ENGLISH

Question 1

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:

Most of us nowadays carry the world in our pocket! It is amazing but true. It is amazing but true. A mobile phone keeps us connected to the rest of the world all of the time. Today, parents do not have to remain in tension if their sons or daughters are late. Businessmen do not have to queue up before a telephone booth to make an important call. Apart from making calls and sending messages, the mobile phone is used as a multipurpose gadget. It is a calculator, a timepiece, a calendar, a voice recorder, a media player, a camera, a gaming device, a net browser, and so much more. The invention of mobile phones is a great achievement and plays an important part in our daily lives. Its many aspects are beneficial but it has some negative effects as well.

The development of the mobile phone has made our lives very convenient.

Communication between people has become quite easy and very fast. We can keep in contact with others from any place on the bus, in a street or while in a meeting, by sending a message that costs us much less than the price of a call. The Internet can be accessed through it and it is also used to take photos and shoot videos, Business deals can be done on a single call through a cell phone outside the office, in a park or in any shopping centre. This invention gets the world closer and makes it easily accessible.

Though the mobile phone is a giant step of technological advancement, its abuses cannot at all be overlooked. Talking or texting while driving may lead to accidents. The radiations of mobile may be dangerous to health and may cause headaches, earaches, and blurring vision. These invisible radiations destroy the cells located in the ear which cause damage to the brain and to the nephrons in the head region. Its use in certain places causes disturbance sometimes, such as in a classroom, a movie theatre, or a hospital, etc. Mobile phones with camera are causing serious privacy problems with people using them as a hidden camera to take pictures and make videos. And although the mobile phone brings the world in our pockets by keeping us connected all of the time, it also unfortunately disconnects us from our loved ones.

Questions:

(i) Write short answers to the following questions:

(a) How is a mobile phone like a world in our pockets?

(b) Why do the parents not have a remain in tension if their sons and daughters are late ?

(c) List two negative effects of the use of a mobile phone.

(d) What, according to you, is the most useful purpose of a mobile phone and why?

(e) How has the mobile phone disconnected us from our loved ones?

(ii) Find words in the passage that mean the same as the following:

(a) astonishing

(b) mental or emotional strain

(c) advantageous

(d) obtainable, reachable

(e) development

Solution

(a) Mobile phone is like a world in our pockets as it keeps us connected to the rest of the world all of the time.

(b) The parents doesn't have tension if their sons and daughters are late because they can be contacted anytime and from anywhere.

(c)(i) Talking or texting while driving may lead to accidents.

(ii) The radiations of mobile are dangerous to health and may cause headaches, earaches and blurring vision.

(d) Communication between people has become quite easy and very fast because we can keep in contact with others from any place and anytime.

(e) Even though it is connecting us but at the same time it disconnects us as sitting in the same room instead of talking with each other we send messages or busy browsing our phones.

(ii)(a) astonishing                                  -               amazing

(b) mental or emotional strain           -               tension

(c) advantageous                                  -               beneficial

(d) reachable, obtainable                       -               accessible

(e) development                                  -               advancement

Question 2

On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it, using headings and sub- headings. Use recognizable abbreviations whenever necessary (minimum two).

Solution

Mobile Phones

(a) Multipurpose gadget

(i) Calculator

(i) Calendar

(iii) Voice recorder

(iv) Camera and many more

(b) Communication

(i) Easy and very fast

(ii) The world became closer

(iii) Easily accessible

(c) Advantages

(i) Keeps connected

(ii) Convenient

(iii) Important in daily life

(iv) Internet

(d) Disadvantages

(A) Health hazards

(i) damage to brain and ear

(ii) Blurring Vision

(B) Privacy problems

(i) Disturbances at public places

(ii) Hidden camera