Describe an incident when a moment of forgetfulness got you into trouble.

The morning sun shone persistently on my still-shut eyelids. Annoyed, I rolled on to the right side of my mattress. Wondering about the time, I stretched out my arm to grasp the little, round alarm clock on my bedside table. I forced open my eyes, focused them on the numbers ... and screeched! Leaping out of my bed, I swung open the wardrobe door. Throwing my school uniform on the bed, I dashed to the bathroom. Halfway, I spun around and grabbed my school bag, deciding not to brush my teeth. Soon, I had shoved my feet into my shoes and pounced onto my bicycle. My parents stood motionless, staring at me as I whizzed past. As my bicycle raced on, I noticed a group of schoolgirls looking my way with great interest. Well, well! Obviously, I was still attractive even with uncombed hair. My heart was pounding furiously in my chest as I whirred past a few cars on the road. The drivers seemed to stare with disbelief that one could pedal so swiftly. In no time, I reached the school gate, which was just about to be closed. Without bothering to explain myself to the priggish duo on guard duty, I hopped off my bike and dashed off. After locking my precious iron steed at the shed, I sprinted to the school hall. As I burst into the hall, I braked to change direction and made a beeline for the back of my class. Screeching to a halt, I took my place behind my classmates. In the whole gathering of students, I seemed to be the centre of attraction. It did not matter much to me at the moment for I was used to being looked at. However, to say the least, I was a little surprised when everyone stopped staring blankly at me and started to giggle. Suddenly, the whole hall was filled with roars and bellows of laughter. Smiling at my audience, I decided to take a bow. Then, I noticed that the bottom half of my trousers were the wrong color. My line of vision moved upwards, revealing that the rest of my pants were also the wrong color, and so was my shirt. At first, even my powerful brain could not figure it out. "Daniel! Why on earth are you in pajamas?" my friend blurted out amidst the hollers of laughter. The feeling of sheer horror swept through my entire frame. My mouth was stuck open in an "0" shape for a few long seconds. My mind was filled only with shock as darkness mercifully started to engulf me. Once again. I awoke with lights playing on my eyelids. At first I had little memory of what had happened, but one look at the group of people peering down at me brought the whole incident back to mind. The young boys were all clad in white uniforms and grinning quite lunatically at me. In. the high corner of the room, I saw a red crescent. Then the horrible little squirts started to call out for their seniors. Outside, I heard fresh gales of laughter. The brats were chortling. I was still clad in pajamas. Not knowing what else to do, I feigned unconsciousness again ...

in no time make a beeline for gales of laughter

in a relatively short time to straight to a forceful outburst

The problem of deforestation.

Thousands and thousands of acres of lush rain forests are cleared each year to make way for development. The once beautiful and spectacular forests are reduced to barren landscapes. This is for the sake of development, for the advancement of man. Yet, what happens when trees are felled? Firstly, the earth is left vulnerable to soil erosion. The heavy tropical rains will carry away the rich topsoil, and the land without its topsoil will no longer be fertile. Slowly but steadily, the lush vegetation will give way to wasteland. Secondly, the flowing water will not only wash away the topsoil but will deposit it in the rivers. As a result, the rivers will become shallower. Consequently, floods will become frequent in the area. Thousands of people will suffer in these floods. Another point to note is that forests are home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Animals and plants live in symbiotic relationships in the balance of nature. Man destroys this balance when he flattens the forests to the ground. Where do they go then, the great and tiny inhabitants of these forests? Nowhere. They die. If this goes on, the food chain will be disrupted. As creatures dependent on the food chain, man is ultimately destroying his own sources of food through the destruction of rain forests. When forests are a distant memory, a shocking fact will hit us full force. Mankind will be thrown into a state of unimaginable suffering and agony. What I am talking about is the lack of oxygen. While cutting down a tree to add yet another piece of luxurious furniture to Man's already opulent lifestyle, people forget that they are also cutting down our supply of oxygen. Trees absorb the carbon dioxide breathed out by living creatures, reprocess it and, in the end, produce the life-sustaining oxygen. Without trees, where will this oxygen come from? Will we process it in factories? Will a time come when man will be fighting for the very air he breathes? Furthermore, the excessive carbon dioxide will also effect a change in the micro-climate and raise the region's temperature. There will be a greenhouse effect on earth; warm air and radiation will be trapped under the earth's atmosphere. Then, as the earth's temperature rises, the ice in the polar caps will melt, raising the sea level. Great floods will hit the lower-lying areas. As you can see, it is a vicious cycle. A change in our environment will trigger off another change which will trigger off yet another. This is why we. should keep the balance of nature.

This is why we ought to preserve our forests. This is why environmentalist groups are pressurizing governments to reduce the felling of trees and the clearing of forests and to be serious about replanting forests. With the support of ordinary citizens like you and me, they will get the attention of the people in power. We can also help by planting trees. Members of this beautiful planet must be united. By preserving our forests, we are preserving ourselves. lush opulent trigger off abundant rich, luxurious, affluent put in motion

"Friends should never hide anything from each other." Do you agree ?
No man is an island. Everyone depends on his friends to a certain extent. Ever since man formed a system of verbal communication, all people have been in constant chatter with one another. Relationships are important to man, so much that people may shape their entire lifestyles simply to find favor with their clique or circle of friends. Therefore, much caution must be applied when dealing with our friends, especially in our speech. So then, must we always tell our friends the whole truth and nothing but the truth or is it sometimes simply none of their business? One thing is clear: finding out that your friend has lied to you always hurts. In cases where lies have been told to hurt you or other parties on purpose, the friendship will never be the same. If the lie caused you great damage, the friendship will not be salvageable. Who would want a treacherous person for a friend? Yet, even when the matter is not of great importance, little lies can lead to the spoiling of relationships. I have a friend who often tells little untruths. Sometimes, he exaggerates circumstances a little, just to impress others, sometimes he tells half-truths to get out of trouble, sometimes, he makes up stories just to entertain his friends. Personally, I just do not feel comfortable with him. You see, I just never know whether he is telling the truth or one more of his little lies. Apart from the question of maintaining credibility, sharing one's problems and joys with a friend can also be helpful as we deal with the problems of daily living. As the saying goes, shared joy is double the joy and shared sorrow is half the sorrow. Sharing the good times can brighten up a friend's day if he feels down. Sharing one's problems and despairs with a friend will bring forth the encouragement and advice we need to hear. Sometimes simply having an ear to hear our heart's cries and knowing that someone understands us will make us feel better. People have been saved from suicide just by having a friend to listen to their troubles. It is clear, then, that some things need to be said to our friends without any twisting of the truth. However, there are times when telling a friend too much can also lead to problems. An

all-too-common example of such a time is when one hears rumors. Gossip can start simply because someone thought a rumor was true and shared all her thoughts on the rumor with a friend. The friend, who actually had no real knowledge of the matter, passed all her thoughts and ideas to another friend and so on and so forth. The final result can be a mangled product which could really hurt the parties involved. The thing to do about rumors is not to spread them, even if you have strong opinions, about them. Another noteworthy fact is that sometimes, telling the truth may be worse than saying nothing. If an ugly girl with an inferiority complex were to ask you if she was unattractive, it would be a very bad idea to tell her just how unattractive she was. One must use his discretion in such situations, stressing on her good qualities, of course. Telling the whole truth in this case would destroy her remaining shreds of confidence. In conclusion, I feel that friends, even the closest of friends, need not tell each other everything they know or feel. Some matters, of course, should be discussed with friends, while some others should be hidden. We have to balance our love for truth with the practicalities of the situation. Not being perfect, we are bound to make mistakes, of course. So, one must then be prepared to make up with our friends, apologizing for our verbal blunders and forgiving them for theirs. Well, that's what friendship is really about -accepting people for what they are, imperfections and all. clique treacherous noteworthy a small group of people who spend their time together extremely dangerous deserving attention because important or interesting

What do you understand by 'fashion' and why does fashion change?

The word 'fashion' is generally used to mean style in clothing, 'style' meaning what is popularly accepted, admired or regarded as exclusive i.e. not available to the majority either because they lack the taste or the money to follow it. However fashion applies to many other things than dress and hair-styles e.g. house, building and the general design of most consumer-goods ranging from cars to kitchen appliances. The word also applies to customs, personal manners and standards of moral behavior. It certainly covers forms of speech, use of words and accents within a language. All these things change from time to time, sometimes abruptly. Sometimes a form of dress, a phrase, or a custom may drop out of fashion but then come back for no obvious reason. However, the reason for change is usually apparent. In the West post-war clothing fashions have been the subject of change because of the higher standard of living enjoyed in most European countries. Take England as an example. In pre-war

days high fashion was the monopoly of the wealthy or well-to-do woman. If a woman works to a tight budget she will have to buy clothes and shoes for warmth and durability rather than appearance. During the war clothes for both sexes were rationed anyway, on a coupon system. This austerity, followed by post-war full employment, for women as well as men, started the fashion ball rolling. Men's fashions have always remained relatively static, variations in suits and shoes remaining fairly minor. However the freedoms of the 1960's moved young men into a much more informal style of dress, which reflected their casual attitudes, behavior and morality. The tee-shirt and denim jeans became almost statutory for the young of both sexes. Recently there has been slight return to formal dress, although the hat has, for no apparent reason, become the symbol of the elderly men, and, for most occasions, women too. Returning to women's fashions. A third reason for the constant changes lies in 'haute couture' as big business. At one time a new and exclusively styled garment from a couturier in Paris was sold only to the rich. The same garment today is only exclusive in its label, though a few models are sold to the rich as one-offs. The real business lies in the sale of the model to the massproducing firms which bring new styles to the big stores in the High Street. Thus the shop-girl can wear the same style in clothes and shoes as Princess Diana. A fourth reason for change is that women like change for its own sake. They prefer two or three different outfits to one, in the course of a year. Mass-produced fashion clothes and shoes are therefore not made to last. They become 'disposables.' Another reason for changes in customs, manners and morals, lies in subtle changes in ideas and outlooks. The Butch appearance of some western women reflects feminism, as does the lookalike garb affected by some couples. For men or women to live together in a homosexual relationship, so far from causing ostracism, is now accepted as fashionable in some quarters. Some men no longer open doors for women, stand when they enter a room or give up their seats in a railway carriage. Many women regard this once accepted behavior as male chauvinism. Other changes in fashion occur because of the power of propaganda, advertising and political pressure groups. The anti-smoking lobby has largely succeeded in keeping all public places smoke-free. The lobby has considerable backing from the medical profession. The term 'fashion' applies also to the written and the spoken word; B.B.C. English, spoken in an 'Oxbridge' accent was used exclusively by newsreaders and public speakers until the 60s. In that decade local accents became more fashionable, due partly to the prominence given to popgroups, especially if they came from Liverpool, such as the 'Beatles' or from the Midlands or the North. Changes in accent and expression have greatly affected both the theatre and the television play; subject matter is also very different today. The term 'kitchen-sink drama' sums up the process. Novels have also undergone fundamental changes in fashion, partly because of travel and partly because of a shift in political interest. Today best-selling novels are usually spythrillers or books which deal with contemporary subjects such as aircraft, banking, electronics or industrial espionage; others result from a new and sometimes sentimental review of England's past glories, her old wartime achievements, her social and industrial progress in Victorian and Edwardian days and her colonial power up to 1939.

one-off ostracism sum up

something that happens or is made or done only once to prevent people from taking part in the activities of a group to quickly form an opinion about someone or something

How can we as individuals become more healthy?

The three basics are food, sleep and exercise, though the balance depends on age. As we get older, we tend to need less of all three. Metabolism slows with age, so we feel less hungry; with age we become less active and therefore need less sleep. However, all three basics are required at any age if we are to remain relatively young and healthy throughout our allotted span. For the purpose of this essay, let us assume that you are a young man or woman of about eighteen years. You have an interest in sport as well as in academic work, preparatory to employment. You look forward to a long, active trouble-free, healthy life. No doubt you have been inoculated against the common killers such as typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria etc. Let us also assume that you have been born with healthy genes and have both a normal resistance to disease and a good recovery rate. You were not born with any physical defects or handicaps which require special medical treatment. You have an average to good health record. You wish to keep your health, even improve it. Take food. The temptation is to overeat. Stop when you stop feeling hungry. When this is socially difficult go without the next meal. What to eat? Try to avoid convenience foods; keep the intake of carbohydrates, fats and sugar low. Protein builds the body without thickening the waistline. All this of course assumes that a balanced and varied diet is available. Nobody could lecture the Ethiopian or the refugee or the very poor on this subject. When to eat? Three meals a day should be enough for a young man; one too many for an old man. Eating sweets, chocolates, ice creams, cakes etc between meals can undo all your good intentions. Fresh vegetables, not over-cooked, are excellent. If you can obtain fresh food in variety, good. Eat according to the rules, and forget food! And don't forget, ladies, that you also need food. Too much slimming can destroy appetite and lead to the downward spiral of starvation; anorexia. Sleep is even more crucial than food. Eight hours per night for the young person, six to seven for the elderly. A medium to hard bed and circulating fresh air make for the deepest sleep. Most experts advise going to bed seasonably early, say not much after 11 p.m. The late-night film or disco should be the exception. A seasonable amount of exercise is essential to everybody. Most young people play sport, often team games, football, basketball etc and this, plus walking, sunning and cycling keeps the body in tune and sets up the kind of strength and stamina which pays dividends in later life in health. It is a mistake to give up activity when we exchange studentship for employment. All too quickly the body runs to fat. Some sedentary workers are out of breath after climbing one flight of stairs.

Strenuous exercise in youth, phased down to walking, golf and swimming in later years, goes a long way to prevent heart and respiratory problems. Any normally healthy person, sticking to the above regime, will get healthier and stay that way. Yet, these are three final points. The first is to try to learn to kill needless anxiety, and to adopt a positive approach to life. Nobody can predict the future, so day by day living, albeit with an overall plan, is required. Worry and depression, i.e. psychological weakness, can be very detrimental to health. The second is to practice normal hygiene. Cleanliness, especially in food preparation, is essential. Yet, nobody can create a totally sterile environment. Most of us have more built-in resistance to disease, however, than we imagine. Thirdly, smoking and alcohol. If you have never started, don't. However, and despite the pressure lobbies, moderation in both has never been finally proved harmful. Field Marshal Montgomery once boasted to Sir Winston Churchill, 'I neither smoke nor drink, and I am 100% fit'. Churchill replied, 'I do bath, and I am 200% fit.' Churchill outlived Monty by many years. inoculate To give a healthy person or animal a small amount of weakened disease germs to protect them from the disease. a serious illness often resulting in dangerous weight loss involving little exercise or physical activity

anorexia sedentary