Comprehension passage - SS1 English Lesson Note

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

A wind of change is blowing across our country, traditions and cultures are changing in all parts, though more rapidly in some areas than others. In remote areas, changes are very slow because people there cling to old ways of doing things. But in the big towns, things are different. Globalization is driving change at a fantastic speed. One other influential agent of change is the youth.

Most children go to school and their social lives are influenced by the way of life outside their homes. Young people who leave home to work in distant places return with many new ideas. Old skills and beliefs and the traditional ways of doing things give way to new ones. For example, with the acceptance of foreign religions, many traditional beliefs and practices have lost their importance. Story-telling, an interesting mode of entertainment, has given way to new forms – video and computer games, movies and so on. The youth take immense pleasure in these electronic gadgets, especially those that play their type of music as families earn money and become wealthy, they tend to be independent of the support of their kinsmen. Money and employment are bringing people into new kinds of relationships. Consequently, the traditional family has been replaced by a social grouping that is not determined by blood relationships. Imperceptibly, language is also contributing to this change. The widespread use of English and some local languages has brought about a welcome sense of national unity and peace. People who speak the same language feel related to one another. Thus ethnic barriers are being removed, dealing a desired and deadly blow to tribalism. In fact, there are people who now claim that they do not belong to any ethnic group at all.

The rapid growth of other foreign languages, such as French and Hausa, has generally increased the ease with which people can communicate with one another and has promoted mutual understanding. As a result, people are becoming increasingly aware that they belong to a community that is national, not one that is composed of only their kinsmen.

The most powerful force of social change is the media. Many people can now read and write. News travels at the speed of light nowadays. Newspapers reach people in even the remotest regions bringing up-to-date information about world affairs to them. Since people imitate what they see and consider trendy, they copy what they see in the media. One area is the world of fashion. Today, one can hardly differentiate between the youth who live in the city from the one in the rural area by their way of dressing.