Soal SNMPTN Bahasa Inggris Tahun 2009

Passage I 

Sometimes experience in other countries can help people to understand their own identity better. Mahatma Gandhi was born 1869 at Portandar in Western India. After studying in India, he dreamt of going to England to study. He was told that his Hindu religion did not allow voyages abroad. However, Gandhi was very determined and he finally left for England in 1887. At first he tried to learn to behave like an English gentleman, but he soon learnt that it was better to be himself. He studied law in London, qualifying in 1891. He also learnt about other religions.

He returned home to India and worked as a lawyer for two years. After some problems, he was offered a job in South Africa. Here he experienced racism as a member Indian community. He decided to fight for the rights of Indians using "passive resistance". He had three main beliefs, namely non-violence, religious tolerance and truth. When he finally returned to India in 1915, he became a great political leader. During the fight for independence he was often put in prison, but his beliefs never changed.

Gandhi had studied in Britain, so he understood the British better than they understood him. Gandhi's leadership led to independence, but, on Independence Day, 15 August, 1947, Gandhi refused to celebrate. He was in favor of Hindu-Muslim unity but Muslims and Hindus could not agree, so a separate Muslim state was formed in Pakistan. In 1948, Gandhi started fasting to death as a protest against fighting between India and Pakistan. He was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic on 30th January 1948. India and Pakistan are still fighting in Kashmir today. The fight for independence was a difficult one, but not as difficult as the fight for non-violence, religious tolerance and truth.

1. SNMPTN 2009

The passage above mainly deals with Mahatma Gandhi's ...
A. search for principles of his three main beliefs.
B. fighting against racism in South Africa.
C. political career as an important national leader.
D. experience to identify his life principles.
E. political struggle for India's independence.

2. SNMPTN 2009

The following statements are true about Mahatma Gandhi, EXCEPT ...
A. Mahatma Gandhi's studying in Britain was against Hinduism principles.
B. Mahatma Gandhi believed in non-violence, religious tolerance and truth.
C. Mahatma Gandhi learned and understood about some religions well.
D. Mahatma Gandhi fought hard for unity of his nation.
E. Mahatma Gandhi did not like the idea of Hindu-Muslim unity in India.

3. SNMPTN 2009

The word non-violence in 'He had three main beliefs, non-violence, religious tolerance and truth' (line 8) can best be replaced by ...
A. favorable conducts.
B. peaceful actions.
C. political spirits.
D. religious prejudices.
E. passive behaviors.

4. SNMPTN 2009

Mahatma Gandhi got his university degree in ...
A. 1887.
B. 1915.
C. 1891.
D. 1947.
E. 1948.

5. SNMPTN 2009

We can infer from the following statements about Mahatma Gandhi, EXCEPT ...
A. he understood Hinduism and Islam equally well.
B. he knew well the characteristics of the English people.
C. he had good knowledge about law issues.
D. he had the hardest time fighting for independence of his nation.
E. he experienced racism when he was in South Africa.

Passage 2

Education is often viewed as school in a traditional, formal sense. Many people believe that true learning can only take place in a formal classroom setting. Others feel education occurs in many different forms and environments. There may not be a definitive answer to the question of, 'What is education?' However, we can start thinking about the purpose of education. Is it to educate youth to be responsible citizens? Is it to develop individuals, as well as society, in order to ensure a society's economic success? Or is it to simply focus on developing individual talents and intelligence? Perhaps it is the balance of all three that defines education? While our answers may differ, we can perhaps agree that education is a basic human right. When that right is granted growth and development, the society as a whole is more likely to improve in areas such as health, nutrition, general income and living standards and population fertility rates.

As global citizens it is our responsibility to critically think about the issues and attempt to come up with solutions to the problems plaguing education. In 1990 UNESCO launched EFA, the movement to provide quality education for all children, youth, and adults by the year 2015. The unfortunate reality is that for many countries, larger issues come before improving the quality of education. How can we achieve the goals of EFA when numerous countries around the world are faced with challenges that seem far too impossible to overcome? The answer lies in attempting to bridge some of the gaps that prevent developing nations to compete with developed nations. One example is that of providing greater access to technology and narrowing the ever widening digital divide. In many ways the most basic access to technology can serve as a valuable educational tool. Individuals who are not afforded this access are at a disadvantage when trying to grasp opportunities to make life better for themselves, their families, and their community.

6. SNMPTN 2009

The author's main concern in the first paragraph of the passage is that ...
A. there is no exact definition about education.
B. education is a fundamental individual's right.
C. everyone has the right to get quality education.
D. education occurs in any place not just schools.
E. development can be gained through education.

7. SNMPTN 2009

The situation the author shows in the passage above is best described as follows ...
A. quality education fundamentally ensures quality living in all sectors.
B. education is essentially everyone's right yet it still has its challenges.
C. there are problems in education in spite of its significant role.
D. as long as nations compete, education cannot_ progress.
E. absence of an exact definition causes problems in education.

8. SNMPTN 2009

The following sentences reflect the author's opinions in the passage, EXCEPT ...
A. everyone has the right to get education.
B. education cannot be easily defined.
C. EFA provides quality education by 2015.
D. education is basic to human development.
E. the EFA goals are faced with serious challenges.

9. SNMPTN 2009

If the author is right concerning the role of education, the following might be predicted to take place, EXCEPT ...
A. longer life expectation.
B. lesser birth rates.
C. improved welfare.
D. better quality living.
E. more job opportunities.

10. SNMPTN 2009

The part following the passage above would likely discuss ...
A. lack of access to technology in developing countries to support educational practices.
B. needs of modern digital technology to back up the implementation of EFA in education.
C. roles of technology in providing individuals with cheap and accessible quality education.
D. inability of developing nations to compete with developed countries in technology.
E. government's roles and responsibilities in managing education for their citizens.

Passage 3

Generally, by peoples own accounts, the public idea of women at home is that they are dull and boring. And the stereotype of a working woman is of hard, ambitious, selfish creatures. It is not just that you are either gentle and dull or selfish and interesting. It is that you are either a good mother or you are an interesting woman.

`Young women now seem to get a very clear picture that they have got a choice. If they are going to do mothering well, they have got to pay for it by not being interesting women. If you are an interesting working woman, you are a bad mother.' Lyn Richards puts the blame for such notions and for resulting family tensions on the failure of people to talk enough about them. The media, too, are guilty. 'There is a lot of media coverage of successful career women and still a lot, especially in women's magazines, on the joys of motherhood. There's not that much about the trouble of either role and precious little about combining the roles. Yet half the women who are married in our society are working.'

Nor is much thought given to the task of loosening the ties entrapping men. Lyn Richards, a working mother, grateful for the privilege of genuinely choosing and being able to afford the role, criticizes the systematic exclusion of men from ’child rearing and the really pretty fabulous aspects of having children'. She condemns as ludicrous the idea of the 9 to 5 treadmill of work as an absolute duty for men. 'The sheer irony to me is that the women's movement has told women the way to be liberated is to get into the 9 to 5 tied work force that men have been fighting against for a century. Really we should be using changes in women's values to shake up all the oppression and rigidity that men have been under.'

Indeed, there has been a change. 'The new thing since I married is that it's normal for both husband and wife to go on working when they marry. Now marriage isn't a particularly big deal. Very often it just legalizes something which has been going on anyway and it certainly doesn't change a women's whole basis of life, her notion of who she is. The real life change is having the first child and when that happens I think that probably most couples are still reverting to something like the traditional concept of marriage. But the longer people put off having a child the more likely it is that they won't because they have set up a viable life style. They don't need to have kids now to have a good marriage.'

Not that motherhood and raising families are wholly going out of fashion but rather that people are having smaller families. Consequently, the period in a woman's life when she is not required to devote herself to mothering is lengthening. `Motherhood – the mother role – just isn't a very good identity base today,' Lyn Richards says. 'Motherhood is a short-term appointment now. It doesn't last long.'

11. SNMPTN 2009

The passage mainly deals with women's...
A. alternative role.
B. social function.
C. natural interest.
D. fundamental duty.
E. main responsibility.

12. SNMPTN 2009

The expression combining the roles in `... precious little about combining the roles.' (line 9) in the passage means ...
A. being either a married or a career woman.
B. working both in an office and at home.
C. serving the family and doing office work.
D. enjoying motherhood and caring for the family.
E. having a dual role of mother and career woman.

13. SNMPTN 2009

Lyn argues that in rearing children in a family ...
A. women's role should be more dominant.
B. both men and women are equally responsible.
C. men's role should be put into account.
D. working women share equal work distribution.
E. men's role should be excluded.

14. SNMPTN 2009

If Lyn is correct, in the future women in families of younger generations ...
A. have less children to care for.
B. make up career individuals.
C. will be more prosperous.
D. are more individualistic.
E. share an equal responsibility.

15. SNMPTN 2009

A relevant question that can be raised out of the passage would be ...
A. what characterizes a good working woman?
B. how could men and women build eternal marriage?
C. what ways are thereto keep a family harmonious?
D. why would the role of a woman in mothering not last long?
E. what requirements should working women fulfill?

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