Question

[Lê Quỳnh Anh]

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word for each of the blanks.

Understanding India's Caste System

It has been said that life is what we make of it. In other words, if we work hard and focus on our goals, we can have great careers and enjoy high status is society. However, these opportunities don’t exist for everyone. In some places, the family you are born into will decide almost everything about your life. India’s caste system is an example of this.

The caste system is a major part of the Hindu religion that has existed for thousands of years. It is a way of organizing and grouping people based on the occupation of the family. Castes will determine whom people can socialize with and their place in society. Originally, a person’s caste was supposed to be determined by their personality, but over time it has been linked to their job and family.

There are four classes, also known as varnas, in India’s caste system. The highest one is Brahmin. People in this class have jobs in education and religion. These are seen as extremely important functions for the society as they deal with the knowledge. The second highest level is the Kshatriya, or ruling class. People from this group can be soldiers, landowners, or have jobs in politics. The class beneath this is the Vaishya. These people often work in the commercial sector as merchants. The fourth class level is the Shudra. Shudras typically work as unskilled labourers doing factory or farm work, or they may also be employed as artists.

There is another group, the Harijan, that is at the bottom and considered to be outside of the caste system. For many years, they were known as Untouchables, people from this caste held the most undesirable jobs in society, such as cleaning up garbage. Furthermore, they weren’t allowed to pray at public temples or drink water from the same wells as other classes. If someone from another caste came into contact with an Untouchable, they were considered dirty and would be expected to bathe vigorously to clean themselves.

Although the caste system still exists in India, the government is taking steps to improve the living conditions and decrease unemployment rates for the Shudras and Harijan. This includes providing better health care, offering literacy programmes, and making sure that people from higher social classes do not exploit them. It seems unlikely that the caste system will disappear any time soon, but the overall conditions for those at the bottom do seem to be improving.

All of the following are true about the Harijan EXCEPT that ______.

A. they used to be known as Untouchables 

B. they had to do undesirable jobs in society 

C. any contact between someone from another caste with an Untouchable was considered unacceptable 

D. anyone from another caste coming to contact with an Untouchable is not allowed to pray at temples

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Chọn D

Tất cả những điều sau đây là đúng về Harijan TRỪ________. 
A. họ thường được gọi là tầng lớp tiện dân 
B. họ phải làm những công việc không mong muốn trong xã hội 
C. bất kỳ sự liên lạc nào giữa một người từ đẳng cấp khác với tầng lớp tiện dân được coi là không thể chấp nhận 
D. bất cứ ai từ đẳng cấp khác tiếp xúc với một tầng lớp tiện dân không được phép cầu nguyện tại đền thờ

Thông tin ở các đáp án còn lại đều được đưa ra ở đoạn 4. Thông tin trong đáp án cuối cùng không được đề cập đến trong bài. Câu cuối của đoạn 4 chỉ cho biết bất cứ người nào từ một đẳng cấp khác tiếp xúc với một người thuộc tầng lớp tiện dân, họ sẽ bị coi là bẩn thỉu và phải tắm thật sạch để làm sạch mình, không có thông tin cho thấy người đó không được phép cầu nguyện ở các đền.