Question

1 Read the following passage and answer the questions.

The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least most of us could compile

formidable lists of ‘do's’ and ‘don'ts’ for the year. The same old favorites recur year in

year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat

less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the

house, be nice to people we don’t like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk

every day. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond

attainment. If we remain deep-rooted liars, it is only because we have so often

experienced the frustration that results from failure.

Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too

ambitious and we never have time to carry them out. We also make the fundamental

error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish

when we slip back into our bad old ways. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted

to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitions; to do

physical exercise every morning and to read more every evening. An all-night party

on New Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of

these new resolutions on the first day of the year, but on the second, I applied myself

assiduously to the task.

The daily exercise lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the

morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of

bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to

creep down into the living-room for two days before anyone found me out. After

jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable

positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that

betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the

performance. That was really unsettling but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the

family good humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea. However, my

enthusiasm waned, the time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little

the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th I was back to where I had started

from. I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning I

would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home from work. Resisting the

hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes

glued to a book. One night however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and

sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I

soon got back to the old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven't

given up my resolution to do more reading, In fact, I have just bought a book entitled

‘How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute.’ Perhaps it will solve my1a) According to the writer, what have past experiences of New Year resolutions taught

us? 2

1b) Why, according to the writer, do most of us fail in our efforts for self-improvement?

2

1c) Why did the writer not carry out his resolutions on New Year’s day? 2

1d) The writer eventually failed to implement his New Year’s Resolutions because:

1

a) his family disturbed him.

b) his resolutions were too ambitious

c) he was looking for some convincing excuse to forget them.

1e) Give a suitable little to the passage. 1

1f) In a few lines write your own experience of New Year Resolutions. problem, but I

just haven’t had time to read it. ​

Answer 1

Answer:

1) Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too

2) The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least most of us could compile

formidable lists of ‘do's’ and ‘don'ts’ for the year. The same old favorites recur year in

year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat

less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the

house, be nice to people we don’t like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk

every day. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond

3) b) his resolutions were too ambitious

4)NEW YEAR RESOLUTION

5) The writer teaches importantance of resolution. I had a resolution about to take my dog for walk. I was not able to compete it. So I was really very sad. From that day I stopped taking such ambitious resolution.