Insta–DART (Daily Aptitude and Reasoning Test) 23 January 2021

The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate option out of the given four options.

Allen’s Oscar record speaks for itself: two best actress winners (Diane Keaton in Annie Hall; Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine); four best supporting actresses; and six more nominations for women, not to mention mature, female- centred films such as Hannah and Her Sisters and Interiors. You can see why, until recently, women considered it a great honour to be cast in Allen’s movies. This apparent contradiction takes some unpicking. But there is another facet to Allen’s record with women: He is the laziest director in town. Allen’s one-movie-a-year work rate is often praised as heroic, but in order to maintain it, he barely directs his movies at all these days. This was revealed, perhaps inadvertently, by the recent book Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Movie making, in which long-time Allen chronicler Eric Lax shadowed him through the making of 2015’s Irrational Man. Allen doesn’t rehearse or prepare. He does the minimum number of takes and camera setups, never does reshoots and likes to be finished by six every evening. What’s more, he barely gives his actors any instructions at all. No wonder big stars happily work with him: compared to other directors, it’s a holiday. Knowing Allen’s hands-off approach, his films become a litmus test of acting ability. Some actors sink: Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell in Cassandra’s Dream, for example; or Justin Timberlake in Wonder Wheel. Others swim magnificently. Either way, Allen is like the disinterested pool attendant over in the corner. Hayley Atwell said on working with him: I didn’t feel directed by him at all. I didn’t have any kind of relationship with him’. And Cate Blanchett on Blue Jasmine: First day, [Allen] said, “It’s awful. You’re awful””. But Blanchett took matters into her own hands, researched the role and put in the Oscar- winning performance, despite rather than because of the director. That’s what good actors do. We can’t take away all of Allen’s credit as a writer or director, but we should give a lot more to the actors themselves. Often they have been the one to hold his movies together.

Which of the following is the main point of the author in the passage?

The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate option out of the given four options.

Allen’s Oscar record speaks for itself: two best actress winners (Diane Keaton in Annie Hall; Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine); four best supporting actresses; and six more nominations for women, not to mention mature, female- centred films such as Hannah and Her Sisters and Interiors. You can see why, until recently, women considered it a great honour to be cast in Allen’s movies. This apparent contradiction takes some unpicking. But there is another facet to Allen’s record with women: He is the laziest director in town. Allen’s one-movie-a-year work rate is often praised as heroic, but in order to maintain it, he barely directs his movies at all these days. This was revealed, perhaps inadvertently, by the recent book Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Movie making, in which long-time Allen chronicler Eric Lax shadowed him through the making of 2015’s Irrational Man. Allen doesn’t rehearse or prepare. He does the minimum number of takes and camera setups, never does reshoots and likes to be finished by six every evening. What’s more, he barely gives his actors any instructions at all. No wonder big stars happily work with him: compared to other directors, it’s a holiday. Knowing Allen’s hands-off approach, his films become a litmus test of acting ability. Some actors sink: Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell in Cassandra’s Dream, for example; or Justin Timberlake in Wonder Wheel. Others swim magnificently. Either way, Allen is like the disinterested pool attendant over in the corner. Hayley Atwell said on working with him: I didn’t feel directed by him at all. I didn’t have any kind of relationship with him’. And Cate Blanchett on Blue Jasmine: First day, [Allen] said, “It’s awful. You’re awful””. But Blanchett took matters into her own hands, researched the role and put in the Oscar- winning performance, despite rather than because of the director. That’s what good actors do. We can’t take away all of Allen’s credit as a writer or director, but we should give a lot more to the actors themselves. Often they have been the one to hold his movies together.

Which of the following can be a possible explanation of the ‘contradiction’ mentioned by the author in the first paragraph?

The passage given below is followed by a set of three questions. Choose the most appropriate option out of the given four options.

Allen’s Oscar record speaks for itself: two best actress winners (Diane Keaton in Annie Hall; Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine); four best supporting actresses; and six more nominations for women, not to mention mature, female- centred films such as Hannah and Her Sisters and Interiors. You can see why, until recently, women considered it a great honour to be cast in Allen’s movies. This apparent contradiction takes some unpicking. But there is another facet to Allen’s record with women: He is the laziest director in town. Allen’s one-movie-a-year work rate is often praised as heroic, but in order to maintain it, he barely directs his movies at all these days. This was revealed, perhaps inadvertently, by the recent book Start to Finish: Woody Allen and the Art of Movie making, in which long-time Allen chronicler Eric Lax shadowed him through the making of 2015’s Irrational Man. Allen doesn’t rehearse or prepare. He does the minimum number of takes and camera setups, never does reshoots and likes to be finished by six every evening. What’s more, he barely gives his actors any instructions at all. No wonder big stars happily work with him: compared to other directors, it’s a holiday. Knowing Allen’s hands-off approach, his films become a litmus test of acting ability. Some actors sink: Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell in Cassandra’s Dream, for example; or Justin Timberlake in Wonder Wheel. Others swim magnificently. Either way, Allen is like the disinterested pool attendant over in the corner. Hayley Atwell said on working with him: I didn’t feel directed by him at all. I didn’t have any kind of relationship with him’. And Cate Blanchett on Blue Jasmine: First day, [Allen] said, “It’s awful. You’re awful””. But Blanchett took matters into her own hands, researched the role and put in the Oscar- winning performance, despite rather than because of the director. That’s what good actors do. We can’t take away all of Allen’s credit as a writer or director, but we should give a lot more to the actors themselves. Often they have been the one to hold his movies together.

Why does the author give the example of Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell in the passage?

Analyse the passage below and answer the questions.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation: that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious altitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, as a wise man, G.K. Chesterton observed, ‘We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders’. I, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me-no, that’s too much to ask of anyone – if you can become aware of the miraculousness that I symbolise, you can help save the freedom mankind losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because – well, because I am seemingly so simple. Simple? Yes not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when you realise that there are about one and one – half billion of my kind produced in the US each year. Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye – there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labelling, graphite lead, a bit of metal and an eraser.

‘I’ in the passage, most likely, refers to:

Analyse the passage below and answer the questions.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation: that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious altitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, as a wise man, G.K. Chesterton observed, ‘We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders’. I, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me-no, that’s too much to ask of anyone – if you can become aware of the miraculousness that I symbolise, you can help save the freedom mankind losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because – well, because I am seemingly so simple. Simple? Yes not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when you realise that there are about one and one – half billion of my kind produced in the US each year. Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye – there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labelling, graphite lead, a bit of metal and an eraser.

A ‘supercilious attitude’ in this passage implies: