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English Test

The document discusses traditional herbal medicine practices in various parts of the world. It describes the author's personal experience as a child being cured of abdominal pain by a herbalist in Ghana using a bitter plant decoction. It then discusses how traditional herbalists are often the primary medical providers for 75-90% of rural populations in developing nations. Finally, it advocates that developing countries should extensively research and organize information on important medicinal plants, as much existing knowledge is held by aging herbalists.

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Yagesh Gupta
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130 views4 pages

English Test

The document discusses traditional herbal medicine practices in various parts of the world. It describes the author's personal experience as a child being cured of abdominal pain by a herbalist in Ghana using a bitter plant decoction. It then discusses how traditional herbalists are often the primary medical providers for 75-90% of rural populations in developing nations. Finally, it advocates that developing countries should extensively research and organize information on important medicinal plants, as much existing knowledge is held by aging herbalists.

Uploaded by

Yagesh Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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English Test

Total marks 35
Section A
Unseen passage (11)

The therapeutic value and healing powers of plants were demonstrated to me when I
was a boy of about ten. I had developed an acute persistent abdominal pain that did
not respond readily to hospital medication. My mother had taken me to the city's
central hospital on several occasions, where different drugs were tried on me. In total
desperation she took me to Egya Mensa, a well-known herbalist in my home-town in
the Western province of Ghana. This man was no stranger to the medical doctors at
the hospital. He had earned the reputation of offering excellent help when they were
confronted with difficult cases where western medicine had failed to effect a cure.

After a brief interview, not very different from what goes on daily in the consulting
offices of many general medical practitioners in the United States, he left us waiting
in his consulting room while he went out to the field. He returned with several leaves
and the bark of a tree and one of his attendants immediately prepared a decoction. I
was given a glass of this preparation, it tasted extremely bitter, but within an hour or
so I began to feel relieved. The rest of the decoction was put in two large bottles so
that I could take does periodically. Within about three days, the frequent abdominal
pains stopped and I recall gaining a good appetite. I have appreciated the healing
powers of medicinal plants ever since.

My experience nay sound unusual to those who come from urban area of the
developed world, but for those in the less affluent nations such experiences are a
common occurrence. In fact, demographic studies by various national governments
and inter-governmental organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO)
indicate that for 75 to 90 per cent of the rural populations of the world, the herbalist
is the only person who handles their medical problems.

In African culture, traditional medical practitioners are always considered to be


influential spiritual leaders as well, using magic and religion along with medicines.
Illness is handled with the individual's hidden spiritual powers and with application of
plants that have been found especially to contain healing powers.

Over the years I have come to distinguish three types of medicinal practitioners in
African societies and to classify the extent to which each uses medicinal plants. The
first is the herbalist, who generally enjoys the prestige and reputation of being the
real traditional medical professional. The second group represents the divine healers.
They are fetish priests whose practice depends upon their purported supernatural
powers of diagnosis. Thirdly, the witch doctor, the practitioner who is credited with
ability to intercept the evil deeds of a witch.

All three kinds of practitioners have managed to keep the rural and urban
populations in reasonable health. The practitioners have done well by relying almost
exclusively on herbs for actual treatment, while serving as the people's spiritual
leaders, and psychologists.

From the drug-stores in New Delhi I picked up some well packaged bark and roots of
Rauwolfia Serpentines, a plant that was very well-known in ancient Asiatic medicine.
The store-keeper said that it cures hypertension. This plant has the power to lower
the blood pressure and pulse. It is used to calm down mad people because alkaloids
in the plant have a specific influence on the mind. I later learnt that the store-keeper
had a medical degree from one of the Indian universities, but chose to administer
herbal medicine because he felt his people were better off with local medicines than
with the expensive imported, synthetic drugs that had no traditional, social or
psychological meaning.

In the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, at the Royal Drug Research Laboratory, an


impressive program of medicinal plant research is being conducted.

The People's Republic of China is perhaps the leading country in systematically


amalgamating herbal medicine into natural health-care systems. On the outskirts of
Peking, for example, there is an experimental plantation for the Institute of Materia-
Medica.

For health, social and economic reasons, it seems clear that developing countries
should begin an extensive program aimed at an examination of the most important
medicinal plants. In most countries, the information on such plants is dispersed and
unorganized. Much of it is in the heads of aging herbalists, who represent a dying
breed. The approaches of these traditional healers should not be overlooked or
described as simplistic. 

I.Read the passage carefully and choose the most appropriate option from those
which are given below: (3x1=3)

1.The approaches of traditional healers should not:

(a) be taken seriously.

(b) be described as complexity

(c) be overlooked or described as simplistic.

(d) be applied.

2.the herbalist is the only person who handles their:

(a) chemical problems.


(b) medical problems.

(c) technical problems.

(d) mathematical problems.

3.Roots of Rauwolfia Serpentine cures:

(a) headache

(b) kidneys

(c) high blood pressure

(d) heart diseases

II.(a) Answer the following questions briefly:(4x1=4)

1.Where did the mother of narrator take him?

2.In which sector does People’s Republic of China is leading country?

3.The status of traditional medical practitioners in African culture ____________.

4.For health, social and economic reasons, developing countries should


_____________.

(b) Fill in the blanks with one word only: ( 1/2 x4 = 2)

The witch (a) ________ is credited with ability to (b) _________ the evil (c) _________
of a (d) _________.

III. Find words from the passage which mean the following: (2x1=2)

(a) a concentrated liquor resulting from heating or boiling of substances (para 2)

(b) determine the nature of disease from observation  (para 5)

Section B (6)

Your school has just completed 25 years of its meritorious services to society. The
Students’ Council of y our school has decided to celebrate its Silver Jubilee. As
President of the Council, write a notice in not more than 50 words for the students of
your school, informing them about the Council’s decision and seeking their
cooperation for the success of the proposed silver jubilee celebrations.
Section C ( 6 x3= 18)
Q.1 What changes did the order from Berlin bring about on the day of the last
lesson?

Q2. What was M. Hamel's regret on the day of the last lesson?

Q.3.Why did Mr. Hamel write 'Vive La France' on the blackboard?

Q4. Draw a character sketch of the tiger king in your own words?

Q5. What explanation was given by the chief astrologer to the query of the tiger
king?

Q6. How did the hundredth tiger take its revenge on the tiger king?

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