10. Read the following text and answer the questions A and B.

Nelson Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to a multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world. Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, Mandela never lost his resolve to fight for his people’s emancipation. He was determined to bring down apartheid while avoiding a civil war. His prestige and charisma helped him win the support of the world. ‘I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestation. I have fought it all during my life; I will fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days,’ Mandela said in his acceptance speech on becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994,… ‘The time for the healing of the wounds has come.

The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.’ ‘We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation.’ In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor he shared with F.W, de Klerk, the white African leader who had freed him from prison three years earlier and negotiated the end of apartheid.

A. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives.

a) What could be the closest meaning for ‘shackles of apartheid’ in the first paragraph?

i. Tentacles of domination

ii. Bondages of slavery

iii. Manacles of racial discrimination

iv. Chains of exploitation

Answer: iii. Manacles of racial discrimination

b) The word ‘reconciliation’ in the first paragraph refers to —

i. memorization ii. recall

iii. reuniting iv. change

Answer: iii. reuniting

c) ‘Resolve’ in the first paragraph could be replaced by —

i. dissolve ii. determination

iii. hesitation iv. solution

Answer: ii. determination

d) Mandela spent around years behind the bars.

i. twenty ii. thirty

iii. forty iv. fifty

Answer: ii. thirty

e) The best synonym of ‘chasm’ is —

i. exposition ii. rift

iii. harmony iv. union

Answer: ii. rift

B. Answer the following questions.

a) What, according to text, is apartheid?

b) Mention three great achievements in Mandela’s life.

c) Why did Mandela want to break the manacles of apartheid?

d) What does the expression ‘I have fought it all during my life; I will fight it now, and I will do so until the end of my days’ mean?

e) Do you find any similarity between Mandela and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman? If any, mention.

Answer:

a) According to text apartheid means the racial segregation prevailing in South Africa. It means the domination of the white over the black people of South Africa. Nelson Mandela is famous for breaking the manacles of apartheid from South Africa.

b) Though Mandela had to suffer a lot, his achievements were noteworthy. His first achievement was to break the manacles of apartheid. His second achievement was to become the first black president of South Africa. His third achievement was to win the Nobel Prize.

c) Mandela wanted to break the manacles of apartheid because this vary evil practice was responsible for the racial bigotry in South Africa. The manacles of apartheid confined the black people of South Africa inside the four walls of oppression.

d) This very statement is the expression of Mandela’s firm resolution to fight against racial bigotry. Mandela had an absolute abhorrence towards race discrimination. He fought against it and was ready to fight against till his last breath.

e) I see some similarities between Nelson Mandela and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who fought for their respective countries. Mandela fought against the white rulers of his country. In the same way, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman fought against the Pakistani rulers. Then both of them were undisputable Presidents in their respective countries. Finally, both of them were famous leaders.

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