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Money is a good servant but a bad master

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shibli:
Dear students
Describe how you have been helped or hindered by relatives and friends in preparing for exams.

Answer:

Examinations are like running a race. It is not always the one who deserves that wins. Some proper training is indeed essential for passing examinations well. With all one's innate intelligence one may require proper guidance. Some grasp quickly end can do further work by themselves. These ere people with e high intelligent quotient. Average people can surely succeed in examinations with positive help. It is something like oiling the wheel. One may know the answer but how it is put end present it makes a lot of difference. Experienced people may show the way. Hence nowadays people seek even outside guidance by having private tuition at home or joining an institute giving expert tuition.

Of course in my case I am lucky that all along I have been helped by my relatives end friends. To begin with I can't forget the help my mother used to render in the primary classes. She was ready to help and so I never worried about my homework. Not only did she use to urge me to do the task but patiently helped me along.

When I came to the higher classes I could confidently depend on my brother and sister. They would teach me mathematics and help me do the problems. Since they always wanted me to do well in the examinations they not only gathered question papers from other schools but also patiently saw to it that I completed those papers by myself.

One of my teachers used to help me whenever I approached him. He knew that I wanted to score first in the examination to get into a professional college. Unless one is really competent, one cannot hope to enter the professional college easily. So my teacher showed me the way how examinations should be tackled. We used to discuss in a general way about various problems both national and international and I can say it has stood me well in competitive examinations. That again has helped me in viva voce examinations because I had  first hand practical knowledge.

Last but not least I can't fail to mention that some of my friends really helped me. We used to compare notes and help each other when one was not attending the class. We used to take down notes from reference books and discuss them. We formed almost a team and with a competitive spirit went for the examination. There was no jealousy among us and in doing practical work one always helped the other. When I look back I am grateful to all of them who helped me ungrudgingly.

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shibli:
A journey by car to a distant town

When considering the distance a train journey ought to have been preferred, but my family decided this time to go by car. Our family friend offered his Sedan at our service. The car was a well maintained one and could stand the long journey. We wanted to avoid the morning rush on the road and so we started early morning after having tea. All our luggage was packed in and the four of us left. Besides ourselves there was of course the driver.

Even before we were on the road the day was breaking. There was not much traffic on the road, except for stray animals and the early risers. We sped along the road for nearly 50 km. We stopped at a hotel where we had a hearty breakfast with hot rolls, cheese, fried eggs and muffins. By the time we left the sun was up and the day was becoming hot. We talked of many things, from the latest film to the forthcoming election and many joke to cut the boredom.

Though we were a family we had different views and opinions on a number of things. If one could swear by the hippie cult, another could equally speak about the value of transcendental meditation. It is a wonder that such a disparate group could occur in a family.

After sometime we switched over to the cassette player and enjoyed the song, hits of some famous musicians. This invention is a great boon to a lonely traveler. Unlike the record player, the cassette is handy and the tape has a longer space and can be erased and recorded.

We stopped at a way side petrol kiosk for refueling. The road we took was the national highway and so travel was not particularly tedious. We drove past many vehicles, lorries, buses, vans and trucks. One the way we saw a coconut vendor. It was so tempting that we stopped for a few drinks. The cool, sweet drink was like ambrosia.

As we were nearing our destination, we just stopped to get out of the car in order to tidy up. After that we continued our journey till we reached our hotel where rooms had been reserved. We were happy that we were able to cover such a distance in a car without any event.
          
disparate         different in every way
          
transcendental         describes an experience, event, object or idea that is extremely special and unusual and cannot be understood in ordinary ways
          
ambrosia         the food eaten by Greek and Roman gods, or a very pleasant food which could be compared with this

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shibli:
"Every person has his own ideal of human greatness." Do you agree ?

 

"Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them." So wrote Shakespeare in one of his plays. One is common; everybody wants to become great. Why great ? The answer itself is obvious because the greatness has its own rewards, name and fame, ovation and applause, red carpeted welcome and wealth. There is practically no field where one cannot achieve greatness. From the great minister to a great cook in all ranks there can be greatness.

How great? There are degrees and shades of greatness as there are shades in colors. Greatness in a particular field cannot be equated with greatness in a different field. So each one in his specialized field has got his standard or ideal of greatness.

One thing common is that greatness cannot be achieved so easily. It is not made to measure or order and it is true also that it is not always the deserving that becomes great. To achieve greatness a lot of perspiration and hard work is needed. One may have the genius in him but he would have to use it. Even a diamond must be polished and faceted in order to sparkle; otherwise it would continue to be a crude lump of gem. So too in order to become great, one has to work for it. Shakespeare is not fully right in his above quoted statement. It may be true, some are made great but real greatness is the fruit of hard labor.

Now each one in his own peculiar field has his ideal of greatness. Take a politician. If he has taken politics as a career his ambition is to become a Minister one day or a Prime Minister. Whether, then, the country would gain or suffer under him is a different question. As far as the person is concerned his ideal of greatness lies in becoming a Minister.

Look at the sportsmen. Whether it be football, hockey or cricket if he can rise and represent his country in international meets he is considered great. He must wear the colors of his country and become the cynosure of the fans.
An artist wants to become great through his performance. It may be music, painting or sculpture. If he is recognized as unique and masterly then he is pleased. They hunger after recognition and a few of them want to leave behind a tradition. In the fine arts the idea of founding a 'school' is prominent and that is the ideal of greatness for most artists.

Greatness lies in the recognition which people bestow on the person concerned. Until the recognition is achieved the hungry soul can never rest satisfied. Some like Captain Sentry in the Spectator's Club could never move forward though he may have the recognizable merit. Some simply spring up and fade away as quoted in Gray's famous line 'full many a gem of purest ray serene ...' In conclusion everyone wants to become great in his or her own way.
          
thrust upon         to force someone to accept or deal with something
          
cynosure         a person or thing which is so good or beautiful that it attracts a lot of attention
          
bestow         to give something as an honour or present

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shibli:
"As a profession, advertising is young" says an American writer, "As a force it is as old as the world" Discuss

It is a truism to say that advertising is a veritable force today and no product, however good it may be, can hope to succeed unless through the medium of advertisement. It cannot be gainsaid that man is more led by the advertisements in choosing his requirements whether it is a tooth paste or a fridge or a TV set. The advertisement meets him in many forms and the mass media is fully utilized for the purpose. A sizable percentage of the value of the world's commerce is spent on advertisement.

Advertisement takes many forms. There are a hundred and one ways in which a product may be advertised. It may be through the newspaper where in many thoughtful and suggestive ways advertisement is inserted. In fact no modern newspaper can survive but for the pages and pages of advertisements. In some countries they widely make use of posters, especially the cinema trade. There are the Radio and the TV advertisements and these have become very popular especially with the younger generation. Then there are the mementos and presentation articles.

Since advertisement has become a powerful media it has come to be specialized. It is being studied as a science and degrees and diplomas are being conferred by universities. There are advertising firms of national and international reputation who see to it that beautiful advertisements are made about products. They make the write-ups, create pictures, and coin ear-catching slogans to popularize a product. A good lot of psychology goes into it. So as a profession, it is becoming more and more scientific.

It gives employment opportunities to different types of talented persons. Photographers, graphic artists, writers and even poets find a job. Where the rich patronage has failed, perhaps the advertisement trade does it in that it could employ many types of artists. Naturally any person or company who wants to launch or introduce a new product sets apart a sizable amount of money for advertisement. They have to be advertising lest the public should forget. Thus products which have already made a name are being continuously advertised; for example 'HORLICKS' is being advertised in season and out of season though it has become almost a household name for a homely drink.

But the question is whether advertising it old or recent. The answer is an emphatic 'no'. Let us try to answer this question. If the spirit of advertisement is to attract and draw the attention of others as the quotation says, it is as old as the world itself. Then nature herself provides ample examples both in the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom alike.

Take the case of the color and smell of flowers. Some flowers are beautifully colored and still others are white. The colored ones easily attract the insects and the bees. The latter make them their homes for the sheer beauty of them and also for the sake of the honey. The poets have gone so far to say these insects make the flowers their beds. The smell again attracts the birds and insects. Most of the night flowers are white and sweet smelling. The white color and the smell easily show the location of the flower. This is the the mutual advertisement of the flower and the insect in that, the former is helped in pollination and the latter gets the honey as a wage.

Among animals, we find birds and animals are colored and so attractive. These colors help them in mating and choosing their partners. The love dance of the bee is well known. The male of most of the animal species is more attractive than the female. It is true of the cock, the peacock, the lion, the tiger, the bull and so on. Perhaps man has got a different opinion about himself. The colors and the attractive appearance help the male of the species to conquer his mate. Sometimes the color of the animal is a warning as in the case of poisonous creatures.

The color and smell of a fruit is a sure way of advertising their presence to man and animals to get at them. Can anybody avoid the smell of a mango or a jackfruit ? So we see the whole world has a way of advertising itself. So we feel advertisement is a way of life, though the modem man has developed and built it on a Scientific basis. What the temple fair or carnival did in olden days, the modem advertisement does today.
          
truism         a statement which is so obviously true that it is almost not worth saying
          
momentos         an object that you keep to remember a person, place or event
          
lest         in order to prevent any possibility that something will happen

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shibli:
Assess the danger that the industrial society may collapse by the middle of the 21st century through the exhaustion of raw materials

Before actually assessing the danger as contemplated let us first of all know about the certain premises raised here. To begin with let us be clear about an industrial society. In such a society for all his needs man look to the machines which symbolize the industrialized society. Many of the things would have been automated, for example, the sorting of eggs or the baking of bread. In such and many other cases man may be working but he is only a cog in the wheel. Everything is on a mass scale; everything follows a system; everything is made to order. The USA and most of the West European countries come under this category. Japan is the Eastern nation which is highly industrialized.

For all their industries, all these societies use many raw materials. They may be forest products, the fossil fuels, or the ores from the bowels of the earth. Their quantity is limited and the way the industrialized societies are exhausting them, create the fear that stock may be exhausted sooner or later.

For instance, forests are being denuded in many countries for the manufacture of paper and furniture. It is easier to fell hundreds of trees a day than to grow one. But the demand for paper is growing very fast that unless some alternative to wood is found in forest based industries, there may not be enough paper.

So too with fossil fuels whether it be oil or coal or natural gas. The way they are being used has led to the speculation that there may not be any petroleum by the turn of this century. Perhaps the stock of coal may last a few decades more. Anyway in the case of coal the stock is only limited and not inexhaustible. If forests take only decades to come up the fossil fuels require geological ages to form and unlike trees they cannot be made to order.

Then there are other minerals especially ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Some of the metals are in abundance while others are scarce. After all mines are not milch cows and even milch cows would become dry and old.

But by the middle of the next century things may not be gloomy after all. Science and ingenuity of man will work together to find a way out of the impasse. Newer materials, newer processes and recycling may have the answer. Already we are having a taste of what may come. Look at the man made fibers and plastics. A few decades ago none would ever have thought of them but now there is none who does not use them. In fact they are made from things which were considered useless or which were going to waste.

With the advent of television and other still more sophisticated methods of communication, the need for a big bulk of paper, may be reduced. Instead of writing letters, they may be tape recorded. Instead of books we may have microfilms of books.

Recycling has a great promise. Since matter is indestructibly, one useless stuff can be converted into something really useful. Nature does it in fact as in the case of photosynthesis or keeping the nitrogen cycle going. After man has set his foot on the moon, a lot of thinking has gone into recycling. So we may think of a day soon when there will be not waste material. By changing the constitution of materials they may be made to do wonderful work. An example is fiber glass which has the strength of steel. Then there is the sea floor which has not been exploited as much as land. Remember three fourths of the earth is sea.

Man is the only animal who can take the challenge and if previous history has anything to teach, it shows that man has stupendous and fantastic capacity to survive.
          
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