ICICI Bank Clerk Exam - Solved English Paper - Part 1

Directions-(Q. 1-15) Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions. Once a pundit was crossing a field and while walking, suddenly, he felt that there was something in his mouth so he immediately spat it out. It turned out to be a heron’s feather. He could not understand how and when it had gone into his mouth and it perplexed him a great deal. When he reached home he told his wife about the incident but asked her not to tell anyone lest somebody gets a bad impression about him. His wife was even more intrigued by the strange occurrence and felt the need to confide in someone. So sheswore her neighbour to secrecy and told her what had happened. Perhaps it was the way she told it, but her neighbour got the impression that several feathers had come out of the pundit’s mouth. She was shocked, however, she assured the pundit’s wife that such things could happen and advised her not to worry about it. Though the neighbour had sworn secrecy, she longed to tell someone. Later, she saw her friend passing by and told her the whole incident, but, she made it sound as if a whole heron had come out of the pundit’s mouth. “I have never heard such a thing,” said the friend, her eyes popping with excitement, “and he being a vegetarian and all that, but one can never tell… “She went away promising not to tell anyone but on the way she met the tailor and the whole story sort of tumbled out of her mouth. Perhaps in her excitement she said ‘herons’ instead of ‘heron’ or perhaps the tailor just imagined she had said ‘herons’ but when he told his wife about the pundit, sometime later, he was emphatic that a whole flock of herons had come out of the pundit’s mouth. And as the story spread, “herons” became “herons and other birds” and then “hundreds of birds of all shapes and sizes”. By evening the whole village and several other neighbouring villages had heard the story and people began to arrive in droves at the pundit’s house to witness the miraculous happenings there. The people started a huge commotion and called the pundit out of his house. The village head said, “Punditji, we have come to know that a miracle has taken place. You have the ability to produce hundreds of beautiful birds from your mouth. We would like to witness this miracle. Please do it once more.” The pundit steadfastly denied that any bird had come out of his mouth but nobody would believe him and everybody begged him to demonstrate his wonderful power of producing birds from his mouth. The pundit was dumbfounded at this request. He tried his best to convince the villagers that no such thing had happened but to no avail.
Finally in exasperation, he asked all of them to sit in front of his house and when they had done so, he ran out through the backdoor and hid in the jungle. He stayed there for several days till the excitement died down and the people realized that the news was false.”
The rumor spread like wild fire and caused inconvenience to the poor pundit for no fault of his.

1. Why did the pundit ask his wife not to tell anyone about the heron’s feather ?
He was worried that others might get a wrong impression about him   He was worried that others might get a wrong impression about the feather   He was worried that others might get a wrong impression about the heron   He knew that his wife was a chatterbox   Both (B) and (C)
 

2. Why was the pundit perplexed ?
He did not know the way across the field   A heron’s feather had come out of his mouth   He could not understand how the feather got in   He did not know how to explain the occurrence to his wife   Both (B) and (C)
 

3. What was the wrong impression that the neighbour got ?
That a heron came out of the pundit’s mouth   That one feather came out of the pundit’s mouth   That three herons had come out of the pundit’s mouth   That the pundit had eaten up a heron   That several feathers had come out of the pundit’s mouth
 

4. What did the neighbour say to the pundit’s wife when she heard about the incident ?
That the pundit must have eaten a heron   That such incidents happen and she must not worry   That the pundit must have put the feather in his mouth purposely   That she must go and tell the village elders about it   None of these
 

5. The passage is about ……
How rumors can cause inconvenience   How the villagers helped the pundit   How the pundit performed miracles   How the pundit’s wife could not keep her promise   How a heron’s feather comes out of one’s mouth
 

6. What did the pundit do in order to escape the embarrassment ?
He ran out through the back door and stayed in the forest for some days   He asked his wife to deal with the villagers and went inside the house to take a nap   He shouted at all the villagers and asked them to leave immediately before he cursed them   He made up a story about the heron and its feather so that the villagers leave from there   None of these
 

7. What did the neighbour tell her friend ?
That the pundit had eaten a heron in the field   That the heron had eaten the pundit while he was crossing the field   That the pundit’s wife told her a secret about the pundit   That a whole heron had come out of the pundit’s mouth   That she knew a secret and she would never disclose it
 

8. The pundit’s wife swore her neighbour to secrecy. What does this sentence mean in the context of the passage ?
The pundit’s wife used foul language for her neighbour   The pundit’s wife shouted at her neighbour and got into a fight with her The pundit’s wife shouted at her neighbour and got into a fight with her   The pundit’s wife promised the neighbour that she would keep the secret   The pundit’s wife made her neighbour promise that she would keep the secret   The pundit’s wife took the neighbour to court for not keeping the secret
 

9. What miracle did the villagers want to witness when they came to the pundit’s house ?
(1) They wanted to see how the pundit eats herons.
(2) They wanted to see how the pundit produces different birds from his mouth.
(3) They wanted to see how the heron went inside and came out of the pundit’s mouth.
Only (1)   Only (2)   Only (3)   Both (1) and (3)  None of these
 

10. What did the tailor tell his wife ?
That just one heron had come out of the pundit’s mouth   That the pundit was catching herons in the field   That a flock of herons came out of the pundit’s mouth   That the villagers were going to the pundit’s house   That a sparrow had come out of the pundit’s mouth
 

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