Comprehension (A)
Cans, Carafe, Polybags. Glinting on the verges of a million miles of roadways, lying in scrub, grass, dirt, leaves, sand, mud, but never hidden; shining in the sun or picked by moon or the beams of headlights at night; washed by rain or flattened by wheels, but never dulled, never buried, never destroyed. Here is the mark of savages, the testament of wasters, the stain of prosperity.
Who are these men who defile the grassy borders of our roads and lanes, who pollute our ponds, who spoil the purity of our ocean beaches with the empty vessels of their thirst? Who are the men who make these vessels in millions and then say, "Drink and discard"? What society is this that can afford to cast away a million tons of metal and to make of wild and fruitful land a garbage heap?
What manner of men and women need thirty feet of steel and two hundred horsepower to take them, singly to their small destinations? Who demand that what they eat is wrapped so that forests are cut down to make the paper that is thrown away, and what they smoke and chew is sealed so that the sealers can be tossed in gutters and caught in twigs and grass?
What kind of men can afford to make the streets of their towns and cities hideous with neon at night, and their roadways hideous with signs by day, wasting beauty; who leave the carcasses of cars to rot in heaps; who spill their trash into ravines and make smoking mountains of refuse for the town's rats? What manner of men choke off the life in rivers, streams and lakes with the waste of their. produce, making poison of water?
Questions:
i. Summarize the text and give a suitable title.
ii. Explain the meaning of the expressions "the mark of savages" and "the stain of prosperity" in the context of the passage.
iii. Analyze the tone of the passage and how the author conveys a sense of criticism towards certain societal behaviors.
iv. How does the perspective of the author shed light on the environmental impact of human activities, especially concerning waste and pollution?
v. What theme or message about the responsibility of individuals and society towards the environment can be inferred from the passage?
vi. How might the concerns raised in the passage be applied to real-life situations where individuals and communities make choices about consumption, waste management, and environmental conservation?
