SYNONYMS

Fudge: (v); adjust or manipulate, tamper

SYN: misreport, tinker with, doctor, juggle
Clever accountants fudge the numbers to evade taxes.
Levitate: (v); rise or cause to rise and hover in the air
SYN: float, hover, glide, waft, fly, soar up
The magician levitated the woman.
Nicety: (n); a fine or subtle detail or distinction
SYN: subtlety, nuance, refinement
Legal niceties are wasted on him.
Occult: (adj); hidden and difficult to see
SYN: veiled, recondite, cryptic, arcane, abstruse,
The book examines the occult elements of the propaganda.
Peroration: (n); The concluding part of a speech
SYN: conclusion, summation, recapitulation, epilogue
The peroration of the speech is particularly impressive.
Trice: (n); an instant (usually used as in a trice)
SYN: instant, jiff, jiffy
Ask for a service, and somebody will be there in a trice.
Wanton: (adj); sexually immodest or promiscuous
SYN: immoral, unchaste, lecherous, lascivious, salacious
She lives her life as a wanton woman.
Wilted: (adj): not firm
SYN: diminished, dwindled, waned, weakened
The Valentine flowers are wilted and the candy is all gone.
Venial: (adj); (of a fault or offence) slight and pardonable
SYN: condonable, tolerable, all right
Of course, we’re all guilty of venial syntactical sins.
Nummary: (adj); of or relating to coins or money
SYN: nummular, coinage
The varieties of nummary denominations of different countries are
reconciled by the par of exchange.
ANTONYMS
Awry: (adj); in the wrong position; askew.
ANT: straight, symmetrical
But, King George’s smile was a bit awry tonight.
Crass: (adj); showing no intelligence or sensitivity
ANT: canny, astute, intuitive, discerning
Movies must have a message, not be crass entertainers.
Condign: (adj); (of Punishment, etc,.) appropriate to the crime or
wrongdoing, fitting
ANT: cruel, harsh, heavy, severe
In Pakistan, condign punishment is rare when the criminal is a
man of high social standing.
Dastard: (n); a dishonourable or despicable man
ANT: cad, craven, poltroon, recreant
Her mind was filled with an intense hate for the dastards that
abducted her crewmates.
Occlude: (v); close up, shut in
ANT: open (up); unblock, unclog,
The waterfront was occluded with a wall of buildings.
Buxom: (adj); (of a woman’s body); having a large bosom and
pleasing curves
ANT: skinny, boney, scrawny
Men of a certain age woo blonde, buxom women.
Revile: (v); criticize abusively or angrily
ANT: praise, extol, eulogize, applaud
He was now reviled by the party that he had helped to lead.
Seedy: (adj); shabby and squalid
ANT: classy, superior, elegant
She felt weak and seedy.
Tortuous: (adj); Full of twists and turns
ANT: straight, direct, uncurving, unbending
The route is remote and tortuous
Vociferous: (adj); loud and forceful
ANT: silent, quiet, soft,
He was a vociferous opponent of the takeover.
PRÉCIS
Most of the evil in the world is because of the energetic and busy
people. The confusion and chaos that we see in world is not due
to the lazy people but because of the active people. The world is
full of energetic people but their energy is mostly misdirected.
Such people only create confusion and mischief in the world. If
the important people like emperors, politicians, statesmen and
generals in the past had been less active; our world have been a
far better place. Laziness is not a crime but a blessing in disguise
in many ways. The active and energetic people in the past did a
great damage to the world. Even at present it would be a great
service to humanity, if half of the politicians and religious leaders
abandon their activities and take a long lazy break. In this way,
the world will be saved from their activities; and they will get an
opportunity to restore their mental health.

Title: Laziness – a blessing in disguise

COMPREHENSION (Answers)
1. The author laments that element of beauty has been limited
only to the works of artists and scientists, who are supposed to
possess a rare sense for appreciation of beauty. Art has
disappeared from the lives of ordinary people and workmen. It is
unfortunate that common people and workmen are oblivious to
the fact that aesthetics is an essential part of life of every man,
not just the prerogative of a few chosen people. The fact is that
aesthetic activity is activity of the spirit, and sense to appreciate
beauty is common to all human beings.
2. Artists are great lovers of life and they value beauty as a
principle of life. It is not that they are endowed with some
exceptional quality. All human beings possess this capacity, but
the difference is that the artists use this ability with greater
concentration and consistency. For the common man, beauty is
only a supplementary factor, but an artist values beauty for the
sake of beauty.
3. We can make our lives beautiful and charming by realizing the
importance of aesthetic aspects of every activity of life. We must
discover the principle of beauty in everything we do. It would add
charm to life.
4. By this expression the writer wants to stress that beauty is not
just a superficial decoration – a discretionary choice. The writer
believes that beauty is an integral part of life. He thinks that the
relationship between life and beauty is not optional but
compulsory. It is not a mere decoration but the very essence of
life.
5. Art and aesthetics deeply influence our lives. These are not just
a source of sensuous pleasure but give us spiritual satisfaction.
Discovery of relationship in all things, made by man or nature, is a
spiritual activity. Life without beauty will be spiritually barren. Such
work will be dangerous and immoral. It is interesting to note that
in ancient Greek language, there was the same word for beauty
and goodness. I tend to agree with John Keats who rightly said
that beauty is truth and truth beauty.
Correction
(i) In the accident one of my arms was broken and legs bruised.
(ii) The people who had been raising slogans against the
government for many hours wanted increase in their salaries.
(iii) You have been working very hard for the last two years.
Haven’t you?
(iv) John could hardly do better than having taught a bass of such
dimensions.
(v) I, having no chance to meet him, would rather go with you
instead of sitting at home.
(vi) He comes there not only for swimming but also for coaching
new swimmers.
(vii) When he visited the fair last time, he bought no fewer than
twenty school bags.
(viii) Ten cattle were grazing in the field
FILL IN THE BLANKS
(i) I cannot buy this car for this price.
(ii) Send these books to my home address.
(iii) Monkeys live in trees.
(iv) I said it to his face.
(v) The manager acknowledged the receipt of my letter promptly.
(vi) Most foreign students don’t like American coffee, and neither
do I.
(vii) We ought to take care of our parents when they are old.
(viii) Yousaf dug in the garden the whole of yesterday.
ANALOGIES
(i) LION : ROAR (b) Goat : Bleat
(ii) SHADOW : LIGHT (b) Image : Object
(iii) CLOT : BLOOD (b) Curdle : Milk
(iv) FEARFUL: COWER (c) Arrogant : Strut
(v) EXPEDITE : HASTEN (c) Facilitate : Make easiest
(vi) WOOD : FURNITURE (d) Stone : Sculpture
(vii) SURGEON : DEXTEROUS (d) Acrobat : Agile
(viii) LECHER : LUST (b) Glutton : Greed
Punctuation
A quaker was one day walking on country road. He was suddenly
met by a highwayman. Pointing a pistol, the man exclaimed,
“Your money or your life, my friend!” Said the quaker: “I cannot
deliver my money for I should be helping thee in evildoing;
however; exchange is lawful, and I will give thee my purse for the
pistol.” The robber agreed on receiving the purse. The quaker at
once held the pistol at the robber’s head and said, “Now, friend,
my purse back or the weapon may go off fire.” Said the robber,
“There is no powder in the pistol.”

Pairs of Words
WRATH (intense anger): He hid his pipe for fear of incurring his
father’s wrath
WROTH (angry): It was plain to see that Ali was now extremely
wroth.
VERACITY: (accuracy, truthfulness): Officials expressed doubts
concerning the veracity of the story.
VORACITY (avarice, rapacity): There is a higher thirst and
voracity for a variety of pertinent content.
SUBTLER (elusive, knotty): Graham Taylor’s approach at
Watford was far subtler than the critics portrayed.
SUTLER (victualer, a supplier of victuals or supplies to an
army): Essentially a sutler was a camp follower who sold
provisions to the soldiers, part of early logistics.
RETENUE (Restraint, Self-control): She smiled and some of her
natural retenue melted.
RETINUE (Suite, Entourage): And then his retinue of friends
arrived, and he floated away.
MINUTE (Extremely small): He will have no more than a minute
chance of exercising influence.
MINUET (A slow, stately ballroom dance): Louie, who dances a
shaky minuet if properly guided, was a shoo-in.
FUROR (fury; rage; madness): The killing was captured on
cameras and caused an Internet furor.
FURORE (frenzy, uproar, commotion, turmoil): He always
follows the latest furores.
DINGHY (A small inflatable rubber boat): Take a bulk spool of
line and a dinghy with you on the beach.
DINGY (Gloomy and drab): A dark, dingy little shop that always
smelt faintly of cigarettes.
BONY (Of or like bone): The head contains bony plates with
short spines at the tip of the snout
BONNY (Attractive or beautiful): Aleeha is my niece and a
bonny little thing she is.
IDIOMS
Spirit away (to sneak away to another place): The police
spirited the prisoner away before the crowd assembled.
Plough back (to put profits made by a business back into
it): All the money we raise is ploughed back into our work.
Eager beaver (An alert and energetic person): New volunteers
are always eager beavers.
Ring a bell (Sound vaguely familiar): I’ve never met Asad, but
his name rings a bell.
Be left holding the baby (Be left with an unwelcome
responsibility): Yes, we are interested in helping, but we don’t
want to be left holding the baby.
Cap in hand (Humbly asking for a favour): We have to go cap
in hand begging for funds.
Hold out a carrot (Entice by offering an advantage): The
parents held out the carrot of a new bicycle to make their son
study harder.
Over the moon (Extremely happy; delighted): They’re going on
holiday; so they’re all over the moon.
TRANSLATION
In order to be aware of our hidden flaws, it is imperative that we
know what our enemies say about us. It is because our friends
often praise us as we want them to and they either don’t find a
fault with our flaws or they do us a heart good and cover up or
ignore them to make us not feel hurt. On the contrary, our enemy
keeps fishing for finding our weaknesses and foibles. Although he
tries to make a mountain out of a molehill, yet there is always
some reality in that. A friend always promotes his friend’s goods
but an enemy highlights the flaws. So, we should be more
indebted to our enemy because he makes us aware of our
shortcomings. If seen in this context, an enemy is better than a
friend.