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Bachelor's Degree Programme (BDP) I

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ASSIGNMtNT

2009-10 f t

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FOUNDATION COURSt IN ENGLISH-02 FEG-O~

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School of Humanities

Indira Gandhi National.Open University Maidan Garhi, New peIhi-ll0 068

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FOUNDATION CduRSE IN ENGLISH-2 (FEG-02)

Programme: BDP/2009-10 Course Code: FEG-02

Dear Student,

As in day-to-day life, planning is important in attempting the assignment as well. Read the assignment carefully; go through the units on which the questions are based; jot down some points regarding each question and then re-arrange them in a logical order. Pay attention to your introduction and conclusion, The introduction must tell you how to interpret the given topic and how you propose to develop it. The conclusion must summarize your views on the topic.

You are required to do one assignment for the Foundation Course in English-02. It is a Tutor Marked Assignment (TMA) and carries 100 marks. It covers four blocks of the course.

Aims: The TMA is primarily concemed with assessing your writing and study skills. You should not reproduce chunks ofjinformation from the units but effectively use the skills that you may have acquired dujing the course of study to compose your answers. These assignments aim to teach as well as to assess your performance.

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Guidelines: You will be required to ~ite a paragraph, an essay, reports, make notes and

summarize. t

Make sure that your answer:

a) is logical .

b) is written in simple and correct English

c) does not exceed the number of words indicated in your questions

d) is written neatly and clearly.

Please remember that it is compulso", to submit your assignment before you can take the Term End Examination. Alsol,remember to keep a copy of your assignment with you and to take a receipt fro.,. your Study Centre when you' submit the

assignment. \

The completed assignment should be sent to lthe Coordinator at the Study Centre allotted to you.

Last date for submission of Assignment '

For June EXam

For December Exam

31st March ,30th Sept

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Good Luck!

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Foundation Course in Enghsh - 2 (FEG-02) Assignment

Course Code: FEG·02 Assignment Code: PEG 2/TMA/2009·1 0 Max. Marks: 100

All questions are compulsory.

Read the following passage and make notes on it in the appropriate format. (15)

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In the culture of its origin, the Aztec, checolate was referred to as the food of the gods. Thus it is not surprising in modern civilization that dark chocolate is good for the heart. This discovery has two different, even centradictory, aspects to it. In the modern West, chocolate has become an integral part o~ dating and courtship etiquette. Chocolate has become part of dining habits; a box of mints or petit four after dinner is de regeur for fine dining. But now, if the latest medical research is to be accepted, chocolate is acquiring functions which go far beyond the lover's gesture and the gastronome's delight.

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A study published by the American He~ Association states that dark chocolate can actually lower blood pressure. This action is a function of compounds, called flavonids, found in chocolates. Chocolates thus serve not only to win heart but they are good for heart in general. No wonder the Aztecs, in their wisdom, held that chocolates were something that could be offered to the gods. From sheer delight, chocolate is poised to become a medicine. This will bring a smile to the faces of chocolate manufacturers and chocolate lovers. This joy should not takeaway from what actually the medical research is saying. Not all kinds of chocolates are good for the heart, but only dark chocolate is. This point is not without importance.

Most of the common brands of chocolates, that are readily consumed off the shelves are not of the dark variety. They are what is known in the trade as "milk chocolate", which means that the cocoa content in those chqcolates is low. In India, milk chocolates are chocolates mixed with other ingredients ike nuts and fruits are so popular that dark chocolates are difficult to find, Dark choeolates, like most good things of life, are an acquired taste. Not many take to the pleasantly bitter taste of the dark brown chocolate. Most prefer the sweetened form. The Azteqs would have turned up their noses at such a concoction. They drank their chocolate, and'they drank it in its dark unsweetened fOnTI.

Despite modern man's fascination with it, chocolate retains some of its ancient mysteries. This is invoked in the name given to the litest discovery of the house of Valrhon. The name is the Sanskrit word 'manjari' meaning bouquet. It is made from 100 per cent criollo beans, from a single plantation in the Indian Ocean, the location of which is a

house secret. I

2 Write a summary of the paragraph in about 120-150 words. Give an appropriate title to

the passage. ' (15)

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Write a paragraph in about 100-150 words oa anyone of the following topics:

A historical place that interests you.

ii Your favourite part of town. I

iii A change you would like to make in ~our life.

iv I can't live without my mobile phone now.

(10)

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Write a composition in about 250-300 wordsjon anyone of the following:

Ways to make our cities/towns safe, pollution free and vibrant.

(20)

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ii Globalization has chan~d the world for the better. Write arguments for and against this.

iii The holiday that I enjoyed the most.

iv The mob came down to 'the road; it came - a group of infuriated men roaring, dancing, kicking at everything in their way. The men cried, "Get them all! The cowards have to pay with their blood." Many of them were drunk. They did not know what they were doiag. (complete the story)

5 A benefactor has given a sum of money to your school/college. One condition of the gift is that both students and staff must be involved in deciding how the money is to be used. A further condition is that the money must be spent on permanent and tangible things. You have been asked by the prineipal of the school/college to survey the views of staff and students and to present him/her with an information report. Write a report in about 250 words. (20)

6 Read the following speech made by a young child and write a report on it in about 250

words for a newspaper. Give it an ~ppropr!ate title. (20)

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Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's. Organisati on. .

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We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:

Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Nichelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways, Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing.an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to Come.

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I am here to speak on behalf of ttt starving children around the world whose cries go

'unheard. I

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

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I am afraid to go out in the sun nctw because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't knowjvhat chemicals are in it.

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I used to go fishing in Vancouver +th my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear abo~t animals and plants going exinct every day -vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals. jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to

see. l

Did you have to worry about these Iitle things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eye, and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

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You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer. You don't know how to bring salmon.back up a dead stream. You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.

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A~d you can't bring back forests that once grew wh~re there is now desert. If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians - but really you are mothers and f4thers, brothers and sister, aunts and

uncles - and all of you are somebody's child. I

I'm only a child, yet I know we are all part of a tamily, five billi~n strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that. I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel. In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and t~row away, buy and throwaway, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty df food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked w~en we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, c1di:hes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willi~ to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of w. in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

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I'm only a child, yet I know if all the money spent Cfl war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be! At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us: not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share - not be greedy.

Then why do you-go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you're attending these conferences; who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying teverything's going to be alright", "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end oft.e world". But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities?

My father always says "You are what you do, not \~hat you say." Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you; please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listenj~

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