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Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it. It is no longer news that the social and economic problems of African countries continue to worsen. What we experience daily are the vicious consequences of unemployment, inadequate health and educational facilities, urban squalor resulting from a population bursting at the seams and, most frightening of all, the rate at which crime is rising It is also no longer news that many Africans now see ''checking out" of their countries for other supposedly better ones abroad as the only solution to the problems. In this regard, the United State, Britain, Canada, Germany and Italy are the hot favourites. Most of these Africans are usually so desperate to leave that they fall easy prey to all sorts of passport and visa fraud, and often end up smuggling themselves abroad at all costs. In such countries, they have to do all manner of menial jobs, sometimes resorting to criminal activities, and are often cut off completely from families and relations back home. Young girls who have been enticed with assurances of a rosy future often end up in forced prostitution, with all its unpleasant consequences! Is "checking out". the ideal solution to Africa's social and economic problems? Of course not! What is baffling is why Africans cannot see abandoning their countries as a step that holds out no solution at all. All that they achieve, in fact, is the substitution of one set of problems for another! What then should we do? We must look inwards for a more realistic solution. First, we must develop the will to tackle our problems. Where there is a will, it is said, there is a way. If we abandon our problems instead of tackling them on, we will simply be leaving an unpleasant legacy for future generations. Secondly, we must orient ourselves tows res self-reliance and self-employment, instead of looking helplessly to our embattled government for salaried employment, Finally, we must seek a long-term solution by addressing the population question. It is obvious that Africa's outsize population is at the root of the problems. The question we should ask ourselves is. if the average family size in America or Britain were to be as large as the average African family, would these countries still be as attractive to us as they are now? The big puzzle is that we have adopted the white man's lifestyle in all other respects, but have made an exception of family size. (a) Mention two sequences of the usual desperation of Africans to leave their countries. (b) The writer argues that escaping abroad is not the ideal solution to Africa's problems. Quote one sentence from the passage that sums up the writer's recommended solution. (c)According to the writer, why should Africans solve their problems rather than avoid them? (d) What does the writer consider the most serious cause of African's problems? (e) What does the writer imply by using the word "supposedly" in the second paragraph? (f) "What we experience daily . " (i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage? (ii) What is its function? (g) " a population bursting at the seams " What figure of speech is contained in this expression? (h) For each of the following words or phrases. find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage. (i) prey' (ii) enticed: (iii) ideal; (iv) holds out; (v) tackle: (vi) head-on.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it. For some, grass is just the green stuff outside the house that they have to mow. For farmers and football players, it is indispensable. For children it is the ideal playground. And those who live in most urban areas assume they have very little to do with grass of any sort. However, almost all of us have daily contact with some type of grass and the product made from it. Grass makes up a major part of the vegetation that covers the earth And no wonder, since it is one of the most adaptable plant groups on earth, growing in polar regions and deserts in tropical rain forests, and on wind-swept mountain slopes. Entire vegetation areas are dominated by grass. Unlike many other plants, grass grows, not at the tip but in growth areas above the nodes. New shoots might start from stems growing horizontally on or under the ground. So when the lawn mower or the cow cuts away the tip, or fire rages through a field. grass keeps growing whereas many other plants stop Furthermore. with most grasses, if the - stem is bent over by the wind or trodden underfoot, it can raise itself erect by growing faster on the side facing the ground. For these reasons, grass usually recovers quickly after being damaged. which gives it an edge over other plants in the fight for sunlight. Grass is not only the most abundant but also the most important flowering plant family on earth. A botanist once described grass as the foundation of our food it is "like a dam protecting mankind from famine." Try to remember what you ate today. Did you start with a bowl of cereal made with millet. rice, oats, or sorghum? Well, then, you ate grass seeds. Or perhaps you had a roll or other kind of bread. The flour used was made from grass kernels - wheat, rye, barley, and other grains are all grasses Cornflakes and other corn products are no exception. as corn or maize is a grass too. You had sugar in your tea or coffee? More than half of all sugar is made from sugarcane, a grass. Grass is not only good for food, however. If your house has walls made of clay and straw, it is grass that gives them the necessary strength. In different parts of the world. roofs are thatched with grass. One of the advantages of such roofs is that they keep the interior of the buildings cool regardless of the external temperature. Grass covers and adorns much of the earth. Apart from the beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing sight of a green meadow or a well-kept lawn, grass is a major oxygen supplier, because of the sheer mass of the green vegetation that it produces. Finally, its fine roots perform the all-important function of protecting the soil from erosion. Keeping its versatility in mind we are not surprised to learn that the usage and cultivation of grass has a long history. The next time you see a waving cornfield, a lush green meadow, or just humble blades of grass growing between stones in a sidewalk, you might stop and think of this marvelous and most versatile plant family! (a) In two sentences, one for each, summarize the two reasons why grass forms a major part of the earth's vegetation. (b) In four sentences, one for each, summarize the four ways in which grass is useful to humans.

The poor state of the facilities in your school is causing the studens freat concern. As the Senior Prefect, write a letter to the chairman of the Board of Governors highlighting the problems and requesting him to come to the aid of the school.

Choose from the options lettered A to E the one that has the same consonant sound as the one represented by the underlined letter(s). mutton

The rods in the retina of the eyes are examples of

The absence of special food and water-conducting systems restricts the body size in

A plant-like feature in Euglena is the

The most common characteristic of the fungal hyphae is the possession of

Insects are considered the most successful among the invertebrates because they?

The endoplasmic reticulum is represented by the part labelled

The part labelled II is responsible for

The larval stage of a mosquito is called

The function of the long-winged reproductives of the termites colony is to

A peculiar characteristics of mammals is that they

In the internal structure of plants, a wide pith in the centre is common to