African Village

Comprehension-A

How many independent countries are there in Africa?

Africa being the second largest continent of the world owns more than thirty-five independent countries. In the past, this particular continent is well-known by the name of “Dark Continent”.

Where is Nigeria?

Nigeria one of the countries of the continent of Africa situated in the West Africa. It occupies a vast area of the continent thus is the largest country of Africa. That’s not all; it is the most thickly populated country of Africa as well.

What sort of a country is it?

Nigeria is blessed with fertile land that’s why it is basically an agricultural country. Most of the population of Nigeria consists of farmers who live in villages.

Where do most Nigerian farmers live?

Being associated with the profession of farming, cultivation and agriculture, most of the farmers of Nigeria live in villages. Their villages are located in the bush. An average Nigerian village comprises of a dozen to about three dozen huts where farmers reside with their families.

What is the bush area made up of?

Nigeria is a land that is covered with dense forests which thins out in bushes in the North. The bush area is comprised of scattered trees with heavy undergrowth. The villages of the farmers are scattered in the bush where they cultivate their lands.

What is the center of activities?

In the beginning a farmer’s hut comprise of only one room but with the passage of time, it becomes bigger with the addition of two or three rooms in a single hut. The center of activities is the courtyard of a Nigerian farmer’s hut. It is a place where women and children spend most of their time in the day and men join them at the sunset after returning from their work. Women work and cook food in the courtyard whereas children love to play over there.

What is the roof of a farmer’s hut made of?

The Nigerian farmers live in huts that are simple but artistically built with the help of trees branches accompanied with a number of other natural materials such as sticks, straws, grass, reeds or palm leaves. The farmers stick thick branches of trees in the ground in the form of a large circle. At the top, these branches are tightly bound together. With this bondage, the hut gets a cone like shape. The spaces which are present in between the branches of trees are filled up with straw and the roof of the hut is thatched with a thick layer of straw, grass, reeds or palm leaves.

What are their cash crops?

Nigeria not only produces the crops for its own use but exports it to other countries as well to earn foreign exchange. The major cash crops of Nigeria includes oil palms and cocoa trees.

What are their food crops?

Being an agricultural country, Nigeria is famous for its crops. The food crops include plantains, potatoes, yams, groundnuts and pepper.

Who tends the food crops?

The women of Nigeria work side by side to their men. They not only do household chores but tend the food crops too so to assist their men in agriculture.

Who tends the cash crops?

The Nigerian men being associated to the profession of farming and cultivation are responsible to tend cash crops as these crops need more hard work and time too.

What is made from cocoa beans?

Cocoa beans are the fruits of cocoa trees. When these cocoa beans are grounded in the form of powder then this powder is used to make the world favorite chocolate

Comprehension-B

B. Learn the meanings and spellings of the following words from the lesson and use ten of them in sentences of your own:

activity; agriculture; aluminium; beans; century; compound; consists; continent; courtyard; cultivate; dense; earthenware; electricity; export; facility; furniture; grind; groundnuts; inhabitant; introduce; lane; mosquito; patch; pepper; plaster, plantains; reed; thatch; transport; separate; settlement; sting; tend; remote; scatter, pots; utensils; yam; yield.

Words/Meanings

activity

the condition in which things are happening or being done

agriculture

the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

aluminium

a chemical element that is a light, silver-colored metal, used especially for making cooking equipment and aircraft parts

beans

an edible seed, typically kidney-shaped, growing in long pods on certain leguminous plants.

century

a period of one hundred years.

compound

a thing that is composed of two or more separate elements; a mixture

consists

be composed or made up of.

continent

any of the world’s main continuous expanses of land

courtyard

an unroofed area that is completely or partially enclosed by walls or buildings, typically one forming part of a castle or large house.

cultivate

prepare and use (land) for crops or gardening

dense

closely compacted in substance.

earthenware

pottery made of clay fired to a porous state which can be made impervious to liquids by the use of a glaze.

electricity

a form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles (such as electrons or protons), either statically as an accumulation of charge or dynamically as a current.

export

send (goods or services) to another country for sale

facility

a place, amenity, or piece of equipment provided for a particular purpose.

furniture

the movable articles that are used to make a room or building suitable for living or working in, such as tables, chairs, or desks.

grind

reduce (something) to small particles or powder by crushing it.

groundnuts

another term for peanut

inhabitants

a person or animal that lives in or occupies a place.

introduce

bring (something, especially a product, measure, or concept) into use or operation for the first time.

lane

a narrow road, especially in a rural area.

mosquito

a slender long-legged fly with aquatic larvae.

patch

a piece of cloth or other material used to mend or strengthen a torn or weak point.

pepper

a pungent hot-tasting powder prepared from dried and ground peppercorns, used as a spice or condiment to flavor food.

plaster

a soft mixture of sand and cement and sometimes lime with water, for spreading on walls, ceilings, or other structures, to form a smooth hard surface when dried.

plantains

a low-growing plant which typically has a rosette of leaves and a slender green flower spike, occurring widely as a weed of lawns.

reed

a tall, slender-leaved plant of the grass family, which grows in water or on marshy ground.

thatch

a roof covering of straw, reeds, palm leaves, or a similar material.

transport

take or carry (people or goods) from one place to another by means of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship

separate

forming or viewed as a unit apart or by itself.

settlement

an official agreement intended to resolve a dispute or conflict.

sting

a small sharp-pointed organ at the end of the abdomen of bees, wasps, ants, and scorpions, capable of inflicting a painful or dangerous wound by injecting poison.

tend

regularly or frequently behave in a particular way or have a certain characteristic

remote

(of a place) situated far from the main centers of population; distant.

scatter

throw in various random directions

pots

a rounded or cylindrical container, typically of metal, used for cooking

utensils

a tool, container, or other article, especially for household use

yam

the edible starchy tuber of a climbing plant, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical countries.

yield

produce or provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product).

Words

Sentences

agriculture

The country’s economy depends on agriculture.

century

Tennis began in France in the thirteenth century.

continent

Australia is the smallest continent in the world.

cultivate

Rice is cultivated in several parts of the world.

electricity

Nuclear power is used to generate electricity.

export

The United States exports wheat all over the world.

furniture

There was absolutely no furniture in that room. (

introduce

Let me introduce my parents to you.

mosquito

I just hate mosquitoes.

separate

Farmers separate good apples from bad ones.

Comprehension-C

C. a) Find for each word in list “A” a word or phrase similar in meaning from list “B”

A

B

courtyard

thick

link

more than half

dense

compound

explore

one hundred

introduce

join

century

convenience

majority

to grow

cultivate

acquaint

facility

search

Answer:

A

B

courtyard

compound

link

join

dense

thick

explore

search

introduce

acquaint

century

one hundred

majority

more than half

cultivate

to grow

facility

convenience

C. b) Find for each word in list “A” a word or phrase similar in meaning from list “B”

dense

exterior

majority

minor

remote

import

major

thin

independent

minority

interior

near

export

dependent

Answer:

A

B

dense

thin

majority

minority

remote

near

major

minor

independent

dependent

interior

exterior

export

import

Comprehension-D

D. Study the following sentences carefully.

Thin out

1. Dense forest thins out into bush which consists of scattered trees and thick undergrowth.

2. The centre of the city has dense population, but it gradually thins out as we move away from the centre.

3. The gardener has planted the flowers close together. I have asked him to thin them out.

4. A large crowd was watching the match but it began to thin out after half-time.

Answer:

Note Only oral activity, no exercise to be attempted.

Comprehension-E

E. a) Fill in the blanks with shall, will, should, would:

1. I think 1 shall go to Karachi next week.

2. You should not tell a lie.

3. We will fight to the last man.

4. This office will remain open till midnight.

5. I shall be grateful if you kindly grant me a pass.

6. The train would have arrived by now.

7. Shall our motherland need it; we should lay down our lives for it.

8. You should respect your elders.

9. Had you been there, it would never have happened.

10. They should not violate any condition of this contract.

E. b) Fill in the blanks with appropriate prepositions:

1. Please introduce me to your father.

2. He is not acquainted with my parents.

3. This machine is fitted to an automatic control.

4. You are not fit for this job.

5. A round nail does not fit to a square hole.

6. He has passed the examination and is now looking for a job.

7. The police are _____ the look _____ for the robbers. (seem incorrect)

8. Look for the meaning of this word in the dictionary.

9. He promised to look into this matter.

10. We look up to you to solve our problems.

E. c) Change into Passive Voice:

1. A road links his village to the town.

The town is linked to his village by road.

2. A snake in the grass stung his barefoot.

His barefoot was stung by a snake in the grass.

3. He cannot rear any cattle on his farm.

His farm is not meant to rear any cattle by him.

4. Their father settled the dispute between the brothers.

The dispute between the brothers was settled by their father.

E. d) Change the following into Active Voice.

1. This lamp was lit by the servant.

The servant lighted the lamp.

2. The soldier was ordered by the officer to report to him.

The soldier was asked to report to the officer.

3. By whom was this blanket patched?

Who patched this blanket?

4. Was this land cultivated by the landowner himself?

Was the landowner cultivated this land by himself?

Comprehension-F

1. Describe in 70 to 80 words the hut of a farmer in Nigeria.

Answer:

The hut of a farmer in Nigeria is quite unique. It basically consists of a single room in the beginning but later on the hut becomes bigger with the addition of three to four rooms. The walls of the hut are made by using thick branches of trees tied at the top like a cone and they are filled with different natural materials such as reeds, straw, grass and palm leaves to protect the inhabitants from weather. It has a compound that is the center of attraction for all.

2. Describe in 100 to 110 words a day in the life of a Nigerian farmer and his wife.

Answer:

The life of a Nigerian farmer and his wife is as busy and active as the life of any other ordinary farmer. Both of them work really hard for their survival. The farmer has to leave his hut early in the morning to work in his fields whereas his wife gets busy in finishing her household chores such as cooking, washing, cleaning etc. She then goes to the field to help her husband in seeding, cultivating or harvesting the crop. She basically takes care of the food crop as it is quite easy to do. From there, she returns to her home, takes care of her children and after sunset gets busy in little chit chat with her husband and children to relax.

3. Describe the changes that are coming or are likely to come soon in the life of the bush-dwellers in Nigeria.

Answer:

Life is ever-changing its dimensions not only for the inhabitants of cities but for the innocent dwellers of the villages too. Same is the case of Nigerian villages. Some years back, Nigerian farmer cannot think about any of the modern facility in his locality. But now with the passage of time, modern facilities in the filed of transport, communication, agriculture, irrigation are being introduced in Nigerian villages to make the lives of the bush dwellers easy and comfortable. As soon as the roads will make their appearance on the land of Nigerian village, the farmer would see and experience the noise of transport, poles of electricity, construction of tube-wells, voices and pleasant music from radios and televisions, children cheerfully returning to their homes from schools, hospitals, doctors and nurses taking care of the sick and ill. Then the Nigerian farmer would be able to relate himself with the urban people quite easily.

Comprehension-G

G-Idioms:

1. To shed crocodile tears: to weep insincerely, or hypocritically.
   Example: Don’t be deceived by that beggar’s crying. They are only crocodile tears.
   Exercise: They were not all sorry when he died. They just pretended to be crying. (Instead of the italicized words, use the idiom).

Answer:

They were not all sorry when he died. They just shed crocodile tears.

2. To feel like a fish out of water: to feel out of place.
   Example: I was the only one who spoke English and felt like a fish out of water in that group
   Exercise: Being the only educated man in that village, I feel out of place there. (Instead of the italicized words, use the idiom).

Answer:

Being the only educated man in that village, I feel like a fish out of water.

3. To nip in the bud: to stop evil in the early stages.
   Example: Bad behavior in children must be nipped in the bud.
   Exercise: The plot to overthrow the government was detected and crushed before it could be realized. (Instead of the italicized words, use the idiom).

Answer:

The plot to overthrow the government was detected to be nipped in the bud.

4. To turn over a new leaf: to reform, to behave better.
   Example: The criminal promised the judge that he would turn over a new leaf.
   Exercise: The teacher pardoned the boy on the conditions that he promised to behave better in future. (Substitute the idiom).

Answer:

The teacher pardoned the boy on the conditions that he promised to turn over a new leaf.