CAT 2021 Slot 3 VARC Question & Solution

Reading ComprehensionEasy

Passage

The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.

Back in the early 2000s, an awesome thing happened in the New X-Men comics. Our mutant heroes had been battling giant robots called Sentinels for years, but suddenly these mechanical overlords spawned a new threat: Nano-Sentinels! Not content to rule Earth with their metal fists, these tiny robots invaded our bodies at the microscopic level. Infected humans were slowly converted into machines, cell by cell.

Now, a new wave of extremely odd robots is making at least part of the Nano-Sentinels story come true. Using exotic fabrication materials like squishy hydrogels and elastic polymers, researchers are making autonomous devices that are often tiny and that could turn out to be more powerful than an army of Terminators. Some are 1-centimetre blobs that can skate over water. Others are flat sheets that can roll themselves into tubes, or matchstick-sized plastic coils that act as powerful muscles. No, they won’t be invading our bodies and turning us into Sentinels - which I personally find a little disappointing - but some of them could one day swim through our bloodstream to heal us. They could also clean up pollutants in water or fold themselves into different kinds of vehicles for us to drive. . . .

Unlike a traditional robot, which is made of mechanical parts, these new kinds of robots are made from molecular parts. The principle is the same: both are devices that can move around and do things independently. But a robot made from smart materials might be nothing more than a pink drop of hydrogel. Instead of gears and wires, it’s assembled from two kinds of molecules - some that love water and some that avoid it - which interact to allow the bot to skate on top of a pond.

Sometimes these materials are used to enhance more conventional robots. One team of researchers, for example, has developed a different kind of hydrogel that becomes sticky when exposed to a low-voltage zap of electricity and then stops being sticky when the electricity is switched off. This putty-like gel can be pasted right onto the feet or wheels of a robot. When the robot wants to climb a sheer wall or scoot across the ceiling, it can activate its sticky feet with a few volts. Once it is back on a flat surface again, the robot turns off the adhesive like a light switch.

Robots that are wholly or partly made of gloop aren’t the future that I was promised in science fiction. But it’s definitely the future I want. I’m especially keen on the nanometre-scale “soft robots” that could one day swim through our bodies. Metin Sitti, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany, worked with colleagues to prototype these tiny, synthetic beasts using various stretchy materials, such as simple rubber, and seeding them with magnetic microparticles. They are assembled into a finished shape by applying magnetic fields. The results look like flowers or geometric shapes made from Tinkertoy ball and stick modelling kits. They’re guided through tubes of fluid using magnets, and can even stop and cling to the sides of a tube.

Question 1

Which one of the following statements best captures the sense of the first paragraph?

People who were infected by Nano-Sentinel robots became mutants who were called X-Men.

Tiny sentinels called X-Men infected people, turning them into mutant robot overlords.

None of the options listed here.

The X-Men were mutant heroes who now had to battle tiny robots called Nano-Sentinels

Solution:

The first paragraph talks about the X-men comics, in which the mutant heroes, that X-Men, has been battling giant robots called sentinels. But these Sentinels then developed Nano-Sentinels, which could invade bodies at the microscopic level, and the heroes would now have to fight them too. Option D perfectly captures this, and hence, is the answer.

Option A is incorrect. X-men were battling the Sentinels before the invention of Nano-Sentinels. Hence, the origin of X-men is different.

Option B is incorrect. The mechanical overlords made Nano-Sentinels to convert people into machines. It has not been said that the people were converted into the mechanical lords themselves.

Question 2

Which one of the following scenarios, if false, could be seen as supporting the passage?

Robots made from smart materials are likely to become part of our everyday lives in the future.

There are two kinds of molecules used to make some nano-robots: one that reacts positively to water and the other negatively.

Some hydrogels turn sticky when an electric current is passed through them; this potentially has very useful applications.

Nano-Sentinel-like robots are likely to be used to inject people to convert them into robots, cell by cell.

Solution:

We will check which option when proven false will support the passage:

A: Robots becoming a part of everyday life is neither supported nor opposed in the passage. Thus, Option A is not the answer.

B: Instead of gears and wires, it’s assembled from two kinds of molecules - some that love water and some that avoid it - which interact to allow the bot to skate on top of a pond.

Option B has been clearly mentioned in the passage. Hence, if it is proven false, it will contradict the passage. Option B is not the answer.

C: One team of researchers, for example, has developed a different kind of hydrogel that becomes sticky when exposed to a low-voltage zap of electricity and then stops being sticky when the electricity is switched off.

Option C has been mentioned in the passage. Hence, if it is proven false, it will contradict the passage. Option C is not the answer.

D: No, they won’t be invading our bodies and turning us into Sentinels...

Option D is just the opposite of what has been given in the passage. Hence, if Option D is false, it would support the passage.

Question 3

Which one of the following statements, if true, would be the most direct extension of the arguments in the passage?

Sentinel robots will be used in warfare to cause large-scale destructive mutations amongst civilians.

X-Men may be created by injecting people with mutant nano-gels that will respond to the brain’s magnetic field.

In the future, robots will be used to search and destroy diseases even in the deepest recesses of the human body.

1-centimetre blobs of gel that have nano-robots in them will be used to send messages.

Solution:

A: Sentinel robots are just fiction that is mentioned in the passage to introduce the new wave of development that has taken place. Option A is eliminated.

B: The author has introduced X-men as an example only. His arguments are not related to the creation of X-men in any way. Option B can be eliminated.

C: .....but some of them could one day swim through our bloodstream to heal us.

Throughout the passage, the author is trying to highlight the positives of the new robots. Hence, a direct extension of the argument would be the robots healing us at a microscopic level, as is hinted in the above excerpt. Option C is the answer.

D: Option D, though not entirely incorrect, is not a direct extension of the arguments presented in the passage. Unlike Option C, D has not been hinted at in the passage. Hence, it can be eliminated too.

Question 4

Which one of the following statements best summarises the central point of the passage?

Robots will use nano-robots on their feet and wheels to climb walls or move on ceilings.

Nano-robots made from molecules that react to water have become increasingly useful.

Once the stuff of science fiction, nano-robots now feature in cutting-edge scientific research.

The field of robotics is likely to be featured more and more in comics like the New X-Men.

Solution:

The author first introduces an arc of a comic book where nano-robots are used. He then goes on to show how that fiction is increasingly becoming reality. He then goes on to describe the various features present in today's nano-robots. Option C comes the closest in capturing this point, and hence, is the answer.

Option A is just one of the features of the modern nano-robots and is not the focus of the passage.

Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic materials are not the main point of contention here. Option B can be eliminated.

The author uses the example of X-men to introduce the development of technology today. His main contention is not the content of the comic books and how it would be affected by recent developments in technology. Option D can be eliminated too.