The history of literature can be traced to the earliest forms of the arts. Man danced for joy round his primitive camp fire after the defeat and slaughter of his enemy. He yelled and shouted as he danced and gradually the yells and shouts became coherent and caught the measure of the dance and thus the first war song was sung. As the idea of God developed, prayers were framed. The songs and prayers became traditional and wee repeated from one generation to another, each generation adding something of its own.
As man slowly grew more civilized, he was compelled to invent some method of writing due to three urgent necessities. There were certain things that it was dangerous to forget and which, therefore, had to be recorded. It was often necessary to communicate with persons who were some distance away and it was necessary to safeguard one’s property by making appropriate tools and taking protective measure in a distinctive manner. So man taught himself to write and having learned to write, purely for utilitarian reasons, he used this new method for preserving his was songs and his prayers. Of course, among these ancient peoples, there were only a very few individuals who learned to write, and only few could read what was written.
Q: Man invented writing because he wanted
Recent advances in science and technology have made it
possible for geneticists to find out abnormalities in the unborn foetus and
take remedial action to rectify some defects which would otherwise prove to be
fatal to the child. Though genetic engineering is still at tis infancy,
scientists can now predict with greater accuracy, a genetic disorder. It is not
yet an exact science since they are not in a position to predict when exactly a
genetic disorder will set in. While they have not yet been able to change the
genetic order of the gene in germs, they are optimistic and are holding about
that in the near future they might be successful in achieving this feat. They
have, however, acquired the ability to manipulate tissue cells. However,
genetic mis-information can sometimes be damaging for it may adversely affect
people psychologically. Genetic information may lead to a tendency to brand
some people as inferiors. Genetic information can therefore be abused and its
application in deciding the sex of the foetus and its subsequent abortion is
now hotly debated on ethical lines. But on this issue geneticists cannot be
squarely blamed though this charge has often been leveled at them. It is mainly
a societal problem. At present genetic engineering is a costly process of
detecting disorders but scientists hope to reduce the costs when technology
becomes more advanced. This why much progress in this area has been possible in
scientifically advanced and rich countries like the U.S.A., U.K., and Japan. It
remains to be seen if in the future this science will lead to the development
of a race of supermen or will be able to obliterate illness from this world.
Q: Which of the following is the same in meaning as he phrase "holding out" as used in the passage?
