WAEC SSCE WASSCE 2002 Comprehension passages
COMPREHENSION PASSAGE
Read the passage below carefully and answer the questions on it.
As human beings, we have been polluting the earth from the time we lit our first fire, washed our clothes in the river and threw our trash on the ground. When land was used up or the river became dirty, we moved on to another place. The earth could at first handle the problem because there was plenty of fresh air, land, and water. But with the rise in population and the spread of industry, this is no longer true. Now our environment is becoming overburdened with waste, and our air and water are getting polluted. All the different kinds of pollution are connected. What happens to the air affects the land, and what happens to the land affects the water around us, which in turn affects, the air. Pollution has become a threat to our environment and the urban dweller suffers most.
Of all forms of pollution, noise is perhaps the most inescapable for the urban dweller. It pursues him in the street and into the privacy of his home and even envelops him at his workplace. We may not yet know the price we pay when our hearing is affected or we suffer from nervous tension, but scientist report that, when animals are made to listen to excessive noise, they become cheerless, exhibit disinterest, and grow violent. Noise also interferes with the sexual activity of animals. May not the same be true for us?
It is true that people tolerate noise according to their culture, mental capacity, training and experience. A farmer might find an electricity generating plant too noisy and intolerable. While the villager might avoid city life because noise in the city is unbearable, others find the sounds of the city and marketplace sheer music. People even constantly attend discotheques and rock music concerts although the sound levels have been found to be clearly dangerous.
Almost all of us would, however, agree that noise, like that of aircraft in take-off and the roar of heavy-duty diesel trucks, is an intolerable burden on our ears and on our nervous systems and badly affects some small animals and insects which rely on their delicate hearing for survival. Yet we are less likely to complain and make a fuss when we ourselves make the noise: our own doors slamming at night or our cornmill shattering the peace and quiet. No, it is other people’s noise that we find more irritating although, when it comes to our friendly next-door neighbour, we just shrug our shoulders realizing that they have to put up with our noise too.
Noise must be actively opposed, and we must give all the support we can muster to measures meant to reduce noise. Only recently, attention has been focused seriously on noise abatement and the passing of strict and enforceable laws and regulations. In the final analysis, however, only self-discipline and respect for one’s neighbours can lessen the late-night blaring of musical instruments and the deafening shouts from all-night religious services.
Questions
a) For each of the following words underlined in the passage, give another word or phrase that means the same and which can replace it in the passage:
(i) handle
(ii) envelops
(iii) sheer
(iv) irritating
(v) measures
b) What, according to the writer, have been the main causes of pollution in the modern world?
c) Why does the city dweller find noise pollution unavoidable?
d) How can people show that they are against noisemaking?
e) Why do some people not complain when their neighbours make noise?
f) What is the writer’s attitude to noisemaking?
g) What literary device is used in the expression, May not the same be true for us?
h) …a threat to our environment.
(i) What is the grammatical name for this expression?
(ii) What is its function?
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