CONTEXTUAL MEANING
Explain the contextual meaning of the bold type words and phrases.
Passage 1
Two spirits are always in conflict in human affairs: one striving for freedom, breaking out into new expressions, finding new channels; the other trying to establish exact bounds, formalising, crystallising. We find them in art and literature as the romantic and classic movements. In political life they are respectively revolutionary and conservative; in the church, reformatory against the authoritarian. Both are necessary. The one breaks new ground: the other first opposes the movement, and then, accepting it or much of it, eventually establishes the new boundaries and again marks them with rigid lines; thus far and no farther.
Because of this process the work of almost all the great reformers and revolutionaries becomes, in due course, itself hidebound and opposed to some ultimate attempt to reform it. Then, too, there is a tendency for things to slip back into the old ways, so that the work of many reformers has been to try to get back some earlier spirit or ideal. All this is true of mankind all over the world, in the East as in the West; and in the age-long history of China Confucianism has been a conservative and stabilising element. But when first K’ung-fu-tzu (whose Latinised name become Confucius to the Western world) taught his doctrines in the sixth and fifth centuries BC it was as one of those reformers who urged people to get back to an almost forgotten Golden Age of the Emperor Yao and Than when, according to legend, government, social habits, religion, and morality were firm and established. His times were those same days of civil wars and feudal strife which drove Lao-Tse to advocate that every man should find peace within himself and in the ordered ways of Nature. Born half a century after the Old Philosopher, and therefore being a young man when Lao-Tze was already old, Confucius sought the salvation of China in another direction. Let us, he said, make a good state with an ordered government and laws, let us all firmly obey these laws and those in authority over us - the Emperor in society, the father in the family ... let us draw up careful rules of conduct, private and public. So will every man be enabled to live a happy, secure and good life.
Contextual Meaning
1. crystallising:
giving an exact or definite meaning to the new discovered truths
2. authoritarian:
A religious system or faith that insists on unquestioned belief and practice and does not allow any difference of opinion
3. breaks new grounds
makes new discoveries and finds new facts.
4. establishes the new boundaries
gives definite shape to ideas that were not clearly defined previously and making the new norms as rigid as were the previous ones.
5. hidebound:
so rigid that no change is acceptable to it
6. ideal:
a perfect conception which was believed in or practised in ancient times
7. Golden Age:
A period of great peace, prosperity and happiness in the history of a nation - here in the history of Chinese nation
8. feudal strife:
the enmity and struggle for power between different land-lords.
9. every man should find peace within
Every person should live in such a way that he gets inner peace or the bliss of soul
10. salvation:
saving oneself from grief, evil or sin
11. another direction:
in a way different from someone else. It means here that Confucius advocated a different philosophy from Lao-Tze
Passage 2
Frances Bacon, a man who rose to eminence by betraying his friends, asserted, no doubt as one of the ripe lessons of experience, that knowledge is power’. But that is not true of all knowledge. Sir Thomas Browne wished to know what song the sirens sang, but if he had ascertained this it would not have enabled him to rise from being a magistrate to being High Sheriff of his country. The sort of knowledge that Bacon had in mind was that which we call scientific. In emphasising the importance of science, he was belatedly carrying on the tradition of the Arabs and the early Middle Ages, according to which knowledge consisted mainly of astrology, alchemy and pharmacology, all of which were branches of science. A learned man was one who, having mastered these studies, had acquired magical powers. In the early eleventh century, Pope Silvester believed to be a magician in league with the devil. Bacon believed - rightly as we now know - that science could provide a more powerful magician’s wand than any that had been dreamed of by the necromancer of former ages.
The renaissance, which was at its height in England at the time of Bacon, involved a revolt against the utilitarian conception of knowledge. The Greeks had acquired a familiarity with Homer, as we do with music hall songs, because they enjoyed him, and without feeling that they were engaged in this pursuit of learning. But the men of the sixteenth century could not begin to understand him without first absorbing a very considerable amount of linguistic erudition. They admired the Greeks, and did not wish to be shut out from their pleasures; they therefore copied them, both in reading the classics and in other less avoidable ways. Learning, in the renaissance, was part of the joy of life, just as much as drinking or love-making. And this was true not only of literature but also of sterner studies. Everyone knows the story of Hobbes first contact with Euclid: opening the book by chance, at the theorem of Pythagoras, he exclaimed, “By God, this is impossible”, and proceeded to read the proofs backward until, reaching the axioms, he became convinced. No one can doubt that this was for him a voluptuous moment, unsullied by the thought of the utility of geometry in measuring fields.
Contextual Meaning
1. eminence:
Bacon acquired himself a position of great distinction or superiority
2. ripe lessons of experience:
wisdom based on and gained as a result of experiences of a life-time
3. ascertained:
to know for certain, be sure of something - here it means that if Sir Thomas Browne could find out what song the siren sang.
4. belatedly:
after too long a delay. In other words, Bacon was doing something which should have been done long before
5. powerful magician’s wand:
It means here that science can provide us with means and tools which can outdo even a magician’s stick in giving us wonderful power over nature
6. renaissance;
the period during which a new interest is revived in literature, science and other modes of knowledge. Here the period during 14th and 16th century AD
7. utilitarian conception of knowledge
the belief that value of knowledge lies only in its utility and, therefore, it is a mere wastage of time to pursue such knowledge which is of no practical use for mankind
8. linguistic erudition:
a deep and much wider knowledge of the language itself. It means that they under-stood Homer only after they had learnt a great deal of Greek language, as well.
9. sterner studies:
studies of a serious nature for instance science, mathematics, philosophy etc. as compared to literature which is a pleasant study.
10. voluptuous moment:
a moment at which one has unrestrained and boundless pleasure either sensuous or sensual. Here it means that Hobbes greatly enjoyed his reading of Euclid’s theorem
Passage 3
Thomas Hardy asked me to lunch, and I bicycled over from our cottage at Studland. There were only he and I and his wife - the first Mrs. Hardy, of course, - at the meal; it was about the time when ‘Jude the Obscure’ had been published, and I was loud in my praise of that word. Mrs Hardy was far from sharing my enthusiasm. It was the first novel of his, she told me, that he had published without letting her read the manuscript. Had she read it, she added firmly, it would not have been published, or at least, not without considerable emendations. The book had made a difference to them, she added, in the country. .......
The position was awkward for me, and very embarrassing. Hardy said nothing, and did not lift his eyes from the plate. I was hard put to it to manufacture some kind of conversation, and it was a great relief when Mrs. Hardy rose, and left us to our port. Even then Hardy’s silence persisted, till I told him of a bird in our wood whose identity puzzled us; we had discovered at last that it was a corncrake. Hardy brightened at once, the cloud lighted, and we talked, talked of birds and trees, evidently a favourite subject of his, till I left.
Contextual Meaning
1. was far from sharing my enthusiasm
While the writer of this passage was all admiration for Hardy’s ‘Jude the Obscure’ Mrs. Hardy did not appreciate this novel even a little. She was finding faults with it
2. manuscript:
A writer’s hand-written or typed copy that is submitted for publication in print
3. emendations:
critical editing. changes and alterations made for the purpose of improving a book
4. awkward:
embarrassing, difficult to handle. He could not agree with Mrs. Hardy in her criticism of the novel. Yet if he persisted in his opinion, it could cause displeasure.
5. I was hard put to it:
It was very difficult, almost impossible for him. The writer could not think of another topic of conversation.
6. relief:
satisfaction. After his wife had left, the writer no longer felt awkward as before. Now he could talk without fearing to cause some unpleasant remarks by her.
7. silence persisted:
Hardy and the writer still remained silent and found it difficult to talk of something
8. identity:
The writer was not sure at first what bird it was that he had seen in his wood. He found out later that it was a corncrake.
9. the cloud lighted:
The writer’s mentioning of this bird at their wood, removed the awkward feeling caused by Mrs. Hardy’s earlier remarks
Passage 4
Shelley looked to women as a source of exaltation. Byron as a pretext for idling. Shelley, angelic, too angelic, venerated them. Byron human, too human, desired and talked of them in the most contemptuous fashion. “It is the plague of these women,” said he, “that you cannot live with them or without them... I cannot make up my mind whether or not women have souls. My beau ideal would be a woman with talent enough to understand and value mine, but not sufficient to be able to shine herself.” The upshot of certain of their conversation was surprising. Shelley, mystical without knowing it, managed to scandalise, Byron, a Don Juan in spite of himself.
Contextual Meaning
1. source of exaltation:
Shelley believed that women were a source of spiritual delight for Shelley and that they made a man very happy, elevating him in spirit.
2. a pretext for idling:
an excuse for spending time lazily and not doing any work. Byron looked at women as a means of sexual satisfaction and did not consider them worthy of his attention.
3. angelic:
Shelley believed in intellectual, rather than sensual, pleasure as such he was more like an angel as compared to Byron.
4. venerated:
had a deep regard for women and behaved towards them with heartfelt respect.
5. the most contemptuous fashion:
an insulting and scornful manner. Byron showed disrespect for women and behaved towards them in a very haughty manner.
6. the plague of these women:
the problem with these women. Byron in his disdain for women suggested that they were a necessary evil. It was impossible to live without them and yet it was difficult to live with them
7. beau ideal:
the concept of perfect beauty. Byron is talking about the type of woman who could become his ideal beloved.
8. shine herself:
to excel or distinguish herself. Byron means that he would not like his beloved to be more intelligent than him.
9. upshot:
the final result, effect, or outcome. The writer is talking about the final conclusion to which their arguments lead.
10. scandalise:
dishonour or disgrace, put to shame. When Byron is compared to Shelley with regards to his attitude towards women, he is exposed as a playboy like his character ‘Don Juan’.
Passage 5
That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely hypothetical occurrence that may occur at some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia, and North Africa tell the same story of the gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilisation exceeded it recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as now, followed soil exhaustion.
Contextual Meaning
1. ultimate consequence:
last effect, final result: The writer means that if soil erosion is not stopped in time, it will finally result in a national disaster.
2. soil erosion:
wearing away of the fertility of agriculture land. By too much cultivation, the top layer of the land gradually loses its composition of mineral and organic matters. The result is that the land becomes less fertile.
3. sweeps over:
spreads all over. It means that finally the entire agricultural land is affected by the soil erosion.
4. national extinction:
destroying a whole nation, resulting in the death of a whole race or people. When there is no food due to soil erosion, no one can survive.
5. dispense with:
to manage without. There may be things we can do without. However, we cannot survive if we have no agriculture land for growing food.
6. hypothetical occurrence:
an incident supposed to be a distant possibility and which normally cannot happen.
7. potent factors:
that which acts as a major cause. Soil erosion was one of the major causes of ruin.
8. downfall:
ruin, disaster, a sudden loss of wealth etc.
9. barren wastes:
lands which have lost their fertility and as such can no longer be used for growing crops
10: tell the same story:
point out to the same fact. The deserts of North China, Persia etc., were also once fertile lands but become barren as a result of soil erosion.
11. gradual exhaustion:
slow but constant loss of fertility of land
12. increasing demands:
a great need. With the increase in population, a great deal of food was required to feed them.
13. recuperative powers:
the ability of land to make good its loss of fertility through a natural process. It saves the land from turning practically into a desert where no crops can be grown.
14. soil exhaustion:
a complete ruin of agriculture land. It means that in the end, there is left no fertile land.
Passage 6
Fresh hazards lie in the dangerous forces which are active in space. Satellites travel above the protective atmosphere which shields our earth from radiation, and which causes most meteoritic particles to burn up before they reach the earth’s surface. The level of radicactivity is so high that in some parts a man could not survive more than a few hours. Satellites are very vulnerable to this activity. Metals can become magnatized or change their properties. Some plastics are softened or become brittle when exposed to radiation. The electronic circuits of a satellite are also sufferers, as are the delicate solar cells which the vehicle exposes during flight in order to collect fresh energy from the sun. The dangers from large meteorites are luckily much less, although no practicable protection could be found, even against a meteorite as small as child’s marble, for this would be travelling faster than any bullet and would wreak havoc with the delicate machine. On the other hand, such an eventuality need only be expected in a satelllite life of 50 years, so rare are the large meteorites. A more serious problem lies in the minute particles of dust which arrive almost every second, and which are energetic enough to roughen the skin of the space vehicle and damge exposed equipment. Shields of various kinds have had to be devised against this.
Contextual Meaning
1. hazards
A satellite has to face the additional risk or danger of exposure to radiation
2. active:
to be in operation. Radiation is a very much real danger in space.
3. protective atmosphere
It acts as a screen or shelter against radiation.
4. burn up:
destroy due to high temperature caused as result of friction in the atmosphere
5. so high
containing a large amount of radiation which could prove fatal for men.
6. survive.
Live. After being exposed to so much radiation, one is sure to die within few hours.
7. vulnerable.
Fragile, delicate. Some parts of the satellite are damaged so much that they may cause it to stop working properly
8. properties.
Attribute, characteristics. The metals may lose some of their qualities like hardness etc.
9. brittle
breakable, inelastic. The metal may no longer remain hard or elastic and as such may easily break due to tension or load.
10. sufferers:
Those parts which are damaged by radiation.
11. fresh energy.
electric current. Solar cells are light sensitive and convert the sun-light into electricity which is a form of energy.
12. practicable.
really useful or possible. Even a tiny meteorite can cause much damage and it does not look possible to protect against such harm.
13. wreak havoc.
Can do great damage. Because of its speed it can cause mch damage.
14. eventuality.
coincidence, chance happening, an accident. Having a very slim chance to happen.
15. lies in.
can be caused by
16. roughen.
make it lose its smoothness. make it rough.
17. skin of the space vehicle.
outer surface of the space rocket or satellite.
Passage 7
When man is compared with the vast worlds that dwells in space, he seems insignificant like a leaf in a forest or a grain of sand by the sea-shore. He appears to be a contemptible little thing in comparison with the might and majesty of nature. But when we consider the high moral and spiritual stature that man can attain and when we look at man’s scientific achievements – the glory of our modern intellectual life – the greatness of man dawns upon us. He has measured the stars, harnessed the lightning. He has distilled from plants and minerals invaluable medicines to fight disease and ward off death. When we think that man has accomplished in the field of science, we get convinced of his capabilities. But even then an attitude of humility is needed. We have not yet seen all things put under his feet. We see him in the midst of progress, carrying out the purposes of his being. So vast is the infinitude of nature that there are perhaps problems we will never solve, and secrets he will never discover. At every step we are conscious of our limitations in the face of overpowering nature the forces of nature that he seeks to control overcome him in the end.
Contextual Meaning
insignificant
too small to be of any importance, unimportant
2. contemptible
disgustingly inferior and not worthy of any consideration at all
3. might and majesty
the power and glory, the tremendous force and splendour (of natural objects like mountains)
4. attain
acquire, achieve, reach to
5. dawns upon us
we realise it, is revealed to us, we discover it
6. harnessed
brought under his control, man has mastered the forces of nature and can make use of
7. invaluable
highly valuable, precious,
8. ward off
escape death, keep death off, prolong life
9. accomplished
achieved,
10. put under his feet
things which seem to be within his powers of understanding
11. infinitude
boundless and having no limit or end
12. conscious
aware of, know
13. overpowering
having tremendous force which overwhelms us, irresistible
14. overcome
dominate, enslave, defeat
Passage 8
The obstacles of freedom are of two sorts: social and physical. Given a social and physical obstacle which cause the same direct loss of liberty, the social obstacle is more harmful because it causes resentment. If a boy wants to climb a tree and you forbid him, he will be furious; if he finds that he cannot climb it, he will acquiesce in the physical impossibility. To prevent resentment, it may often be desirable to permit things which are in themselves harmful such as going to Church during an epidemic. To prevent resentment, governments attribute misfortunes to natural causes; to create resentment, oppositions attribute them to human causes. When the price of bread goes up, governments say it is due to bad harvests, and oppositions say it is due to profiteers. Under the influence of industrialism, people have come to believe more and more in the omnipotence of man; they think there is no limit to what human beings can do to obviate natural misfortunes.
Contextual Meaning
harmful
something that harms or damages, injurious. It will hurt one emotionally and more bitterly.
resentment
anger for being forced to obey an order. One gets furious if told not to do something.
forbid
disallow, not to allow, not to permit, restrain
acquiesce
accept or agree
permit
to allow (although it seems unwise, risky)
epidemic
a disease that spreads widely and affects a large section of people, (cholera, typhoid etc)
attribute
ascribe to. The governments claim they are not to blame for the tragedy because it is the result of natural causes like dry season etc.
harvests
yield from crops, agricultural products
profiteers
such people who take an unfair advantage of human sufferings and make unjust profit by selling goods for cruelly high prices
omnipotence
the power or ability to do anything one wants
obviate
to remove a difficulty in such a way that it does not cause any harm. prevent, stop
misfortunes
tragic events, disasters, human sufferings
.Passage 9
A journalist has to be fully aware of the economic, cultural and scientific activity and philosophical thought of every country he visits. Not only do these reflect the spirit of the age and the prevailing trends of thought but are also inextricably linked with the political aspirations and achievements of the country. An American correspondent in Pakistan would be able to appreciate our political and intellectual progressive-ness better if he was equipped with a knowledge of dynamic philosophy and poetry of Iqbal. Very often political policies are based on economic considerations. States quarrel over land, water, minerals, oil etc and all these havean uncommon economic significance. Germany and France had haggled over the Saar coal fields for ages. Cultural delegations like ballet troupes and atheltic teams have a definite political significance today. Scientific discoveries, especially in the field of defence, give a country remarkable political power. The opinions of philosophers and economists concerning different ideologies mould public opinion and hence influence politics. The journalist has, therefore, to bealways alert with a keen desire for extensive knowledge and an enquiring mind. No work is more informative and taxing than his.
Contextual Meaning
spirit of the age
1. the way a people think, feel and behave.
2. the general trend of a people,
prevailing
existing and be accepted among a large number of people
inextricably
1. in a way that these moods of thoughts and feelings cannot be separated from their lives and so a permanent feature of life
aspirations
desires or wishes; yearnings: something that the people desire to have or do by all means
appreciate
understand in a better way so as to approve or admire
equipped
having proper knowledge and experience
dynamic
full of energy and zeal, energetic and active
considerations
reasons, grounds for action
significance
importance
haggled
attempt to decide by arguing their own rights over it
delegations
group of artists, dancers, actors etc.
mould
change and give shape to them
alert
Quick to see and understand. watchful
extensive
wide, having a large range, thorough
taxing
needing a lot of physical or mental effort
Passage 10
Some hallowed myths about the history of the family are being destroyed. We used to think that before the industrial revolution, extended kin-networks spanning several generations commonly lived together under the same roof. The nuclear family – consisting of husband, wife, and children by themselves – was pictured as a distinctly recent creation, itself a major symptom of family breakdown. But now we know that the nuclear family has been the norm throughout American history, from earliest colonial times, and in England as well since at least the sixteenth century. In fact some scholars question whether extended kin networks have ever normally bedded down together no matter how far back one goes in the record of Western Europe. In this important sense, there has been far less change than one might have imagined. Indeed some evidence exists - more in England than in America – that the first phase of industrialization brought families closer together, as relatives huddled in closely shared quarters to pool their scant resources. Of course, physical crowding does not always make for domestic peace, and such crowding was traditional for most people in both rural and urban surroundings. All in all, it is far from clear that a “golden age” for the family lies anywhere in the past, at least short of the extremes to be found in tribal and peasant societies. In every period, family life has had its drawbacks.
The key change involves attitudes prevailing within the nuclear family. Genuinely new, beginning in the eighteenth century among the aristocracy and spreading gradually across the whole of the society, was the rise of the ideal of romantic love. It is astonishing to realize that the expectations of the love as a necessary attribute of marriage is so recent. Before then marriage had been entered into much more matter-of-factly (or for property-oriented advantages among the wealthy). It was a custom to which one automatically submitted, making do with whoever of the correct social level might be locally available. Recently marriage has been made into a far more deliberate (in that sense, voluntary) act. Much higher emotional stakes therefore enter into it. In the present century, for the first time in history, it has come to be considered actually wrong to go on living with someone whom one does not love. This far more demanding expectation about the nature of marriage may lie at the root of the rising divorce rate and also tell us the most about what is distinctive in the meaning and function of the family in our own time. Our impression of the instability or breakdown of the family derives largely from the new kind of burden we have placed on it in these psychological terms. (448 words)
Contextual Meaning
Hallowed
respected highly because believed to be very important or very old.
Revolution
a sudden and great change. Here it refers to the change in the methods of production introduced by invention of machine power.
kin-networks
relatives and family members who work together in the same trade.
symptom
a physical or mental change which indicates that something is wrong with the state of affairs.
norm
something which is widely accepted in a society as the correct behaviour etc.
huddled
standing close to each other; here living together in the same house
pool
deposit with one person or put together for shared use by all the members
scant
very little and not enough, small in quantity, meagre
peasant
A class of people who earn their living by growing crops, farmers
drawbacks
shortcomings, disadvantages, negative effects of something
matter-of-factly
in a realistic manner, with an eye on the material advantages
making do
managing, trying to make it a success; here trying to live with a wife even though she is not a suitable match in terms of education and likes and dislikes
stakes
risks that one has to face (in such a marriage)
distinctive
clearly separate and different from other; here the different meaning and function of family from the old notion about it
Passage 11
The reading of good books is one of the delightful and life-giving pleasure that a man can have. There are certainly books that do harm. But it is not of such books that we are thinking. We have in mind such books as give genuine vital pleasure. First of all, books offer us an almost unlimited choice. There are books to suit all our moods. There are books of all sorts: grave and gay, rising us to the Sublime heights of thought and feeling, taking us now on a Veritable magic carpet to the land of beauty and peace. There are moments when we feel a sense of the unintelligible mystery of this world, when we are unable to find any meaning for the conflicts and contradictions of this life. At such times we can well take ourselves to books, a poem perhaps, or a story, and find in what we read an interpretation or solution of the problem that has troubled our mind.
Every good book enables us to share with the writer the thrill of creation; for every good book the result of the creative activity of a person with an observation and imagination far greater and deeper than that of common people. In reading a book into which the creative activity has fully entered, we become for the time being creators ourselves. Something of the mind of the writer becomes ours. It may be a romantic story of adventure that we read; and if there is anything of the spirit of adventure in us we shall feel the thrill as we breathlessly follow the hero from incident to incident. We project ourselves into the personality of the hero as the author must have projected himself while creating the character.
One of the great advantages of reading as source of pleasure is that we do not have to depend upon other people for the pleasure. A book and a shady nook is all that we want. Indeed when a good is giving us the delight of its company, the presence of human company may seem not only redundant but an intrusion. There is no loneliness for those who have learnt to take pleasure in the company of the great men who live for us through their timeless books. Through books we associate on terms of familiarity with the greatest minds of the world.
Few other pleasures are so edifying as is the reading of good books. Not all the books we read may be books with an intrusive tendency. But all great art edifies and if the books we read are great art we shall certainly be the wiser and better for the hours we spend in the company of books.
Contextual Meaning
Genuine
real, not false. The writer means that such books give real and true pleasure.
grave and gay
Serious or delightful. Some books are serious in nature and as such are more suitable when we are thoughtful. Others being capable of giving pleasure are more appropriate when we care more for enjoyment than serious study.
sublime
extremely good and beautiful
veritable
real; working like a real magic carpet
unintelligible mystery
a secret that is very strange and we cannot understand it
conflicts
opposing and dissimilar aspects; things which do not seem to agree with each other
contradictions
two sets of observations, beliefs, phenomena which are so opposite to each other that one must be wrong, yet both seem to be equally true. ,
thrill
feeling of extreme excitement caused by something pleasant
creative
producing or using original and unusual ideas
romantic
exciting and mysterious with a strong effect on emotions
incident to incident
from one episode to another, every detail
nook
corner; here a lonely place where no one is likely to interrupt one
redundant
unnecessary and not needed; something or someone that one no longer needs
intrusion
interruption, interference; something or someone that disturbs one and is unwanted
edifying
improving the mind and understanding
intrusive tendency
this word seems to be a typing mistake as it means the capacity to disturb or interfere. It should be edifying tendency which means the ability or trend to improve the mind and understanding.
Passage 12
There are three conceptions of history. In Carlyle’s view history is nothing but a biography of great men. Rousseau defines history as ‘the art of choosing from among many lies that one which most resembles the truth. Macaulay conceives the ideal historian as one who tells the upper currents as well as under currents of society and represent the spirit of an age in miniature. To our mind Macaulay’s conception of history as a story of men both big and small, imaginatively constructed and dramatically written is the best. But it has to be admitted that an imaginative and dramatic representation of history is likely to detract from the objective dispassion which is an essential attribute of a really great historian. Even eminent historians like Sir George Travelyan and Alfred Toynbee have not been able to achieve this ideal of objectivity of the fullest extent because of the difficulties involved in an absolutely detached interpretation of the various events and trends of life. It is for this reason that our eminent leader and historian, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, does not give a high place to Lord Macaulay, in the rank of distinguished historians. James Anthony Froude has demonstrated the truth of the dictum: “The last art of profundity is simplicity.” A historian however great is not a prophet. He cannot exactly prophesy the future. The members of the Security Council, just like the members of the League of Nations, cannot chart, far less control, the events that are yet in the womb of time.
Contextual Meaning
biography
the narration that tells about the important incidents of someone’s life.
resembles
similar, like something on the surface,
conceives
thinks, regards, opines
in miniature
on a small scale, summing up
constructed
recreated, developed
imaginative
creative, inventive, reflective, thoughtful
dispassion
objectivity, detached, impartial
eminent
distinguished, of great distinction
achieve
acquire, succeed in something after a lot of effort
detached
Showing no emotional involvement or interest
distinguished historians
prominent writers of history.
demonstrated
exhibited, show or prove
dictum
A short statement expressing advice etc.
Passage 13
The secrets of sleep were a mystery for centuries simply because there were neither the means to explore nor the need. Only when candles gave way to light, and gas to electricity, when man became able convert night into day and double his output by working shifts round the clock, did people seriously start wondering if sleep could possibly be a waste of time. Our ability to switch night into day is very recent. and it is questionable if we will ever either want, or be able to give up our habit of enjoying a good night’s sleep. However a remarkable research project has already discovered a few people who actually enjoy insomnia. Even chronic insomniacs often get hours more sleep than they think. But by placing electric contacts beside the eye and on the head, it is possible to check their complaint by studying the tiny currents we generate which reveal the different brainwaves of sleep and wakefulness. This has shown that for some people seven or eight hours of sleep a night or quite unnecessary. A lot of recent work has shown that too much sleep is bad for you, so that if you are fortunate enough to be born with a body which needs only a small amount of sleep, you may well be healthier and happier than someone who sleeps longer. Every attempt to unravel the secrets of sleep, and be precise about its function, raises many problems. The sleeper himself cannot tell what is going on and, even when he wakes, has only a very a hazy idea of how good or bad a night he has had. (273)
Contextual Meaning
mystery
something strange and unknown, something which has not been understood yet
explore
examine more carefully in order to know about it or to understand it more thoroughly
convert
Change something to another shape. Night has been made just as useful as day.
output
task or work that can be completed
round the clock
for twenty hours of day i.e. both day and night
wondering
thinking, express surprise at this achievement
recent
achieved only a short time go i.e. in near past
remarkable
surprising and worth mentioning, admirable
discovered
came to know or found about for the first time
insomnia
an unusual condition in which one remains sleepless for a long time
chronic
any disease which continues for a very long time is called to be chronic.
complaint
the expressed feeling that something is wrong with them. Here the claim that they suffer from a condition of prolonged sleeplessness
generate
produce, emit, cause to come into existence
reveal
indicate, show, bring to light, make known
unravel
discover, find out by research
hazy
vague, misty, unclear, not exact, dim,
Passage 14
The conception of an honest politician is not altogether a simple one. The most tolerant definition is one whose political decisions are not dictated by a desire to increase his own income. In this sense, Mr. Lloyd George is honest. The next stage would be the man whose political actions are not dictated by a desire to secure or preserve his own power any more than by pecuniary motives. In this sense |Lord Gray is an honest politician. The last and most stringent sense is one who in his public actions is not only disinterested but does not fall very far below the standard of veracity and honour which is taken for granted between acquaintances. In this sense Lord Morley was an honest politician. He was always an honest politician until his honesty drove him out of politics. But even a politician who is honest in the highest sense may be very harmful. One may take George III as an illustration. Stupidity and unconscious bias often work more damage than venality.
Contextual Meaning
conception
a visual picture or idea in mind, thought
tolerant
mild, not too strict, accepting without too much emphasis on exact requirement
altogether
entirely, completely, totally
dictated
determined, forced, imposed
secure
to obtain, achieve, aim at getting
preserve
maintain, make safe, keep in one’s possession
pecuniary
financial, monetary, related to riches
stringent
strict, insisting on exact requirement
standard of veracity
standard of integrity and honesty, truthfulness
taken for granted
known and accepted without doubt, to be regarded as a definite fact
drove him out
left politics by his own choice
illustration
example, instance
stupidity
folly, foolishness, lack of wisdom
unconscious bias
partiality, prejudice (though without knowing it
acquaintances,
friends, colleagues, those who know a person
venality
corruption, susceptible to bribery
Passage 15
The plague of locusts, one of the most awful visitations to which the countries included in the Roman Empire were exposed, extended from the Atlantic to Ethiopia, from Arabia to India, and from Nile and Red Sea to Greece and the north of Asia Minor. Instances are recorded in History of clouds of devastating insects crossing the Black Sea to Poland and the Mediterranean to Lombardy. It is as numerous in its species as it is wide in its range of territory. Brood follows brood with a sort of family likeness. It wakens into existence and activity as early as the month of March. But instances are not wanting of its appearance as late as June. Even one flight comprises myriads upon myriads passing imagination to which the drops of rain or the sands of the sea are the only fit comparison.; and hence it is almost a proverbial mode of expression in the East, by way of describing a vast invading army, to liken it to the locusts. So dense are they, when upon the wing, that it is no exaggeration to say that they hide the sun. And so ubiquitous are they that when they have alighted upon the earth, they simply cover or clothe its surface.
Contextual Meaning
awful
frightening, what causes fear or terror; one is terrified to see locusts landing on fields
exposed
faced the danger; these countries could not protect themselves against locust’s attack.
instances
examples;
devastating
destructive, locusts cause a heavy and widespread damage to the crops by devouring them
numerous
in a very large number
wanting
absence or lack of something, locusts normally appear in March but there are instances of their appearance till as late as in June
brood
the young generation of locusts, insects which have hatched recently.
myriad
so large in number that one cannot count them, hundreds of thousands in number
proverbial
described metaphorically, locusts are so large in number that often large armies of enemies are referred to as locusts.
invading
attacking a country,
dense
thick, they are so close to each other that one cannot see through them
exaggeration
overstatement, if we say that locust cover the sky it may appear overrating them and presenting them as much larger in number
ubiquitous
present everywhere, the locusts seem to be present all over
alight
to land and settle on earth after ending their flight
Passage 16
Mankind is faced with an alternative which has never before arisen in human history; either war must be renounced or we must expect the annihilation of the human race. Many warnings have been uttered by the eminent men of science and by authorities in military strategy. None of them will say that the worst results are certain.
What I think may be taken as certain is that already there is no possibility of victory for either side as victory has been hitherto understood, and if scientific warfare continues unrestricted, the next war would pretty certainly have no survivors.
The series of steps which I am suggesting will help us, I believe, to reach the happier alternative. But before considering these steps, I should like to comment on a point of view, advanced, as I think mistakenly, by genuine friends of peace who say that we need an agreement between the Powers never to use nuclear weapons. I believe the attempt to secure such an agreement to be a blind alley for two reasons. One of these is that such weapons can now be manufactured with a degree of secrecy that defies inspection. It follows that, even if an agreement prohibiting such weapons had been concluded, each side would think that the other was secretly making them and mutual suspicions would make relations even more strained than what they are now.
The other argument is that even if each side refrained from manufacturing such weapons while nominal peace lasted, neither side would feel bound by the agreement if war had actually broken out, and each side could manufacture many H-bombs after the fighting had begun.
There are many people who flatter themselves that in a war H-bombs would not be actually used. They point to the fact that gas was not used in the Second World War. I am afraid that this is a complete delusion. Gas was not used because it was found to be indecisive and gas masks offered protection. The H-bomb, on the contrary, is a decisive weapon against which, so far, no defence has been discovered. It follows that we must prevent large scale wars or perish. In short, the abolition of the H-bombs, which is a thing we must all desire, can only come profitably after both sides have come together in a sincere attempt to put an end to hostile relations between the two blocks. How can this be obtained?
Before any universal contracts and measures become possible two things must be achieved: first all powerful states must realise that their aims, whatever, they may be, cannot be achieved by war; second, as a consequence of the universality of this realization , the suspicion on either side that other is preparing for war must be allayed.
Contextual Meaning
alternative
the choice between two course of actions
renounced
disown, reject, decide not involve in war
annihilation
extinction, complete destruction, completely wiped out,
eminent
famous, well renowned, distinguished, those who enjoy great fame because of their learning
hitherto
so far, till very recently but no longer now
blind alley
dead end, impossible to succeed, bound to fail
defies inspection.
not possible to keep a check on
mutual suspicions
mistrust on both sides, neither of the country feels sure of the other side
refrained
desist, avoid doing something, stop producing
nominal
in name only, supposed but not real,
delusion
illusion, false belief, mistaken idea
indecisive
inconclusive, not likely to bring victory
perish
cease to exist, to be extinct, to be destroyed
abolition
to stop producing,
hostile
harsh, unfriendly, showing enmity
consequence
as a result, because of
suspicion
lack of trust, feeling that the other side is not fair in its commitment and is trying to decieve
Passage 17
The defects of ordinary system of mass education are many. They may be briefly summarized as follows. First, the system of teaching in large classes is rigid. No allowance is made for the peculiar mental constitution of the individual child, who is sacrificed to the average of the class. The class and the fixed curriculum are like the bed of Procrustes in the story: those who are too long for the bed are cut down they fit; and those who are too short are stretched. The child who is quick and talented in one subject but not in others is compelled under the current system of mass education to sacrifice his talents to his defficiencies. Thus a child may have a great talent for English and none for arithmetic.
Second, under the present system of mass education by classes, too much stress is laid on teaching and little on learning. The child is not encouraged to discover things on his own account. He learns to rely on outside help, not on his own powers. Thus he loses intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. Moreover lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied and therefore bored. He has to be forced into learning what does not interest him. The information acquired mechanically and reluctantly by dint of brute repetition is rapidly forgotten. Third, the child being bored and unoccupied is also mischievous. A strict external discipline becomes necessary, unless there is to be confusion. The child learns to obey, not to control himself. He loses moral as well as intellectual independence.
Contextual Meaning
Contextual Meaning
defects
shortcoming, faults
rigid
too strict allowing now choice
peculiar
particular
constitution
shape, nature, style of thinking or behaving
talented
extra-ordinarily intelligent
compelled
forced, made to follow against their will
deficiencies
shortcomings, what he lacks, what he does not possess
stress
too much importance is given
rely on
depend on
intellectual independence
deciding independently, mentally free to act
capacity
ability
acquired
that he learns in the process
reluctantly
unwillingly, against his better judgement
dint
force
brute
cruel, harsh, unpleasant
Passage 18
Some hallowed myths about the history of the family are being destroyed. We used to think that before the industrial revolution, extended kin-networks spanning several generations commonly lived together under the same roof. The nuclear family – consisting of husband, wife, and children by themselves – was pictured as a distinctly recent creation, itself a major symptom of family breakdown. But now we know that the nuclear family has been the norm throughout American history,from earliest colonial times, and in England as well since at least the sixteenth century. In fact some scholars question whether extended kin networks have ever normally bedded down together no matter how far back one goes in the record of Western Europe. In this important sense, there has been far less change than one might have imagined. Indeed some evidence exists - more in England than in America – that the first phase of industrialization brought families closer together, as relatives huddled in closely shared quarters to pool their scant resources. Of course, physical crowding does not always make for domestic peace, and such crowding was traditional for most people in both rural and urban surroundings. All in all, it is far from clear that a “golden age” for the family lies anywhere in the past, at least short of the extremes to be found in tribal and peasant societies. In every period, family life has had its drawbacks.
The key change involves attitudes prevailing within the nuclear family. Genuinely new, beginning in the eighteenth century among the aristocracy and spreading gradually across the whole of the society, was the rise of the ideal of romantic love. It is astonishing to realize that the expectations of the love as a necessary attribute of marriage is so recent. Before then marriage had been entered into much more matter-of-factly (or for property-oriented advantages among the wealthy). It was a custom to which one automatically submitted, making do with whoever of the correct social level might be locally available. Recently marriage has been made into a far more deliberate (in that sense, voluntary) act. Much higher emotional stakes therefore enter into it. In the present century, for the first time in history, it has come to be considered actually wrong to go on living with someone whom one does not love. This far more demanding expectation about the nature of marriage may lie at the root of the rising divorce rate and also tell us the most about what is distinctive in the meaning and function of the family in our own time. Our impression of the instability or breakdown of the family derives largely from the new kind of burden we have placed on it in these psychological terms. (448 words)
Contextual Meaning
Hallowed
respected highly because believed to be very important or very old.
Revolution
a sudden and great change in customs etc. Here it refers to the change in the methods of production introduced by invention of machine power.
kin-networks
relatives and family members who work together in the same trade.
symptom
a physical or mental change which indicates that something is wrong with the state of affairs.
norm
something which is widely accepted in a society as the correct behaviour etc.
huddled
standing close to each other; here living together in the same house
pool
deposit with one person or put together for shared use by all the members
scant
very little and not enough, small in quantity, meagre
peasant
A class of people who earn their living by growing crops, farmers
drawbacks
shortcomings, disadvantages, negative effects of something
matter-of-factly
in a realistic manner, with an eye on the matterial advantages
making do
managing, trying to make it a success; here trying to live with a wife even though she is not a suitable match in terms of education and likes and dislikes
deliberate
intentional, well- thought of
stakes
risks that one has to face (in such a marriage)
distinctive
clearly separate and different from other; here the different meaning and function of family from the old notion about it
Passage 19
In what now seem like the prehistoric times of computer history, the early post-war era, there was a quite widespread concern that computer would take over the world from man one day. Already today, less than forty years later, as computers are relieving us of more and more of the routine tasks in business and in our personal lives, we are faced with a less dramatic but also foreseen problem. People seem to be over-trusting of computers and are reluctant to challenge their authority. Indeed they behave as if they were hardly aware that wrong buttons may be pushed, or a computer may simply malfunction.
Obviously there would be no point in investing a computer if you had to check all the answers but people should also rely on their own internal computers and check the machine when they have feeling that something has gone wrong. Questioning and routine double checks must be continue to be as much a part of good business as they were in pre-computer days. Maybe each computer should come with the following warning: for all the help this computer may provide, it should not be seen as a substitute for fundamental thinking and reasoning skills.
Contextual Meaning
widespread
very common, believed by a large number of people
concern
worry, a kind of fear or doubt about something
relieving
making us free from doing things
foreseen
known before, quite expected
reluctant
not willing to do
authority
superior knowledge, expertise
aware
have knowledge, know
malfunction
not work correctly
investing
spending a lot of money on computers in the hope that it will be good for business
rely
depend, make use of
internal computers
brains, mental ability, intelligence
substitute
something that replaces another thing
Passage 20
For a decade and a half after WWII, there was optimisim in the world that we had solved, or that technology would help us solve, the old problems of hunger, disease, illiteracy – even intolerance But in the 1970’s two new realities become all too clear: one, technological progress has created new problems like pollution, unequal distribution of the benefits of modernity, and an uneasiness about the new world we have created; and two, this advance has affected only about a quarter of the world’s people. The other 75 percent is still involved in the old and bitter struggles; this is the world of the underdeveloped nations,
The picture of this underdeveloped world is a grim one. The majority of its population lives without what are considered the barest essentials in the Western world. There is a precarious balance between the amount of food available and the number of mouths to be fed; disease usually results in early death or permanent debilitation. Vagarant children fight the flies for food in the streets of Tehran; in Calcutta there are homeless masses whose only sleeping places are the city’s streets and sidewalks. For a billion and three quarter inhabitants of South Asia, the annual per capita income is only a little more than $ 100 – less than the increase in earnings reported in 1969 by the North Atlantic communities. In 1950, the lower two-third of the world’s population earned only 13 percent of the total world income; by 1970, this share had fallen to below 11 percent. The situation, in brief, grows worse not better.
Most of the underdeveloped world lies in in the Southern and Eastern parts of the globe, but it has not been thus, for centuries Europe looked to the East for riches, and the misery and poverty now epidemic in Africa were not known 200 years ago. The reasons for this tragic transition are various, chief among them the population problem, the food crisis, and the aftermath of colonialism. (330 words)
Contextual Meaning
decade
a period of ten years
optimism
hope that things will get better
intolerance
bitter
causing sorrow, sad, tragic
grim
dark, serious, grave
barest
minimum, badly needed
precarious
dangerous, full of risks
debilitation
physical disability,
vagrant
having no permanent home, in other words homeless
misery
poverty, suffering
epidemic
widespread
transition
change from one into another situation
aftermath
consequence, result
colonialism
rule by a foreign country, imperialism
Explain the contextual meaning of the bold type words and phrases.
Passage 1
Two spirits are always in conflict in human affairs: one striving for freedom, breaking out into new expressions, finding new channels; the other trying to establish exact bounds, formalising, crystallising. We find them in art and literature as the romantic and classic movements. In political life they are respectively revolutionary and conservative; in the church, reformatory against the authoritarian. Both are necessary. The one breaks new ground: the other first opposes the movement, and then, accepting it or much of it, eventually establishes the new boundaries and again marks them with rigid lines; thus far and no farther.
Because of this process the work of almost all the great reformers and revolutionaries becomes, in due course, itself hidebound and opposed to some ultimate attempt to reform it. Then, too, there is a tendency for things to slip back into the old ways, so that the work of many reformers has been to try to get back some earlier spirit or ideal. All this is true of mankind all over the world, in the East as in the West; and in the age-long history of China Confucianism has been a conservative and stabilising element. But when first K’ung-fu-tzu (whose Latinised name become Confucius to the Western world) taught his doctrines in the sixth and fifth centuries BC it was as one of those reformers who urged people to get back to an almost forgotten Golden Age of the Emperor Yao and Than when, according to legend, government, social habits, religion, and morality were firm and established. His times were those same days of civil wars and feudal strife which drove Lao-Tse to advocate that every man should find peace within himself and in the ordered ways of Nature. Born half a century after the Old Philosopher, and therefore being a young man when Lao-Tze was already old, Confucius sought the salvation of China in another direction. Let us, he said, make a good state with an ordered government and laws, let us all firmly obey these laws and those in authority over us - the Emperor in society, the father in the family ... let us draw up careful rules of conduct, private and public. So will every man be enabled to live a happy, secure and good life.
Contextual Meaning
1. crystallising:
giving an exact or definite meaning to the new discovered truths
2. authoritarian:
A religious system or faith that insists on unquestioned belief and practice and does not allow any difference of opinion
3. breaks new grounds
makes new discoveries and finds new facts.
4. establishes the new boundaries
gives definite shape to ideas that were not clearly defined previously and making the new norms as rigid as were the previous ones.
5. hidebound:
so rigid that no change is acceptable to it
6. ideal:
a perfect conception which was believed in or practised in ancient times
7. Golden Age:
A period of great peace, prosperity and happiness in the history of a nation - here in the history of Chinese nation
8. feudal strife:
the enmity and struggle for power between different land-lords.
9. every man should find peace within
Every person should live in such a way that he gets inner peace or the bliss of soul
10. salvation:
saving oneself from grief, evil or sin
11. another direction:
in a way different from someone else. It means here that Confucius advocated a different philosophy from Lao-Tze
Passage 2
Frances Bacon, a man who rose to eminence by betraying his friends, asserted, no doubt as one of the ripe lessons of experience, that knowledge is power’. But that is not true of all knowledge. Sir Thomas Browne wished to know what song the sirens sang, but if he had ascertained this it would not have enabled him to rise from being a magistrate to being High Sheriff of his country. The sort of knowledge that Bacon had in mind was that which we call scientific. In emphasising the importance of science, he was belatedly carrying on the tradition of the Arabs and the early Middle Ages, according to which knowledge consisted mainly of astrology, alchemy and pharmacology, all of which were branches of science. A learned man was one who, having mastered these studies, had acquired magical powers. In the early eleventh century, Pope Silvester believed to be a magician in league with the devil. Bacon believed - rightly as we now know - that science could provide a more powerful magician’s wand than any that had been dreamed of by the necromancer of former ages.
The renaissance, which was at its height in England at the time of Bacon, involved a revolt against the utilitarian conception of knowledge. The Greeks had acquired a familiarity with Homer, as we do with music hall songs, because they enjoyed him, and without feeling that they were engaged in this pursuit of learning. But the men of the sixteenth century could not begin to understand him without first absorbing a very considerable amount of linguistic erudition. They admired the Greeks, and did not wish to be shut out from their pleasures; they therefore copied them, both in reading the classics and in other less avoidable ways. Learning, in the renaissance, was part of the joy of life, just as much as drinking or love-making. And this was true not only of literature but also of sterner studies. Everyone knows the story of Hobbes first contact with Euclid: opening the book by chance, at the theorem of Pythagoras, he exclaimed, “By God, this is impossible”, and proceeded to read the proofs backward until, reaching the axioms, he became convinced. No one can doubt that this was for him a voluptuous moment, unsullied by the thought of the utility of geometry in measuring fields.
Contextual Meaning
1. eminence:
Bacon acquired himself a position of great distinction or superiority
2. ripe lessons of experience:
wisdom based on and gained as a result of experiences of a life-time
3. ascertained:
to know for certain, be sure of something - here it means that if Sir Thomas Browne could find out what song the siren sang.
4. belatedly:
after too long a delay. In other words, Bacon was doing something which should have been done long before
5. powerful magician’s wand:
It means here that science can provide us with means and tools which can outdo even a magician’s stick in giving us wonderful power over nature
6. renaissance;
the period during which a new interest is revived in literature, science and other modes of knowledge. Here the period during 14th and 16th century AD
7. utilitarian conception of knowledge
the belief that value of knowledge lies only in its utility and, therefore, it is a mere wastage of time to pursue such knowledge which is of no practical use for mankind
8. linguistic erudition:
a deep and much wider knowledge of the language itself. It means that they under-stood Homer only after they had learnt a great deal of Greek language, as well.
9. sterner studies:
studies of a serious nature for instance science, mathematics, philosophy etc. as compared to literature which is a pleasant study.
10. voluptuous moment:
a moment at which one has unrestrained and boundless pleasure either sensuous or sensual. Here it means that Hobbes greatly enjoyed his reading of Euclid’s theorem
Passage 3
Thomas Hardy asked me to lunch, and I bicycled over from our cottage at Studland. There were only he and I and his wife - the first Mrs. Hardy, of course, - at the meal; it was about the time when ‘Jude the Obscure’ had been published, and I was loud in my praise of that word. Mrs Hardy was far from sharing my enthusiasm. It was the first novel of his, she told me, that he had published without letting her read the manuscript. Had she read it, she added firmly, it would not have been published, or at least, not without considerable emendations. The book had made a difference to them, she added, in the country. .......
The position was awkward for me, and very embarrassing. Hardy said nothing, and did not lift his eyes from the plate. I was hard put to it to manufacture some kind of conversation, and it was a great relief when Mrs. Hardy rose, and left us to our port. Even then Hardy’s silence persisted, till I told him of a bird in our wood whose identity puzzled us; we had discovered at last that it was a corncrake. Hardy brightened at once, the cloud lighted, and we talked, talked of birds and trees, evidently a favourite subject of his, till I left.
Contextual Meaning
1. was far from sharing my enthusiasm
While the writer of this passage was all admiration for Hardy’s ‘Jude the Obscure’ Mrs. Hardy did not appreciate this novel even a little. She was finding faults with it
2. manuscript:
A writer’s hand-written or typed copy that is submitted for publication in print
3. emendations:
critical editing. changes and alterations made for the purpose of improving a book
4. awkward:
embarrassing, difficult to handle. He could not agree with Mrs. Hardy in her criticism of the novel. Yet if he persisted in his opinion, it could cause displeasure.
5. I was hard put to it:
It was very difficult, almost impossible for him. The writer could not think of another topic of conversation.
6. relief:
satisfaction. After his wife had left, the writer no longer felt awkward as before. Now he could talk without fearing to cause some unpleasant remarks by her.
7. silence persisted:
Hardy and the writer still remained silent and found it difficult to talk of something
8. identity:
The writer was not sure at first what bird it was that he had seen in his wood. He found out later that it was a corncrake.
9. the cloud lighted:
The writer’s mentioning of this bird at their wood, removed the awkward feeling caused by Mrs. Hardy’s earlier remarks
Passage 4
Shelley looked to women as a source of exaltation. Byron as a pretext for idling. Shelley, angelic, too angelic, venerated them. Byron human, too human, desired and talked of them in the most contemptuous fashion. “It is the plague of these women,” said he, “that you cannot live with them or without them... I cannot make up my mind whether or not women have souls. My beau ideal would be a woman with talent enough to understand and value mine, but not sufficient to be able to shine herself.” The upshot of certain of their conversation was surprising. Shelley, mystical without knowing it, managed to scandalise, Byron, a Don Juan in spite of himself.
Contextual Meaning
1. source of exaltation:
Shelley believed that women were a source of spiritual delight for Shelley and that they made a man very happy, elevating him in spirit.
2. a pretext for idling:
an excuse for spending time lazily and not doing any work. Byron looked at women as a means of sexual satisfaction and did not consider them worthy of his attention.
3. angelic:
Shelley believed in intellectual, rather than sensual, pleasure as such he was more like an angel as compared to Byron.
4. venerated:
had a deep regard for women and behaved towards them with heartfelt respect.
5. the most contemptuous fashion:
an insulting and scornful manner. Byron showed disrespect for women and behaved towards them in a very haughty manner.
6. the plague of these women:
the problem with these women. Byron in his disdain for women suggested that they were a necessary evil. It was impossible to live without them and yet it was difficult to live with them
7. beau ideal:
the concept of perfect beauty. Byron is talking about the type of woman who could become his ideal beloved.
8. shine herself:
to excel or distinguish herself. Byron means that he would not like his beloved to be more intelligent than him.
9. upshot:
the final result, effect, or outcome. The writer is talking about the final conclusion to which their arguments lead.
10. scandalise:
dishonour or disgrace, put to shame. When Byron is compared to Shelley with regards to his attitude towards women, he is exposed as a playboy like his character ‘Don Juan’.
Passage 5
That the ultimate consequence of unchecked soil erosion when it sweeps over whole countries as it is doing today, must be national extinction is obvious, for whatever other essential raw material a nation may dispense with, it cannot exist without fertile soil. Nor is extinction of a nation by erosion merely hypothetical occurrence that may occur at some future date; it has occurred several times in the past. Erosion has, indeed, been one of the most potent factors causing the downfall of former civilisations and empires whose ruined cities now lie amid barren wastes that once were the world’s most fertile lands. The deserts of North China, Persia, Mesopotamia, and North Africa tell the same story of the gradual exhaustion of the soil as the increasing demands made upon it by expanding civilisation exceeded it recuperative powers. Soil erosion, then as now, followed soil exhaustion.
Contextual Meaning
1. ultimate consequence:
last effect, final result: The writer means that if soil erosion is not stopped in time, it will finally result in a national disaster.
2. soil erosion:
wearing away of the fertility of agriculture land. By too much cultivation, the top layer of the land gradually loses its composition of mineral and organic matters. The result is that the land becomes less fertile.
3. sweeps over:
spreads all over. It means that finally the entire agricultural land is affected by the soil erosion.
4. national extinction:
destroying a whole nation, resulting in the death of a whole race or people. When there is no food due to soil erosion, no one can survive.
5. dispense with:
to manage without. There may be things we can do without. However, we cannot survive if we have no agriculture land for growing food.
6. hypothetical occurrence:
an incident supposed to be a distant possibility and which normally cannot happen.
7. potent factors:
that which acts as a major cause. Soil erosion was one of the major causes of ruin.
8. downfall:
ruin, disaster, a sudden loss of wealth etc.
9. barren wastes:
lands which have lost their fertility and as such can no longer be used for growing crops
10: tell the same story:
point out to the same fact. The deserts of North China, Persia etc., were also once fertile lands but become barren as a result of soil erosion.
11. gradual exhaustion:
slow but constant loss of fertility of land
12. increasing demands:
a great need. With the increase in population, a great deal of food was required to feed them.
13. recuperative powers:
the ability of land to make good its loss of fertility through a natural process. It saves the land from turning practically into a desert where no crops can be grown.
14. soil exhaustion:
a complete ruin of agriculture land. It means that in the end, there is left no fertile land.
Passage 6
Fresh hazards lie in the dangerous forces which are active in space. Satellites travel above the protective atmosphere which shields our earth from radiation, and which causes most meteoritic particles to burn up before they reach the earth’s surface. The level of radicactivity is so high that in some parts a man could not survive more than a few hours. Satellites are very vulnerable to this activity. Metals can become magnatized or change their properties. Some plastics are softened or become brittle when exposed to radiation. The electronic circuits of a satellite are also sufferers, as are the delicate solar cells which the vehicle exposes during flight in order to collect fresh energy from the sun. The dangers from large meteorites are luckily much less, although no practicable protection could be found, even against a meteorite as small as child’s marble, for this would be travelling faster than any bullet and would wreak havoc with the delicate machine. On the other hand, such an eventuality need only be expected in a satelllite life of 50 years, so rare are the large meteorites. A more serious problem lies in the minute particles of dust which arrive almost every second, and which are energetic enough to roughen the skin of the space vehicle and damge exposed equipment. Shields of various kinds have had to be devised against this.
Contextual Meaning
1. hazards
A satellite has to face the additional risk or danger of exposure to radiation
2. active:
to be in operation. Radiation is a very much real danger in space.
3. protective atmosphere
It acts as a screen or shelter against radiation.
4. burn up:
destroy due to high temperature caused as result of friction in the atmosphere
5. so high
containing a large amount of radiation which could prove fatal for men.
6. survive.
Live. After being exposed to so much radiation, one is sure to die within few hours.
7. vulnerable.
Fragile, delicate. Some parts of the satellite are damaged so much that they may cause it to stop working properly
8. properties.
Attribute, characteristics. The metals may lose some of their qualities like hardness etc.
9. brittle
breakable, inelastic. The metal may no longer remain hard or elastic and as such may easily break due to tension or load.
10. sufferers:
Those parts which are damaged by radiation.
11. fresh energy.
electric current. Solar cells are light sensitive and convert the sun-light into electricity which is a form of energy.
12. practicable.
really useful or possible. Even a tiny meteorite can cause much damage and it does not look possible to protect against such harm.
13. wreak havoc.
Can do great damage. Because of its speed it can cause mch damage.
14. eventuality.
coincidence, chance happening, an accident. Having a very slim chance to happen.
15. lies in.
can be caused by
16. roughen.
make it lose its smoothness. make it rough.
17. skin of the space vehicle.
outer surface of the space rocket or satellite.
Passage 7
When man is compared with the vast worlds that dwells in space, he seems insignificant like a leaf in a forest or a grain of sand by the sea-shore. He appears to be a contemptible little thing in comparison with the might and majesty of nature. But when we consider the high moral and spiritual stature that man can attain and when we look at man’s scientific achievements – the glory of our modern intellectual life – the greatness of man dawns upon us. He has measured the stars, harnessed the lightning. He has distilled from plants and minerals invaluable medicines to fight disease and ward off death. When we think that man has accomplished in the field of science, we get convinced of his capabilities. But even then an attitude of humility is needed. We have not yet seen all things put under his feet. We see him in the midst of progress, carrying out the purposes of his being. So vast is the infinitude of nature that there are perhaps problems we will never solve, and secrets he will never discover. At every step we are conscious of our limitations in the face of overpowering nature the forces of nature that he seeks to control overcome him in the end.
Contextual Meaning
insignificant
too small to be of any importance, unimportant
2. contemptible
disgustingly inferior and not worthy of any consideration at all
3. might and majesty
the power and glory, the tremendous force and splendour (of natural objects like mountains)
4. attain
acquire, achieve, reach to
5. dawns upon us
we realise it, is revealed to us, we discover it
6. harnessed
brought under his control, man has mastered the forces of nature and can make use of
7. invaluable
highly valuable, precious,
8. ward off
escape death, keep death off, prolong life
9. accomplished
achieved,
10. put under his feet
things which seem to be within his powers of understanding
11. infinitude
boundless and having no limit or end
12. conscious
aware of, know
13. overpowering
having tremendous force which overwhelms us, irresistible
14. overcome
dominate, enslave, defeat
Passage 8
The obstacles of freedom are of two sorts: social and physical. Given a social and physical obstacle which cause the same direct loss of liberty, the social obstacle is more harmful because it causes resentment. If a boy wants to climb a tree and you forbid him, he will be furious; if he finds that he cannot climb it, he will acquiesce in the physical impossibility. To prevent resentment, it may often be desirable to permit things which are in themselves harmful such as going to Church during an epidemic. To prevent resentment, governments attribute misfortunes to natural causes; to create resentment, oppositions attribute them to human causes. When the price of bread goes up, governments say it is due to bad harvests, and oppositions say it is due to profiteers. Under the influence of industrialism, people have come to believe more and more in the omnipotence of man; they think there is no limit to what human beings can do to obviate natural misfortunes.
Contextual Meaning
harmful
something that harms or damages, injurious. It will hurt one emotionally and more bitterly.
resentment
anger for being forced to obey an order. One gets furious if told not to do something.
forbid
disallow, not to allow, not to permit, restrain
acquiesce
accept or agree
permit
to allow (although it seems unwise, risky)
epidemic
a disease that spreads widely and affects a large section of people, (cholera, typhoid etc)
attribute
ascribe to. The governments claim they are not to blame for the tragedy because it is the result of natural causes like dry season etc.
harvests
yield from crops, agricultural products
profiteers
such people who take an unfair advantage of human sufferings and make unjust profit by selling goods for cruelly high prices
omnipotence
the power or ability to do anything one wants
obviate
to remove a difficulty in such a way that it does not cause any harm. prevent, stop
misfortunes
tragic events, disasters, human sufferings
.Passage 9
A journalist has to be fully aware of the economic, cultural and scientific activity and philosophical thought of every country he visits. Not only do these reflect the spirit of the age and the prevailing trends of thought but are also inextricably linked with the political aspirations and achievements of the country. An American correspondent in Pakistan would be able to appreciate our political and intellectual progressive-ness better if he was equipped with a knowledge of dynamic philosophy and poetry of Iqbal. Very often political policies are based on economic considerations. States quarrel over land, water, minerals, oil etc and all these havean uncommon economic significance. Germany and France had haggled over the Saar coal fields for ages. Cultural delegations like ballet troupes and atheltic teams have a definite political significance today. Scientific discoveries, especially in the field of defence, give a country remarkable political power. The opinions of philosophers and economists concerning different ideologies mould public opinion and hence influence politics. The journalist has, therefore, to bealways alert with a keen desire for extensive knowledge and an enquiring mind. No work is more informative and taxing than his.
Contextual Meaning
spirit of the age
1. the way a people think, feel and behave.
2. the general trend of a people,
prevailing
existing and be accepted among a large number of people
inextricably
1. in a way that these moods of thoughts and feelings cannot be separated from their lives and so a permanent feature of life
aspirations
desires or wishes; yearnings: something that the people desire to have or do by all means
appreciate
understand in a better way so as to approve or admire
equipped
having proper knowledge and experience
dynamic
full of energy and zeal, energetic and active
considerations
reasons, grounds for action
significance
importance
haggled
attempt to decide by arguing their own rights over it
delegations
group of artists, dancers, actors etc.
mould
change and give shape to them
alert
Quick to see and understand. watchful
extensive
wide, having a large range, thorough
taxing
needing a lot of physical or mental effort
Passage 10
Some hallowed myths about the history of the family are being destroyed. We used to think that before the industrial revolution, extended kin-networks spanning several generations commonly lived together under the same roof. The nuclear family – consisting of husband, wife, and children by themselves – was pictured as a distinctly recent creation, itself a major symptom of family breakdown. But now we know that the nuclear family has been the norm throughout American history, from earliest colonial times, and in England as well since at least the sixteenth century. In fact some scholars question whether extended kin networks have ever normally bedded down together no matter how far back one goes in the record of Western Europe. In this important sense, there has been far less change than one might have imagined. Indeed some evidence exists - more in England than in America – that the first phase of industrialization brought families closer together, as relatives huddled in closely shared quarters to pool their scant resources. Of course, physical crowding does not always make for domestic peace, and such crowding was traditional for most people in both rural and urban surroundings. All in all, it is far from clear that a “golden age” for the family lies anywhere in the past, at least short of the extremes to be found in tribal and peasant societies. In every period, family life has had its drawbacks.
The key change involves attitudes prevailing within the nuclear family. Genuinely new, beginning in the eighteenth century among the aristocracy and spreading gradually across the whole of the society, was the rise of the ideal of romantic love. It is astonishing to realize that the expectations of the love as a necessary attribute of marriage is so recent. Before then marriage had been entered into much more matter-of-factly (or for property-oriented advantages among the wealthy). It was a custom to which one automatically submitted, making do with whoever of the correct social level might be locally available. Recently marriage has been made into a far more deliberate (in that sense, voluntary) act. Much higher emotional stakes therefore enter into it. In the present century, for the first time in history, it has come to be considered actually wrong to go on living with someone whom one does not love. This far more demanding expectation about the nature of marriage may lie at the root of the rising divorce rate and also tell us the most about what is distinctive in the meaning and function of the family in our own time. Our impression of the instability or breakdown of the family derives largely from the new kind of burden we have placed on it in these psychological terms. (448 words)
Contextual Meaning
Hallowed
respected highly because believed to be very important or very old.
Revolution
a sudden and great change. Here it refers to the change in the methods of production introduced by invention of machine power.
kin-networks
relatives and family members who work together in the same trade.
symptom
a physical or mental change which indicates that something is wrong with the state of affairs.
norm
something which is widely accepted in a society as the correct behaviour etc.
huddled
standing close to each other; here living together in the same house
pool
deposit with one person or put together for shared use by all the members
scant
very little and not enough, small in quantity, meagre
peasant
A class of people who earn their living by growing crops, farmers
drawbacks
shortcomings, disadvantages, negative effects of something
matter-of-factly
in a realistic manner, with an eye on the material advantages
making do
managing, trying to make it a success; here trying to live with a wife even though she is not a suitable match in terms of education and likes and dislikes
stakes
risks that one has to face (in such a marriage)
distinctive
clearly separate and different from other; here the different meaning and function of family from the old notion about it
Passage 11
The reading of good books is one of the delightful and life-giving pleasure that a man can have. There are certainly books that do harm. But it is not of such books that we are thinking. We have in mind such books as give genuine vital pleasure. First of all, books offer us an almost unlimited choice. There are books to suit all our moods. There are books of all sorts: grave and gay, rising us to the Sublime heights of thought and feeling, taking us now on a Veritable magic carpet to the land of beauty and peace. There are moments when we feel a sense of the unintelligible mystery of this world, when we are unable to find any meaning for the conflicts and contradictions of this life. At such times we can well take ourselves to books, a poem perhaps, or a story, and find in what we read an interpretation or solution of the problem that has troubled our mind.
Every good book enables us to share with the writer the thrill of creation; for every good book the result of the creative activity of a person with an observation and imagination far greater and deeper than that of common people. In reading a book into which the creative activity has fully entered, we become for the time being creators ourselves. Something of the mind of the writer becomes ours. It may be a romantic story of adventure that we read; and if there is anything of the spirit of adventure in us we shall feel the thrill as we breathlessly follow the hero from incident to incident. We project ourselves into the personality of the hero as the author must have projected himself while creating the character.
One of the great advantages of reading as source of pleasure is that we do not have to depend upon other people for the pleasure. A book and a shady nook is all that we want. Indeed when a good is giving us the delight of its company, the presence of human company may seem not only redundant but an intrusion. There is no loneliness for those who have learnt to take pleasure in the company of the great men who live for us through their timeless books. Through books we associate on terms of familiarity with the greatest minds of the world.
Few other pleasures are so edifying as is the reading of good books. Not all the books we read may be books with an intrusive tendency. But all great art edifies and if the books we read are great art we shall certainly be the wiser and better for the hours we spend in the company of books.
Contextual Meaning
Genuine
real, not false. The writer means that such books give real and true pleasure.
grave and gay
Serious or delightful. Some books are serious in nature and as such are more suitable when we are thoughtful. Others being capable of giving pleasure are more appropriate when we care more for enjoyment than serious study.
sublime
extremely good and beautiful
veritable
real; working like a real magic carpet
unintelligible mystery
a secret that is very strange and we cannot understand it
conflicts
opposing and dissimilar aspects; things which do not seem to agree with each other
contradictions
two sets of observations, beliefs, phenomena which are so opposite to each other that one must be wrong, yet both seem to be equally true. ,
thrill
feeling of extreme excitement caused by something pleasant
creative
producing or using original and unusual ideas
romantic
exciting and mysterious with a strong effect on emotions
incident to incident
from one episode to another, every detail
nook
corner; here a lonely place where no one is likely to interrupt one
redundant
unnecessary and not needed; something or someone that one no longer needs
intrusion
interruption, interference; something or someone that disturbs one and is unwanted
edifying
improving the mind and understanding
intrusive tendency
this word seems to be a typing mistake as it means the capacity to disturb or interfere. It should be edifying tendency which means the ability or trend to improve the mind and understanding.
Passage 12
There are three conceptions of history. In Carlyle’s view history is nothing but a biography of great men. Rousseau defines history as ‘the art of choosing from among many lies that one which most resembles the truth. Macaulay conceives the ideal historian as one who tells the upper currents as well as under currents of society and represent the spirit of an age in miniature. To our mind Macaulay’s conception of history as a story of men both big and small, imaginatively constructed and dramatically written is the best. But it has to be admitted that an imaginative and dramatic representation of history is likely to detract from the objective dispassion which is an essential attribute of a really great historian. Even eminent historians like Sir George Travelyan and Alfred Toynbee have not been able to achieve this ideal of objectivity of the fullest extent because of the difficulties involved in an absolutely detached interpretation of the various events and trends of life. It is for this reason that our eminent leader and historian, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, does not give a high place to Lord Macaulay, in the rank of distinguished historians. James Anthony Froude has demonstrated the truth of the dictum: “The last art of profundity is simplicity.” A historian however great is not a prophet. He cannot exactly prophesy the future. The members of the Security Council, just like the members of the League of Nations, cannot chart, far less control, the events that are yet in the womb of time.
Contextual Meaning
biography
the narration that tells about the important incidents of someone’s life.
resembles
similar, like something on the surface,
conceives
thinks, regards, opines
in miniature
on a small scale, summing up
constructed
recreated, developed
imaginative
creative, inventive, reflective, thoughtful
dispassion
objectivity, detached, impartial
eminent
distinguished, of great distinction
achieve
acquire, succeed in something after a lot of effort
detached
Showing no emotional involvement or interest
distinguished historians
prominent writers of history.
demonstrated
exhibited, show or prove
dictum
A short statement expressing advice etc.
Passage 13
The secrets of sleep were a mystery for centuries simply because there were neither the means to explore nor the need. Only when candles gave way to light, and gas to electricity, when man became able convert night into day and double his output by working shifts round the clock, did people seriously start wondering if sleep could possibly be a waste of time. Our ability to switch night into day is very recent. and it is questionable if we will ever either want, or be able to give up our habit of enjoying a good night’s sleep. However a remarkable research project has already discovered a few people who actually enjoy insomnia. Even chronic insomniacs often get hours more sleep than they think. But by placing electric contacts beside the eye and on the head, it is possible to check their complaint by studying the tiny currents we generate which reveal the different brainwaves of sleep and wakefulness. This has shown that for some people seven or eight hours of sleep a night or quite unnecessary. A lot of recent work has shown that too much sleep is bad for you, so that if you are fortunate enough to be born with a body which needs only a small amount of sleep, you may well be healthier and happier than someone who sleeps longer. Every attempt to unravel the secrets of sleep, and be precise about its function, raises many problems. The sleeper himself cannot tell what is going on and, even when he wakes, has only a very a hazy idea of how good or bad a night he has had. (273)
Contextual Meaning
mystery
something strange and unknown, something which has not been understood yet
explore
examine more carefully in order to know about it or to understand it more thoroughly
convert
Change something to another shape. Night has been made just as useful as day.
output
task or work that can be completed
round the clock
for twenty hours of day i.e. both day and night
wondering
thinking, express surprise at this achievement
recent
achieved only a short time go i.e. in near past
remarkable
surprising and worth mentioning, admirable
discovered
came to know or found about for the first time
insomnia
an unusual condition in which one remains sleepless for a long time
chronic
any disease which continues for a very long time is called to be chronic.
complaint
the expressed feeling that something is wrong with them. Here the claim that they suffer from a condition of prolonged sleeplessness
generate
produce, emit, cause to come into existence
reveal
indicate, show, bring to light, make known
unravel
discover, find out by research
hazy
vague, misty, unclear, not exact, dim,
Passage 14
The conception of an honest politician is not altogether a simple one. The most tolerant definition is one whose political decisions are not dictated by a desire to increase his own income. In this sense, Mr. Lloyd George is honest. The next stage would be the man whose political actions are not dictated by a desire to secure or preserve his own power any more than by pecuniary motives. In this sense |Lord Gray is an honest politician. The last and most stringent sense is one who in his public actions is not only disinterested but does not fall very far below the standard of veracity and honour which is taken for granted between acquaintances. In this sense Lord Morley was an honest politician. He was always an honest politician until his honesty drove him out of politics. But even a politician who is honest in the highest sense may be very harmful. One may take George III as an illustration. Stupidity and unconscious bias often work more damage than venality.
Contextual Meaning
conception
a visual picture or idea in mind, thought
tolerant
mild, not too strict, accepting without too much emphasis on exact requirement
altogether
entirely, completely, totally
dictated
determined, forced, imposed
secure
to obtain, achieve, aim at getting
preserve
maintain, make safe, keep in one’s possession
pecuniary
financial, monetary, related to riches
stringent
strict, insisting on exact requirement
standard of veracity
standard of integrity and honesty, truthfulness
taken for granted
known and accepted without doubt, to be regarded as a definite fact
drove him out
left politics by his own choice
illustration
example, instance
stupidity
folly, foolishness, lack of wisdom
unconscious bias
partiality, prejudice (though without knowing it
acquaintances,
friends, colleagues, those who know a person
venality
corruption, susceptible to bribery
Passage 15
The plague of locusts, one of the most awful visitations to which the countries included in the Roman Empire were exposed, extended from the Atlantic to Ethiopia, from Arabia to India, and from Nile and Red Sea to Greece and the north of Asia Minor. Instances are recorded in History of clouds of devastating insects crossing the Black Sea to Poland and the Mediterranean to Lombardy. It is as numerous in its species as it is wide in its range of territory. Brood follows brood with a sort of family likeness. It wakens into existence and activity as early as the month of March. But instances are not wanting of its appearance as late as June. Even one flight comprises myriads upon myriads passing imagination to which the drops of rain or the sands of the sea are the only fit comparison.; and hence it is almost a proverbial mode of expression in the East, by way of describing a vast invading army, to liken it to the locusts. So dense are they, when upon the wing, that it is no exaggeration to say that they hide the sun. And so ubiquitous are they that when they have alighted upon the earth, they simply cover or clothe its surface.
Contextual Meaning
awful
frightening, what causes fear or terror; one is terrified to see locusts landing on fields
exposed
faced the danger; these countries could not protect themselves against locust’s attack.
instances
examples;
devastating
destructive, locusts cause a heavy and widespread damage to the crops by devouring them
numerous
in a very large number
wanting
absence or lack of something, locusts normally appear in March but there are instances of their appearance till as late as in June
brood
the young generation of locusts, insects which have hatched recently.
myriad
so large in number that one cannot count them, hundreds of thousands in number
proverbial
described metaphorically, locusts are so large in number that often large armies of enemies are referred to as locusts.
invading
attacking a country,
dense
thick, they are so close to each other that one cannot see through them
exaggeration
overstatement, if we say that locust cover the sky it may appear overrating them and presenting them as much larger in number
ubiquitous
present everywhere, the locusts seem to be present all over
alight
to land and settle on earth after ending their flight
Passage 16
Mankind is faced with an alternative which has never before arisen in human history; either war must be renounced or we must expect the annihilation of the human race. Many warnings have been uttered by the eminent men of science and by authorities in military strategy. None of them will say that the worst results are certain.
What I think may be taken as certain is that already there is no possibility of victory for either side as victory has been hitherto understood, and if scientific warfare continues unrestricted, the next war would pretty certainly have no survivors.
The series of steps which I am suggesting will help us, I believe, to reach the happier alternative. But before considering these steps, I should like to comment on a point of view, advanced, as I think mistakenly, by genuine friends of peace who say that we need an agreement between the Powers never to use nuclear weapons. I believe the attempt to secure such an agreement to be a blind alley for two reasons. One of these is that such weapons can now be manufactured with a degree of secrecy that defies inspection. It follows that, even if an agreement prohibiting such weapons had been concluded, each side would think that the other was secretly making them and mutual suspicions would make relations even more strained than what they are now.
The other argument is that even if each side refrained from manufacturing such weapons while nominal peace lasted, neither side would feel bound by the agreement if war had actually broken out, and each side could manufacture many H-bombs after the fighting had begun.
There are many people who flatter themselves that in a war H-bombs would not be actually used. They point to the fact that gas was not used in the Second World War. I am afraid that this is a complete delusion. Gas was not used because it was found to be indecisive and gas masks offered protection. The H-bomb, on the contrary, is a decisive weapon against which, so far, no defence has been discovered. It follows that we must prevent large scale wars or perish. In short, the abolition of the H-bombs, which is a thing we must all desire, can only come profitably after both sides have come together in a sincere attempt to put an end to hostile relations between the two blocks. How can this be obtained?
Before any universal contracts and measures become possible two things must be achieved: first all powerful states must realise that their aims, whatever, they may be, cannot be achieved by war; second, as a consequence of the universality of this realization , the suspicion on either side that other is preparing for war must be allayed.
Contextual Meaning
alternative
the choice between two course of actions
renounced
disown, reject, decide not involve in war
annihilation
extinction, complete destruction, completely wiped out,
eminent
famous, well renowned, distinguished, those who enjoy great fame because of their learning
hitherto
so far, till very recently but no longer now
blind alley
dead end, impossible to succeed, bound to fail
defies inspection.
not possible to keep a check on
mutual suspicions
mistrust on both sides, neither of the country feels sure of the other side
refrained
desist, avoid doing something, stop producing
nominal
in name only, supposed but not real,
delusion
illusion, false belief, mistaken idea
indecisive
inconclusive, not likely to bring victory
perish
cease to exist, to be extinct, to be destroyed
abolition
to stop producing,
hostile
harsh, unfriendly, showing enmity
consequence
as a result, because of
suspicion
lack of trust, feeling that the other side is not fair in its commitment and is trying to decieve
Passage 17
The defects of ordinary system of mass education are many. They may be briefly summarized as follows. First, the system of teaching in large classes is rigid. No allowance is made for the peculiar mental constitution of the individual child, who is sacrificed to the average of the class. The class and the fixed curriculum are like the bed of Procrustes in the story: those who are too long for the bed are cut down they fit; and those who are too short are stretched. The child who is quick and talented in one subject but not in others is compelled under the current system of mass education to sacrifice his talents to his defficiencies. Thus a child may have a great talent for English and none for arithmetic.
Second, under the present system of mass education by classes, too much stress is laid on teaching and little on learning. The child is not encouraged to discover things on his own account. He learns to rely on outside help, not on his own powers. Thus he loses intellectual independence and all capacity to judge for himself. Moreover lessons in class leave him mainly unoccupied and therefore bored. He has to be forced into learning what does not interest him. The information acquired mechanically and reluctantly by dint of brute repetition is rapidly forgotten. Third, the child being bored and unoccupied is also mischievous. A strict external discipline becomes necessary, unless there is to be confusion. The child learns to obey, not to control himself. He loses moral as well as intellectual independence.
Contextual Meaning
Contextual Meaning
defects
shortcoming, faults
rigid
too strict allowing now choice
peculiar
particular
constitution
shape, nature, style of thinking or behaving
talented
extra-ordinarily intelligent
compelled
forced, made to follow against their will
deficiencies
shortcomings, what he lacks, what he does not possess
stress
too much importance is given
rely on
depend on
intellectual independence
deciding independently, mentally free to act
capacity
ability
acquired
that he learns in the process
reluctantly
unwillingly, against his better judgement
dint
force
brute
cruel, harsh, unpleasant
Passage 18
Some hallowed myths about the history of the family are being destroyed. We used to think that before the industrial revolution, extended kin-networks spanning several generations commonly lived together under the same roof. The nuclear family – consisting of husband, wife, and children by themselves – was pictured as a distinctly recent creation, itself a major symptom of family breakdown. But now we know that the nuclear family has been the norm throughout American history,from earliest colonial times, and in England as well since at least the sixteenth century. In fact some scholars question whether extended kin networks have ever normally bedded down together no matter how far back one goes in the record of Western Europe. In this important sense, there has been far less change than one might have imagined. Indeed some evidence exists - more in England than in America – that the first phase of industrialization brought families closer together, as relatives huddled in closely shared quarters to pool their scant resources. Of course, physical crowding does not always make for domestic peace, and such crowding was traditional for most people in both rural and urban surroundings. All in all, it is far from clear that a “golden age” for the family lies anywhere in the past, at least short of the extremes to be found in tribal and peasant societies. In every period, family life has had its drawbacks.
The key change involves attitudes prevailing within the nuclear family. Genuinely new, beginning in the eighteenth century among the aristocracy and spreading gradually across the whole of the society, was the rise of the ideal of romantic love. It is astonishing to realize that the expectations of the love as a necessary attribute of marriage is so recent. Before then marriage had been entered into much more matter-of-factly (or for property-oriented advantages among the wealthy). It was a custom to which one automatically submitted, making do with whoever of the correct social level might be locally available. Recently marriage has been made into a far more deliberate (in that sense, voluntary) act. Much higher emotional stakes therefore enter into it. In the present century, for the first time in history, it has come to be considered actually wrong to go on living with someone whom one does not love. This far more demanding expectation about the nature of marriage may lie at the root of the rising divorce rate and also tell us the most about what is distinctive in the meaning and function of the family in our own time. Our impression of the instability or breakdown of the family derives largely from the new kind of burden we have placed on it in these psychological terms. (448 words)
Contextual Meaning
Hallowed
respected highly because believed to be very important or very old.
Revolution
a sudden and great change in customs etc. Here it refers to the change in the methods of production introduced by invention of machine power.
kin-networks
relatives and family members who work together in the same trade.
symptom
a physical or mental change which indicates that something is wrong with the state of affairs.
norm
something which is widely accepted in a society as the correct behaviour etc.
huddled
standing close to each other; here living together in the same house
pool
deposit with one person or put together for shared use by all the members
scant
very little and not enough, small in quantity, meagre
peasant
A class of people who earn their living by growing crops, farmers
drawbacks
shortcomings, disadvantages, negative effects of something
matter-of-factly
in a realistic manner, with an eye on the matterial advantages
making do
managing, trying to make it a success; here trying to live with a wife even though she is not a suitable match in terms of education and likes and dislikes
deliberate
intentional, well- thought of
stakes
risks that one has to face (in such a marriage)
distinctive
clearly separate and different from other; here the different meaning and function of family from the old notion about it
Passage 19
In what now seem like the prehistoric times of computer history, the early post-war era, there was a quite widespread concern that computer would take over the world from man one day. Already today, less than forty years later, as computers are relieving us of more and more of the routine tasks in business and in our personal lives, we are faced with a less dramatic but also foreseen problem. People seem to be over-trusting of computers and are reluctant to challenge their authority. Indeed they behave as if they were hardly aware that wrong buttons may be pushed, or a computer may simply malfunction.
Obviously there would be no point in investing a computer if you had to check all the answers but people should also rely on their own internal computers and check the machine when they have feeling that something has gone wrong. Questioning and routine double checks must be continue to be as much a part of good business as they were in pre-computer days. Maybe each computer should come with the following warning: for all the help this computer may provide, it should not be seen as a substitute for fundamental thinking and reasoning skills.
Contextual Meaning
widespread
very common, believed by a large number of people
concern
worry, a kind of fear or doubt about something
relieving
making us free from doing things
foreseen
known before, quite expected
reluctant
not willing to do
authority
superior knowledge, expertise
aware
have knowledge, know
malfunction
not work correctly
investing
spending a lot of money on computers in the hope that it will be good for business
rely
depend, make use of
internal computers
brains, mental ability, intelligence
substitute
something that replaces another thing
Passage 20
For a decade and a half after WWII, there was optimisim in the world that we had solved, or that technology would help us solve, the old problems of hunger, disease, illiteracy – even intolerance But in the 1970’s two new realities become all too clear: one, technological progress has created new problems like pollution, unequal distribution of the benefits of modernity, and an uneasiness about the new world we have created; and two, this advance has affected only about a quarter of the world’s people. The other 75 percent is still involved in the old and bitter struggles; this is the world of the underdeveloped nations,
The picture of this underdeveloped world is a grim one. The majority of its population lives without what are considered the barest essentials in the Western world. There is a precarious balance between the amount of food available and the number of mouths to be fed; disease usually results in early death or permanent debilitation. Vagarant children fight the flies for food in the streets of Tehran; in Calcutta there are homeless masses whose only sleeping places are the city’s streets and sidewalks. For a billion and three quarter inhabitants of South Asia, the annual per capita income is only a little more than $ 100 – less than the increase in earnings reported in 1969 by the North Atlantic communities. In 1950, the lower two-third of the world’s population earned only 13 percent of the total world income; by 1970, this share had fallen to below 11 percent. The situation, in brief, grows worse not better.
Most of the underdeveloped world lies in in the Southern and Eastern parts of the globe, but it has not been thus, for centuries Europe looked to the East for riches, and the misery and poverty now epidemic in Africa were not known 200 years ago. The reasons for this tragic transition are various, chief among them the population problem, the food crisis, and the aftermath of colonialism. (330 words)
Contextual Meaning
decade
a period of ten years
optimism
hope that things will get better
intolerance
bitter
causing sorrow, sad, tragic
grim
dark, serious, grave
barest
minimum, badly needed
precarious
dangerous, full of risks
debilitation
physical disability,
vagrant
having no permanent home, in other words homeless
misery
poverty, suffering
epidemic
widespread
transition
change from one into another situation
aftermath
consequence, result
colonialism
rule by a foreign country, imperialism