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.
In the question below, fill the gap with the most appropriate option:
The helpless _____ our sympathy
Options:It is of no more use to give advice to the idle than top pour water into a sieve, but it strike me that lazy people ought to have a large looking glass hung up where they are bound to see themselves in it. For sure, if their eyes are at all like mine, they will never bear to look at themselves long or often. The ugliest sight in the world is one of those thorough-bred loafers, who would hardly hold up his basin if it were to rain with porridge: and for certain, would never hold up a bigger pot than he wanted to fill for himself.
Perhaps, if the shower should turn to beer, he might wake himself up a bit; but he will make up for it afterwards, since as a slothful man, he folds his hands in sleep and hates to get up even for his meals. Men like him ought to be treated with like the drone which the bees drive out of their hives for inactivity overdependence.
Every man ought to have patience and pity for poverty; but for laziness, a long whip might be better. This would be a healthy treatment for all sluggards, but there is no chance of some of them getting their full dose of this medicine, for they were born with silver spoons in their mouths, and like spoons will scarce stir their own tea unless somebody lends them a hand. They are like the proverbial dogs that leaned his head against the wall to bark and, like lazy sheep, it is too much trouble for them to carry their own wool. If they could see themselves, it might by chance do them a world of good; but perhaps it would be too much trouble for them to open their eyes even if the glass were hung for them.
If I seem to hit hard at the sluggards, it is because I know they can bear it, for if they were seed on the threshing floor, you will thresh many days to get them out of the straw, for laziness is in their bones, and will show itself in their idle flesh, no matter what you do with them.
Adapted from Spurgeon, C.H.: John Ploughman’s Talk
which of the following explains the point being made in the second paragraph? 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.
It seems probable that mud is used for culture because Options:In the question below choose the option opposite in meaning to the word Underlined:
Binta sobbed by the door because she had lost her mother's precious necklace
Options:From the options lettered A-D, choose the option that is most nearly opposite in meaning to the underlined word.
My mother is a shrewd businesswoman.
Options:Whatever may be its wider implications, the explosion of hydrogen bomb is, for the meteorologist, simply another atmospheric disturbance. It should therefore be classed with certain rare natural...such as volcanic ...12... But there are certain features of a man-made disturbance that requires special examination. As with all events on this ...13...It is impossible to describe what happens in details. However we can be reasonably sure of the main effects, and most impressive of these arises from ...14...The immediate result of the ...15... is that the air surrounding the bomb is raised very rapidly to an enormously high...16... The hot gases expand violently as great....17...compressing the air around them into what is called...18... or blast wave that is responsible for much of terrible destructive power of the weapon.
Another kind of wave arises because of the weight of the air. The force of the explosion lifts the ...19...waves. Waves of this type are normally felt by human beings and they have their effect on the weather.
Adapted from Ayoola K.(2007) University for All Students, Lagos, Nigeria: Olive Free Venture
Choose the most appropriate answer in the numbered 13 Options:It may be argued that museums as an institution and an agency for transmitting cultural heritage are an artificial creature, so far as objects are removed from their natural or proper environments and put into museums which are a different environment altogether. However, it seems that museums themselves have come to be accepted and recognized as the best equipped institutions devised by man for the assemblage of cultural objects and their presentation and preservation for the present and future generations.
The artificial character of museums is however being gradually transformed into a cultural reality. Thus, just as one goes to the theatre for plays and other performing arts; the mosque, the church or the shrine for worship; the library for the printed word; today, it is to the museums one goes to see evidence of man’s material outfit. For, no other institution or place so readily comes to mind as museums do when evidence of material culture is sought. Herein lies the importance of museums as cultural institutions and an agency for transmitting culture.
_____no other institution of place so readily comes to mind as museums' means that museums are Options:In the question below choose the word(s) or phrase(s) which best fills the gap(s).:
The Inspector of Education who made several trips on bad road returned yesterday completely _____ by fever
Options: