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प्रश्न
From the library or Internet, read the story ‘How much land does a man need?’ by Leo Tolstoy and write a review of the same, covering the following points.
- Background of the story
- Characters
- Plot/Theme
- Climax
- Message/Moral
| If necessary, the students can read the same story two or three times to understand all the points. |
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उत्तर
Background of the story:
Leo Tolstoy wrote "How much land does a man need?" against the backdrop of massive changes in the 19th century in Russia. Until the emancipation of Russian serfs by Czar Alexander II, the peasants were virtual slaves of landowners and aristocrats, Tolstoy wrote this story after the Serfs had already got their freedom for 25 years. They now had rights and their own land. There was progress among the peasants but Tolstoy was apprehensive about whether the peasants' progress brought changes they would regret. This story brings a harsh warning of unchecked materialism which is clearly established through the fate of Pahom, the protagonist of the story, and his sad, untimely death.
Characters - Pahom (the protagonist), his wife, his sister-in-law, the Bashkirs, and the Devil.
Plot/Theme - Pehom, a Russian peasant, overhears his wife and her sister having an argument over whether it is better to live in the country or the city. This lands Pahom to make the dangerous declaration that if he had just enough land, he would not even fear the Devil. The Devil hears this boast and decides to put this to the test and exploits the greed of Pahom. The story relates to Pahom's success in buying land, yet also his dissatisfaction.
Climax - Pahom comes to know about the Bashkir region where very fertile land can be purchased very cheaply. The Bashkirs agree to sell him for 1000 roubles, as much land as he can pace off in a day as long as he returns before the end of the day to the starting point. Pahom walks far, trying to get as much as land as possible, but when he sees more fertile land ahead of him, greed overtakes his senses and he keeps walking further and further away without realizing it would be difficult for him to return to the starting point. In his rush to get back to the starting point. In his rush to get back to the starting point which he succeeds in, he collapses and dies. When he dies the Baskhins ask Pahoms servant to bury him on the same land and he ends up with six feet of land, enough to bury him instead of all the land that he had acquired.
Message/Moral:
The story tells us about the destructive consequences of human ambition & greed. The message is clear, a warning against biting off more than you can chew. The story shows us how human nature pushes us to want more and more. We are never content, no matter how well off we may be. While trying to improve our standard of living, we put ourselves in danger of ending up with nothing, It gives us the message, how greed and excessive desire for earthly desires can destroy a person.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Discuss in pairs and guess the correct alternative for the following.
To summarise means _______ .
Adverbs clutter up your copy. You can usually live without them. Just delete italicized word and rewrite.
“That’s fairly good coffee.”
Transforming Complex to Simple: By using phrases like ‘too...to’ or using noun phrase instead of a clause:
Nagpur is the city where oranges grow.
- Oranges grow in Nagpur
The old man is so weak that he cannot walk.
- The old man is too weak to walk.
Change the following sentence into simple:
The room is so small that it cannot accommodate many people.
Find some professions that require the skill of summary writing and editing. Write them in your notebook.
Further reading :
- “The Phantom Luncheon” by Saki.
- “The Ant and the Grasshopper” by William Somerset Maugham. Form 4 groups of the class. Every group will visit the school’s library or use the internet to read both the creations of Saki and W. S. Maugham. After reading them, every group will summarise both the creations and later read out in the class.
Read the passage and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.
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November 4, 1851. Dear, Brother John Honston, When I came into Charleston day before yesterday, I learnt that you were anxious to sell the land where you live, and move to Missouri. I have been thinking of this ever since, and cannot but say such an idea is quite foolish. What can you do in Missouri better than here? Is the land any richer? Can you, there, any more than here, raise com and wheat without work? Will anybody there, any more than here, do your work for you? If you intend to go to work, there is no better place than right where you are; if you do not intend to work, you cannot get along anywhere. Crawling about from place to place can do you no good. You have raised no crop this year. What you really want is to sell the land, get the money and spend it. Part with the land you have and my life upon it-never after will you own a spot big enough to bury you. Half of what you will get for the land, you will spend in moving to Missouri, and the other hall you will eat, drink, wear out and no foot of land will be brought. Now I feel it my duty to have no hand in such a piece of foolery. Now do not misunderstand this letter. I do not write it in any unkindness. I write it in order, if possible, to get you to face the truth which truth is, you are poor and needy because you have idled away your time. Your thousand excuses for not getting along better are all nonsense. They deceive nobody but yourself. To go to work is the only cure for your case. Affectionately, |
Write a summary of the above extract with a suitable title with the help of the given points/hints.
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"I don't believe in taking the right decisions. I take decisions, I take decisions and then make them right:' One of them make them right. One of Ratan Tata's inspiring words which made me dream beyond shadows. I feel fortunate that I discovered him in the early stage of my life and now I am using his teachings to mould my future the way I want. Even though Ratan Tata was born into a very posh family in India, he never took money and power for granted. He graduated from Riverdale country from New York, Ratan Tata began his career in the Tata Group working on the shop floor of Tata Steel. After working for almost 10 years he was appointed as the director-in-charge of the National Radio and Electronics Company Limited (NELCO) in order to help its struggling finances. He worked hard to build a better consumer electronics division but the economic recession and union strikes prevented him from achieving success and this success helped Tata to be appointed as the chairman of the Tata Group of companies. He started with a very basic job in his father's company and today he owns a billion dollar company. The tag of greatness does not come without making any sacrifices and this tag on Ratan Tata suits to its best. Tata group launched its passenger car Tata Indica in the year 1998 but Tata Indica was a failure in its first year and the experiment seemed to be failing. Many people started advising Ratan Tata that he should sell the passenger car business. Ratan Tata also agreed to this and a proposal was given to Ford. they showed interest too. The three-hour meeting at Ford headquarters in Detroit, chairman of Ford (Bill Ford) said to Ratan Tata, "Why did you enter in the passenger car business when you were not knowing of it. It will be a favour if we buy this business from you." Ratan Tata decided to move back home. Whi le travelling he was very tense as the feeling of being insulted was on his mind. After earlier failures, Tata Motors did well with its business of passenger cars but in the same period, Ford did very bad. In 2008 when Ford was on it way of bankruptcy, Tata Group offered Ford to buy its luxury car brand, Jaguar Land Rover. Ford arrived in Mumbai for the meeting. In the meeting, Bill Ford said to Ratan Tata, you are doing a big favour for us by buying-Jaguar-Land Rover is now owned by Tata Group and is currently making profits. |
Ratan Tata's early career - early setback in passenger car business - his meeting with Bill Ford - his success in passenger car business - purchase of Ford's Land Rover and Jaguar.
Write a brief summary of the following extract with the help of the given points and suggest a suitable title.
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The call of the seas has always found an echo in me. Not being rich enough to roam in a private yacht, I have taken the poor man's way out. I swim across them. I have always been fascinated by the Indian ocean, whether at Mumbai, at Puri or at Gopalpur. I have swam in all these places and have felt the thrill. But the idea of swimming the Palk Strait did not occur to me until after I swam in the English channel. Steeped in the history and tradition of this nation, practically unconquered. teaming with hair-raising hazards, the sea between India and Sri Lanka had all the elements of challenge, danger and difficulty that tempted me. By the way, for preparation, I continued a strict and rigorous course of training which began in 1960. I also had to collect a comprehensive range of facts and information about this sea. Neither of these was easy. Despite all the information I had gathered, I soon found that very little was known about the Palk Strait, especially about the tides and currents. Everything about the English channel is known-there is the Channel Swimming Association, there are trained pilots there are wants to be hired, accurate weather forecasts, dependable tide tables and every other form of assistance was readily available. All that one needed was money. Here in the Palk Strait one has to find out firstly from where information could be obtained and then decide how much of it could be incorrect or misleading! |
Attraction for the seas - fascination for the Palk Strait - comparison between the English channel and the Palk Strait.
Read the passage given in below and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.
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The humble son of a farmer from Sarakkalvilai village in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district, Dr. K. Sivan as Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman was leading the Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon. Sivan studied in a Tamil medium government school. After graduating from S.T. Hindu College in Nagercoil, Sivan completed a Master's in Engineering from IISC in 1982. In 2006, he received Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay. Sivan is the first graduate in his family. His brother and two sisters were unable to complete higher education due to their poverty. "When I was in college, I used to help my father in the field. That was the reason he got me admitted to a college near our house." Sivan told TOI, "Only when I had completed my B.Sc. (Mathematics) with 100% marks his mind changed." Sivan said he had spent his childhood days without a shoe or sandal. I continued wearing a vesti (dhoti) till college. I wore pants for the first time when I entered MIT." He joined ISRO in 1982 and worked on almost all rocket programmes. Before taking charge as an ISRO chairman in January 2018, he was the director, of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) which develops rockets. He is known as ISRO's 'Rocket Man'. |
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Love is a great force in Private life; it is indeed the greatest of all things, but love in public affairs does not work. It has been tried again and again; by the people of the Middle Ages, and also by the French Revolution, a secular movement which reasserted the Brotherhood of Man, And it has always failed. The idea that nations should love one another, or that business concerns or marketing boards should love one another or that a man in Portugal should love a man in Peru of whom he has never heard — it is absurd, unreal, dangerous. ‘Love is what is needed,” we chant, and then sit back and the world goes on as before. The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much. In public affairs, in the rebuilding of civilization, something much less dramatic and emotional is needed, namely tolerance. Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. It is negative. It merely means putting up with people, being able to stand things. No one has ever written an ode to tolerance, or raised a statute to her. Yet this is the quality which will be most needed after the war. This is the sound state of mind which we are looking for. This is the only force which will enable different races and classes and interests to settle down together to the work of reconstruction. The world is very full of people— appallingly full; it has never been so full before and they are all tumbling over each other. Most of these people one doesn’t know and some of them dosen't like. Well, what is one to do? If you don't like people, put up with them as well as you can. Don't try to love them; you can't. But try to tolerate them. On the basis of that tolerance a civilized future may be built. Certainly I can see no other foundation for the post-war world. |
Write a 'summary' of the above extract by using the following points.
(Love as a force - its limitations - tolerance - need of tolerance)
