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?
- How long can a whale’s grunt be heard in the ocean?
- How do zebras react to the danger of an attacking
lion?
- How do dominant hyenas exhibit their power?
- 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
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to American offices? (02
marks) |
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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.
