Term-End Examination
June,2OO7
CS-610 : FOUNDATION COURSE IN ENGLISH FOR COMPUTING
Time : 2 hours Maximum Marks : 50
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Note : Attempt all the questions.
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l. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow :
VALDARO (ITALY) : Italy won't split up its Stone
Age "lovers".
In a Valentine's Day gift to the country, scientists said they
are determined to remove and preserve together the remains of a couple buried
5,000 to 6,000 years ago, their arms still wrapped around each other in an
enduring embrace.
Instead of removing the bones one-by-one for reassembly later,
archaeologists plan to scoop up the entire section of earth where the couple was
buried, they told Reuters.
The plot will then be transported for study before being put on display in
an Italian museum, thereby
preserving the world's longest known hug for posterity.
"We want to keep them just as they have been all this time ----together,"
archaeologist Elena Menotti, who announced the discovery a week ago, told Reuters.
Their removal will be a relief for archaeologists who had to hire extra
security to guard the rural site outside the northern city of Mantova after the
discovery made world headlines.
More importantly, it will give scientists a chance to figure out what has
become one of Italian archaeology's greatest mysteries : the first known Neolithic
couple to- be buried together, hugging. Was it a sudden death ? A ritual sacrifice
? Or maybe they were prehistoric, star-crossed lovers who took their own lives.
That is a crowd-pleasing theory in these parts, since Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet was set in nearby Verona.
But scientists acknowledge they still know precious little about the
now-famous Stone Age couple, whose embrace has become a subject of world newspaper
headlines and chat shows. Archaeologists seem certain the couple died young,
since their teeth are intact and that they died during the Stone Age because of an
arrowhead and tools found with the remains.
(i) Why does the writer call the embrace of the Stone Age lovers 'enduring' ?
(2)
(ii) How do archaeologists plan to preserve the lovers as they are ?
(1)
(iii) Where were the ,skeletal remains of the lovers found ?
(1)
(iv) What are the theories about how the lovers came to be buried together ?
(3)
(v) What is the connection between Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the lovers
in the passage ? (2)
(vi) What other term is used for Stone Age in the write-up ?
(1)
2. (a) Change the voice.
(i) No one can hold him responsible for the accident.
(1)
(ii) It is important that we stop all nuclear tests at once.
(1)
(b) Correct the following sentences :
(i) I am not knowing all the facts of the case.
(1)
(ii) The boss dare not to touch him (1)
(c) Use the word 'monitor' in two different senses (2)
(d) Use the antonyms of il,n following words in
sentences of your own :
radical, negligent (2)
(e) Use the following words in one sentence each to
bring out the difference in their meaning :(2)
lose, loose
3. (a) Use the following phrasal verbs in a sentence of your (2)
own:
burn out
fall for
(b) Fill in the blanks in the following sentences with the correct tense form of
the verbs given in brackets :
(i) I _____________(listen) hard but I can't hear anything.
(1)
(ii) He likes to board the train after it _________________ (1)
(start) moving.
(iii) We ___________(reach) the station just as the train steamed in. (1)
4- Write a paragraph of about 150 words on any one of the following : (5)
(i) The Importance of Being Computer Literate
(ii) Bringing up a Girl Child in India
(iii) Kindness to Animals.
5. Write an essay of about 300 words on any one of the following topics:
(10)
(i) Living in a Small Town
(ii) Working in a Call Centre
(iii) The ldea of Being Always the First
6. Read the following passage and summarise it to one-third of its length. Also
suggest a suitable title. (8+2=10)
Mere expansion of the Indian economy *lll not address the issues
relating to the plight of the Indian child who continues to suffer from
under-nourishment, anaemia and lack of basic schooling facilities, Nobel prize
winning economist Amartya Sen said here on Tuesday.
The solution to the problem, according to Dr. Sen, lay not in radical alternatives
but in the classical method of a greater amount of government investment in both
education and healthcare, an end to the negligent attitude towards women and a
more collaborative engagement.
with the various unions. -"lt is important to see what the government
is doing with the extra money that is coming into its coffers," Dr. Sen said.
He cited the example of pre-1979 China, Japan, the U.S. as well as various
European countries where public expenditure on education and healthcare had
preceded the introduction of reforms aimed at economic expansion.
"The traditional alternative has never been seriously tried in .lndia," Dr.
Sen said. The Government of India had not been able to guaran tee the right to
education as in many parts of the country, there were no functioning schools to
attend, he added.
Similarly, the negligent attitude towards women because of the inherent gender
bias in society led to undernourished mothers, distressed foetuses and underweight
babies. He pointed out that the progress rate has not been very remarkable with
undernourishment dropping from 47 to 46 per cent between 1998 - 99 and 2005 - 06
and immunisation coming down from 58 to 56 per cent over the same period.