Passage 1
For years, U.S. employers have counted on a steady flow of labor from Mexico willing to accept low-skilled, low paying jobs. These workers, many of whom leave economically depressed villages in the Mexican interior, are often more than willing to work for wages well below both the U.S. minimum wage and the poverty line.
However, thanks to a dramatic demographic shift currently taking place in Mexico, the seemingly inexhaustible supply of workers migrating from Mexico to the United States might one day greatly diminish if not cease. Predictions of such a drastic decrease in the number of Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, are driven by Mexico’s rapidly diminishing population growth.
As a result of a decades-long family planning campaign, most Mexicans are having far fewer children than was the norm a generation ago. The campaign, organized around the slogan that “the small family lives better,” saw the Mexican government establish family-planning clinics and offer free contraception. For nearly three decades, the government’s message concerning population hasn’t wavered. In fact, the Mexican Senate recently voted to extend public school sex education programs to kindergarten.
The result of Mexico’s efforts to stem population growth is nothing short of stunning. In 1968, the average Mexican woman had just fewer than seven children; today, the figure is slightly more than two. For two primary reasons, Mexico’s new demographics could greatly impact the number of Mexicans seeking work in the U.S. First, smaller families by their nature limit the pool of potential migrants. Second, the slowing of Mexico’s population growth has fostered hope that Mexico will develop a healthy middle class of people content to make their livelihoods in their home country. Though the former of these factors is all but assured, the growth of a healthy middle class is far from a foregone conclusion. The critical challenge for Mexico is what it does with the next 20 years. Mexico must invest in education, job training, and infrastructure, as well as a social-security system to protect its aging population. If Mexico is willing to step forward and meet this challenge, America may one day wake up to find that, like cheap gasoline, cheap Mexican labor has become a thing of the past.
1. The passage does NOT indicate which of the following concerning Mexico’s current demographics?
a) Due to the government’s family planning campaign, Mexico’s population is currently diminishing.
b) On average, Mexican women are having approximately one-third the number of children that they had in 1968.
c) Many Mexicans still migrate to the United States in search of work.
d) As a result of declining birth rates, Mexico’s population is aging.
e) A healthy middle class in Mexico has not yet fully developed.
2. Which of the following can be inferred about U.S. employers of Mexican immigrants?
a) Most of these employers pay Mexican immigrants less money than they pay American citizens.
b) Some of these employers violate wage laws.
c) Many of these employers work in the agricultural industry.
d) Without Mexican immigrants, some of these employers would be forced to close their businesses.
e) The majority of these employers show no concern for the welfare of their workers.
3. With which of the following statements would the author of the passage MOST likely agree?
a) The United States will soon have to replace lost Mexican labor with labor provided by other immigrant groups.
b) It is difficult for a country with a large population to develop a healthy middle class.
c) Many Mexican immigrants who work in the United States believe that they are taken advantage of by American employers.
d) Most rapidly growing countries should institute a family planning campaign to limit population growth.
e) Mexico does not currently have the infrastructure to develop a healthy middle class.
4. One function of the final paragraph of the passage is to
a) relate why the number of Mexican immigrants seeking work in the United States is certain to decline.
b) detail the successes of Mexico’s family planning campaign.
c) explain why the number of Mexican immigrants seeking work in the United States may not dramatically decrease.
d) specify the types of infrastructure in which Mexico must invest.
e) notify American employers that they will soon need to find alternative sources of labor.
Passage 2
The golden toad of Costa Rica, whose beauty and rarity inspired an unusual degree of human interest from a public generally unconcerned about amphibians, may have been driven to extinction by human activity nevertheless. In the United States, a public relations campaign featuring the toad raised money to purchase and protect the toad’s habitat in Costa Rica, establishing the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in 1972.
Although this action seemed to secure the toad’s future, it is now apparent that setting aside habitat was not enough to save this beautiful creature. The toad’s demise in the late 1980s was a harbinger of further species extinction in Costa Rica. Since that time, another twenty of the fifty species of frogs and toads known to once inhabit a 30 square kilometre area near Monteverde have disappeared.
The unexplained, relatively sudden disappearance of amphibians in Costa Rica is not a unique story. Populations of frogs, toads, and salamanders have declined or disappeared the world over. Scientists hypothesize that the more subtle effects of human activities on the world’s ecosystems, such as the build-up of pollutants, the decrease in atmospheric ozone, and changing weather patterns due to global warming, are beginning to take their toll. Perhaps amphibians – whose permeable skin makes them sensitive to environmental changes – are the “canary in the coal mine,” giving us early notification of the deterioration of our environment. If amphibians are the biological harbingers of environmental problems, humans would be wise to heed their warning.
1. According to the passage, all of the following are true EXCEPT:
a) Humans are at least partially responsible for changing weather patterns.
b) Toads, like frogs, have permeable skin.
c) Human activity is not necessarily responsible for the global decline of amphibious populations.
d) Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve was not paid for solely by the Costa Rican government.
e) More frog and toad species than salamander species have disappeared in Costa Rica since the late 1980s.
2. It can be inferred from the passage that
a) only thirty species of frogs and toads remain in Costa Rica
b) humans do not have permeable skin
c) the build-up of pollutants in the atmosphere causes a decrease in atmospheric ozone
d) humans do not usually take signals of environmental deterioration seriously
e) Costa Rica suffers from more serious environmental problems than many other countries
3. The author uses the adjective “subtle” in the second paragraph most probably to emphasize that
a) these effects are not easily recognized by sophisticated testing equipment
b) these effects are difficult to notice because they take place over time on a global scale
c) these effects are so minimal that they affect only small animal species such as amphibians
d) these slight effects of human activity are rarely discussed by scientists
e) these effects are infrequently observed because they affect only specific world regions
4. The passage implies that
a) many amphibians are not considered beautiful.
b) the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve was not large enough to protect the golden toad.
c) only Costa Rican amphibians living near Monteverde have disappeared since the 1980s.
d) amphibians sometimes live in coal mines.
e) no humans yet consider the decline of amphibious populations an indication of a threat to human populations.
5. The primary purpose of the passage is to
a) discuss the mysterious disappearance of Costa Rica’s golden toad.
b) explain why human activity is undoubtedly to blame for the global decline of amphibious populations.
c) convince humans that they must minimize the global output of pollutants.
d) describe the recent global decline of amphibious populations and hypothesize about its causes.
e) urge humans to pay careful attention to important environmental changes.
Note:
Reading Comprehension asked under English section in CLAT can be assumed to be an easy and ‘ not to be left ‘ section (Easy because all the answers are contained in the passage itself). It all depends on your ability to read a particular passage in a given time (usually 5-7 minutes) and then answer the questions based on the passage. Those who have been scoring low in Reading Comprehension, it’s never too late. Become a voracious reader. Read anything (particularly standard newspapers) that your hands can lay on and then see the difference in your performance (Time management is also a must in this case.)
All the Best!
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