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📝 Authentic CAT Reading Comprehension Passage: Practice with a real RC passage from a previous CAT exam.
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RC Passage
Direction for the questions 9 to 12: The passage below is accompanied by a set of four questions. Choose the best answer to each question.
Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans. First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter. Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials. Now Bios is yielding us her mind—we are taking her logic.
Clockwork logic—the logic of the machines—will only build simple contraptions. Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic. We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this. It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred. So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are: self-replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning.
We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new. Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life. The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it. Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life. The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine-tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden; the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in an “unnatural” way to satisfy humans rather than calves. Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are. But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown rather than manufactured.
Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains ofHolsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control. While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution—purposeful design —which greatly accelerates improvements.
The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year. Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words. The meanings of “mechanical” and “life” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive. Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1)Human-made things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered. The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.
RC Line-wise Explanation
Paragraph 1
Original: Nature has all along yielded her flesh to humans.
Explanation: Nature has always provided humans with its resources.
Original: First, we took nature’s materials as food, fibers, and shelter.
Explanation: Initially, we used natural items for basic survival—food, clothing, and housing.
Original: Then we learned to extract raw materials from her biosphere to create our own new synthetic materials.
Explanation: Later, we developed the ability to take natural substances and convert them into artificial or man-made materials.
Original: Now Bios is yielding us her mind—we are taking her logic.
Explanation: Today, we are starting to understand and use nature’s way of thinking or organizing systems (bio-logic).
Paragraph 2
Original: Clockwork logic—the logic of the machines—will only build simple contraptions.
Explanation: Traditional mechanical logic can only create basic machines.
Original: Truly complex systems such as a cell, a meadow, an economy, or a brain (natural or artificial) require a rigorous nontechnological logic.
Explanation: More intricate systems like cells or brains need a different, more organic kind of logic.
Original: We now see that no logic except bio-logic can assemble a thinking device, or even a workable system of any magnitude.
Explanation: Only nature’s logic (bio-logic) can build truly functional, complex systems—especially thinking ones.
Paragraph 3
Original: It is an astounding discovery that one can extract the logic of Bios out of biology and have something useful.
Explanation: It’s remarkable that we can isolate and apply nature’s organizing principles outside of biology.
Original: Although many philosophers in the past have suspected one could abstract the laws of life and apply them elsewhere, it wasn’t until the complexity of computers and human-made systems became as complicated as living things, that it was possible to prove this.
Explanation: Past thinkers believed this was possible, but only now—with complex computers and systems—can we actually demonstrate it.
Original: It’s eerie how much of life can be transferred.
Explanation: It’s surprising how much biological behavior can be replicated in machines.
Original: So far, some of the traits of the living that have successfully been transported to mechanical systems are: self-replication, self-governance, limited self-repair, mild evolution, and partial learning.
Explanation: Machines have already adopted life-like traits such as copying themselves, self-control, some repair ability, slight evolution, and basic learning.
Paragraph 4
Original: We have reason to believe yet more can be synthesized and made into something new.
Explanation: We think even more biological traits can be engineered into artificial systems.
Original: Yet at the same time that the logic of Bios is being imported into machines, the logic of Technos is being imported into life.
Explanation: While machines are becoming more organic, biological life is also being shaped using mechanical logic.
Original: The root of bioengineering is the desire to control the organic long enough to improve it.
Explanation: Bioengineering is essentially about managing living organisms so we can enhance them.
Original: Domesticated plants and animals are examples of technos-logic applied to life.
Explanation: Selective breeding is a way of applying human design principles to living things.
Original: The wild aromatic root of the Queen Anne’s lace weed has been fine-tuned over generations by selective herb gatherers until it has evolved into a sweet carrot of the garden;
Explanation: Humans turned a wild, bitter root into the modern carrot by selectively breeding the best traits.
Original: the udders of wild bovines have been selectively enlarged in an “unnatural” way to satisfy humans rather than calves.
Explanation: Cows have been bred to produce more milk for people instead of just their calves.
Original: Milk cows and carrots, therefore, are human inventions as much as steam engines and gunpowder are.
Explanation: These living things are as much human creations as manufactured items like engines or explosives.
Original: But milk cows and carrots are more indicative of the kind of inventions humans will make in the future: products that are grown rather than manufactured.
Explanation: Future inventions will likely be biological—grown instead of built in factories.
Paragraph 5
Original: Genetic engineering is precisely what cattle breeders do when they select better strains of Holsteins, only bioengineers employ more precise and powerful control.
Explanation: Genetic engineering is a more controlled and advanced form of traditional animal breeding.
Original: While carrot and milk cow breeders had to rely on diffuse organic evolution, modern genetic engineers can use directed artificial evolution—purposeful design —which greatly accelerates improvements.
Explanation: Unlike old methods that depended on natural variation, genetic engineering allows for faster, intentional development.
Paragraph 6
Original: The overlap of the mechanical and the lifelike increases year by year.
Explanation: The boundary between machines and living organisms is blurring more each year.
Original: Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words.
Explanation: This merging is also visible in how we talk about life and machines.
Original: The meanings of “mechanical” and “life” are both stretching until all complicated things can be perceived as machines, and all self-sustaining machines can be perceived as alive.
Explanation: Our definitions are changing so that complex machines seem alive, and complex living systems seem like machines.
Original: Yet beyond semantics, two concrete trends are happening: (1) Human-made things are behaving more lifelike, and (2) Life is becoming more engineered.
Explanation: Beyond language, two real trends are happening: machines are acting more like living beings, and living things are being more deliberately engineered.
Original: The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.
Explanation: The supposed division between natural and man-made is fading, showing they’re more connected than we thought.
RC Paragraph Explanation
Paragraph 1 Summary
Humans have historically taken materials from nature for survival and innovation. Now, we are beginning to understand and utilize nature’s organizing logic—her "mind"—as well.
Paragraph 2 Summary
Traditional mechanical logic can't handle the complexity of life-like systems. Only nature’s logic, or “bio-logic,” is capable of assembling functional, intelligent systems.
Paragraph 3 Summary
It is now proven that the logic of living systems can be applied beyond biology. Traits like replication and learning have already been transferred to machines, opening up new possibilities.
Paragraph 4 Summary
As we import bio-logic into machines, we also impose technological logic onto life. Through practices like selective breeding, humans have long been shaping living things as deliberately as machines.
Paragraph 5 Summary
Modern genetic engineering accelerates this process by enabling targeted evolution, surpassing traditional breeding in precision and speed.
Paragraph 6 Summary
The line between machines and life is disappearing. Machines act more like living beings, while life is increasingly engineered—highlighting a fundamental unity between the organic and the artificial.
RC Quick Table Summary
| Paragraph Number | Main Idea |
|---|---|
| Paragraph 1 | Humans are now tapping into nature’s logic after centuries of using her materials. |
| Paragraph 2 | Only nature’s logic (bio-logic) can build complex, intelligent systems. |
| Paragraph 3 | Traits of life are being successfully transferred to machines. |
| Paragraph 4 | Bioengineering applies human design to life, just like machines. |
| Paragraph 5 | Genetic engineering allows rapid, targeted changes to life forms. |
| Paragraph 6 | Machines and living things are converging in function and design. |
RC Questions
Ques 9. Which one of the following sets of words/phrases best serves as keywords to the passage?
Ques 10. The author claims that, “Part of this bionic convergence is a matter of words”. Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author?
Ques 11. The author claims that, “The apparent veil between the organic and the manufactured has crumpled to reveal that the two really are, and have always been, of one being.”Which one of the following statements best expresses the point being made by the author here?
Ques 12. None of the following statements is implied by the arguments of the passage, EXCEPT:
