Note-making is an advanced writing skill which is gaining importance due to knowledge explosion. There is a need to remember at least the main points of any given subject. Making notes is a complex activity which combines several skills.
Basic English Grammar rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.
Note Making Class 12 CBSE Format, Examples
Read the passage and answer the questions.
It wasn’t so long ago that parents asked their teenagers to double-check that they had loose change, so they could call home, if need be. Then came cell phones.
Teens aren’t just using their phones to talk. From rapid-fire ‘texting’ to full-fledged Web browsing to videos and video games, cell phones have become portable computers which have opened up a whole new set of concerns.
‘Parents are totally clueless about what kids are doing on cell phones. They are taking pictures, surfing the Web, playing games and listening to MP3s. They are harassing each other, cyber bullying,’ says child safety advocate Parry Aftab. Even responsible parents who follow the time – tested advice of keeping the computer out of the child’s bedroom and in a family room, where usage can be casually monitored, may not have control over what their kids are doing with cell phones, she said.
“The same parents who tell me the computer is in a central location are clueless that their kids are chatting with anyone they want on their cell phones.’ Cell phone makers have taken aim at the segment, which is constantly being refreshed by kids coming of cell phone age. About half of the children with phones are signed up with increasingly popular family plans, designed to outfit entire households with phones, and designed by industry to hook loyal users.
Teens have also been targeted by a recent aggressive move to push video games onto cell phones. When the games were simple, such as the knockoffs of the Atari – era ‘breakout’, there wasn’t much to worry about. But newer phones with colour displays and higher processing power create a landscape that might make some parents worried about what their kids are playing on the bus home from school. Games and videos with sex and violence are now a technological possibility, even if the screens are still small, and the characters pixelated. And then there’s the more subtle messages sent by some games.
Complicating matters further said Patricia Vance of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, is the fact that game ratings can’t be used on cell phones – the technology doesn’t allow it. Console and PC games have ratings on the outside of the package, so parents at least know what they are getting into when they make a purchase. Since cell phone downloads offer no method for displaying ratings before purchase, “there’s no way to enforce a rating system. There could be parents who decide they don’t want their kids playing a game at home, but it ends up on their cell phone.’
But Sprint can’t control games other companies make, or the Websites kids may visit. Ford agreed that parents need to make an effort to remain well – versed in what their kids are doing with their phones. Web-enabled phones can go to all the unsavory places a Web-enabled computer can, so parents need to keep a watchful eye. Erin McGee, manager of Public Affairs for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, said the best way to enforce strict limits is to keep hold of the mobile purse strings. Since consumers must be 18 in order to purchase a cell phone contract in the United States, most parents are buying the phones their children carry in the first place.
Don’t let that be the end of it, McGee said. “When a parent pays a child’s bill, they can look at that bill, and see where and how are they are spending their minutes,’ she stressed. But purse-string control is getting a little more complicated now, Barrabee said, because features like text messaging and Web browsing are increasingly included in bundles with extra weekend and night minutes. Fewer phones come with simple telephone capabilities, she said. ‘You have to really know your child. Different kids handle things differently. If your kid has a cell phone, it’s. really important for parents to talk with kids about what they are doing.’
Note Making Sample Example With Answers for Class 12 CBSE
Kids And Cell Phones
1. PCO → cell phones with added features
(a) “texting
(b) ……………………………
(c) video games
Answer:
PCO → cell phones with added features
(a) ‘texting’
(b) web browsing
(c) video games
2. Disadvantages – parents clueless
(a) ……………………………
(b) surfing the Web
(c) ……………………………
(d) cyberbullying
Answer:
Disadvantages—parents clueless
(a) taking pictures
(b) surfing the Web
(c) playing games/MP3s
(d) cyber-bullying
3. Increasing pop
(a) plans to hook families
(b) for teens ……………………………
(c) content – sex and violence
Answer:
Increasing pop
(a) plans to hook families
(b) for teens – video games, colour displays & higher processing power
(c) content – sex and violence
4. Children can’t be monitored coz
(a) ……………………………
(b) parents clueless about the content
Answer:
Children can’t be monitored coz
(a) no game ratings
(b) parents clueless about the content
5. Parental control req
(a) Ford → ……………………………
(b) Erin McGee → control cell bills.
(c) Barrable → ……………………………
Answer:
Parental control req
(a) Ford → parents need to keep watch
(b) Erin McGee → control cell bills
(c) Barrable → simple phones
Write a summary of the above in 80 words.
Summary
The PCOs have been replaced by cell phones with complicated features that include ‘texting’, Web browsing, video games, etc. Consequently, parents are clueless about how the children are putting their phones to use. It has resulted in cyberbullying and has increased the exposure to sex and violence. Hence parental control is a must. It could be exercised by way of keeping a watchful eye, controlling mobile bills, buying simple telephones or talking to the children. (76 words)
Note – Making Passages
2.1 Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
1. If one fine morning you happen to find a butterfly inside a room near a window, what do you do? You probably think, ‘what a lovely thing’, and open the window, to let it fly away. Well, that is quite a virtuous action to take for a pest which will lay a lot of eggs, which will in turn change to caterpillars, which will then start to eat your cabbages, other vegetables and flowers.
2. Now suppose that, instead of a butterfly, it is a spider that you see. What do you do now? You may cry out, ‘Oh! Look at the horrible spider. You may even run for a broom or a slipper and kill it. If you do, you will have killed one of your best friends.
3. Why are spiders among our best friends? They destroy many harmful insects, including some of our worst enemies. These are the insects that devour our crops, cause diseases both to us and to farm animals, and torment our skins. Spiders do not prey on specific insects. They kill and eat whatever insects are available, though they do not usually prey on the large ones.
4. There are two main groups of spiders: the weaving spiders and the hunting spiders. These two groups differ in various ways. The weavers have bigger spinnerets (those parts of the body from which the silk comes out) and their legs are generally much longer, with special claws at the end. The hunting spiders (which do not spin webs) have smaller spinnerets and strong thicker legs. They have better eyesight than the weavers, but the weavers’ sense of touch is more developed, and more highly evolved than the hunters’.
5. The weavers do not take the trouble to hunt their prey, they set a trap and wait for the prey to get caught in it. This trap is, of course, the web, which is made from the spider’s silk. The silk is produced in glands in the back half of the body and pushed out through jets or nozzles or the spinneret. These can be moved in any direction, and they also control the quantity of silk that comes out. It is liquid when it comes out and hardens when it meets the air, although it remains sticky. This is very important for the spider since the stickiness helps to prevent his prey from escaping. The spider itself, however, can run across the web because it has a kind of oil on its feet, which does not stick to the web.
Note Making Practice Example for Class 12 CBSE
2.1.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.1.2 Write a summary of the passage above in 80 words.
2.2 Read the passage given below and answer the questions.
1. The word biodiversity is primarily associated with the diversity of living organisms, meaning the abundance of a different animal, plant, and microbial species. The composition of species in a given ecosystem is the result of long-lasting evolution. Each species has adapted to its own niche, which is characterized by certain features (e.g. temperature range, availability of food, or light) enabling the species to reproduce and thus maintain its population.
2. Living in an ecosystem, the species interacts with its environment (e.g. mussels take particles out of the water, reed, and root systems) and thus performs certain functions (increasing the light availability for plant growth, preventing sediment erosion). In a natural state, these interactions and consequently the system is in balance.
3. The loss of one species affects many other species and causes imbalance. As a result, several functions within and of the system are not carried out anymore. Any species that will take over the lost species’ niche will most certainly not replace all of the functions it used to perform.
4. When species become extinct, their services for the global biosphere are lost forever. It is impossible to replace it.
5. Overexploitation, pollution, and habitat conversion are the main threats to species diversity. They cause a gradual loss of species on the local, regional, and global levels. Additionally, the introduction of a species into new ecosystems destroys natural balance.
6. The ever-growing tendencies of tourism, transport, profit-oriented food production (e.g., single-crop agriculture, selective aquaculture), and industry enforce these human activities. Global warming and population growth continually magnify these pressures on biodiversity.
7. It should have become clear that the loss of species is accompanied by a loss of functionality, some of which directly affect human life in a severe way: reduction of commercially used fish stocks and erosion of soil and sediment are two such examples.
8. Till date, scientists have counted and described some 1.7 million living organisms, but the planet’s total number is estimated at between 5 and 30 million, with some scientists putting forward figures of 80 million or more.
9. An exhaustive inventory of the species on earth is still incomplete and very little is known about the role and the potential that each of them has for increasing the quality of human life. It is therefore necessary to prevent the loss of species’ diversity to continue to enjoy its benefits.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.2.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.2.2 Write a summary of the passage above in 80 words.
2.3 Read the following passage carefully.
1. Much before medical science discovered it, the magazine Readers Digest came out with the prescription – Laughter is the Best Medicine. Newspapers and magazines which regularly run humour columns are, therefore, doing their bit to keep the readers in good health. Reading light articles, whether they are satirical, comical, or just humorous, relieves the tedium of work – a – day world. Some pieces may even tickle one’s grey matter.
2. It is said that if you laugh for ten minutes you will be in a better position to put up with pain for two hours. According to US researchers, laughter tones up the system and is a good antidote to stress. Facial laugh muscles instruct the brain to ‘feel good’ regardless of how you feel.
3. According to a French doctor, laughter deepens breathing, improves blood circulation, speeds up the process of tissue healing, and stabilizes many body functions. In short, it acts as a powerful drug with no side effects. Researchers state that laughter stimulates the production of beta-endorphins, natural pain killers in the body, and improves digestion. Those who laugh are less prone to digestive disorders and ulcers.
4. Some people in France have made it a career. You can hire a ‘jovialist who cracks jokes and laughs and promises to make you dissolve your worries in helpless laughter.
5. A word of caution, although laughing is a good exercise for toning up the facial muscles, laughing at others’ expense, particularly at their disabilities, is in bad taste and is to be avoided. Secondly, laughing with food in the mouth is dangerous as the food can get into the windpipe and may choke the digestive system.
6. Eating, anyway, is a serious business not to be trifled with by any jocular diversion. Laughter comes best when it is free of encumbrances, whether it is constricting food or the need to humour the boss.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.3.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes on it using headings and subheadings. Use recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary also suggest a suitable title.
2.3.2 Write a summary of the passage above in 80 words.
2.4 Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.
1. The first Olympics was held at Olympia in Greece in 776 BC. The prestige and glory of the Olympics spread far and wide. With the advent of Christianity, the games lost their importance, as it was believed that they encouraged pagan worship in temples built to honour the Greek gods. It was Theodosius I who ordered the total destruction of the Olympia Sanctuary’s temples and other structures in the year 394 AD, which ended the era of the ancient Olympic games.
2. It was due to the efforts of Baron de Coubertin that the modern Olympics of the modern era began in 1896 and were held every four years, thereafter, except during the two World Wars.
3. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was constituted in 1894. It had 15 representatives including Coubertin. The first Olympic medal was won by America’s James Connolly in the triple jump. The marathon was the most important event and was won by a Greek named Spiridon Louis.
4. Olympia is a small village situated near the west coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece. It is noted for its archaeological ruins, the remains of the temples for the worship of Greek gods, and the ancient Olympic stadium.
5. The visitor is impressed by the grandiose ruins, which show temple foundations, ruins of the temple of Zeus, the tall columns, the altars and art objects that dot the site. Some of these objects are placed in the archaeological museum. Another museum displays objects like stamps, photographs, documents, flags, maps, and trophies belonging to the modern Olympics.
6. The games sought to bring various warring groups together in an atmosphere of friendly rivalry and competition. So a sacred truce would be called for the duration of the games that had assumed Panhellenic importance.
7. Some of the events included in the games were foot – racing, wrestling, chariot – racing, and horse – racing. The names of the victors along with the name of events would be recorded for posterity. For the victors, it was the laurel wreath that was of prime importance as it signified their superior performance.
8. At the modern Olympics, the sacred flame was lit at Olympia using sun power, by Greek maidens dressed in white. The event was presided over by a Greek priestess. The flame was then carried in a torch that travelled across nations. This custom of the lit torch still continues and has come to stand for an important symbol of the event. The importance of the Olympic movement has been recognized over centuries as it brings people together in a spirit of friendly competition.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.4.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.4.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.5 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
1. “To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to difficult achievement,’ wrote Bertrand Russell. Yet, the inability to focus our thoughts is a serious, disconcerting problem, for many of us. . William James called it the quality that denoted a genius. Sir Isaac Newton often forgot to eat when trying to solve a problém. The magical facility is concentration and the irony is the fact that when we are concentrating, we are oblivious to the fact that we are. It is at this level that inhibitions melt away, pleasure in the task overrides our self – consciousness. The Buddhists call it ‘the loss of self”. The Latin root means ‘centred’.
2. Concentration is the fragile ability that disappears during emotional turbulence. When we concentrate, there is an increase in the frequency or velocity of our brain waves. The pupils dilate, palms begin to sweat and the heartbeat becomes more variable, slowing down in moments just prior to concentration, speeding up once we actually begin to work. People say, to concentrate we must relax, but the truth is that the earlier stages are characterized by a slight level of anxiety. This stage is triggered by the release of noradrenaline, a hormone secreted in much greater quantity at times of other emotional extremes, fear, or rage.
3. There are various factors that affect concentration. An introvert may focus better than a gregarious personality. Moreover, concentration is at its peak between the ages of 12 and 40. The afternoon is a slow time for everyone. We work best in synchronization with our biorhythms from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Concentration spans are not endless. Ideally, we need a five minutes to break after thirty minutes of focused activity. A perfectly silent room with four blank walls may seem ideal, but the reverse is true. Variety and ambiance do not contradict each other. For this reason, places of moderate activity are preferred. A noise level of more than 120 decibels is a hindrance and up to 90 decibels have little effect. Some people find it difficult to concentrate after a heavy meal as the digestive processes take over and the level of fat and sugar in the bloodstream rises inducing lethargy. Caffeine and nicotine aid concentration in those addicted to them. Belief in one’s own ability increases concentration. Confidence helps one concentrate. An easy job leads to boredom while a too taxing one breeds anxiety. Balance is the key factor. The inability to concentrate is a classic symptom of depression. Seemingly unrelated factors such as loneliness, nervousness, perfectionism, and worrying can short circuit concentration.
4. Learned and wise people feel that the strength to concentrate lies within us. This means we can reach our goals, solve problems, read difficult books, if we put aside external considerations, not by force, but by acceptance of what is happening in our minds.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.5.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.5.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.6 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions.
1. A 37 – year – old woman in South Korea, paralysed 20 years ago, has resumed walking. The miracle recovery was made possible after stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood were introduced into her injured spine, initiating a process of nerve cell regeneration and healing. The scientific miracle comes as wonderful news especially for immobile spinal injury victims who have lost hope of ever regaining their motor abilities. Further, scientists say cord blood generated multipotent stem cells can be safely used in the treatment of other debilitating diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and even diabetes. Unlike stem cells taken from donor adult bone marrow, cord blood cells have a lower risk of rejection on grounds of genotype mismatch, as they are more flexible. In fact, there is no ethical dilemma in using cord blood stem cells as the blood is drawn from the discarded umbilical cord and placenta, after childbirth. Scientists claim that extracting stem cells in this manner poses absolutely no danger either to the life or well–being of the infant and the mother.
2. Cord blood stem cells could then be the answer to resolving the pesky ethical questions worrying the patients and medical, legal, and governing communities worldwide with regard to researching and availing of the cutting–edge stem cell technology. The other sources of stem cells blastocysts or pre-embryos and embryos (besides adult marrow) – would entail destroying the embryo after extracting the stem cells; resulting in the ongoing debate among the pro-choice and pro-life camps over the use of this technology.
So far, over a hundred cord blood banks have already been established worldwide and stem cells from these banks have reportedly yielded encouraging results. India’s first cord blood bank – a joint venture with a US firm – is all set to open to the public in Chennai shortly; anyone can get their baby’s cord blood cryo – frozen for 21 years for a payment of 59,000. This way, an individual who needs treatment can access his own cord blood for stem cells, and be assured of a compatible perfect match.
With Indian biotech companies such as Reliance Life Sciences already investing heavily in stem cell lines and cord blood banking, there is no doubt that this will be the next sunrise biotech area. In fact, with medical termination of pregnancies legal and fertility centres holding stocks of unutilized blastocysts or embryos that will ultimately be destroyed, India could become the world’s largest supplier of life–saving therapeutic stem cells.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.6.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.6.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.7 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions.
1. Tsunami is a Japanese word which when translated into English, would mean “harbour wave’. Represented by two characters, the top character, ‘tsu’ means harbor, while the bottom character, ‘nami’ means wave. In the past, tsunamis were sometimes referred to as “tidal waves’ by the general public, and as ‘seismic sea waves’ by the scientific community. The term ‘tidal wave’ is however, a misnomer; although a tsunami’s impact upon a coastline is dependent upon the tidal level at the time a tsunami strikes, tsunamis are unrelated to the tides. Tides result from the imbalanced, extraterrestrial, gravitational influences of the moon, sun, and planets. The term, seismic sea wave is also misleading. Seismic implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a non – seismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact.
2. Tsunamis are unlike wind-generated waves, which many of us may have observed on a local lake or at a coastal beach, in that they are characterized as shallow-water waves, with long periods and wavelengths. The wind-generated swell one sees at a California beach, for example, spawned by a storm out in the Pacific and rhythmically rolling in, one wave after another, might have a period of about 10 seconds and a wavelength of 150 m. A tsunami, on the other hand, can have a wavelength in excess of 100 kms in the space of an hour.
3. As a result of their long wavelengths, tsunamis behave as shallow-water waves. A wave becomes a shallow-water wave when the ratio between the water depth and its wavelength gets very small. Because the rate at which a wave loses its energy is inversely related to its wavelength. Tsunamis not only propagate at high speeds, they can also travel great, transoceanic distances with limited energy losses.
4. As a tsunami leaves the deep water of the open ocean and travels into the shallower water near the coast, it transforms. The tsunami’s energy flux which is dependent on both its wave speed and wave height, remains nearly constant. Consequently, as the tsunami’s speed diminishes on its way to the shallower water, its height grows. Because of this shoaling effect, a tsunami, imperceptible at sea, may grow to be several meters or more in height near the coast. When it finally reaches the coast, a tsunami may appear as a rapidly rising or falling tide, a series of breaking waves.
5. As a tsunami approaches the shore, it begins to slow and grow in height. Just like other water waves, tsunamis begin to lose energy as they rush onshore – part of the wave energy is reflected offshore, while the shoreward – propagating wave energy is dissipated through bottom friction and turbulence. Despite these losses, tsunamis still reach the coast with tremendous amounts of energy. Tsunamis have great erosional potential, stripping beaches of sand that may have taken years to accumulate and undermining trees and other coastal vegetation. Capable of inundating, or flooding, hundreds of metres inland past the typical high – water level, the fast-moving water associated with the inundating tsunami can crush homes and other coastal structures. Tsunamis may reach a maximum vertical height onshore above sea level, often called a run-up height, of 10, 20, and even 30 metres.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.7.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.7.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.8 Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
1. English is firmly entrenched nearly everywhere as the international language of business, finance, and technology. But in Europe, it has spread far beyond the elite. Indeed, English is becoming the binding agent of a continent, linking Finns to French and Portuguese as they move toward political and economic unification. ‘A common language is crucial,’ says Tito Boeri, a business professor at Bocconi University in Milan, “to take advantage of Europe’s integrated labour market.’
3. The implications for business are enormous. It’s no longer just top executives who need to speak English. Everyone in the corporate food chain is feeling the pressure to learn a common tongue as companies globalize and democratize. These days in formerly national companies such as Renault and BMW, managers, engineers, even leading blue-collar workers are constantly calling and emailing colleagues and customers in Europe, the US, and Japan. The language usually is English, an industrial tool now as basic as the screwdriver.
3. But there’s one fly in the ointment. While English is fast becoming a prerequisite for landing a good job in Europe, only 41% of the people on the continent speak it – and only 29% speak it well enough to carry on a conversation, according to a European Commission report. The result is an English gap, one that divides Europe’s haves from its have – nots. More and more, even the rank and file must know English – or risk missing out on vital job opportunities.
4. Across all sectors and ranks, non – English speakers face a harder hunt for fewer and poorer jobs. Many of the leading employers in Europe rarely even consider job applicants without English. Secretaries who lack English can expect to make 30% less – if they’re lucky enough to find a job, says temporary – work agency Manpower Inc. And for head hunters such as Sarah Mulhern of Spencer Stuart in Paris, English is not an option anymore: ‘It’s a requirement.’ She recalls working with one French technical whiz who didn’t know English. She landed him a job at Excite – but only after he had completed an intensive language course.
5. Europe’s English divide closely mirrors its economy. The wealthy parts – Sweden, the Netherlands, western Germany, and cosmopolitan cities such as Paris and Milan – are also rich in English, and getting richer. English – poor regions, from the Mediterranean to Eastern Europe, lose out on foreign investment and jobs. Only 5% to 10% of the workforce at Italian banks speaks good English, estimates Michele Appendino, co-founder of European venture fund Net Partners. If those banks merge with German or French banks, as expected, the common language will likely be English. Those who don’t speak it risk becoming foreigners in their own banks – if they’re lucky enough to hold on to their jobs.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.8.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.8.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.9 Read the passage given below and answer the questions.
1. The topic of thought is an area of Psychology and many observers have considered this aspect in connection with robots and computers; some of the old worries about artificial intelligence were closely linked to the question of whether computers could think. The first massive electronic computers, capable of rapid computation and little or no creative activity, were soon dubbed `electronic brains’. A reaction to this terminology quickly followed. To put them in their place, computers were called ‘high – speed idiots’, an effort to protect human vanity. But not everyone realized the implications of the high – speed idiot tag. It has not been pointed out often enough even the human idiot is one of the most intelligent life forms on earth. If the early computers were even that intelligent, it was already a remarkable state of affairs.
2. One consequence of speculation about the possibility of computer thought was that we were driven to examine with new care the idea of thought in general. It soon became clear that we were not sure what we meant by such terms as thought and thinking. We tend to assume that human beings think, some more than others, though we often call people thoughtless or thinking. Dreams cause a problem, partly because they usually happen outside our control.
3. They are obviously some type of mental experience, but are they a type of thinking? And the question of non – human life forms adds further problems. Many of us would maintain that some of the higher animals – dogs, cats, apes and so on are capable of at least basic thought, but what about fish and insects? It is certainly true that the higher mammals show complex brain activity when tested with the appropriate equipment. If thinking is demonstrated by evident electrical activity in the brain, then many animal species are capable of thought. Once we have formulated clear ideas on what thought is in biological creatures, it will be easier to discuss the thought in artifacts. And what is true of thought is also true of the many other mental processes.
4. One of the immense benefits of Artificial Intelligence research is that we are being forced to scrutinize, with new rigour, the working of the human mind.
5. It is already clear that machines have superior mental abilities to many life forms. No fern or an oak tree can play chess as well as even the simplest digital computer, nor can frogs weld car bodies as well as robots. The three-fingered mechanical manipulator is cleverer in some ways than the three-toed sloth. It seems that view in terms of intellect, the computer should be set well above plants and most animals. Only the higher animals can, it seems, complete with computers with regard to intellect and even then with diminishing success (examples of this are in the games of backgammon and chess). Some of the world’s best players are now computers.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.9.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.9.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.10 Read passage given below and answer the questions.
1. There is nothing more frustrating than when you sit down at your table to study with the most sincere of intentions and instead of being able to finish the task at hand, you find your thoughts wandering. However, there are certain techniques that you can use to enhance your concentration. Your concentration level depends on a number of factors,’ says Samuel Ghosh, a social counsellor. ‘In order to develop your concentration span, it is necessary to examine various facets of your physical and internal environment,’ she adds.
2. To begin with, one should attempt to create the physical environment that is conducive to focussed thought. Whether it is the radio, TV or your noisy neighbors, identify the factors that make it difficult for you to focus. For instance, if you live in a very noisy neighborhood, you could try to plan your study hours in a nearby library.
3. She disagrees with the notion that people can concentrate or study in an environment with distractions like loud television, blaring music etc. ‘If you are distracted when you are attempting to focus, your attention and retention powers do not work at optimum levels,’ cautions Ghosh. ‘Not more than two of your senses should be activated at the same time,’ she adds. What that means is that music that sets your feet tapping is not the ideal accompaniment to your books.
4. Also do not place your study table or desk in front of a window. ‘While there is no cure for a mind that wants to wander, one should try and provide as little stimulus as possible. Looking out of a window when you are trying to concentrate will invariably send your mind on a tangent,’ says Ghosh.
5. The second important thing, she says, is to establish goals for oneself instead of setting a general target and then trying to accomplish what you can in a haphazard fashion. It is very important to decide what you have to finish in a given span of time.
6. The human mind recognizes fixed goals and targets and appreciates schedules more than random thoughts. Once your thoughts and goals are in line, a focussed system will follow.
7. She recommends that you divide your schedule into the study and recreation hours. When you study, choose a mix of subjects that you enjoy and dislike and save the former for the last so that you have something to look forward to. For instance, if you enjoy verbal skill tests more than mathematical problems, then finish Maths first.
8. Not only will you find yourself working harder, but you will also have a sense of achievement when you wind up. Try not to sit for more than 40 minutes at a stretch. Take a very short break to make a cup of tea or listen to a song and sit down again. Under no circumstances, should one sit for more than one and a half hours. Short breaks build your concentration and refresh your mind. However, be careful not to overdo the relaxation. It may have undesired effects.
9. More than anything else, do not get disheartened. Concentration is merely a matter of disciplining the mind. It comes with practice and patience and does not take very long to become a habit for life.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.10.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes using points only, use abbreviations wherever necessary. Supply a suitable title.
2.10.2 Write a summary of the passage above in about 80 words.
2.11 Read the passage given below and answer the questions.
1. Despite all the research, every one of us catches a cold and most of us catch it frequently. Our failure to control one of the commonest of all ailments sometimes seems ridiculous. Medical science regularly practises transplant surgery and has rid whole countries of such killing diseases as typhus and the plague. But the problem of common cold is unusually difficult and much has yet to be done to solve it. It is known that a cold is caused by one of a number of viral infections that affect the lining of the nose and other passages leading to the lungs but the confusing variety of viruses makes study and remedy very difficult. It was shown in 1960 that many typical colds in adults are caused by one or the other of a family of viruses known as rhinoviruses, yet there still remain many colds for which no virus has as yet been isolated.
2. There is also the difficulty that because they are so much smaller than the bacteria which cause many other infections, viruses cannot be seen with ordinary microscopes. Nor can they be cultivated easily in the bacteriologist’s laboratory, since they only grow within the living cells of animals or plants. An important recent step forward, however, is the development of the technique of tissue culture, in which bits of animal tissue are enabled to go on living and to multiply independently of the body. This has greatly aided virus research and has led to the discovery of a large number of viruses.
3. Their existence had previously been not only unknown but even unsuspected. The fact that we can catch a cold repeatedly creates another difficulty. Usually, a virus strikes only once and leaves the victim immune to further attacks. Still, we do not gain immunity from colds. Why? It may possibly be due to the fact that while other viruses get into the bloodstream where antibodies can oppose them, the viruses causing cold attack cells only on the surface. Or it may be that immunity from one of the many different viruses does not guarantee protection from all the others. It seems, therefore, that we are likely to have to suffer colds for some time yet.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.11.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes on it in points only, using abbreviations wherever necessary. Also, suggest a suitable title.
2.11.2 Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes made.
2.12 Read passage given below and answer the questions.
1. Torrential rains and swollen rivers have caused chaos across central and Eastern Europe, while a massive heatwave in southern Europe has helped reduce the Portuguese woodland to tinder. Tens of thousands of people face a massive relief operation as the extent of the devastation slowly becomes clear. The death toll continues to mount steadily across the continent. The latest estimate puts the number since mid – August 2005 at over 150. “Unfortunately, we are expecting the number of victims to rise by the hour,’ said Romanian interior minister Vasile Blaga.
2. Though the heatwave persists in Portugal and Spain, forest fires in Portugal have been brought under control. By, 26 August 2005, the waters began to recede across Germany and the Czech Republic, the countries hardest hit by the floods. The situation also improved in Croatia, Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia. But some areas of Switzerland and Germany remained on alert.
3. Huge damages were reported from all over Europe. Thousands of people had to be evacuated from their homes. Many villages were abandoned in Portugal, while helicopters were used in Switzerland and Austria to airlift people from flooded houses and landslides. The flood’s worst impact was along the Danube, Morava, and Elbe rivers and their tributaries. Dresden in Germany was one of the hardest hit.
4. Germany puts the damages at around the US $14 billion, but the German state of Saxony alone puts its own costs at around US $16 billion. Austria quotes a cleanup bill of US $2 billion, and the Czech Republic of US $3 billion. But all these figures are speculative. What is disturbing is that relief operations appear stretched. In Germany, only US $200 per adult is currently available from both the EU and the government.
5. The reason behind the bedlam is the jet stream, high – speed winds usually found just below the tropopause, which drives the depressions and fronts that affect the weather. Usually found between 7,620 metres (m) and 13,716 m altitude, it flows eastwards at speeds up to 200 miles per hour around the Earth. It is formed when cold air from the Arctic meets warm air from the tropics. Because the jet stream fluctuates, its track makes huge differences to the weather. This year it positioned around Europe locking high pressure over southwest Europe which in turn is responsible for creating intense drought in some parts and deluges of rain in other parts.
6. While many blame global warming for the disaster, some scientists are reluctant to draw a direct link. “We are linking these events to climate change… There are also other things happening: building up of the land, bad land use plans, bad fire prevention in the south… But all the factors together are more and more exacerbated by global warming,’ explains Martin. Hiller, spokesperson for Worldwide Fund for Nature, Malcolm Haylock of the University of East Anglia, UK, is more dithering: ‘You can say that due to the Earth getting warmer, there will be on average more extreme events, but you can’t attribute any specific event to climate change.’
7. Despite growing consensus about global warming, it is hard to find long – term trends in rainfall that would have directly influenced the droughts and floods. Some experts believe the North Atlantic Oscillation climate system has caused a drift towards drier conditions in southern Europe and more rainfall in the north during winters; its effects during summers are not as clear.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.12.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes on it in points only, using abbreviations wherever necessary. Also, suggest a suitable title.
2.12.2 Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes.
2.13 Read passage given below and answer the questions.
1. Tourism has emerged as one of the world’s largest industry. Growing rapidly in the last two decades, today it accounts for 6% of world output and employs some 100 million people around the globe. Since the end of the Second World War, it has developed immense revenue and development potential and stands today as a unique natural renewable resource industry.
2. Tourism – the travel-based recreation – provides people with a change of place and a break from the monotony of daily life. It brings peoples of different nations together, allowing them to come into close contact with each other’s customs and other aspects of life. It reveals the scenic beauty and past heritage of a country to people belonging to other nations. The knowledge and experience gained in the process can lead to greater understanding and tolerance, and can even foster world peace.
3. The contribution of tourism can be nowhere seen more clearly than on the economic front. A study conducted by the United Nations has shown that developing countries, in particular, can reap handsome benefits out of tourism which greatly boosts national income. Tourism generates employment and adds to the entrepreneurial wealth of a nation. While tourism’s advantages are many, its undesirable side effects have raised fresh problems.
4. Tourism can cause social, cultural, or environmental disruption. Of the greatest concern is its damage to the environment. In order to attract more tourists, sprawling resorts are built which take neither the local architectural styles nor the ecology into consideration. Natural systems come to be destroyed as a result of indiscriminate construction to provide water and waste disposal facilities and recreational arrangements to tourists. The overuse of environmental wealth disturbs the ecological balance.
5. Damage is most noticeable in the wildlife parks which remain the foremost sites of tourist attraction. Transport and visiting tourists destroy the ground vegetation, thus affecting the feeding habits of the animals and the landscape as well. Overcrowding brings about congestion, leading to environmental and health hazards. The Taj Mahal, for instance, one of the seven wonders of the world, has suffered a lot of wear and tear from trampling feet of tourists.
6. Some socio-cultural effects of tourism have been damaging. Tourism often ushers in new lifestyles; arrangements, as desired by tourists, are provided in order to make them feel at home. The emergence of this ‘other’ culture in various places has caused dissatisfaction among the local people. The concern is that the local people tend to imitate foreign values, breaking away from their own traditions.
7. To promote safe tourism while ensuring that it remains a profitable industry, it is imperative to understand the factors that hamper the growth of tourism and check them effectively.
8. General instability of the nation is damaging to tourism prospects. Political disturbances, in particular, pose a serious problem. The growing violence in the international scene and the increasing threat of terrorism affect the flow of tourists. Countries like Sri Lanka have been a victim to terrorist threats for long and have, therefore, suffered setbacks in tourism.
9. Whatever the problems, India must work hard to reap the benefits from this industry, for the country has everything to attract visitors from far and near.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.13.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes on it in points only, using abbreviations wherever necessary. Also suggest a suitable title.
2.13.2 Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes.
2.14 Read the passage given below and answer the questions.
1. Real praise, the sincere compliment is probably the most useful social tool of all. It is the valued gold coin of our conversation. Yet today, it is in danger of losing its brightness. For it is greatly misused and not properly exchanged.
2. What is a true compliment? It’s one that benefits both the giver and the receiver. Once a painter and his young assistant were painting our house. The older man was wearing shiny new shoes. As the man started painting skillfully, my father – in – law said to the boy, ‘Son, when you can show up on the job to paint a house, wearing new shoes, you will be the master of your trade.’ The painter smiled and did the best job.
3. We all like to have our sense of personal worth built up or pointed out. And when one expert adds to another’s sense of dignity and speaks favourably of his skill, he is offering a compliment of the highest and rarest kind.
4. A compliment differs from flattery in that it is objective and given without thought of gain. Flattery is often merely lip service or excessive praise given for motives other than expressed. The greatest efforts of the human race have always resulted from the love of praise. This should be inspired in childhood. The wise parent makes it a point to compliment a child who deserves it. A woman I know has a 12 – year – old son who considers washing dishes for his mother a great honour. One night, while washing a large dish, it slipped and crashed on the floor. Then his mother said, “You know, Robert, of all the times you have washed the dishes for me, this is the first time you dropped one.’ Anxiety left the boy’s face and he smiled. As one psychologist advises, ‘Praise virtue and you will find few vices to criticize.’
5. There is an art in this giving of compliments. Thus, the good compliment is always to the point and timing is important. Don’t wait too long to tell a person what a good talk he gave or how well he cut your grass. But don’t do it immediately when he is expecting it either. Wait. Then when he thinks you may have forgotten, pass the praise.
6. Confidence, it has been said, is the greatest gift that one human can give to another. But that does not mean we should be wasteful with our compliments. Rather, we should count them carefully remembering that a good compliment has greater purchasing power than money; that no one is too busy or successful to receive a word of praise.
Follow the Sample Practice to Solve the Other Question
2.14.1 On the basis of your reading of the passage above, make notes on it in points only, using abbreviations wherever necessary. Also, suggest a suitable title.
2.14.2 Write a summary of the passage in not more than 80 words using the notes.