WAEC SSCE WASSCE 1995 Comprehension passages
COMPREHENSION PASSAGE I
Read the passages below carefully and answer the questions that follow.
A school library is not one of those luxuries – like armchairs in the staff room - which can easily be done without; it is an essential, without which the school will inevitably be the poorer. Yet some school educational administrators and teachers appear to doubt this. They say that the purpose of primary education is to teach children the three Rs... to read, to write, to add up and that this can be done without a school library.
The purpose of secondary education, it is said, is to get pupils through the senior secondary school certificate examination, and for this, only textbooks and a good memory are required. One even hears the argument, ‘We did not have a school library when I was at school; so why is there a need for one now?’
The last of this argument could be used to obstruct any kind of progress. 20 years ago, in many places there was no electricity, no hospital, and no pipe-borne water, often no school: but nobody in his right senses would deny that the coming of these amenities have been excellent. It is the same with libraries. What of the other argument that the school library is not necessary for the achievement of the purposes of education?
This argument is fallacious because its proponents have misconceived the purpose of education. Education in the primary school is not just a matter of learning to read, write and add up. Nor, in the secondary school, is it only a matter of passing examination and getting good jobs. Proper use of a library will help develop one's knowledge and through this, to some extent, one’s personality. Proper use, of course, implies the ability to use a library both as a source of books to read from cover to cover and as a source of reference. For example, a student should be able to use the index at the back of the book quickly and efficiently, realizing that words are listed in alphabetical order with page references to the required topic. This same alphabetical system is used with a dictionary, although here the whole of the book is in alphabetical order, there being no index at the back.
All these things - the three Rs, examination and jobs, and the library are a road leading somewhere. They are the means to a further end. And what is the end? It can be defined as a full and civilized life - as full and civilized as is possible for each individual. The true purpose of education, therefore at any level is to lead pupils as far as possible in the right direction. Full and civilized implies the development of individual talents, the growth of body, mind and the responsibilities of citizenship.
Questions
a) For each of the following words underlined in the passage give another word or phrase that means the same which can replace it in the passage:
(i) luxuries
(ii) inevitably
(iii) obstruct
(iv) fallacious
(v) talent
b) What is it that some educational administrators and teachers doubt?
c) State the three arguments against the establishment of a school library.
d) Give two arguments that a writer uses to support the establishment of school libraries.
e) What in the writers opinion adapt to a full and civilized life?
f) The poorer
(i) What part of speech is poorer in this phrase?
(ii) What type of phrase is the poorer?
g) Quote from the passage two words or phrases that reveal the writer’s attitude towards those who argue against the establishment of school libraries.
COMPREHENSION PASSAGE II
Read the passages below carefully and answer the questions that follow.
All morning my mother had been scolding me, telling me to keep still, warning that I must make no noise. And I was angry, fretful, and impatient. In the next room Granny lay ill and under the day and night care of a doctor, and I knew that I would be punished if I did not obey. I crossed restlessly to the window and push back the long fluffy white curtains – which I had been forbidden to touch and looked yearningly out into the empty street. I was dreaming of running and playing and shouting, but a vivid image of granny's old wrinkled grim face made me afraid.
The house was quiet. Behind me my brother a year younger than I was playing placidly upon the floor with a toy. A bird wheeled past the window and I greeted it with a glad shout.
“You better hush”, my brother said.
“You shut up”, I said.
My mother stepped briskly into the room and closed the door behind her. She came to me and shook her finger in my face. “You stop that yelling, you hear?” She whispered. “You know Granny’s sick and you better keep quiet!”
I hung my head and sulked. She left and I ached with boredom.
“I told you so”, my brother gloated.
“You shut up.” I told him again.
I wandered aimlessly about the room, trying to think of something to do. I dreaded the return of my mother, but did not want to be neglected. The room held nothing of interest except a fire and finally I stood before it and watched the flames. An idea of a new kind of game grew and took root in my mind. Why not throw something into the fire and watch it burn? I looked about. There was only my picture book, and my mother would beat me if I burned that. Then what? I hunted around until I saw the broom leaning in a closet. That's it... who would bother about a few straws if I burned them? I pulled out the broom and tore out a batch of straws and tossed them into the fire and watched them smoke, turn black, and finally turn into ash. I took more of the straws from the broom and cast them into the fire. My brother came to my side, his eyes drawn by the blazing straws.
“Don't do that” he said.
“How come?” I asked.
“You’ll burn the whole broom”,
“I’ll tell”, he said.
“And I’ll hit you,” I said.
My idea was growing, booming period now I was wondering just how the long fluffy white curtains will look if I little bunch of straws and held it under them. Would I try it? Sure I pulled several straws from the broom and held them to the fire until they blazed; I rushed to the window and brought the flame in touch with the hands of the curtains. My brother shook his head, “Naw,” he said.
Questions
a) For each of the following words find another word or phrase that means the same which can replace it in the passage:
(i) fretful
(ii) placidly
(iii) gloated
(iv) tossed
(v) blazing
b) State three ways in which the writer reacted to his mother’s harsh warning.
c) What did the writer think of as he gazed into the empty street?
d) Why did the writer’s mother order him to be quiet?
e) Why did the writer start burning the straws of the broom?
f) “took root in my mind”
What kind of phrase is this construction?
g) In what ways do the attitudes of the two brothers differ in the story?
h) “Naw” he said.
Why did the writer’s brother scream “Naw”?
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