Directions (1-10): In the passage given below there are blanks which are to be filled with the options given below. Find out the appropriate pair of words in each case which can most suitably complete the sentence without altering the meaning of the statement.
As political -----------(1) ---------- go, the electoral outcome in Malaysia last week was a major earthquake. After decades, the Barisan Nasional (national front) coalition, led by the United Malays National Organisation --------(2) --------- its first-ever defeat at the hands of Pakatan Harapan (an alliance of hope). Umno has reach in the smallest kampung (village), and nothing—not even ----------- (3) ------------- of corruption or authoritarianism—seemed to have had the force to dislodge it from power in the past, even as the younger, post-independence Malaysians, -----------(4) ------------ with Umno’s manipulative politics, clamoured for change. Umno squashed dissent ruthlessly, tinkered with electoral boundaries through rampant gerrymandering, and kept winning.
And yet, seeing the outcome last week as a harbinger of real transformation in Malaysian politics overstates the case. For, leading the Pakatan is the 92-year-old former prime minister (PM), the --------- (5) ------------ Mahathir Mohammed, who has crafted a remarkable political comeback. His ----------(6) ----------- ally is the 70-year-old Anwar Ibrahim, released Wednesday from prison, where he was serving a controversial prison term, and pardoned after the elections. Once qualified, he will have to win a by-election to parliament and then may possibly replace Mahathir as PM. That might seem like poetic justice; it is what should have occurred more honourably two decades earlier. For, in the 1990s, Anwar was Mahathir’s heir-apparent; his popular finance minister, who tried to reform opaque business practices, just as speculators attacked the currency, the ringgit, expecting Malaysia to be the next domino to fall, after the Thai and Indonesian economic collapse of 1997. Some debt-ridden businesses were close to Mahathir, and the astute Mahathir foresaw what lay ahead if Anwar’s economic reforms continued unhindered. So he sacked Anwar.
I was a correspondent in South-East Asia at the time, reporting frequently out of Malaysia, and the mood was electric as people anticipated imminent change, raising slogans on the streets, -----------(7) --------- reformasi (reforms). Anwar addressed large rallies. Anwar, a soft-spoken, polite man, presented himself as a liberal alternative in a South-East Asia run by older men of an earlier era. He wrote The Asian Renaissance, and during one of our conversations, expressed fondness for the ideas of M.K. Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Jayaprakash Narayan. Anwar had been in jail earlier under the Internal Security Act, and was a leader in his youth of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim, the Muslim youth movement of Malaysia). His critics ----------(8) ---------- he had ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.
But Anwar looked like the transformed liberal who would shake up Malaysia, even South-East Asia. He --------- (9) -------------a system getting atrophied. Mahathir had tamed an earlier rebellion by another deputy—Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who came close to removing him as party leader. He had formed a party, Semangat ’46 (Spirit of ’46), only to return to Umno later, chastened. Mahathir ------------(10) --------- capital controls to halt the ringgit’s slide, and, more crucially, jailed Anwar. In custody, Anwar was beaten up, and, when brought to the court, had a bruised eye. Mahathir left office on his own terms in 2003, making way for Abdullah Badawi. In 2009, Najib Razak became PM—son of a PM (Abdul Razak) and nephew of another (Hussein Onn).
Question 1: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Upheavals / cataclysms
b) Order/ harmony
c) Silence/ clam
d) Out bursting / exploding
e) None of these
Answer: a
Question 2: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Triumph / rejoice
b) Suffered / went through
c) Agonize / grieve
d) Solaced / console
e) None of these
Answer: b
Question 3: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Allegations / accusations
b) Declaration / affirmation
c) Impeachment / censure
d) Denunciation / condemnation
e) None of these
Answer: a
Question 4: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Enchanted / encouraged
b) Disenchanted / embittered
c) Disappoint / sour
d) Delude / dupe
e) None of these
Answer: b
Question 5: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Feeble/weak
b) Intimidating/overpowering
c) Formidable / powerful
d) Petrifying / rough
e) None of these
Answer: c
Question 6: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Unexpected / unanticipated
b) Predicted/prophesied
c) Astonishing/accidental
d) Planned / programmed
e) None of these
Answer: a
Question 7: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Undemanding/unfastidious
b) Flexible / uncritical
c) Carefree / lackadaisical
d) Demanding / exacting
e) None of these
Answer: d
Question 8: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Alleged/suspected
b) Affirm / assert
c) Avow/claim
d) Declare / profess
e) None of these
Answer: a
Question 9: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Hazard / imperil
b) Threatened/warned
c) Impend (over) / menace
d) Guarded / protected
e) None of these
Answer: b
Question 10: Find out the appropriate word:
a) Imposed / charged
b) Appoint / order
c) Enforce / establish
d) Promulgate / decree
e) None of these
Answer: a
