SOLVED PAPER 2023 (CDS) (I) (English)

Passage-I

The third great defect of our civilisation is that it does not know what to do with its knowledge. Science has given us powers fit for the gods, yet we use them as small children. For example, we do not know how to manage our machines. Machines were made to be humanity's servants, yet man has grown so dependent on them that they are in a fair way to become his masters. Already most people spend most of their lives looking after and waiting upon machines. And the machines are very stern masters. They must be kept at the right temperature. And if they do not get their meals when they expect them, they grow sulky and refuse to work or burst with rage and blow up and spread ruin and destruction all around.

So we have to wait upon them very attentively and do all that we can to keep them in a good temper. Already we find it difficult either to work or play without the machines and a time may come when they will rule us altogether, just as we rule the animals.

And this brings me to the point at which I asked, "What do we do with all the time which the machines have saved for us and the new energy they have given us" On the whole, it must be admitted, we do very little. For the most part, we use our time and energy to make more and better machines which will give us still more time and still more energy and what are we to do with them? The answer, I think, is that we should try to become more civilised. For the machines themselves and the power which the machines have given us, are not civilisation but aids to civilisation. But you will remember that we agreed at the beginning that being civilised meant making and linking beautiful things, thinking freely and living rightly and maintaining justice equally among people. A person has a better chance today to do these things than he/she ever had before; he/she has more time, more energy, less to fear and less to fight against. If he/she will give his/her time and energy which his/her machines have won for him/her to make more beautiful things, to find out more and more about the universe, to remove the cause of quarrels between nations, to discover how to prevent poverty, then I think our civilisation would undoubtedly be the greater as it would be more lasting than it has ever been.

The general tone of the passage is

Passage-II

Plastic is an essential commodity with multiple uses based on its key qualities of malleability, flexibility and durability: Plastics are omnipresent in agriculture, fisheries, renewable energy, transport, technology, retail, textiles, personal care products and all the other sectors and industries that directly or indirectly affect our daily life. Plastic has indeed made our lives more convenient, but it has come at a higher price than we imagined. The plastic pollution overflowing our landfills, clogging waterways and infiltrating the ocean is primarily made of discarded items and packaging.

Plastic lasts for hundreds of years, slowly disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces, but never fully degrading. Indeed, one of the key perks of plastic is its longevity. And yet, the plastic packaging of nearly every product we purchase and many plastic products themselves are intended to be discarded after a single use.

Throwaway plastic is an oxymoron, but it has become our sad, increasingly dangerous reality.

Plastic pollution should make everyone angry. This is crisis we can see with the naked eye, day in and day out. Plastic has been found on even the most remote, uninhabited islands and in the deepest parts of the ocean. Because we can see it, we are more keenly aware of it, unlike some other forms of pollution.

In 2019, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for further studies on the impacts of microplastics on human health. An initial study, hampered by a lack of adequate data, concluded microplastics pose no danger at current levels (WHO), 2019).

Although the WHO report was inconclusive about the effects of plastic on human health, other studies have linked the chemicals in plastic to negative health outcomes including endocrine disruption (Dabre 2020). Plastic particiles have been detected in drinking water and in the food we eat, with a 2019 study commissioned by WWF estimating humans consume about five grams (or one credit card in weight) of plastic every week.

We have seen the devastating effects plastic has on marine life. For instance, unable to process ingested plastic waste pieces, seabirds and other sea creatures starve to death. We have seen sea turtles and other animals tangled in fishing nets or trapped in plastic pack rings.

Plastic pollution also wreaks havoc on land, clogging drains and preventing rainwater from soaking into the soil, which leads to flooding. Terrestrial creatures also suffer the effects of plastic waste, with some getting trapped in discarded plastic bags and suffocating to death.

Plastic has distressing effects on