Waec English language 2004 Past Questions and Answers

Question 111:

• WAEC 2004

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

It is no longer news that the social and economic problems of African countries continue to worsen. What we experience daily are the vicious consequences of unemployment, inadequate health and educational facilities, urban squalor resulting from a population bursting at the seams and, most frightening of all, the rate at which crime is rising It is also no longer news that many Africans now see ''checking out" of their countries for other supposedly better ones abroad as the only solution to the problems. In this regard, the United State, Britain, Canada, Germany and Italy are the hot favourites. Most of these Africans are usually so desperate to leave that they fall easy prey to all sorts of passport and visa fraud, and often end up smuggling themselves abroad at all costs. In such countries, they have to do all manner of menial jobs, sometimes resorting to criminal activities, and are often cut off completely from families and relations back home. Young girls who have been enticed with assurances of a rosy future often end up in forced prostitution, with all its unpleasant consequences!
Is "checking out". the ideal solution to Africa's social and economic problems? Of course not! What is baffling is why Africans cannot see abandoning their countries as a step that holds out no solution at all. All that they achieve, in fact, is the substitution of one set of problems for another!
What then should we do? We must look inwards for a more realistic solution. First, we must develop the will to tackle our problems. Where there is a will, it is said, there is a way. If we abandon our problems instead of tackling them on, we will simply be leaving an unpleasant legacy for future generations. Secondly, we must orient ourselves tows res self-reliance and self-employment, instead of looking helplessly to our embattled government for salaried employment,
Finally, we must seek a long-term solution by addressing the population question. It is obvious that Africa's outsize population is at the root of the problems. The question we should ask ourselves is. if the average family size in America or Britain were to be as large as the average African family, would these countries still be as attractive to us as they are now? The big puzzle is that we have adopted the white man's lifestyle in all other respects, but have made an exception of family size.
(a) Mention two sequences of the usual desperation of Africans to leave their countries.
(b) The writer argues that escaping abroad is not the ideal solution to Africa's problems. Quote one sentence from the passage that sums up the writer's recommended solution.
(c)According to the writer, why should Africans solve their problems rather than avoid them?
(d) What does the writer consider the most serious cause of African's problems?
(e) What does the writer imply by using the word "supposedly" in the second paragraph?
(f) "What we experience daily . " (i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function?
(g) " a population bursting at the seams " What figure of speech is contained in this expression?
(h) For each of the following words or phrases. find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage. (i) prey' (ii) enticed: (iii) ideal; (iv) holds out; (v) tackle: (vi) head-on.