(BEGLA-135) Y LIFE
Answer all questions
Programme: BAG/2020-21
Course Code: BEGLA-135
Max. Marks: 100
Section A
1
Read the following passage and answer the questions.
The New Year is a time for resolutions, Mentally, at least most of us could compile
formidable lists of 'do's' and don'ts' for the year. The same old favorites recur year in
year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat
less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the
house, be nice to people we don't like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk every
day. Past experience has taught us that certain
accomplishments are beyond attainment.
If we remain deep-rooted liars, it is only because we have so often experienced the
frustration that results from failure.
Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious
and we never have time to carry them out. We also make the fundamental error of
announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we
slip back into our bad old ways, Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep
my resolutions to myself I limited myself to two modest ambitions; to do physical
exercise every morning and to read more every evening. An all-night party on New
Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new
resolutions on the first day of the year, but on the second, I applied myself assiduously
to the task.
The daily exercise lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the
morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of
bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to
creep down into the living-room for two days before anyone found me out. After
jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions,
I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that betrayed me.
The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. That was
really unsettling but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good humouredly
and soon everybody got used to the idea. However, my enthusiasm waned, the time I
spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero.
By January 10th I was back to where I had started from. I argued that if I spent less time
exhausting myself at exercises in the morning I would keep my mind fresh for reading
when I got home from work. Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my
room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book. One night however, feeling cold
and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That
proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to the old bad habit of dozing off in front
of the screen. I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading, In fact, I have
just bought a book entitled
"How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute.' Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I
just haven't had time to read it.
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