Unit-5, Lesson-1 (A)
Read the passage. Then answer the questions (1-2) below.
Meherjan lives in a slum on the Sirajgonj Town Protection Embankment. The whispering wind from the river Jamuna makes the fire unsteady. The dancing flames remind Meherjan of the turmoil in her life.
Not long ago Meherjan had everything a family, arable land and cattle. The erosion of the Jamuna gradually consumed all her land property. It finally claimed her only shelter during the last monsoon. It took the river only a day to devour Meher’s house, trees, vegetable garden and the bamboo bush. She had a happy family once. Over the years, she lost her husband and her family to diseases that cruel hunger and poverty brought to the family. Now, she is the only one left to live on with the loss and the pain. The greedy Jamuna has shattered her dreams and happiness. There are thousand others waiting to share the same fate like Meherjan. Bangladesh is a land of rivers, some of whose banks overflow or erode during monsoon. Erosion is a harsh reality for the people living along the river banks. During each monsoon many more villages are threatened by the mighty rivers like the Jamuna, the Padma and the Meghna. It is estimated that river erosion makes at least 100,000 people homeless every year in Bangladesh. In fact, river erosion is one of the main dangers caused by climate change. If we can’t take prompt actions to adapt to climate change, there will be thousands of more Meherjans in our towns and villages every year.
2. Answer the following questions in your own words.
(a) Do you agree with the view that we should take prompt actions to adapt to climate change? Why?
(b) How was Meherjan’s life earlier?
(c) Why are many more villages in the threat of erosion?
(d) Why does the writer call the Jamuna greedy?
(e) Where does Meherjan live and how does her living place look like?
3. Read the following text and fill in each gap with a suitable word based on the information of the text.
Answer: 1. (a) iv. To make loud deep harsh sound, (b) iii. Climate change, (c) ii. exterminated, (d) iv. she is feeble, (e) i. climate change, (f) ii. unstable, (g) ii. in one.
2. (a) Certainly, we must take prompt action to adapt to climate change. Otherwise gradual rise of river erosion will take the lives of lots of Meherjans every year.
(b) Earlier, Meherjan was well-off. She had everything- a happy family, cultivable land, cattle and bamboo bush.
(c) Many more villages are in the threat of erosion during each monsoon because of the climate change human beings brought about through their actions.
(d) Meherjan had everything. But the erosion of the river Jamuna had snatched all away. Like a greedy person, the Jamuna devours all her dreams and happiness. So, the writer calls the Jamuna greedy.
(e) Meherjan lives in a slum on the Sirajganj Town Protection Embankment. She has a polythene roofed living place which looks like a cage.
3. (a) rise, (b) bodies, (c) more, (d) number, (e) relying/depending.
লেখক : প্রভাষক
বীরশ্রেষ্ঠ মুন্সি আব্দুর রউফ পাবলিক কলেজ, ঢাকা
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