Comprehension: Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
Comprehension:
Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
“Any bicycle repair shop around? Can anyone share the location please?”
That was a desperate appeal from a woman in our residents’ association’s WhatsApp group.
Her child’s bicycle needed urgent mending.
“There is one around 2 km away.” Soon came the first response.
“No. The shop shut long ago, even before COVID,” someone else chipped in.
Where have the bicycle repairers gone? The wayside mechanics who would do a gamut of
works on your bicycles for a paltry sum have almost gone extinct. These days, only children
use bicycles, and you know a mechanic needs regular customers to survive. There is a time in
almost everyone’s life when they become proud owners of their first bicycle. And there comes
a stage when we abandon the prized possession and graduate ourselves to a motorised
vehicle. Unused and unattended, the bicycles rust and disintegrate and finally end up at scrap
dealers.
City roads in Kerala have now become totally unfriendly for bicycles. A cyclist is an odd man
out on the chaotic road, an unwelcome disruptor among the automobiles arrogantly jostling
for space. There are people out there who love to bicycle to their workplaces but dare not,
dreading the reckless traffic on the way.
Is speed synonymous with progress? The transition from bullock carts to bullet trains
denotes mankind’s journey toward development. However, passion for speed and more speed
could trigger a gasping race to nowhere. To find time to relish the fruits of development, the
curve has to slow down and plateau somewhere.
A bicycle is silent like a butterfly, easy like a true friend to possess and maintain. A bicycle
symbolises fine balancing, not just on its narrow wheels but a balanced living. This simple
carbon-free mode of transport helps the rider to be healthy and heal the habitat. People who
cycle to work tend to be less stressed out at workplaces. Motorcyclists whiz past, hiding their
heads and thoughts in full-face helmets. Car owners roll up their glasses and cocoon their
mind and body from the outside world. A cyclist pedals under the open sky, opens up to
friends and fellows on the way and forgets one’s own worries. It seems egalitarianism is part
and parcel of the cycling culture.
Select the synonym of ‘unfriendly’ as used in the passage.
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Correct answer: (A) Inhospitable
Explanation
'Unfriendly' roads are roads that are hostile or unsuitable for cyclists, which is the meaning of 'inhospitable'.