IGNOU FEG-01

IGNOU FEG-01 Solved Assignment 2013

Foundation Course in English – 1 (FEG-01)

Course Code: FEG-01

Assignment Code: FEG-1/TMA/2012-13

Max. Marks: 100

Answer all the questions

Q1 Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:

On 24th August in the year AD 79, the people of Pompeii were going about their business in the usual way. Suddenly it grew dark, and they looked up towards the top of Mount Vesuvius. A great cloud was leaving the top of the mountain; Vesuvius was erupting. The people of Pompeii started to run out of the town, but more than 2,000 of them did not get far. Stones and cinders began to fall on the town, and then an immense quantity of ash. The town was completely buried.

You can visit Pompeii today. The Italian government has very carefully cleared away the volcanic matter to uncover public buildings and private houses, theatres, shops, market-places. You can see where people lived and how they lived. The mixture of ash and cinders made, with the rain of centuries, a kind of plaster which has kept things unchanged – rooms, pictures, cups, plates, a doctor’s instruments, public notices. It even kept the shape of the people who died, and of the clothes that they were wearing. Most of them were trying to escape. The figure of one Roman soldier who died standing at his post has excited writers and artists in our time.

To reach the remains of Pompeii it was first necessary to move Italian farmers, their houses and their trees and plants. Vesuvius is an active volcano. Since AD 79, when it destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the seaport town of Stabiae, it has erupted frequently. Sometimes it does not do much damage. At other times whole villages disappear under the ash or lava. But the people go back.

Every year we read of the eruption of a volcano somewhere, with the loss of people’s homes and land – sometimes of their lives. ‘And why,’ we ask, ‘do they live there? They know the volcano may erupt at any time.’ Part of the answer is that volcanic matter makes wonderful soil.

That is certainly true of the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. Streams of lava from the 1971 eruption of Etna destroyed a number of villages and farmhouses. The lava streams moved fairly slowly, and no lives were lost. Newspaper reporters and television teams went to the scene. Farmers whose houses were in danger from the red-hot lava were calmly taking the tiles from their roofs and loading them on carts.

‘Why are you saving the tiles?’ the reporters asked.

‘Well,’ the farmers explained, ‘when it is safe again, we shall rebuild our houses.

Even volcanoes which seemed to be extinct have erupted. In books printed before 1961, Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic, was described as an ‘extinct volcano’. It was dormant and not really extinct. In 1961 the volcano erupted and all the islanders had to leave Tristan.

1a. What happens when a volcano erupts? (2)

Solution: When a volcano erupts. Ash, lava, and gasses are spilled out onto the surface of the Earth. During really huge eruptions lava and ash can be thrown up into the air for hundreds of feet.

1b. What happened to the people of Pompeii in AD 79? (2)

Solution: People started to run out of the town, but more than 2,000 of them did not get far. Stones and cinders began to fall on the town, and then an immense quantity of ash. The town was completely buried.

1c. Why is Pompeii important today? (2)

Solution: The Italian government has very carefully cleared away the volcanic matter to uncover public buildings and private houses, theatres, shops, market-places. You can see where people lived and how they lived. Today Pompeii is an important city only because of Italian government who recovered from the lava within the time.

1d. Why do people still live dangerously near volcanoes? (2)

Solution: people dangerously live near the volcanoes in spite of lava eruption because of the wonderful soil they get with the help volcano.  According to the people residing there, the matter included in volcano helps to get a wonderful soil which results in taking a risk of living near volcanoes.

1e. What is special about the volcano called Tristan da Cunha? (2)

Solution: Tristan da Cunha, an island in the South Atlantic, was described as an ‘extinct volcano’. It was dormant and not really extinct. In 1961 the volcano erupted and all the islanders had to leave Tristan.

2. Imagine that there were televisions in AD 79. You are a reporter and flying in a helicopter over Pompeii while the volcano is erupting. Describe the scene, including the plight of the people. (10)

Solution.

On 24th August a volcano which suddenly erupted for the first time in more than a century has covered parts of Pompeii  in thick grey ash over several miles.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius., burst into life just when people were busy in their regular businesses.

Police said a witness described flashes and explosions followed by a cloud of ash more than 4 miles high (7km) coming from the mount Vesuvius. A great cloud was leaving the top of the mountain; Vesuvius was erupting. The people of Pompeii started to run out of the town, but more than 2,000 of them did not get far. Stones and cinders began to fall on the town, and then an immense quantity of ash. The town was completely buried.

People now were homeless and were running for help. Whole town had become the river of lava. People were running and escaping themselves from the hot lava at the end they had to leave their town.

Truck driver Bryn Rodda, who also witnessed the eruption, told: 'I saw this beautiful, big cloud and I thought: "Gee that looks like a volcanic plume"'. 

'Just as I thought that there was a great big orange flash. It was quite impressive.'

Heavy rocks fell just over half a mile from the eruption, damaging Ketetahi Hut, one of four used by hikers visiting the area,

i	Erupting	i	Pieces of material that is left after something such as wood or coal has burned
ii	Cinders	Ii	A kind of rock which comes out of volcano in the form of a very hot liquid
iii	Extinct	Iii	Something that is not active
iv	Dormant	Iv	Suddenly coming out of something
v	Lava	V	A volcano that is unlikely to erupt

3. Match the words with their meanings and use the same words in sentences of your own. (10)

Solution:

Erupting:  Suddenly coming out of something

Cinders: Pieces of material that is left after something such as wood or coal has burned

Extinct: A volcano that is unlikely to erupt

Dormant: Something that is not active

Lava: A kind of rock which comes out of volcano in the form of a very hot liquid

SENTENCES:

1.     There are volcanoes that are constantly erupting all over the world.

2.     Great is its seething, like a burning cinder, a grievous thing of an ashy color.

3.     Extinct volcano, el valle is famous for its Sunday Indian craft market.

4.     Little do most people know, that volcano was completely dormant?

5.     We decided these were formed by molten lava building up around trees, which burnt away.

4. Write a short composition on any one of the following in about 400 words: (20)

(i)                The story of cricket: yesterday and today

(ii)             The kindest thing that someone did for me

(iii)           Has civilization taught us to be subtly cruel?

(iv)            A country I would like to visit

A Country I would like to visit

The one great desire of my life is to visit America, the richest and the most prosperous country of the world. Who  has ruled whole world and is still ruling. World’s strongest and the most powerful country. I have read and heard a lot about it.
I have a curiosity to see whether really every one man out of three in America has got a car, whether every labourer is really handsomely paid, he has a house of his own to live in, he can send his children to school and he gets best food, with plenty of grape juice on his dining table.
I am anxious to see beautiful parkland holiday homes scattered all over the country to which the Americans repair for rest, recreation and rejuvenation after a period of hard and strenuous work.
I want to see their schools and colleges where the youths of the country are trained in citizenship, good manners, games and sports. I wish to see their co-eductional institutions where young girls rub shoulders with budding young men, where boys and girls mix freely, in the class-rooms, in games and sports and in clubs, balls and coffee uses.
I am most anxious to see their cinemas and above all, Hollywood and its beauties. I want to see how American films, said to be the best in the world, are shot.
I want to see New York, the biggest city of the world. I want to the huge rush of traffic in its bazars and streets and on its roads, hours. I want to see its big shops, warehouses, its lofty buildings kissing the sky and its skyscrapers.
I want to study the private life 0f Americans, how they eat, what they eat, how they cook their food, who cooks it and how the Americans treat strangers to their houses. I want to see whether Americans who are said to be at the highest rung of modern science and civilization, are still hospitable, loving sympathetic and religious.
I shall pay a visit to the White House, shall see the President and the American Congress in session. I shall exchange views on disarmament with the great American leaders. I shall search the heart of the common Americans about India and Indians.

I would love to see all this live and experience it. A country where almost every person has desire to go once in their life.

6. Parul Vohra/Salil Menon is a very brilliant student who had completed her/his examinations. She/He sees an advertisement in Indian Daily inserted by the IWKAL Foundation offering scholarships to deserving students to study abroad. As Parul Vohra/Salil Menon, write a letter to the Foundation making relevant enquiries regarding the scholarship scheme. (15)

Solution:

 Sahil menon

 13/B Utsav Flats

Maninagar,Ahmedabad

Gujarat, 382440

To,

Director

IWKAL Foundation

21^st Dec 2013

SUB: Enquiry about the scholarship for studying abroad.

Dear Sir

I am the student of LJ collage of commerce and finished my bachelor course, scoring 92% in the final. I have read the scholarship scheme in the Indian Daily journal and I was interested in the same.

Thus I wanted to enquire about the scholarship you give to brilliant students to study abroad. i am interested in knowing how much amount is allotted and how and what are your condition behind the same.

So I request you to provide me with all the information and requirement of documents for getting the scholarship amount and all other information related to scholarship.

I would be very much thankful to you if you provide me the scholarship for my masters

Yours faithfully

Sahil Menon

7.     Fill in the blanks correctly with a/an or the: (5)

Solution:

(i)                            Reader’s Digest is the truly inexpensive gift for all occasions. It reminds your friends of your thoughtfulness twelve times a year.

(ii)                          Mr. Stryver was little over thirty, but he looked much older. He was fat, with the red face and the loud voice. He wanted to be an important lawyer, and he was quickly becoming more and more  successful. He was a very clever lawyer who did not care whether he was fighting for good or bad. He was very skilful at finding the facts in every argument. The more business he got, the more skilful he became. He and Sydney Carton were often up late at night, drinking. Even then, when he got up the next morning, his mind was clear.

8.     Fill in the blanks with correct gerund or infinitive forms of the verbs given in brackets: (5)

Solution:

(i)                             He agreed to help me. (help)

(ii)                         Suresh enjoys playing football. (play)

(iii)                        We failed to catch the train. (catch)

(iv)                        She finished cooking in no time. (cook)

(v)                         They decided to work hard. (work)

(vi)                        I am practicing to drive (drive)

(vii)                    The class wanted to go for a picnic. (go)

(viii)                   Do you mind lending me your pen. (lend)

(ix)                        The father refused to buy him a bicycle. (buy)

(x)                          She loves listening to music. (listen)

9. Choose the correct form of the verbs from those which have been underlined. (5)

Solution:

The conference was very successful. The seminars and talks (1) were extremely interesting and it was obvious that all the speakers (2) had prepared their material very thoroughly. Everyone agreed that this should become an annual event.

There was however a number of administrative problems. When we (3) arrived, we (4) discovered that the hotel manager (5) had reserved the wrong room for us and therefore we (6) did not have enough space. Unfortunately, he could not let us have the larger room because he (7) had given it to another group, even bigger than ours. He (8) had also misunderstood the letter explaining what food we (9) required. In fact, we (10) suspected that he had lost the letter. We do not recommend using this hotel again.

10.Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions of place such as in, on, at, between, among, behind, up, into, against, along, across, above, below, in front of, down: (5)

Solution:

(i) He lives in Kasturba Marg, Delhi.

(ii) His house is on the 3rd floor.

(iii) He drove the car on the pavement.

(iv) We could see the mountains across/in front of the river.

(v) The old man could not stand up. He leant against the wall.

(vi) The car broke down in the middle of the road.

(vii) The water in the river rose above the danger mark.

(viii) The temperature was two degrees below the freezing point.

(ix) When the sun sets it goes down the horizon.

(x) The teacher sat in front of the students.