English - Paragraphs (Set-1)

Set of a few paragraphs recently being asked in school exams.

 

FRIENDSHIP

The great Roman orator, Cicero, in his celebrated treatise on Friendship, remarks with truth that it increases happiness and diminishes misery by doubling our joy and dividing our grief. When we do well, it is delightful to have friends who are so proud of our success that they receive as much pleasure from it as we do ourselves. For the friendless man the attainment of wealth, power and honour is of little value. Such possessions contribute to our happiness the most by enabling us to do good to others, but if all those whom we are able to benefit are strangers we take far less pleasure in our beneficence. Further, when we do our duty in spite of temptation, the mental satisfaction obtained from the approval of our conscience is heightened by the praise of our friends. Our amusements have little zest and soon fall upon us if we engage in them in solitude. Thus in every case our joys are rendered more intense and more permanent by being shared with friends.

SILENCE IS PRECIOUS

God has given men the power of speech. But God  never meant that we should abuse this power. Everything in the world including our ability to speak should be used with wisdom and judgement. we should realise that most of the time we talk only nonsense and it is extremely difficult for people to hear other people talk. The proverb goes, 'If speech is silver, silence is golden'. We should therefore always remember to use our tongue sparingly. It is an extremely precious quality to know when to talk, how much to talk and what to talk. Above all, we should know when not to talk, how much to talk and what to talk. We should also know when not to talk. Too much talking or aimless talks reveals one's weakness. Silence not only conceals our weakness but also gives us strength. We should observe silence and be a better listener. We should talk when it is must.

COMPUTER CRIMES

Over the last twenty years, a technological revolution has occurred as computers are now an essential element of today's society. A large number computers are used to track reservations for the airlines, process billions of currency for banks, manufacture products for industry, and conduct major transactions for businesses because more and more people now have computers at home as well as at the office. At the same time it has been observed that there is surge in crimes involving computers. People commit computer crimes because of society's declining ethical standards more than any economic need.Computer crimes are fast and growing because the evolution of technology is fast, but theevolution of law is slow. While a variety of states have passed legislation relating to computer crime, the situation is a national problem that requires a national solution. Controls can be instituted within industries to prevent such crimes. Protection measures such as hardware identification,access controls software and disconnecting critical bank applications should be devised.However, computers don't commit crimes; people do. The perpetrator's best advantage is

ignorance on the part of those protecting the system. Proper internal controls reduce the

opportunity for fraud.