Nature and Development

The unit opens with four pictures of development projects. Here is what each shows, and why a project like it matters to the nation.

Picture	The project	Why it matters
A dam across a wide river, with a canal leading water away through fields	irrigation: a barrage and canal that carry river water to farms	Fields that get water all year can grow two or three crops instead of one, so farmers earn more and the country imports less food.
A highway curving into the twin mouths of a road tunnel in green hills	roads and tunnels	A tunnel cuts out steep, slow climbs and landslide-prone bends: journeys get shorter, safer and cheaper, and goods reach markets faster.
A concrete dam and power house in a deep rocky gorge	hydropower	Nepal’s rivers can make clean electricity for homes, factories, electric vehicles and cooking, and the extra can be sold to neighbors.
A large airport terminal with a control tower	an international airport	It brings tourists and trade straight to a region, not only to Kathmandu, and creates jobs around it.

Before you read

What kind of text it is

The text is adapted from an article by Arbind Shrestha whose full title asks a question: is the fast track a blessing or a curse? It is organized like a report: a short introduction with the facts and figures, then the benefits under headings A to E, then the drawbacks under A to C, and a conclusion. That plan, facts → benefits → problems → conclusion, is the one you will use in Writing I.

The article, part by part

1. What the fast track is

The fast track is a mega (very large) highway project of strategic importance: important for the country’s long-term plans, not only for the people who drive on it. The figures in the article:

	Length
the whole fast track, Khokana (Lalitpur) to Nijgadh (Bara), at the East–West Highway	72.5 km
road	55.49 km
87 bridges	10.60 km
three twin tunnels	6.41 km

The journey is expected to take about one hour. (Add up the three lengths: 55.49 + 10.60 + 6.41 = 72.50 km, the whole road.)

2. The benefits

The writer calls the benefits “blessings” that bring prosperity and progress, and lists five.

A. Faster economic growth. Because the road is much shorter, vehicles burn much less fuel, and the article says the saving on fuel could be worth billions of rupees. Being so close (proximity) will help the economy. It also gives a viable (workable) new route to tourists who enter Nepal across the southern border, including tourists from beyond India.

B. New skills. High bridges and twin tunnels need technology that is new to Nepal. Nepalis who work on the project will sharpen their knowledge and skills with it.

C. Jobs. The project is sure to create jobs for young people, which will help families improve their economic condition.

D. Kathmandu and the Terai within reach. A shorter road at higher speed facilitates (makes easier) the Terai people’s access to health care, education, jobs and new markets. Cheaper transportation lowers the cost of moving goods, so goods cost less for the people who buy them. It will connect the planned Nijgadh International Airport to the capital. And after natural calamities such as earthquakes and floods, it can carry food, water and medicine.

E. A less crowded valley. With the Terai an hour away, people can come into Kathmandu for its services and go home the same day, instead of settling there. That would reduce the density and congestion of the valley, the idea of a greater Kathmandu that stretches beyond the valley.

3. The drawbacks

Then the turn: the road also brings constraints (things that limit what it can do) and burdens. The writer names three.

A. Road users and traffic safety. Nepal’s roads are already vulnerable (weak, unsafe). The fast track is designed for an average speed of about 70 km/h, and high speed, with drivers who don’t follow the rules, can cause more accidents.

B. Link roads. The fast track will work well only if smooth link roads join it to the other highways and to the cities. The roads from the fast track’s end to the city (its zero point) must be improved and widened to accommodate (make room for) the extra traffic. Without them, the jams just move to the ends of the new road.

C. The environment. Building it harms the environment: dust from blasting rock, quarrying (digging stone out of the ground) and dumping soil; and the trees cut down for it. This deforestation adversely affects the area: cutting forests lets air pollution accumulate (build up), and the land is degraded (made poorer).

4. The conclusion

The fast track promises a socio-economic revolution: big changes in how people live and earn. But such a noble aim can be reached only with innovative (new) strategies and advanced technology in our transport system.

Words from the article

Word	Meaning here
infrastructure	the basic structures a country needs: roads, bridges, power lines, water pipes
mega	very large
strategic	important for a long-term plan
enhance	to improve, make greater
prosperity	being rich and successful
proximity	nearness
viable	able to work; a real choice
facilitate	to make an action or a process possible or easier
transportation	moving goods or people from one place to another
calamity	an event that causes great harm and misery; calamities is the plural
density	how crowded a place is: people for every square kilometer
congestion	being too crowded; traffic jams
deficit	the amount by which something is less than what is needed
constraint	something that limits what you can do
vulnerable	weak and without protection; easily harmed
accommodate	to provide space for; to have room for
quarrying	digging stone out of the ground
accumulate	to collect or increase gradually
degradation	making something worse in quality: land degradation
innovative	using new methods or ideas

A. Crossword

B. Choose the best answers

C. Answer the questions

D. The environment

These words are said differently in British and American English. Both are correct; what matters is to be clear, and to recognize both when you hear them. (Dictionaries show (r) for an r that Americans say.)

Word	British	American	The difference
vitamin	/ˈvɪtəmɪn/	/ˈvaɪtəmɪn/	vit- or vite-
privacy	/ˈprɪvəsi/	/ˈpraɪvəsi/	priv- or prive- (British speakers use both)
schedule	/ˈʃedjuːl/	/ˈskedʒuːl/	sh- or sk-
advertisement	/ədˈvɜːtɪsmənt/	/ˌædvərˈtaɪzmənt/	stress on -ver- or on -tise-
leisure	/ˈleʒə(r)/	/ˈliːʒər/	lezh- or leezh-
mobile	/ˈməʊbaɪl/	/ˈmoʊbl/	-bile or -bul
vase	/vɑːz/	/veɪs/	vahz or vace
dynasty	/ˈdɪnəsti/	/ˈdaɪnəsti/	din- or dine-
herb	/hɜːb/	/ɜːrb/	Americans don’t say the h
produce (noun, fruit and vegetables)	/ˈprɒdjuːs/	/ˈproʊduːs/	prod- or prode-
basil	/ˈbæzl/	/ˈbeɪzl/	baz- or baze-
garage	/ˈɡærɑːʒ/ or /ˈɡærɪdʒ/	/ɡəˈrɑːʒ/	stress on gar- or on -rage
hostile	/ˈhɒstaɪl/	/ˈhɑːstl/	-tile or -tul
montage	/ˈmɒntɑːʒ/	/mɑːnˈtɑːʒ/	stress on mon- or on -tage
salon	/ˈsælɒn/	/səˈlɑːn/	stress on sal- or on -lon

When we talk about what will happen, or what has happened, we often can’t be certain. English has many ways to show how sure we are, from certainly to certainly not.

How sure	About the future or now	About the past
certain: yes	It’s sure to rain. It will definitely / certainly rain. It must be raining.	It must have rained.
probable	It’s likely to rain. It will probably rain.	It probably rained.
possible	It may / might / could rain.	It may / might / could have rained.
improbable	It’s unlikely to rain. It probably won’t rain.	It probably didn’t rain.
certain: no	It can’t be raining. It definitely / certainly won’t rain.	It can’t have rained.

Note where the adverbs go: after will, but before won’t: It will probably rain. It probably won’t rain. You met must, might and can’t for working things out in Unit 4; here they are used together with the others.

A. What will happen next?

B. Two conversations

Conversation I. Yugen asks where Karan is. Each friend answers with a different degree of certainty:

• Ritik: It is two o’clock, his working time, so “he must be at his office”: he is almost sure.
• Samyog: “He might be at the canteen”: only a possibility.
• Binay: His car is still in the parking, so “he can’t have gone out”: he is sure it didn’t happen.

Conversation II. Hema asks if the price of petrol will go down.

• Dilasha is pretty sure it will go down when people use more electric vehicles.
• Crystal thinks it is unlikely to go down, because the demand for petrol is rising day by day.
• Sneha thinks it certainly won’t go down: if it does, the producers will cut production to push it back up.

C. Your own conversations

English has no single future tense: it uses several forms, each with its own meaning. You met them all in Grade 9; here is how to choose among them, which is what exams test.

Form	Example	Use it for
will + base	I’ll help you. It will rain tomorrow, I think.	a decision made now, an offer or promise; a prediction that is your opinion; future facts
be going to + base	We’re going to visit Rara. Look at those clouds: it’s going to rain.	a plan made before; a prediction from a sign you can see now
present continuous	We’re leaving on Saturday.	an arrangement fixed with others (tickets, a meeting, a time)
present simple	The exam starts at 11.	a timetable: schedules of buses, flights, exams
future continuous: will be + -ing	This time next week, I’ll be trekking.	an action in progress at a time in the future
future perfect: will have + past participle	By Sunday, we’ll have arrived.	an action finished before a time in the future (often with by)
future perfect continuous: will have been + -ing	By noon, we’ll have been walking for six hours.	how long an action will have gone on, up to a time in the future

A. Match the sentence halves

B. Choose the future form

How to write a report

A report tells a reader the facts about something you have studied or seen, in an organized way, so that they can understand it and decide what to do. It is written in a formal, factual style.

1. Title: A Report on…, then who it is for, who wrote it, and the date.
2. Introduction: what the project is, where, who runs and pays for it, and how you collected the information.
3. Main body, under headings: the progress, the benefits, the problems. Use the past and present perfect for what has happened (has been laid), the future forms for what is planned (will be reaching).
4. Conclusion and recommendations: sum up and say what should be done.

Before you read

The poet and the poem

William Wordsworth (1770–1850) was one of the great English Romantic poets, who wrote about nature, feelings and ordinary life. In 1798 he and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads, which changed English poetry. He lived most of his life in the hills and lakes of north-west England, the Lake District, and became Poet Laureate, the nation’s official poet, in 1843. You may know his poem about daffodils, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.

So it is a surprise that one of his best-loved poems praises a city. Early one summer morning in 1802, he and his sister Dorothy crossed Westminster Bridge in a coach on their way to France. London, which he usually saw as crowded, noisy and smoky, lay silent and shining in the sunrise, and he wrote this poem about it.

The poem is a sonnet: 14 lines, each of ten syllables in a da-DUM rhythm (the BEAU-ty OF the MORN-ing). It is a Petrarchan sonnet, in two parts:

• the octave, the first eight lines, rhyming abbaabba (fair, by, majesty, wear, bare, lie, sky, air): what he sees;
• the sestet, the last six, rhyming cdcdcd (steep, hill, deep, will, asleep, still): what he feels.

The poem, part by part

Lines 1–3: Nothing on Earth is more beautiful

The speaker opens with a bold claim: the Earth has nothing to show more fair (more beautiful) than this view. Anyone who could walk past a sight so moving, so full of majesty (grandeur), without stopping would be dull of soul: someone with no feeling at all.

Lines 4–8: The city wears the morning

Now he tells what he sees. The city wears the beauty of the morning like a garment (a piece of clothing): the morning light covers it like a beautiful robe. It is silent and bare (uncovered, with no smoke or crowds). Ships on the river, towers, domes (round roofs, like St Paul’s Cathedral), theaters and churches lie open to the fields around the city and to the sky, all bright and glittering in the smokeless air: the thousands of coal fires that usually darken London have not yet been lit.

Lines 9–11: More beautiful than the countryside

The sun has never steeped (soaked, bathed) any valley, rock or hill more beautifully in its first splendor (brilliant light) than it does this city. And he has never seen or felt a calm so deep. This is a surprise from a poet of nature: he is saying that the city, at this moment, is lovelier and more peaceful than the countryside he loves.

Lines 12–14: The sleeping giant

The River Thames glideth (glides, flows smoothly) at his own sweet will: as it pleases, with no boats hurrying on it. “Dear God!” he cries: even the houses seem to be asleep, and the city’s mighty heart, the great, busy center of the city that pumps people and trade through it like blood, is lying still. In a few hours London will wake up and become noisy again; for this moment, it is at peace.

The poet’s devices:

• Simile: the city wears the morning like a garment.
• Personification: the city wears a garment; the river glides at his own sweet will; the houses seem asleep; the city has a mighty heart.
• Metaphor: the mighty heart of the city, its busy center, which is lying still.
• Listing: Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples: one sweeping look across the whole view.
• Exclamations: Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! Dear God! show how strongly he feels.
• Inversion, words in an unusual order for emphasis and rhythm: Dull would he be of soul (he would be dull of soul); Never did sun more beautifully steep (the sun never steeped more beautifully).
• Archaic (old) forms: doth (does), glideth (glides), ne’er (never), unto (to).
• Contrast: the busy city he knows against the still city he sees; the city against the countryside.

Words from the poem

Word	Meaning
fair	beautiful (an old meaning)
majesty	great beauty that fills you with respect; grandeur
doth	does (old form); doth wear = wears
garment	a piece of clothing
bare	uncovered, plain
dome	a round roof on a building
glittering	shining with many small flashes of light
steep (verb)	to soak something in a liquid; here, to bathe in light
splendor (British splendour)	great, brilliant beauty
ne’er	never
glideth	glides: moves smoothly and quietly (old form)
mighty	very great and strong

For the old forms thou, thee, thy and dost, see Unit 4’s poem.

A. Dictionary meanings

B. Complete the summary

C. Answer the questions

D. Your place at dawn

A. Before you listen

The textbook’s listening task is a short description of the Pan-American Highway. CDC’s own recording is below: read the questions in B and C first, then listen, as many times as you need. The answers are hidden under the questions; after that, practice with a report of our own that your browser reads aloud.

B and C. The textbook’s audio: answers

The future perfect continuous is will have been + -ing. It looks back from a moment in the future and says how long something will have been going on up to then, usually with for:

• By the time we reach home, the children will have been staying alone for two hours.
• In June, my father will have been working in Qatar for five years.
• By 9 p.m., the trekkers will have been walking since dawn.

	Future perfect: will have done	Future perfect continuous: will have been doing
says	that it will be finished by then	how long it will have gone on by then
example	By noon we will have climbed the hill.	By noon we will have been climbing for three hours.
with	by + time, already, a number done (three hills)	for + a length of time, since

A. A Dashain visit to Karnali

B. Choose the future form

A. Study the notice

The model notice in Writing II is a school’s notice about a tree plantation programme. Look at its parts, which every notice has:

1. The name and address of the organization giving it (the school, in Lamjung), at the top.
2. The date of the notice.
3. The word NOTICE, in capitals, in the middle.
4. The body: who it is for (all the students), what is happening (a tree plantation programme), why (to raise awareness of conserving trees, for World Environment Day), when (5 June) and where (on the school grounds), and what readers should do (take part actively).
5. The name or post of the person giving it (Headteacher), at the end.

B. Write a notice for your Child Club

British and American English differ not only in accent but in spelling. These pages use American spelling; many books in Nepal use British. Examiners accept either, but keep to one in an answer. The common patterns:

Pattern	British	American
-re / -er	centre, metre, litre, theatre	center, meter, liter, theater
-our / -or	colour, humour, neighbour	color, humor, neighbor
-ise / -ize	apologise, organise, recognise	apologize, organize, recognize
-yse / -yze	analyse, paralyse, catalyse	analyze, paralyze, catalyze
ae, oe / e	oestrogen, paediatric, anaemia	estrogen, pediatric, anemia
-ence / -ense	defence, offence, licence (noun)	defense, offense, license
-ogue / -og	analogue, catalogue, dialogue	analog, catalog, dialogue (dialog for a computer’s dialog box)
doubled l before -ed, -ing, -er	travelled, travelling, traveller, fuelled, fuelling	traveled, traveling, traveler, fueled, fueling

SEE-style practice on this unit. Try each one as in the exam, then open the answer.