Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.

Preliminary results of Sunday’s Presidential election in Bolivia point to an emphatic victory for theformer President Evo Morales’s Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party almost a year after he wasousted by protesters and the military. While the official results will not be announced for days, exit polls and independent counts give his hand­picked candidate, LuisArce 53% of the popular vote against his main rival Carlos Mesa’s 29.5%. Mr. Mesa, who was President between2003 and 2005, has conceded the election. This is asmuch a victory for Mr. Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, as it is for Mr. Arce. Mr. Morales left thecountry, first for Mexico and then for Argentina, afterthe Generals asked him to stand down in November2019. Since then, Jeanine Añez, a right-wing conservative Senator, has been the acting President, rolling backmany of Mr. Morales’s policies and going after his supporters. But MAS mobilised its supporters and foughtback. Mr. Arce promised voters that if elected, he wouldcarry forward the pro­poor socialist legacy of Mr. Morales, while MAS portrayed Mr. Mesa as a representativeof the pre­Morales elites, whose rapid privatisation andpro­market policies had triggered frequent mass protests. The results demonstrate that the voters chose theequity­oriented socialist stability, which MAS offered,over the free market conservatism of its rivals.The new leader could learn from the achievementsand mistakes of Mr. Morales, credited with turningaround South America’s poorest country economically.

Under his government, Bolivia saw a drop in extremepoverty, from 33% of the population in 2006 to 15% in 2018. He also stepped up public investments,(A)/ opensmore schools and health clinics,(B)/ built roads and nationalised the oil and gas industry,(C)/ all while ensuring thatthe economy continued to expanding(D)/. These policieshelped MAS build a strong connect with the poor, abase which continued to back the party despite lastyear’s political turbulence. At the same time, his pushto stay in power beyond the term limits set by the Constitution helped the Opposition organise itself. He gotthe ban lifted by a constitutional court after his bidfailed in a referendum. This raised questions about thelegitimacy of his candidacy in the October 2019 election, which he won but was accused of fraud, leading toprotests and his ouster. Mr. Arce’s biggest challengewould be to continue Mr. Morales’s welfare policies,while keeping the battered economy on track. Moreover, the anti­Socialist and mostly white opposition is nowmore powerful, after ousting Mr. Morales and havingrun the interim government for a year with the U.S.’ssupport. Mr. Arce can keep the galvanised opposition at bay only by continuing MAS’s socio­economic “revolution” to expand its support base in a divided country.

1) Find a suitable title for the passage.

a) Election in Bolivia

b) Destruction of the Socialists

c)Return of the socialists

d) Democracy in Bolivia

e) None of these

2) Which of the following is an idea of the passage?

a) Public health messaging must convincepeople that festivals can be celebrated safely

b) Digital payments have foundstrong ground, especially inIndia, increasingly relegating all other modes of payments tothe background. It is through a faster system of simultaneous debitsand credits that the money value istransferred from one account tothe other across banks.

c) Following his win in Bolivia, Arce should learnfrom the successes and mistakes of Morales

d) All of these

e) None of these

3) What is the meaning of the phrase “at bay” given in bold in the passage?

a) to control something and prevent it from causing you problems

b) to make something

c) to destroy something

d) to control something and encourage it to cause you problems

e) None of these

4) Which of the following statements is/are true according to the passage?

a) Mr. Morales left the country, first for Mexico and then for Argentina, after the Generals asked him to stand down in November 2019.

b) Mr. Arce promised voters that if elected, he would carry forward the pro­poor socialist legacy of Mr. Morales, while MAS portrayed Mr. Mesa as a representative of the pre­Morales elites, whose rapid privatisation and pro­market policies had triggered frequent mass protests.

c) The anti­Socialist and mostly white opposition is now more powerful, after ousting Mr. Morales and having run the interim government for a year with the U.S.’s support.

d) All of these

e) None of these

5) A sentence in the passage is given in bold and divided into four parts. Find the part/s of the sentence that has/have any grammatical error. If the sentence is error-free, mark “no error” as your answer.

a) A & C

b) B & C

c) A & D

d) B & D

e) No error

Answers :

1) Answer: C

If we read the passage, especially the 1^st sentence of the passage , we will be able to understand that only (c) conveys the main theme if the passage, hence it is correct.

2) Answer: C

Option (a) and (b) are out of context, only (c) can be inferred from the passage.

Hence (c) is correct.

3) Answer: A

At bay-  to control something and prevent it from causing you problems.

Hence (a) is correct.

4) Answer: D

All the statements are true.

1^st para: “Mr. Morales left the country, first for Mexico and then for Argentina, after the Generals asked him to stand down in November 2019.”

1^st para: “Mr. Arce promised voters that if elected, he would carry forward the pro­poor socialist legacy of Mr. Morales, while MAS portrayed Mr. Mesa as a representative of the pre­Morales elites, whose rapid privatisation and pro­market policies had triggered frequent mass protests.”

2^nd para: “Moreover, the anti­Socialist and mostly white opposition is now more powerful, after ousting Mr. Morales and having run the interim government for a year with the U.S.’s support.”

5) Answer: D

In part B, “opens” should be replaced with “opened” as the sentence is in past tense.

In part D, “expanding” should be replaced with “expand” as after “to” we should use the base form of a verb.

Hence option (d) is correct.