Second Term Exam: Compulsory English BA First Year

 

Baneshwor Multiple Campus

Shantinagar, Kathmandu

Second Term Exam 2080

Year: First                                                                                                        Full marks: 35   

Subject: Compulsory English                                                                            Pass marks: 14

                                                                                                                          Time: 1.5 hours

           

 

Candidates are required to answer the questions in their own words as far as practicable. The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

Section “A”: (Long Answer Questions)                                                     15

Answer any ONE question.

1. Write a descriptive essay on any place you have visited recently.

2. Apply four levels of interacting with a text to Parashu Pradhan’s story The Telegram on the Table.

Once more he read the telegram that lay on the table. Or rather his eyes went along its lines once again. He suddenly felt happy, although he knew that he was very tired. All day he had been out relating the entire history of the country to tourists and answering their multifarious questions. Now it seemed that some life had returned to his flagging ambitions. He smiled. A tragedy like this should have made him weep. But none of it touched him at all. It felt as ordinary as his everyday life: getting up at dawn, hurriedly rinsing out his mouth, pulling on jacket and trousers, tying a knot in his tie, then smiling at strange faces as if he knew them well.

A few days before he had met a friend; one of his best friends from his village, who had also come to the city and become trapped in some menial job. This friend knew about the tragic event and had uttered words of sympathy: "I am very sorry, Krishna. You have my heartfelt sympathy."

But this sympathy had not touched him at all. It had seemed meant for someone else. To observe convention, he had smiled nonetheless and simply said, "Thank you."

That telegram had been lying there for weeks. He always came home from the hotel in the middle of the night, and he was always tired like this. He had been caught by a pair of blue eyes or immersed in Western music. His eyes always shone when he looked at the telegram. Perhaps he had needed to receive it before he could really achieve what he aimed for. Now that he had received it, perhaps he was happy. Very, very happy indeed.

He had always tried to speak English since he was a child. He had dreamed in English and considered English his all. It had brought him a new wave of happiness. Now he explained the culture and customs in his own way: how the kumari was chosen, how the kumari was worshipped, what the horse festival was like. He thought of the foreigners staring straight at him and of Judiths and Jennies amazed by his words. His life was most enjoyable. Often he dreamed of New York skyscrapers and awoke from his dreams amazed by the Goddess of Liberty there. Or else he would imagine lying beside the ocean, playing a tape of Nepali folk songs. Sometimes he dreamed sentimentally; then he became practical again. For it was quite certain that one day Krishna would follow a tourist girl far across the skies. Unfamiliar voices were calling him from distant lands. "Come to us just once," they seemed to be saying. "We will be your guides. We will welcome you. We love you."

But then there was that telegram, which he would rather not have received. It took him back to earlier times and forced him to think about things he would prefer not to consider. The person it concerned had never meant much to him. He had never felt the need to pay much attention to her. He still lived in the city, just as he had ten years before, trying to make his seedling dreams grow. The telegram should have made him weep, but it didn't. He should have felt regret, but he didn't. He should have fasted for a while, but he didn't. That telegram should have affected him; it should have elicited some response. But the wires inside Krishna were strange. No current ran along them. Nothing ever touched him. No grief could shake his heart.

He put it out of his mind and tried to sleep. He turned the radio on low and switched off the light, but sleep would not come. All that afternoon's tourists came before him, asking, "How old is this piece of art?" "What's the importance of this?" "Is woodcarving a new tradition?" And so on and so on. He forgot them and thought about his lodgings. He paid a high rent, but there were few amenities. If he got up too late, there was no water. If he kept his light on for too long, everyone complained. All sorts of houses had been built on the empty fields in front. The open sky was a long way off. He thought he would like to move somewhere else. Then he could invite that Miss Pandey from the travel service home for dinner. But the room he rented was bad, and soon even that mundane wish dwindled away.

Then he thought of the distant hills of his home. He had not visited for many years. It would be good to go home every Dashain, he thought, to join in the dancing and dispel the emptiness of the city. He would gladly swap places with someone there, even if it were only for a few days. Or he could brag to the idle young folk. "If you've no work, come with me," he could say. "I'll fix you up with a job." But as he thought of the hill country, that woman came into his mind again the woman he did not want to define. He did not want to accept her or identify her. But a telegram had come, and there it was written, "Your wife died yesterday." There could be no doubt about what it told him. Your wife died yesterday, it said; your wife died yesterday.

It would not allow him to sleep. He pressed a switch, and the room lit up. He went to the table and read it again, forcing himself to concentrate. Your wife died yesterday, it said. Your wife died; your wife died. For weeks he had slept there within sight of that message, but tonight for some reason his mind was filled with desired and unwanted connections, thoughts of the present and the past, all of them in discord. Why couldn't he sleep tonight? Why couldn't he make sense of it and weep? Having lived alone for so long in the city, had he become like a stone? Was he incapable of thought? Suddenly angry with himself, he tore it to shreds and burst into tears. He cried and cried, he knew not how long.

 

Section “B”: (Short Answer Questions)                                                     2x10=20

Answer any TWO questions.

 

3. Read the following passage and answer the questions given below.

Communication is part of our everyday life. We greet one another, smile or frown, depending on our moods. Animals, too, communicate in the same way, much to our surprise. Just like us, interaction among animals can be both verbal and non-verbal.

Signing is one way in which animals can interact with one another. Male black-birds use their melodious songs to catch the attention of the females. These songs are usually rich in notes variation, encoding various kinds of messages. Songs are also used to warn and keep off other blackbirds from their territory, usually a place where they dwell and reproduce.

Large mammals in ocean sing, too, according to adventurous sailors. Enormous whales groan and grunt while smaller dolphins and porpoises produce pings, whistles and clicks. These sounds are surprisingly received by other mates as far as several hundred kilometers away.

Besides singing, body language also forms a large part of animals’ communication tactics. Dominant hyenas exhibit their power by raising the fur hackles on their necks and shoulders, while the submissive ones normally surrender to the powerful parties by crouching their heads low and curling their lips a little, revealing their teeth in friendly smiles.

Colours, which are most conspicuously found on animals, are also important means of interaction among animals. Male birds of paradise, which have the gaudiest coloured feathers often hang themselves upside down from branches, among fluffing plumes displaying proudly their feathers, attracting the opposite sex.

The alternating black and white striped coats of zebras have their roles to play too. Each zebra is born with a unique set of stripes which enables its mates to recognize them. When grazing safely, their stripes are all lined up neatly, so that none of them loses track of their friends. However, when danger such as hungry lion approaches, the zebras would dart out in various directions, making it difficult for the lion to choose his target.

Insects, such as the wasps, armed with poisonous bites or strings, normally have brightly painted bodies to remind other predators of their power. Hoverflies and harmless insects also make use of this fact and colour bodies brightly in an attempt to fool their predators into thinking that they are as dangerous and harmful as the wasps.

a.        How is singing used by animals?

2. How long can a whale’s grunt be heard in the ocean?
3. How do zebras react to the danger of an attacking lion?
4. How do dominant hyenas exhibit their power?
5. Which animals/birds have been mentioned in the above passage having gaudy colours?

 

4. Answer the following questions briefly and to the point. 2+4+4=10

a. What does Cox mean when he says that the end of air-conditioning will bring paperweights back

to American offices? (02 marks)

            b. Is Graham’s focus on finding causes, describing effects, or both? Explain. (The Black Table is still There)

            c. Is the essay “The Hidden Life of Garbage” a subjective or objective description of the landfill? (04 marks)

5. Make notes of the following passage by using headings and sub-headings.

We often come across situations and incidents, which appear quite contradictory to the known laws of Nature, creating doubts about the impartiality of divine justice. For instance, an honest, duty-conscious, morally elevated person is often seen caught in adversities in one form or the other, or is suddenly struck with a great misfortune in life as though he/she were being punished by God for a great sin. On the other hand, we find persons engaged in worst types of corrupt practices living in peace and prosperity. An idler wins a jackpot or inherits a fortune from unexpected quarters, whereas a hard working intelligent person is found suffering endlessly for want of basic necessities. One person achieves great success with little effort, whereas another does not succeed in spite of his best efforts. Such phenomena are popularly ascribed to the role of fate.

Unprecedented natural calamities like famine, epidemics, tornadoes and floods, damage by lightning and earthquakes and untimely death are also commonly attributed to the will of God and called predestined. Such unexpected happenings as financial loss, accidents, sudden mental/ physical disability and physical separation from a dear one are also attributed to fate.

Such unexpected adversities are rare, but they do occur in life. At times, they leave such deep imprints on the psyche, that it is not possible to ignore them. Those who are not familiar with the mysteries of divine justice become very much perplexed by such experiences and form prejudiced opinions, which, in some form or the other, hinder their mental and spiritual progress. Many become resentful towards God, blame and abuse Him for favouritism and injustice. A few even become atheists, considering the futility of worshipping God who does not respond to prayer in distress, despite their prolonged adherence to religiosity. Then there is a class of devotees who serve the saints and worship deities in expectation of some material gains. However, if they are visited with some failure, unfavourable circumstances, or mishap coincidentally, their adoration changes to contempt of disbelief.

There are quite a few believers in this world who correlate people, places and things with good and bad luck. Such superstitions have caused extreme miseries to innocent persons. The root cause for such irrational behaviour is the belief that whatever come to pass is predestined by God and the beings created by Him have absolutely no role in shaping their own destiny. Quite a few persons in this world forsake their responsibility in the mistaken belief that the gain and loss being predestined, there is no necessity of personal effort.