NinetynineCAT 2024 Slot 3 VARC Q3 Para Summary
Question 3 of the Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) section, CAT 2024 Slot 3, with CAT's official answer and a worked solution.
The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Humans have managed to tweak the underlying biology of various plants and animals to produce high-tech crops and microbes. But regulating these entities is complicated, as the framework of policies and procedures are outdated and not flexible enough to adapt to emerging technology. The question is whether regulation will ever be able to keep up with human innovation, to regulate living things, which are apt to be unpredictable and unique; to capture all the potential risks when new biological entities are introduced, or when they pass on variations of their genes?
Humans have managed to tweak the underlying biology of various plants and animals to produce high-tech crops and microbes. But regulating these entities is complicated, as the framework of policies and procedures are outdated and not flexible enough to adapt to emerging technology. The question is whether regulation will ever be able to keep up with human innovation, to regulate living things, which are apt to be unpredictable and unique; to capture all the potential risks when new biological entities are introduced, or when they pass on variations of their genes?
- AA new framework of rules and procedures for regulating the most recent research emerging from biotechnology is urgently needed, to keep up with this rapidly changing discipline.
- BCurrent regulation of biotechnology is outdated, but it is debatable if we can create a framework, imaginative and flexible, to cover all contingencies in this fast-changing area.
- CThe problem with formulating regulation for innovation in the scientific arena it that it is impossible to imagine the outcomes or risks related to the outcomes of all the research.
- DThe mercurial nature of biological entities calls for scientists to shape the regulations governing emerging technology, with regular calibration to handle variations in the field.
Answer: (B) Current regulation of biotechnology is outdated, but it is debatable if we can create a framework, imaginative and flexible, to cover all contingencies in this fast-changing area. Para Summary MCQ
Solution
- The passage says regulation is outdated and inflexible and then asks whether it can 'ever' keep up with unpredictable living things and all their risks.
- B keeps both the claim (outdated) and the open question (debatable whether a flexible framework can cover all contingencies).
- A answers the question with 'urgently needed'; C turns the question into 'impossible'; D adds scientists shaping regulation.
Shortcut. A passage ending in a question should be summarised as doubt, not as a firm conclusion.