Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. There are some blanks given in the passage based on which some questions are framed, and some words are highlighted as well to help you answer some of the questions.

As many as four potentially hazardous asteroids went past the Earth late on Tuesday. Three out of four of these ………………. (A)rocks were barely discovered a few hours before zipping past the Earth-Moon system, the Daily Express reported. One asteroid called 2019 SM8 was seen by space researchers at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona on Monday, which flew by our planet hours later, according to NASA. The asteroid 2019 SM8 at its closest was approximately 99,000 miles (159,000 kilometres) away from Earth, which is a little less than half of the average distance between the Moon and our planet, a report by Space.com said.

According to NASA’s estimate, this particular asteroid was about 16 feet (4.8 metres) in diameter, which is approximately the size of an SUV. (B) Around an hour later, another celestial (1) was discovered, however, this asteroid (2) rock named asteroid 2019 SE8 flew from a distance (3) of approximately 674,000 miles (1.1 million kilometres) from the Earth and hence did not prove to be a threat (4). In terms of size, this asteroid was comparatively bigger than the previous one. It was estimated to be around 47 feet (14 metres) in size. (C) Apart from these, two more celestial rocks named asteroid 2019 SD8 and asteroid 2018 FK5 were detected by the US space agency, which passed approximately 331,000 miles (532,000 kilometres) and 3 million miles (5 million kilometres) far away from the Earth respectively. Even though none of these asteroids had much chance of hitting our planet, however, these rocks are classified by NASA as potentially ……………….. (D)asteroids as they pose a threat in their future course when their orbits intersect that of our planet. In the past, some key space researchers and entrepreneurs have pointed out fears regarding asteroids hitting the Earth.

In August, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk had pointed out on Twitter that the Earth presently has no defence against ‘killer’ asteroids. Responding to a tweet about the asteroid Apophis — dubbed as the ‘God of Chaos’ that is expected to scrape past Earth in 2029, Musk pointed out that there is, currently, no defence system to protect our planet. …………………… (E), a famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson had also warned about the Apophis 99942 hitting the Earth, causing a major tsunami that can wipe out the entire west coast of North America. Researchers have said that the asteroid which wiped away dinosaurs is estimated to have been equivalent to 10 billion atomic bombs that were used in World War II. The impact of that giant asteroid had triggered massive tsunamis and let to wildfires that were thousands of miles away.

1) Which of the following word given in the options should come at the place marked as (A) in the above passage to make it grammatically correct and meaningful? Also, the word should fill in the two sentences given below to make them contextually correct and meaningful?

(I) There were light bulbs representing the stars and line drawings of the ………………….. figures.

(II) The moon is a ……………... body.

A) platonic

B) celestial

C) alluvial

D) terrestrial

E) None of the above

2) The sentence given in (B) has four words given in bold. Amongst the given bold words which of the following must replace each other to make the sentence contextually correct and meaningful?

A) Both 2-1 and 3-4

B) Both 1-4 and 2-3

C) Both 2-4 and 1-3

D) 1-2

E) 3-4

3) In the above passage, sentence (C) may or may not have an error in one part of the sentence, select the part having error in it as your answer.

A) Apart from these, two more celestial rocks named asteroid 2019 SD8 and asteroid 2018 FK5

B) were detected by the US space agency, which passed approximately 331,000 miles (532,000 kilometres)

C) and 3 million miles (5 million kilometres)

D) far away from the Earth respectively.

E) Both (a) and (b)

4) Which of the following should fill the blank given in (D) to make it contextually correct and meaningful?

A) hazardous

B) envious

C) contagious

D) voracious

E) None of the above.

5) Which of the following phrase should fill the blank (F) to make it contextually and grammatically correct and meaningful?

A) Musk’s priority

B) Prioritising Musk

C) Prior of Musk

D) Prior to Musk

E) None of the above

Answers :

1) Answer: (b)

‘celestial’ means positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy.. It perfectly fits in the blank (A) and in the given two statements as well. Hence, option (A) is the correct answer choice.

‘platonic’ means (of love or friendship) intimate and affectionate but not sexual.

‘alluvial’ means relating to or derived from alluvium.

‘terrestrial’ means of, on, or relating to the earth.

2) Answer: (d)

After making the replacements, the thus formed is ‘Around an hour later, another asteroid was discovered, however, this celestial rock named asteroid 2019 SE8 flew from a distance of approximately 674,000 miles (1.1 million kilometres) from the Earth and hence did not prove to be a threat’.

3) Answer: (d)

Here only ‘away’ should come in place of ‘far away’. The error free sentence is “Apart from these, two more celestial rocks named asteroid 2019 SD8 and asteroid 2018 FK5 were detected by the US space agency, which passed approximately 331,000 miles (532,000 kilometres) and 3 million miles (5 million kilometres) away from the Earth respectively. ”

4) Answer: (a)

The Blank (D) is suitably fit by ‘hazardous’ which means risky; dangerous.

‘envious’ means feeling or showing envy.

‘contagious’ means (of a disease) spread from one person or organism to another by direct or indirect contact.

‘voracious’ means wanting or devouring great quantities of food.

5) Answer: (d)

Option D is suitable to fill in the blank (F) making the sentence both grammatically and contextually right.