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FPSC · CSS 2007

English (Précis & Composition)

100 marks · 3 hours · 2 questions
This paper English (Précis & Composition) · all yearsQ. 1 · Make a précis of the…Q. 2 · Read the following passage and…With this paperPart-I MCQs10← 20062008 →
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Q. 1

Make a précis of the given passage and suggest a suitable heading.

  1. (a)The author of a work of imagination is trying to affect us wholly, as human beings, whether he knows it or not; and we are affected by it, as human beings, whether we intend to be or not.
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Q. 2

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow: Strong section of industrials who still imagine that men can be mere machines and are at their best as machines if they are mere machines are already menacing what they call “useless” education. They deride the classics, and they are mildly contemptuous of history, philosophy, and English. They want our educational institutions, from the oldest universities to the youngest elementary schools, to concentrate on business or the things that are patently useful in business. Technical instruction is to be provided for adolescent artisans; book keeping and shorthand for prospective clerks; and the cleverest we are to set to “business methods”, to modern languages (which can be used in correspondence with foreign firms), and to science (which can be applied to industry). French and German are the languages, not of Montaigne and Gorthe, but of Schmidt Brothers, of Elberfeld and Dupont et Cie., of Lyons. Chemistry and Physics are not explorations into the physical constitution of the universe, but sources of new dyes, new electric light filaments, new means of making things which can be sold cheap and fast to the Nigerian and the Chinese. For Latin there is a Limited field so long as the druggists insist on retaining it in their prescriptions. Greek has no apparent use at all, unless it be as a source of syllables for the hybrid names of patent medicines and metal polishes. The soul of man, the spiritual basis of civilization- what gibberish is that?

  1. (a)What kind of education does the writer deal with? [2]
  2. (b)What kind of education does the writer favour? How do you know? [3]
  3. (c)Where does the writer express most bitterly his feelings about the neglect of the classics? [3]
  4. (d)Explain as carefully as you can the full significance of the last sentence. [4]
  5. (e)Explain the underlined words and phrases in the passage [8]

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About this paper

The 2007 CSS English (Précis & Composition) paper set by the FPSC. Question wording only; questions marked “Not yet checked” have not been compared with the official paper yet.

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