HSC English First Paper | Unit: 15, Lesson: 4 | Tours and Travels | The Wonders of Vilayet

1. Warm up activity:

□ Discuss in a group any journey you have made to a village/town/city.

□ What significant changes have taken place in Bengal (today's Bangladesh) in the field of language and culture since the 19th century?

□ Can you find examples of travel writing in English? What are those?

As countries differ, so do their ways of life and living: How did the people in India and England lay out their houses in the eighteenth century? In the following extract from The Wonders of Vilayet (Vilayet is England in Persian), we get an enchanting picture of the parks, gardens and houses in London including the Queen's Palace. The author also makes references to houses and housing materials used in Bengal at that time. Can you identify some of the significant differences that the author points out? Mirza Sheikh Ttesamuddin, the author of the travelogue visited England in 1765 and recorded his experiences in Persian, the official language of India during the Mughal reign. The book, Shigurf Name-e-Vilayet, was translated into Bangla by the late Professor ABM Habibullah. Dr. Kaiser Huq, Professor of English at Dhaka University and a poet translated the book into English.

2. Now read the text below and answer the questions that follow:

The exterior of the King's palace is neither magnificent nor beautiful. The outer walls are not even plastered. It could easily be passed off as the multi-storied residence of a merchant of Benares. All the mansions in the city are of this sort, but the Queen's palace is very handsome. I was told, however, that the interior of the King's palace is very elegant, and that the suites of rooms and the chambers of the harem are painted an attractive verdigris.

The King's garden, which is outside the city, is very old. It has pleasant walks, lawns, and neatly arranged beds of various shapes - triangles, squares, hexagons and octagons. These are planted with varieties of flowers, green plants, and fruit trees such as the apple, gooseberry, peach, pear, filbert, etc. The garden also uses a special method to grow Indian fruits like the muskmelon, watermelon, cucumber, orange and pomegranate, and Indian flowers like the rose, henna, marigold, tuberose and the cock's-comb flower.

The cold weather in Europe doesn't allow one to grow Indian Suits and flowers in the open. A special kind of house is constructed for the purpose, three sides of which are of brick, while the fourth, which feces south, is made of glass-plates that keep out the cold air but let in the sun's rays. In the cold season stoves are lit in the house for heat, and fruit and flower seeds are sown in troughs filled with mould. The heat of the stoves and the warmth of the sunlight combine to aid the growth of Indian plants. European gardeners grow Eastern fruits in this manna- and make a very good profit, charging as much as five rupees for a pomegranate and three for a musk-melon.

The trees along the walks in the King's garden are arranged very tastefully. By cutting the branches many of them have been shaped into human forms, so that at night one may mistake them for real people. It takes many days of work to tailor the trees into these shapes.

The road in front of the Queen's palace is very broad and charming. On one side is the palace, on the other a pond which is part of a park. Deer are kept in the park and the walks in it are lined with shady walnut trees. On Sundays, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, natives and foreigners, all come here to stroll and amuse themselves. In these delightful surroundings a heavy heart is automatically lightened Sauntering courtesans with lissom figures and amorous maidens with the faces of houris spread a heavenly aura and the visitor's soul becomes a flowering garden.

These fairy-faced ravishers of the heart move with a thousand blandishments and coquetries; the earth is transformed into a paradise, and heaven itself hangs down its head in shame at seeing such beauty.... As soon as I saw this place I involuntarily exclaimed:

If there's a heaven on the face of the earth,

It is this! It is this!

It is this! Brick buildings in Bengal have rooms with high ceilings and large doors and windows, so that there is a soothing current of air in hot weather. It is exactly opposite in Europe. There is extreme cold, frost and snow; the ceilings are low, and the doors and windows small. The roofs are not flat like the roofs of brick buildings in India. Wooden beams and planks are used to build the frame of the roof in the shape of a camel's hump; that is to say, like the slanting thatched roofs of huts in Bengal. But whereas the latter are slightly curved at the end, both slanted halves of European roofs are plain. The frame is then covered with tiles of fired clay or slate. Such roofs last up to two hundred years without repairs, and if they are still intact when the walls have decayed, can be re-utilised. The bricks in the walls are laid with mortar prepared from pulverised stones. Human hair is mixed with the mortar to give added strength to the structure. Houses may be as tall as seven, eight or nine stories, yet the walls are not thicker than a cubit. Consequently the entire building quivers if the wind rises, and strangers may fear for their safety. But there is in reality no cause for fear, though I myself was at first alarmed. The inside walls, instead of being plastered, are lined with wooden planks, which are covered with paper decorated with pretty designs in many colours.

Teak and sal are foreign to Vilayet; houses and ships are built here with oak and walnut. These are light in colour, very sturdy and resistant to white ants and other insects. That is why buildings last so long in this country.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. The narrator was not impressed with the exterior of the King's palace. Why?

b. What does he say about its interior? How does he describe the Queen's palace?

c. The author is clearly fascinated by the King's garden. Why?

d. The narrator mentions a special kind of house which allowed plants to grow in cold weather. What are these houses called? How did they work in the narrator's description and how do they work now?

e. How many geometrical shapes does the narrator mention in describing the beds in the King's garden? Can you describe them?

f. Were Eastern fruits available in London when I'tesamuddin visited the city? If so, were they produced locally or imported?

4. Write about the differences between the Indian and the English houses described by the narrator.

5. Why was the narrator so fascinated by the road and the park in front of the Queen's Palace?

6. What makes the narrator describe the park as a 'heaven on earth'?

7. Describe how the houses in Europe were built when I'tesamuddin visited it.

8. Find out the differences among the following:

a. house, mansion, palace

b. frost, snow, ice

c. plank, beam, frame

9. Make a list of flowers and fruits the narrator mentions. How many are

unknown to you? Make a Google search and find out their pictures, then write brief descriptions of them.

10. Find out the meanings of the following words and make sentences with them:

a. lissom

b. courtesans

c. aura

d. blandishment

e. curved 

d. slanted

g. sturdy

h. quiver

11. Find antonyms for the following words:

a. elegant

b. broad

c. soothing

d. safety

e. thick

THE END

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 15, Lesson: 3 | Tours and Travels | Imaginary Travel

1. Warm up activity:

□ Discuss any travel account that you have read in English or Bengali and the places it describes. Imagine you are walking in a street in London or New York. How is your experience different from that of walking in the roads or streets of your town or city?

Travel can be imaginary as well. Authors would sometimes make imaginary voyages to strange places and draw pictures of people and places, manners and morals. Jonathon Swift's (1667-1745) Gulliver's Travels (1726) is an example of imaginary travel. Swift created a fictional traveller named Lamuel Gulliver, a ship doctor who visited the lands of the Lilliputs and Brobdingnags and the island of Laputa. These are all fictitious places inhabited by imaginary people. The travels here, however, carry a seious purpose. They reveal truths about human nature. For example, even today human life is poisoned by evils such as racism, religious extremism, bigotry etc. Gulliver during his visit to the land of the Lilliputs—who are humans, only about six inches tali-discover how strongly prejudiced the Lilliputians are about certain things and how these help nurse hatred and foment fratricidal war. Gulliver, a man of average height, gets a new insight into the pettiness of human nature when he arrives at the land of Lilliputs who are small not only in size but also in their thoughts and perceptions.

2. Now read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

One morning, about a fortnight after I had obtained my Liberty, Reldresal, Principal Secretary (as they style him) of private Affairs, came to my House, attended only by one Servant. He ordered his Coach to wait at a Distance and desired I would give him an Hour's Audience; which I readily consented to, on Account of his Quality, and Personal Merits, as well as of the many good Offices he had done me during my Sollicitations at Court. I offered to lie down, that he might the more conveniently reach my Ear: but he chose rather to let me hold him in my Hand during our Conversation. 

He began with Compliments on my Liberty; said, he might pretend to some Merit in it; but, however, added that if it had not been for the present Situation of things at Court, perhaps I might not have obtained it so soon. For, said he, as flourishing a Condition as we appear to be in to Foreigners, we labour, under two mighty Evils; a violent faction at home, and the Danger of an invasion by a most potent Enemy from abroad. As to the first, you are to understand, that for above seventy Moons past, there have been two struggling Parties in this Empire, under the Names of Tramecksan, and Slamecksan, from the high and low Heels on their Shoes, by which they distinguish themselves.

It is alleged indeed, that the high Heels are most agreeable to our ancient Constitution: But however this be, his Majesty hath determined to make use of only low Heels in the Administration of the Government, and all Offices in the Gift of the Crown; as you cannot but observe; and particularly, that his Majesty's Imperial Heels are lower at least by a Drurr than any of his Court (Drurr is a Measure about the fourteenth Part of an Inch). The Animosities between these two Parties run so high that they will neither eat, nor drink, nor talk with each other. We compute the Tramecksan, or High-Heels, to exceed us in Number; but the Power is wholly on our Side.

We apprehend his Imperial Highness, the Heir to the Crown, to have some Tendency towards the High-Heels; at least we can plainly discover one of his Heels higher than the other; which gives him a Hobble in his Gait Now, in the midst of these intestine Disquiets, we are threatened with an Invasion from the Island of Blefuscu, which is the other great Empire of the Universe, almost as large and powerful as this of his Majesty. For as to what we have heard you affirm, that there are other Kingdoms and States in the World inhabited by human Creatures as large as yourself, our Philosophers are in much Doubt; and would rather conjecture that you dropt from the Moon, or one of the Stars;

because it is certain, that an hundred Mortals of your Bulk, would, in a short Time, destroy all the Fruits and Cattle of his Majesty's Dominions: besides, our Histories of six Thousand Moons make no Mention of any other Regions, than the two great Empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu. Which two mighty Powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate War for six and thirty Moons past. It began upon the following Occasion. It is allowed on all Hands, that the primitive way of breaking Eggs before we eat them, was upon the larger End; But his present Majesty's Grandfather, while he was a Boy going to eat an Egg, and breaking it according to ancient Practice, happened to cut one of his Fingers. 

Whereupon the Emperor his Father published an Edict, commanding all his Subjects, upon great Penalties, to break the smaller End of their Eggs. The People so highly resented this Law, that our Histories tell us, there have been six Rebellions raised on that Account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and another his Crown. These civil Commotions were constantly fomented by the Monarchs of Blefuscu; and when they were quelled, the Exiles always fled for Refuge to that Empire. It is computed that eleven Thousand Persons have, at several Times, suffered Death, rather than submit to break their Eggs at the smaller End. Many hundred large Volumes have been published upon this Controversy: But the Books of the Big-Indians have been long forbidden, and the whole Party rendered incapable by Law of holding Employments.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. In the extract, who comes to visit Gulliver's house? What is his official position?

b. What does he tell Gulliver about his liberty?

c. Who are Tramecksan and Slamecksan ? What is the difference between them?

d. How long is a Drurr?

e. How many people died in the war on breaking eggs?

f. Why did the heir to the throne hobble?

4. Some words have been capitalized in the above extract though they are not capitalized in standard English. Do you have any ideas why?

5. Choose any two lines from the text and rewrite and punctuate them in standard English.

6. What are the two causes of division among the people here? How serious are they? Do you see any reflection of contemporary politics in the extract? Is the narrator critical of the Lilliputians? Has he chosen to laugh at them? Why and how does he ridicule them?

7. What is factionalism? What evidences of factionalism do you find here? What are the bad effects of factionalism?

8. Give the contextual meanings of the following words:

a. disquiet

b. heir

c. conjecture

d. foment

e. quell

f. animosity

9. List 5 noun words and 5 adjectival words from the extract. Now make sentences of your own with them.

If you want to read the next lesson of this unit please click the link below:
Lesson 4: The Wonders of Vilayet

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 15, Lesson: 2 | Tours and Travels | Arriving in the Orient

1. Warm up activity:

Discuss the following questions in pairs.

□ Have you ever travelled by boat, launch or steamer along a river? Write down your experience in 500-600 words.

□ Before the beginning of air travel, people travelling between continents had to do so by ships. What do you think were the pleasures and the dangers of those journeys?

During the colonial era (1757-1947) the English came to India in great numbers in search offortune. Many young women in quest of husbands also travelled to India.

George Orwell (1903-1950) spent a part of his early life in Burma (now Myanmar), -then an English colony-serving as a police officer. In the following extract taken from his Burmese Days (1934), we get the picture of the journey of a young English woman Elizabeth, across the sea by ship and her arrival in Burma. She has a typical colonial mind-set, and fantasizes a glorious life in India. Her attitude to the colony is also characteristic of the colonizers psyche that liked the land and the landscape but was dismissive of the people-called 'natives'-and their way of life.

2. Now read the text and answer the questions that follow:

Elizabeth spent thirty pounds on summer frocks and set sail immediately. The ship, heralded by rolling porpoises, ploughed across the Mediterranean and down the Canal into a sea of staring, enamel-like blue, then out into the green wastes of the Indian Ocean, where flocks of flying fish skimmed in terror from the approaching hull. At night the waters were phosphorescent, and the wash of the bow was like a moving arrowhead of green fire. Elizabeth 'loved' the life on board ship....

She was going to love India, she knew. She had formed quite a picture of India, from the other passenger's conversation; she had even learned some of the more necessary Hindustani phrases, such as 'idher ao,' jaldi,' 'sahibta^ etc. In anticipation she tasted the agreeable atmosphere of Clubs, with punkahs flapping and bare-footed white turbaned boys reverently salaaming; and maidans where bronze Englishmen with little clipped moustaches galloped to and fro, whacking polo balls. It was almost as nice as being rich, the way people lived in India.

They sailed into Colombo through green glassy waters, where turtles and black snakes floated basking. A fleet of sampans came reaching out to meet the ship, propelled by coal-black men with lips stained redder than blood by betel juice. They yelled and struggled round the gangway while the passengers descended. As Elizabeth and her friends came down, two sampan-wallahs, their prows nosing against the gangway, besought them with yells.

"Don't you go with him, missie! Not with him I Bad wicked man he, not fit taking missio!"

"Don't you listen him lies, missie! Nasty low fellow! Nasty low tricks him playing. Naaty native tricks!"

"Ha, ha! He is not native himself Oh no! Him European man, white skin are same, missie. Ha ha I"

"Stop your bat, you two, or TU fetch one of you a kick," said the husband of Elizabeth's friend-he was a planter. They stepped into one of the sampans and woe rowed towards the sim-bright quays. And the successful sampan-wallah turned and discharged at his rival a mouth fill of spittle which he must have been saving up for a very long time."

This was the Orient. Scents of coco-nut oil and sandalwood, cinnamon and turmeric, floated across the water on to Mount Lavinia where they bathed in a lukewarm sea that foamed like Coca-Cola. She came back to the ship in the evening, and they reached Rangoon a week later.

North of Mandalay the train, fuelled with wood, crawled at twelve miles an hour across a vast parched plain bounded at its remote edges by blue rings of hills. White egrets stood poised, motionless, like herons, and piles of drying chillis gleamed crimson in the sun. Sometimes a white pagoda rose from the plain like the breast of a supine giantess. The early tropic night settled down, and the train jolted on, slowly, stopping at little stations where barbaric yells sounded from the darkness. Half-naked men with their long hair knotted behind their heads moved to and fro in torchlight, hideous as demons in Elizabeth's eyes. The train plunged into the forest, and unseen branches brushed against the windows. It was about nine o'clock when they reached Kyauktada, where Elizabeth's uncle and aunt were waiting with Mr. Macgregor's car, and with some servants carrying torches. Her aunt came forward and took Elizabeth's shoulders in her delicate, saurian hands.

"I suppose, you are our niece Elizabeth? We are so pleased to see you," she said, and kissed her.

Mr. Lackersteen peered over his wife's shoulder in the torchlight. He gave a half-whistle, exclaimed, "Well, I'll be damned!" and then seized Elizabeth and kissed her, more warmly than he need have done, she thought. She had never seen either of them before.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. How did the waters of the Indian Ocean look like during the night?

b. What frightened the flocks of flying fish?

c. Why did Elizabeth think that she would like India?

d. What is polo? Who played the polo?

e. What did the sampanwallahs fight for?

f. Where did Elizabeth go from Rangoon?

g. Did Elizabeth enjoy her stay in Colombo?

4. Put T (true) and F (false) beside the following statements based on the above extract.

a. Elizabeth unwillingly undertook the sea voyage.

b. Her companions were unfriendly.

c. Before she got into the Indian Ocean she sailed across the Mediterranean.

d. The Indians lived a glamorous life.

e. The train journey to Kyauktada was a long one.

5. Discuss the following questions in pairs :

a. What picture of the sea do you find here?

b. The narrator is rather critical of the local people. What evidence do you find of the narrator's disapproval of the local people?

c. Narrate the competition between the sampanwallahs.

6. Choose the right words from the box to fill the blanks in the sentences given below:

floated   anticipation   ploughed   skimmed   crawled   gleamed

a. The ship…………. through the Mediterranean.

b. The fish…………. in terror from the approaching hull.

c. In…………. she imagined the agreeable atmosphere.

d. The black snakes…………. basking.

e. The train…………. at twelve miles an hour.

f. Piles of drying chilli…………. crimson in the sun.

7. What colours and spices have been mentioned in the passage?

8. Give synonyms of the following words:

a. delicate

b. warmly

c. discharge

d. lukewarm

e. hideous

f. supine

g. parched

9. The narrator has on several occasions compared one thing with another using the word 'like'. For example, sea foam has been compared to Coca-Cola.

Find five more examples from the text where the word 'like' has been used for comparison.

If you want to read the next lesson of this unit please click the link below:
Lesson 3: Imaginary Travel

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 15, Lesson: 1 | Tours and Travels | Travelling to a Village in Bangladesh

1. Warm up activity:

□ In a group discuss the last journey yon made out of your village/town/city.

□ Now share the following introduction with a friend.

Bangladesh, despite a fast paced urbanization, still remains predominantly rural Bow many villages are there now? Sixty four thousands or more? Have the villages changed muck aver the years? How did they respond to the onslaught of urbanization or march of development or growth in education? Write dawn your answer. In the following extract, we will see a Bangladeshi village and the villagers through the eyes of an English professor from England who taught in Dhaka university twice-first between 1947 and 1951 and again in 1972.

2. Read the text below and answer the questions that follow:

We set out on the evening of July 21st. Food was scarce in the village so Abdul packed a suitcase with two loaves and some tea and tins of milk, cheese and jam. We travelled Intermediate class in a cross country train not uncomfortably crowded, through a country of shadowy loveliness. It was a moonlit night of broken soft clouds; the land was mostly under water, with paddy and coco-palms growing from it, and a few raised cart-tracks and groups of cottages islanded among clumps of bushes, all reflected among shadows.

Here and there was the red glow of a cooking fire or the lantern of a fisherman's boat in open water. At dawn we reached Sonaimuri, a small canal-side station among wide fields, from there we had eight more miles by country boat, some of it along the canal, some of it across the flooded paddy fields. I was looking forward to that tranquil water-journey in the early morning, and tranquil it must have been, for I fell instantly asleep and knew no more till we reached the landing-ghat at Khorshed's house, in a blaze of sunlight. It turned out that his letter saying that he was bringing me was still on its way, but they rallied to the crisis and gathered round to make me welcome, though as none of them spoke any English they could only stare and laugh and offer me coco-nut juice.

Khorshed set me up a camp, a wooden bed, chair and table in a thatched bamboo outhouse. It was a lovely spot among bamboo and coco-palms, facing a tank where fireflies wove intricate dances at night. He put his own bed beside it for protection, and there I stayed, holding permanent court from dawn to bedtime. Within village memory-and that went back for some two centuries, I was the first European to go there: it was too remote even for a District Commissioner to pass through. Also since I was a woman, the women could come (at different times from the men) to look at me without losing their characters. People kept coming and coming: only the rains and the fact that few of them were rich enough to have boats prevented them from coming from ten miles round. When he saw that they would not stop coming Khorshed fixed some curtains round the bed so that I could crawl behind them when I was tired of being looked at, like a zoo animal into its sleeping hut. Even then the little hut would fill up with women and children. Children followed when I went out, and when Khorshed remonstrated a small boy pleaded, "Don't send us away! After she's gone not even a strange bird will come to the village." I stood up to the celebrity for the two days we had planned, but it was enough.

[A.G Stock, Memoirs of Dacca University 1947-1951, 1973]

3. Put T (true) or F (false) beside the following statements based on the above extract.

a. The author carried some food with her because she disliked local food.

b. She travelled to Sonaimuri by train.

c. She lived in a tent during her stay in the village.

d. She was the first European to visit the village.

e. Khorshed's father had a brick-built house.

4. Answer the following questions briefly:

a. When and why did the author fall asleep during her journey?

b. What trees and insects are mentioned in the passage?

c. Why did the small boy plead, "After she's gone not even a strange bird will come to the village"?

d. Why was there a "crisis" when the author arrived?

e. Why did the women visit her?

f. Find three evidences which suggest that the narrator enjoyed her visit.

g. Why does the narrator compare herself to a sleeping zoo animal?

h. What is the general tone of the passage?

5. Write a short paragraph describing your first visit to a place away from home.

6. Explain the significance of the statement - "I stood up to the celebrity for the two days we had planned but it was enough." What feeling is implied here-amusement or mild annoyance?

7. What do the following phrases mean in the passage?

not uncomfortably crowded; knew no more; rallied to the crisis; tired of being looked at; looking forward to; a blaze of sunlight; of broken soft clouds; fireflies wove intricate dances; clumps of bushes; holding permanent court; kept coming and coming.

8. Find the antonym for the following:

a. gather

b. weave

c. intricate

d. permanent

e. remote

f. remonstrate

g. tranquil

9. Join the pair of sentences in each line to make one sentence using the expressions given in the bracket.

a. He made fixed a tent. He wanted me to get some sleep, (so that)

b. None of them spoke English. They welcomed me. (though)

c. It was dark. He lit a lantern, (as)

d. I was a woman. Women visited me freely, (since)

If you want to read the next lesson of this unit please click the link below:
Lesson 2: Arriving in the Orient

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 14, Lesson: 3 | Art and Music | Crafts in Our Time

1. Warm up activity:

□ Can you distinguish between art and craft?

□ How many different crafts do rural people engage la now? What do these have to do with their lives?

2. Read the text and answer the questions that follow:

A craft work is an applied form of art, a social and cultural product reflecting the inclusive nature of folk imagination. A craftwork, which usually doesn't bear the signature of its maker, retains a personal touch. When we look at a tirirty year old tu&shlkantha we wonder at its motifs and designs that point to the artistic ingenuity and the presence of the maker in it The fact that we don't know her name or any other details about her doesn't take anything away from our appreciation of the artist Indeed, the intimate nature of the kansha and the tactile feeling it generates animate the work and make it very inviting.

A craftwork is shaped by the interaction of individual creativity and community aesthetics, utility functions and hinrmn values. It is distinguished by its maker's desire to locate himself or herself in the wider and ever-changing cultural aspirations of die community, and subsequently of the markeL But even whoi the market is an important factor, community aesthetics remains the factor determining the form and content of the craftwork. The exquisite terracotta dolls from Dinajpur dating back to early 1940s that form a part of the Bangladesh National Museum's collection were mostly bought from village fairs by some patron. They were no doubt meant to be consumer items, but the dolls reflect community aesthetics in such a manner that the market has not been able to impose ita own preferences on them.

A craft work thus is a dynamic object-always evolving, and always abreast of changing tastes and preferences. It also IUJAUILULI a way of life and a cultural flavour. Therefore changes in lifestyle and material conditions tie expected to have their impact on crtftwarfcft and their production. But certain forms, shapes, styles and aeafoetic preferences change little over time, suggesting that a craflwotk can fuactico as a stable signifis- of community values and desires ova- time. Mechanical and mass production tab away tins ftehng of assurance and stability and the sense of continuity that the handmade cmftworit evokes,

In the clash between expectations of pure, handmade creftworits and the market need of mechanically produced raaftworks, two contesting views merge: on foe CDC hand, traditionalist! contend that the society needs to preserve the authenticity and naturalness of craftwo*fl and their association with domesticity and environment; and, on the ofoer, promoters of nmcliTim production argue thni foe machine has helped restore the appeal of the crafts due to their cheaper production colts.

There are no easy solutions to the problems that ciaflwuiks face in our time. 

Crafts foot are disappearing can and should be revived, evra where the machine has made the prospect difficult And crafts that we still practiced can be safeguarded and made to consolidate their position further. This con be done by providing grants, loans, assistance and other support to foe producers, and helping than find i comfortable customer base. But more importantly, craftwork can be branded and successfully marketed throughout the oountiy and beycod as there are always bxiyere and users of handmade products who feci a strong attraction towards such cultural products.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. In the text above, what are the main ideas presented?

b. What, according to the text, are the distinctive qualities of a craftwork?

c. Write a page on what, in your opinion, are the differences between a handmade craftwork and a machine produced one.

d. The text considers the mechanical production of craftwork a challenge to the preservation of its authenticity. Do you agree?

e. What role does the market play in promoting crafts? How can we successfully use market forces to brand our craftworks both within and outside the country?

4. Write a passage on each of the following crafts:

a. woodcraft

b. jewellery

c. pottery

d. embroidery

5. Use the following words in a paragraph on the enduring appeal of craftwork:

a. distinctive

b. dynamic

c. continuity

d. naturalness

e. exquisite

6. Find the meanings of the following words and then make sentences with them:

a. inclusive

b. motif

c. ingenuity

d. tactile

e. aspiration

f. significance

g. safeguard

7. The following words may be adjectives or verbs. For each word, provide its noun form:

a. animate

b. retain

c. evolve

d. mechanical

e. stable

8. Provide the verb forms of the nouns below:

a. assurance

b. preference

c. continuity

d. association

e. production

f. solution

If you want read the next unit please click the link below:

Unit Fifteen: Tours and Travels

Lesson 1: Travelling to a Village in Bangladesh

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 14, Lesson: 2 | Art and Music | Folk Music

1. Warm up activity:

□ In the class, give a talk on what you know about Baul / Bhatiyali / Bhawaia songs of Bangladesh.

□ Request someone in the class to sing a few lines of a folk song; four of you should then talk on the theme, lyrics, style and impact of the song.

2. Here is an excerpt on Bengali Folk Music written by the late Mridul Kanti Chakravarty, who was an expert in music and also sang Baul songs. We reproduce the excerpt published in Banglapedia, courtesy of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow:

Folk music consists of songs and music of a community that are uninfluenced by any sophisticated musical rules or any standard music styles. Bangladesh has a heritage of rich folk music which includes both religious and secular songs.

Folk music may be described as that type of ancient music which springs from the heart of a community, based on their natural style of expression uninfluenced by the rules of classical music and modern popular songs. Any mode or form created by the combination of tune, voice and dance may be described as music. Thus, the combination of folk song, folk dance and folk tune may be called folk music. For example, Baul songs are a combination of tune, music and dance.

Folk music has the following characteristics: (i) It is composed by rural folk on the basis of ancient rules transmitted orally; (ii) These ancient rules of music have not been influenced by classical or modern music; (iii) Folk songs may be sung in groups or individually; (iv) No regular practice is required for folk music; (v) It is composed and performed by illiterate or semi-literate people; (vi) It is a spontaneous expression in easy language, local dialect, and simple tune; (vii) Both words and tune are appealing; (viii) despite its universal appeal it uses local dialect; (ix) It depends upon nature and the rural environment; (x) It is an explicit manifestation of the joys and sorrows of daily life; (xi) It uses simple and natural rhythms; (xii) It contains a strong emotive expression of human love and separation.

 

In Bangladesh folk music has great variety, with songs being composed on the culture, festivals, views of life, natural beauty, rivers and rural and riverine life. These songs are also about social inequality and poverty, about the material world and the supernatural. Mystical songs have been composed using the metaphors of rivers and boats. Since the country is basically riverine, the Bhatiyali forms an important genre of folk music. Folk music is formed and develops according to the environment. Differences in the natural environment are reflected in the people of the different regions. The dialects too vary across the different regions. Bangladeshi folk music therefore varies from region to region. Thus there are the northern Bhawaiya, the eastern Bhatiyali and the southwestern Baul songs.

The culture and the lifestyle of the different tribes have also influenced folk music. Tribes like the Santal, Garo, Hajong, Chakma, Manipuri, Tripuri, Manna etc. have interacted with ethnic Bengali culture and lifestyle over the years. The interaction has been clearly reflected in the richness of folk music.

Folk songs may be sung individually or in chorus. Folk songs sung individually include Baul, Bhatiyali, Murshidi and Marfati, while songs sung in chorus include Kabigan, Leto, Alkap and Gambhira. Some songs are regional in character, but others are common to both Bangladesh and West Bengal. Similarly, some songs belong distinctively to one religious community, Hindu or Muslim; others cross religious boundaries. Some songs belong exclusively to men, others to women, while some are sung by both men and women. Thus only women compose and sing Bratagan and Meyeli Git, but both men and women participate in the Toof-beating' songs that are sung while beating down and firming rooftops.

Different folk songs belonging to different regions of Bangladesh are listed below:

Baul and spiritual songs : Birbhum and Kushtia

Jarigan : Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Faridpur, Murshidabad.

Bhawaiya : Cooch Bihar, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Pabna.

Gambhira : Rajshahi, Malda.

Wedding songs : all regions.

Roof-beating songs : the northern regions of Bangladesh.

Sari : the lower marshy regions of Sylhet and Mymensingh.

Bhatiyali : nearly all regions of Bangladesh.

Pastoral songs : Dhaka, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Sylhet, Habiganj.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. How is folk music defined in the excerpt? Can you add some thoughts of your own to the definition provided?

b. What are the characteristics of folk music?

c. According to the excerpt, folk music has great variety in Bangladesh. What are some other varieties of folk music that you know about? Which aspects of our folk music do you like?

d. The excerpt suggests that the culture and lifestyle of the different tribes of our country have influenced folk music. Can you give some examples in support of the observation? How many tribes or ethnic groups have been mentioned in the excerpt?

e. The excerpt mentions several types or classes of folk songs from different regions of Bangladesh. How many of these are you familiar with? Give a brief assessment of them.

4. Look up the meanings of the following words and terms in the dictionary and write sentences using them:

a. classical

b. mystical

c. note

d. tempo

e. rhythm

5. According to the excerpt, music is a mode or form created by the combination of tune, voice and dance. Is this a complete description, or may you add anything more to the description?

6. Explain briefly what the following terms mean:

a. classical music

b. riverine life

c. regional character

d. lifestyle

e. chorus

7. Find the noun forms of the following verb words:

a. describe

b. transmit

c. compose

d. vary

e. interact

f. reflect

8. Find at least five adjective words used in the text and make sentences with them.

If you want to read the next lesson of this unit please click the link below:
Lesson 3: Crafts in Our Time

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 14, Lesson: 1 | Art and Music | What is Beauty?

1. Warm up activity:

□ In a group, discuss what you mean by beauty; and its place in art.

□ Discuss any work of art you have seen (a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, an embroidered quilt and why you consider it beautiful).

Beauty is easy to appreciate but difficult to define. As we look around, we discover beauty in pleasurable objects and sights - in nature, in the laughter of children, in the kindness of strangers. But asked to define, we run into difficulties. Does beauty have an independent objective identity? Is it universal, or is it dependent on our sense perceptions? Does it lie in the eye of the beholder? -we ask ourselves. A further difficulty arises when beauty manifests itself not only by its presence, but by its absence as well, as when we are repulsed by ugliness and desire beauty. But then ugliness has as much a place in our lives as beauty, or may be more-as when there is widespread hunger and injustice in a society. Philosophers have told us that beauty is an important part of life, but isn't ugliness a part of life too? And if art has beauty as an important ingredient, can it confine itself only to a projection of beauty? Can art ignore what is not beautiful?

Poets and artists have provided an answer by incorporating both into their work. In doing so, they have often tied beauty to truth and justice, so that what is not beautiful assumes a tolerable proportion as something that represents some truth about life. John Keats, the romantic poet, wrote in his celebrated 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' by which he means that truth, even if it's not pleasant, becomes beautiful at a higher level. Similarly, what is beautiful forever remains true. Another meaning, in the context of the Grecian Urn—an art object—is that truth is a condition of art.

Poetry in every language celebrates beauty and truth. So does art. Here are two poems from two different times that present some enduring ideas about beauty and truth. The poems are by Lord Byron (1788-1824), an English poet of the Romantic tradition, and Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), an American poet who wrote about the human scene, love and death.

A. 'She Walks in Beauty' by Lord Byron

1

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

2

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

3

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

B. I Died For Beauty' by Emily Dickinson

I died for beauty, but was scarce

Adjusted in the tomb,

When one who died for truth was lain

In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?

'For beauty,' I replied. 

'And I for truth - the two are one;

We brethren are,' he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a-night,

We talked between the rooms,

Until the moss had reached our lips,

And covered up our names.

2. Byron's poem is about a women's exceptional beauty which reflects her inner goodness and grace. Why does he associate her with night and starry skies?

3. What imagery does Byron associate with the woman?

4. Was Byron writing about his love for the young woman or simply celebrating her beauty?

5. What impression of beauty do you get from your reading of the poem 'She Walks in Beauty ?

6. Dickinson's poem expresses an optimism for the afterlife. Show how it is done in the last two stanzas of the poem.

7. 'Despite the uneasy feeling created by death and the speaker's position inside a tomb, 'I Died For Beauty' is ultimately comforting.' Discuss.

8. 'I Died For Beauty' has a regular abab rhyme scheme. Can you remember any poem that you have read with a similar rhyme scheme? Write four lines of the poems in your notebook.

9. In 'I Died For Beauty,' the man who died for Truth says that Truth and Beauty are the same. Do you agree? Why?

10. Column B lists the meanings of words in column A but not in a proper order. Match the words with the meanings provided:

Column A	Column B
aspect	plural form of brother
gaudy	next to one another
impair	tiny flowerless plants that grow in tufts or mats in damp places
scarce	facial expression; countenance
adjoining	to make or cause to become worse; damage or weaken
brethren	cheap and showy, flashy
moss	barely, hardly

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Lesson 2: Folk Music

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HSC English First Paper | Unit: 13, Lesson: 4 | Greatest Scientific Achievements | Scientific Breakthroughs We Are Waiting For-II

1. Warm up activity:

□ Form two groups. Hold a debate on the following topic "Science should not try to make human beings live very long lives'.

2. Now read the following text It deals with three scientific breakthroughs the world is yet to see.

Manned Mission to Mars

Putting men on Mars has been an idea in science fiction for quite a while. However, when man first walked on the Moon, walking on Mars suddenly seemed feasible. A manned mission to Mars would be a huge milestone in space exploration. It would allow a more in-depth study of the Red Planet, and many have argued that building a permanent base on Mars is much more practical than building one on the Moon. A mission to Mars would be similar to the Moon landings, but much more difficult. The trip is about a hundred times longer, and there are new problems such as the Martian weather which must be considered. NASA currently has plans to have a man on Mars sometime in the 2030s, while the ESA plans to do so also around the same time. Russia has plans to launch a manned Mars mission by 2020.

Nanomedicine

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize several fields, but its greatest contribution may very well be in medicine. The applications of nanotechnology in medicine are literally endless. Molecules could be built to stick to and destroy cancer cells, and only cancer cells. Advanced drug delivery techniques could be used to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body and eliminate side effects. Microscopic robots could be used to perform ultra-delicate surgeries, to repair damaged tissues, or to hunt down and destroy certain cells, like cancer cells or bacteria. Nanomedicine is currently in its infancy, but it may prove to be the biggest breakthrough in modern medicine since the first vaccine.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

In the 19th century, it was generally thought that man would reach the center of the Earth long before he reached the Moon. This shows just how unpredictable technology can be. A journey to the center of the Earth is actually much more difficult than it sounds. The pressure at the center of the Earth is enormous because, quite literally, the entire weight of the world is on top of you. There is no known substance, not even carbon nanotubes, that can maintain its shape at such a great pressure. While the Earth's deep interior may offer vast amounts of energy, it may be quite a while before we can tap into it directly.

By: Jamie Frater

[Source: http://lisWerse.com/2009/12/29/top-10-scientific-achievements-we-are-waiting-for/]

3. The text is about three potential scientific breakthroughs which have been listed in the box below. Read each of the statements (i-iv) and decide which probable breakthrough it is related to.

□ Manned Mission to Mars

□ Nanomedicine

□ Journey to the Centre of the Earth

i. Both NASA and ESA have identical

deadline to launch a special mission.

ii. This will contribute significantly to modern medicine.

iii. No known substance can maintain its shape at that depth. 

iv. This is more difficult than it sounds.

4. Write a paragraph on the following topic in about 150 words.

The most exciting scientific achievement I am waiting to see in my lifetime

5. Make five sentences from the substitutions table below. Make sure the sentences have the correct information given in the text.

Note: The parts of sentences in the first column are examples of gerunds/gerund phrases.

1. Putting men on Mars	has been	a. a means to perform very delicate surgeries.
2. Building a permanent base on Mars		b. more feasible than the constriction of a permanent base on the Moon.
3. Installing a space elevator	is	c. easier than what it was thought to be.
4. Using microscopic robots	can be	d. a popular theme in science fiction for a long time.
5. Travelling to the center of the earth		e. actually much more challenging than it sounds.

6. Find out the meanings of the following words:

a. exploration

b. Martian

c. launch

d. gravity

e. milestone

f. speculate

g. nano

h. interior

i. bacteria

j. unpredictable

7. Change the sentences as directed:

a. A space elevator would be thousands of times taller than the current tallest building. (Use positive degree of adjectives)

b. A mission to Mars would be similar to the Moon landings, but much more difficult. (Make complex sentence using 'although')

c. Advanced drug delivery techniques could be used to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body. (Use active voice)

d. How unpredictable technology can be! (Make it a statement)

e. The pressure at the center of the Earth is enormous because of the entire weight of the world. (Make it a compound sentence).

If you want read the next unit please click the link below:

Unit Fourteen: Art and Music

Lesson-1: What is Beauty?

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