Question ID - 84873 | SaraNextGen Top Answer

Read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.                                                                        PASSAGE      Time was when peopled looked heavenward and prayed, “Ye Gods, give us rain, keep drought away,” Today there are those who pray, “Give us rain, keep El Nino away”.      El Nino and its atmospheric equivalent, called the Southern Oscillation, are together referred to as ENSO, and are household words today. Meteorologists recognize it as often being responsible for natural disaster worldwide. But this wisdom dawned only after countries suffered, first from the lack of knowledge, and then from the lack of coordination between policy making and the advances in scientific knowledge.      Put simply, El Nino is a weather event restricted to certain tropical shores, especially the Peruvian coast. The event has diametrically opposite impacts on the land and sea. The Peruvian shore is a desert. But every few years, an unusually warm ocean current-El Nino-warms up the normally cold surface-waters off the Peruvian coasts, causing very heavy rains in the early half of the year.      And then, miraculously, the desert is matted green. Crops like cotton, coconuts and banana grow on the otherwise stubbornly barren land. These are the Peruvians’ anosde aboundencia or years of abundance. The current had come to be termed El Nino, or the Christ Child because it usually appears as an enhancement if a mildly warm current that normally occurs here around every Christmas.      But this boon on land is accompanied by oceanic disasters. Normally, the waters off the South America coasts are among the most productive in the world because of a constant upswelling of nutrient rich cold waters from the ocean depths. During an El Nino, however waters are stirred up only from near the surface. The nutrient-crunch pushes down primary production, disrupting the food chain. Many marine species, including anchoveta (anchovies) temporarily disappear.      This is just one damning effect of El Nino. Over the years its full impact has been studied and what the Peruvians once regarded us manna, is now seen as a major threat.
Meteorologists took time to understand El Nino because
(a)	It was neither a disaster nor a boon for the people living in desert areas.	(b)	they recognized it as an atmospheric equivalent and hence called it Southern Oscillation.
(c)	they suffered from lack of knowledge about El Nino as they were not scientifically advanced.	(d)	All of the above
El Nino in a layman language is
(a)	a natural disaster.	(b)	Southern Oscillation.
(c)	a weather events.	(d)	None of the above.
What are the two types of landscapes that are affected by El Nino?
(a)	Coastal areas and sea.	(b)	Tropical shores and land.
(c)	Deserts and oceans	(d)	All of the above.
Which word in Para 3 is the antonym for Fertile?
(a)	matted.	(b)	abundance.
(c)	barren.	(d)	None of the above.
What, according to the author, is a positive effect of El Nino?
(a)	It causes changes in atmosphere.	(b)	It results in vegetation on barren lands.
(c)	It comes around Christmas.	(d)	It is regarded as manna.