IBPS Clerk English Sectional Mock Test 09

1. Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given after it. The village of Hiware sits on dry land where rain falls for only a few weeks each year. Twenty years ago, most of its young people left for nearby towns because farming no longer paid. The wells ran dry by February, and families bought drinking water from tankers. Things began to change when the village council decided to treat water as a shared resource. Villagers dug small trenches along the hill slopes to slow down rainwater and let it soak into the ground. They planted trees on bare land and agreed not to grow crops that need a lot of water, such as sugarcane. Most importantly, they agreed not to dig new borewells, because each new borewell would only steal water from a neighbour. The results took time. In the first two years the wells showed little change, and some farmers grumbled that the rules were too strict. By the fifth year, however, the water level in the wells had risen enough to allow two crops a year. Milk production grew as fodder became easier to find, and several families who had moved away returned to farm their land. Visitors now come to Hiware to learn from its experience. The villagers tell them that the trenches and trees were the easy part. The hard part was getting everyone to agree on the rules and then to keep them, year after year.

   Q1.Why did many young people leave Hiware twenty years ago?

   • A.They got government jobs in the city
   • B.The village was flooded every year
   • C.The council asked them to leave
   • D.Farming no longer paid because of the shortage of water
   • E.The village had no school

2. Q2.What was the purpose of digging trenches along the hill slopes?

   • A.To mark the village boundary
   • B.To build roads to the town
   • C.To grow sugarcane
   • D.To slow down rainwater so that it could soak into the ground
   • E.To drain water out of the village

3. Q3.Why did the villagers agree not to dig new borewells?

   • A.The soil was too hard to dig
   • B.Borewells were too costly to dig
   • C.Each new borewell would take water away from a neighbour
   • D.The government had banned them
   • E.Borewells gave salty water

Start the test to answer these. Correct answers and explanations are shown after you submit.