COMPREHENSION: Read each passage carefully and answer the questions that follow it.
PASSAGE I
One of the interesting things to me about spaceship is that it is a mechanical vehicle, just as an automobile. If you own a car, you realize that you must put oil and gas into it, and you
must put water in the radiator and take care of the care as a whole. You begin to develop quite a little thermodynamic sense.
You know that you are either going to have to keep the machine in a good order or it is going to be in trouble and fail to function. We have not been seeing our Spaceship Earth as an integrally designed machine which to be persistently successful, must be comprehended and serviced in total.
Now there is one outstanding important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and this is that no instruction book came with it. I think it is very significant that there is no instruction book, for successfully operating of our ship, in view of the infinite attention to all other details displayed by our ship. It must be taken as deliberate and purposeful that an instruction book was omitted.
Lack of instruction has forces us to find out that there are two kinds of mangoes – unripe mangoes that will kill us and ripped mangoes which will nourish us. And we had to find out ways of telling which-was-which mangoes before we ate it or otherwise we would die. So we were forced, because of this to devise scientific experimental procedures and to interpret effectively the significance of the experimental findings.
Thus, because the instruction manual was missing, we are learning how we can safely survive on the planet. Quite clearly, all living being are utterly helpless at the moment of birth. The human child stays helpless longer that the young of any species. Apparently, it is part of ‘invention’ that man is meant to be utterly helpless through certain anthropological phases.
When he begins to be able to get on a little better, he is meant to discover some of the physical principles inherent in the universe as well as the many recourses around him which will further multiply his knowledge. Designed into this Spaceship Earth’s total wealth was a big safety factor.
This allowed man to be very ignorant for a long time until he had amassed enough experiences from which to extract progressively the system of generalized principles governing increase of energy. The design omission of the instruction book forced man to discover retrospectively just what his most important capabilities are. He learned to generalize fundamental principles of universe..
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PASSAGE II
Stress is by far the most common cause of ill health in our society, and may be the underlying cause of as many as 70-80% of all visits to family doctors. It is also the problem that every doctor shares with patients. Experts note that stress is an issue everyone can relate to experimentally. In studying and better understanding about stress, we can derive perso6nal as well as professional benefits. Stress can be overcome without undergoing duress. They often say anyone who wants to help someone deal with his/her stress should learn to handle his/hers first.
The manifestations of stress are legion. It can contribute or mimick just about any symptom you can think of. However, the main symptoms are physical, mental, emotional and behavioural. The causes of stress are multiple and varied but they can be classified into external and internal. External stressors can include relatively getting sick or dying, jobs being lost or people criticising or one becoming angry. However, most of the stress people experience is self-generated.
Experts tell us that we create the majority of our upset indicating that because we cause most of our own stress, we can do something about it. This gives us a measure of choice and control that we do not always have when outside forces acts on us. This also leads to a basic premise about stress reduction. To
master stress-change, you have to figure out what you are doing that is contributing to your problem and change it. These changes fall into behaviour, thinking, lifestyle choices and / or situations you are in. By getting to the root cause of your stress, you can prevent recurrences.
As a way of draining off stress energy, nothing beats aerobic exercise. To understand why, we need to review what stress is. People often think of stress as pressure at work, a demanding boss, a sick child or rush-hour traffic. These may be triggers but stress is actually the body reaction to factors such as these. Stress is the fight-or-flight response in the body, mediated be adrenaline and other stress hormones, and comprised such physiologic changes as increased in heart rate and blood pressure, faster breathing, muscle tension, dilated pupils, dry mouth and increased blood sugar. In order word, stress is the state of increased arousal necessary for an organism to defend itself at a time of danger.
Exercise is the most logical way to dissipate the excess energy. It is what our bodies are trying to do when we pace around or tap our legs and fingers. It is much better to channel it into a more complete form of exercise like a brisk walk, a run, a bike ride, or a game of squash. Just as we are all capable of mounting up and sustaining a stress reaction, we have also inherited the ability to put our bodies into a state of deep relaxation called the ‘relaxation response’. In this state, all the physiologic events in the stress reaction are reversed. Pulse slows, blood pressure falls, breathing slows and muscle relax.
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PASSAGE III
There are many indicators with which tosses or measure corruption. One of them is
the affluent living habit of the public official compared to his / her income. Corruption occurs when a public official expects to be induced to perform an act which that public officials is ordinarily required to do by law. Corruption can slow down development.
One of the most widely discussed consequences of corruption is the distortion of
governmental expenditure. This often results in public money being wasted on white elephant
projects, rather than people oriented services, such as health and education. As a result, more
opportunities are presented for corrupt use or diversion of funds.
Raising the ethical standard of governance can lead to many benefits especially for the economic, political and social development of a country. Fighting corruption and promoting governance is therefore crucial to developing an environment that facilitates the social, political and economic development of the people. However, while there are often general statement made about the effect of corruption on poverty and development.
There is not an explicit recognition that corruption is more than just wealth misappropriation or abuse of
power. Corruption impoverishes countries and deprives their citizens of good governance. It destabilizes economic systems. When crime and other illegal activities flourish, basic public functions are eroded and the quality of life of the people is reduced.
Bribery, for example, is universally regarded as a crime, but it also reflects socio-economic problems that require broad-based preventive measures, and the involvement of the society at large. Another implication of global measures against corruption in making government work better by improving the economy. Finally, redesigning political and regulatory structures will reduce corruption and other anti-system players that encourage corrupt practice..
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PASSAGE IV
The passage below has gaps numbered 16 to 25. Immediately following each gap, four options are provided. Choose the most appropriate option for each gap. Each question carries 2 marks.
Drought is a word that invokes strong emotions. This is not surprising as the … 16 … [A. ideology B. phenomenon C. idea D. component] is usually accompanied by a number of unpleasant developments. These developments have … 17 … [A. feedback B. Results C. Implications D. outcomes] for all citizens, starting from the peasant farmers to the state and federal governments which may be plunged into emergency and crises situations which, if not successfully …18… [A. managed B. examined D. studied] could result in social unrest. The timeliness of the onset of the rains in various regions of the country and their adequate distribution thereafter have become …19… [A. objects B. subjects C. issues D. topics] of considerable anxiety to all people. The fact, however, is that periodic reduction in normal …20… [A. amount B. supply C. size D. flood] of rainfall in the country is not new. Since large areas of the country are drought prone, the consequences are …21… [A. effective B. disastrous C. evident D. inevitable ]. Dry spells could be very severe. There are two aspects of coping with drought. One has to do with emergency measures and the other with …22… [A. routine B. organized C. urgent D. delayed] measures. An immediate consequence of any drought would be famine. In addition, where whole populations are forced to abandon their lands or pastures in search of food, there are bound to be other lasting and
…23… [A. longitudinal B. objective C. simultaneous D. parallel ] consequences such as distress, sales of cattle by livestock owners in order to buy food. Government should provide farmers with agricultural inputs and ensure that they have easy access to these inputs under the relief …24… [A. action B. process C. scheme D. plan]. Emergency measures will be much more …25… [A. normal B. correct C. idealistic D. effective] if a mechanism is established to ensure adequate preparedness and defense against the occurrence of drought.
Adapted from Oluikpe, B.O.A. et al (2005)
Intensive English for Senior Secondary School,
Onitsha:
Lexis, Structure and Oral Form
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In each of questions 26 to 35, select the
option that best explains the information
conveyed in the sentence. Each question
carries 2 marks.
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In each of Questions 51 -65, choose the option nearest in meaning to the word or phrase in CAPITAL LETTERS.
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In each of Questions 36 -35, choose the option opposite in meaning to the word or phrase in CAPITAL LETTERS.
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