Odisha State Board CHSE Odisha Class 12 Approaches to English Book 1 Solutions Unit 4 Text B: Powershift Textbook Activity Questions and Answers.
CHSE Odisha 12th Class Alternative English Solutions Unit 4 Text B: Powershift
Activity-5:
Vocabulary:
Find the words from the passage which more or less mean the following:
(i) Shocking or amazing(1)
(ii) Careful watching a suspect (2)
(ii) boring and uninteresting (9)
(iv) to include something in a larger group(10)
(v) a group of three similar things(18)
Answer:
(i) Shocking or amazing – astounding
(ii) Careful watching a suspect – surveillance technologies
(iii) boring and uninteresting-tedious repetition
(iv) to include something in larger group-subsume information.
(v) a group of three similar things – the Patriarch of a family President of a company. Prime Minister of a nation.
Activity-6
Writer’s Bias:
‘Our best computers are still stone-axe primitive’. The italicized metaphor emphasizes the obsoleteness and inadequacy of our best computers. Can you find any other such expression in the passage which have a metaphysical meaning? Do you such expressions convey the writer’s bias?
| Expression | Meaning | Any bias of the writer |
Answer:
| Expression | Meaning | Any bias of the writer |
| Stone-axe primitive | obsoleteness and inadequacy of our best computer | undeveloped condition of our computers. |
| ‘dumb’ weapons | uncaring for | violent, abortive |
| power-seekers | people seeking power | power hungry, selfish |
Activity – 7:
In many old-fashioned Grammar books, you may find some objection to the use of one-line paragraphs. Are there any one-line paragraphs in this passage? Why does the writer use them? Is he justified in using such small paragraphs?
Answer:
Yes, there are some one-line paragraphs in this passage. They are:
- Besides its great flexibility, knowledge has other important characteristics that make it fundamentally different from lesser sources of power in tomorrow’s world. (Paragraph – 12)
- Today in the first changing affluent nations, despite all inequalities of income and wealth, the coming struggle for power will increasingly turn into a struggle over the distribution of and access to knowledge. (Paragraph -12).
The writer makes use of such one line paragraph in order to put forth his own views in the midst of a general discussion. He is quite justified to have used such a paragraph system.
Activity – 8:
Note-Making:
In the first section of the passage, we came to know that-
1. Force and wealth of knowledge.
2. Knowledge —> power.
3. Force and wealth g knowledge.
That is to say, force and wealth depend on knowledge, is the source of the highest quality power and knowledge is the most important ingredient of force and wealth. Now, make point notes on Sections 2 and 3 using such symbols wherever possible.
Answer:
Weapons and surveillance technologies & knowledge
Knowledge —> computers.
Non-facts and disputed facts a power conflicts in society. False and lies / ‘true’ facts and scientific ‘laws’ —> knowledge.
Activity-9:
Answer the questions as briefly as you can:-
Question (i).
How does Toffler establish that knowledge is the most important ingredient of force and wealth?
Answer:
The military which rests on force uses computerized knowledge. The advanced economy can not for thirty seconds without (knowledge) computers.
Question (ii).
How does he distinguish among ‘data’ information and ‘knowledge’?
Answer:
‘Data’ means more or less connected ‘facts’, ‘information’ refers to data that have been fitted into categories and classification schemes or patterns; ‘knowledge’ means information that has been further refined into more general statements.
Question (iii).
Why is the second section named ‘facts’, ‘lies’, and ‘truth’?
Answer:
Facts, lies, and truth are the things around which the second section has been centered. The whole section is a reflection of most things.
Question (iv).
How is it that knowledge is the most democratic source of power?
Answer:
Knowledge is the key to all kinds of things. It encompasses the means of communication that shapes the message that flows through them. Unlike bullets or budgers, knowledge itself gets used up. The revolutionary characteristics of knowledge that it can be grasped by the weak and poor as well make it the most democratic source of power.
Question (v).
What does Toffler mean by the concept of power-tria? (Paragraph -18)
Answer:
The power tria-patriarch of a family, president of a company, and Prime Minister of a nation wants to control the quantity, quality, and distribution of knowledge within his or her domain.
Question (iv).
Look at the introduction and the conclusion and say briefly, how they relate to the body paragraph of the exports.
Answer:
The introduction starts with knowledge of the part which had never imagined such an explosion of knowledge in the modem world. The conclusion tells that the modem knowledge has reached such a zenith that its provision is not too far. The control of knowledge has become the most important aspect. The introduction and conclusion of the passage are just like prefixes and suffixes ofthe body. The body passage is just an advancement between the introduction and the conclusion.
Extra Activity – 9(A)
Find words in Text – B and use them first as nouns and then as verbs in sentences of your own.
| mind | shape |
| speed | dispute |
| rule | play |
| Advance | form |
| run | help |
| make | use |
| turn | process |
| concern | race |
| force | control |
Answer:
| mud | (N) You can’t change his mind. (V) Mind your own business. |
| speed | (N) We should not drive cars in a high speeds. (V) You should speed up your writing. |
| rule | (N) The students must obey the rules of the college. (V) Akbar ruled for a long time |
| advance | (N) The employee asked for an advance. (V) The army advanced forward. |
| run | (N) The player could not make a good run. (V) I can run five kilometers. |
| make | (N) The watch is a foreign make. (V) I can’t make a fire now. |
| turn | (N) His turn came last. (V) All his efforts turned into failure. |
| concern | (N) Power has become the principal concern of politics. (V) This book concerns human liberty. |
| force | (N) He exerted force to extract money. (V) Don’t force me to do this. |
| shape | (N) The shape of the globe is round. (V) Education shapes human personality. |
| dispute | (N) The two brothers are in dispute for land division. (V) We should not dispute for a piece of land. |
| play | (N) The play was very attractive. (V) He plays cricket every day. |
| form | (N) I want an admission form. (V) We have decided to form a club. |
| help | (N) I want your help to do this work. (V) I can help you in this matter. |
| use | (N) You should know the process use of a computer. (V) I always use a ballpoint pen. |
| process | (N) This is not the process of preparing coffee. (V) He processed everything for the meeting. |
| race | (N) He participated in the 100 mtrs. race. (V) He raced along the street to catch a thief. |
| control | (N) Our government provides much stress on fund control. (V) We should always control our anger. |
Section – B
There is a popular saying ‘knowledge is power’. How can it be true? Give examples to explain this equation. Now, read Alvin Toffler’s ‘Power – shift’. You may find some of your points mentioned. You must focus your attention on the way Toffler presents those points while reading the text.
Power-Shift Summary in English
Summary:
From satellites to submarines, modem weapons are constructed of information-rich electronic components. Today’s fighter plane is a flying computer. Even ‘dumb; computers are manufactured with the help of supersmart computers with electronic chips. The military, to choose a single example uses computerized knowledge – ‘expert systems’ – in missile defense. The Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (D ARPA) has set as a long-range goal the design of a system that can make ‘one million logical inferences per second’.
Logic inference, and epistemology – is short, brain work by humans and machine is today’s precondition for military power. It has so become that the advanced economy could not run for thirty seconds without computers. Therefore, knowledge is not only the source of the highest quality power but also the most important ingredient of force and wealth. Put differently knowledge has gone from being an adjunct of money power and muscle power to bringing their very essence.
It is, in feet, the ultimate amplified which is the key to the power shift that lies ahead. There are as many definitions of knowledge as there are people who regard themselves as knowledgeable. Matters grow worse when words like signs, symbols, and imagery are given highly technical meanings. To make things simple and escape from these definitional quicksands, even at the expense of vigor, the term knowledge will be expanded in the pages ahead.
However, besides its great flexibility, knowledge has other important characteristics that make it fundamentally different from the lesser sources of power in tomorrow’s world. Thus force, for all practical concerns, is finite. There is a limit to how much force can be employed before we destroy what we wish to capture to defend knowledge, in principle different and infinitely expandable. Knowledge is also inherently different from both muscle and money because one gun can not be used simultaneously by two people. But by contrast, both ofthe men can use the same knowledge either for or against each other, and in that very process, we may even produce still more knowledge.
Unlike bullets or budgers, knowledge itself does not get used up. This alone tells us that the rules ofthe knowledge power game are sharply different from the precepts relied on by those who use force or money to accomplish their will. In fact, today, in the first changing affluent nations despite of all inequalities of income and wealth the coming struggle for power will increasingly turn into a struggle over the distribution of and access to knowledge. The control of knowledge has become the most important necessity which can save humanity.
Analytical Outlines
- It may be a satellite.
- Even it may be a submarine.
- The modem weapons are constructed of information-rich electronic components.
- Today’s fighter plane is a flying computer.
- Even we may consider the ‘dumb’ computers.
- They are manufactured with the help of super-smart computers.
- They are manufactured with electronic chips.
- Let us consider one burning example.
- It is that the military uses computerized knowledge.
- They use ‘expert systems’.
- They use it in missile defense.
- The Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agents have designed such a system.
- This system can make one million logical inferences per second.
- This logic inference is epistemology.
- Its use has increased military power.
- The advanced economy can’t run without computer knowledge.
- It becomes the source of the highest quality power.
- It also becomes the most important ingredient of force and wealth.
- It becomes an adjunct of money power and muscle power.
- In fact, it is the ultimate amplifier.
- It is really the ray to the power shift.
- There can be as many definitions of knowledge as there are people.
- Actually, matters grow worse.
- Words like signs, symbols, and imagery are given highly technical meanings.
- However, we can provide a simple definition of knowledge.
- Hence, the term knowledge will be given an expanded meaning.
- Actually, knowledge is greatly flexible in its meaning.
- It has other important characterization too.
- It makes it fundamentally different from other lesser sources of power.
- Thus, force is finite for all practical concerns.
- The employment force depends upon the wish of capture or defense.
- Knowledge is also inherently different from both muscle and money.
- Because one gun can not be simultaneously used by two people.
- But, by contrast, both of men can use the same knowledge either for or against each other.
- Through this process, We may even produce still more knowledge.
- Unlike bullets or budgers, knowledge itself does not get used up.
- The rules of knowledge are different from those who use force or money to accomplish their will.
- In feet, today, the nations are fatty changing.
- Even if they are having inequalities of income or wealth.
- They are in greater struggle in the distribution of knowledge.
- The control of knowledge has become the most important necessity.
- Because it can save humanity.
Meanings Of Difficult Words:
congeal – thickening of a liquid.
Pentagon – Headquarters of the US Department of Defence.
cliche(s) – A frequently used idea that has lost effectiveness.
chasm – a very deep creek (in rock, earth, or ice)
erus – the most important part of a problem.
sweeping – moving rapidly, quick movements
genius – a talented mind, a person having fabulous intelligence
astounding – amazing, surprising, wonderful
technologies – technologies that make their master’s mere servants.
supersmart – doing things very smartly even more smartly than expected.
epistemology – theory of knowledge
diverse – different, not the same of similar
maldistribution- uneven, distribution of wealth.
affluent – rich, abundant, plenty, having a lot.
abuse – misuse, wrong use of something
threat – danger, jeopardy