SSC CGL English – Reading Comprehension – Level 3 · Challenge
SSC CGL English – Reading Comprehension – Level 3 · Challenge – 8 questions, subject: English Language & Comprehension. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.
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Read the passage and answer questions 28–35.
A generation ago, the worry was that television would kill the habit of reading. Today the worry has a new face: the endless stream of short videos on a phone. A clip lasts less than a minute, demands nothing and is followed instantly by another. It is easy to conclude that young people have lost the patience for books.
The truth is more complicated. Many students who scroll for hours also read long novels, follow serious discussions and teach themselves skills from detailed tutorials. What has changed is not the ability to concentrate but the competition for it. Every app is designed to win attention, and attention spent in one place is not available for another.
Deep reading – following a long argument, holding several ideas in mind, noticing what a writer leaves unsaid – is a skill, and like any skill it weakens without practice. A reader who meets only short, simple texts may find a dense chapter tiring, not because the mind cannot manage it but because it has not been asked to. The remedy, then, is not to ban phones, which rarely works, but to protect time for slower reading: a fixed part of each day with a book and without notifications.
Schools and families can help by treating reading as a pleasure rather than a test. A child who chooses a book for its story is more likely to return to reading than one who reads only for marks. In the end, the question is not whether short videos are good or bad. It is whether we leave room, in a crowded day, for the kind of reading that changes the way we think.
Correct Answer: B [Deep reading is a skill that weakens without practice, so we must protect time for it.]
Explanation:
Paras 2–4: the ability is not lost, deep reading needs practice, and time must be protected.
DetailPassage F: According to the author, what has really changed?
Correct Answer: A [the competition for attention]
Explanation:
'What has changed is not the ability to concentrate but the competition for it.'
TonePassage F: The author's attitude towards banning phones is:
Correct Answer: C [doubtful]
Explanation:
He says the remedy is 'not to ban phones, which rarely works' – he doubts that it helps.
Vocabulary in contextPassage F: The word 'dense', as used in the passage, means:
Correct Answer: B [full of difficult ideas]
Explanation:
A 'dense chapter' that may be tiring – packed with ideas.
InferencePassage F: Which statement would the author most likely agree with?
Correct Answer: D [A reader who meets only short texts may find a long chapter tiring.]
Explanation:
Para 3 says exactly this; the others contradict paras 2, 4 and 3 (deep reading 'is a skill').
PurposePassage F: Why does the author mention students who read long novels and follow detailed tutorials?
Correct Answer: B [to show that scrolling does not necessarily destroy concentration]
Explanation:
It follows 'The truth is more complicated' – evidence that the ability to concentrate survives.
Antonym in contextPassage F: Choose the word most nearly OPPOSITE in meaning to 'endless' as used in the passage.
Correct Answer: D [limited]
Explanation:
'Endless stream' = without limit; the opposite is 'limited'.
TitlePassage F: Which is the most suitable title for the passage?
