Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow…
2019
Directions : Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
There’s an air of excitement on the platform as the train’s departure time draws close. You’ve found your name on the passenger’s list, together with the names of those in the compartment with you; so you already know your ‘fellow passengers’ names, ages, sex and destination. People are pushing past you to get on, as you show your coupon to the conductor and he tells you to board.
Your fellow passengers are settling in, staking out their claims to territory with too much luggage. A bell clangs but there is no slamming of carriage doors, no blowing of whistles and no shout of “All aboard !” as in the states. The train simply draws out of the station while people stroll alongside and with studied nonchalance, clamber on, one after the other through the still-open doors.
You claim your own seat, pleased to be on the move. Since you have a long journey ahead in the company of strangers, what happens next will govern your enjoyment of the trip. You can start up a conversation and make friends, allies quickly, or be anti-social and lonely for the whole of the journey. Of course, it depends on your personality but if you are travelling alone you’ll need an ally, someone you feel you can trust to watch your luggage when you go to the washroom. You can’t isolate yourself completely on a train so if that’s your style, train travel isn’t for you.
I get a thrill out of the start of every train journey. It’s not just the excitement of moving on to a new place, there’s the anticipation of what’s going to happen during the journey; the pleasure at the new acquaintances I’m going to make; the dissolving of city skyline into lush, rural landscape beyond the windows; and the heightened emotions of everyone on board. Indians love to travel by train; they are used to it and prepare properly so it becomes a picnic on wheels. I get excited when I am part of it, you will too.
What does the word ‘Coupon’ here mean ?
- A.
a railways pass
- B.
a passport
- C.
a railway ticket
- D.
a counterfoil
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Vocabulary-in-context questions ask you to identify the sense a word carries in the passage around it, not its most common dictionary meaning. The surrounding action -- who does what, with what document, and to what effect -- tells you which sense the word is meant to carry here.
In the passage, the narrator shows the 'coupon' to the conductor just before boarding, and the conductor then allows them to board. Presenting a document at the point of boarding, so as to gain permission to travel, is exactly the role a railway ticket plays: it is the proof of payment a passenger produces before entering the compartment.
a railways pass -- entitles the holder to make repeated journeys over a period without buying a fresh document each time; the passage describes a single presentation tied to this one departure, not a standing multi-trip pass.
a passport -- certifies a traveller's identity and nationality, mainly for international travel and immigration checks; the passage concerns boarding a domestic train, not establishing identity.
a counterfoil -- the stub retained by the issuing office or staff as their own record after the main document is handed over; the passage has the traveller carrying and showing the document, not the issuing side keeping a stub.
Since the document is carried and shown by the passenger at the moment of boarding as proof of the journey, 'coupon' here means a railway ticket.