Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: Chocoholics…
2024
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
Chocoholics no longer need to feel guilty about their desire for chocolate. They are simply the victim of the genes, scientists have found. The so called “sweet-tooth gene” has been identified by separate teams of researchers and helps explain why some find it harder to resist chocolate bars and cream cakes. It also raises the possibility of designing a drug which could “switch off” the gene and help people resist sugary foods. Children, in particular, risk their health by eating too many sweets and chocolates
To identify the gene, research teams conducted almost identical experiments using mice which have differences in their ability to taste sweet foods. One of the team members said “A sweet taste receptor recognises the sweet content of food and initiates a cascade of events which signals to the brain that a sweet food has been eaten.” He further added, “The same gene exists in humans, so it means that if your parents have a sweet tooth then you probably will as well”.
He said, ”We have always known that some people have a sweeter tooth than others. But it has also been proved that if you are gradually exposed to less sugar, then the body becomes accustomed to less. They will be satisfied with a lower level of sweetness. Doctors warn against any form of gene therapy which seeks to deactivate the sweet gene. ”We have produced this gene through evolution because sweet foods in nature are not poisonous, they give us energy. We all need to have some sugar in our diet,” claim scientists. US researchers are using this discovery to develop artificial sweeteners without any after-taste.
The phrase ‘. . . . initiates a cascade of events’, means :
- A.
to put a stop to orderly events
- B.
to halt and hinder sequential events
- C.
signals given to the brain
- D.
to start a series of occurrences
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In an in-context-meaning question, the correct choice must paraphrase BOTH the key verb and the key noun-phrase of the quoted words in the sense the passage actually uses them — not just re-use wording borrowed from a nearby, different clause in the same sentence.
Application: The quoted words are "initiates a cascade of events." "Initiates" carries the sense of beginning or triggering something. "A cascade of events" denotes a chain or series of interconnected occurrences that follow one after another. Put together, the receptor is described as setting off a sequence of biological signals — that is, starting a series of occurrences.
Cross-check — contrasting the other readings by value:
"To put a stop to orderly events" reverses "initiates" into stopping something, and adds an "orderly" quality the phrase never states.
"To halt and hinder sequential events" again reverses "initiates" into blocking a sequence, rather than beginning one.
"Signals given to the brain" borrows the wording of a different clause later in the same sentence — where the receptor "signals to the brain" — instead of defining what "initiates a cascade of events" itself means.
Result: only the reading that preserves both senses together — beginning (initiates) plus a connected series (cascade of events) — captures the phrase's meaning: to start a series of occurrences.