High school english essays TUYỂN tập 120 bài LUẬN TIẾNG ANH cực HAY KHÔNG THỂ bỏ QUA – CHỦ đề đa DẠNG lv từ cơ bản đến NÂNG CAO

Discuss Industrialisation is the application of scientific knowledge to man's economic, agricultural, and other wealth-generating activities.. We have seen that the controversial -- rel

High School English essays

TUYỂN TẬP 120 BÀI LUẬN TIẾNG ANH CỰC HAY

KHÔNG THỂ BỎ QUA – CHỦ

ĐỀ ĐA DẠNG Lv TỪ CƠ BẢN ĐẾN NÂNG CAO

Work is the only route to happiness Discuss.

The ideal put forward to young people has, traditionally, been 'mens sana in corpore sano', and this implies a proper balance between work and play Yet to achieve

happiness, that coveted but elusive state of total fulfilment, requires more It is true that mankind in general, though with exceptions, has a built-in instinct for work The vast gulf separating humanity from its physical origins, the animal world, is due to millennia

of cerebral and physical activity Yet there are other equally powerful instincts in the human make-up The desire, in most cases, to form life-long emotional attachments; the instinct, again in most cases, to start a family; the making of friendships; the search for a fulfilling occupation, to name the most obvious

In some countries there are a privileged few who are born into possessions, money and position, so the need to work in the normal sense does not apply to them Yet it is

noticeable that these people generally find some worthwhile occupation This may be anything from estate management to patronage of some charitable institution to

participation in the pop scene This again indicates that to follow some kind of

occupation, whether useful or not, is a genuine instinct

History supports this view, and literature has produced many sayings expressing the value, perhaps the necessity of work 'Satan hath some mischief yet for idle hands to do'; 'our best friend is work' (Collin d'Harleville); 'to youth I have but three words of counsel

- work, work, work' (Bismarck); 'sow work and thou shalt reap gladness' (Proverb); 'work won't kill but worry will' (Proverb)

For most of us work is both a necessity and source of fulfilment We need a regular income, just as our country needs part of the wealth we create and claims through taxation The fulfilment of the instincts mentioned in Paragraph 1 cannot be achieved without money The right use of money is of course important; Charles Dickens made the point that to live sixpence below one's income led to happiness; to live sixpence above led to misery

The definition of work is wide, ranging from manual labor to the highest forms of intellectual activity We are not all suited to every kind of work I would be of little use

as a manual worker, since my skills in that direction are limited Conversely, not all manual workers could do my work Among other things, I write a little I was once asked 'What motivates you to write?', the questioner expecting some high-falutin

answer I was tempted to answer 'Money!' In fact the best writers have all taken this view Only the second rate prattle about artistic fulfilment

So, the worthwhile student spends his or her early years developing the skills which will lead to gainful employment; not to amass money for its own sake, but for what money can do As life goes on, money becomes less important, though at any stage it only assumes importance when one has too little of it

Realistically, during the current worldwide trade recession, the sad problem many people have to face is unemployment or redundancy One hopes that this will soon pass Some countries have training and re-training schemes to prepare their work-forces for the end of the recession The fact that lack of work is so frustrating highlights the

motivations for work already mentioned

In any discussion of work its dangers must not be overlooked It is possible to be so obsessed with work that other highly important human considerations are neglected, with disastrous results The workaholic neglects his or her family This may lead to separation, divorce, and or problems with growing children, not to mention damage to human relations generally Trollope had a character, the Duke of Omnium He was a most worthy and honorable character, became Prime Minister, worked indefatigably for the parliamentary acceptance of a decimal coinage His wife and family, all admirably provided for, let him down consistently in various ways His human sympathies had atrophied

The love of money, work's product, may become even more dangerous Charles

Dicken's character, Scrooge, is an example Another is Silas Marner, who did not reform his outlook until his store of gold coins had been stolen, and until he was

confronted with the human need to bring up a small child

So in general terms the topic-statement has to be supported, but with all the provisos mentioned Like any other human instinct, its expression must be wisely handled

Science can never provide a final answer or things, it is only a way of

studying them Do you agree?

It is somewhat rash to assume that the only role of science is to answer the question 'How?' That was true in the days of Newton, when an educated person could have a grasp in outline of all human knowledge Science then filled some of the gaps left by the deliberations of the philosopher and the theologian Since then, it has far outstripped the contributions of both Philosophy has degenerated into historical study, and has no modern contribution to make Theology has made no advance since the Middle Ages The mantle of seeking answers to man's most fundamental questions has fallen on science Whether these questions will ever be answered is an entirely different matter, but there is no other way ahead So the topic-statement is fundamentally wrong

By science, of course, is meant physics, which is fundamental to all studies - chemistry, biology, astronomy, indeed all macro and micro investigation Physics has identified the laws which keep the universe in a state of equilibrium, and today seeks a unified theory

to account for the space-time continuum necessary to the existence of that equilibrium, and the various other dimensions beyond the four known which are postulated So science moves towards the first philosophical question, Is there a unified theory, or are events ultimately random? The answer to this question, if ever found, leads to the far more fundamental question, To what extent, if any, is God (the Creator) limited by his own creation? The determinism of Laplace is now seen to be totally beside the point, and belongs to a mechanistic view of the universe which can no longer be sustained Today, science is moving rapidly towards a chaos theory which takes into account God's freedom of action plus the predictable results of laws already known to us, and also unpredictable events

It is interesting that whereas the old scientific determinism either limited to the Creator's function or precluded the necessity of a Creator, or saw the Creator as totally detached from his creation, science today is begin forced into a belief in God It also moves towards an acceptance that the scientifically unknown area, the God - mankind personal relationship, is not only feasible, but likely So science has become much more than a way of studying things Whether science can get beyond this point is a matter of

conjecture At a shrewd guess, science may well establish the possibility of eternal life , without being able to advance any more proof than could the old-time theologian World religions have always said that such a belief depends on revelation and personal faith, and it may well be the Creator's intention to keep it that way Faith, at least, would

be greatly devalued if it could ever become the subject of scientific proof, whatever that may be

Another answer, again stemming from the chaos theory, is to the co-existence of good and evil If there is a Creator, it follows that evil, at least as understood by humanity, must have been allowed to enter the world-scene at some point, but deliberately

Redemption from its consequences is another result, and history is the record of the struggle between the two forces This, says science, although leading to apparently random results, such as the little child stepping under the bus, or a death from cancer, is not random at all All the same, it may stem from 'chaos', if this is seen in conjunction with a belief in the indestructibility of the human personality So, say the faithful, 'God not only creates, He cares', and science today is not disposed to reject this possibility, the two approaches may converge on the same point The processes of the universe are

incredibly diverse and complicated, so why should the possibility of life after death be ruled out?

Such a belief is an essential corollary to any concept of justice in the Creator's character This is not justice merely in the sense of retribution The early Jews believed the Creator got so fed up with humanity that He destroyed them in the Flood, but made a fresh start with Noah's family and the paired livestock! Divine Justice is part of the concept of Divine Love, which postulated creation, with mankind as it's highest sentient form, as

an expression of that love

So the great world religions have this at least in common with modern science; there is a benevolent Creator who offers post-earthly life in some other dimension in exchange for the human response of kindness and observance of a revealed moral law Justice,

therefore, moves into an eternal setting

A religious scientist will find no essential disharmony between his or her faith and the scientific outlook The great questions of life have satisfying, if unprovable answers Some of the inadequacies of religion, such as early church doctrines of the cosmos, and strictly Bible-based theories of the origin of species, have been corrected by scientific investigation without detriment to the central core of belief

Where science, or more precisely the scientist, inevitably falls short is in the application

of an essentially simple moral code to the complex issues raised by scientific advance Genetic manipulation is a case in point The whole question of in-vitro fertilization is highly controversial

All that is on the local scale On the grand scale the Creator may, or may not allow the discovery of a unified theory of the universe which will provide answers to supplement, rather than displace the answers already provided by the higher religions

Modern methods of transport have transformed our world into a village Is

this a blessing or a curse?

In some respects the topic-statement is true Modern transport, especially by air, allows people to circle the globe in a few days, or hours, if an aircraft such as Concorde is used Thus we have learnt to look upon distance as nothing I can get to Paris from south-east England quicker than I can get to central London So, the world has become a village? If so, the comparison ends there In no respect does the world resemble a

village community Those who support the one-world movement no doubt share a great ideal but are, in fact, flying in the face of history, of present facts, and of any likelihood

in the near future Modern travel merely underlines the differences between races and nations Rather than broaden the mind, travel confirms national prejudices It may well lead to a greater international understanding, but to understand does not mean to agree,

or to forgive Modern travel may allow great athletes to meet every four years in

friendship to discover the medal winners, but it would be naive to suppose that the Olympic Spirit had anything to do with the reality of international affairs or could possibly have any effect on them

Of course modern transport cannot be blamed for the state of today's world Like atomic energy, it is neutral, and the blessing or the curse results from the way in which it is used

First, the benefits Before the invention of the electric telegraph, news of a natural disaster in, say, an eastern country could only reach the west by steamship, so that by the time help reached a stricken area, it was too late to be of much use Today,

information by satellite, both in reports and pictures, is instantaneous Response time is correspondingly quick Modern transport planes can carry food, water and medical supplies to where they are needed in a matter of hours

So the modern jet aircraft can help enormously in relief work It has also proved of great benefit both to the business world and to tourism Within certain weight-limits, it can be used for overseas trade worldwide, and the vast extension of available markets is largely due to the modern aircraft And where business has to be done in person there are no real delays

The aircraft has extended foreign travel, once the prerogative of the rich, to those of average income levels in most countries, and tourism has become a major world

industry The aircraft and the helicopter both have important search and rescue roles Ships in distress can be readily located and given help The helicopter has several roles, apart from its use by the police for searches and traffic control Many lives have been saved in mountainous areas and at sea by speedy removal to hospital, by immediate attention by paramedics; a jet plane can carry a suitable human organ half across the world when a transplant is urgently needed

Modernized and high-speed rail systems are likely to prove of benefit to many countries from the travel and trade points of view To take Europe as an example Tariff barriers

in the EEC have now come down, and Europe, including Britain, has become a market area In 1994, England will be linked to Europe by a channel tunnel, and Paris or Brussels will be reached as quickly as by air Already, goods to and from Europe, and indeed worldwide, are transported in standardized containers, which are picked up and

free-moved rapidly in heavy lorries to their destinations along new networks of motorways The motorways also greatly ease long-distance car travel At sea, modern oil tankers carry their vast burdens worldwide

Yet as with any other advance, all is not sweetness and light In the case of the jet aircraft, one needs only to mention the spy-plane, the bomber, the fighter, the assault helicopter, all of them potent war weapons, and a curse to millions of helpless people worldwide The potential for nuclear, nerve gas, chemical and HE bombing is a curse which hangs over all our heads The need for ever larger airfields means the destruction

of tracts of countryside Noise and oil-pollution make life a burden to those living nearby In some countries, over-concentration on high-speed and inter-city trains has led

to the severe neglect of existing networks and ordinary passenger rolling stock In smaller countries such as England, there are now far too many cars and traffic jams in the large urban areas, providing an almost unsolveable problem Ease of travel allows football hooligans and other undesirables to cause trouble overseas Every improvement

in transport facilities helps the criminal as well as the bona-fide traveler, particularly where immigration controls are relaxed Immigration itself becomes an increasing problem And at sea? All is well with the oil-tanker until it runs aground in a storm and deposits thousands of tons of oil along the shore-line

So there is a case to be made of the more leisurely times, to some, the good old days Modern transport has reduced the world if not to a village, at least relatively to village size Whether the village will ever become a happy community is another matter

Work is the only route to happiness Discuss.

The ideal put forward to young people has, traditionally, been 'mens sana in corpore sano', and this implies a proper balance between work and play Yet to achieve

happiness, that coveted but elusive state of total fulfilment, requires more It is true that mankind in general, though with exceptions, has a built-in instinct for work The vast gulf separating humanity from its physical origins, the animal world, is due to millennia

of cerebral and physical activity Yet there are other equally powerful instincts in the human make-up The desire, in most cases, to form life-long emotional attachments; the instinct, again in most cases, to start a family; the making of friendships; the search for a fulfilling occupation, to name the most obvious

In some countries there are a privileged few who are born into possessions, money and position, so the need to work in the normal sense does not apply to them Yet it is

noticeable that these people generally find some worthwhile occupation This may be anything from estate management to patronage of some charitable institution to

participation in the pop scene This again indicates that to follow some kind of

occupation, whether useful or not, is a genuine instinct

History supports this view, and literature has produced many sayings expressing the value, perhaps the necessity of work 'Satan hath some mischief yet for idle hands to do'; 'our best friend is work' (Collin d'Harleville); 'to youth I have but three words of counsel

- work, work, work' (Bismarck); 'sow work and thou shalt reap gladness' (Proverb); 'work won't kill but worry will' (Proverb)

For most of us work is both a necessity and source of fulfilment We need a regular income, just as our country needs part of the wealth we create and claims through taxation The fulfilment of the instincts mentioned in Paragraph 1 cannot be achieved without money The right use of money is of course important; Charles Dickens made the point that to live sixpence below one's income led to happiness; to live sixpence above led to misery

The definition of work is wide, ranging from manual labor to the highest forms of intellectual activity We are not all suited to every kind of work I would be of little use

as a manual worker, since my skills in that direction are limited Conversely, not all manual workers could do my work Among other things, I write a little I was once asked 'What motivates you to write?', the questioner expecting some high-falutin

answer I was tempted to answer 'Money!' In fact the best writers have all taken this view Only the second rate prattle about artistic fulfilment

So, the worthwhile student spends his or her early years developing the skills which will lead to gainful employment; not to amass money for its own sake, but for what money can do As life goes on, money becomes less important, though at any stage it only assumes importance when one has too little of it

Realistically, during the current worldwide trade recession, the sad problem many people have to face is unemployment or redundancy One hopes that this will soon pass Some countries have training and re-training schemes to prepare their work-forces for the end of the recession The fact that lack of work is so frustrating highlights the

motivations for work already mentioned

In any discussion of work its dangers must not be overlooked It is possible to be so obsessed with work that other highly important human considerations are neglected, with disastrous results The workaholic neglects his or her family This may lead to separation, divorce, and or problems with growing children, not to mention damage to human relations generally Trollope had a character, the Duke of Omnium He was a most worthy and honorable character, became Prime Minister, worked indefatigably for the parliamentary acceptance of a decimal coinage His wife and family, all admirably provided for, let him down consistently in various ways His human sympathies had atrophied

The love of money, work's product, may become even more dangerous Charles

Dicken's character, Scrooge, is an example Another is Silas Marner, who did not reform his outlook until his store of gold coins had been stolen, and until he was

confronted with the human need to bring up a small child

So in general terms the topic-statement has to be supported, but with all the provisos mentioned Like any other human instinct, its expression must be wisely handled

"In order that economic development and progress can take place, a

country must industrialise" Discuss

Industrialisation is the application of scientific knowledge to man's economic,

agricultural, and other wealth-generating activities In other words, it is the conversion

of the 'know-why' of science into `know-how' for industry; it is the practical application

of man's inventiveness in the improvement of his well-being and the increase of his wealth

Industrialisation depends on four essentials: the right idea, the right method of putting it into effect, the right moment in time, and availability of the right materials Machine invented with the help of scientific know- how are used for quicker and easier

production of wealth Therefore, it is only sound commonsense to say that the economic development and progress of a country are dependent on its industrial growth

There was a time when countries depended entirely on agriculture Before the Industrial Revolution, Great Britain too was an agricultural country Had it not been for the wealth she was able to amass from her colonies, she would not have become a wealthy nation depending on agriculture alone America at first had an economy rooted in agriculture With the invention of machines and with the advent of industrialisation, she made use of machines even for her agricultural activities, apart from setting up factories and

manufacturing articles for sale

Before machines were invented, the articles required for use by man were handmade These articles were not produced in bulk But machines helped man to produce articles

in large numbers

Today machines are used virtually in all spheres of life Agriculture, especially in

Western countries, is highly mechanised There are machines to plough the land, sow seeds, hoe and weed Pesticides are often sprayed by aeroplanes and helicopters

Fertilisers produced in bulk in factories are used for the healthy growth of plants All these facilities afforded by mechanisation double our agricultural production; this means increase in economic wealth and prosperity

Industrialisation means growth of industries and better utilization of natural resources Steel is produced, oil is refined and other products are made with almost no physical effort Giant turbines are installed for the production of electricity Human beings need not do more than just push buttons, pull levers or supervise All this means that more work can be (lone by fewer people in less time and with less effort; and the production too is much more

It is industrialisation that makes it possible for giant networks of communication to span land, sea and air The telegraph, radio, television and telephone carry messages from one end of the earth to another almost as fast as the flight of human thought The train, the aeroplane, the ship and the car carry vast numbers of people from one place to another at an incredible speed

The growth of human knowledge and information has been greatly facilitated by the development of machines The printing press had be- come so highly mechanised that

books, magazines and newspapers are produced at great speed

All the developed countries of the world have been highly industri- alised Great

Britain, Japan, France, the United States of America and Germany, just to mention a few of the advanced countries, are regarded as wealthy nations because they are highly industrialised Industrialisation means enough manufactured goods to export, apart from self-sufficiency at home Exporting products means earning money

A country that is not industrialised remains backward and poor This is what has

happened to the underdeveloped nations of the world Not only that these nations are not scientifically and technologically advanced but they are dependent on the rich nations for their very existence Even if these nations are politically independent,

economically they are not

Industrialisation not only means self-sufficiency in essential items and progress in terms

of material wealth, knowledge, communication and transport, but also shows strength

A highly industrialised country is militarily strong; it can manufacture its own

sophisticated weapons, and will not have to depend on stronger and more advanced nations for help in times of emergency

Economic development is assured once the country becomes indus- trialised But more than economic development and wealth, industrialisa- tion marks progress The standard

of living of the people in general increases with increasing industrialisation We have only to look at the agricultural workers and the factory workers, and contrast them to realise how the latter maintain a better standard of living A nation's prestige, her

position in the comity of nations, her economic development, her progress in terms of communication, and transport, and her military strength are all tied up with her

industrialisation

"Reading is seeing by proxy" (Spencer) Is reading a substitute for

experience?

Robert Southey has written a poem in which he speaks about the companionship books have given him He says:

My days among the dead are past,

Around me I behold,

Where'er or these casual eyes are cast,

The mighty minds of old:

My ne'er failing friends are they,

With whom I converse day by day

The poet says that books are his never-failing friends; in their company he derives delight, and seeks relief and solace while in sorrow The poet's words in praise of books show that reading is a panacea for personal ills as well as for empathetic understanding and for vicarious pleasure

Wise men all over the world have extolled the value of reading Bacon has this to say:

"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man," Lamb loves to lose himself in other men's minds That is to say, he likes to enjoy himself in the company of books, which as Milton has described, are 'the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." In the words

of Emily Dickinson

There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry

Spencer's observation, "Reading is seeing by proxy", underscores the importance of reading in a man's life He sees the value of reading as a means to experience what the writer of a book has experienced himself That is to say, the reader sees what the writer has seen personally from the book written by the latter

Books are of different kinds; some give us useful information and knowledge; some give us the personal experiences of their authors; some are imaginative renderings of experiences What we call creative literature belongs to the third category When we refer to reading, we have invariably in mind the reading of imaginative literature In other words, by `reading' we mean reading novels, plays, poems, short stories,

travelogues, autobiographies, etc Imaginative literature is certainly different from books that are intended to pass on matter-of-fact, useful information and knowledge The second category of books dealing with personal experiences such as

autobiographies and travelogues is more akin to imaginative literature; for the books belonging to this category are 'the precious life-blood of master-spirits' Both categories

of books, namely, imaginative literature and literature based on personal experience, give us what the writers have 'seen' for themselves

The word 'seen' is placed within inverted commas because seeing is experiencing not only through our physical senses but also through our mind's eye What the poet

imaginatively conceives is his experience; perhaps what he imaginatively conceives is based on personal experience Wordsworth's poem on the daffodils or his sonnet, "Upon Westminster Bridge" are imaginative renderings of personal experiences The point is when we read imaginative works we are lost in the worlds created by the writers and experience with them their experiences Our own experiences are only second-hand, and therefore, vicarious This is what Spencer means when he says, "Reading is seeing by proxy'

We may illustrate the above point with one or two examples There is the famous novel,

"One Day in the Life of lvan Denisovitch", written by Alexandar Solzhonitsyn The

novel is an imaginative rendering of the author's own experiences in a Siberian camp in

the days of Stalin This can be said of his other novels like Cancer Ward, First Circle,

etc The novels enable us to experience, imaginatively of course, what went on in

Russia under the iron rule of Stalin So too Pasternack's Dr Zhivago helps us see

vicariously the conditions that prevailed in Russia at the time of the Revolution and the events that took place in the wake of the Revolution

Reading novels enables us to understand the culture of a people The Russian novels, the English novels, the American novels - all talk volumes about the peoples of the countries against the background of which the novels have been written Charles

Dickson's Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, etc., and Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckloberry Finn, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, etc and Tolstoy's War and

Peace, Anna Karenina, etc., to mention a few novels, are examples

Poetry is more intimate and personal than the novel or the drama Poetry gives

expression to recollections of experiences, present and past Wordsworth has defined poetry as 'emotion recollected in tranquility' and as 'the spontaneous overflow of

powerful emotions' What the poet deals with is his 'felt' experiences; reading poetry, therefore, enables us to 'see' what the poet has 'seen' The poet's experiences may be mundane or spiritual But his poetry opens up vistas for us

Yes, reading is seeing by proxy But is reading a substitute for experience? What we have stated above is that reading helps us experience vicariously what the poet, the novelist or the dramatist has experienced directly Vicarious experience is only second-hand experience; it is not first-hand experience There is a world of difference between first-hand experience and second-hand experience; one is direct, and the other is

indirect For instance, reading a travelogue and enjoying the scenes described in it is not the same as seeing the scenes and enjoying them ourselves Reading is, therefore, only a substitute for experience, and riot experience itself But then we cannot go through every experience ourselves; we have got to 'see' and 'hear' certain things through the eyes and ears of others

What qualities, in your opinion, make a book a "Best Seller"?

A 'best seller' is a book whose copies are sold in thousands There is an inner urge in the reading public to buy such a book The general reading public are normally averse to spending money on books As a result, most of the books just gather dust in the shelves; they do not sell at all unless the sales are pushed up through advertisements and other forms of media publicity But there are exceptions; those exceptions sell like hot cakes

as soon as they are published and continue to sell for years to come The question is: Why do these books, just a few in number, sell well?

The Bible is one of those books that are sold in large numbers What is the reason for the Bible to be a best seller? The Bible is sacred to the Christians, and there are many Christians in the world; every Christian home will generally have a copy of the Bible The Bible tells the story of the Jews, and of the birth and death of Christ, the Saviour Besides, the Bible contains holy teachings which, though more honoured in the breach than in the observance thereof, are sacred to the Christians If the reason for the

abundant sale of the Bible indicates anything, it is this: a book whose content is sacred

to thousands and thousands of people becomes ipso facto a best seller

If the religious character of a book boosts up its sales, it may so happen that the religious, blasphemous character of a book also can increase its sales We have the

non-classic example of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses To the devout Muslims The Satanic Verses is an irreligious book written with the obvious intention of attacking

Islam and its founder Prophet Mohammed The devout Muslims raised a hue and cry against the book and its author; the book, they say, is for burning A top religious leader made a call for the 'liquidation' of the author of the book All this arouses the curiosity

of the reading public; everyone who hears about the book desires to have a copy The book becomes a best seller It is the controversial nature of the book that makes it a best seller

It is not religion alone that makes a book controversial; political commitments, political compulsions and prejudice and perceptions arising from loyalties to one

socio-political system or the other also do For example, Pastermack's Dr Zhivago and

Alexander Solzhenitayn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitchgained popularity

enough in the West to become best sellers because of the controversial nature of the books and of the implicit criticism of Stalinist Russia contained in them In other words, the controversy generated by the novels was primarily responsible for the sale of the books soon after they were published The international recognition won by the books also accounted for their popularity

In order that a book should be a best seller it should be able to attract the attention of the people We have seen that the controversial religious, political, or socio-political character of a book may make it a best seller But more than this, it is the uniqueness of

a book that makes it popular, and therefore, best-selling The uniqueness of a book

arises from the originality of its theme and treatment Saul Bellow's Herzog and Mr Samler's Planet can be cited as examples Perhaps it is the uniqueness of Gitanjali that

not only earned Rabindranath Tagore his Nobel Prize for Literature but also made the book a best seller

It is the uniqueness of a book that makes it a classic, that makes it universally appealing

Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's plays, especially his tragedies, and Tolstoy's novels like Anna Karenina and War and Peace are examples of world classics that continue to

be best sellers

Other qualities associated with a book that is a best seller are its sensational nature and

the strident note of social protest inherent in its theme Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead a war novel , James Baldwin's Another Country, J.D Salinger's The

Catcher in the Rye and Alan Paton's Cry, The Beloved Country are examples

Another quality which appeals to the ordinary reader is the psychology of sex dealt with

in a book; perhaps it is this quality that makes the books of Harold Robins, Ayn Rand,

etc best sellers Nabakov's Lolita became a hot cake because of the overdose of sex in

it This is again the reason why Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover became a best seller

once copies became freely available

There is no one single quality that makes a book a best seller But no book can be a best seller unless it attracts public attention A book catches the eye of the reading public because of its uniqueness, its distinctiveness, arising from its theme as well as treatment

Joyce's Ulysses, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, etc attracted the attention of the

reading public because of their uniqueness A book also gains its distinctiveness from the universality of theme, from the fact that it caters to certain basic psychological and spiritual needs and urges For some sex may be the dominant urge; for some others yearnings for spirituality may be the urge; there are other urges and needs like one's eagerness to know more about human nature, about the exotic aspects of certain

cultures, etc A book that satisfies some of these basic needs and urges of man can be a best seller provided it has literary excellence in terms of theme, treatment and

innovative technique

"Material progress is meaningless if it does not go hand in hand with moral

and spiritual progress." Comment.

The word 'progress' generally unfolds before our mind's eye worldly achievements in terms of money, prosperity, physical comforts and amenities Worldly achievements constitute our material progress Usually every one of us aims at material progress - economic prosperity, professional success and more money accruing from it, etc But is

it enough that we achieve only material progress? Has material progress any meaning if

it is not accompanied by our moral and spiritual progress?

Most of us crave for progress and work for it But the kind of progress that we work for

is only material progress and worldly success We are over-enthusiastic about repeating spiritual slogans and doctrines, but are not keen on practising them We pray to God, not for spiritual regeneration, but for worldly success We are like Claudius in Hamlet; our souls remain below; our words go up Our feet are on the rungs of the ladder of worldly success with our eyes turned upwards and with our mouths watering for the bunches of ripe grapes Actually, our religious protestations, prayers and practices are only a means

to an end; we seek God's intervention to help us in our worldly success - in our material progress We do not pray for the betterment of our souls We are down- right hypocrites even when we pray We do not pause even for a moment and ask ourselves: "What does

it matter if we gain the whole world but lose our souls?"

Material progress alone is not enough; it should go hand in hand with spiritual progress Then only can we become developed, well-integrated individuals As Carl Jung says:

"Out of the fullness of life shall you bring forth your religion: only then will you be blessed."

It is not that material progress is not at all necessary; it is not that we should take to asceticism, austerity and poverty, and live like sages We should achieve material

progress; we should enjoy the fruits of science; affluence and prosperity should be achieved, and we should work for prosperity But prosperity should not blind us to 'the fruit of the spirit' Our prosperity should help us evolve ourselves into spiritually mature persons

'The fruit of the spirit' is a phrase used by St Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians By 'the fruit of the spirit' he means 'love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity' The qualities listed by Paul are observable human qualities

He gives us another list of qualities which make us less than human These qualities may be called 'the fruit of the flesh' and these are envy, hatred, idolatry, sexual

immorality, selfishness and so on

A spiritually evolved person is also a spiritually mature person and he shows

authenticity, compassion, responsibility, discipline, self-respect, realistic sense of guilt, and co-operative as well as creative approaches to human relationships He is a man of compassion, integrity and truth Spirituality should not be confused with other-

worldliness It is, as the Bahai faith says, enlightenment, which is the result of

knowledge, faith, steadfastness, truthfulness, uprightness, fidelity and humility It is the same as the Buddha's way which is to do good, avoid evil, and purify one's own heart; it

is the same as the five constant virtues of Confucian- ism: benevolence, righteousness,

propriety, wisdom, and sincerity

Material progress becomes meaningful only when it goes hand in hand with moral and spiritual progress A poet says that it is not in renunciation that we attain spirituality, but

in involvement:

Deliverance is not for me in renunciation, I feel

the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight

Thou ever pourest for me the fresh draught of thy

wine of various colours and fragrance, filling this

earthen vessel to the brim

My world will light its hundred different lamps with

thy flame and place them before the altar of thy

temple No, I will never shut the door of my senses

The delights of sight and hearing and touch will

bear thy delight

Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of

joy, and all my desires ripen into fruits of love

The poem says that we need not 'crucify the flesh' in order to become spiritually mature What is important is to combine our passions with 'the fruit of the spirit' If we kill our passions, we will be sterile in more ways than one and that is not conducive to healthy spiritual life

The dynamic factors of mature spirituality - courage, love, and wisdom - are intimately interconnected Courage is acting on the basis of love and wisdom and taking

reasonable risks Love is nurturing oneself and others with courage and wisdom And wisdom is a healthy balance of reason and intuition, and is always open-minded

The achievement of material progress should not be at the expense of our spiritual development Healthy spirituality is an ongoing process; it' helps us develop an

integrated personality A mind that is obsessed with material progress forgets human values We become less than human We should become well-integrated individuals by cultivating spirituality in the midst of our preoccupation with the pursuit of material progress

How could a scientist defend the view that science has failed mankind in

view of the large number of problems created?

Science has created problems for mankind Science is a blessing all right, but it is not an unmixed blessing Science has made life easier and more comfortable Science has made it possible for us to communicate with each other readily and quickly and it has made travel easy and fast Machines have enabled man to save hours of manual labour But science is responsible for the present-day arms race and the threat of nuclear war under which mankind exists today In view of the threat of total annihilation of mankind posed by nuclear advancement, there is the fear that science has failed mankind How can a scientist defend this view?

It is a fact that science has given us the spirit of objectivity and positivism that is

necessary for the development of human knowledge But it is also a fact that this spirit, when carried to unreasonable lengths in an unimaginative manner, militates against the original intentions The scientific method thus becomes misused The spirit of

positivism is exaggerated to such lengths that anything that is not proved by crude laboratory experiments is dismissed as superstition A complacent world believing in the creation of man by God was shaken when Darwin came out with his theory of evolution and the origin of the species Science makes us forgot that there is "much in philosophy than dreamt of in heaven and on earth."

The scientist would say that the most diabolical use of science has been in the cause of promoting the baser human instincts and that it is politicians and statesmen who are to blame for this Man uses science and technology for purposes of aggression; he uses the discoveries of science to win wars In the past men used only bows and arrows and swords to fight with one another But today thanks to science, he ha at his disposal guns, planes, ships, submarines, missiles, etc The race for weapons has led him to the discovery of nuclear weaponry He can even carry on biological and chemical warfare

In the Vietnam War harmful bacteria were used among peasants to spread diseases Chemicals were used to destroy acres of food crops This is an instance of how

scientific knowledge can be abused

The monopolisation of knowledge and machines has led to the subjugation of one class

by another and of a poorer nation by a richer nation The mass-produced consumer items have captured the market, thanks to machines This has resulted in the craftsmen and weavers going out of job

Multinational corporations from the richer nations sell old and hazardous drugs in the Third World Some of these corporations are engaged in the manufacture of deadly gas and the leakage of this gas, as it happened in 1984 in Madhyapradesh in India, can kill thousands of people The activities of some companies are a blatant violation of the very spirit of science which seeks to improve the lot of mankind through its discoveries The scientist cannot be blamed for this It is man's greed that is responsible - he wants profit

at any cost

It is true that science has improved man's living standards But this has been achieved at

a great cost to human fellowship The old community feeling has been lost In the past there was co-operation among people; today co-operation has given way to competition The culture of material acquisition and possession has grown to such an extent that the

worth of man is measured in terms of wealth and possessions, and not in terms of

character, intelligence and achievement As Paulo Friere, the Latin American

educationist, says: "To be is to have" Men today strain hard to possess status symbols, and not to develop spiritually Science has come to, mean materialism and material progress Science in a way is responsible for the destruction of spiritual values But the scientist cannot be found fault with for this Man's spirituality is at stake because of his materialistic tendencies

Man's dependence on science has made man a slave to machines He cannot live

without mechanical aids Man who has invented robots may be controlled by them All the things scientists have invented can be put to misuse

Many keen observers and writers have been calling our attention to the loss of a sense of values and to the resulting deterioration of large segments of contemporary society They tell us that we have been living under the illusion that more motor-cars, labour-saving devices and the like will bring happiness and usher in a better life Without a strong sense of values and of direction, however, the human spirit tends to weaken or deteriorate Technical devices can liberate man from drudgery and open up new

possibilities for cultural development They can also have a dehumanising effect and be potentially dangerous if there is no self-discipline and dedication to enduring values Frederic Lilgo in The Abuse of Learning establishes the point of view that Hitler's Germany was a nation of highly trained specialists who were only interested in facts and were confused about values and that, as a result, moral paralysis set in The crisis today

is due to the over-emphasis on science and technology at the expense of cultural values The steady increase in the crime rate, especially among juvenile offenders, can be attributed to this lopsided emphasis on science and technology

"Man's economic and social activities have always been conditioned by his

physical geographical environment " Discuss this statement.

The term 'economics' is derived from the Greek oikwnene - 'household' - and every housewife performs an economic act when she decides how to spend her family budget Even Robinson Crusoe on his desert island had to allocate his time between fishing, planting crops, or building his house and how to ration the limited supplies he had salvaged from his ship Robinson Crusoe, however, lived in a very simple economy Until Man Friday appeared, he had to do everything himself Today economic activity is specialised and co-ordinated through markets in all but the subsistence economies in the least developed parts of the Third World where families grow their food and make what else they need

In economic terms a market is not only a particular place where people buy and sell, such as a fish or fruit market, but also includes all those who are in contact with sellers and buyers of particular goods and services and can bring them together

What is important to note is that any economic activity aims at production of wealth to meet man's needs In his primitive days man hunted and found food for himself; food to him was wealth, and that was what he needed He depended on his environment for the kind of animals he could hunt for food Later, when man began to till the soil, he

cultivated only those plants that the soil of the region in which he lived was suitable for

So, he grew rice, wheat or other cereals, depending on the nature of the soil where he pursued his agricultural activity

As years passed by he found that certain items which he did not have he would be able

to get from other places through a system of barter That is to say, his economic activity got linked with the economic activity of people from other regions because of the

scarcity of certain items he was in need of The barter system gave way to selling and buying for money

From what is said above it is clear that man could pursue his economic activity in his early history only with the help of what was available or what could be made available

to him from his environment This is by and large true today too The resources

available in a country determine its economic activity For example, in the Gulf

countries the main economic activity centres round production of oil India which has extensive land remains primarily an agricultural country; this is so with countries like China and Russia In India itself, depending on the environ- mental conditions that vary from region to region, the agricultural activities present a diverse spectrum For

example, in Bengal and Kerala rice is produced whereas in the Punjab wheat is grown;

so also, in many parts of Maharashitra and the Uttar Pradesh sugar cane is grown This variety is due to the differences in climatic conditions and the character of the soil

Growing coconuts, rubber and pepper is an agricultural activity in Kerala This is

because of the suitability of the environment there for the cultivation of these crops Malaysia grows rubber in wide areas Again, it is because of the suitability of the

environment

Industries which have their moorings in agricultural activities are also conditioned by the environment Rubber is an agricultural product But rubber is the base for several industries For industries to grow we require raw materials Raw materials are products

of the environment This is why mining of coal, gold, minerals and metals as an

economic activity continues to depend on the environment

Not all economic activities need be conditioned by the environment This is because the world has shrunk because of easier and quicker modes of communication and transport Industries which bring in wealth can be located in areas that have nothing to do with the environment A thermal plant need not necessarily be situated in a place where coal is easily available Factories manufacturing fertilisers, for the same reason, need not be dependent on the environment

Social activities are very much bound up with economic and industrial activities The social activities of an agricultural community are different from those of a community

of people running industries This is why there is great divergence between the lifestyles

of those in cities and towns and of those in villages The social activities of a people are determined by their economic welfare, and the economic welfare in turn is conditioned

by the environment So, it is by and large true to say that the social activities of a people have a bearing on the environment

Social activities are an outward expression of the culture of a people By `culture' we mean a people's way of life, their food habits, dress, manners, etc In Kerala and Bengal people eat rice and fish, wear loin-clothes, engage themselves in festivities that have sprung from the native soil largely influenced by the environment and climate

In conclusion we may say that both economic and social activities are interlinked in such a way that the one cannot be divorced from the other The wealth that one

produces from economic activities utilising the resources available to him in his

environment becomes the guiding factor of his social activities

'The shrinking earth' What are the main ecological threats responsible for

this in the Third World?'

While the world shrinks owing to modem means of communication and transport, the land available for our habitation also shrinks, posing a problem which, if not attended to now, can threaten food production Agricultural land is disappearing fast and soil is being eroded or exhausted Deserts are marching and forests are disappearing The world, particularly the Third World, is being threatened with food shortage and over-population and the ills associated with these

Many areas are in danger of desertification The Sahara in about ten years has moved south by 100 kilometres The Thar desert in Rajasthan in India is marching at the rate of half a mile a year Deserts have eaten into the Horn of Africa and much of the south-west of the continent, and they are moving without interruption It is said that an area bigger than Great Britain is disappearing every year All this means that previous

agricultural land is being turned to desert Soil is being eroded, exhausted or blown away It is believed that if the present trend continues there would be very little farm land per person by the year 2000

The chief agent of this depletion is man who is indifferent to the sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems Land is laid waste by the impact of his activities As population increases, cultivation is pushed to new areas, thereby accelerating the process of

depletion of arable land Pastoral nomads and their cattle are other agents of this

destruction The land system cannot maintain these animals and it breaks down under severe strain This means that the animals of the pastoral nomads eat vegetation far more quickly than the earth can regenerate it

Another factor responsible for this shrinking is deforestation It has been estimated that half the forest area in developing countries has been denuded between 1900 and 1965 for cultivation purposes It is feared that, if Brazil's forests are cleared at the prevailing rate of 62,500 square miles a year, the Amazon forest will be soon destroyed, thereby depriving us of a quarter of the world's oxygen supplies A report of the Food and Agriculture Organization says that 86% of wood cut in developing countries is burnt as fuel Deforestation decays the soil and reduces its capacity to feed and employ people It also reduces rain, thereby causing droughts The rain that falls in the area runs off to rivers, taking with it the top soil suitable for cultivation This process can result in the silting of rivers which in turn can affect the irrigation system The long-term effect of deforestation is desertification It is said that in Java only 12% of the island has now tree cover The Indonesian government has reacted to the problem by reforesting and

outlawing shifting cultivation I'll fares the land where denudation is indiscriminately practised

Another ecological threat is salinization associated with which is water-logging Many

of the irrigation canals in the Third World are un- lined, and as a result water seeps down and raises the level of water table below This process brings the harmful salts leached down by rain to the root zone Plants, therefore, become stunted This salinity has been responsible for the damage of 15% of the irrigated land in India The estimate

is that about 300,000 hectares are lost to salinization and water-logging

The impact of these processes is the loss of arable land - the desertification of the earth Radical land reforms and formation of co-operatives can arrest the trend The sad fact remains that in many developing countries landlords frustrate government efforts There

is the tendency for the government to coddle cities and urban industries

Because of these ecological threats, by the end of this century, the earth would have shrunk so much that it may have to support one and a half times the present population

on three-quarters of its present cultivated area Land is essential for life, and the factors referred to undermine the livelihood of the people of the Third World When deserts march or the earth shrinks, the Third World beware!

Is space exploration worthwhile?

The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 26, 1986 and the subsequent disasters spread gloom across the world There was the need to look into the future and consider if astronauts be sent up in future and what should be the goals Is space

exploration worthwhile? There are compelling reasons why we should continue to go into space and explore it The possible spin-off is real

Temporary setbacks should not deter the space program There cannot be unimpeded advance in any field of human endeavour The fact that man has achieved outstanding success in space exploration is sufficient reason why the program should be continued, and the nature of the success achieved so far justifies space exploration In 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik into space, followed a month later by the launching of the first animal, the dog Laika, into space In January 1959 the Russians successfully flew Luna I past the moon Two months after, the American Pioneer 4 flew by the moon Though the Ranger missions missed their target and the first Apollo spacecraft, sitting

on the ground, caught fire, the space program had taken off On July 20, 1969

Americans, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon while Michael Collins orbited around it The space program achieved spectacular success in July 1975 when the Apollo astronauts linked up in orbit with two Russian cosmonauts Explorations by nature are hazardous; people have always died Setbacks are the price we pay for

advances

One of the main considerations for going into space is to take advantage of its resources There are staggering quantities of minerals for the taking - minerals on the Moon, in the asteroid belt and on other planets There are the resources of vacuum, solar power and zero gravity We have now communications satellites and they have linked up the world, and our planet has become talkative There are asteroids to tap for minerals Of the more than 2,000 of these flying mountains that revolve round the sun many are made up of pure nickel-iron alloy There are those asteroids containing carbon

compounds Apart from availing ourselves of these metals, other spin-offs are possible Asteroids may contain clues to the mystery of the formation of planets These

carbonaceous asteroids are to provide resources for making oil, synthetics and even food

Space exploration is worthwhile for another reason: to satisfy our instinctive urge to explore Throughout time man has expanded by exploring unknown regions

Exploration led to the discovery of the New World and the arrival of Europeans in the Indies, and these explorations have had dramatic consequences Explorations thrill scientists and space buffs; the benefits are shared by the whole world, and the urge to explore is satisfied, only to be aroused again Contacts yet to be established will be beneficial Wealth and enlightenment are to follow Let us hope that the success of future exploration will not lead to exploitation of any kind

Space exploration will add to man's scientific knowledge and help the advance of

science There is scope to solve the mysteries of the universe, and man must go up In the Space Stations to be built it will be possible, because of the zero-gravity, to

manufacture materials and medicines that are difficult or impossible to manufacture on earth It will be possible to monitor the earth, its weather and agriculture Zero-gravity should help us to convert ordinary metals into something rarer than gold Zero-gravity

alloys may give us whole new substances; perhaps our future buildings will be made of zero-gravity substances There is also the possibility of developing a superconductor with which we can conduct electricity without wastage The dust on the moon or the moondust will be a source of minerals Will not the airless, low-gravity conditions on the moon make it a prime site for industrial development?

There is scope to settle in worlds beyond our planet of birth Our planet is already overpopulated and in the next few decades millions will be added New technologies are

to help us to occupy other planets and transform them into livable places And the first place to be converted or 'terraformed' will be the moon Mars and Venus offer

opportunities for terraforming There is water on Mars, Venus, a virtual desert, can be colonized by transporting ice, perhaps from comets There is much that can be gained from space exploration, and space will be the answer to the many ills of our world Achievements so far and the possibilities that science and technology are to unravel make space exploration worthwhile

What is healthy eating?

Paradoxically, while people in some parts of the world are over-fed, there are millions

in other parts that are under-fed One group needs to watch their diet while the other has

to struggle for one square meal a day Nutrition is the business of all, whether the fed or the under-fed Healthy eating ensures healthy living And a healthy man is a happy man, and the reverse may not be true

over-Our ancestors ate what was available Many foods available to them were obtained for short seasonal periods Today we eat what we like, and eating has become a fashion and

a hobby We suffer from gourmet's diseases, and, generally speaking, we are aware of the consequences of unhealthy eating, i.e., eating what we like to eat and not what we need to eat The human body may be likened to a machine made up; of many

component parts working together to perform different functions Healthy eating

consists in eating food items that contain essential nutrients to ensure the proper

functioning of this human machine Over-eating can disrupt the functions while eating can impair them We have heard of famine-stricken countries where people suffer because of the lack of calories Their struggle is to have sufficient food

under-In affluent countries the problem is one of imbalance - too much in the way of calories and the lack of specific vitamins and minerals Healthy eating ensures a balanced diet What the human body requires for its proper functioning are essential nutrients that include protein, fats carbohydrates, water, vitamins and minerals The shortage of one of these leads to malfunctioning; extreme deficiency of nutrients can result in death

Vitamin C deficiency leads to easy bruising and bleeding from the gums and vitamin D

is required for healthy teeth and bones Vitamin B complex deficiency can impair the production of energy and the break- down or formation of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in the body, often causing anaemia It is said that without vitamins to add to our mineral framework we would all be like exhibits in museums

Fats are a source of our energy Polyunsaturated fats not only provide calories but also help the biochemical reactions in the body Essential fatty acids are vital for healthy living Saturated fats with which cholesterol is associated are often the cause of heart disease Apart from their energy-related roles, fats help in the building of body tissues The internally stored fat provides extra energy Subcutaneous layers of fat, those under the skin, insulate the body Moderate deposits of fats cushion internal organs like the liver and kidneys But food high in fats can be harmful and high fat diets are linked not only to obesity but also to heart disease To eat healthily one must control the fat intake, particularly if the life-style is inactive

Carbohydrates are the major source of energy Besides providing the most energy, carbohydrates are part of the body's connective tissue They are contained in those materials that determine our genetic inheritance They detoxify the poisons that invade

us Complex carbohydrate foods add bulk to the diet and ramrod the food through the digestive system

Minerals control the body's chemical balance Minerals come to us through nature's food chain The mineral content of our food is stored in our bone marrow and it is released to the cells when needed Overdose of a particular mineral can be fatal Healthy eating requires a wide variety of foods that can supply us with the right amounts of the

minerals we need

Protein is the stuff of which all body tissue is made They are vital There are times when the body needs relatively more protein than it does at other times For a growing child protein is vitally necessary Proteins are really combinations of hundreds of molecules called amino acids and eight of them are essential Protein foods with right proportion of these essentials have high biological value A diet without adequate proteins cannot be considered healthy

It is not the quantity that makes a diet healthy; it is the quality of the food and the amount of nutriment it contains Healthy eating provides the body with the foods that it needs to reach its full potential and maintain it in top running condition Healthy eating keeps us healthy and happy at all stages of our life Balance is essential: if there is a deficiency in the nutrients, the body will break down, and excess can be harmful

What are the main types of pollution, and what can be done to prevent

pollution or to reduce its effects?

Media coverage of pollution of our air and water and land often shocks us

Environmental research has given us valuable information about the different aspects of pollution, and it behoves us to be aware of our often inadvertent interference with the environment so that we will be able to take intelligent and appropriate steps to avert a possible catastrophe our own destruction through environmental pollution Pollution can affect what we eat, our air and the water we drink

Pollution can be incidental, usually the result of an accident as in Bhopal in India or at Chernobyil in the former USSR Then there is persistent pollution - pollution that goes

on all the time but does not receive as much attention as incidental pollution We are all familiar with the pollution caused by thick smoke from factories and the damage caused

to the ozone layer of the atmosphere by the use of aerosol sprays

Air is polluted by substances that may occur as solid particles, liquid droplets, gases or

as mixtures of these forms Carbon monoxide (CO) is the most abundant and widely distributed in the air we breathe Anthropogenic source contributes most to this type of pollution The presence of CO in motor-car exhaust is well known Other pollutants in emissions of internal combustion engines are hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides Air is also polluted by sulphur oxides Apart from these gases there are small, solid particles and liquid droplets collectively called particulates which are feared to affect the

respiratory system Modification of the internal combustion engines and development of exhaust system reactors are two measures to control pollution by motor-car emissions The four types of equipment used to control particulate emissions are gravity settling chamber, cyclone collector, wet scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators

The signs of water pollution are obvious: disgusting odours from lakes and beaches, shortage of drinking water, the toll on fish population and oil floating on the surface of water Pollutants from such sources as sewage, industrial wastes and effluent from slaughterhouses reduce dissolved oxygen in water which is a fundamental requirement for animal and plant life in water Lakes suffer from acidification Acidity damages aquatic life Burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, in power stations, factories, engines and other combustion processes produce sulphur and nitrogen gases which combine with oxygen and water vapour and finally causes acid rain Generally water has buffering ions to neutralise acidity When it lacks them, alkaline substances can be added Environmental damage caused by acid rain can also be lessened by reducing the amount of sulphur and nitrogen gases released into the atmosphere

Our dependence on oil-based technology leads to oil pollution of water, especially the sea Oil spills such as the blowout in 1969 at Santa Barbara when 10,000 tons of oil entered the ocean are serious enough but they represent the source for less than 10% of the total oil that enters the marine environment annually Waste oil and grease from industries contribute significantly to marine pollution Oil films in the sea retard its intake of oxygen and animal life is affected Water birds are damaged when they are smeared by oil Fish and lobsters that live in the bottom are killed and washed ashore

To prevent oil spill in harbours, floating booms are used Another method of combating this pollution is the use of water bubble barriers Certain chemicals are also used to gel

or solidify oil Then there are mechanical methods of clean-up

Tap water almost always contains harmless amounts of organic and inorganic

substances Inorganic substances such as lead and nitrates are cause of concern Lead is necessary for the human body, but it should not be more than 3 milligrams per week per person But dissolved lead pipes used in the distribution network aids lead to dissolve

To prevent this safer materials are to be used Another measure is to make water slightly alkaline by adding lime and soda ash The concentration of nitrates in drinking water should not exceed 50 milligrams per litre Treated sewage contains nitrates and it

pollutes river water Fertilisers used on land contain nitrates and they are washed down

to rivers by rain Nitrates can be treated at water works by a process called biological denitrification

Man pollutes his environment by continuous and indiscriminate release of human and industrial waste It is important that we realise our mistake and take appropriate action

to save ourselves and the future generations

Man is born free But everywhere he is in chain - J J Rousseau

Discuss the meaning and importance of freedom in the light of this quotation.

Every animal including man is born free All animals in their natural state, except man who is precluded by civilization to be in his natural state, are free Some animals lose their freedom only because of man's needs and deeds The world is 'open' and not 'closed' in its natural state; every animal - man is not exempted - desires novelty,

spontaneity and genuine creativity, which are the hallmarks of freedom

Man, though born free like other animals, is in chain everywhere This is because of the restrictions and restraints which he imposes on himself and which are imposed on him

by others For example, no one is expected to appear naked in public in the name of freedom There are social norms to be followed Different occasions demand different customs Man, living in a society, has to follow certain customs, conventions and traditions in the interest of harmonious existence; he cannot take the stand that he is absolutely free and that he can do things in his own way

Man, in the process of his change from primitive tribalism to civilized existence, has chained himself more and more to rules and regulations Unlike other living creatures,

he is capable of thinking and is intelligent to devise ways and means of exploiting his fellowmen This exploitation leads to his keeping them subdued and enslaved

Imperialism in the past and neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism today have only been instruments of suppressing the aspirations for freedom of the exploited A classic example of suppression in the modern world is witnessed in the policy of apartheid and racial discrimination practised in South Africa

The craving for freedom in any living creature is instinctive In man it is not only instinctive but also cerebral The fight for freedom with which one is born has been age-old It continues unabated, and it can be traced back until it is obscured in the dim past The Magna Carta, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the

American Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Supreme Court decisions on civil liberties in the United States, India, etc point to man's craving for freedom He has always said:

Off with the fetters

That chafe and restrain!

Off with the chain!

Emerson almost deifies Freedom; he sings:

My angel - his name is Freedom -

Choose him to be your King;

He shall cut pathways east and west,

And fend you with his wing

Today man in his civilised existence attaches importance to freedom in the sense of the protection of the civil liberties, of which the rights to think, speak, and write are

especially important These and related freedoms are not granted by the state or any

group in society, even though the state may need to exercise some control where

conflicts of rights occur If the state grants these rights, then the state can take them away, and that is what freedom-loving men in the past have not been willing to admit Those rights are human, social, natural or god-given, based on the nature of man and the conditions necessary for his development and the common good

Four kinds of freedom need to be distinguished There is first, freedom of choice, or moral freedom There is, second, freedom from external restraint, or physical freedom This is a particularly important issue where totalitarian governments are in power Freedom from external compulsion is very important Even a dog lies contentedly all day long in the shade of a tree, but whines miserably if tied to the same tree for five minutes Tom Sawyer's pals were willing to give up their most cherished possessions for a turn at white-washing his fence, but "would wail like fettered injuns", if told they must do the same thing at home Everyone is against compulsion and restriction of his freedom to choose

The third freedom is political freedom which includes equality before the law, trial before an impartial tribunal, and the right to vote or be elected Under political freedom come freedom of speech, thought, and conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly or organisation and a share in the control of the conditions of life

There is social and economic freedom Here, the question arises whether there should be control or legislative regulation of a man's business, professional, or other activities, or whether these should be free from all interference In the interest of the harmonious functioning of society, there must needs be checks and balances These checks and balances are bound to encroach upon the natural freedom of which Rousseau speaks

It is true that man is born free A civilized existence demands certain curbs on his natural freedom Today man has surrendered part of his freedom for the sake of his civilized existence This, however, does not mean that he is everywhere in chain Here and there man exploits man But in a civilized society man cherishes his moral freedom, his intellectual freedom, his political freedom and his economic freedom

"Arts and the appreciation of the Arts can improve the quality of life "Do

you agree?

Arts have an important place in modern society; in fact, these have had a great influence

on his existence right from the dawn of civilization While man generally concerns himself with the bare necessities for survival, he has never considered the mere

continuation of existence a sufficient goal Man is in part a creature who thinks and decides, but he is perhaps primarily a being with feeling, with a wide range of

responses His emotional reactions and feelings need to be cultivated and refined along with his thoughts, if he is to become mature These reactions and feelings belong to the realm of aesthetic experience It is man's aesthetic sense that enables him to make judgements, favourable or unfavourable, on artistic works, that is, on what he hears, sees, and reads Aesthetics holds surprises and insights for the inquiring mind Beauty in some form is recognised by men everywhere

How are aesthetic experience, beauty, and the arts related? Aesthetic experiences are basic and fundamental to art, and that which does not have aesthetic value cannot be termed art That is to say, the arts express beauty which is satisfying to our senses In much contemporary as well as traditional aesthetic theory, art is what is beautiful, and what is not beautiful is not art

Definitions of beauty are many and varied It has been defined as 'truth', 'the expression

of an ideal', 'harmony in diversity', and 'an intrinsic quality of things themselves' The modem trend in the interpretation of art, however, is not in full agreement with the traditional identification of art exclusively with beauty If an artist is endeavouring to give certain experiential qualities in an artistic form, then he must be free to express the ugly as well as the beautiful

According to modern interpretation, the artist portrays things as he 'sees' them, and so in many instances he must express the misery and the injustice, the ugliness and brutality, which are part of his vision of life Some works of art are not beautiful, and some

beautiful things like landscapes are not works of art The possession of beauty, however, may be taken as the criterion of art that is likely to continue to appeal to man

The purpose of art, all agree, is to bring immediate pleasure and satisfaction by

revealing certain experiential elements of reality; it can also fortify us in various ways to meet the practical demands of life Aesthetic response to music, for example, may be therapeutic It may stimulate or soothe us; it may change the rate of the heartbeat, ease digestion, or affect other bodily processes Aesthetic experience may help renew our spirits, exciting us and giving us courage and enthusiasm for some strenuous task The power of aesthetic experience in its different forms to create various moods, from

patience to a spirit of sacrifice, is well known

Aesthetic experience and response may help create a social bond between diverse individuals and groups by arousing sympathy, developing understanding, and producing

a desire for harmonious relationships The presence of beauty, whether in nature or in art objects, tends to make our lives qualitatively richer

Plato says that even ordinary human beings, if they are amid masterpieces of painting, sculpture, architecture, and so on, will be ennobled thereby If artists are gifted to

discern and disclose the nature of the beautiful and graceful, "then will our youth dwell

in a land of health, amid fair sights and sounds, and receive the good in everything, and beauty shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health-giving breeze." The young will imbibe a taste for beauty and decency and this will affect their entire lives Hunter Mead, while discussing the nature of aesthetic mood or attitude, mentions three

characteristics of the aesthetic attitude 'There is, first, the aspect of detachment; in this a person is released from the practical concerns of everyday living A second

characteristic is a disinterested and non-possessive aspect "To appreciate without the itch to acquire, to love without longing to possess, to contemplate with joy and

satisfaction but without thought of social advantage : this is to achieve the

disinterested attitude which is fundamental to the aesthetic mood." The third aspect is impersonal, and involves "the temporary elimination of certain expressions of the

personality." One is absorbed by the aesthetic object; in a sense one gets "outside

himself", transcends his narrow interests and acquires a new perspective This mood carries detachment and disinterestedness a stage further

Arts and the appreciation of them have a civilizing function This is the reason why we regard arts as an integral part of life; arts cannot be separated from the daily activities of men and women Arts certainly enrich our lives

"A civil government, even a weak one, is anytime preferable to a strong

military government "Do you agree?

Governments are necessary; without governments there will only be chaos This is why Thomas Paine says, "Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil." Paine

in his writings pleads for the rights of man; he knows that any government will have restrictions imposed on the citizens' exercise of absolute rights in the interest of order, harmony and peace in society Even the best of governments will have to do this

Curbing the rights of man, according to Paine, is an evil But since governments are a necessary evil, they should be tolerable ones Paine is convinced that "in its worst state" government is "an intolerable one"

Which form of government is the most tolerable? In the modem world monarchies have practically ceased to exist, even in the states where the heads of states are monarchs Great Britain has a monarch, but the monarch is only a figure-head, and the country is one of the strongest democracies in the world Nepal, a state ruled by a monarch, has also a form of democratic government Today people all over the world clamour for democracy; this is most pronounced in states that have been under single-party (mainly Communist) rule The modem world sees in democracy the most tolerable form of government This is because it knows that "no man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."

There are three basic types of government seen in the world today These are the

Western-style democracies, the people's democracies, and military dictatorships The Western-style democracy may be called 'liberal democracy'; it is found throughout western Europe, in North America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, etc People's democracies are modelled on the former U.S.S.R government, and constitute single-party rule Under the people's democracy, the government is all-powerful and is a form

of dictatorship Military dictatorships - which are the worst form of government - have come into being in some of the Third World countries where the fragility of

governments could not resist the might of the military craving for power

Military coups come about because the armed forces provide the only stable and

effective power base in a crumbling, fragile democracy or single-party rule The

common feature of military governments is that the armed forces, through their leader

or leaders, effectively dictate policy They may choose to do this invisibly, working behind a screen of civilian forms such as legislatures and cabinets This has been the case in Pakistan till recently and in Brazil since 1964 The armed forces may also

choose to rule openly themselves as in Chile and Argentina Many military regimes, create a political facade to buttress their rule Whatever be the subterfuges adopted by the armed forces to give their government a democratic semblance, the executive power

is wielded by the military; sometimes a military council controls a mixed civilian government The hallmark of a military government, whatever be its form, is the iron hand with which it rules; that is to say, no opposition to it or free criticism of its functioning is tolerated; freedom of the citizen is wholly curbed It is this aspect of the military rule that makes it intolerable

military-and-Liberal democracy or a civil government is any day preferable to a military government The military government may have enlightened economic, political, and social goals

But the very fact that dissent is not tolerated by it and the freedom of the individual and his rights are curtailed makes it objectionable and obnoxious In a civil government there is only limited control or restraint imposed on the citizen Government

intervention is there only to see that laws are obeyed, that the poor do not starve, and that children are educated The individual's dignity and rights are respected; his beliefs are not interfered with Dissent is tolerated; the policy pursued by the civil government alters as the views of citizens change To ensure all this there are safeguards in the form

of freedom of expression, and association, a freely elected representative assembly and methods of slowing the decision-making process of the government until public opinion has reached a settled conclusion Above all, the actions of the individual and the

government are subject to the scrutiny of an impartial and independent judiciary

Military governments are dictatorial; civilian governments are democratic A truly civilian government is democratic and liberal The world is veering towards the

adaption of democracy This is what we see today in Europe;

Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika are only the off-shoots of the citizens' craving for

liberal democracy

"No one in his senses would choose to have been born in a previous age

"Do you agree?

What does the statement, "No one in his senses would choose to have been born in a previous age", imply? It implies that the previous age was dull in comparison with the present age and that the thrill and excitement of living in the present age would not have been there in the previous age By the present age we mean the twentieth century, especially the second half of the century What has made this period so thrilling and exciting? What did the previous age lack in comparison with the present?

Till the Industrial Revolution the previous age must have been pretty drab and dull Our forefathers did not have the benefits of fast-moving vehicles like the airplane, the car or train The benefit of electricity and its uses was also not there People brave and

adventurous as they were - moved from place to place by bullock carts and sailing boats; for light they had to depend on lamps and candles Their knowledge about the world was limited

But since the second half of the nineteenth century there has been and explosion of scientific knowledge; there has also been an explosion in technical education, which A

N Whitehead describes as "the greatest invention of the nineteenth century - invention

of the method of invention" Interaction between science and technology has greatly accelerated the pace of technological development The scientist has furnished the technologist with basic information and experimental proofs and the technologist has come up with new techniques and precision instruments such as the computer

There has in other words been a technological revolution Since the Second World War, the progressive miniaturisation of components such as transistors and of electrical circuits has revolutionised communications It has facilitated the design of compact computers, and the expansion of cybernetics and automation Miniaturisation has made possible not only intercontinental ballistic missiles, but also the space programmes of the superpowers which provide satellites for the transmission of radio and television signals and for surveying the earth's resources

There have been developments in other important spheres too Bio-technology, the manipulation of man's own body, has made spectacular advances The pharmaceutical industry provides an array of drugs to combat dreadful diseases By saving life,

medicine has paved the way for the population explosion, but has also abated it where possible by contraceptive chemistry There has been great progress in medical

knowledge and in the adoption of methods for cure and prevention of diseases

Science and technology have thus vastly increased man's powers All these inventions give us a lot of thrill and make our life on this planet quite exciting Who knows

whether we will not be able to make occasional flights to Mars and similar other

planets? But the thrill and excitement vanish when we think of the misuse to which science and technology can be put A Third World War can wipe off human civilization from the face of the earth In other words the progress man has achieved in material terms also spells his doom

The question may well be asked: Have we any reason to be jubilant over our space

flights and revolutionary communication systems with the Damocles' sword of nuclear war hanging over our head? The answer is 'no' So, to be alive in the present age, to be born in this age, is not to be linked with good luck or fortune

The man who would choose to have been born in a previous age can be said to be in his senses because he would have certainties to go by and spiritual values to ennoble him

In the present age he would have only material comforts under the shadow of an

uncertain future Perhaps his life in the present age will be exciting for him, if he can make wise use of his scientific and technological knowledge and at the same time make the world a better place to live in The saving aspect of this age is that Fascism and Communism are being replaced by liberal, democratic ideals and that there is much talk, and a good deal of action too, taking the world to a new federal order in which peace and harmony will prevail If at all the present age has to be preferred to the previous age, it is for the exciting idea of a new world order and for the translation of this idea into a reality

Would you rather be virtuous or happy?

The quest for a happy life engrosses every human being But every- one tends to define happiness in a distinctly individualistic fashion Philosophers and thinkers have

attempted to define a happy life The Hedonists have a simple notion that happiness consists in the gratification of physical appetites There are others who believe that happiness is attainable through the acquisition of material goods The more

intellectually inclined tend to think that happiness lies in the pursuit of literature, arts and philosophical thoughts Emotional satisfaction which is to be found in human relations - love for one's parents, wife, children, etc., and friendship - also gives one happiness To R G Ingersoll, "Happiness is the only good", but to Shelley it is

something elusive; he sings:

Ye seek for happiness - alas, the day!

Ye find it not in luxury, nor in gold,

Nor in fame, nor in the envied sway

The definitions are varied, But all of them suggest that happiness is a state of mind and that different people derive happiness in different ways To some it is physical

gratification or emotional satisfaction; to many it is intellectual There are many who believe in the saying, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" But the be-all and end-all of life does not consist in eating and drinking and that happiness cannot be derived from these two elemental activities There are also people whose mental make-

up is such that they derive a lot of happiness if they arouse jealousy in others and 'feed fat' the grudge and hatred they have against their enemies

One would wish to be happy and at the same time be virtuous One need not make a choice between being happy and being virtuous That is to say, one would like to lead a virtuous life that would give happiness too No one can be perfectly happy Life is a mixture of joys and sorrows There is the fact of the existence of suffering too

Unhappiness or pain accompanies the experiences of birth, illness, failure to satisfy desires, separation from friends and loved ones, old age and death Even the more fortunate are unable to ward off old age and death This is a basic truth about life which

is mentioned in all the religions of the world The Buddhist philosophy speaks of

suffering as a universal problem of life in a world that is finite and changing A second truth which Buddhism upholds is that suffering is caused by desires or cravings These desires tend to grow or increase as we attempt to satisfy them A man wants ten

thousand dollars, then he wants a hundred thousand, then a million, and his wants do not cease This kind of desire is the real cause of unhappiness, but it is encouraging to know that it is within our control, and that something can be done about it If men rise above desires and ally themselves with values to which these desires are irrelevant, they may find a serenity unaffected by any of the calamities that befall them

A third truth mentioned in Buddhism is that desires can be destroyed or blotted out There is also a fourth noble truth in Buddhism and this truth is that we have a way-out through the Noble Eightfold Path Buddhism mentions the fact that evil and suffering can be removed if only we have the right knowledge about the nature of our self

One may derive happiness from life by following the Eightfold Path The Eightfold Path

insists on right understanding, right aspiration or purpose, right speech, right conduct, right mode of livelihood, right striving or effort, right mindfulness and right

concentration One's happiness is very much dependent on one's virtuous conduct which

in turn consists in the elimination of lower nature, including selfishness, and in the attainment of peace and contentment, joy, insight, and love and compassion for all living beings

What is the relationship between freedom, rights and duties?

Freedom is a nebulous, abstract concept It admits of different and conflicting

interpretations The concept is nevertheless the very essence of human existence; for the exercise of an individual's freedom may result in the subjugation of another Freedom or the exercise of it can degenerate into licence or tyranny

Freedom, according to some, is the absence of social control Thoreu, for instance, believes that the best government is the least government' He nevertheless admits the necessity of some government There are, however, others who denounce all forms of social control; they may be described as anarchists According to them `freedom' is unlimited They little realise that anarchic freedom will lead to chaos and that the law of the survival of the fittest will prevail This will result in a primitive situation where the strong are free and the weak are enslaved

There are, on the other hand, many who view unlimited individual freedom with

suspicion They believe that any deviation from the restrictions imposed on the

individual will shake the foundations of a stable society But they little realise the fact that lack of individual freedom will take away all initiative from the individual resulting

in the society remaining static instead of being dynamic

Neither anarchic freedom nor total denial of freedom is good to society; the first leads to chaos and disorder; the second results in a static society which will ultimately collapse under the deadweight of its own rigidity In either case it is evident that freedom is a social concept; even though it is the individual that exercises freedom or that is denied freedom, the consequences are inevitably social in nature

C.E.M Joad compares man's situation to that of a pack of porcupines huddling together with a felt wrapping around each one of them so that their quills will not hurt one

another That is to say, freedom is to be exercised by individuals within the limits of the law; the law brings into effect social control Lack of social control and unlimited exercise of freedom result in the actions of one proving uncomfortable for another On the other hand, if there is too much of social control, individual freedom is denied, and there is stagnation all around Individual freedom, therefore, has to be exercised in such

a way that the rights of others are not trampled upon

Man requires a high degree of integrity and social consciousness for the proper and legitimate exercise of his freedom In The Fear of Freedom Erich Fromm argues that a low level of social consciousness makes man misuse his freedom by either oppressing his fellowmen or by running away from the exercise of freedom

Proper and prudent exercise of freedom by an individual means taking into account the duties he has towards his fellowmen Every individual has his rights as a citizen These rights include freedom of thought and speech, freedom of movement, freedom to pursue

a profession of one's choice, etc But these rights and privileges are controlled by the law in the larger interests of the harmonious functioning of society In other words, when an individual exercises his freedom as a right, he has a duty to follow

scrupulously the laws of his land You have the right to pursue a profession of your choice, but this does not mean that you can carry on smuggling or drug-trafficking which are banned by law You have the freedom of movement; this does not mean that