Directions (1-10): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions
given below it. Certain words/ phrases have been given in bold to help you locate
them while answering some of the questions.
Among the natural
resources which can be called upon in national plans for development, possibly
the most important is human labour. Without a productive labour force,
including effective leadership and intelligent middle management, no amount of
foreign assistance or of natural wealth can ensure successful development and
modernization.
In this, one
essential factor is usually overlooked or ignored. The forgotten factor is the
role of women. Development will be handicapped as long as women remain
second-class citizens, uneducated, without any voice in family or community
decision, without legal or economic status, married when they are still
practically children and thenceforth producing one baby after another, often
only to see half of them die before they are of school age. We can enhance
development by improving ‘woman power’ by giving women the opportunity to
develop themselves.
The principle seems
established that an educated mother has healthier and more intelligent
children, and that this is related to the fact that she has fewer children. The
tendency of educated, upper-class mother to have fewer children operates even
without access to contraceptive services, as was noted in Western Europe before
the turn of the Century.
If we examine the
opportunities for education of girls or women in the less developed countries
we usually find a dismal picture. In some countries the ratio of boys to girls
in secondary schools is more than seven to one. In Afghanistan, Turkey and
Tunisia most sizeable towns have some sort of dormitory for girls. Even at the
primary school level, especially in rural areas, the number of boy students
greatly exceeds that of girls.
What happens to the
girls? Often they are kept at home to look after younger siblings and to
perform a variety of domestic chores. Their education is not perceived as in
any way equal in importance to that of boys. When an illiterate, or barely
literate girl reaches adolescence, she has little or no qualification for
employment, even if her community provides any opportunity for employment of
women. So the solution is to get her married as soon as possible, with the
inevitable result that she produces children ‘too soon, too late and too
often.’ With no education she is hardly aware that there is any alternative. In
a study made in Thailand, it was noted that the educated women marries later
and ceases childbearing earlier than her less educated counterpart. But the
uneducated village woman is so chained to her household by the necessities of
gathering fuel, preparing food and tending children that she is very difficult
to reach, even if health services, nutrition, education, maternal and child
health centres are available in her community. She cannot understand what they
are intended to do.
Not only does the
lack of education among women make the dissemination of nutrition education
difficult. It appears also to be a major obstacle to campaigns for family
planning. It is significant that one of the more successful family planning
efforts has been in Korea, where literacy is over 80 per cent. Thailand,
Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have also had more satisfactory result than,
for example, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India or Indonesia, where a large
proportion of the female population is illiterate. The education level of women
is significant also because it has a direct influence upon their chances of
employment; and the number of employed women in a country’s total labour force
has a direct bearing on both the Gross National Product and the disposable
income of the individual family.
The specific courses
of action necessary to raise the status of women must vary widely from one
country to another, but in general they should be concerned with four main
objectives which correspond with four areas of activity in the life of a woman.
First, the school: girls must have equal educational opportunities, and their
equal need for education must be recognized.
Second, the home:
women must be provided with some respite from the incessant labour and the
hazards and difficulties associated with domestic life under primitive
conditions. This could take the form of improved housing, pare water supply,
community mills, bakeries and laundries, and also the provision of day-care
centres where younger children may be left while the mother undertakes other
work, whether in the home or outside it.
Third, the community:
women must be permitted to have a voice in the affairs, not only of the
household, but also of the village or town. They must be involved in the
conduct of schools, health centres and other matters of local concern. If the
all-male society of the tea house or tavern cannot be reached, then
associations and organizations of women must encouraged and their opinions and
wishes granted equal attentions
Fourth, the law: The
legal status of women must be changed or modified to give women equal rights in
matters of marriage and divorce, property and inheritance, control over their
own earnings, and a voice in local and national government.
Until women are given
the opportunity to become ‘separate and complete’ human beings, their own
potential for productivity is wasted. Until they become separate and complete
human beings, they will perpetuate in their children those characteristics
which are least conducive to development. Viewed in this light, the education
of women and the improvement of their social, economic, legal and political
status become more than the focus of an emotional crusade for human rights.
They must be acknowledged as a prerequisite of national development and given a
high priority for strictly practical reasons.
Q1. Which of the
following is most important for the successful development and modernization of
a nation?
(a) Natural wealth
(b) Effective
leadership
(c) Foreign
assistance
(d) Productive labour
force
(e) None of the above
Q2. According to the
passage educational opportunities are
(a) more for boys
than girls in most countries
(b) same for boys and
girls in developed countries
(c) less for girls
than boys in developing countries
(d) not at all
available for girls in developing countries
(e) None of the above
Q3. A village woman
is unable to understand what different services are intended for because
(a) she is busy in
rearing children.
(b) she gathers food.
(c) she is chained to
her husband.
(d) she is
uneducated.
(e) None of the above
Q4. Very often girls
who stay at home
(a) spend their time
studying.
(b) try their best to
please their parents.
(c) have large number
of domestic duties.
(d) prepare
themselves for employment.
(e) None of the above
Q5. The main obstacle
in the family planning campaign is
(a) unemployment
among women
(b) lack of education
among women
(c) objection from
the community
(d) dissemination of
nutrition education
(e) None of the above
Q6. Even if there are
opportunities for employment, women do not usually get it because they
(a) are not educated.
(b) are inferior to
men.
(c) do not want to
work.
(d) produce children
too often.
(e) None of the above
Q7. The education
level of women is significant because it ultimately leads to
(a) increase in the
family income
(b) increase in gross
national product
(c) increase in their
chance of employment
(d) increase in
healthy children
(e) None of the above
Q8. Which of the
following will make women ‘separate and complete human beings’?
(a) Employment
(b) Nutrition
(c) Human rights
(d) Education
(e) None of the above
Q9. “They will
perpetrate in their children…………..” Here perpetuate means
(a) improve for use
(b) dissolve finely
(c) preserve forever
(d) persist long
lastingly
(e) None of the above
Q10. According to the
passage which type of women will perpetuate in their children those
characteristics which are least conducive to development?
(a) Uneducated women
(b) Educated women
(c) Village women
(d) Unemployed women
(e) None of the above
Directions (11-15): In each question, there is a sentence
with a part of the sentence printed in bold. Decide whether this bold part is
correct and fits in the grammatical and contextual framework of the sentence.
If it is to be changed, choose from option (a) to (d) to replace that part. If
not, mark (e) as the answer i.e. ‘No change required’.
Q11. Except for
you and I, everyone brought a present to the party.
(a) With the exception of you and I everyone
brought
(b) Except for you and I, everyone had brought
(c) Except for you and me, everyone brought
(d) Exception of you and me, everyone had
brought
(e) No change required
Q12. Had I
realized how close I was to falling, I would not have gone to the party.
(a) If I would have realized how close
(b) Had I realize how close
(c) When I realized how close
(d) If I realized close
(e) No change required
Q13. If he was to decide to go to college, I for one, would recommend that he go
to Yale University.
(a) If he were to decide to go to college.
(b) Had he decided to go to college
(c) In the event that he decides to go to
college
(d) Supposing he was, to decide to go to
college
(e) No change required
Q14. Being as I am
a realist, I
could not accept his statement that super natural beings has caused the disturbance.
(a) That I am a realist
(b) Being a realist
(c) Being that I am a realist
(d) Realist that I am
(e) No change required
Q15. He
failed to carry over his instructions because they were not
specific.
(a) in carrying forward
(b) to carry on
(c) carrying around
(d) to carry out
(e) No correction required
SOLUTIONS:
S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. Refer the first paragraph,
“Among the natural resources which can be called upon in national plans for
development, possibly the most important is human labour.”
S2. Ans.(c)
Sol. Refer the fourth paragraph,
“If we examine the opportunities for education of girls or women in the less
developed countries we usually find a dismal picture. In some countries the
ratio of boys to girls in secondary schools is more than seven to one. In
Afghanistan, Turkey and Tunisia most sizeable towns have some sort of dormitory
for girls.”
S3. Ans.(d)
Sol. A village woman is unable to
understand what different services are intended for because she is uneducated.
S4. Ans.(c)
Sol. Refer beginning sentences of
the fifth paragraph, “What happens to the girls? Often they are kept at home to
look after younger siblings and to perform a variety of domestic chores.”
S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. Refer the second sentences
of the sixth paragraph, “Not only does the lack of education among women make
the dissemination of nutrition education difficult. It appears also to be a
major obstacle to campaigns for family planning.”
S6. Ans.(a)
Sol. Refer the fourth sentences
of the fifth paragraph, “What happens to the girls? Often they are kept at home
to look after younger siblings and to perform a variety of domestic chores.
Their education is not perceived as in any way equal in importance to that of
boys. When an illiterate, or barely literate girl reaches adolescence, she has
little or no qualification for employment, even if her community provides any
opportunity for employment of women.”
S7. Ans.(b)
Sol. This is the ultimate result;
others are direct ones. (Last sentence of the sixth paragraph)
S8. Ans.(d)
Sol. Education will make women
‘separate and complete human beings.
S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. Here perpetuate means
preserve forever.
S10. Ans.(a)
Sol. According to the passage
unemployment type of women will perpetuate in their children those
characteristics which are least conducive to development.
S11. Ans.(c)
Sol. Replace ‘Except for you and I, everyone brought’ with
‘Except for you and me, everyone brought’.
S12. Ans.(a)
Sol. ‘Had I
realized how close’ with ‘If I would have realized how close’.
S13. Ans.(a)
Sol. ‘If he
was to decide to go to college’ with ‘If he were to decide to go to
college.’
S14. Ans.(b)
Sol. ‘Being
as I am a realist’ with ‘Being a realist’
S15. Ans.(d)
Sol. Replace ‘to carry over’ with ‘to carry out’
English Language Notes for Competitive E...
