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CSS Solved English (Precis & Composition)

CSS 2024English (Precis & Composition)Q. 7

Translate the following into English, keeping in view figurative and idiomatic expressions. ("جب فلسطین کا خود ساختہ تنازعہ تصفیہ کیلئے اقوام متحدہ کے روبرو پیش ہوا…")

By CSS Nexus Team ·

Original CSS 2024 English (Precis & Composition) paper

This answer to the CSS 2024 English (Precis & Composition) paper (Q. 7) was written by the CSS Nexus team. Read the outline first, then see how each point is developed.

Outline

  • Read the paragraph whole: the UN proposed a two-state solution that was never implemented, while Gaza has been devastated
  • ✓خود ساختہ تنازعہ → a manufactured (man-made) dispute
  • ✓عملدرآمد کی نوبت ہی نہیں آنے دی گئی → were never allowed to be implemented
  • ✓کی ایماء پر → at the behest of
  • ✓خون سے ہولی کھیلنا → to shed blood wantonly (not a literal "play Holi")
  • ✓زندگی سے ہاتھ دھونا → to lose one's life
  • Keep the past and present perfect tenses of the original

Answer

The Urdu paragraph

جب فلسطین کا خود ساختہ تنازعہ تصفیہ کیلئے اقوام متحدہ کے روبرو پیش ہوا تو اس نمائندہ عالمی ادارے نے فلسطینی عوام کے حقِ خودارادیت کو تسلیم کرتے ہوئے ان مسائل کے حل کا فارمولا بھی خود طے کیا۔ تنازعہ فلسطین کا دو ریاستی حل تجویز کیا گیا مگر اس کیلئے منظور ہونیوالی اقوام متحدہ کی قراردادوں پر گزشتہ سات دہائیوں میں عملدرآمد کی نوبت ہی نہیں آنے دی گئی۔ اسکے برعکس امریکہ کی ایماء پر اسرائیلی فوجیں آج کے دن تک نہتے اور بے گناہ معصوم فلسطینیوں کے خون سے ہولی کھیل رہی ہیں اور غزہ کا علاقہ گزشتہ اڑھائی ماہ سے جاری جنگ میں مکمل طور پر برباد ہو چکا ہے۔ اس جنگ میں امریکی کمک کے ساتھ اسرائیلی فوجوں نے 20 ہزار سے زائد فلسطینیوں بشمول خواتین اور بچوں کو بے دردی سے شہید کیا ہے اور زندہ بچ جانے والے انسانوں کیلئے کوئی ٹھکانہ محفوظ نہیں رہنے دیا جو اب خوراک اور ادویات کی کمیابی کے باعث بھی زندگی سے ہاتھ دھو رہے ہیں۔

Translation

When the manufactured dispute over Palestine was brought before the United Nations for settlement, that representative world body recognized the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and itself laid down a formula for resolving the issue: a two-state solution. Yet the UN resolutions passed to that end have not been allowed to be implemented in the seven decades since. Instead, at the behest of the United States, Israeli forces are to this day shedding the blood of unarmed and innocent Palestinians with impunity, and Gaza has been reduced to ruins in a war that has raged for the past two and a half months. With American support, Israeli forces have mercilessly killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, including women and children, and have left no safe refuge for the survivors, who are now losing their lives to shortages of food and medicine as well.

How the idioms were handled

- خود ساختہ تنازعہ becomes "manufactured dispute": a conflict created by others rather than one that arose naturally.

- عملدرآمد کی نوبت ہی نہیں آنے دی گئی is rendered "have not been allowed to be implemented", keeping the sense that implementation was deliberately blocked.

- خون سے ہولی کھیل رہی ہیں is an Urdu idiom for shedding blood freely and callously. A literal "playing Holi with blood" would puzzle an English reader, so it becomes "shedding the blood … with impunity".

- کی ایماء پر becomes "at the behest of".

- زندگی سے ہاتھ دھو رہے ہیں becomes "are losing their lives".

- شہید کیا is rendered "killed" for an international English reader; "martyred" is also acceptable and closer to the Urdu.

A note on the figures

The paragraph was written for the February 2024 paper: "two and a half months" refers to the war that began in October 2023, and the figure of more than 20,000 deaths reflects reports at the end of 2023. In a translation, keep the figures exactly as given rather than updating them.

Common mistakes to avoid

Translating idioms literally ("washing hands of life"), changing the figures, and adding political commentary of your own.

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