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Typical Zacharia! Devil-may are and irreverent as ever. No doubt he was just the same when he was cook to a Greek trader in the town. In fact, I suspect that to him the Reverend Father is just another sort of trader. Conceited ass, thinking himself superior to the Father! And in what is he superior? Success with women perhaps? Zacharia knows that they all admire him and is always striving for still more admiration. He dresses sharply and walks in a haughty manner that suits in his tallness. And then he feeds his pride on the swarms of girls who run after him. It’s maddening to him how little you need to attract them. I remember my mother coming home from market in the town, after selling her vegetables and cocoa. How indignant she was ‘It’s so shameful, ‘she cried,’ our best-looking and most respectable girls go to town and throw themselves at strangers as ugly as sin, speaking the most outlandish tongue. Men I can scarcely look at without shuddering! And why? Just money! Money! Ah, what a world! And my father replied in a buried voice, ‘It is the times!’ ‘the times!’ shouted mother ‘can you imagine my child Ann with creatures like those?
But perhaps the girls who chase Zacharia aren’t drawn by his tallness or his leather shoes. Perhaps they’re only after childish things, a bit of bread or a pot of jam, knowing that he’s a cook. My father often says women are like children in their desires. And after all, I too can boast a little. Plenty of women turn to look at me, especially when I’m dressed all in white! But I’m not vain enough to fuse over a little thing like that. Not like Zacharia, who doesn’t know women are simply children.
The girls were apparently attracted to Zacharia by Options:Choose the option nearest in meaning to the underlined.
The exhibition was an eye opener to all.
Options:Dear John,
Many thanks for your letter. I was glad to hear that you had done so well in your examinations. Let me send you my hearty congratulations. You certainly deserved this result as I know you worked very hard. You ask how I have been spending the time since I took my examinations. I have been waiting so eagerly for the result that, I must admit, I have not done half of the things I planned to do during this extended holiday. However, I have been doing a lot of reading. There were so many different things I was interested in when I was at school and did not have the time to read about because they were not on the syllabus. I have read two books about geology, which is a fascinating subject. I hope to make a hobby of geology when I get to the University. It will make a change from the study of law. i have also read several novels mostly modern ones by authors like Graham Greene, C.S Foster and Somerset Maugham. How enjoyable it is to read a book for pleasure and not for examination! I have not given a thought to law, and not read one book about the subject. I shall have e four long years at the University to devote to it.
I have also been going once or twice a week to the National Boy’s Club. I took part in the table-tennis tournament, but I did not do very well, I’m afraid. I have been playing football for the Club every Sunday afternoon. I will certainly let you know my examination results as soon as I have them. I must say that I become less confident about the result each day. It was encouraging to hear that this was the case with you, and since you did so well perhaps there is still hope for me!
Yours sincerely
Osman.
Osman became less confident of his result each day but that does not mean that Options:Choose the option nearest in meaning to the word or phrase in italics:
This event was a watershed in the company.
Options:So far I have been speaking of science in its universality, viewed from the perspective of the world at large. For the context of our own country and our sister developing countries, many of the factors mentioned earlier are not very important. For example, pollution, deterioration of the environment and population explosion are not yet serious problems for us in this country.
Let me now turn to a more specific area, namely the question of scientific choice for developing countries. There is no doubt that role which science s and technology have played in the upliftment of the material and economic well-being of the developed nation will, and does, influence the criteria that the Third World nations must choose in order to establish their science policies and priorities.
But the criteria to be used by this nation do not have the same as those which have brought the developed countries to their present stage of evolution. For while human beings have the same problems, their solutions, to be meaningful will have to be sought within some relevant frame of reference, such as the available resources and expertise, social values, place and time in the historical scale.
The term 'our sister developing countries' implies Options:From the alternatives provided in the question below select the one which most appropriately completes the sentence:
Mrs. Okoro _____ in this school since 1975.
Options:There is one fascinating question that arises out of the contemplation of mud sculpture. Why should anybody use unbaked mud, the most perishable of materials? Is it because no other material is readily available? The question is not easy to answer definitely. Mud, is, of course, the cheapest and most readily available material. Yet there is ample proof that mud is not used merely because it is easy to get hold of and cheap. Many Igbo Mbari houses are the only buildings in the village that have an imported corrugated iron roof – which prove that the people who built them shun no cost to make them look important. In all the areas where I have seen mud sculpture, wood carving and brass casting are also known and practiced. In Yoruba country, stone is also used as a medium for sculpture.
One important thing to realize is that different materials are not necessarily used because they have lasting, durable qualities. In Yoruba country today, brass can only be used by Oshun or Ogboni worshippers. Ivory can only be used by Obatala worshippers, copper by Sonponna, iron by Ogun and so on.
Materials are used for their mystic properties of absorbing or repelling human radiation. The Obatala worshippers used Ivory as protection, in the sense that it is protecting him from the destructive psychic influences of a man whose mentality is basically different or opposed to his. Similarly Oshun worshippers uses brass figure in their shrines – not because brass last longer than wood, but because brass possesses certain magical qualities that are sacred to Oshun.
It is not difficult to understand why mud is considered the appropriate medium for Ala (the Igbo earth goddess). Olokun (the Bini god of the ocean), or Legba (originally an earthgod of the Fon). The fact that the material is perishable and sometimes does not even last five years does not enter into the consideration. One does not interfere with the natural life of a carving. When it perishes, a new one simply has to be made.
The durability of a carving Options:In the question below choose the option nearest in meaning to the word(s) or phrase(s) Underlined:
The case was thrown out because the court lacked jurisdiction
Options:These two factors the altitude and the weather, tend separately and together to defeat the climber. The height weakens, slows him down; it forces him to spend days and nights in the courses of his assault on the summit; the weather, besides adding to the demand of his energy and moral fortitude, conspires to deny him the time he needs to complete his mission. Whereas in lower mountains and on easy ground the weather may be no more than a handicap, in the high Himalayas it is decisive, regardless of terrain.
The deduction to be drawn from these two factors is was clear enough. We must either so fortify ourselves that we could continue, without detriment, to live and have our being above the limit of natural acclimatization, or, better still, we must solve the problem of speed. It was desirable; in fact, that we must meet both these requirements and thus give to those chosen to attempt the summit and to their supporting teams some measures of insurance against the vagaries of the weather, for safety in mountain climbing is as much a matter of swiftness as of sureness of foot. Either or both could be achieved only by the administration of oxygen in sufficient quantities to make up for the deficiency in the air, and for the duration of the upward journey above the limit of successful acclimatization
The author believes that to overcome the problem of altitude and weather the climber needs mainly Options: