Expansion of Ideas
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Looking on the bright side
Looking on the bright side
Expansion of Ideas School & College Section.
Life is full of problems. Rarely does a day pass when something unpleasant doesn’t happen. If we view all the unpleasant things that happen to us each day in a negative light, we shall never be happy. We have to look at problems as challenges to overcome. There is no problem that does not have a solution.
There is no task, however difficult, that cannot be performed. All we need is the right attitude - the positive attitude; the ability to look on the bright side of things and to go on ahead. Overcoming and achieving! Even the worst situation has its positive aspects. When Mumbai was devastated by floods, the spirit of helpfulness and generosity of the people of Mumbai was in evidence. There are so many touching stories of courage, caring and sharing shown by the residents of Mumbai during those critical days.
So we must be optimists, always: not pessimists. We have to look on the bright side of things, for that is the only way to move ahead during the time of crisis. A glass filled with some water could be half empty, or half full, depending on the way you look at it.
Difficult Words & Meanings
- Unpleasant: Not enjoyable or agreeable.
- View (in this context): To consider or regard in a particular way.
- Negative light: A pessimistic or unfavorable perspective.
- Challenges: Difficult tasks or problems that test one's abilities.
- Attitude: A way of thinking or feeling about someone or something.
- Positive attitude: A mindset that focuses on good things and favorable outcomes.
- Overcoming: Succeeding in dealing with a problem or difficulty.
- Achieving: Successfully bringing about or reaching a desired objective or result by effort, skill, or courage.
- Devastated: Caused great destruction or damage to.
- Spirit (in this context): The prevailing or typical quality, mood, or attitude.
- Generosity: The quality of being kind and willing to give.
- In evidence: Clearly present and noticeable.
- Touching (stories): Causing feelings of sympathy or tenderness.
- Courage: The ability to do something that frightens one; bravery.
- Caring: Displaying kindness and concern for others.
- Sharing: Giving a portion of something to another or others.
- Critical (days): Extremely important or decisive moments.
- Optimists: People who tend to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of something.
- Pessimists: People who tend to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
- Crisis: A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
Burning the midnight oil
Burning the midnight oil
Whenever examination time draws near, students begin staying awake late at night, right up to the early hours of the next morning. They sacrifice precious sleep in order to memorise lessons so that they will do well in the forthcoming examinations. Their parents, too, take turns, sitting with them, making hot cups of tea or coffee, to keep them awake while they study. All through the year they neglected their studies, enjoyed themselves, played games, watched plenty of TV, went for a number of movies, and took studies for granted. Only when the terrible shadow of examination looms near, do they become nervous and feel that they need to spend more than usual time on study. So they burn the midnight oil, fighting sleep and forgetfulness, in desperate attempts to cram into their heads a whole year’s study. My advice to such shirkers is: Do regular study all the year round. Do your homework on time. Revise regularly whatever has been taught. And you will have no need to burn the midnight oil. Examinations, then, will be a mere cakewalk?
Difficult Words
- Forthcoming
- About to happen or appear in the near future.
- Neglected
- Failed to give proper care or attention to something or someone.
- Looms
- Appears as a vague and often frightening large shape or figure.
- Cram
- To study intensively over a short period of time, especially just before an examination.
- Shirkers
- People who avoid or get out of doing work, duty, or responsibility.
- Cakewalk
- Something that is very easy to achieve or do.
- Sacrifice
- To give up something valuable for the sake of something else considered more important.
- Memorise
- To learn something so that you can remember it exactly.
- Granted (take for granted)
- To fail to properly appreciate someone or something, especially as a result of overfamiliarity.
- Desperate
- Feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with; involving a very great risk.
- Revise
- To re-examine and make corrections or improvements to; to study work already done.
Is Plastic Bad for the Environment?
Is Plastic Bad for the Environment?
Expansion of Ideas School & College Section.
Plastic is extremely bad for the environment. It is one of man’s worst inventions. Plastic is non-biodegradable. This means that waste plastic cannot be turned into any other substance that is eco-friendly. Although tonnes and tonnes of plastic are burnt in the most advanced incinerators, all that remains is plastic. It doesn’t change into anything else, as many other materials do. Hence, plastic waste is dangerous to the environment.
Plastic carry bags reach the drainage system and this causes clogging especially during the rains. If too much plastic ends up in a lake or a pond, it creates a layer that denies oxygen to everything below so that no plant or animal life can survive in that water body. If animals eat plastic bags thrown in rubbish dumps, it knots up their intestines and they die painful deaths. If plastic lies on land it can choke it to the extent that nothing will grow there again. Hence, plastic must be done away with completely.
There are many alternatives to plastic and we should use them. For shopping we can use cloth, jute or paper carry bags. We can get milk in bottles or cartons. We can use metal or glass jars instead of plastic ones. Many things now made of plastic can have better and eco-friendly alternatives. So the earlier we say goodbye to plastic the safer the future of the planet Earth.
Vocabulary Spotlight
- Non-biodegradable: Not capable of being broken down by natural processes (like by bacteria) into environmentally safe substances.
- Eco-friendly: Products, practices, or substances that do not harm the Earth's environment.
- Incinerators: Furnaces designed for burning waste materials at very high temperatures.
- Clogging: The act of blocking or becoming blocked, preventing passage.
- Drainage system: A network of channels, pipes, and drains designed to remove excess water or waste liquids.
- Denies (oxygen): Prevents access to or refuses to provide (in this case, oxygen to aquatic life).
- Rubbish dumps: Designated areas where waste materials (garbage) are disposed of.
- Intestines: The long, coiled tube in the digestive system where food is processed and nutrients are absorbed.
- Choke (land): To smother or suffocate land, preventing growth by covering or filling it extensively.
- Alternatives: Other options or choices available instead of something else.
- Planet Earth: The world we live on; our home planet.
Is having a Hobby / Leisure Time activity helpful?
Is having a Hobby / Leisure Time activity helpful?
Expansion of Ideas School & College Section.
If one spends all one’s time on work or study, life will become very boring and tiresome. Both the mind and the body need relaxation. Merely doing nothing does not relax either the mind or the body. Some other activity that fills the mind with pleasure and satisfaction is required. One needs a hobby or a favourite activity for pure fun and relaxation.
The choice of a hobby depends upon one’s main occupation, physical health, temperament and interests. The activity must provide a welcome diversion and relaxation. It must not put too much strain on the body and mind and must provide joy. If one’s main occupation involves a lot of strenuous work, the hobby should be restful such as reading or listening to music. If one’s main occupation is sedentary, such as working all day on the computer, the hobby should be one that involves physical activity such as gardening or trekking.
A hobby brings variety and charm to our monotonous life. It provides relaxation and pleasure. It provides us with the opportunity to develop our natural interests. It refreshes the mind as well as the body. It helps us to achieve emotional equilibrium and thereby develop a balanced personality. Thus a hobby is indeed a must for the fullest enjoyment of life.
Difficult Words & Meanings
- Tiresome: Causing one to feel bored or annoyed; wearisome.
- Merely: Just; only.
- Occupation: A job or profession; the way one spends their time.
- Temperament: A person's or animal's nature, especially as it affects their behaviour.
- Diversion: An activity that diverts the mind from tedious or serious concerns; a recreation or pastime.
- Strain: A force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree; a severe or excessive demand on strength, resources, or abilities.
- Strenuous: Requiring or using great exertion or effort.
- Restful: Having a quiet and soothing quality; promoting rest.
- Sedentary: (Of a way of life) characterized by much sitting and little physical exercise.
- Trekking: Going on a long, arduous journey, typically on foot.
- Variety: The quality or state of being different or diverse; the absence of uniformity or monotony.
- Charm: The power or quality of delighting, attracting, or fascinating others.
- Monotonous: Dull, tedious, and repetitious; lacking in variety and interest.
- Opportunity: A set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.
- Emotional Equilibrium: A state of mental and emotional balance.
- Thereby: By that means; as a result of that.
- Indeed: Used to emphasize a statement or response confirming something already suggested.
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Science and Modern inventions: A Blessing or a curse?
Science and Modern inventions: A Blessing or a curse?
Expansion of Ideas School & College Section.
It is science that has provided modern man a life of ease, leisure and pleasure. It has brought within the reach of the common man comforts and luxuries that were available in the past only to the privileged few.
Science has invented marvellous machines to take the drudgery out of man’s work. By doing much of his work and doing it fast, machines have provided man with a lot of leisure. The rosy dream of an easy and luxurious life has come true for him. Distance has been conquered. Modern means of transport and communication have made the world a global village. Men and things and news and views can go around the globe today with lightning speed. The Internet has brought people of the world together and brought about a revolution in the fields of information and communications. Man has already landed on the moon and man-made satellites have made voyages through the solar system.
Our life has become healthier and longer. Modern hygiene, sanitation, medicine and surgery are conquering more and more physical and mental illness with each passing day. We now know and experience the joys of good health and longevity. Through the cinema, the radio, the tape recorder, the TV and the video, science has worked wonders in the fields of education and entertainment.
Though we welcome these blessings of science, we have to consider the other side of the picture also. Man has not been able to face the problems created by the inventions of science and to stop the misuse or harmful consequences of scientific inventions. Factories have polluted the water and the atmosphere. They have caused noise pollution. Industrialisations have led to slums in which human beings live a degraded life in the midst of filth and squalor. We have allowed science to master us instead of keeping it our servant. Medical inventions have, by reducing infant mortality and increasing longevity, led to the population explosion and the consequent miseries.
Again, science has put in our hands terrible weapons such as nuclear bombs, guided missiles and the means of chemical and biological warfare. We are in danger of destroying ourselves with these monstrous means that, ironically, are our own creations. Rightly used, science can bring heaven on earth. Wrongly used, it can turn this earth into hell.
Green City ; Clean City
Green City ; Clean City
A green city is a clean city. This is because nature has its own way of keeping the environment clean. A green city implies plenty of trees and greenery. This keeps the environment clean and fresh. Also the leaves take in excess carbon dioxide from the surrounding, caused by heavy traffic, and give out refreshing oxygen.
Besides trees on the sidewalks, a city should have a good number of parks and gardens. This brings pollution levels down to a minimum. It also reduces the risk of people suffering from respiratory diseases.
Man is a part of nature, not apart from nature. If there is a variety of vegetation in the locality, several animals and birds, that brighten up the atmosphere, will be found. Thus man’s state of mind is also brightened. Stress levels are reduced. Indeed there is no doubt that the more greenery there is in the local habitat, the better the conditions of living and for the inhabitants there.
Difficult Words & Meanings
- Implies: Suggests or means something without saying it directly.
- Excess: More than what is needed or usual.
- Surrounding: The area or things around a particular place or person.
- Respiratory diseases: Sicknesses that affect the lungs and breathing parts of the body.
- Vegetation: Plants, trees, and flowers found in a particular area.
- Locality: A specific neighborhood or area.
- Atmosphere: The feeling or mood of a place; also the air around the Earth.
- Habitat: The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
- Inhabitants: People or animals that live in a particular place.
Examination: A Necessary Evil
Examination: A Necessary Evil
Most students dread the word ‘examinations’. But this is something they have to face right from primary school to higher centers of learning. They would probably have a great sigh of relief if the word was altogether deleted from the dictionary! The reasons are not far to seek.
When it comes to public examinations or other important examinations, the whole career of a student depends on what he is able to write during the short duration of an examination. If he suddenly takes ill or is unlucky enough to get a tough question paper, he fails, and his future is ruined. Examiners have no knowledge of his all-round performance during the academic year. They go just by what is written in the answer paper. Again, assessment varies from examiner to examiner. It does not, in any way, reflect the real merit of the students. Examinations kill students’ genuine interest in study and give importance only for cramming. Sometimes they are mere games of chance and guessing.
All this is admitted by everyone. Yet no other method of testing students on a mass scale has as yet been devised. So, examinations have become a necessary evil! If there were no examinations, it is likely that the majority of students would not bother to study at all. We would never be able to separate the brilliant students from the average ones. Then whom would we select for higher professional training?
Pollution: Earth’s enemy number one.
Pollution: Earth's Enemy Number One
Expansion of Ideas | School & College Section
Pollution, the damage caused to the environment by harmful substances or waste, is our primary adversary today. Modern civilization and material progress have resulted in pollution everywhere—in the atmosphere, on land, and in our seas and rivers.
Our air is polluted by smoke, gases, and chemicals emitted by vehicles and factories. In addition to this, big cities suffer from noise pollution caused by vehicles, machines, loudspeakers, and crackers. This pollution poisons the air and harms the Earth's ozone layer, which protects us from the sun's harmful radiation. If the ozone layer is destroyed, humanity could perish. Nuclear radiation also pollutes the air, causing terrible health hazards.
Tonnes of industrial and chemical waste are thoughtlessly dumped into our rivers, lakes, and seas, killing fish and other marine life. The unplanned growth of cities leads to the expansion of slums, which become breeding grounds for dirt, disease, and death.
We must take immediate and effective steps to combat pollution. We must reduce vehicle and factory emissions, stop dumping chemical wastes into our waterways, grow more trees, protect our forests, and create more gardens and open spaces. The sooner these effective steps are taken, the better it will be for all of humankind.
Glossary of Terms
- Civilization
- An advanced stage of human social and cultural development and organization.
- Emitted
- To produce and discharge something, especially gas or radiation.
- Hazards
- Dangers or risks to health and safety.
- Marine Life
- The plants, animals, and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean.
- Nuclear Radiation
- Energy released from atomic nuclei, which can be very harmful to living things.
- Ozone Layer
- A layer in the Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.
- Perish
- To die or be destroyed, especially in a violent or sudden way.
- Pollution
- The introduction of harmful substances or waste into the environment, causing damage or adverse effects.
- Slums
- Overcrowded urban areas inhabited by very poor people, often with poor sanitation and housing.
Trees - Nature’s Gift to Man.
Trees - Nature’s Gift to Man.
Expansion of Ideas School & College Section.
Trees are Mother Nature’s precious gift to man. Directly or indirectly, they provide him with all his basic necessities, viz., air, water, food, clothing and shelter. They also provide important raw material for our industries. Industries provide employment to people. The wood for furniture, housing and ships comes from trees. Wood is also used for fuels and for making charcoal. Wood pulp is used to make paper and artificial yarn. Trees also give us products such as spices, rubber, turpentine, eucalyptus oil, gum, and medicinal products. No wonder forests are known as ‘green gold’. Trees provide shade to tired travellers and animals and shelter to innumerable birds and insects.
Trees check strong currents of wind and water and thereby prevent soil erosion. Trees keep the air clean. Forests retain humidity and attract rains. It is for this reason that trees are known as rain catchers. They absorb harmful carbon dioxide from the air and fill the atmosphere with precious life - sustaining oxygen. In this way they reduce air pollution. Therefore, trees are called the ‘lungs of nature’. We thus owe our very existence to trees.
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