৪০তম বিসিএস লিখিত প্রশ্ন ইংরেজি

Subject Code: 003
Time: 4 hours Full Marks: 200
Part A Part A

Read the passage below carefully and answer the question nos 1-7 that follow:
Home to over four million child workers, Bangladesh has been the subject of global-concern regarding children’s rights and child labour. In a place where poverty is the cause of everyday tribulations, it is not possible to abolish this long-established system of child drudgery entirely. A 2002-2003 UNICEF survey noted that children represent 16.6% of the total workforce. At the time there were 3.2 million child labourer in Bangladesh among whom about 1.4 million children were doing hazardous work. Countless children are engaged in strenuous work in industries such as tanneries, ship-breaking yards, tobacco factories, transportation, car workshops and construction, while others serve in tea stalls, restaurants or do household chores. In Bangladesh children work both in rural and urban based industries; however, the children working in urban areas are subjected to more dismal work conditions like unfixed wages, health hazards, no contracts etcetera and are vulnerable to mental, physical and sexual harassment. It is understandable in what circumstances the destitute families choose their children to work in order to make both ends meet. This situation is often referred to as ‘borrowing from the future for present consumption’, since present needs blight the development of the child in future. This creates an intergenerational transfer of poverty whereby the downward spiral of exploitation and poverty is passed from adult to child.

The current situation of child rights in Bangladesh may fall short of international standards, but the circumstances are supposed to be different in a country where about 38 million people live below poverty line. In many cases children are the sole bread winners for their family, which may comprise up to 4-5 members. Owing to severe pecuniary constraints and common social inclinations most children are forced to give up their studies and start working in order to stanchion their families. As seen in the case studies mentioned above, the major cause of children’s entering the workforce is economic difficulties. As a result, in Bangladesh where absolute poverty exists, 67% of children are working on account of financial hardship. Another factor contributing to child labour is the lack of awareness and tradition. As most of the people are unaware of the concept of child labour and its pernicious effect, most parents do not object to their children’s working, rather, on the contrary, they encourage it.

While all agree that child labour is a bane of a nation that needs to be addressed immediately, it is also an impracticable idea to uproot it completely from a country like Bangladesh. Rather, attempts at decreasing it should be the first course of action. Steps must be taken to reduce and eventually eradicate extreme poverty through economic and social development. Furthermore, child-focused education and awareness are also required. As many children drop out of school because of associated costs, such as transport and uniform expenses, these can be subsumed within the school budget.



Another thing that can be done is raising awareness of child labour. This can be done by both the government and NGOs through various means of awareness building. Educating the mass about the pitfalls of child labour is necessary as most of them do not understand the concept. If they are able to realize the dangers and disadvantages of sending their children to work instead of school, they will be less inclined to send them to work.

1. Answer the following questions in your own words without copying any sentences from the passage above:
(a) What is the passage about?
(b) Why has Bangladesh been the subject of global concern?
(c) Describe the correlation between child labour and poverty.
(d) Why do the destitute families choose to send their children to work?
(e) What do you understand by intergenerational transfer of poverty?
(f) Why are many children forced to give up their studies?
(g) Why don’t most parents object to their children’s going to work?
(h) Why is it impracticable to try to uproot child labour from Bangladesh completely at the moment?
(i) Which step do you consider the most important for reducing child labour?
(j) Give a suitable title to the passage.

2. Write the meanings of the following words/expressions in English using contextual clues (The words are underlined in the passage):
(a) tribulation
(b) chore
(c) dismal
(d) make both ends meet
(e) pitfall

3. Fill in the table by putting words in the empty cells according to their parts of speech:

4. Give an antonym for each of the following words and make sentences with the antonyms:
(a) poverty
(b) strenuous
(c) destitute
(d) severe
(e) bane



5. Make sentences of your own with each of the following words and phrases (Copying any sentence from the passage above must be avoided):
(a) pernicious
(b) stanchion
(c) subsume
(d) blight
(e) inclination
(f) drudgery
(g) subject to
(h) fall short of
(i) vulnerable to
(j) on the contrary

6. Summarize the passage in your own words (within 100 words).

7. Write a letter to the editor of an English daily highlighting the gruesome aspects of child labour and the urgency to stop it.

Part B

8. Write an essay in about 1000 words on any one of the following topics:
(a) Literature and Society
(b) Democracy and Good Governance
(c) Corruption: The Invincible Monster



9. Translate the following text into Bangla:
Of all the amusements which can possible be imagined for a hard-working man, after his day’s toil, there is nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily exertion of which he has had enough. It relieves his home of its dullness. It transports him to lovelier and more interesting scenes; and while he enjoys these, he may forget the evils of the present moment. Nay, it accompanies him to his day’s work, and if the book he has been reading be anything above the very idlest and lightest, it gives him something to think about during the drudgery of his everyday occupation. If I were to pray for a taste which should stand me in good stead under every variety of circumstances and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness through life, it would be a taste for reading. Give a man this taste and the means of gratifying it, and you will never fail to make him happy, unless indeed you put into his hands the most perverse selection of books. You place him with the best society in every period of history, with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest and the purest characters which have adorned humanity. You make him a citizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages.




10. Translate the following text into English:
মানুষের জীবন কতকগুলাে ঘটনার সংকলন। তবে সব ঘটনাই স্মরণীয় হয় না। যে ঘটনা স্মৃতির পাতায় সােনার অক্ষরে লেখা হয়ে যায় তা-ই স্মরণীয়। বাংলাদেশের মানুষের সবচেয়ে গৌরবময় ও স্মরণীয় ঘটনা এ-দেশের মুক্তিযুদ্ধ। এই যুদ্ধের মধ্য দিয়ে আমরা লাভ করেছি স্বাধীন দেশ, নিজস্ব পতাকা। ১৯৭১ সালের ২৬শে মার্চ বাংলার ছাত্র-যুবক, কৃষক-শ্রমিকসহ সর্বস্তরের জনগণ বর্বর পাকিস্তানী হানাদার বাহিনীর বিরুদ্ধে সশস্ত্র যুদ্ধে ঝাপিয়ে পড়ে। তারই পরিণতিতে ১৯৭১ সালের ১৬ই ডিসেম্বর জাতি অর্জন করে চূড়ান্ত বিজয়। বিশ্বের মানচিত্রে দেদীপ্যমান হয় একটি রাষ্ট্র, যার নাম স্বাধীন সার্বভৌম বাংলাদেশ। বাংলাদেশের মুক্তিযুদ্ধভিত্তিক প্রথম জাদুঘর মুক্তিযুদ্ধ জাদুঘর। এই জাদুঘর তরুণ প্রজন্মের কাছে পৌছে দিচ্ছে আমাদের স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামের গৌরবময় ইতিহাস। মুক্তিযুদ্ধের মূল্যবােধ ও ইতিহাসকে ভিত্তি করে সাজানাে হয়েছে জাদুঘরের গ্যালারিগুলাে। প্রতিটি গ্যালারি সুনির্দিষ্টভাবে ধারণ করছে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের স্মৃতিবাহী নানান স্মারক। মুক্তিযুদ্ধ জাদুঘরের কার্যক্রমের অংশ হিসেবে একটি গাড়িকে ভ্রাম্যমাণ জাদুঘরের রূপ দেয়া হয়েছে। এভাবেই প্রজন্ম থেকে প্রজন্মান্তরে অমর হয়ে থাকবে এ-দেশের মুক্তিযুদ্ধের গৌরবগাথা।