Argumentative/persuasive Comprehension passage - Jamb English Language Past Questions and Answers

Question 11:

• JAMB 1983

  Is work for prisoners a privilege to save them from the demoralizing effects and misery of endless unoccupied hour? Is it something added to a prison sentence to make it harder and more unpleasant, or something which should have a positive value as part of a system of rehabilitation?
Those magistrates who clung to a sentence of hard labour doubtless looked upon strenuous work as an additional punishment. This point of view is widely accepted as right and proper, but it ignores the fact that unwillingness to work is often one of the immediate causes of criminality. To send prisoners back to the outside world, more than ever convinced that labour is an evil to be avoided, it to confirm them in their old way of life. It has been said that the purposed of prison work in a programme of rehabilitation is twofold: training for work and training by work. The prisoner, that is to say, needs to be trained in habits of industry; but over and above this, he will gain immeasurably if it is possible to rouse in him the consciousness of self-mastery and of purpose that the completion of any worthwhile piece of work can give to the doer. He may find the pride of achievement in something more satisfying, and more socially desirable, than crime. But these things can only come when the work itself has a purpose and demands an effort.




The author thinks that strenuous work in prison

A. Is a privilege for the prisoners
B. May do more harm than good
C. Is part of their punishment
D. Is a right and proper thing
E. Should be an additional punishment

Question 12:

• JAMB 1983

  Is work for prisoners a privilege to save them from the demoralizing effects and misery of endless unoccupied hour? Is it something added to a prison sentence to make it harder and more unpleasant, or something which should have a positive value as part of a system of rehabilitation?
Those magistrates who clung to a sentence of hard labour doubtless looked upon strenuous work as an additional punishment. This point of view is widely accepted as right and proper, but it ignores the fact that unwillingness to work is often one of the immediate causes of criminality. To send prisoners back to the outside world, more than ever convinced that labour is an evil to be avoided, it to confirm them in their old way of life. It has been said that the purposed of prison work in a programme of rehabilitation is twofold: training for work and training by work. The prisoner, that is to say, needs to be trained in habits of industry; but over and above this, he will gain immeasurably if it is possible to rouse in him the consciousness of self-mastery and of purpose that the completion of any worthwhile piece of work can give to the doer. He may find the pride of achievement in something more satisfying, and more socially desirable, than crime. But these things can only come when the work itself has a purpose and demands an effort.




What the author is trying to put across in this passage is that

A. Crime does not pay
B. Prisoners should be made to work hard
C. Work is more desirable than crime
D. Life in prison is one of misery
E. Work in priso without a purpose is bad

Question 13:

• JAMB 1983

  Is work for prisoners a privilege to save them from the demoralizing effects and misery of endless unoccupied hour? Is it something added to a prison sentence to make it harder and more unpleasant, or something which should have a positive value as part of a system of rehabilitation?
Those magistrates who clung to a sentence of hard labour doubtless looked upon strenuous work as an additional punishment. This point of view is widely accepted as right and proper, but it ignores the fact that unwillingness to work is often one of the immediate causes of criminality. To send prisoners back to the outside world, more than ever convinced that labour is an evil to be avoided, it to confirm them in their old way of life. It has been said that the purposed of prison work in a programme of rehabilitation is twofold: training for work and training by work. The prisoner, that is to say, needs to be trained in habits of industry; but over and above this, he will gain immeasurably if it is possible to rouse in him the consciousness of self-mastery and of purpose that the completion of any worthwhile piece of work can give to the doer. He may find the pride of achievement in something more satisfying, and more socially desirable, than crime. But these things can only come when the work itself has a purpose and demands an effort.




Demoralizing in this passage means

A. Deforming
B. Reforming
C. Agonizing
D. Destructive
E. Corrupting

Question 14:

• JAMB 1983

  At the time of trouble in Ireland, a priest said, ‘Man is half beast’, A diplomat replied, ‘Yes. And the beast is the half I like the best’. The priest meant that beasts behave as badly as man when man makes up his mind to behave badly. If you look at the folly and cruelty of today’s world, it is hard to disagree with the diplomat or the priest. But human nature can be changed. Anybody, if that is what they most want to do, can change the most difficult person they know. The art of changing people has been lost in the modern world. That is why the modern world has lost its way.
There are two ways of looking at human nature. One is to make the best of it and it is assume that it is the raw material of life which cannot be altered. That is what most people in the free world to today. In these circumstances, if you expect the worst, you are seldom disappointed. Faith today has become irrelevant to the everyday needs, of so many people in positions of responsibility because they do not expect faith to change men.
Another way of dealing with human nature is to exploit it. All materialistic s, whether of the right or the left, do this. All over the world vanity, fear, ambition, lust and greed are used to control the life of men; and if the control breaks down, man does not hesitate to use force, or to destroy life. The end, he says, justifies the means and men are only of value in so far as they are a means towards the achievement of his ambition. If they cannot be bribed or forced to play their part, then they must be liquidated.




The priest meant that

A. Man is both beast and human
B. Man could be worst than a beast if he wants to
C. He liked beast more than man
D. He liked both man and beast
E. Really, a man cannot be a beast

Question 15:

• JAMB 1983

  At the time of trouble in Ireland, a priest said, ‘Man is half beast’, A diplomat replied, ‘Yes. And the beast is the half I like the best’. The priest meant that beasts behave as badly as man when man makes up his mind to behave badly. If you look at the folly and cruelty of today’s world, it is hard to disagree with the diplomat or the priest. But human nature can be changed. Anybody, if that is what they most want to do, can change the most difficult person they know. The art of changing people has been lost in the modern world. That is why the modern world has lost its way.
There are two ways of looking at human nature. One is to make the best of it and it is assume that it is the raw material of life which cannot be altered. That is what most people in the free world to today. In these circumstances, if you expect the worst, you are seldom disappointed. Faith today has become irrelevant to the everyday needs, of so many people in positions of responsibility because they do not expect faith to change men.
Another way of dealing with human nature is to exploit it. All materialistic s, whether of the right or the left, do this. All over the world vanity, fear, ambition, lust and greed are used to control the life of men; and if the control breaks down, man does not hesitate to use force, or to destroy life. The end, he says, justifies the means and men are only of value in so far as they are a means towards the achievement of his ambition. If they cannot be bribed or forced to play their part, then they must be liquidated.




The modern world has lost its way because

A. It no longer believes in God
B. Ambition has made people greedy
C. People are no longer interested in one another
D. The technique influencing people is no more
E. People are just too selfish