Jamb English Language Past Questions For Year 2016
Question 21
Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows.
Curiosity is as clear and definite as any of our urges. We wonder what is in a sealed telegram or in a letter which someone else is absorbed or what is being said in the telephone booth or in low conversation. This inquisitiveness is vastly stimulated by jealousy. Suspicion or any hint that we ourselves are directly or indirectly involved in. But there appears to be a fair amount of personal interest in other people's affairs even when they do not concern us except as a mystery to be unravelled or a tale to be told. The reports of a divorce suit will have news 'value' for many weeks, They constitute a story like a novel, a play or a moving picture. This is not an example of pure curiosity. However, since we readily identify ourselves with others' their joys and despair then become our own concern.
Adapted from Harris, W. and L.G Wilson (1963) The University Handbook,New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston
From the passage, it can be deduced that curiosity thrives
- A. through conducts that are inimical to our activities
- B. if we are able to probe into what others are thinking
- C. only if we become suspicious of people's motives
- D. if the subject of discussion is of interest to us
Question 22
Read the passage carefully and answer the question that follows.
Curiosity is as clear and definite as any of our urges. We wonder what is in a sealed telegram or in a letter which someone else is absorbed or what is being said in the telephone booth or in low conversation. This inquisitiveness is vastly stimulated by jealousy. Suspicion or any hint that we ourselves are directly or indirectly involved in. But there appears to be a fair amount of personal interest in other people's affairs even when they do not concern us except as a mystery to be unravelled or a tale to be told. The reports of a divorce suit will have news 'value' for many weeks, They constitute a story like a novel, a play or a moving picture. This is not an example of pure curiosity. However, since we readily identify ourselves with others' their joys and despair then become our own concern.
Adapted from Harris, W. and L.G Wilson (1963) The University Handbook,New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston
The word absorbed as used in the passage, means
- A. disturbed
- B. engrossed
- C. covered
- D. entailed
Question 23
Boxing is sometimes called' the noble art of self defence'. According to some people, boxing appeals to the lowest instincts in the ....11....who have come to watch blood flow and their fellow human suffer Boxers who are medically fit appear in the ....12.... The referee sometimes allows the .....13... to go on for long so that one of the ...14... is reduced to a human punch bag.It may happen that the boxers are not well ...15... one being much stronger than the other, as a result of which he so much .....16... his opponent that he wins ....17.... Many boxers have suffered permanent brain.....18... in the ....19.... of punches that have been thrown at them during their....20....
Choose the most appropriate option for the gap labelled [....17.....] above
- A. by knock-out
- B. by a knock down
- C. by a punch-up
- D. by a punch down
Question 24
Boxing is sometimes called' the noble art of self defence'. According to some people, boxing appeals to the lowest instincts in the ....11....who have come to watch blood flow and their fellow human suffer Boxers who are medically fit appear in the ....12.... The referee sometimes allows the .....13... to go on for long so that one of the ...14... is reduced to a human punch bag.It may happen that the boxers are not well ...15... one being much stronger than the other, as a result of which he so much .....16... his opponent that he wins ....17.... Many boxers have suffered permanent brain.....18... in the ....19.... of punches that have been thrown at them during their....20....
Choose the most appropriate option for the gap labelled [....16.....] above
- A. underrates
- B. overrates
- C. outclassess
- D. outfits
Question 25
Boxing is sometimes called' the noble art of self defence'. According to some people, boxing appeals to the lowest instincts in the ....11....who have come to watch blood flow and their fellow human suffer Boxers who are medically fit appear in the ....12.... The referee sometimes allows the .....13... to go on for long so that one of the ...14... is reduced to a human punch bag.It may happen that the boxers are not well ...15... one being much stronger than the other, as a result of which he so much .....16... his opponent that he wins ....17.... Many boxers have suffered permanent brain.....18... in the ....19.... of punches that have been thrown at them during their....20....
Choose the most appropriate option for the gap labelled [....15.....] above
- A. levelled
- B. groomed
- C. sparred
- D. staged
