Unseen passage: title, contextual vocabulary, and translation choice
An unseen Persian passage of four sentences is printed in a mock paper: 'در روزگار ما، کتاب بهترین دوست انسان است. هر کس که کتاب می‌خواند، جهان را گسترده‌تر می‌بیند. من پارسال به کتابخانهٔ شهر رفتم و یک کتاب تاریخی گرفتم. خواندن آن کتاب به من آموخت که صبر و کوشش، کلید پیروزی است.' The paper asks three things: (a) a one-line title, (b) the meaning of 'گسترده‌تر' in context, and (c) translation of the second sentence into English. A candidate writes the title 'A Historical Book', translates 'گسترده‌تر' as 'wider' and renders the second sentence as 'Every person who reads a book sees the world wider.' The candidate has 10 minutes and wants to improve before submission. The candidate is unsure whether 'wider' is acceptable or whether the translation should be more idiomatic. The candidate also worries that the title gives away only one detail.
1. Evaluate the title 'A Historical Book' and propose a better one with reasoning.
Read the worked answer
The title is too narrow. It comes from sentence 3 only, while the passage's topic sentence says that a book is humanity's best friend and its conclusion says that reading teaches patience and effort. A title should cover the whole passage, not one illustrative detail.
A better title would be کتاب، دوست و روشنگر ('The book as friend and illuminator') or, in English, Books Broaden the Mind. Either title links the opening claim about friendship with the middle claim about seeing the world more broadly. The candidate should avoid a title that mentions only the historical book, because that would misrepresent the passage's main idea and lose the title mark even if the translation is correct.
2. Is 'wider' an acceptable rendering of گسترده‌تر here? Give a better English version and explain the context clue.
Read the worked answer
'Wider' is understandable but awkward in this context. The Persian گسترده‌تر literally contains the idea of 'more spread out', but with جهان را ... می‌بیند it means seeing the world with a broader understanding, not measuring physical width.
A better rendering is: 'Whoever reads books sees the world more broadly' or 'sees the world in a broader perspective.' The context clue is the pairing of هر کس که کتاب می‌خواند with جهان را ... می‌بیند: the sentence is about the effect of reading on perception. The candidate should choose the idiom that matches that effect rather than the most literal dictionary gloss.
3. Translate the second sentence into English and Hindi, preserving the generic sense of هر کس که.
Read the worked answer
English: 'Whoever reads books sees the world more broadly.' The construction هر کس که is generic, so 'whoever' or 'anyone who' is more natural than 'every person who'. 'Books' can be plural in English because the Persian کتاب is generic.
Hindi: 'जो भी किताबें पढ़ता है, वह दुनिया को अधिक व्यापक रूप से देखता है।' The Hindi जो भी preserves the generic force of هر کس که, and व्यापक रूप से avoids the awkward literal 'wider'. The candidate should keep the sentence structure simple and not add words such as 'historical' that belong only to the next sentence.