BA 2nd Year Question [set A]

Compulsory English (202)

Level: Bachelor / II Year / Humanities

New Course

Attempt ALL the questions.

Group "A"

1.      Read the following passage and answer the questions given below: [15]

In most discussions of environmental issues, it is generally assumed that environmental problems have affected only contemporary societies. Consider, for example, the damage to the ecology and to human health from the use of toxic pesticides, which emerged as an issue during the later decades of the twentieth century. Similarly, acid rain and air pollution are, to a great extent, the result of the burning of fossil fuel, which has characterized economic development since the early nineteenth century. However, an examination of history reveals that the negative impact of human activities on the environment goes back much further than the last two hundred years.

One of the most environmentally significant events in history was the development of agriculture approximately ten thousand years ago. Agriculture involved a massive disruption of natural ecosystems. As humans cleared areas to provide fields for crops and domesticated animals, they eliminated the native vegetation, disturbing the process by which natural nutrients were recycled back into the soil. As a result, humans had to intervene in order to sustain the new system, usually by providing water and fertilizing material.

            Questions:

a.      What the main idea of the first paragraph?

b.      What was the main cause of the interference of natural ecosystem?

c.       What caused the burning of fossil fuel and the use of toxic pesticides?

d.      What is the main theme of the last paragraph?

e.      How were native vegetation jettisoned?

2.      What are the causes of environmental crisis? How can we climb out of the crisis? Write an essay in which you explain your ideas on the topic.

OR

If you are studying English in your native country: In addition to learning your language, what are the most important social behaviors you would advise English speakers to learn in order to get along well in your culture.

3.      In the following sentences, circle the View Markers and highlight the opinions.     5

a.      Although the governments would like you to believe that its programs are helping the economy to recover, unemployment continues to rise  and investment is falling.

b.      Most people who have not lived in cultures other than their own assume that the rules for polite speech and behaviour are universal.

c.       Relation between the company and its workers worsened after the employees charged that the company wanted to destroy their union.

d.      Among Americans, a common perception is that most immigrants enter the United States illegally.

e.      People who watch a great deal of the television tend to perceive the world as more violent than it really is.

4.      Complete the following sentences with the words given below.       5

Fertile              efficient                       climate                        roots                arid                  evaporate

a.      Irrigation can change________ land into productive farmland.

b.      In an attempt to make their land more _____________, Aral Sea farmers used chemicals that ultimately damaged the soil.

c.       Our new air- conditioning system is much more_________ than the one it replaced.

d.      The _________ in some areas of the United States is quite extreme, with hot summers and very cold winters.

e.      The _____of this plant does not reach into the soil. That's why it will not grow in regions with little rainfall.

5.      Write down the words for the following meanings:                          5

a.      The condition that is caused by the bacteria or a virus in the body.

b.      To give people something that is needed.

c.       Containing dangerous bacteria, viruses or poisons.

d.      To calculate something without having exact information.

e.      To think that something is smaller than it really is.

Group "B"

6.      Read the following passage and write a long paragraph response on it. [10]

When parents watch TV with their young children, explaining new words and ideas to them, the children comprehend far more than they would if they were watching alone. This is due partly to the fact that when kids expect that TV will require thought, they spend more time thinking. What's ironic is that most parents use an educational program as an opportunity to park their kids in front of the set and do something in another room. "Even for parents who are generally wary of television," Anderson says, "Sesame Street is considered a show where it's perfectly okay to leave a child alone." The program was actually intended to be viewed by parents and children together, he says.

Because our attitudes inform TV viewing, Anderson applauds the nascent trend of offering high school courses that teach students how to "decode" television. In these classes, students learn to analyze the persuasion techniques of commercials, compare the reality of crime to its dramatic portrayal inquire into the economics of broadcasting, and understand the mechanics of TV production. Such courses, Anderson contends, teach the kind of critical thinking central to the purpose of education. "Kids can be taught as much about television as about text or computers," he says.

7.      Write any five essentials of writing introductions of essays.             [5]

8.      Focus on the ways in which you have been influenced, positively and negatively, by traditional gender roles and expectations.

OR

Discuss your personal definition of success, material or otherwise, in your professional and/or private life. What does success mean to you? How do you hope to achieve it?   [10]

9.      Analyze the qualities of good teachers and/or good students. Consider such things as goals, values, teaching and learning styles, behaviors, and character traits.

OR

Do you think you are satisfied with where you are, how you are and what you are with reference to the education system that is prevailed in our culture? [10]

10.  Complete the following chart with the equivalent male or female term. [0.5x10]

Female	Male
Lady
	Widower
Spinster
	Sissy
Housewife
	Host
Nurse
	Chairman
Stewardess
	Wizard

11.  Examine the ways in which a particular technology or form of mass media has been a Faustian bargain – a situation in which something is gained and lost at the same time.

OR

Write two or three paragraphs discussing whether you think Gardner's and Goleman's concepts of intelligence are reflected in the educational system of our country. Focus on curriculum, assessment of students' knowledge and skills. [10]