English is the study of the English language. The goal is to improve communication skills by practicing listening, speaking, reading, writing, and understanding language rules like pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
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The gradual process of transition to civilian rule came to an _____ end.
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The meeting was cancelled because of the convocation
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The doctor tried to soothe the patient before the operation?
Options:Recent literary researches reveal that Nigerians hardly have time to read . In essence, the reading culture in Nigeria is now at a low ebb. It is disturbing, however, that few Nigerians that read concentrate more on foreign books than indigenous productions. Most Nigerian authors of novels,storybooks, fictions and non-fiction series have decried, on different, occasions, their woes. The were bitter at the way most owners of bookshops and publishers treat them. It was gathered to stock foreign books. when contacted by DAILY INDEPENDENT, the general manager of a popular bookstore on Lagos lsland declared that most of the bookshops preferred to stock foreign books because of higher demands for them. The question that bothers most Nigerian authors is , while their overseas counterparts are being rewarded with great international honours, why are Nigerians not according them such recognition in their own country?
Recently, "Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, won the 2007 Orange Prize Award, the literary world's top award for fiction in English written by women. The award carries a prize tag of $30,000 it was reported in Publishers Weekly, Half of a Yellow Sun, the book that earned her the award, was profoundly gripping. According to the reviewer, the book is a transcendent novel of many descriptive triumphs, most notably its diction of the impact of war brutalities on peasants and intellectuals alike. It is searing history in fictional form, intensely evocative and immensely absorbing. Chinua Achebe, 'Father of Modern African Literature, also won the second ever Man Booker International Prize of £60,000 with his first novel Things Fall Apart, published in 1958. When Professor Wole Syinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the fame confirmed the relevance of Nigerians in the world of classical excellence. Ben Okri won the 1991 Booker Prize with his work, The Famished Road, and the world celebrated Nigeria as the giant of Africa.
It was also , gathered that most of the publishers hurriedly produce books and in the process marred their good contents. Most of the books are not properly edited and eventually become substandard when compared with foreign products. The extent to which book publishing standard has fallen in Nigeria alarming. Often Nigerian publishers have been blamed for this. It is instructive that none of the books mentioned had been published in Nigeria. It was discovered that most students in tertiary institution depend on dictations from their lectures and /or handouts. A science lecturer in one of the Nigeria universities, who had been a victim of handout sales scandal, told DAILY INDEPENDENT the reality of campus challenges in relation to books; I was forced to dictate notes slowly to students who hung on my every word in the absence of textbooks in a library that had, to all intent and purpose, stopped buying new books when the local currency was devalued. But what other alternative does one have?
Adapted from DAILY INDEPENDENT, Monday, 20 August, 2007
The expression...that earned her the award is profoundly gripping, as used in the passage, means that the book is
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Her anxiety was apparent to everyone present at the ceremony
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It is usually hard to change the course of action when one crosses the rubicon. The underlined expression, as used in this sentence means to
Options:In 1973, Japanese sericulturists arrived in Malawi with a batch of 40000 silkworm eggs. They were taken to the Bvumbwe Agricultural Research Station in Thyolo District. In this station, work is being done to determine the favourable silkworm rearing conditions and areas where Mulberry trees whose leaves the worms feed on, could grow well. According to researchers, the silkworms which eventually develop into cocoons from which raw silk is produced do well in areas with warm climatic conditions.
Silk is one of the strongest of the fibres. In fact, for thousands of years, silk fabrics have been regarded as the most beautiful and durable materials woven by man. Many people call silk “the cloth of kings and queens”.
The weaving of silk originated in China. An old Chinese book, believed to be written by Confucius, tells us the wife of Emperor Huangi-ti was the first person to make fabrics of silk. Around 2640 B.C, Emperor Huangi-ti asked his wife His Ling-shih to study the worms that were destroying the mulberry trees in his garden. The Empress took some of the cocoons. She picked up the gauzy mass and found that one of the threads could be unwound almost without end from the cocoon. His Ling-shih had discovered silk! She was delighted with the discovery and even wove a ceremonial robe for the Emperor out of the cocoon threads. After that, the officials in the Emperor’s court wore brightly dyed robes on important occasions.
People in other countries regarded the new fibres as something rare and beautiful. A few traders went to China to learn about making cloth from silk, but the Chinese kept their Silk worms a closely guarded secret.
It is implied in this passage that silk was discovered
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