Question:
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
Machines were made to be man's servant, yet he has grown so dependent on them that they are on a fair way to become his master. Although most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal and given petrol to drink, and oil to wash with and they must be kept at the right temperature. If they do not get their meals, they grow sulky and refuse to work or burst with rage and blow up and spread ruin and destruction all round them. So, we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without machines, and a time may come when they will rule us as we rule the animals.
(e)(i) What meaning do you infer from 'they will rule us as we rule the animals'?
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
Machines were made to be man's servant, yet he has grown so dependent on them that they are on a fair way to become his master. Although most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal and given petrol to drink, and oil to wash with and they must be kept at the right temperature. If they do not get their meals, they grow sulky and refuse to work or burst with rage and blow up and spread ruin and destruction all round them. So, we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without machines, and a time may come when they will rule us as we rule the animals.
(e)(i) What meaning do you infer from 'they will rule us as we rule the animals'?
Machines were made to be man's servant, yet he has grown so dependent on them that they are on a fair way to become his master. Although most men spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And machines are very stern masters. They must be fed with coal and given petrol to drink, and oil to wash with and they must be kept at the right temperature. If they do not get their meals, they grow sulky and refuse to work or burst with rage and blow up and spread ruin and destruction all round them. So, we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without machines, and a time may come when they will rule us as we rule the animals.
(e)(i) What meaning do you infer from 'they will rule us as we rule the animals'?
Updated On: Sep 24, 2026
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Reading the comparison:
The line compares the future relationship between man and machines to the present relationship between man and animals, where man is dominant.
Step 2: Inference:
It implies that just as humans currently control and dominate animals, machines may one day grow so powerful and indispensable that they end up controlling and dominating human beings instead — a complete reversal of roles.
The line compares the future relationship between man and machines to the present relationship between man and animals, where man is dominant.
Step 2: Inference:
It implies that just as humans currently control and dominate animals, machines may one day grow so powerful and indispensable that they end up controlling and dominating human beings instead — a complete reversal of roles.
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Top UP Board XII English Questions
- Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
It is clear that language is used for more than one purpose. The man who hits his thumb nails with a hammer and utters a string of curses is using language to relieve his feeling and needs no audience but himself. But when a philosopher uses language to clarify his ideas on a subject, he is using it as an instrument of thought. When two women gossip over the fence or two men exchange greetings as they pass in the street, language is being used to strengthen the bonds between the members of society. Language, it seems, is a multipurpose instrument. One function, however, seems to be basic — language enables us to influence people's behaviour and thereby makes human co-operation possible. Some animals co-operate especially the social animals like bees and ants, but human co-operation is more thorough, more detailed, more effective than that found anywhere in the animal kingdom. The human co-operation would be unthinkable without language.
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