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CAT 2025 Lesson : Verbal: Jul '25 to Aug '25 - CAT RC - POV method - 26 Aug
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
[CAT 2022 Slot 3]
As software improves, the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how. Applications that offer lots of prompts and tips are often to blame; simpler, less solicitous programs push people harder to think, act and learn.
Ten years ago, information scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands had a group of people carry out complicated analytical and planning tasks using either rudimentary software that provided no assistance or sophisticated software that offered a great deal of aid. The researchers found that the people using the simple software developed better strategies, made fewer mistakes and developed a deeper aptitude for the work. The people using the more advanced software, meanwhile, would often “aimlessly click around” when confronted with a tricky problem. The supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning.
[According to] philosopher Hubert Dreyfus... . our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges. The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate—after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
Nevertheless, automation’s scope continues to widen. With the rise of electronic health records, physicians increasingly rely on software templates to guide them through patient exams. The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic—and distance doctors from their patients.... Harvard Medical School professor Beth Lown, in a 2012 journal article... warned that when doctors become “screen-driven,” following a computer’s prompts rather than “the patient’s narrative thread,” their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. ...
In a recent paper published in the journal Diagnosis, three medical researchers... examined the misdiagnosis of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S., at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. They argue that the digital templates used by the hospital’s clinicians to record patient information probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision. “These highly constrained tools,” the researchers write, “are optimized for data capture but at the expense of sacrificing their utility for appropriate triage and diagnosis, leading users to miss the forest for the trees.” Medical software, they write, is no “replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking.” . . .
There is an alternative. In “human-centered automation,” the talents of people take precedence.... In this model, software plays an essential but secondary role. It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator’s perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking. The technology becomes the expert’s partner, not the expert’s replacement.
1) In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:
(1) the data collected were not sufficient for appropriate triage.
(2) the digital templates forced them to acquire tunnel vision.
(3) they used the wrong type of digital templates for the case.
(4) they were led by the data processed by digital templates.
2) In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT:
(1) a smart-home system that changes the temperature as instructed by the resident.
(2) software that offers interpretations when requested by the human operator.
(3) software that auto-completes text when the user writes an email.
(4) medical software that provides optional feedback on the doctor’s analysis of the medical situation.
3) It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was “aimlessly clicking around” because:
(1) they were hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
(2) they did not have the skill-set to address complicated tasks.
(3) they wanted to avoid making mistakes.
(4) the other group was carrying out the tasks more efficiently.
4) From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:
(1) computers could replace humans.
(2) it stunts the development of its users.
(3) it stops users from exercising their minds.
(4) it could mislead people.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
[CAT 2020 Slot 1]
Few realise that the government of China, governing an empire of some 60 million people during the Tang dynasty (618–907), implemented a complex financial system that recognised grain, coins and textiles as money.... Coins did have certain advantages: they were durable, recognisable and provided a convenient medium of exchange, especially for smaller transactions. However, there were also disadvantages. A continuing shortage of copper meant that government mints could not produce enough coins for the entire empire, to the extent that for most of the dynasty’s history, coins constituted only a tenth of the money supply. One of the main objections to calls for taxes to be paid in coin was that peasant producers who could weave cloth or grow grain – the other two major currencies of the Tang – would not be able to produce coins, and therefore would not be able to pay their taxes. . . .
As coins had advantages and disadvantages, so too did textiles. If in circulation for a long period of time, they could show signs of wear and tear. Stained, faded and torn bolts of textiles had less value than a brand new bolt. Furthermore, a full bolt had a particular value. If consumers cut textiles into smaller pieces to buy or sell something worth less than a full bolt, that, too, greatly lessened the value of the textiles. Unlike coins, textiles could not be used for small transactions; as [an official] noted, textiles could not “be exchanged by the foot and the inch” . . .
But textiles had some advantages over coins. For a start, textile production was widespread and there were fewer problems with the supply of textiles. For large transactions, textiles weighed less than their equivalent in coins since a string of coins . . .could weigh as much as 4 kg. Furthermore, the dimensions of a bolt of silk held remarkably steady from the third to the tenth century: 56 cm wide and 12 m long... The values of different textiles were also more stable than the fluctuating values of coins. . . .
The government also required the use of textiles for large transactions. Coins, on the other hand, were better suited for smaller transactions, and possibly, given the costs of transporting coins, for a more local usage. Grain, because it rotted easily, was not used nearly as much as coins and textiles, but taxpayers were required to pay grain to the government as a share of their annual tax obligations, and official salaries were expressed in weights of grain. . . .
In actuality, our own currency system today has some similarities even as it is changing in front of our eyes.... We have cash – coins for small transactions like paying for parking at a meter, and banknotes for other items; cheques and debit/credit cards for other, often larger, types of payments. At the same time, we are shifting to electronic banking and making payments online. Some young people never use cash [and] do not know how to write a cheque . . .
5) According to the passage, the modern currency system shares all the following features with that of the Tang, EXCEPT that:
(1) it uses different materials as currency.
(2) it is undergoing transformation.
(3) its currencies fluctuate in value over time.
(4) it uses different currencies for different situations.
6) In the context of the passage, which one of the following can be inferred with regard to the use of currency during the Tang era?
(1) Currency that deteriorated easily was not used for official work.
(2) Copper coins were more valuable and durable than textiles.
(3) Currency usage was similar to that of modern times.
(4) Grains were the most used currency because of government requirements.
7) When discussing textiles as currency in the Tang period, the author uses the words “steady” and “stable” to indicate all of the following EXCEPT:
(1) reliable transportation.
(2) reliable supply.
(3) reliable measurements.
(4) reliable quality.
8) During the Tang period, which one of the following would not be an economically sound decision for a small purchase in the local market that is worth one-eighth of a bolt of cloth?
(1) Paying with a faded bolt of cloth that has approximately the same value.
(2) Making the payment with the appropriate weight of grain.
(3) Using coins issued by the government to make the payment.
(4) Cutting one-eighth of the fabric from a new bolt to pay the amount.
[CAT 2022 Slot 3]
As software improves, the people using it become less likely to sharpen their own know-how. Applications that offer lots of prompts and tips are often to blame; simpler, less solicitous programs push people harder to think, act and learn.
Ten years ago, information scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands had a group of people carry out complicated analytical and planning tasks using either rudimentary software that provided no assistance or sophisticated software that offered a great deal of aid. The researchers found that the people using the simple software developed better strategies, made fewer mistakes and developed a deeper aptitude for the work. The people using the more advanced software, meanwhile, would often “aimlessly click around” when confronted with a tricky problem. The supposedly helpful software actually short-circuited their thinking and learning.
[According to] philosopher Hubert Dreyfus... . our skills get sharper only through practice, when we use them regularly to overcome different sorts of difficult challenges. The goal of modern software, by contrast, is to ease our way through such challenges. Arduous, painstaking work is exactly what programmers are most eager to automate—after all, that is where the immediate efficiency gains tend to lie. In other words, a fundamental tension ripples between the interests of the people doing the automation and the interests of the people doing the work.
Nevertheless, automation’s scope continues to widen. With the rise of electronic health records, physicians increasingly rely on software templates to guide them through patient exams. The programs incorporate valuable checklists and alerts, but they also make medicine more routinized and formulaic—and distance doctors from their patients.... Harvard Medical School professor Beth Lown, in a 2012 journal article... warned that when doctors become “screen-driven,” following a computer’s prompts rather than “the patient’s narrative thread,” their thinking can become constricted. In the worst cases, they may miss important diagnostic signals. ...
In a recent paper published in the journal Diagnosis, three medical researchers... examined the misdiagnosis of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S., at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. They argue that the digital templates used by the hospital’s clinicians to record patient information probably helped to induce a kind of tunnel vision. “These highly constrained tools,” the researchers write, “are optimized for data capture but at the expense of sacrificing their utility for appropriate triage and diagnosis, leading users to miss the forest for the trees.” Medical software, they write, is no “replacement for basic history-taking, examination skills, and critical thinking.” . . .
There is an alternative. In “human-centered automation,” the talents of people take precedence.... In this model, software plays an essential but secondary role. It takes over routine functions that a human operator has already mastered, issues alerts when unexpected situations arise, provides fresh information that expands the operator’s perspective and counters the biases that often distort human thinking. The technology becomes the expert’s partner, not the expert’s replacement.
1) In the Ebola misdiagnosis case, we can infer that doctors probably missed the forest for the trees because:
(1) the data collected were not sufficient for appropriate triage.
(2) the digital templates forced them to acquire tunnel vision.
(3) they used the wrong type of digital templates for the case.
(4) they were led by the data processed by digital templates.
2) In the context of the passage, all of the following can be considered examples of human-centered automation EXCEPT:
(1) a smart-home system that changes the temperature as instructed by the resident.
(2) software that offers interpretations when requested by the human operator.
(3) software that auto-completes text when the user writes an email.
(4) medical software that provides optional feedback on the doctor’s analysis of the medical situation.
3) It can be inferred that in the Utrecht University experiment, one group of people was “aimlessly clicking around” because:
(1) they were hoping that the software would help carry out the tasks.
(2) they did not have the skill-set to address complicated tasks.
(3) they wanted to avoid making mistakes.
(4) the other group was carrying out the tasks more efficiently.
4) From the passage, we can infer that the author is apprehensive about the use of sophisticated automation for all of the following reasons EXCEPT that:
(1) computers could replace humans.
(2) it stunts the development of its users.
(3) it stops users from exercising their minds.
(4) it could mislead people.
The passage below is accompanied by a set of questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
[CAT 2020 Slot 1]
Few realise that the government of China, governing an empire of some 60 million people during the Tang dynasty (618–907), implemented a complex financial system that recognised grain, coins and textiles as money.... Coins did have certain advantages: they were durable, recognisable and provided a convenient medium of exchange, especially for smaller transactions. However, there were also disadvantages. A continuing shortage of copper meant that government mints could not produce enough coins for the entire empire, to the extent that for most of the dynasty’s history, coins constituted only a tenth of the money supply. One of the main objections to calls for taxes to be paid in coin was that peasant producers who could weave cloth or grow grain – the other two major currencies of the Tang – would not be able to produce coins, and therefore would not be able to pay their taxes. . . .
As coins had advantages and disadvantages, so too did textiles. If in circulation for a long period of time, they could show signs of wear and tear. Stained, faded and torn bolts of textiles had less value than a brand new bolt. Furthermore, a full bolt had a particular value. If consumers cut textiles into smaller pieces to buy or sell something worth less than a full bolt, that, too, greatly lessened the value of the textiles. Unlike coins, textiles could not be used for small transactions; as [an official] noted, textiles could not “be exchanged by the foot and the inch” . . .
But textiles had some advantages over coins. For a start, textile production was widespread and there were fewer problems with the supply of textiles. For large transactions, textiles weighed less than their equivalent in coins since a string of coins . . .could weigh as much as 4 kg. Furthermore, the dimensions of a bolt of silk held remarkably steady from the third to the tenth century: 56 cm wide and 12 m long... The values of different textiles were also more stable than the fluctuating values of coins. . . .
The government also required the use of textiles for large transactions. Coins, on the other hand, were better suited for smaller transactions, and possibly, given the costs of transporting coins, for a more local usage. Grain, because it rotted easily, was not used nearly as much as coins and textiles, but taxpayers were required to pay grain to the government as a share of their annual tax obligations, and official salaries were expressed in weights of grain. . . .
In actuality, our own currency system today has some similarities even as it is changing in front of our eyes.... We have cash – coins for small transactions like paying for parking at a meter, and banknotes for other items; cheques and debit/credit cards for other, often larger, types of payments. At the same time, we are shifting to electronic banking and making payments online. Some young people never use cash [and] do not know how to write a cheque . . .
5) According to the passage, the modern currency system shares all the following features with that of the Tang, EXCEPT that:
(1) it uses different materials as currency.
(2) it is undergoing transformation.
(3) its currencies fluctuate in value over time.
(4) it uses different currencies for different situations.
6) In the context of the passage, which one of the following can be inferred with regard to the use of currency during the Tang era?
(1) Currency that deteriorated easily was not used for official work.
(2) Copper coins were more valuable and durable than textiles.
(3) Currency usage was similar to that of modern times.
(4) Grains were the most used currency because of government requirements.
7) When discussing textiles as currency in the Tang period, the author uses the words “steady” and “stable” to indicate all of the following EXCEPT:
(1) reliable transportation.
(2) reliable supply.
(3) reliable measurements.
(4) reliable quality.
8) During the Tang period, which one of the following would not be an economically sound decision for a small purchase in the local market that is worth one-eighth of a bolt of cloth?
(1) Paying with a faded bolt of cloth that has approximately the same value.
(2) Making the payment with the appropriate weight of grain.
(3) Using coins issued by the government to make the payment.
(4) Cutting one-eighth of the fabric from a new bolt to pay the amount.
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