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a. The poem is about a thief who was crucified
‘He was crucified beside Christ
He was crucified because he had sinned/while Christ was dying for the sins of the world.
b.Sympathetic . His fingers freeze from cold
Admiration/awe .He suffers thus for me and you./He dies for crucified
c.It is not true.
d.i) Repetition - ‘I am a crucified thief’.
ii) Alliteration - His fingers freeze.
iii) Biblical allusion - Who takes away the sin of the world.
iv) Personification - The sun above for fear hides.
e.The crucified thief is guilty as he is dying for his unnumbered sins while the ‘sinful’ God is innocent as He dies for crucified thieves
f.-They are fearful/afraid – The sun above for fear hides.
-They are hurting /in pain – the earth beneath in pain shakes.
-They are mourning / in grief – buried soul’s awake to weep.
-They are full of adoration – while angels bow.
-They are sympathetic – angels wink in tears.
g.I am a crucified thief, aren’t I?
maurice.mutuku answered the question on November 18, 2019 at 11:09
- The history of alcohol in Kenya is not a sober one. It staggers back to the colonial days when anything stronger than peppered goat –...(Solved)
The history of alcohol in Kenya is not a sober one. It staggers back to the colonial days when anything stronger than peppered goat – head soup required an official letter from a chief. Today, Kenyans have taken their drinking to off-limits counters and require the return of the infamous Alcoblow to reduce the number of deaths occasioned by drunken driving.
Never mind the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act 2010, famously known as the “Mututho Law” which sought to control drinking hours. But Kenyans are special in many bottled ways. The World Health Global Status Report on alcohol reveals that they consume the highest amount of beer in East Africa. That thirsts a long throat, stretching back to the days when being spotted on a “White Only” establishment could lead to a stint in jail.
Consider the story of Hussein Warutere, as contained in Al Kag’s Living memories. Warutere – who requested his real name not be used – spent 13 years in the slammer because of, you could never guess this one…diarrhoea! Warutere, 99 years old and going blind, when he was interviewed for Living memories, was a rickshaw runner at Nairobi Norfolk Hotel. He was transporting Frederick Marshall, a pitiless police reservist, when he experienced a minor, “State of emergency’ with his bowels. The meaning of life depended on locating a toilet. Warutere had no option but to rush to a “Whites Only” loo. As fate would have it, he was done, just as Marshall was getting in, he was accused of “trying to assist the Mau Mau by planting a bomb in the loo”. After a 15 minute trial, he was found guilty. Warutere spent six years in Manyani Prison and another six in Mwea. The same strictness was observed regarding consumption of bottled alcohol, though not of the “Manyani” proportions.
And while explorers, missionaries, Indian coolies, and colonialists brought with them foreign spirits, enactment of laws prohibiting ‘natives’ from quaffing bottled stuff saw them resort to the more familiar brews. These were taken on special occasions – strictly by men. Alcohol, before the killer illicit brands from greedy “brew – trepreneurs” had a respected place in African Societies irrespective of one’s station in life, community, or geography. Indeed traditional brews were not the preserve of ne-er-do wells like today. They were drunk sparingly too, and thus few succumbed to thirst-induced poisoning as alcohol was not laced with chemicals that can interest the government Chemist and morticians.
Things changed with the lowering of the union Jack in 1963 – when East African Breweries turned 41 years since George and Charles Hurst founded it. Kenyans were free, and so were their collective thirsty throats. They could drink bottled booze with brand names like the defunct City Lager. With one shilling at the time, one could stagger home after tipping a waiter, a packet of cigarettes in hand.
Many people wanted to come to Nairobi for its perceived economic and social opportunities. The ensuing rural-urban migration saw the proliferation of slums in the 1970s. Most ruralites alas were uneducated. But they needed to earn a living all the same.
A study carried out in Nairobi’s Mathare slums revealed that four out of five women brought home the bacon, okay the boeflo, on the strength of selling busaa, a traditional brew popular in Western Kenya. Come the 1980s and chang’aa took over, becoming the major illicit liquor. To increase profit, brewers discovered the potency of methanol, an industrial alcohol used in antifreeze among other products. Methanol provided the direct injection preferred by those desiring to get to High Street fast, on the cheap. Despite methanol-laced chang’aa causing coma, blindness, and death, few Kenyans have let “kill-me-Quick” out of the grip.
The 2010 World Health Organization Global Status on Alcohol indicates that 70 percent of families in Kenya are affected by alcoholism despite the fact that the government has designated banned traditional liquor as “illicit” since independence. To rectify the situation, parliament in 2005 considered introducing the requirement that they be packaged after lifting the ban. But the government raised duty on alcohol, increasing beer prices forcing juicers to hunt illicit shebeens.
Kenya’s escalating cost of living has not sobered matters, either; instead it has pushed more tipplers off the prohibitive, but safe-bottled drinks, to down market brews that have, and are still killing.
(Adapted from an article from the Daily Nation by Kamau Mutunga, Monday October 3rd 2011)
a. What does the writer mean by “The history of alcohol in Kenya is not a sober one?”
b. Why was drunkenness less rampant among Africans during the colonial period?
c. State how the laws governing the consumption of alcohol were discriminatory during the colonial period.
d. Give evidence to show that Kenyans are unique in their drinking habits in the region.
e. List the ways alcohol causes death according to the passage.
f. Explain how the position of traditional brews changed after independence.
g. Why according to the writer do many Kenyans continue to drink illicit brews despite the danger they pose?
h. To increase profit, brewers discovered the potency of methanol, an industrial alcohol used in antifreeze among other products. (Rewrite the sentence beginning: The discovery………………………………..).
i) Explain the meaning of the following words as used in the passage:-
i) Bottled.
ii) Morticians.
iii) Proliferation.
iv) Prohibitive.
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Supposing you are given the opportunity to introduce the guest speaker, Peter Mugambi, who is a medical doctor. Write what you would say.(Solved)
Supposing you are given the opportunity to introduce the guest speaker, Peter Mugambi, who is a medical doctor. Write what you would say.
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Your friend has organized a farewell party for his sister who is travelling abroad. You
have been asked to give an impromptu speech. List the elements...(Solved)
Your friend has organized a farewell party for his sister who is travelling abroad. You
have been asked to give an impromptu speech. List the elements of your speech in the
order in which they will appear.
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Indicate the correct intonation in the following sentences using “F” for falling and “R” for rising intonation.
(i) How did you get here?
(ii) You actually...(Solved)
Indicate the correct intonation in the following sentences using “F” for falling and “R” for rising intonation.
(i) How did you get here?
(ii) You actually met the president?
(iii) What an amazing student you are!
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Underline the stressed syllable in each of the following words.
(i) Reply
(ii) advice
(iii) abuse
(iv) friendly
(v) colleague(Solved)
Underline the stressed syllable in each of the following words.
(i) Reply
(ii) advice
(iii) abuse
(iv) friendly
(v) colleague
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Give a word that is pronounced in the same way as the words below.
(i) earn -
(ii) time -
(iii) bruise -
(iv) main - (Solved)
Give a word that is pronounced in the same way as the words below.
(i) earn -
(ii) time -
(iii) bruise -
(iv) main -
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the passage below and fill in each blank space with the most appropriate word.
It …………. be impossible for us to continue living in this...(Solved)
Read the passage below and fill in each blank space with the most appropriate word.
It …………. be impossible for us to continue living in this world if ……..……..…. of us knew exactly ………………….fate had in …………………for him. So God in His mercy ………………….. the future from all His creatures, and reveals only the present. ………………… a lamb had reason like a man, it could not ……..…………happily, knowing it was destined to be killed for human food. ………………….., being quite ignorant of its fate, it is happy to the last minute of its short life contentedly …………………….in the meadow, and even in its innocence licks the hand of the butcher …………………….is about to slaughter it.
Date posted: November 18, 2019. Answers (1)
- Rewrite the following sentences according to instructions after each. (Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences according to instructions after each.
i) They were smoking in the room and forgot to close the door. (Begin: Smoking......)
ii) The president addressed the nation for three hours. He did not talk about war on graft. (Join into one sentence using however.)
iii) What you are doing cannot be acceptable in an ordered society. (Rewrite beginning: Under no circumstances..................)
vi)The teachers were not in school. The principal was not in school. ( Rewrite beginning: Neither the teachers
Date posted: November 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Underline the verbs in the following sentences and indicate whether they have been used transitively or intransitively.(Solved)
Underline the verbs in the following sentences and indicate whether they have been used transitively or intransitively.
i) The widowed lady wept bitterly beside the casket.
ii) The school choir sang beautifully at the competition.
iii) My old grandmother spiced the food.
Date posted: November 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use complex prepositions to fill in the blank spaces.(Solved)
Use complex prepositions to fill in the blank spaces.
i) I am apologizing......................of my class.
ii) The boys were convicted...............................drug trafficking.
iii) ...................................what I have said, mothers should be role models.
Date posted: November 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use the most suitable form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank spaces.(Solved)
Use the most suitable form of the word in brackets to fill in the blank spaces.
(i) Learning, our principal told us, is a ..........................process. (CONTINUE)
(ii) Due to the widespread .................................in the country, youths are not enthusiastic about education. (EMPLOY)
(iii)That yard is where ......................of old vehicles takes place. (MAINTAIN).
Date posted: November 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following passage and then answer the questions that follow.
As we stand, the HIV/Aids pandemic is on the rampage; ravaging the young and the old alike. It is time for people to decide for themselves what is good and what is not. And the earlier they do this the better.
The youth, for instance, can rise up with the message of hope and assure everybody that it is possible for a remnant to remain by just abstaining from premarital sex. And how will they abstain if everywhere they look images of sex stare at them, beckoning alluringly?
The thing to remember is that it is their responsibility to censor the stuff that gets into their minds because this will definitely affect the kind of decisions and lifestyle they adopt. Before reading a pornographic book or magazine, they should pause and ask themselves, “Do I hope to become better after reading this? “The same consideration should be made before watching certain movies and listening to offensive music. Guarding one’s mind against trash requires laying down very clear principles. Discipline is imperative,
For young people, it is important to choose friends wisely. They should determine what they will be doing when they come together. If a friend is not building them up, or is causing them undue pressure, they should shun him or her. This pressure often takes the form of making those who choose to abstain from pre-marital or illicit sex inadequate.
Avoiding idleness is equally important. The wise say an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. The solution is to get busy with constructive activities be they academic, economic, physical or spiritual. Trying out new hobbies such as gardening playing football, swimming, basket weaving, baking and volunteer work is a step in the right direction.
Parents must also take full responsibility of bringing up their children. They are the first counsellors of their children especially in the formative stages. Unless they do something in good time, they will cry alone when the disaster of teenage pregnancies, abortion and HIV/Aids happens right under their own roofs. The onus is upon them to freely discuss issues of sexuality with their children.
Teachers too have a very crucial role to play in the lives of their students. The youth spend a bigger percentage of their waking moments with their teachers. The teachers not only equip them with academic knowledge but also with the right attitudes and behaviour. And it is a good thing that sex education has been introduced in the school curriculum. Studies by AMREF have shown that, contrary to popular belief, sex education does not promote promiscuity. Rather it enlightens its recipient’s health issues.
Moreover, places of worship must pitch in with their contributions. They are in an excellent position of imparting the correct moral values to their adherents. Besides, they can provide social and religious activities that will build the youth up spiritually and mentally.
Finally, it is incumbent upon the government to put in place legislation governing what the citizens, especially the youth, are exposed to in the form of print or electronic media.
In conclusion, the future generation is keenly watching us to see if we will wreck or salvage the boat of their survival. Every member of our society has a part to play in enhancing morality. It is only by doing this that we can hope to check the onslaught of HIV/Aids.
Questions
a)Why is there need to make a decision soon?
b)Rewrite the following sentence in the past:
The youth, for instance, can rise up with the message of hope and assure everybody that it is possible for a remnant to remain by just abstaining from premarital sex
c)What is pornography and how do you think it influences one’s behavior.
d) Rewrite the following sentence in indirect speech
They should pause and ask themselves, “Do I hope to become better after reading this?”
e)Which words does the author use to show displeasure with some kinds of films and music?
f)What sort of friend does the author appear to recommend?
g)In note from, give evidence to show that every member of society has role to play in enhancing morality.
h)Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage.
i)beckoning alluringly
ii)adherents
iii)incumbent upon
iv) onslaught
Date posted: November 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following comprehension and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following comprehension and answer the questions that follow.
Over the years man has cultivated to exhaustion the better soils in the plains. This has led to
progressive destruction of land to the point where some of the steeper hill slopes are cultivated so
that widespread erosion has been initiated. Meanwhile, the livestock are continuously being forced on to smaller areas of poorer land and further up the hill slopes where they have to compete with foresters. As a result the quantities of animal proteins, so necessary to human health, have steadily declined. Surprisingly, instead of accepting the responsibility for all his destruction, man blames livestock and in particular the goat.
Man has repeatedly failed to do anything to restore the fertility of the soils he has ravaged. After the last miserable crop has been harvested the land has been left to weeds. No attempt has been made to plant grass or to under plant the last agricultural crop with fodder species. Had this been done rehabilitation would have been quicker and sure and erosion would have been reduced. Thus the gradually worsening situation would be arrested.
If man would shoulder the responsibility for his own greedy misuse of the land, the goat could easily carry the blame for its own much smaller share in this degradation. Unfortunately, because human nature is what it is, man will find something to blame for his won carelessness. The goat has been chosen to carry this blame largely because it is often the last animal to be seen wresting a precarious living from the areas where man has done his worst and from which cattle and sheep have long since been forced to move.
Conservation of land depends on proper planning. Livestock numbers therefore, irrespective of species, should be strictly limited to a density which will permit pasture renewal instead of causing its degeneration. This adjustment of numbers should help man to have a balanced mixture of livestock.
Many writers in recent years have tried to show that there has been considerable improvement in mountain grazing areas after the banishment of the goat. Most, however, fail to indicate to what extent this has been due solely to the removal of the goat or to a reduction in other livestock densities or other measures such as erosion control, terracing, the building of gabions and grass plan planting. It is essential to ensure that results which are obtained in one environment are not automatically applied to different one. (Adapted from observation on the goat)
(a) According to paragraph one of the passage, who has man used as a scapegoat?
(b) In paragraph two, what two words show that land has not been very productive.
(c) Why has the quantities of animal proteins necessary to human health declined?
(d) Rewrite the following sentences according to instructions given.
(i) Unfortunately, because human nature is what it is, man will find something to blame for his own carelessness.
(Begin: The author stated that ......)
(ii) Thus, the gradually worsening situation would be arrested.
(Add a question tag).
(e) What could have been done to ensure quicker rehabilitation and reduce erosion.
(f) What other words could be used in place of those given without changing the meaning.
(i) Initiated
(ii) Miserable
(iii) Degradation
(iv) Banishment
(g) Rewrite in the active voice.
(i) The goat has been chosen for this blame.
(ii) Livestock are continually being forced onto poorer areas.
(h) How would you sum up the author’s argument in 1 or 2 sentences?
Date posted: November 6, 2019. Answers (1)
- Use the words in the brackets in the correct order to complete the sentence below.
Kanyari gave Betty a ______________________________ for her birthday. (jacket, big,...(Solved)
Use the words in the brackets in the correct order to complete the sentence below.
Kanyari gave Betty a ______________________________ for her birthday. (jacket, big, black,
cotton, old)
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- Punctuate the following sentence to give two different meanings.
My father said Tom is a born politician.(Solved)
Punctuate the following sentence to give two different meanings.
My father said Tom is a born politician.
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- Choose the correct alternative from the brackets to fill in the blank spaces.
1. Regrettably, ______________________ understand that only ___________________ can lead at a time. (a...(Solved)
Choose the correct alternative from the brackets to fill in the blank spaces.
1. Regrettably, ______________________ understand that only ___________________ can lead at a time. (a few / few)
2. Although _______________________ oil was discovered it was of __________________ use. (a little / little)
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- Complete the following sentences with a phrasal verb formed from the word in brackets.
1. Kanyari ____________________ his grandfather, when you see him it is...(Solved)
Complete the following sentences with a phrasal verb formed from the word in brackets.
1. Kanyari ____________________ his grandfather, when you see him it is like you have seen her.(take)
2. The leaders are not sure how the congregation will react to the change, and so they keep
________________________ the announcement of their decision. (put)
3. They ___________________ the plan perfectly. (pull)
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- Complete the sentences below using the correct option from those given in brackets.
1. We _______________________ to have construction work start in January. (intent/intend)
2. When...(Solved)
Complete the sentences below using the correct option from those given in brackets.
1. We _______________________ to have construction work start in January. (intent/intend)
2. When their children were grown up, Kahiga and his wife __________________ (adapted/adopted) a son.
3. This school has been chosen as the centre of _____________________ in the county. (excellency/excellence)
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- 1. Kanyari is not as handsome as Situma. (Rewrite using than)2. Had it not been for...(Solved)
Rewrite the following sentences according to the instructions after each.
1. Kanyari is not as handsome as Situma. (Rewrite using than)
2. Had it not been for my daughter's prompt action, I would be dead by now. (Begin: But……..)
3. The road has been graded. (Finish ………….road)
4. Peter told me that his sister is successful. (Use 'of' in place of 'that')
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)
- Because
Just because I smile and smile
And happiness is not my coat
And my song tuneful and strong
Though you...(Solved)
Because
Just because I smile and smile
And happiness is not my coat
And my song tuneful and strong
Though you send me down below
Into unlievable regions
Of the blue rocks of the earth
You think then I am a gatepost
Numb to the stab of pain
Just because of the laugh of my lips
And my eyes covered in respect
Pants rolled up above the knees
And my dark hair all down dun-coloured
And thick with the road side dust,
My hands swinging a pick
And the back stripped out of my shirt.
You think I'm like a stone
And don't know what it is to die
Because at the fall of dark
When I've loosened the chains
Of my long day's labour
And I fall in with my brother,
Stamping the ground in a tribal dance
And we sing songs of old times
That stir up our fighting blood
Driving away all our cares
For that you think I'm a beast
That breeds its kind and dies
Because I seem to you simpleton
Knocked over by plain ignorance
And laws beyond my understanding
Except may be you rob me
And the house built for myself
Under the hand of a rock
A hut of grass for my home
My clothing an empty sack
You think I'm just an ant heap
And not one tear have I in me
To drip out from my own heart
And run over the pure hands
Of souls who see all.
I. Who is the persona in the poem? Illustrate.
ii. What basic necessities does he lack?
iii. Identify two aspects of imagery used and show their appropriateness.
iv. Briefly discuss the main theme of the poem.
v. Explain the tone of the poem.
vi. Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem
a) And I fall in with my brother
b. Because I seem to you simpleton.
Date posted: October 31, 2019. Answers (1)