Q.1 ?Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow (12M) l

(1) From the moment a baby first opens its eyes, it is learning. Sight and sensation spark of a learning process which will determine in large measure the sort of person it will become. Language stands heads and shoulders over all other tools as an instrument of learning. It is language that gives man his lead in intelligence over all other creatures. ?Only man can stand off and contemplate his own situation. No other creature can assemble a list of ideas, consider them, draw conclusions and then explain his reasoning. Man can do all this because he possesses language.And ?if ?thought depends on language, clearly the quality of an individual?s thought will descend on that person?s language_- rudimentary or sophisticated, precise or approximate, stereotyped or original.

(2) Very young babies are soothed by human voice uttering comforting words close to them. This essentially emotional response provides early evidence that feeling is an important component of language learning. Children learn to use language in interaction with other human beings,and this learning precedes best against a background of affectionate feedback from the person who is closest to them. ?This is seen to perfection in the interaction between parent and baby: eyes ?locked together , the adult almost physically drawing ? verbal? response from the baby, both engulfed by that unique experience of intimate and joyful? connecting? ?which sets the pattern of relationships between two people.

(3) ?Thus , long before they can speak, children are involved in a two ? way process of communication which is steadily building a foundation on which their later use of language will be based. Constantly surrounded by language, they are unconsciously building structures in their minds into which their speech and reading later fit ? grammatically constructions, tense sequences and so on. The forms of these structures will depend on the amount and complexity of speech they hear. The fortunate children are those who listen to articulate adults expressing ideas and defending opinions. They will know , long before they can contribute themselves that relationships are forged through this process of speaking and listening; that warmth and humour have a place ?in the process, as have all other human emotions.

(4) Using books is the most important means of ensuring the child?s adequate language development. None of us can endlessly initiate and maintain speech with very small children; we run out of ideas , or just get plain sick of it. Their lives are limited and the experience just isn?t there to provide the raw material for constant verbal interaction , without ?inevitable boredom on the child?s part and desperation on the adult?s ?.

(5) Parents and children who share books share the same frame reference. Incidents in everyday life constantly remind one or the other of a situation, a character , and action , from a jointly enjoyed book, with all the generation of warmth and well being that is attendant upon ?such sharing .All too often, there is a breakdown of communication between parents and children when the problem of adolescence arise. In most cases this is most acute when the give-and-take of shared opinion and ideas has not been constantly practiced throughout childhood. Books can play a major part in the establishment of this verbal give-and-take, because they are rooted in language.

(6)Young children?s understanding greatly outruns their capacity for expression as their speech strains to encompass their awareness, to represent reality as they see it. Shades of meaning which may be quite unavailable to the child of limited verbal experience are startlingly talked to toddler. All the wonderful modifying words ? later, nearly, tomorrow , almost ,wait, half, lend begin to steer the child away from the simple extremes of ?yes? and ?no? towards the adult word of compromise; from the child?s black and white world to the subtle shades and tints of the real world. The range of imaginative experience opened up by books expands the inevitably limited horizons of children?s surroundings and allows them to make joyful ,intrigued, awe-struck acquaintance with countless people,animals, objects and ideas in their first years of life ,to their incalculable advantage.