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Question
Below is a topic for essay writing. Follow the steps listed above to write on these topics.
Those who can bear all can dare all
Solution
Those who can bear all can dare all. This holds good at all levels – individual, social, economic and organisational. The ability or attitude to endure in a given situation or environment is of utmost importance.
In a given situation, one's response is either reactive or proactive. One may have positive or a negative response towards a situation. But for becoming effective in life one should cultivate a balanced or neutral attitude. A balanced attitude promotes development of endurance.
Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of electric bulb, owes his success to his ability to bear hardships. He once commented that genius is ninety percent perspiration and ten percent inspiration. Though he had to perform hundreds of experiment to invent the electric bulb, he did not let the failures overpower him. This attitude ultimately brought him success. Napoleon, the famous French leader, regarded endurance as the most important quality of leadership. He said that losing a battle does not mean losing the war. Lord Buddha once said that the world we live in is in a state of flux. There is no certainty as situations do not always remain the same. In other words, one should be prepared to face the ups and downs in life. In this context, the best we can do is to remain neutral and not let the problems demoralise us.
In the era of globalisation and market economy, the quality of endurance is a prerequisite for the entrepreneurs. There are ample growth opportunities as well as uncertainties due to the play of market forces. In fact, one can take risk or bear uncertainty only when one has developed the quality of endurance. There may be ups and downs in business but one has to bear all.
To conclude, endurance is not the virtue of the weak rather it is the source of strength. That is why it is said “Those who can bear all can dare all.”
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow :
(1) At the Literary Society’s meeting, Isola read out the letters written to her Granny Pheen, when she was but a little girl. They were from a very kind man – a complete stranger. Isola told us how these letters came to be written.
(2) When Granny Pheen was nine years old, her cat died. Heartbroken, sitting in the middle of the road, she was sobbing her heart out.
(3) A carriage, driving far too fast, came within a whisker of running her down. A very big man in a dark coat with a fur collar, jumped out, leaned over Pheen, and asked if he could help her. Granny Pheen said she was beyond help. Muffin, her cat, was dead.
(4) The man said, ‘Of course, Muffin’s not dead. You do know cats have nine lives, don’t you?’ When Pheen said yes, the man said, ‘Well, I happen to know your Muffin was only on her third life, so she has six lives left.’ Pheen asked how he knew. He said he always knew - cats would often appear in his mind and chat with him. Well, not in words, of course, but in pictures.
(5) He sat down on the road beside her and told her to keep still – very still. He would see if Muffin wanted to visit him. They sat in silence for several minutes, when suddenly the man grabbed Pheen’s hand.
(6) ‘Ah – yes! There she is! She’s being born this minute! In a mansion – in France. There’s a little boy petting her, he’s going to call her Solange. This Solange has great spirit, great verve – I can tell already! She is going to have a long, venturesome life.’
(7) Granny Pheen was so rapt by Muffin’s new fate that she stopped crying. The man said he would visit Solange every so often and find out how she was faring.
(8) He asked for Granny Pheen’s name and the name of the farm where she lived, got back into the carriage, and left.
(9) Absurd as all this sounds, Granny Pheen did receive eight long letters. Isola then read them out. They were all about Muffin’s life as the French cat − Solange. She was, apparently, something of a feline musketeer. She was no idle cat, lolling about on cushions, lapping up cream – she lived through one wild adventure after another – the only cat ever to be awarded the red rosette of the Legion of Honour.
(10) What a story this man had made up for Pheen – lively, witty, full of drama and suspense. We were enchanted, speechless at the reading. When it was over (and much applauded), I asked Isola if I could see the letters, and she handed them to me.
(11) The writer had signed his letters with a grand flourish :
VERY TRULY YOURS,
O.F. O’F. W.W.
It was highly possible that Isola had inherited eight letters written by Oscar Wilde, for who else could have had such a preposterous name as Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Willis Wilde.
Adapted from : The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage :[4]
(1) adventurous
(2) cat-like
(3) appreciated
(4) received something on someone’s death
(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage :[4]
(1) kind (line 2)
(2) mind (line 13)
(3) still (line 15)
(4) sounds (line 26)
(b) Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:
(i) Where did Isola get the letters from to read at the Literary Society’s meeting?[2]
(ii) Who consoled Granny Pheen when she was heart-broken? What did he say about Muffin’s lives?[2]
(iii) What did the man say when Granny Pheen asked him how he knew about cats’ lives?[2]
(iv) According to the man, what was Muffin’s new fate?[3]
(c) In not more than 100 words, summarise why the eight letters were a treasure to Granny Pheen. (Paragraphs 2 to 10). Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalised. You will be required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words.[8]
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Raina :
Come away from the window (She takes him firmly back to the middle of the room. The moment she releases him he turns mechanically towards the window again. She seizes him and turns him back, exclaiming) Please! (He becomes motionless, like a hypnotized rabbit, his fatigue gaining fast on him. She releases him, and addresses him patronizingly). Now listen. You must trust to our hospitality. You do not yet know in whose house you are. I am a Petkoff.
The Man: A pet what?
Raina : [rather indignantly] I mean that I belong to the family of the Petkoffs, the richest and best known in our country.
The Man: Oh yes, of course. I beg your pardon. The Petkoffs, to be sure. How stupid of me!
Raina: You know you never heard of them until this moment. How can you stoop to pretend!
The Man: Forgive me. I'm too tired to think, and the change of subject was too much for me. Don't scold me.
(i) Why did the man keep turning to the window?
(ii) Which examples of the social superiority of the Petkoff's does Raina give the man?
(iii) Which opera does Raina mention? With whom does she compare herself? What does this tell you about her?
(iv) In Raina's opinion, what should the man have done instead of threatening her?
(v) What does the man tell Raina about his father? Why does he do so?
(vi) What does the man do at the end of the scene?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
NEXT MORNING, I HAD AN IDEA. IT WAS nothing clear cut, merely speculative, But I considered it all the way to school. Then, after assembly, as soon as they were quiet I waded in. This might be a bit rough, I thought, but here goes.
“I am your teacher, and I think it right and proper that I should let you know something of my plans-for this class.”
(i) Who is ‘I’ in the above lines? Where is he? In what mood was he when he entered the class?
(ii) What did the narrator expect from his students at this moment?
(iii) Who entered soon after this? What did she do that made the narrator angry? What challenges did he give her?
(iv) What was the effect of the challenge on her? What plan did the narrator have in mind regarding the conduct of the young ladies? Whose help did he seek for this?
(v) What did the narrator expect from the boy? What was the reaction of the children when they heard the narrator’s expectations?
The following are the meaning listed in the dictionary against the phrase `take on’. In which meaning is it used in the third paragraph of the account:
|
Take on sth: |
to begin to have a particular quality or appearance; to assume sth |
|
take sb on: |
to employ sb; to engage sb |
|
Take sb/sth on: |
to decide to do sth; to allow sth/sb to enter e.g. a bus, plane or ship; to take sth/sb on board |
Identify instances of ironical comment in the story.
Find out the information about the qualification and eligibility required in the profession related to wildlife such as:
Geologist
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The words in the box are all words that describe movement. Use them to fill in the blank in the sentence below.
When the cobra tried to bite it, the mongoose ____________ aside.
Re-word the line from the story:
I went to the window which overlooked a large garden.
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'Seems to touch the starry skies'. The poet has used word imagery. Describe the idea and pick out other similar examples from the poem.
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Write in your own words, how the Robinson family made each of their homes.
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You may begin as given below.
'I went quickly to my spiritual teacher for advice because I had ______ (Now continue)
Drafting a Speech. Discuss in groups each block and make notes about it.
Fill in the blank by choosing the preposition from the option.
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- He also plays hockey.
Here is a short story.
Once a lion lay fast asleep in the Ranathambore forest of Rajasthan. Some mice were playing hide and seek near him. One mouse got trapped under the lion’s paw. The lion woke up, laughed loudly, and let the mouse go!
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A friend in need is a friend indeed
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- We must be there for friends in trouble
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Answer the following question as briefly as possible and with close reference to the relevant text.
Referring closely to the short story, The Singing Lesson relate what Basil wrote in his letter to Miss Meadows. What do you conclude about Basil from the tone and wording of the letter?
Read the given sentence and underline the no word.
There is nothing to do.
Certainly anyone who insists on condemning all lies should think about what would happen if we could reliably tell when our family, friends, colleagues, and government leaders were deceiving us. It is tempting to think that the world would become a better place without the deceptions that seem to interfere with our attempts are genuine communication. On the other hand, perhaps there is such a thing as too much honesty. - Adapted from Allison Kornet, "The Truth About Lying"
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Imagine someone has invited your family to a program and you were the only person at home when the invitation was given orally. Write a note (4-5 lines) to pass on the message to the other people in your family. Or, Write an imaginary conversation in which you pass on the message to your parents.
What strategies do you use when you study on your own?
Imagine someone has invited your family to a programme and you were the only person at home when the invitation was given orally.
Write a note (4-5 lines) to pass on the message to the other people in your family. Or, write an imaginary conversation in which you pass on the message to your parents.
