Question 2
ComprehensionJAMB 2010 Passage I: Spaceship Earth
One of the interesting things to me about our spaceship is that it is a mechanical vehicle, just as is an automobile. If you own a car, you realize that you must put oil and gas into it, and you must put water in the radiator and take care of the car as a whole. You begin to develop quite a little thermodynamic sense. You know that you are either going to have to keep the machine in a good order or it is going to be in trouble and fail to function. We have not been seeing our Spaceship Earth as an integrally-designed machine which to be persistently successful, must be comprehended and serviced in total.
Now there is one outstanding important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it. I think it is very significant that there is no instruction book, for successfully operating our ship, in view of the infinite attention to all other details displayed by our ship. It must be taken as deliberate and purposeful that an instruction book was omitted. Lack of instruction has forced us to find out that there are two kinds of mangoes - unriped mangoes that will kill us and riped mangoes which will nourish us. And we had to find out ways of telling which-was-which mangoes before we ate it or otherwise we would die. So we were forced, because of this to devise scientific experimental procedures and to interprete effectively the significance of the experimental findings. Thus, because the instruction manual was missing, we are learning how we can safely survive on the planet.
Quite clearly, all living beings are utterly helpless at the moment of birth. The human child stays helpless longer than the young of any species. Apparently, it is part of the 'invention' that man is meant to be utterly helpless through certain anthropological phases. When he begins to be able to get on a little better, he is meant to discover some of the physical principles inherent in the universe as well as the many resources around him which will further multiply his knowledge. Designed into this Spaceship Earth's total wealth was a big safety factor. This allowed man to be very ignorant for a long time until he had amassed enough experiences from which to extract progresively the system of generalized principles governing increase of energy. The designed omission of the instruction book forced man to discover retrospectively just what his most important capabilities are. He learned to generalize foundamental principles of universe.
Adapted from Oluikpe, B.O. et al (2005) Intensive English for Senior Secondary School 2, Onitsha: AFP
Now there is one outstanding important fact regarding Spaceship Earth, and that is that no instruction book came with it. I think it is very significant that there is no instruction book, for successfully operating our ship, in view of the infinite attention to all other details displayed by our ship. It must be taken as deliberate and purposeful that an instruction book was omitted. Lack of instruction has forced us to find out that there are two kinds of mangoes - unriped mangoes that will kill us and riped mangoes which will nourish us. And we had to find out ways of telling which-was-which mangoes before we ate it or otherwise we would die. So we were forced, because of this to devise scientific experimental procedures and to interprete effectively the significance of the experimental findings. Thus, because the instruction manual was missing, we are learning how we can safely survive on the planet.
Quite clearly, all living beings are utterly helpless at the moment of birth. The human child stays helpless longer than the young of any species. Apparently, it is part of the 'invention' that man is meant to be utterly helpless through certain anthropological phases. When he begins to be able to get on a little better, he is meant to discover some of the physical principles inherent in the universe as well as the many resources around him which will further multiply his knowledge. Designed into this Spaceship Earth's total wealth was a big safety factor. This allowed man to be very ignorant for a long time until he had amassed enough experiences from which to extract progresively the system of generalized principles governing increase of energy. The designed omission of the instruction book forced man to discover retrospectively just what his most important capabilities are. He learned to generalize foundamental principles of universe.
Adapted from Oluikpe, B.O. et al (2005) Intensive English for Senior Secondary School 2, Onitsha: AFP
According to the writer, the exciting thing about Spaceship Earth is that it
- A.has no instruction manual
- B.is not difficult to maintain
- C.is peculiar to other automobiles
- D.is relatively easy to operate.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A (has no instruction manual)
Explanation
The writer calls it a very significant fact that no instruction book came with Spaceship Earth, and the rest of the passage builds on this.