PART-A

Passage 1:

Napoleon was many things but he was, first of all,remembered as a military leader. Rising from an artillery officer to thecommander of the French army, he waged war after war against neighboringcountries. In 1804, he declared himself emperor and became the most powerfulman in the world. At one time he controlled most of Europe. But Napoleon'spower was short-lived. His defeat came when he decided to attack Russia. Soonthe whole of Europe rose against him, eventually forcing him to give up histhrone. In 1821, he died alone on the small island of St. Helena.

Passage 2:

Tom Cruise has always represented cool, but somehow overthe last couple of years, he has gone from just another Hollywood pretty boy toa certified world renowned actor. It seems that everything he touches turns togold. Not everyone likes him, but at least now almost everyone respects him.His movies make millions, he is an international star -- men envy him, andwomen love him.

Passage 3:

His critics agree that the United NationsSecretary-General, Kofi Annan, is a dignified moral idealist.

But he's also tough. Elected to the post in 1996, thankslargely to the US's displeasure with Boutros-Ghali, Annan has proved to beenergetic and willing to press Americans to accept greater internationalresponsibility.

As the host of 159 heads of state at this year's MillenniumSummit in New York September 6 to 8, he advocated intervention against war,disease and poverty.

PART-B

A Musician-turned Economist

Alan Greenspan, who has been Chairman of the U.S. FederalReserve Board for over a decade, is regarded as one of the most important menby many people in the world.

Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926. His father was astockbroker and his mother worked in retailing. When he was 4 years old, hisparents divorced and he was raised by his mother in New York.

Young Alan was a shy boy but he was very good at largenumbers. When he was only five, his mother would get him to add two three-digitnumbers in his head.

He loved baseball and tennis. And, like his mother, hedeveloped a deep appreciation for music. In the mid-1940s he studied briefly ata music school in New York, and then toured the country for a year with a musicband. Then he entered New York University's School of Commerce and graduatedwith a degree in economics. He got a Master's degree at NYU in 1949, andshifted to Columbia University to work on his PhD. When his money ran low, hewithdrew from graduate school and went to work for the National IndustrialConference Board. He eventually earned a PhD from NYU in 1977.

In the mid-1950s Greenspan opened an economic consultingcompany. In 1987 he began to work in the Federal Government. Today his work asChief of Federal Reserve Board is much the same as the work he did on WallStreet, trying to understand how the economy is working and what drives it;offering suggestions for improvement. He is, however, making less money.

PART-C

Edwin Hubble

Edwin Powell Hubble was a tall, elegant, athletic man.During his lifetime, his research was focused on nebulae, which are mistypatches of light in the sky. In 1924, he announced the discovery of a star in anebula. He calculated that this star was much further away than anyone hadthought and that therefore the nebula was not inside our galaxy, but a galaxyof stars just like the Milky Way, only much further away. His discovery enabledthe world to realize that the universe was much bigger than had been previouslypresumed.

Hubble wanted to classify the galaxies according to theircontent, distance, shape and brightness patterns, and in his observations hemade another great discovery: the galaxies were moving away from each other ata rate constant to the distance between them. This is known as Hubble's law.The greater the distance between them, the faster they move away from eachother. This supported the big bang theory of how the universe came into being.

Hubble died in 1953. To honor his great contribution tospace exploration, his name was chosen for the world's most powerful spacetelescope, the Hubble Space Telescope.