s Law
[B] Gentleman’s agreement
[C] Peter’s Principle 
[D] Golden handshake

Q.36 The word ‘slithy’ is an example of:
[A] portmanteau
[B] pun
[C] pidgin
[D] jargon

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Courtesy: CBSE