IBPS RRB Office Assistant Model Paper 4

Directions (121-135) : Read the following passage carefully and answer thequestions given below it. Certain words/ phrases are given in bold in the passageto help you locate ‘them while answering some of the questions.
‌‌‌‌‌‌The wife of the headman of a village died soon after giving birth to a babyboy. The headman was inconsolable but was persuaded by his family and friendsto marry again so that the child would have someone to look after him.
‌‌‌‌Fortunately, his second wife turned out to be a large-hearted and sensiblewoman who gave the child all the love and care he would have received from hisown mother. In the course of the years she presented the headman with twomore sons, but her affection for the oldest never diminished. She treated allthree boys alike and the two younger ones never realised they had a stepbrother.When the headman passed away, the widow entrusted the responsiblities of thehousehold and the fields to the eldest son and he managed them so well that thefamily prospered. This made the neighbours envious. One day, one of them toldthe widow’s sons the truth about their eldest brother and advised them to drivehim away from the house lest he should deprive them of their share of theirfather’s property. The boys shocked at the revelation and frightened by the prospectof losing their share of the property, decided to murder him. When they told theirmother about what they planned to do, she said to them: “Don’t dirty your hands,I will get rid of him for you.
‌‌‌‌‌“That night when everybody was asleep, she suddenly jumped out of bed andstarted shouting: “Snake! Snake!” “Where ? Where did you see it, mother ?”asked the eldest son, getting up from his mat. “Alas,” said the widow. “I saw itdisappearing into your stomach.” The young man turned pale. From that day on,he lost all appetite for food and would lie on his mat the whole day long. Soon hebecame so weak that he could not even sit up on his mat. The neighbours rejoicedand took advantage of the situation. They built a wall across the widow’s courtyardand claimed a part of the house as their own. In the fields they shifted theirboundaries to enclose large portions of the widow’s lands.
‌‌‌‌‌‌The younger sons could not deal with the situation and one day they said totheir mother : “If our elder brother was not bedridden, such terrible things wouldnot have happened to us.” The widow kept quiet, but in the dead of the night sheagain started shouting: “Snake! Snake!” Everyone woke up. “Where... where didyou see it mother ?” asked the eldest son, weakly. “Son, I saw it coming out of: 11 :your stomach,” replied the woman. “It disappeared into the darkness,” From thatday on, the condition of the eldest son started improving. Soon he was able towalk into the courtyard where he saw the new wall. “Who has built this!” hethundered. The neighbours came running and meekly pulled down the wall. Thefollowing week he went to the family fields and seeing the new boundaries shouted:“Who has done this!” The neighbours trembled in fear and quickly vacated theland they had grabbed. The widow and her three sons lived in peace and harmonyever after.