PART l COMPREHENSION
Read the following article and then answer questions 1-14. Choose the best answer for each question.
When work is the lesser of two evils
The world worries about child labour, but what is to be done to stop it? Owen Bowcott finds that
banning children from work in Bangladesh may not be the best answer to poverty and exploitation.
Hanif Mohamed is 10 years old. For the past two
years he has loaded and unpacked trays of cakes from a
red-hot oven, often up to 17 hours a day. The walls of the
bakery where he slaves in Dhaka, the capital of
5 Bangladesh, are black and dirty. The terrible smell from
an open sewer drifts into the windowless room which he
shares with twelve other youngsters. He has never been to
school nor had a holiday since leaving his village. Most of
the 350 takas (US$8) he earns a month is; he says, sent to
10 support his family: I can spend a little if I want. His
boss, who is worried about my questions, adds, Hanif is
new here. He is learning the trade. His food is free.
Child labour is widespread in Bangladesh and
other developing countries. More and more toys, clothes
15 and electronic goods available in Europe, America, Hong
Kong, Singapore and other developed parts of the world
are manufactured in developing countries, where labour is
so much cheaper. Reports regularly appear in the
newspapers about the increasing number of under-age
20 workers in these countries and the terrible conditions they
work in. Earlier this year, a report by one western charity
claimed that Indian children as young as seven were
making footballs bearing pictures of famous football
players. The football club concerned denied that the
25 balls were being manufactured for them. This month, the
Indian Sportsgoods Manufacturers and Exporters
Association publicised its own findings in an attempt to
disprove the charity's report. They also claimed that the
charity's report had 'attacked our traditional family values
30 in which the work culture involves the entire family unit'.
To many people in Bangladesh, the aid
organisations and charities that criticise child labour fail to
understand the problem. In Bangladesh, 67 per cent of
children under five years of age are malnourished. It is
35 often extreme poverty which drives parents to send their
young children to work so that they can bring a little
money back to the family. At a joint conference this
month, the United Nations' children's organisation Unicef,
the International Labour Organisation and the
40 governments of more than 40 countries will review plans
about what can be done to help the 200 million children
below the age of 15 who are estimated to be working.
The problem does not have a simple solution,
however. Peter Stalker, who works for an aid organisation
45 in Bangladesh, explains: Developed countries are unable
to manufacture goods as cheaply as countries like
Bangladesh. As a result, people working in countries in
Europe, for example, would be happy to see the end of
child labour since it would mean that their jobs would be
50 more secure. Many other concerned consumers, who do
not want to think that their purchases have been
manufactured by children working in harsh conditions,
would also be glad to see child labour banned. However,
it may actually hurt the children.
55 He may be right. A few years ago, an American
politician, Tom Harkin, suggested that America should ban
the importation of clothes from Bangladesh that were
produced by child labour. He argued that this would help
stop the problem of under-age workers. As soon as the
60 suggestion was made, the factory owners in Bangladesh
responded by instantly dismissing as many as 50,000
under-age workers from the clothing industry. Many of
the sacked children were left homeless and without
money. If they went to school, they knew they would not
65 be guaranteed a job afterwards. So, instead, many turned
to dangerous forms of work such as sorting rubbish,
begging or prostitution. The number of homeless children
also increased.
Aid organisations now realise that trying to ban
70 child labour may not be the solution to the problem.
Recently they have tried to find different ways of reducing
the number of under-age workers. One new approach is to
have regular inspections of factories to try to prevent
managers from employing children. An agreement has
75 also been reached with the Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association. They will now
donate US$250,000 a year to a fund to encourage children
to go to school. Children who have been dismissed from
their jobs will be paid 300 takas (US$7) a month from the
80 fund.
Kazi Oma Khayam, a journalist who has
protested against child labour, accepts that in some cases,
it can be the lesser of two evils. If these children don't
work, they die. They are working for food. Unicef staff,
85 who campaigned for years to ban child labour, now
distinguish between dangerous work and part-time work
that allows children time to go to school. They accept that
such part-time work may be necessary as the country
develops, but believe any life-threatening work should be
90 banned.
The message that educating the children may be
the solution to the problem is being recognised.
Bangladesh now seems to realise that unless it educates
the children, it will never become an Asian tiger economy.
95 This year, the government announced that it would make it
compulsory for children to attend school up to the age of
14 at the moment, children can leave school when they
are 10. But, as is so often the case, no date for
implementing the plan has been announced.
PART 2 USAGE

Decide which of the choices given would best complete the article if inserted in the blanks.

Disaster memories pay off at auction

The blockbuster movie Titanic has given rise to a huge increase in sales of memorabilia __(15)__ tickets, postcards
and menus from the ship. Some items from the Titanic can be bought online between now and May 15 at
www.sothebys.amazon.com. __(16)__ follows an auction in London earlier this week which centred on the __(17)__
of Sarah Roth, who sailed on the Titanic to join her fiancé in America.

Sarah and Daniel Iles had been childhood sweethearts. When the young man emigrated to America in __(18)__ of a
better life, she agreed to wait and follow him when he __(19)__ work and made some money. A year later, in
1912, when Daniel sent her the money for the __(20)__ to join him in New York, Sarah __(21)__ to buy one of the
last third-class tickets on the Titanic.

Sarah survived the disaster which claimed 1,500__(22)__ but lost nearly everything. The only thing that she
did not lose was her handbag __(23)__ her third-class inspection card and ticket holder. Eight days after the sinking, she
married Daniel in New York.

The inspection card made US$I9,500 __(24)__ her ticket holder went for US$1,800. Also sold, for US$2,300, was
a collection of correspondence written after the event.

The letters include a dramatic account of how she woke up __(25)__

dressed and left the cabin to see what was happening. I __(26)__ a conversation with my friend and her husband and we
waited in the corridor. On seeing some officers, we __(27)__ them what the matter was and they said that the ship
__(28)__ an iceberg but reassured us that there was no danger and nothing to be worried __(29)__. __(30)__,
minutes later, another officer ordered her to put her lifebelt on and proceed towards the second-class deck. It was
at this point __(31)__ she grabbed her handbag. As she climbed the ladder, Sarah saw that there was a gate __(32)__
other third-class passengers from getting anywhere near the lifeboats. When she reached the top, she __(33)__ a
lifeboat that was about to be lowered __(34)__ the water and hurried towards it.

unique since so few people from the third-class deck came out of the
disaster alive. The prices at this auction are far higher than previous __(35)__, suggesting that the Titanic boom is not
over __(36)__ .

END OF PAPER