21 February is a memorable day in our national history. We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day. The day is a national holiday.

Read the following text and answer the questions 1-2.

21 February is a memorable day in our national history. We observe the day every year as International Mother Language Day. The day is a national holiday.

On this day, we pay tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives to establish Bangla as a state language in undivided Pakistan in 1952. It is known as the Language Movement.

The seed of the Language Movement was sown on 21 March 1948 when Mohammad Ali Zinnah, the then Governor General of Pakistan, at a public meeting in Dhaka declared that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. The declaration raised a storm of protest in the eastern part of the country. The protest continued non-stop, gathering momentum day by day. It turned into a movement and reached its climax in 1952. The government outlawed all sorts of public meetings and rallies to stop it.

The students of Dhaka University defied the law and they brought out a peaceful protest procession on 21 February 1952. When the procession reached near Dhaka Medical College, the police opened fire on the students, killing Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Safiur and Jabbar. As a result, there were mass protests all over the country and the government had to declare Bengali too as a state language. This kindled the sparks of independence movement of Bangladesh.

1.     Choose the correct answer from the alternatives.       1´7=7

(a)   The climax of something is tits ¾

        (i) final stage                         (ii) reward

        (iii) downfall                         (iv) punishment

(b)   21 February is-

        (i) Language Movement Day

        (ii) Language Day

        (iii) Mother Language Day

        (iv) International Mother Language Day

(c)   We pay respect to the ¾ who sacrificed their lives on 21 February.

        (i) farmers                             (ii) students

        (iii) soldiers                            (iv) martyrs.

(d)   The word 'national' used in the 2nd live could be replaced by¾.

        (i) country                             (ii) nation

        (iii) public                              (iv) private

(e)   In 1948 the Governor General of Pakistan was ¾. (i) Ayub Khan  (ii) Imran Khan

        (iii) Monayem Khan           (iv) Mohammad Ali Zinnah

(f)    What was the type of protest procession?

        (i) violent                               (ii) aggressive

        (iii) non-peaceful                 (iv) peaceful

(g)   What did the police do?

        (i) opened fire on the students

        (ii) remained inactive

        (iii) joined the procession

        (iv) supported the students

2.     Answer the following questions.                     2´5=10

(a)   Why did the martyrs sacrifice their lives?

(b)   Why do we observe 21 February worldwide?

(c)   What are the names of the people who laid down their lives?

(d)   When was the seed of Language Movement sown?

(e)   What raised a storm in the eastern part of the then Pakistan?