English XII Ch 2 Reflections on the Re-Awakening East SQ & Notes FSc FA ICS ICom Karachi Sindh

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Q1. What, in the author’s opinion, should Asian countries accept from the West and what should they reject?

Answer: According to the author, there are certain steps that the Asian countries must follow of the West and there are some other acts which they have to reject and should not pay any heed to them.

Steps of the West must be followed by Asian nations:

They should preserve their culture, tradition, and civilization so to retain their identity in the world.

They should protect their independence by playing a constructive yet watchful role.

He gives sincere advice to Asian nations with respect to progress and prosperity that they should focus more on their industrial development as without that it would be difficult for them to stand on firm grounds against the West in the race of advancement and industrialization.

Asian nations should give due respect to their independence at home and elsewhere too.

They should show more interest in modern industrialization so to solve the problems of their citizens by themselves rather than relying on anyone else.

Peace should be given utmost importance by the Asian nations not only for their own prosperity but for the sake of the world’s progress too.

Steps of West need to be avoided by the Asian nations:

The first and the foremost step that should be rejected by Asian nations in which West is excelling at a rapid pace is the use of power and energy to rule, dominate and exploit those who are less fortunate to have that.

Secondly, they should not take their industry to the point of nuclear energy as the West has done so.

Last but not the least; the Asian nations must use their own brain to excel in this world rather than blindly following anyone.

Q2. What parallels may be drawn between the decline of the power of Europe at the end of the Roman Empire and the decline in the power of Europe since 1914?

Answer: One of the most general thing that might become important in drawing parallelism between the decline of the power of Europe at the end of the Roman Empire and the decline in the power of Europe since 1914 were the wars fought between Roman and Germans. These wars brought about major changes by creating set back in the power decline. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the power to dominate fell generously in the hands of the East. Apart from that, the First World War and Second World War further played their role in making Europe weak one more time as both the wars were fought between Germans and other occidentals.

Q3. What, in the author’s view, has been the most serious flaw in the character of the West over the last few centuries?

Answer: According to Bertrand Russell viewpoint, the West over the last few centuries has deployed extraordinary energy. The most serious flaw in the character of the West is their greed for power and supremacy over the less developed or powerful nations of Asia or Africa. The West just wants to rule the underdeveloped according to their own will, desire, rules, and regulations. They never let them stand parallel to the West in any case.

Q4. What reasons does the author give for his opinion that the nations of Asia will not Find it hard to keep their independence?

Answer: The author gives valid reasons for his opinion regarding the nations of Asia that they will not find it hard to keep their independence as they know quite well how to protect their freedom and respect it if the whole world is divided into two rival groups. On the other hand, Russell also warns the Asian nations that they should not blindly follow the footsteps of the West and should not repeat the same mistakes which the West has made such as the use of extraordinary energy in order to exploit and dominate the countries that are unable to resist against their power. Furthermore, according to Russell, the Asian nations should play a neutral role and never join any group.

Q5. How is traditional culture threatened in an age dominated by science and machinery’?

Answer: According to Bertrand Russell, traditional culture is tremendously threatened in an age dominated by science and technology. All forms of art or traditional culture such as poetry, music, theater etc suffered to a great extent due to the overwhelming impact of science and machinery. Traditional culture might be forgotten under the realm of communist philosophy and might not get due share, weight, value, and respect by the people who think themselves in the forefront of progress. There is a possibility that science and machinery have the potential not only to eradicate the bad from the traditional culture but may also delete the goods from it.

Q6. Does the author welcome cultural uniformity or not? How does he justify his attitude?

Answer: The author does not welcome cultural uniformity in any part of the world. He justifies his attitude by saying that no great civilization has ever been cosmopolitan. According to him, cultural uniformity means the death of local culture, civilization, and tradition. In this way, people would forget about the customs and traditions of their forefathers. He advises the Asian countries to form their own block to preserve their customs, traditions, culture, and civilization in order to retain their values and should show firm resistance against the concept of cultural uniformity for the prime sake of their existence and progress.

Q7. Why does the author consider it useless to resist industrialization?

Answer: The author considers it useless to resist industrialization on the basis of two solid grounds:

1) According to him, the world is progressing by leaps and bounds just due to the scientific inventions and discoveries and technological advancement. Without that, it seems quite impossible to progress and make one stand out in the race of development.

2) Secondly, industries not only mark any nation ‘a progressive nation’ but are the prime source of prosperity, employment, and energy production too. The nations that are industrially backward are quite prone to be ruled and dominated by the superpowers that are much stronger in the field of industrialization. Therefore, it is the genuine advice of the author to the Asian countries to strive hard to remain strong on the firm grounds of industrialization to grab their place among the developed industrialized nations of the world.

Q8. To what cause does the author attribute the power of England in the early Nineteenth Century and the power of the United States and Russia today?

Answer: The author attributes the power of England in the early nineteenth century to the fundamental domination of its machine production. England excelled magnificently in the field of scientific inventions, techniques, and technologies during that era. Today the same power is benefitted by the United States and Russia just due to their dominance in the field of industrialization and machine production and distribution.

Q9. On what grounds does the author argue that Communism is the ‘most modem and virulent form of Western Imperialism’?

Answer: According to the author, Communism is ‘the most modern and virulent form of Western Imperialism.’ One of the solid grounds for this argument is that the philosophy and ideology of communism are based on expansionism and its system is dominated by military force. Communism’s supremacy widely spread in smaller nations because of that most of the European nations experienced communism due to the extensive influence of their neighborhood.

Q10. Why is it insular for European historians to term the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire The Dark Ages’?

Answer: It is the narrow-mindedness of the European historians to term the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire ‘The Dark Ages.’ The reason behind was the black curtain of darkness, desperation and downfall of the Europeans in the field of art, architecture, science, culture, civilization, and tradition. On the other hand, during the same era, the Muslims in Spain and China flourished brilliantly in each and every walk of life as compared to European nations that were once crowned for their rich legacy in culture and civilization.

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Composition

Write an article of 350 to 400 words for a school or college magazine on one of the following topics:

1. The Re-Awakening East: an essay by Bertrand Russell.
2. Industrialization – a blessing or a menace.
3. The value of the arts to modern man.
4. What we can learn from the successes and failures of the West.
5. A visit to a factory.

The Re-Awakening East: an essay by Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell one of the eminent writers and thinker of our time has written a marvelous essay on the power game played between East and West with the title of “The Re-Awakening East.”

The essay is solely devoted to the fact that how power makes a shift within the realm of East and West over the centuries. It throws light on one of the major aspects of life i.e. the lust and greed for power and to dominate the less fortunate ones in this respect.

After thorough research, he comes to the point that yes, the power was there in the hands of the Eastern nations in the beginning. But due to their lethargic attitude gradually the West snatched that power from the East and ruled the world for a great number of years.

According to the viewpoint of Russell, once more the East is gaining its lost vigor, strength and power. Russell seemed to be a staunch supporter of the Eastern nations and their progress that’s why he has given some of the best pieces of advice to East to follow in order to regain what they had lost so far.

He suggests that East must not adopt communism as it has all negative impacts on the masses but has the potential to ruin the culture and civilization of the nations too. Furthermore, he put emphasis on the factor of industrialization and mechanization that the East should focus on them so to progress and prosper in every walk of life.

He has given a wake-up call to the East or Asian nations not to adopt each and every step of the West to gain power and strength. He reinforces the fact that East have to say a big ‘no’ to nuclear energy in order to dominate others as it has a severe influence on the citizens and nations.

Russell appreciates East for having great civilizations and side by side warns the Eastern nations not to amalgamate one civilization with another. He gives advice to Asian nations to preserve their identity by taking care of their culture and civilization.

 At the end, he puts forward a demand from East to work efficiently for the progress, welfare, and betterment of the world peace and should not reproduce the mistakes done by the West in any case. 

Industrialization – A Blessing or a Menace

The transformation of the world from Stone Age to modern industrialized state is not a matter of days or months or even years. Centuries are involved in the whole process that changes the condition of not only the world but one can find the striking change in the behavior and attitude of the people too. The savage, barbarian natured humans take the form of the civilized, well-mannered community just due to one particular factor of industrialization.

Industrialization like every other thing has both pros and cons but here I am going to focus more on the positive aspects of industrialization.

Allah blessed human beings with countless natural blessings but it is industrialization that can only be getting the credit for utilizing them in an appropriate, positive and superb way for the welfare, betterment, and comfort of the people.

Innumerable blessings mean countless end-products through the progression of industrialization. When one moves his eyeball from right to left, in such a trivial moment, he can witness a number of constructive, amazing creations that are the outcome of industrialization.

Let’s begin with the simple example of a needle and move towards the gigantic inventions of industrialization such as automobiles, trains, agricultural and construction machinery, electronic equipment, clothing and textile, a variety of manufactured eatables and drinks etc. Industrialization must be crowned for the production of effective medicines for the cure of various diseases thus saving the lives of millions on planet Earth. Similarly, the problem of sanitation once faced by the humans now easily overcome with the products of industrial revolution reinforcing the element of health, hygiene, and cleanliness. 

With each and every invention comes comfort and relaxation to the human race. No doubt, industrialization is a blessing as it made a higher standard of living available to a larger number of people.  The precious time of mankind once swallowed up in years, months, days or even hours in doing, creating or performing any task now can be done in minutes or seconds or sometimes in such a little time like the blinking of an eye. Industrialization opens doors; even windows for the people to earn their livelihood by engaging themselves in a number of job opportunities waiting out of their homes. 

In the end, I must sum up my article with the golden words of Stephen Gardiner “The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps in the story of civilization.” Hence, it is industrialization that polishes the culture, civilization, mannerism, lifestyle, and attitude of the masses in a positive, comfortable and simple way.

The Value of the Arts to Modern Man

The world we live in is a beautiful blend of civilizations of mankind. It has witnessed not only the barbarian culture but gets pleasure from the finest civilizations of all times such as Indus Valley Civilization. Culture and civilization become rich with the currency of art, architecture, literature, language, and ethical values.

Modern man, the man of the 21st century not only value scientific theory and practice but love to give space to art both local and temporal. As the society changes over the passage of time, the value of art for the man also changes. In my opinion, art is important, but its value is intangible. The more remote the art, the higher its value to our intellectual heritage… but still… it was simply created by simple men portraying their own simple values—or the values of their masters and employers. Sometimes it seems that art has no enduring value.  A piece of art is divine to one man and ridiculous to the next. Honored artists of the past may not have produced anything more amazing than countless others, but through coincidence become icons.

Art does not only mean drawings, painting, sketching or sculpturing but its spectrum is quite wide with the inclusion of such subjects like education, civics, sociology, psychology, textile designing, fashion designing, jewelry designing etc. at the educational level. That’s not all; there is one more eminent category of arts and that is performing arts as it includes dance, music, drama, poetry, theatre etc.

Modern man is quite aware of his responsibility that’s why one can find that nowadays people are giving more respect and value to the impact of arts on their lives. More and more people are inclined towards one of the prominent branches of arts called performing arts. The reason behind is not only the fame that they receive from the masses but it’s a matter of inner satisfaction too.

It can be concluded that as people are becoming more beauty conscious they are becoming more aware about the value of arts in any of the above-mentioned form. This sort of awareness is helpful in the broad-mindedness of people all over the world.

 What We Can Learn from the Successes and Failures of the West

Success and failure are the two most important aspects of human life. They are responsible for impacting the life of an individual to a great extent.  Some people learn more from the successes whereas there are some people who have the courage and wisdom to learn well from the failure. Both categories are good enough as they are learning and getting something that helps in their future lives.

Talking about the East or Asian nations, they have the tendency to imitate the west more frequently and to some extent appropriately. But here I must say that not all the things need to be copied from the west. Success stories of the west should be followed by the east but when the question of failures or mistakes, the east comes should be aware enough to reject them at the spot.

Let’s begin with the successes of the west and the lessons which we (east or Asian nations) can learn from them.  West is a symbol of success due to a number of reasons or values which they are observing and strictly following in their routine lives. For instance, one can find honesty, justice, cleanliness, hygiene, punctuality, management, truth, and privacy of others’ lives everywhere in the west. All the above-mentioned moral or ethical values count a lot for the success of the West so we need to follow them if we really want to be successful in our lives at the individual as well at the collective level.

Now, comes the turn of failures of the west. One of the biggest failure or mistake done by the west is the introduction of cultural conformity or multiculturalism. This concept has devastated the culture and civilization of the west to a great extent.

 Another biggest failure of the west can be seen that even after 15 years of attack on World Trade Center in the U.S., west is still facing a failure to combat terrorism on sound grounds. Although the west is spending a huge sum of money every year to crumble the towers of terrorism but it seems all in vain. Due to this failure of the west, it is evident to east or Asian nations not to pay any heed to the greed and lust for power and wealth and they should give space to small nations around them to flourish and prosper according to their own will and desire so to maintain world peace and order.

A Visit to a Factory

I am a curious sort of a child since my childhood. It is my sense of curiosity that forced me to peep into our past, experience the present and foresees the future too. Meaning that; due to this curious nature of mine I not only visited various historical monuments but a number of present-day buildings including factories and science exhibitions revealing some of the aspects of future as well.

Here I want to share my wonderful experience of making a visit to one of the famous biscuits factory of Pakistan. Last year, my father gave me the exciting news that we were going to visit the biscuit factory owned by my father’s friend in Lahore.

 The day we had to go was quite thrilling for me as I haven’t visited any such place before. The moment we entered the factory, the first thing that caught our attention was the aroma i.e. the sweet smelling, warm fragrance of freshly baked biscuits. As soon as we passed through a corridor, we found ourselves standing in a huge hall with a number of machines, ovens, sections etc. with more than a hundred workers and a few bakery experts. The biscuits were baked in large hissing ovens in the baking section of the factory. It was the place where the dough was prepared for the biscuits and put in specific molds to give them the perfect shape. The freshly baked biscuits then sailed in proper sequence on endless waves of conveyor belts at the assembling section. From there they were packed in the company’s wrappers at the packaging section. Last but not the least, they were sent to the distribution section where they were put in huge cartons to be delivered to the distributors for their sale in the market place according to the needs and requirements of both the sellers and the purchasers.

That’s not all; I and my father were taken to the auditorium where we watched an animated movie with the genie explaining the whole biscuits making process in an interesting way.

It took three hours to complete the tour of the factory and experience the biscuits making process in reality.

Being habitual of jotting down the details and taking photographs of the event or process, till date I have all the assembled details with me that freshen up my memory about the awesome visit to the biscuit factory.

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Translation

Translate the following sentences into Urdu or Sindhi:

1. The recent discoveries of medical science have brought life and health to millions of people.

موجودہ طبی سائنس کی ایجادات کے سبب لاکھوں لوگوں کی زندگی اور صحت مہیا ہوئی ہے۔

2. He could not bring himself to accuse his own brother.

وہ اپنےآپ کو اپنے بھائی کو برا بھلا کہنے کو تیار نہیں کرسکا۔

3. The destruction of forests commonly brings about great changes of climate.

عام طور پر جنگلات کی تباہی، آب و ہوا میں نمایاں تبدیلی لاتی ہے۔

4. He fired both barrels and brought a bird down with each shot.

اس نے بندوق کی دونوں نالوں سے فائر کیا اور ایک یہ فائر سے ایک پرندے کو مار گرایا۔

5. The shop-keeper refused to bring his price down any further.

دوکاندار نے مزید قیمت کم کرنے سے انکار کردیا۔

6. If children are badly brought up, you cannot expect them to be good citizens when they have grown up.

اگر بچوں کی بری طریق پر پرورش کی جاتی ہے تو تم توقع نہیں کرسکتے کہ وہ بڑے ہوکر اچھے شہری بنیں گے۔

7. Several important topics will be brought up at our next meeting, so I hope you will be able to attend.

آئندہ ملاقات میں بہت سے اہم موضوعات زیر بحث لائے جائیں گے اور میں امید کرتا ہوں کہ آپ شرکت فرمائیں گے۔

8. Our chairman brought forward a very strong argument for enlarging the committee.

ہمارے چیئرمین نے کمیٹی کے حجم بڑا کرنے کیلئے ایک مضبوط دلیل پیش کی۔

9. The increase in crime will not be halted unless society brings home to criminals the fact that crime does not pay.

جرائم میں اضافے کو روکا نہیں جاسکتا جب تک کہ معاشرہ مجرموں کو یہ باور نہ کرادے کہ جرم کا کوئی معاوضہ نہیں۔

10. His shares in his brother’s company bring him in a bigger income than he ever expected.

اس کے بھائی کی کمپنی میں حصہ اس کیلئے ایک بڑی آمدنی کا سبب ہوا جس کی اسے توقع بھی نہ تھی۔

11. This is not a good summary because it fails to bring out one of the most important points in the original passage.

یہ ایک اچھا خلاصہ نہیں ہے کیونکہ ایک بہت ہی اہم نکتے کا ذکر کرنے میں ناکام ہوا جو کہ حقیقی مضمون میں موجود ہے۔

12. Our football team has brought of the remarkable feat of winning the championship for three years in succession.

ہماری فٹ بال ٹیم نے جیت کر مسلسل تین سال چیمپئن شپ جیتنے کا اعزاز حاصل کیا۔

13. Your arguments are not strong enough to bring me round to your point of view.

تمہارے دلائل کافی مضبوط نہیں کہ وہ مجھے تمہاری سوچ کے گرد لاسکیں۔

14. Is he still unconscious or has the doctor brought him round?

کیا وہ ابھی تک  بے ہوش ہے یا ڈاکڑ اسے ہوش میں لانے میں کامیاب ہوگیا۔

15. We thought he would die of his injuries but the wonderful work of the hospital staff brought him through.

ہم سمجھے کہ وہ اپنے زخموں کے سبب مرجائے گا لیکن ہسپتال کے عملے کی حیران کن خدمت کے باعث اسے بچا لیا گیا۔

16. We shall have to bring all our intelligence to bear upon this difficult problem.

اس مشکل مسئلہ کے حل کیلئے ہمیں تمام تر عقلمندی استعمال کرنا ہوگی۔

17. The headmaster’s stem words brought the lad to his senses.

ہیڈ ماسٹر کے سخت الفاظ لڑکے کو ہوشمندی کی طرف کے آئے۔

18. Great historical events are sometimes brought to pass by the will and energy of a single person.

کبھی کبھی ماضی کے عظیم واقعات صرف ایک فرد کی رضا اور طاقت کی وجہ سے رونما ہوتے ہیںَ

19. Historians have recently brought to light a number of important new facts about the last years of Napoleon’s life.

مورقین نے ابھی نپولئین کی زندگی کے آخری سال کے نئے اہم حقائق پر روشنی ڈالی ہے۔

20. Please try to bring your son to understand that he has no hope of passing the examination if he does not work harder.

براہ مہربانی اپنے بیٹے کو باور کرائیں کہ وہ امتحان کے پاس ہونے کی امید نہ کرے جب تک کہ وہ بہت محنت نہیں کرتا۔

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Precis

Write a precis of it in about 102 words.

Several times in the history of the world, particular countries and cities, or even small groups of people, have attained a high degree of civilization. Yet none of these civilizations, important as they were, have lasted, and one of the reasons why they did not last was that they were confined to a very few people. They were like little oases of civilization in deserts of barbarism. Now it is no good being civilized if everybody round about you is barbarous, or rather, it is some good, but it is very risky. For the barbarians are always liable to break in on you, and with their greater numbers and rude vigor scatter your civilization to the winds. Over and over again in history comparatively civilized people dwelling in cities have been conquered in this way by barbarians coming down from the hills and burning and killing and destroying whatever they found in the plains. In the thirteenth century most of Europe was overrun in this way by the Mongols from Central Asia, and such civilization as then existed was nearly destroyed. Thus any people which has advanced in civilization too far beyond its neighbors has always been liable to be set upon and pulled back by the others, just as, if you build a high tower without proper supports, it is always liable to fall down to the level of the lower buildings round about it.

Now one of the noticeable things about modern civilization, which is also one of the reasons why it is likely to outlast the others, is that it is more or less free from this particular danger. And it is free from it. because it is far less local and far more widespread than the other: so widespread, indeed, that it already covers a large part of the earth.

Make certain that your precis brings out the three following points at least:

(i) Civilizations of earlier periods have invariably collapsed.

(ii) They did so because they were attacked by backward but numerically superior people.

(iii) The civilization of the modem world is less likely to collapse because it is not local.

Answer:

In the past, most of the superior civilizations had collapsed due to their confinement to few members. Barbarism ruthlessly eradicated the civilizations from the world. Even now barbarism prevails around us. History has witnessed that civilized people of the plains were attacked and demolished by the barbarians of the hills. Mongols from Central Asia played their terrorist role in devastating the civilized community of Europe in the thirteenth century. Civilizations might experience their downfall just due to the extreme influence of their neighbors on their culture. Modern world civilization has fewer chances to collapse as it is not local and more extensive.