89.eading Skills Comprehension: PUNCTUALITY

PUNCTUALITY

Read the Passage Carefully and Answers the  Following Questions:-

1. Punctuality is a necessary habit in all public affairs of a civilized society. Without it nothing could ever be brought to a conclusion’, everything would be in a state of chaos2 Only in a sparsely3 populated rural community is it possible to disregard it. In the ordinary living there can be some tolerance of unpunctuality. The intellectual, who is working on some abstruse’ problem, has everything coordinated and organized for the matter in hand. He is therefore forgiven, if late for the dinner party. But people are often reproached for unpunctuality when their only fault is cutting things fines. It is hard for energetic, quick-minded people to waste time, so they are often tempted to finish a job before setting out to keep an appointment. If no accidents occur on the way, like punctured tyres, diversion of traffic, sudden descent of fog, they will be on time. They are often more industrious’ useful citizens than those who are never late. The over-punctual can as much be a trial to others as the unpunctual. The guest who arrives half an hour too soon is the greatest nuisance. Some friends of my family had this irritating habit. The only thing to do was to ask them to come half an hour later than the other guests. Then they arrived just when we wanted them.




2. If you are catching a train, it is always better to be comfortably early than even a fraction of a minute too late. Although being early may mean wasting a little time, this will be less than if you miss the train and have to wait an hour or so for the next one. And you avoid the frustration of arriving at the very moment when the train is drawing out of the station and being unable to get on it. And even a harder situation is to be on the platform in good time for a train and still to see it go off without you. Such an experience befell a certain young girl the first time she was travelling alone.




3. She entered the station twenty minutes before the train was due since her parents had impressed upon her that it would be unforgivable to miss it and cause the friends with whom she was going to stay to make two journeys to meet her. She gave her luggage to a porter and showed him her ticket. To her horror, he said that she was two hours too soon. She felt in her handbag for the piece of paper on which her father had written down all the details of the journey and gave it to the porter. He agreed that a train did come into the station at the time on the paper and that it did stop, but only to take on water, not passengers. The girl asked to see a timetable, feeling sure that her father could not have made such a mistake. The porter went to fetch one and arrived back with the station-master, who produced it with a flourish’ and pointed out a microscopic ‘a’ beside the time of the arrival of the train at his station. This little ‘o’ indicated that the train only stopped for water. Just at that moment, the train came into the station. The girl, tears streaming down her face, begged to be allowed to slip into the guard’s van. But the station-master was adamant: rules could not be broken. And she had to watch that train disappear towards her destination while she was left behind.

Word-Meaning:-

1. brought to a conclusion—successfully completed or finished 2. chaos–complete disorder or confusion. 3. sparsely—thinly. 4. abstruse—difficult to understand. 5. cutting things fine—leaving oneself only the minimum amount of time. 6. quick-minded—intelligent. 7. Industrious—hard-working. 8. trial—troublesome, irritating.

Questions

1. Answer the following questions as briefly as possible:

a) Why is punctuality necessary in a civilized society?

b) What are the dangers of leaving the bare minimum of time for appointments?

c) The over-punctual can be as much a trial t9 others as the unpunctual. Why?

d) Why did the author’s family ask some guests to come half an hour later than others?

e) Why, according to the author, is it better to wait on the platform before the train arrives?

2. Find words in the passage which convey a similar meaning as the following :

a) blamed

(b) hardworking

(c) thinly.

3. Select three appropriate expressions from the above passage to prove that the author wants punctuality to be observed in life.




Answers

1.a) Punctuality is necessary for civilized life because without it nothing could ever be brought to conclusion, and everything would be in a state of chaos.

b) Such people are often reproached for unpunctuality.

c) The guest who arrives too early causes as much embarrassment for the host as the one who arrives 41130 late.

d) These guests were in the habit of arriving too early and thus proved a great nuisance for the hosts. So they were asked to come half an hour later than others so that they would be just in time for the party.

e) It saves one from the embarrassing situation of missing the train.

2.a) blamed- reproached. b) hardworking- industrious. c) thinly -sparsely.

3.a) Punctuality is a necessary habit…………..

b) Without it, nothing could be……………

c) Everything would be in a state of chaos.

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