General English 

Subject Code-27 

[Figures in the right margin indicate full marks] 

Write an essay on any one of the following topics: 

Amplify any one of the following ideas: 

Write a précis of the following extract and give it a suitable title: 

No passion is so universal as the love of power. It is the instinct of every man to climb up the ladder in position and power and nobody wants to remain in lower rung. Man tries to achieve it by hook or by crook. However, excess of desire for power often leads to fatal catastrophe. Francis Bacon rightly comments: "It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others to lose power over a man's self". 

Sometimes a whole nation is maddened by this wild passion and tries to swallow smaller and weaker neighbours. This ambition for power results in getting more and more power just to have more authority over all. To rise to the pinnacle of power, the powermongers adopt unfair and crooked means. This uncontrollable demon devours morality and humanity and leads to corruption, cruelty and vices. "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely"-Lord Acton writes wisely to Bishop Creighton. 

But the temptation of this passion cannot be denounced always. When power is obtained by legitimate means and exercised judiciously delivering welfare to the people, it is a boon and only in such cases, it can be appreciated as a very noble passion. 

Write a letter to your friend living abroad expressing your views on meritocracy in the workplace. 

Suppose you are a staff reporter of an English daily. Recently flood has severely devastated the Feni-Noakhali belt of Bangladesh. Now write a report focusing the causes and impacts of that flood suggesting sustainable measures to be taken to encounter any such disaster in future. 

Translate the following passage into 'English': 

সমৃদ্ধির নাগাল পাওয়ার আশায় এ অঞ্চলের বহু মানুষ রাবারের নৌকায় করে ভূমধ্যসাগর পাড়ি দিয়ে ইউরোপের উপকূলে গিয়ে প্রাণ হারাচ্ছে। অথচ ৫০০ বছর আগে এমন সমৃদ্ধির লোভে ইউরোপের ভাগ্যান্বেষীরা কাঠের জাহাজে জীবনের ঝুঁকি নিয়ে হাজার হাজার মাইল পাড়ি দিয়ে এশিয়া ও ভারতবর্ষে ছুটে আসত। গত ৫০০ বছরের পালাবদলে সমৃদ্ধির কম্পাস ১৮০ ডিগ্রি ঘুরে ইউরোপের দিকে চলে গেছে। কয়েকশ বছর জুড়ে সেই পালাবদলের প্রধান খেলোয়াড় ছিল স্পেন, পর্তুগাল, হল্যান্ড, ফ্রান্স ও ইংল্যান্ডের মত দেশগুলো। এগুলোর মধ্যে শেষ পর্বে মাঠে নেমেও সবচেয়ে সফল খেলোয়াড় হয়ে উঠেছিল ইংল্যান্ড। 

Make sensible sentences with the following: 

Write antonym or synonym of the following as per the direction in the brackets: 

Use the right form of verbs given in the brackets: 

Fill in the blanks: 

Justice consists not (a) ____ being neutral (b)  _____ right and wrong, but in  finding (c) ______ the right and upholding it, wherever found, (d) _____ (e) ______ wrong. 

Transform the following sentences as directed in the brackets: 

Answer, in brief, the following questions: