But when we go to borrow help from a foreign neighbourhood - Multiple Choice & Short Question for HSC English First Paper - English for Today for Class 11 and 12 / Seen Passage for HSC

1. Read the passage and answer the questions A and B.

.But when we go to borrow help from a foreign neighbourhood we overlook the fact.... that among the Europeans the living spirit of the University is widely spread in their society, their parliament, their literature, and the numerous activities of their corporate life. In all these functions they are in perpetual touch with the great personality of the land which is creative and heroic in its constant acts of self-expression and self-sacrifice. They have their thoughts published in their books as well as through the medium of living men who think those thoughts, and who criticise, compare and disseminate them. Some at least of the drawbacks of their academic education are redeemed by the living energy of the intellectual personality pervading their social organism. It is like the stagnant reservoir of water which finds its purification in the showers of rain to which it keeps itself open. But, to our misfortune, we have in India all the furniture of the European University except the human teacher...

A most important truth, which we are apt to forget, is that a teacher can never truly teach unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame. The teacher who has come to the end of his subject, who has no living traffic with his knowledge, but merely repeats his lessons to his students, can only load their minds; he cannot quicken them. Truth not only must inform but inspire. If the inspiration dies out, and the information only accumulates, then truth loses its infinity. The greater part of our learning in the schools has been waste because, for most of our teachers, their subjects are like dead specimens of once living things, with which they have a learned acquaintance, but no communication of life and love................ 

A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives. 1☓5 = 5

(a) A teacher can never teach without —.

 (i) maintaining students (ii) drawing attention of students

 (iii) learning himself  (iv) none of these

(d) What does the phrase 'as well as' mean?

 (i) moreover (ii) actually (iii) and (iv) but

(c) "But, to our misfortune, we have in India all the furniture of the European university except the human teacher"– what does it mean?

 (i) our teachers are not human being (ii) having lack of proper teacher

 (iii) teachers are unable to teach (iv) having lack of proper educative environment

(d) The word 'neighbourhood' means —.

 (i) locality (ii) region (iii) area (iv) town

(e) The meaning of 'overlook' is —.

 (i) concentrate (ii) ignore (iii) stress (iv) damage

(f) The word 'numerous' means —.

 (i) several (ii) some (iii) many (iv) infinite

(g) The synonym of the word 'corporate' is —.

 (i) government (ii) collaborative (iii) joint (iv) federal

(h) The meaning of the word 'perpetual' is —.

 (i) general (ii) eternal (iii) usual (iv) daily

(i) The meaning of 'function' is —.

 (i) work (ii) duty (iii) fluctuation (iv) notion

(j) Here the word 'personality' means —.

 (i) popular (ii) celebrity (iii) unknown (iv) important

(k) 'Criticise' means —

 (i) evaluate (ii) praise (iii) tell bad (iv) dishonour

(l) What is the meaning of the word 'disseminate'?

 (i) contrast (ii) spread (iii) ignore (iv) stress

(m) The meaning of 'drawback' is —.

 (i) withdrawal (ii) look back (iii) disadvantage (iv) to draw by hands

(n) The word 'academic' means —.

 (i) personal (ii) joint (iii) collegiate (iv) institutional

(o) The word 'redeem' means —.

 (i) recover (ii) rescue (iii) recall (iv) response

(p) 'Pervade' means —.

 (i) spread through (ii) persecute (iii) invade (iv) breakthrough

(q) The actual meaning of 'social organism' is —.

 (i) social conflict (ii) social structure viewed as a living organism 

 (iii) social movement (iv) different organs

(r) The meaning of 'stagnant' is —.

 (i) unhygienic (ii) dirty (iii) stinky (iv) still

(s) 'Flame' means —.

 (i) smoke (ii) fog (iii) vapour (iv) fire

Answer (A):

(a) (iii) learning himself (b) (iii) and (c) (iv) having lack of proper educative environment (d) (i) locality (e) (ii) ignore (f) (iii) many (g) (ii) collaborative (h) (ii) eternal (i) (i) work (j) (ii) celebrity (k) (i) evaluate (l) (ii) spread (m) (iii) disadvantage (n) (iv) institutional (o) (ii) rescue (p) (i) spread through (q) (ii) social structure viewed as a living organism (r) (iv) still (s) (iv) fire (t) (iv) all of them (u) (i) importance of knowledge (v) (iii) to inform and inspire (w) (i) the European University

B. Answer the following questions. 2☓5 = 10

(a) What do the Indian universities lack?

(b) How should be a teacher?

(c) Why has the greater part of our learning in the school been wasted?

(d) What do you mean by 'human teacher'?

(e) Do you agree with Tagore when he says that the training we get in our schools makes us believe that we must borrow rather than produce?

(f) When can a teacher truly teach a student?

(g) When can a lamp light another lamp?

(h) When does the truth lose its infinity?

Answer (B):

 (a) The Indian universities have all European furniture but they do not have the teachers like Europe.

 (b) A teacher should never come to the end of his subject. He should not repeat his lessons to his students. He should not load the minds of the students but quicken them. 

 (c) The greater part of our learning in the school has been wasted because for most of our teachers their subjects are like dead specimens of once living things. 

 (d) By the phrase 'human teacher', I mean a teacher who does not teach in a conventional way, i.e just distribution of knowledge. He/she does not make his/her teaching like an artificial food, rather he/she is creative and attaches some human spirit to his/her teaching technique.

 (e) Yes, I agree with Tagore, because our education system is based on the copying of foreign-education system. As it is a passing examination based education system, we feel little interest to produce rather we borrow and try to pass the obstacle of examination.

 (f) A teacher can truly teach a student if he is still learning and he has connection with his knowledge. He never loads students' minds repeating his lessons to them.

 (g) A lamp can only light another lamp when it continues to burn its own flame.

 (h) When the inspiration dies out and the information only accumulates, then the truth loses its infinity.

Answer:

Bangla Translation

বাংলা অনুবাদঃ

কিন্তু প্রতিবেশী দেশগুলো থেকে সাহায্য নেওয়ার বেলায় আমরা তা এড়িয়ে যাই............. ইউরোপীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলোর প্রাণবন্ত উচ্ছ্বাস তাদের সমাজ, আইনসভা, সাহিত্য ও তাদের জীবনের নানামুখী কর্মকাণ্ডে ব্যাপকভাবে বিস্তৃত। এসব কার্যক্রমে তারা সবসময় তাদের নিজেদের মহৎ ব্যক্তিবর্গের সংস্পর্শে থাকেন যা আত্ম-অভিব্যক্তি ও আত্ম-উৎসর্গের স্থায়ী কর্মে সৃজনশীল ও বীরত্বসূচক। তারা তাদের চিন্তা-চেতনা বইয়ে এবং যেসব জীবিত ব্যক্তিবর্গ সেসব চিন্তাকে ধারণ করেন, সমালোচনা করেন এবং সেগুলোর বিস্তার ঘটিয়ে থাকেন তাদের মাধ্যমে প্রকাশ করে থাকেন। প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক শিক্ষার অপূর্ণতার অন্তঃত কিছু জায়গায় সামাজিক কাঠামোতে পরিব্যপ্ত বুদ্ধিজীবী ব্যক্তিত্বের ক্ষমতা দ্বারা রক্ষা পেয়েছে। এটা বদ্ধ জলাধারের মতো যা বৃষ্টির ঝরণাধারার মধ্যে তার পরিশোধন খুঁজে যেখানে এটি নিজেকে মুক্ত রাখতে পারে। কিন্তু আমাদের দুর্ভাগ্য আমাদের ভারতবর্ষের ইউরোপীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলোর সব রকম সুবিধা আছে, শুধু অভিজ্ঞ শিক্ষক ছাড়া।

একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সত্য, যা আমাদের ভুলতে সক্ষম করে যে, একজন শিক্ষক নিজের পড়াশোনা চালু না রেখে কখনও পরিপূর্ণভাবে শিক্ষা দিতে পারে না। একটি বাতি নিজের শিখা না জ্বালালে অন্য বাতিকে আলো দিতে পারে না। যে শিক্ষক তার বিষয়ে জানার অন্তিম পর্যায়ে এসেছে, যার জ্ঞানের সাথে সংশ্লিষ্টতা নেই, কিন্তু বার বার একই বিষয় শিক্ষার্থীদের কাছে উপস্থাপন করেন তিনি শুধু তাদের মনের ওপর চাপ প্রয়োগ করতে পারেন, তাদেরকে প্রাণবন্ত করতে পারেন না। সত্য শুধু জানানো হয় না অনুপ্রেরণাও যোগায়। যদি অনুপ্রেরণা শেষ হয়ে যায়, তথ্য শুধু জমা হয়, তখন সত্য তার অসীমতা হারিয়ে ফেলে। আমাদের স্কুল শিক্ষার বেশির ভাগ অপচয় হয়েছে কারণ আমাদের  অধিকাংশ শিক্ষকের নিকট তাদের বিষয়গুলো এক সময়ের জীবন্ত বিষয়ের মৃত নমুনার মতো যার সাথে তাদের শিক্ষা বিষয়ক পরিচিতি রয়েছে, কিন্তু জীবন ও ভালোবাসার সাথে কোনো যোগাযোগ নেই।...........