HSC English First Paper - Unit One - People or Institutions Making History
Lesson 1: Nelson Mandela,
from Apartheid Fighter to President
1. Warm up activity:
Work in pairs.
□ Who are the people in the pictures? Why are they famous?
□ Make a list of some famous people that you have heard about and write about their contribution in their fields.
Work in pairs.
□ Who are the people in the pictures? Why are they famous?
□ Make a list of some famous people that you have heard about and write about their contribution in their fields.
2. Read the text.
REUTERS
15 December 2013
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters)-Nelson Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to a multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world.
Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, 5 Mandela never lost his resolve to fight for his people's emancipation. He was determined to bring down apartheid while avoiding a civil war. His prestige and charisma helped him win the support of the world.
"I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I will fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days," Mandela said in his acceptance speech on becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994,... "The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come."
"We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation."
In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor he shared with F.W. de Klerk, the white African leader who had freed him from prison three years earlier and negotiated the end of apartheid.
Mandela went on to play a prominent role on the world stage as an advocate of human dignity in the face of challenges ranging from political repression to AIDS.
He formally left public life in June 2004 before his 86th birthday, telling his adoring countrymen: "Don't call me. Til call you." But he remained one of the world's most revered public figures, combining celebrity sparkle with an unwavering message of freedom, respect and human rights.
"He is at the epicenter of our time, ours in South Africa, and yours, wherever you are," Nadine Gordimer, the South African writer and Nobel Laureate for Literature, once remarked.
The years Mandela spent behind bars made him the world's most celebrated political prisoner and a leader of mythic stature for millions of black South Africans and other oppressed people far beyond his country's borders.
Charged with capital offences in the 1963 Rivonia Trial, his statement from the dock was his political testimony.
"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.
"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities," he told the court.
"It is an ideal I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Friends adored Mandela and fondly called him "Madiba," the clan name by which he was known.
People lauded his humanity, kindness and dignity.
3. Each of the following questions has a word with four alternative meanings. Choose the word which is closest in meaning in the context that has been used in the text.
i. What does apartheid refer to in the title?
a. apart
b. distance
c. discrimination
d. dialogue
ii.The word icon in the text means (line 3)
a. portrait
b. image
c. symbol
d. idol
iii. What does shackles refer to (line 3)?
a. restraints
b. sick
c. stigma
d. spur
iv. race discrimination (line 9) refers to —
a. differences on the basis of caste, creed and colour
b. competition among the members of a race
c. demoralization of people
d. domination of others
v. The word manifestation (line 9) means
a. presentation
b. right
c. change
d. sign
vi. The word healing (line 12) means
a. curing
b. heating
c. soothing
d. ailing
vii. The word chasm (line 13) refers to
a. cleft
b. top
c. hatred
d. border
viii. The word emancipation (line 13) is
a. participation
b. encouragement
c. expectation
d. liberation
4. Answer the following questions:
a. The text is a report prepared by a news agency. A newspaper here is interested to publish it in a shortened form. Write a summary of the report for the newspaper.
b. What do the following dates refer to?
1963 1993 1994 2004
c. Why did Nadine Gordimer remark that "He (Mandela) is at the epicenter of our time, ours in South Africa, and yours, wherever you are."?
d. What emancipation did Mandela hint at by saying "We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation."?
e. Mandela is quoted in the report as saying, "It is an ideal I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." What ideal is he talking about? Do you support his ideal?
5. Read the text below and fill in the gaps with the right use of verbs:
Mandela................... (be) among the first to advocate armed resistance to apartheid, going underground in 1961 to form the ANC's armed wing. He ........................ (leave) South Africa and................... (travel) the continent and Europe, studying guerrilla warfare and building support for the ANC.
Branded a terrorist by his enemies, Mandela................... (sentence) to life imprisonment in 1964, isolated from millions of his countrymen as they ................................. (suffer) oppression, violence and forced resettlement under the apartheid regime of racial segregation. He ........(imprison) on Rohben Island, a penal colony of Cape Town, where he.................... (spend) the next 18 years before being moved to mainland prisons.
6. Read the jumbled text and rearrange it into a cohesive paragraph.
In his later years in prison, he met President P.W. Botha and his successor de Klerk. He was behind bars when an uprising broke out in the huge township of Soweto in 1976 and when others erupted in violence in the 1980s. "As I finally walked through those gates ... I felt even at the age of 71 that my life was beginning anew. My 10,000 days of imprisonment were at last over," Mandela wrote of that day. When he was released on 11 February 1990, walking away from the Victor Verster prison hand-in-hand with his wife Winnie, the event was watched live by millions of television viewers across the world. But when the regime realized it was time to negotiate, it was Mandela to whom it turned.
7. Now read the text below and fill in the gaps with the clues given in the box. There is one extra word than is necessary.
tuberculosis
|
renew
to for
|
be
|
damage
|
September
|
of
remained
|
do
|
the
|
But prison and old age took their toll on his
health.
Mandela was treated in the 1980s
for.............. and later required an operation to repair the................... to
his eyes as well as treatment................ prostate cancer in 2001. His
spirit, however,............... strong. "If cancer wins I will
still................. the better winner," he told reporters
in.............. of that year. "When I
go............... the next world, the first thing I
will................... is look for an ANC office
to............................... my membership." Most South Africans
are proud......... their post-apartheid multi-racial 'Rainbow Nation'.
8. Now fill in the gaps in the text below using suitable
words.
Mandela's last major appearance on
the................. stage was in 2010 when he.............. a cap in
the South African................... and rode on a golf
cart,............. to an exuberant crowd of
90,000 .................. the soccer World Cup final,
one.......... the biggest events in the
country's.................... apartheid history. "I leave it
to..................... public to decide how they
should................ me," he said on South African....................... before
his retirement. "But I should..................... to he
remembered as an ordinary.................. African who together with
others has.............................. his humble contribution."
[The text on Mandela is written by Andrew Quinn and
Jon Herskovitz; Edited by Pascal Fletcher and Angus MacSwan, Source: http://W.yahoo.com/news/nelson-mandela-aparfreid-fighter-president-imifier-105117261.html, accessed on 14/02/2014]
Lesson 2: The Unforgettable
History
1. Warm up activity:
Look at the photograph of Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman giving the 7 March 1971 historic speech. Ask and answer the
questions in pairs.
□ What do you know about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman?
□ Where is he giving the speech? What was the time?
□ What is the significance of the speech?
□ Have you ever heard the speech? Where?
2. Now read the speech below.
My brothers,
2 stand before you today with a heart overflowing
with grief. You are fully aware of the events that are going on and understand
their 'import. We have been trying to do our best to cope with the situation.
And yet, unfortunately, the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi and Rangpur are awash with the blood of our brothers. The
people of Bengal now want to be free, the people of Bengal now want to live,
and the people of Bengal now want their rights. 7
What have we done that was wrong? After the
elections, the people of Bangladesh voted as one for me, for the Awami League.
We were to sit in the National Assembly, draft a constitution for ourselves
there, and build our country; the people of this land would thereby get
economic, political, and cultural freedom. But it is with regret that I have to
report to you today that we have passed through twenty-three tragic years;
Bengal's history of those years is full of stories of torture inflicted on our
people, of blood shed by them repeatedly. Twenty-three years of a history of
men and women in agony! 15
The history of Bengal is the history of a people
who have repeatedly made their highways crimson with their blood. We shed blood
in 1952; even though we were the victors in the elections of 1954 we could not
form a government then. In 1958 Ayub Khan declared
Martial Law to enslave us for the next ten years. In 1966 when we launched the
six point movement our boys were shot dead on 7 June. When after the movement
of 1969 Ayub Khan fell from power and Yahya Khan assumed the
reins of the government he declared that he would give us a constitution and
restore democracy; we listened to him then. A lot has happened since and
elections have taken place. 24
I've met President Yahya Khan. Tve made a request
to him not only on behalf of Bengal but also as the leader of the party which
has the majority in Pakistan; I said to him: "You must hold the session of
the National Assembly on 15 January." But he did not listen to me. He
listened to Mr. Bhutto instead. At first he said that the meeting would take
place in the first week of March. We said, "Fine, we will be taking our
seats in the Assembly then." I said we will carry out our discussions in
the Assembly. I went so far as to say that if anyone came up with an offer that
was just, even though we were in the majority we would agree to that offer. 33
Mr. Bhutto came here; he carried out discussions
with us; he had said that the doors of negotiations had not been shut and that
there would be further negotiations. I then had talks with other leaders; I
said to them, "Come and sit down with us; let's create a constitution for
ourselves through discussions." But Mr. Bhutto declared that if West
Pakistani members came here the Assembly would end up as a slaughterhouse. He
claimed that whoever came here would be slaughtered. He said that if anyone
showed up here all shops from Peshawar to Karachi would be shut down. 41
I declared that the Assembly would continue to
meet. But suddenly on the 1st of March the Assembly was shut down. Mr. Yahya
Khan called the session of the Assembly in his capacity as the President and I
declared I would be attending it. Mr. Bhutto said he wouldn't be part of it.
Thirty-five members of the Assembly came from West Pakistan to take part in its
proceedings. But it was dissolved all of a sudden. The blame was put on the
people of Bengal, the finger was pointed at me! 48
After the Assembly's session was prorogued, the
people of this country protested. I told them, "Observe the General Strike
we have called peacefully." I told them" Shut down all mills and
factories." Our people responded to my call. They came to the streets
spontaneously. They expressed their firm determination to carry out the
struggle peacefully. 53
What have we got in return? Those who brought arms
with our money to defend us from external enemies are now using those arms on
the poor, -the wretched, -the downtrodden people of the land. Bullets are being
aimed at their hearts. We constitute the majority in Pakistan; but whenever we
Bengalis have tried to assume power they have used force on us. 58
I have had a talk with Mr. Yahya Khan. I told him,
"Mr. Yahya, you are the President of Pakistan; come and observe how the
poor people of my country are being mowed down with bullets; come and see how
our mothers are being deprived of their children; how my people are being
massacred. Come, observe, and only then pass a judgement on what is going on.
He has apparently said that I had agreed to attend a Round Table Conference on
the 10th of March. Didn't I say a long time back: what is the point of another
Round Table conference? Who will I sit with? Should I sit with those who have
shed the blood of my people? He has suddenly dissolved the Assembly without
carrying out any discussions with me; after sitting in a secret meeting for
five hours he gave a speech where he has put all the blame on me. He has even
blamed the Bengali people! 69
My brothers,
The Assembly has been called into session on the
25th of March. But the blood spilled on our streets has not yet dried. About
the 10th of this month, I have told them: Mujibur Rahman won't join the Round
Table Conference because that would mean wading over the blood that has been
shed. Although you have called the Assembly into session, you'll have to listen
to my demands first. You'll have to withdraw Martial Law. You'll have to return
all army personnel to their barracks. You'll have to investigate the way our
people have been murdered. And you'll have to transfer power to the
representatives of the people. It is only then that Til decide whether we will
take our seats in the Assembly or not. I don't want the Prime Minister's
office. We want the people of this country to have their rights. I want to
state clearly that from this day Bangladesh's courts, magistracies, government
offices and educational institutions will be shut down indefinitely. So that
the poor don't have to suffer,
so that my people don't have to go through
hardships, all other things will be exempted from the General Strike from
tomorrow. Rickshaws, horse carriages, trains, and launches will be allowed to
move. Only the Secretariat, the Supreme Court, the High Court, Judges' Court,
and semi-government organizations such as WAPDA will not be allowed to work. On
the 28th employees will go and collect their salaries. If their salaries are
not paid, if another bullet is fired, if my people are shot dead again, I
request all of you: convert every house into a fort; confront the enemy with
whatever you have. And even at the risk of your life, and even if I am not
around to direct you, shut down all shops and make sure that traffic on all
roads and ports are brought to a standstill. If need be, we will starve to
death, but we'll go down striving for our rights. 94
To those in the armed forces I have this to say:
you are my brothers; stay in your barracks and no one will bother you. But
don't try again to aim your bullets at our chests. You can't suppress seventy
million people forever. Since we have learned to sacrifice ourselves no one can
suppress us any more. 98
And as for our martyrs and those who have been
wounded, we in the Awami League will do everything we can to assist them and
their loved ones. If you have the means, please give what little you can to our
Relief Committee. To owners of factories whose workers had participated in the
General Strike the last seven days I have this to say: make sure that they are
paid wages for those days. To government employees I have this to tell: you'll
have to listen to my directives. Till our country is liberated, taxes and
custom duties won't be collected. No one will pay them either. 106
Remember: the enemy is amidst us to create chaos
and confusion, to create anarchy and to loot. In our Bengal Hindus and Muslims,
Bengalis and non-Bengalis are all brothers. We are responsible for their
safety; let us not taint ourselves in any way. 110
Remember those of you who work for radio and
television: if the people running the radio station aren't ready to listen to
us, no Bengali will report for work there. Banks will be open for two hours
every day so that people can collect their salaries. But we won't allow even a
single poisha to be transferred from East Bengal to West Pakistan. Telephones
and telegram services will continue as before in our East Bengal; if we have to
transmit news abroad you will see to that. But if any attempt is made to
exterminate our people all Bengalis must take appropriate action. 118
Form Revolutionary Committees under the leadership
of the Awami League in every village, every community. Be prepared to act with
whatever you have in your possession. (L 116) 121
Remember: since we have already had to shed blood,
we'll have to shed a lot more of it; by the Grace of God, however, we'll be
able to liberate the people of this land. 124
The struggle this time is a struggle for
freedom—the struggle this time is a
struggle for emancipation. 126
Long live Bengal!
[The speech has been translated by Fakrul Alam]
3. Answer the following questions:
a. Which features of the speech do you appreciate
most? Why?
b. What are the two main parts of the speech?
c. Why does Bangabandhu say that "the 23 years
of our history with Pakistan is a history of repression and bloodshed?"
d. How do you differentiate between the 'struggle
for freedom' and the 'struggle for emancipation?'
e. Can you compare this speech with other famous
speeches in history that you know about?
4. Who do the following pronouns refer to?
"you" (line 2), "we" (line 17),
"we" (line 20), "we" (line 30), "them" (line 36),
"them" (line 50), "they" (line 52), "they" (line
58), "them" (line 73), "you (line 75), "you" (line
90), "them" (line 106), "you" (line 116).
5. Read the speech again. The speech has references
to some years and dates in our history. Find out their historical importance
and complete the flow chart, ending with 25 March 1971.
6. Make three separate lists of Bangabandhu's directives to different sections of people.
6. Make three separate lists of Bangabandhu's directives to different sections of people.
7. See the grid below. It has two columns—one on
Causes and the other on Effects. Provide the missing causes against effects and
missing effects against the causes provided.
8. Write a paragraph on the major events leading to
March 7.
9. Project work
a. Present your ideas on how the March 7 speech has
become a part of our history.
b. Make a fact file on Bangabandhu's life.
Lesson 3: Two Women
1. Read the following text
on two women of extraordinary achievements and answer the questions that
follow:
Valentina Tereshkova (born
on 6 March 1937)
Valentina Tereshkova was born in the village
Maslennikovo, Tutayevsky District, in Central Russia. Tereshkova's father was a
tractor driver and her mother worked in a textile plant. Tereshkova began
school in 1945 at the age of eight, but left school in 1953 and continued her
education through distance Learning. She became interested in parachuting from
a young age, and trained in skydiving at the local Aeroclub, making her first
jump at age 22 on 21 May 1959. At that time she was employed as a textile
worker in a local factory. It was her expertise in skydiving that led to her selection
as a cosmonaut.
After the flight of Yuri Gagarin (the first human
being to travel to outer space in 1961), the Soviet Union decided to send a
woman in space. On 16 February 1962, "proletaria" Valentina
Tereshkova was selected for this project from among more than four hundred
applicants. Tereshkova had to undergo a series of training that included
weightless flights, isolation tests, centrifuge tests, rocket theory,
spacecraft engineering, 120 parachute jumps and pilot training in MiG-15UTI jet
fighters.
Since the successful launch of the spacecraft
Vostok-5 on 14 June 1963, Tereshkova began preparing for her own flight On the
morning of 16 June 1963, Tereshkova and her back-up cosmonaut Solovyova were
dressed in space-suits and taken to the space shuttle launch pad by a bus.
After completing her communication and life support checks, she was sealed
inside Vostok 6. Finishing a two-hour countdown, Vostok-6 launched faultlessly.
Although Tereshkova experienced nausea and physical
discomfort for much of the flight, she orbited the earth 48 times and spent
almost three days in space. With a single flight, she logged more flight time
than the combined times of all American astronauts who had flown before that
date. Tereshkova also maintained a flight log and took photographs of the
horizon, which were later used to identity aerosol layers within the
atmosphere.
Vostok-6 was the final Vostok flight and was
launched two days after Vostok-5, which carried Valary Bykovsy into a similar
orbit for five days, landing three hours after Tereshkova. The two vessels
approached each other within 5 kilometers at one point, and from space
Tereshkova communicated with Bykovsky and the Soviet leader Khrushchev by
radio.
Much later, in 1977 Tereshkova earned a doctorate
in Engineering from Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. Afterwards she turned to
politics. During the Soviet regime she became one of the presidium members of
the Supreme Soviet Now this living legend is a member in the lower house of the
Russian legislature. On her 70th birthday when she was invited by the Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, she expressed her desire to fly to Mars, even if
for a one-way trip.
Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 -1 February 2003)
Determined to become an astronaut even in the face
of the Challenger disaster 1986 that broke apart 73 seconds into its flight,
leading to the deaths of its seven crew members, Chawla joined NASA in 1988.
She began working as a Vice President where she did Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) research on vertical take-off and landing. In 1991 she got U.S.
citizenship and started her career as a NASA astronaut in 1995. She was
selected for her first flight in 1996. She spoke the following words while
travelling in the weightlessness of space, "You are just your
intelligence." She had travelled 10.67 million miles, as many as 252 times
around the Earth.
Her first space mission (Mission STS 87) began on
19 November 1997 with six other astronauts on the Space Shuttle Columbia. On her
first mission that lasted for 15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes and 4 seconds, she
travelled 6.5 million miles. She was responsible for deploying the Spartan
Satellite which however malfunctioned, necessitating a spacewalk by Winston
Scott and Tako Doi, two of her fellow astronauts, to retrieve the satellite.
In 2000 she was selected for her second space
mission STS 107. This mission was repeatedly delayed due to scheduling
conflicts and technical problems. On 16 January 2003, Kalpana Chawla finally
started her new mission with six other space crew on the ill-fated space
shuttle Columbia. She was one of the mission specialists. Chawla's
responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for which the crew
conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced
technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
After a 16 day scientific mission in space, on 1
February 2003, Columbia disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the
Earth's atmosphere. All the crew in Columbia including Chawla died only 16
minutes prior to their scheduled landing. Investigation shows that this fatal
accident happened due to a damage in one of Columbia's wings caused by a piece
of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeling off during the launch.
During the intense heat of re-entry, hot gases penetrated the interior of the
wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to
break down.
2. What do the following words mean? You can use
any number of words to establish the meanings.
3. Read the texts and complete the sentences.
Valentina Tereshkova was the first.
Kalpana Chawla was the first.
4. Work in two groups.
Group A: Read about Valentina Tereshkova
Group B: Read about Kalpana Chawla
Now tell each other what you have learnt.
5. These sentences below are true about either
Tereshkova or Chawla. Find out which applies to whom.
a. She is an engineer.
b. She is one of the victims of a spacecraft
disaster.
c. She came from an ordinary family.
d. She earned a Ph.D. degree.
e. She was selected from among 400 competitors.
f. She was involved in politics.
g. She made history.
6. Find a partner and compare the lives and
achievements of Tereshkova and Chawla using your answers.
7. Complete the questions about the two astronauts.
Then ask and answer them with your partner.
About Valentina Tereshkova
a. Where......born?
b. When......as a cosmonaut?
c. When......first space flight?
d. How old......then?
e. How......feel in the spacecraft?
f. Who......talk to from the space?
g. What......want to do now?
About Kalpana Chawla
h. Where......born?
i. When......her first flight?
j. Why......to USA?
k. Why......NASA?
l. What......in 1997?
m. How......die?
n. What......make?
What do you think?
Who are some of the famous women in your country
and why are they famous?
8. Now find out the similarities and
dissimilarities between Tereshkova and Chawla.
Areas of similarities
1. They both are engineers.
2. ......
3. ......
4. ......
5. ......
6. ......
Areas of dissimilarities
1. Tereshkova was born in Russia while Chawla was
born in India.
2. ......
3. ......
4. ......
5. ......
6. ......
9. Now write a paragraph in 150 words about
Tereshkova and Chawla based on the information provided in the text.
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