University of Rajshahi রাজশাহী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় এ ইউনিট ভর্তি পরীক্ষা ২০১৭-২০১৮ (ইংরেজি বিভাগ)

Write a composition on any one of the following:

(2.1) Human crises in the present world

(2.2) Your strengths and weaknesses as an individual

Read the following passage and answer the questions below it:To put it bluntly, English cannot claim a dominant position of any kind in relation to the status of Bangla in Bangladesh. Although there are some other languages and cultures in Bangladesh, it is predominantly a monocultural and a monolingual country and it does not have many languages competing for ascendency. English - the language as well as its ancillaries is of course subordinate to Bangla and the national culture. What this means for everyone in Bangladesh is that the study of everything that relates to Bangladesh is far more important than the study of English. If English is at all important in the country, it is so for the study of a host of other things and subjects, and it is more important in the sciences than in the humanities. In other disciplines it is of course a mere instrument, a tool, and not much else. No scientist or economist ever needs to bother about reading a Mill or a Milton to develop a prose style they require for professional purposes. And indeed that is how most of our academics use English; they learn the language only to be able to research and to produce scholarly papers in their respective research areas.

(1.1) Does the passage discourage the study of English? Justify your answer.

(1.2) Why is English in Bangladesh subordinate to Bangla?

(1.3) How would you explain the idea of a language as 'a tool"?

(1.4) Give the contextual meanings in English of the words in bold and make a sentence of your own with each of them.

(1.5) Translate the first three sentences of the passage into Bangla.