I.

Answer the following questions based on the text entitled "So, we'd be happier as empty-nester
parents? That's rubbish"

1) a. What does the phrase ‘empty-nester parents’ in the title and repeated in paragraph IV mean?

parents who do not have children

b. What does the clause ‘the house is buzzing with life’ in the subtitle and again repeated in
paragraph VI mean?

c. What does the phrase ‘a sense of loss’ in the subtitle and repeated in paragraph V mean?

d. Why, do you think, the author used those terms repeatedly in his article?

In paragraph I, there are four categories of parents inscribed by Becker and his colleague.

Who are they?

List them from the happiest to the least happy parents.

Which type of family is the author’s family? How can you say so? Provide the evidence from the text.

a. What does the word ‘nest’ (line 5, par I) refer to?

b. Why do you think the author used the terms ‘nest’ and ‘empty-nester’ in his text?

a. What does the phrase ‘cross-sectional survey of parents’ (line 7, par II) mean?

b. What does the phrase ‘established qualitative research method’ (line 8, par II) mean?

c. Why did the author write ‘my partner and the mother of my children’ (line 9, par II), and why did
she ask her?

d. Is the use of ‘cross-sectional survey parents’ and ‘established qualitative research method’ in this
text appropriate? Elaborate on your answer.

e. What is the writer’s purpose of using these phrases (‘cross-sectional survey of parents’ and
‘established qualitative research method’)?

What does the phrase ‘a load of pants’ (lines 7-8, par II) mean?

What does the phrase ‘spread their wings’ (line 17, par III) mean?

What does the phrase ‘vacuum feeling’ (lines 24-25, par V) mean?

What does the author mean when he wrote ‘Empty-nest syndrome is a syndrome for a reason’?

What did ‘Jimmy came fully formed’ (line 37, par VII) mean?

a. What do you call the terms like ‘nest’, ‘empty-nester’, ‘a load of pants’, ‘buzzing’, ‘spread [their]
wings’, ‘vacuum feeling’, and ‘fully formed’ in the article?

b. Why do you think the author employed the terms in his article?

How did the author develop the text? What method of development was used?
II. Answer the following questions based on the text entitled "Could Hong Kong Become Another
Estonia?"

What does the USSR (line 10, par II and repeated in later parts of the text) stand for? What is it?

"Political differences do not keep Singapore and Taiwan from intense commercial ties with China"
(lines 13-14, par III)

What does the sentence mean?

What political differences are referred to in the sentence?

a. Why would " Western businesses feel more secure investing in an independent, law-respecting
Hong Kong" {lines 14-15, par III)?

b. What does 'more secure' in the above sentence mean?

a. What is 'a city-state' (line 16, par IV)?

b. What is 'Hanseatic League city-states' (line 24, par V)?

c. Why did the author mention 'a city-state' and 'Hanseatic League city-states''? What does it have to
do with Hong Kong?

"Recent allegations of police brutality against protesters probably boosted pro-independence

sentiments..." (lines 36-37, par VI). What does 'police brutality' here mean?

" Under President Xi Jinping, however, China is becoming a technocratic version of Mao Zedong’s
totalitarian dictatorship." (lines 43-45, par VII). What does the sentence mean?

"How did David defeat Goliath in the Baltic?" (line 46, par VIII).

a. What does the sentence mean? Who was David in the sentence? Who was Goliath in the
sentence??

" Exploiting Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost programs..." (lines 47-48, par VIII)

a. Who is Mikhail Gorbachev?

b. What are perestroika and glasnost programs?

c. How did Perestroika and Glasnost relate to the Baltic’s independence?

" In December 1991 the USSR collapsed and all 15 union-republics became independent." (lines 57-
58, par VIII) Who are they, the 15 union-republics?

" China is now stronger in most ways than the USSR in the Gorbachev era, but it stands on feet of
clay." (lines, 64-65, par X). What does feet of clay mean?

"If such problems multiply and Hong Kongers remain persistent, they might catch the Estonian
dream — not today, but perhaps in a decade. " (lines 69-70, par XI). What does the Estonian dream
mean?

According to the author of the text, what do Hongkongers need to have the Estonian dream?

In the text, there are several questions, like:

Could Hong Kong become another Estonia? (title)

Could Hong Kong follow this example — not only depart from Beijing’s rule but survive and prosper
on the world stage? (lines 4-5, par I)

Is Hong Kong too small to function as a city-state? (line 16, par IV)

Why should Hong Kongers want to be independent? (line 27, par VI)

How did David defeat Goliath in the Baltic? (line 46, par VIII)

What is the author's purpose for having these questions in the text?

Do you think the questions serve the same or different function in the text?

In addition to several questions in the text, the author also compared several things. Can you list
what things are being compared, what are the basis of comparison, and why are they compared?

III. Submit your answers, individually, no longer than Saturday, 8 October 2022, 11.00 am.