Comprehension:
Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
As I crossed the stream and began climbing the hill, the grunting and chattering increased, as though the langurs were trying to warn me of some hidden danger. A shower of pebbles came rattling down the steep hillside, and I looked up to see a sinewy orange-gold leopard poised on a rock about 20 feet above me.
It was not looking towards me, but had its head thrust attentively forward in the direction of the ravine. It must have sensed my presence though, because slowly it turned its head to look down at me. It seemed a little puzzled at my presence there; when, to give myself courage, I clapped my hands sharply, the leopard sprang away into the thickets, making no sound as it melted into the shadows.
I had disturbed the animal in its quest for food. But a little later I heard the cry of a barking deer as it fled through the forest; the hunt was still on.
The leopard, like other members of the cat family, is nearing extinction in India, and I was surprised to find one so close to Mussoorie. Probably deforestation had driven the deer into this green valley; the leopard, naturally, had followed.
It was some weeks before I saw the leopard again, although I was often made aware of its presence. A dry, rasping cough sometimes gave it away. At times, I felt almost certain I was being followed.
The reason that the leopard could be sighted so close to human settlements points to:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A fall out of deforestation
The author writes: "Probably deforestation had driven the deer into this green valley; the leopard, naturally, had followed." A fallout is a bad result of an action or event. The leopard came near human settlements as a result of deforestation.
Example: Job losses were the fallout of the factory's closure.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The impact of global warming — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage says nothing about global warming.
Option 2: A near extinction of leopards — Incorrect. Wrong reason: near extinction explains why the author was surprised to see a leopard at all ("I was surprised to find one so close to Mussoorie"), not why it came near human settlements.
Option 4: The unwarranted presence of the author — Incorrect. Wrong cause: the author's presence disturbed the leopard ("I had disturbed the animal in its quest for food"); it did not bring the leopard there. ("Unwarranted" means not needed or not justified.)
Note: The passage does say that the leopard is "nearing extinction in India", but that fact only explains the author's surprise at seeing one; it is not given as the reason the leopard was so close to people.