Directions (1- 10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
There are many “soft spots” in the world: some of them are haunted by organized crime, some others are known to turn sometimes a blind eye to illicit money, and certain individuals are capable of making huge fortunes by connecting the two dots on a map. But on a summer afternoon in 2012 the Italian investigators listening to a tapped conversation between a ‘Ndrangheta Don and a broker could not believe their ears, because these particular “soft spots” were unimaginably distant, even for men used to investigating criminals with an international attitude. As far as investigators knew, ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced “An-Dran-Gh-Ta”) — the Calabrian version of Cosa Nostra, ranking in the last 20 years as the most powerful Italian crime syndicate — had established connections with Canada and Australia, but never ventured into the Far East.
Or so they thought. The first man on the phone, Giuseppe Pensabene — aka “The Pope” — was no stranger to the detectives of SCO, a special squad of the Italian police focused on organized crime. Born in 1968 in Montebello Jonico, a tiny village in Italy’s southern region of Calabria and a ‘Ndrangheta stronghold, Pensabene started his criminal career in the early 1980 by joining the Imertis, a “respected family” involved in the so-called “Second ‘Ndrangheta War,” a bloody feud in which almost 500 people were killed between 1985 and 1991. In 1988, Pensabene moved north and settled in Brianza, the region surrounding Milan and one of Italy’s wealthiest areas. But as every investigator working on Calabrian syndicates might confirm, it seems you can not teach a new trick to an old ‘Ndrangheta mobster: “The Pope” turned into a professional of extortion, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
After the spate of arrests known as “OperazioneCrimine-Infinito,” in 2010 he was eventually crowned boss of one of Northern Italy’s most notorious organizations.The second voice on the phone was an Italian-Swiss broker named EmanueleSangiovanni. As investigators listened in, he said, “This company is good, it guarantees a double shielding… First step is a trust company in Malta, second step is a Hong Kong company, so it’s virtually unreachable for authorities. The administrator is a Hong Kongese architect.” “How do I do this from Italy?” Pensabene replied. “You need an attorney, someone you can trust… Or you can reach an agreement and make the guy come here [to Europe], but it’s too expensive, we have to do this in Malta.”
“I’ll take care of it.” When “The Pope,” EmanueleSangiovanni, and 38 other people were arrested in 2014 Italian investigators seized goods, apartments, bank accounts, and 39 companies worth dozens of millions of euros. From a tiny office in Brianza with no windows and no toilets, dubbed “iltugurio” (“the shack”), Pensabene and his organization were able to launder several million euros for their Calabrian cousins, working as the financial arm of the southern clans deeply involved in cocaine trafficking. The investigators never managed to fully identify the “Hong Kongese architect,” but his shell company was not the only clue pointing to a connection between Pensabene and the Far East. Almost 100 percent of the clients requesting Pensabene’s “services” were Calabrian gangs, but a certain invoice attracted the detectives’ attention: a Chinese company named Fengrun International Ltd.
It was connected to Pensabene’s shady web through several bank transfers for hundreds of thousands of euros. The key figure in this deal was Giuseppe Vinciguerra, a 40-something Sicilian who connected the Calabrian mobsters with businessmen looking for a safe way to clean their money and provided Pensabene and his partners with many firearms at his disposal after some former deals. In 2012, according to the SCO, the Pensabene-Vinciguerra joint venture was worth 8.2 million euros ($9.6 million), and the Sicilian had already accomplished a plan to diversify their business targeting new markets and brand new customers: the Chinese. Vinciguerra had been a person of interest since the end of “OperazioneCrimine-Infinito” and his different mobile phones were tapped, regardless of his efforts to switch from one telephone to another on a weekly basis. In December 2011 SCO detectives listened to six conversations between Vinciguerra and a Chinese national dubbed “Michele.”
Q1. Why it was difficult for the investigators to believe the conversation between ‘Ndrangheta Don and the broker?
(I) because the soft spot mentioned in the conversation between the don and the broker was haunted and daunting
(II) because the soft spot mentioned in the conversation between the don and the broker was hub of all the organized crimes
(III) because the soft spot mentioned in the conversation between the don and the broker was unexpectedly far away
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (III)
(c) Both (I) and (II)
(d) Both (II) and (III)
(e) All of these
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Q2. Which of the following statement(s) is/are NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?
(a) The Italian investigators seized goods, apartments, bank accounts, and 39 companies worth dozens of millions of euros in 2014 after the arrest of EmanueleSangiovanni.
(b) Giuseppe Pensabene was born in a tiny village of Italy’s northern region of Calabria which was a ‘Ndrangheta stronghold.
(c) Giuseppe Vinciguerra was the key person who connected Calabrian mobsters with businessmen looking for a safe way to clean their money.
(d) Giuseppe Pensabene and EmanueleSangiovanni were the part of Northern Italy’s most notorious organization
(e) All of these
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Q3.How “The Pope” started his criminal career in Italy?
(a) by joining the Calabria
(b) by joining the Ndrangheta
(c) by joining the Imertis
(d) by joining the An-Dran-Gh-Ta
(e) None of these
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Q4.What can be inferred from the conversation betweenGiuseppe Pensabene and EmanueleSangiovanni?
(a) that both of them were the part of Northern Italy’s most notorious organization
(b) that both of them were good in double shielding
(c) they are planning to reach an agreement
(d) both(a) and (c)
(e) All of these
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Q5.How the Italian investigators benefitted from the arrest of EmanueleSangiovanni and 38 other people?
(a) Their arrest led to the disclosure of large amount of wealth accumulated in different parts of the world.
(b) It gave a hint about their large network operating in different parts of the world.
(c) It showed the growth of their operation from a tiny office to different countries.
(d) It helped the authorities to know about their participation in cocaine trafficking.
(e) All of these
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Q6. Give a suitable title for the passage.
(a) How the Calabrian Mafia Discovered Hong Kong
(b) Smuggling Away Hongkong's Chance for Peace
(c) Unlikely Partners: Giuseppe Pensabene and the EmanueleSangiovanni
(d) Hongkong’s Evolving Economic Statecraft
(e) OperazioneCrimine-Infinito
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Reading Comprehension
Directions (7-8): Choose the word/group of words which is MOST SIMILAR in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in passage.
Q7. haunted
(a) energized
(b) tormented
(c) troubled
(d) infatuated
(e) hit
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Synonym
Q8. focused
(a) stressed
(b) dispersed
(c) imagined
(d) concentrated
(e) scattered
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Synonym
Directions (9-10): Choose the word/group of words which is MOST OPPOSITE in meaning to the word/group of words printed in bold as used in passage.
Q9. launder
(a) upscale
(b) ritzy
(c) approve
(d) steep
(e) swank
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Antonym
Q10. accomplished
(a) incompetent
(b) attained
(c) concluded
(d) gained
(e) scored
L1Difficulty 2
QTags Antonym
S1. Ans. (b)
Sol. Refer to paragraph1 of the passage, we can easily conclude that the investigators didn’t have any hint of the place about which conversation was going on between the don and the broker, infact they were surprised to know about their operation being conducted from that faraway place.
S2. Ans. (b)
Sol. Read the passage carefully, it can be easily inferred that only option (b) is incorrect in the context of the passage, remaining four statements are completely true.
S3. Ans. (c)
Sol. Refer to paragraph 2 of the passage, it is clearly mentioned that the pope started his criminal career by joining imertis a “respected family” involved in the “Second ‘Ndrangheta,” War in which almost 500 people were killed between 1985 and 1991.
S4. Ans. (d)
Sol. Read paragraph3 of the passage carefully, it is clearly mentioned that both Giuseppe Pensabene and EmanueleSangiovanni were part of Northern Italy’s criminal organization since long and they had various links in different countries to execute their operations and gain funding.
S5. Ans. (e)
Sol. Read paragraph4 of the passage, it can be inferred that the arrest of EmanueleSangiovanni along with 38 other people helped the Italian investigators in tracking various links of these two people and their associates. It helped the investigators in knowing about the growth of their network from a tiny office to cocaine trafficking in different parts of the world.
S6. Ans. (a)
Sol. In context of the passage, as compared to other options, option(a) seems to be the most appropriate title for the given passage.
S7. Ans. (b)
Sol. Haunted means showing signs of mental anguish or torment. Hence it has same meaning as
tormented.
S8. Ans. (d)
Sol. Focused means pay particular attention to. Hence it has opposite meaning to concentrated.
S9. Ans. (c)
Sol. Launder means conceal the origins of (money obtained illegally). Hence it has opposite meaning as approve.
S10. Ans. (a)
Sol. Accomplished means highly trained or skilled in a particular activity. Hence it has opposite meaning as incompetent.
Directions (11-15): Read each sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical or idiomatic error in it. The error, if any, will be in one part of the sentence. The number of that part is the answer. If there is ‘No error’, the answer is (e). (Ignore errors of punctuation, if any.)
Q11. Mahesh who was (a)/ junior in most (b)/ other employees in his office (c)/ has been promoted.(d)/ No error. (e)
L1Difficulty 2
QTags error correction
Q12. From the last one month (a)/ each of us (b)/ has been working (c)/ on the same project. (d)/ No error. (e)
L1Difficulty 2
QTags error correction
Q13. When I receive (a)/ the letter, the date (b)/ for the interview (c)/ was already over. (d)/ No error. (e)
L1Difficulty 2
QTags error correction
Q14. We had (a)/ helped him (b)/ if he had (c)/ requested us earlier. (d)/ No error. (e)
L1Difficulty 2
QTags error correction
Q15. We have observed that (a)/ many good programmes (b)/ suffer of shortage (c)/ of funds and other resources. (d)/ No error. (e)
L1Difficulty 2
QTags error correction
S11. Ans. (b)
Sol. ‘to’ will be used in place of ‘in’ as after ‘junior, senior, inferior, superior, prior, anterior’, preposition ‘to’ is used.
Ex. She is junior to me.
S12. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘for’ will be used in place of ‘from’ as in present perfect continuous or present perfect tense , ‘for’ is used to represent the period of time.
Ex. He has been living with me for the last one year.
S13. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘received’ will be used in place of ‘receive’ as the sentence is in past tense as is indicated by ‘already over’.
S14. Ans. (a)
Sol. ‘we would have’ will be used in place of ‘we had’ as for unreal situation of past ‘Subject + would/ could/ might/ should + have + V3’ is used.
Ex. I would have helped you if you had come earlier.
S15. Ans. (c)
Sol. ‘from’ will be used in place of ‘of’ as preposition ‘from’ is used after ‘suffer’.
Ex. He is suffering from fever.