Form 3 : The PMR 3-Poem Test

This is a primer for students taking the PMR examinations this year. It is also useful for those students doing early revision in Form 2. These questions are a great quiz test of your capability to comprehend the three poems.

Have fun!

POEM A: LIFE’S BRIEF CANDLE

There are 12 questions in this section. Answer all questions.

1.         The following symbol represents life

a)      poor player

b)      strutting on stage

c)      stage acting

d)     story telling

2.      Which symbol tells us life is short?

a)      brief candle

b)      an idiot’s tale

c)      lighted fools

d)     all our yesterdays

3.      The poem is about the persona’s ideas of

a)      listening to a tale told by his jester

b)      watching a  stage play

c)      making loud sounds in life

d)     life and death

                        

4.      The brief candle shines

a)      perpetually

b)      for a short period of  time

c)      for a painfully long time

d)     for a single unit of time    

5.      By saying,  “Out, out, brief candle’‘,  the persona desires to

a)      blow out his candle

b)      go to bed

c)      wants to die

d)     change his candle

6.      In the poem, what is moving at ‘a petty pace’?

a)      people

b)      time

c)      fools

d)     shadows   

7.      According to the persona, death is

a)      inevitable

b)      dusty

c)      painful

d)     sudden

8.      The word,’ tale’ means

a)      nothing

b)      idiot

c)      fury

d)     soundtrack

9.      The persona is feeling very

a)      moody

b)      angry

c)      impatient

d)     unhappy

10.  The last syllable refers to the

a)      last stress on a word

b)      last stress in a sentence

c)      last breath we take

d)     last word we say

11.  The word; ‘fury’ can be replaced with

a)      sights

b)      effects

c)      anger

d)     hairy

12.  The fools are reminded about

a)      death

b)      acting

c)      dust

d)     sounds

POEM B: THE DEAD CROW

There are 15 questions in this section. Answer all questions.

1.      Where is the dead crow?

a)      at the clinic

b)      in a drain

c)      by a drain

d)     near the clinic

2.      An old man was

a)      taking care of a sick baby

b)      having trouble breathing

c)      looking for his crow

d)     looking for medicine

3.      In stanza 1, ‘we’ refers to

a)      the poet and the baby

b)      the poet and the crows

c)      the old man and the baby

d)     people in general

4.      The clinic is crowded   in the

a)      evening

b)      morning

c)      afternoon

d)     at night

5.      The persona describes the country as

a)      dirty

b)      rich

c)      unsafe

d)     undeveloped

6.      In the second stanza, the persona says he has

a)      many fools as friends

b)      grandchildren

c)      forests and land

d)     politicians and money

7.      The people suffer from

a)      noise pollution

b)      air pollution

c)      moral corruption

d)     mental illnesses

8.      In stanza 1, the following were seen except

a)      a sick politician

b)      a sick baby

c)      an sick old man

d)     a dead crow

9.      The persona wants the fools to

a)      get out of the forests

b)      go into the forests

c)      stop cutting the trees

d)     stop cutting grass

10.  In the second stanza, what is the wish of the persona?

a)      more grandchildren

b)      more forests to log

c)      a clean environment

d)     less crows

11.  The clinic is crowded with

a)      sick babies

b)      disorganised nurses

c)      sick people

d)     tired doctors

12.  The word, ’gasping’ means

a)      grabbing

b)      grasping

c)      panting

d)     ranting

13.  The old man and the baby are sick because of

a)      bird flu

b)      dirty environment

c)      asthma

d)     food poisoning

14.  In stanza 2, what is said about the rivers?

a)      they are sluggish

b)      they are dirty

c)      they are muddy

d)     they have dried up

15.  The persona is against the

a)      cutting of grass

b)      the cutting of trees

c)      the cutting of hedges

d)     the cutting of taxes

POEM C: THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

There are 15 questions in this section. Answer all questions.

1.      The persona will live in a cabin made

a)      of clay and bricks

b)      of clay and small twigs

c)      of wood and zinc

d)     of coconut trunks and leaves

2.      The glade is full of the sound of

a)      stormy winds

b)      buzzing bees

c)      red breasted birds chirping

d)     water lapping aloud

3.      The bean rows will provide the persona with

a)      berries

b)      food

c)      fruits   

d)     strings

4.      The persona wants to go in haste to

a)      the town he works

b)      Innisfree to live there

c)      a nearby  lake for a holiday

d)     the shore to feel the sea breeze

5.      How is noon described in the poem?

a)      all glimmer

b)      all twinkle

c)      a purple glow

d)     veiled and misty

6.      The lake water in Innisfree sounds

a)      peaceful

b)      stressful

c)      dreamy

d)     splashing

7.      The persona will live on the lake isle

a)      with his girlfriend

b)      with his wife

c)      with his children

d)     alone

8.      At what time will the persona hear the birds flying home to the isle?

a)      At dusk

b)      at midnight

c)      at noon

d)     at dawn

9.      The persona can hear what kind of sounds at the shore?

a)      loud

b)      low

c)      crackling         

d)     irritating

10.  What are linnets?

a)      fireflies

b)      beetles  

c)      bats

d)     red breasted birds

11.  Which word tells you that the persona’s wish to go to Innisfree is strong and urgent?

a)      I will arise

b)      go now

c)      deep heart’s core

d)     for always

12.  Veils of the morning refers to

a)      a clothing item

b)      faint mist

c)      thick haze

d)     opaque smog

13.  The song of singing is made by

a)      songbirds called linnets

b)      buzzing bees

c)      lapping waters

d)     crickets

14.  Where is the persona as he longs for Innisfree?

a)      dreaming in bed at home

b)      standing on the road pavement  in town

c)      at a railway station

d)     at a harbour near Iinnisfree

15.  What is glimmering at midnight at Innisfree?

a)      fireflies

b)      owls

c)      stars

d)     the moon

Fakih Charms Her Way to Win Beauty Queen Crown

An Arab-American has clinched the title of Miss USA yesterday.

Rima Fakih, a 24-year-old from Dearborn, Michigan, won the pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip after swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions.

When asked how she felt about winning the crown, she said, "Ask me after I've had a pizza."

Fakih nearly fell while finishing her walk in a long, strapless gown because of the length of its train, but she made it without a spill and went on to win.

During the interview portion, Fakih was asked whether she thought birth control should be paid for by health insurance, and she said she believed it should because it's costly.

"I believe that birth control is just like every other medication even though it's a controlled substance," Fakih said.

Fakih replaces Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton and won a spot representing the United States in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant.

She also gets a one-year lease in a New York apartment with living expenses, an undisclosed salary, and various health, professional and beauty services.

Tune in at GDP9 Nightly

Budget hotel Tune Hotels is adopting the marketing strategy of its associate company AirAsia with rates at its first London property starting at just £9 or about RM42.


Just like AirAsia, the further in advance the booking, the cheaper the room. Tune Hotels says the average room rate at its Malaysian properties tends to be between RM40 and RM50 while special promotions can see rates go as low as 9 sen.

To achieve these rates, guests are expected to pay for extras such as towels and air-conditioning. To activate air-conditioning, guests have to purchase a pre-paid card —12 hours’ worth of air-conditioning will cost them RM12.50. A display on the pre-paid card reader in the room informs the guest how much air-conditioning credit he has left.

The hotel also recently introduced cable television as a paid extra, starting with its Danga Bay hotel in Johor which had its soft launch today.
Tune Hotels CEO Mark Lankester said energy bills make up 40 per cent of a hotel’s operating costs and letting guests choose whether or not they want air-conditioning not only cuts room rates but helps the environment as a lot of energy used by conventional hotels is wasted.

“Guests thank us for helping them use energy more sensibly,” said Lankester. “If used properly, 12 hours’ worth of air-conditioning can last two days. If you are out of the room, why do you need to use air-conditioning?”

Another rate-cutting feature? Advertising in the rooms which helps lower prices. Lankester said that it is a way to subsidise rooms but it is not viewed as a profit engine and it will make up at most 15 per cent of the hotel’s revenue.

“We borrow their eyeballs but give it back in terms of lower room rates,” said Lankester.

But though the hotel has eschewed the traditional star-rating system, the room viewed by The Malaysian Insider was surprisingly pleasant. Rooms were small with not much walking space but thoughtfully designed to make the most of the space. A swinging table attached to a metal pole serves as a laptop table so guests can type while sitting on the bed and watching the sleek 32-inch LCD television mounted on the wall. A custom-designed safe deposit box is tucked underneath the bedside table.

The poster advertisements in the room, one for a biscuit company and the other, an air-conditioner manufacturer, were noticeable but the non-traditional feature walls of the room made it seem less out of place. Only the large Japanese soap advertisement in the bathroom, which is located above the toilet, could be considered obtrusive. The room was also relatively cool even with just a ceiling fan.

Lankester also stressed the quality of the beds and the ceiling fans, pointing out that the mattresses sport 660 springs and the divan 440. The fans, he said, used “typhoon blades” but still minimise noise.

There is no gift shop in the hotel but a 7-Eleven convenience store, a bank ATM and food and beverage functions are outsourced to an Indonesian cafe chain.

Lankester, who is big on the environment, said the European-looking recycling bins next to the lifts are not a “gimmick” but the hotel really does aim for sustainability.

“The hot water is heated by solar power and heat recycled from air-conditioner compressors,” he said. “The initial cost to install such systems is expensive and we would not do this if it was just a gimmick.”

He said the hotels, which enjoy a 90 per cent occupancy rate, with the LCCT and Kuala Lumpur properties at virtually 100 per cent, can be a global business.

There are currently nine Tune Hotels but about 90 are planned to open by 2016 under current expansion plans. Lankester admitted that the company, which started in 2007, is slightly behind, partly due to the 2008 global financial crisis.

He added there are no plans to list the company on the capital market to raise funds but the expansion strategy is to grow globally via “smart partnerships” and debt financing.

“We need smart partners who know what we’re doing and have a flair for real estate,” he said. “We depend on partners who know the lay of the land, comprehend hospitality and know how to comply with local regulations.”

Tune Hotels has already signed four joint ventures with Indian, Thai, Singaporean and UK entities to open hotels in India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and the UK. Apart from that, he is also in discussions with partners to open hotels in Austria, Turkey and the so-called BRIC group of countries comprising the emerging market giants of Brazil and Russia in addition to its existing plans for India and China.

Tune Hotel’s UK partner, Queensway Group Ltd, is investing some RM800 million to build 15 hotels in the UK. The 218-room Danga Bay hotel cost about RM35 million. Last week, it signed a RM100 million 50-50 joint venture with Plato Limited, which is listed on the Singapore stock exchange, to open 10 hotels in Southeast Asia, Australia and the UK.

Lankester said that while the company does not need to list to raise funds at the moment, it eventually will.

The next hotel it will open is the one in Kota Damansara, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, on June 1. Lankester said he sees a growing market for such suburban hotels and it will cater for those visiting the 500,000-odd residents living in the vicinity of Kota Damansara.

“Visitors used to stay with families but times have changed,” he said. “You don’t want five people coming for a week or two as it disrupts the lifestyle. You can say: ‘I’ll put you in a hotel and come pick you up for breakfast’.”

So, plan your holidays  and enjoy London for a song..........

Malaysia: Can Greece Happen Here?

This may be a hypothetical poser right now.

Yes,  it can happen here too.

Greece is suffering today from the excesses of yesterday. Preceding regimes could have over-borrowed because of inefficiency and corruption. It's failure to cope with these have led it on a borrowing binge. So when the tide is down, the garbage of corruption shows itself.

It pays for all governments who borrow willy-nilly to take a leaf from Greece.

Let us read thsi report about the Greek predicament from this Reuters report.

Greece pledges corruption clean-up of politicians
May 15, 2010

ATHENS, May 15 — The Greek government promised to clean up corruption among politicians to restore public trust, but does not want to destabilise political life in the country as it struggles with a debt crisis that has shaken the euro.

Greece has been rocked by a series of major protests against government measures to cut the country’s bulging deficit. A key demand of the protesters has been a crackdown on corrupt politicians they blame for mismanaging Greece’s economy.

“What people want, and the government certainly shares that desire, is for there to be a clean-up both at the political and social level, so that relations between each other clear up and confidence is restored,” government spokesman George Petalotis told a weekly newspaper published today.

For decades Greeks have tolerated endemic petty corruption and political graft. But the current debt crisis has forced the government to push through a painful austerity plan in return for 110 billion euros (RM448 billion) in EU and IMF aid, and deliver on its promise to boost government transparency.

“There is such a climate that there is no option for the government other than moving ahead with fighting tax evasion and cleaning up politics,” Konstantinos Routzounis, head of Kappa Research pollster, told Reuters.

Several political scandals, such as a land-swap deal that cost the state millions of euros, known as Vatopedi, and a bribes-for-contract affair involving German firm Siemens, rocked the country under the previous conservative government.

Parliamentary investigative committees are looking into the scandals and are expected to yield results by the end of May and June, respectively. The Justice Ministry also is promising to probe the income of top officials.

“Certainly, there is the necessary political will and consent that the Siemens and Vatopedi cases that hurt our country’s political life are cleared out,” Petalotis said.

“But in no case will we fall into the trap of penalising the country’s political life,” he added. “In no case will we allow blood to be shed in the name of popularism and petty politics.”

The latest sign of government attempts to increase its revenue was the publication this week of the names of 68 high-earning doctors found guilty of tax evasion.

Yesterday, the Finance Ministry said 178,000 wage earners misled authorities by under-reporting their income or failing to declare any last year. This meant the state lost valuable taxes on undeclared income of about 700 million euros.