The sound of music

1. Why was Evelyn Glennie going to face a bigger challenge at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London?
   Evelyn Glennie was full of passion for music but performing at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London was a challenge for her for two reasons: in the first place she was deaf and in the second, she was brought up on a Scottish farm. It is a challenge for a deaf village girl to compete with other singers who have perfect hearing.
2. What do you know about Evelyn’s gradual loss of hearing?
   When Evelyn was eight years old, she was waiting to play the piano at a function. Her mother Isabel Glennie noticed that Evelyn had not heard the organizers call out her name loudly and clearly.
3. How did Evelyn lose her hearing?
   Evelyn’s hearing impairment happened as a result of gradual nerve damage.
4. What did Evelyn’s school advise her parents for her future?
   The headmistress advised that she should be fitted with hearing aids and sent to a school for the deaf.

THE ADVENTURES OF TOTO

1. How does Toto come to grandfather’s private zoo?

A. The writer’s grandfather liked to collect animals and had made a zoo at home. One day, he saw a red - coloured monkey tied to a trough with a tonga driver. He liked the monkey and wanted to add it to his collection. He bought Toto from the tonga driver for a sum of five rupees.

2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto pretty?

A. The writer says that Toto was pretty. He had bright, shining eyes which were full of mischief. His teeth were like pearls. He had a long tail which was like a third hand for him. The writer’s grandfather felt that a tail added to the beauty of an animal. So, Toto was thought to be a pretty animal.

3. Why does grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how? Why does the ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog?

A. Grandfather took Toto along with himself to Saharanpur because as he was mischievous, it was not safe to leave him alone at home. A bag made of strong canvas material was arranged. Some straw was placed in it. Toto was placed inside the bag and the bag was sealed with the zipper. 
The ticket collector did not accept grandfather’s claim that Toto was not a dog. He called it a dog and charged a ticket fee for it because only dogs were allowed to travel on trains. If Toto had to travel by train, then, he would have to be termed a dog.

4. How does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to do this? How does Toto almost boil himself alive?

A. Toto would check the temperature of the water by inserting his hand in it. Then he would step into the tub, one foot at a time. Finally, he would sit in it, with his face out. Then he would rub soap on his body. When the water became cold, he would jump out and run to the stove in the kitchen to dry himself. 
He had learnt this way of bathing from the writer. 
On day, Toto jumped into a kettle of water kept on the stove for boiling as he found it warm enough for a bath. As the water grew hotter, he thought of ascending but the cold weather made him go back into the kettle. Toto kept on doing this for a while till he was spotted by the grandmother. She pulled him out of the kettle in time or else he would have boiled himself that day.

5. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort of pet we could keep for long”?

A. The author says that Toto was not the kind of pet that they could keep for long because he was extremely mischievous. He destroyed many things - he tore the wallpapers, clothes and curtains. He broke dishes too. The family could not afford all this and so, decided to get rid of Toto.

Good Communication Skills - Key to Any Success

Good communication skills are key to success in life, work and relationships. Without effective communication, a message can turn into error, misunderstanding, frustration, or even disaster by being misinterpreted or poorly delivered.

Communication is the process by which we exchange information between individuals or groups of people. It is a process where we try as clearly and accurately as we can, to convey our thoughts, intentions and objectives.

Communication is successful only when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information.

In today's highly informational and technological environment it has become increasingly important to have good communication skills.

While many individuals still continue to struggle, the inability to communicate effectively will hold them back not only in their careers, but in social and personal relationships.  

steps for acquiring good communication skills:

1. Know what you want to say and why. Understand clearly the purpose and intent of your message. Know to whom you are communicating and why. Consider any barriers you may encounter such as cultural differences or situational circumstances (gender, age, or economic biases). Ask yourself what outcome you want to achieve and the impression you want to leave.

2. How will you say it? We're all aware by now, that it's not always what you say, but how you say it that counts. Begin by making eye contact. You inspire trust and confidence when you look a person in the eyes when you speak. Second, be aware of your body language since it can say as much, or more, than your words.

By standing with arms easily at your side you tell others that you are approachable and open to hearing what they have to say. If instead, your arms are crossed and shoulders hunched, it suggests disinterest or unwillingness to communicate.

Good posture and an approachable stance help make even difficult communication flow more smoothly. Make sure you speak in a cooperative, non-adversarial tone. Be nonjudgmental.

3 Listen. Communication is a two way street. After you've said what you have to say, stop, listen, and look for feedback and clues of comprehension. While the person is responding avoid any impulses to cut them off or listen only for the end of the sentence so that you can blurt out more ideas or thoughts that come to your mind.

Respectfully give them your full attention. When they are finished, to ensure that your message has been clearly and correctly understood, ask open questions and encourage discussion. Fine-tune your message if necessary.

4. Reach understanding, agreement or consensus. Once you have had the opportunity to discuss your message and the feedback to it, re-visit the purpose of the interchange. Have you reached common ground, solved a problem, or clarified your position? If the purpose was to teach or instruct, have you accomplished your goal? To communicate well is to understand and be understood.

Make sure that your message has been received as intended and that any questions or concerns have been alleviated. You can even agree to disagree.

There are no guarantees that your communication efforts will be meet with total compliance and agreement. As long as you understand each other, are cordial and respectful, you can still have a successful exchange.

More Tips for Developing Good Communication Skills

• To obtain a better command of the English language (or any other language), expand your vocabulary by reading and writing more. Look up words you're not familiar with. The better you are able to express yourself, the better your ability to communicate.


• Practice your listening skills. Be considerate of other speakers by waiting until they are done before stating your views. Process what has being said before responding.


• Learn to understand and appreciate opposing points of view by being open-minded and making an effort to see things from another's perspective. It will in turn, gain you more cooperation and understanding.


• Avoid trying to communicate when in an emotional state. You lose objectivity and may say something inappropriate or regrettable. Take time to think your position through before speaking.


• Join an organization such as Toastmasters that encourages you to develop a variety of communication skills as well as allowing you the opportunity to meet new and interesting people.

When you take the time to acquire and hone good communication skills you open yourself up to better relationships, more career opportunities, and increased self-confidence.

Moreover, you reach higher levels of mutual understanding and cooperation while successfully attaining your goals.

All new skills take time to refine, however, with effort and practice you can develop good, even exceptional, communication skills. 

Examination System

Examination are a necessary evil. It is quite understandable that whenever we put in hard work to make successful and venture, we wait for some time to see or guess the results that might’s have been achieved or might possibly be achieved. It is in this context that examinations become unavoidable. Though methods and yardsticks employed may differ and that even widely.

A student studies the whole year and then needs to be examined. It is even in the interest of the students himself or herself to know where he or she stands and how far his or her efforts have borne fruit.

However, the examination system as we have today becomes a farce in essence. It is because of many reasons and factors. The most distressing among these factors is the menace of copying. The students who may be dullards but can manage to indulge in large-scale copying get high marks, whereas the really meritorious students who    have worked hard get low marks.

Even otherwise , the prevalent examination system encourages cramming. Those who have a good memory or can indulge. In cramming, steal a march over others who cannot do this. Then, it is extremely painful to all lovers  of transparency that sometimes even the question papers are sold in the market a day or so before an examination.

Some efforts have been made to bring reforms in the examination such as the introduction of gradation system, the setting of a number of different question papers. Objective questions , etc. but much still remains to be desired and done.

THE HIGH COST OF VANITY IN 21st CENTURY

A well-known principle of social psychology, social comparison theoryproposes that we are constantly evaluating ourselves in relation to other people. In downward social comparison, you make yourself feel better by viewing yourself as more fortunate than others. The converse process also applies. In upward social comparison, you feel far worse about yourself if you see (or believe) that someone is outdoing you. Downward social comparison is a great coping process because it allows you to view a bad situation by looking at others who are worse off than you (poorer, less attractive, more stressed) and concluding that things aren’t really so bad. Upward social comparison can cause you to berate yourself unnecessarily because you feel that you’re being outdone by your friends, relatives, co-workers, or perhaps your Facebook friends.People 

Workman and Lee believed that social comparison is involved in the processes that lead us to empty our wallets for consumer goods that carry with them recognizable, expensive, labels. From sunglasses to sneakers, little symbols signify their price and, for many of us, our value as human beings. The smart shopper knows how to find these status symbols at bargain prices. The very savviest may still prefer to shell out the full amounts in order to be the first among their social circle to be wearing the latest models. However, as you'll see shortly, people often dress to impress themselves, propping their self-concept up by feeding their need to look attractive and successful.

Your desire to have recognizable brand names, or “brand sensitivity,” means that brand names are important to you in the process of making purchasing decisions. You may be highly brand sensitive, however, without knowing it. Through unconscious conditioning, you’ve come to associate certain brands with certain attributes, a factor that plays heavily into celebrity marketing.  When movie stars show up in ads for a particular cosmetic, line of clothing, or even underwear, you’ll be drawn toward those products because you form positive associations with the brand and the person. 

Not everyone is equally tempted by Ralph Lauren or Prada seals of approval, no matter who is modeling them. According to Workman and Lee, it should only be the most vain among us who are the most likely to stroll the fashion boutiques. There are 2 basic categories of vanity: physical appearance and the achievement of success. Fashion models and athletes are vain in the sense of wanting to be attractive.  People who purchase expensive products are vain in the sense of wanting to look successful. There are two subtypes within each type of vanity: being preoccupied with appearance or success vs. seeing yourself as more attractive or successful than you are.  

The kind of social comparison process that Workman and Lee believed to be important in consumer decisions involves the thoughts and feelings you have about how much more attractive or successful you are than others. People high in private self-consciousness tend to be self-reflective and introspective. If you’re high in private self-consciousness, for example, you would agree with the statement “I think about myself a lot.”

Workman and Lee reason that both vanity and private self-consciousness involve egocentrism, or the tendency to regard yourself as the center of the universe. If you’re always thinking about your own thoughts and feelings, it’s natural that you’ll develop a preoccupation with yourself and, hence, an excessive concern with your appearance and accomplishments.

Vanity is considered to stem from pride, which is one of the 7 deadly sins. People don’t like to admit that they’re vain. In fact, the vainest among us are probably the least likely to admit it. The fact that the participants in the Workman and Lee study owned up to their own self-preoccupation is impressive, supporting the widespread tendency of advertisers to use brand-name manipulation in the market place.  

If your vanity takes the form of being preoccupied with achievement, you’ll constantly seek expensive labels to prove your own worth and success. If it's your physical appearance you focus on, you’ll be lured by fancy clothes because you think they'll make you look better. The physically vain woman won’t want to pull out a drug-store lipstick in front of others to retouch her makeup; she’ll prefer to reach for the shiny gold department store variety costing 3 or 4 times as much. The color may be exactly the same, but it’s the glamour of the tube that matters most to her.

Oddly enough, many of the high-end goods that we wear can’t be seen by anyone else. No one knows whether you’re wearing Hanes or Calvin Klein’s under those designer jeans.  It probably doesn’t matter to too many people, including your romantic partners, whether the sheets on your bed come from Target or from Bloomingdale’s. Therefore, when we shell out the extra cash for what goes under our clothes, or over our mattresses, we may be succumbing to the pull that vanity has over our sensibilities.

Extrapolating somewhat from the Workman and Lee study, it’s possible to understand vanity as a variant of the unhealthy form of narcissism.  In vulnerable narcissism, people are constantly seeking ways to feel more important, attractive, and successful as a means of compensating for their inner feelings of weakness and inferiority.  Equating designer goods with personal value feeds into the worst kind of narcissistic vulnerability.

The take-home message is that it’s worth taking stock of your own motivations before you make your next sizeable purchase of a brand-name item. Who are you trying to please? Do you feel that you need to look better than other people, and that’s why you need that validation of your worth? Is it part of a larger pattern in which you think you’re better-looking than everyone else and “deserve” to treat yourself? It’s possible that the high-priced item is of better quality, and that your investment will prove worth the financial sacrifice. However, by understanding your own motivations, your budget and your self-image can both benefit.