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The question below is from previous year CAT question from CAT 2019 exam comes from CAT Reading Comprehension: Free of the taint of manufacture…
Find out by answering this question which tests an aspirant’s CAT VARC skills:
Q. 1: All of the following are causes for plurality and diversity within the British folk tradition EXCEPT:
1. the oral mode of transmission with regard to folk music has been mentioned in paragraph 4. therefore, option 1 is not the answer. option 2 is also true and can be derived from paragraph 2. thus, option 2 is also not the answer. option 3 can be asserted from the following extract in paragraph 2 – “a whiff of britain’s heathen dark ages” with regard to folk music. thus, option 3 is also eliminated. option 4 may also be true but it does not answer the question asked. the popularity or unpopularity of folk music has nothing to do with the plurality and diversity of folk music in britain. thus, option 4 is the correct answer.
hence, the correct answer is option 4.
2. option 1 can be inferred from the passage. in the 1940s folk music “the vital spark was communism’s dream of a post-revolutionary new jerusalem. for their younger successors in the 60s, who thronged the folk clubs set up by the old guard, the lyrical freedom of dylan and the unchained melodies of psychedelia created the conditions for folk rock’s own golden age, a brief indian summer that lasted from about 1969 to 1971. this extract reinforces cecil sharp’s observation about folk’s constant transformation. eliminate option 1.
the following extract, “for the second wave of folk revivalists, such as ewan maccoll and al lloyd, starting in the 40s, the vital spark was communism’s dream of a post-revolutionary new jerusalem” validates option 2. thus, option 2 is eliminated. option 3 cannot be inferred from the passage. purists were against the electrification of folk music but the passage is silent on the origins of the electrification of music except for the fact that “in the late 1960s, purists were suspicious of folk songs recast in rock idioms. electrification, however, comes in many forms.” therefore, rock music is not necessarily the originator of electrification in music. thus, option 3 is the correct answer.
option 4 can be inferred from the following extract, “for their younger successors in the 60s, who thronged the folk clubs set up by the old guard, the lyrical freedom of dylan and the unchained melodies of psychedelia created the conditions for folk rock’s own golden age, a brief indian summer that lasted from about 1969 to 1971. . . . four decades on, even that progressive period has become just one more era ripe for fashionable emulation and pastiche.” pastiche means to imitate or copy and the author is critical about this phenomenon. thus, option 4 is eliminated.
hence, the correct answer is option 3.
Q. 3: The author says that folk “may often appear a cosy, fossilised form” because:
3. the first paragraph clearly gives the link between folk music appearing as a cosy, fossilized form because of its association with a pre-industrial past. thus, option 3 is the correct answer. options 1 and 2 may be true but are not connected with folk being referred to as a cosy, fossilized form. “shabby chic” in option 4 refers to modern folk music that is now hip and fashionable.
hence, the correct answer is option 3
Q. 4: The primary purpose of the reference to William Morris and his floral prints is to show:
4. the following extract from paragraph 2, “just as the effusive floral prints of the radical william morris now cover genteel sofas, so the revolutionary intentions of many folk historians and revivalists have led to music that is commonly regarded as parochial and conservative” points to the fact that what was once radical in folk music is now seen as conformist. thus, option 2 is the correct answer. option 1 is not true as per the extract given above. option 3 has nothing to do with the metaphor of william morris and his floral prints with folk music. option 4 inverts the relationship given in the passage. folk music that was once considered revolutionary is now genteel and acceptable. hence, the correct answer is option 2.
Q. 5: At a conference on folk forms, the author of the passage is least likely to agree with which one of the following views?
5. the following extract from paragraph 3, “[cecil sharp, who wrote about this subject, believed that] folk songs existed in constant transformation, a living example of an art form in a perpetual state of renewal.”one man sings a song, and then others sing it after him, changing what they do not like” is the most concise summary of his conclusions on its origins” combined with “but there is tension in newness. in the late 1960s, purists were suspicious of folk songs recast in rock idioms” clearly assert the fact that although folk music was able to adapt to the changing world, this change was not viewed with favour by purists (such as folk songs being recast in rock idioms). this is in conformity with the view presented in option 1. option 2 is true and is something that the author would agree with. refer to paragraph 2. option 3 is also true and is something that the author would agree with. refer to the following extract in paragraph 3, “”one man sings a song, and then others sing it after him, changing what they do not like”. option 4 can also be derived from the passage. refer to paragraph 2, “in our own time, though, the word “folk” . . . has achieved the rare distinction of occupying fashionable and unfashionable status simultaneously. just as the effusive floral prints of the radical william morris now cover genteel sofas, so the revolutionary intentions of many folk historians and revivalists have led to music that is commonly regarded as parochial and conservative.”
hence, the correct answer is option 1.
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