FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION FOR
RECRUITMENT TO POSTS IN BPS-17 UNDER
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, 2004
ENGLISH (Précis & Composition)
TIME ALLOWED: 3 HOURS…………………..Maximum Marks: 100
Q1. Make a precis of the given passage and suggest a suitable heading:
We’re dealing with a very dramatic and very fundamental paradigm shift here. You may
try” to lubricate your’ social interactions with personality techniques and skills, but in the
process, you may truncate the vital character base. You can’t have the fruits without the
roots. It’s the principle of sequencing: Private victory precedes Public Victory. Self-
mastery and self-discipline are the foundation of good relationship with others. Some
people say that you have to like yourself before you can like others. I think’ that idea has
merit but if you don’t know yourself, if you don’t control yourself, if you don’t have
mastery over yourself, it’s very hard to like yourself, except in some short-term, psych-
up, superficial way. Real self-respect comes from dominion over*self from true
independence. Independence is an achievement. Inter dependence is a choice only
independent people can make. Unless we are willing to achieve real independence, it’s
foolish to try to develop human relations skills. We might try. We might even have some
degree of success when the sun is shining. But when the difficult times come – and they
will – We won’t have the foundation to keep things together. The most important
ingredient we put into any relationship is not what we say or what we do, but what we
are. And if our words and our actions come from superficial human relations techniques
(the Personality Ethic) rather than from our own inner core (the character Ethic), others
will sense that duplicity. We simply won’t be able to create and sustain the foundation
necessary” for effective interdependence. The techniques and skills that really make a
difference in human interaction are the ones that almost naturally flow from a truly
independent character. So the place to begin building any relationship is inside
ourselves, inside our Circle of Influence, our own character. As we become independent
- Proactive, centered in correct principles, value driven and able to organize and
execute around the priorities in our life with integrity – we then can choose to become
interdependent – capable of building rich, enduring, highly productive relationships with
other people.
Q2. Read the following passage and answer the questions given at the end, in
YOUR OWN WORDS. (20)
We look before and after, wrote Shelley, and pine for what is not. It is said that this is
what distinguishes us from the animals and that they, unlike us, live always for and in
the movement and have neither hopes nor regrets. Whether it is so or not I do not know
yet it is undoubtedly one of our distinguishing mental attributes: we are actually
conscious of our life in time and not merely of our life at the moment of experiencing it.
And as a result we find many grounds for melancholy and foreboding. Some of us
prostrate ourselves on the road way in Trafalgar Square or in front of the American
Embassy because we are fearful that our lives, or more disinterestedly those of our
descendants will be cut short by nuclear war. If only as” squirrels or butterflies are
supposed to do, we could let the future look after itself and be content to enjoy the
pleasures of the morning breakfast, the brisk walk to the office through autumnal mist or
winter fog, the mid-day sunshine that sometimes floods through windows, tne warm,
peaceful winter evenings by the fireside at home. Yet all occasions for contentment are
so often spoiled for us, to a greater or lesser degree by our individual temperaments, by
this strange human capacity for foreboding and regret – regret for things which we
cannot undo and foreboding for things which may never happen at all. Indeed were it
not for the fact that over breaking through our human obsessions with the tragedy of
time, so enabling us to enjoy at any rate some fleeting moments untroubled by vain
yearning or apprehension, our life would not be intolerable at all. As it is, we contrive,
everyone of us, to spoil it to a remarkable degree.
Questions
- What is the difference between our life and the life of an animal? (3)
- What is the result of human anxiety? (3)
- How does the writer compare man to the butterflies and squirrels? (3)
- How does anxiety about future disturb our daily life? (3)
- How can we make our life tolerable? (3)
- Explain the underlined words/phrases in the passage. (5 )
Q3. Write a comprehensive note (250-300 words) on ONE of the following: (20) - One may smile and smile, and be a villain.
- Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
- No sensible man ever made an apology.
- Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.
Q4. (a) Choose the word that is nearly similar in meaning to the word in capital
letters. * (5)
(1) ARCHIPELAGO:
Reef
Glacier
Cluster of islands
Lagoon
(2) PIAZZA:
Cheese dish
Veranda
Public Square
Style or dash
(3) BAKLAVA:
Stringed instrument
Dessert
Whining dance
Gratuity
(4) IONIC:
Indian stone monument
Greek architecture
Roman Sculpture
Mediterranean Sea
(5) CICERONE:
Teacher
Literary classic
Chaperone
Guide
Q4. (b) Pick the one most nearly opposite in meaning to the capitalized word: * (5)
(1) DESICCATE:
Lengthen
Hallow
Exonerate
Saturate
Anesthetize
(2) APOTHEOSIS:
Departure from tradition
Impatience with stupidity
Demotion from glory
Surrender to impulse
Cause for grief
(3) SPUNK:
Success
Timidity
Growing awareness
Loss of prestige
Lack of intelligence
(4) CAVIL:
Discern
Disclose
Introduce
Flatter
Commend
(5) RAUCOUS:
Orderly
Absorbent,
Boyant
Mellifluous
Contentious
Q5. (a) Change the Voice of any FIVE of the following sentences: (5)
- International Humanitarian Law forbids actions leading to unnecessary death and
suffering. - Why should I antagonize you?
- Let Manchoo be told about the jokes of Mulla Nasiruddin.
- Whv have the roads not been constructed by the government in this part of the
country? - Do not kill your ability by roaming in the streets.
- Your cousin is drawing a large sum of money from his account.
- The arrangements of holding the Art Exhibition could not be completed on time.
- Build your house when cement is cheap;
Q5. (b) Correct any FIVE of the following sentences: (5) - Passing through ten different cities, Karachi is the most active.
- He was laid up for six weeks with two broken ribs.
- Someone showed the visitors in the room.
- Until you remain idle you will make no progress.
- It is very wrong to be devoted to lying and cheating.
- He told me that he is waiting for me since a long time.
- The .house stood up in the dull street because of its red door.
- He brought the articles to the market which he wanted to sell.
- (a) Use any FIVE of the following in your own sentences to bring out their
meaning: (5) - To bring grist to the mill.
- Set one s cap at.
- To draw the long bow.
- To send a person to Coventry .
- Beer and skittles.
- The acid test.
- A skeleton in the cupboard.
- To discover a mare’s nest.
Q6. (B) Use FIVE of the following pairs of words in your own sentences so as to
bring out their meanings: * (10)
- Auger, Augur
- Fain, Feign
- Emigrate, Immigrate
- Envy, Jealousy
- Invade, Attack
- Trifling, Trivial
- Simulation, Dissimulation
- Venal, Venial
