Homework answers / question archive /  Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow During the last couple of decades, the developing world has made enormous economic progress

 Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow During the last couple of decades, the developing world has made enormous economic progress

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 Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow During the last couple of decades, the developing world has made enormous economic progress. This can be seen most clearly in the rising trend of incomes and consumption: between 1965 and 1985 consumption per capital in the developing "world went up by almost 70 percent. Broader measures of well -being confirm this picture-life expectancy, child mortality, and educational attainment have all improved markedly.Against that background of achievement, it is all the more staggering and all the more shameful - that more than one billion people in the developing world are living in poverty. Progress in raising average incomes, however welcome, must not distract attention from this massive and continuing burden of poverty.The same is true of the broader measures of well-being. Life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is just 50 years: In Japan it is almost 80. More than 110 million children in the developing world lack access even to primary education while in the developed world, anything less than universal enrolment would rightly be regarded as unacceptable. The starkness of these contrasts attests to the continuing toll of human deprivation.It should be noted that even in the developing world, poverty levels differ from region to region, country to country and even location to location within the same country. For example, nearly half of the world's poor live in South Asia, a region that accounts for less than one third of the world's population. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a smaller, but still highly disproportionate share of global poverty. Within regions and countries, the poor are often concentrated in certain places: in rural areas with high population densities. Often, the problems of poverty, population and the environment are intervened; earlier patterns of development and pressure of rapidly expanding populations mean that may of the poor live in areas of acute environmental 

degradation.

It is also true that the weight of poverty falls most heavily on certain groups. Women in 

general are disadvantaged. This is because in poor households, they often shoulder 

more of the workload than men, are less educated, and have less access to remunerative 

activities. Children, too, suffer disproportionately, and the future quality of their lives is 

compromised by inadequate nutrition, health care, and education. This is especially true 

for girls, for their primary school enrolment rates are less then 50 percent in many 

African countries.

Obviously, reducing poverty is the fundamental objective of economic development in 

any country. It is estimated that in 1985, more than one billion people in the developing 

world lived in absolute poverty. Clearly then, economic development has a long way to 

go. Knowledge about the poor is essential if governments are to adopt sound 

development strategies and more effective policies for attacking poverty. How many 

poor are there? Where do they live? What are their precise economic circumstances? 

Answering these questions is the first step toward understanding the impact of 

economic policies on the poor. (Adapted from Thinking Globally by Andrew E. 

Robson, New York; MC Graw - Hill (1997)

 

a) What evidence does the author give to show that incomes and consumption trends 

are rising in the developing world? (2 marks)

b) How does the author feel about the progress made so far by the developing world 

(2 marks)

c) Why does the author mention Japan?

d) What is odd about the poverty situation in South Asia? (2 marks)

e) Explain the relationship between poverty and a high population (3 marks)

f) Rewrite the following sentences in the singular (1 mark)

"They are also less educated, and have less access to remunerative activity".

g) Why is a girl doubly disadvantaged in a poor country? (3 marks) 

h) summarize the main argument of the author. (4 marks)

i)

Explain the meaning of the following words as used in passage. (2 marks)

- Staggering 

- Compromised

 

10. Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow:

"Sympathy"

I know what the caged bird feels, alas! 

When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; 

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass

And the river flows like a stream of glass; 

When the first bird sings and the first bud opens, 

And the faint perfume from its petals stealsI know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing

Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;

For he must fly back to his perch and cling

When he rather would be on the branch a swing;

And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars

And they pulse again with a keener sting I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his blossom sore; 

When he beats his bars and would be free; 

It is not a song of joy or glee, 

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

But a plea, that upward to heaven he flings -

I know why the caged bird sings! 

(Adapted from the poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar in America Negro Poetry, edited 

by Arna Bontemps. New York: Hill and Waug 1974.)

 

(a). Explain briefly what the poem is about (3 mks)

 

(b). What does the poet focus on in each of the three stanzas? Give your 

answer in note form. (6 mks)

 

(c). How would you describe the persona's feelings towards the caged bird? 

(4 mks)

 

(d). What can we infer about the persona's own experiences? (3 mks)

 

(e). Identify a simile in the first stanza and explain why it is used. (2mks)

 

(f). Explain the meaning of the following lines

(i). And the faint perfume from its petals steals. (1mk)

(ii). And they pulse again with a keener sting. (1mk)