COMPREHENSION TEST
956. According to the author, what can be defined as            enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge
       ‘failure’?                                               of the future?
       (1) Failing on an epic scale                                   Freedom and power bring responsibility. T hat
       (2) Not truly knowing yourself                           responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body
       (3) Living your life so cautiously that you do not fail  representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth
       (4) A situation where all your fears come to pass        of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our
                                                                hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of
957. Which of the following is a major benefit of failure
                                                                those pains continue even now. Nevertheless the past is
       according to the passage?
                                                                over and it is the future that beckons to us now.
       (1) Failure helps in stripping away the inessential.
                                                                      That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant
       (2) Failure teaches you things which you could not       striving so that we might fulfil the pledges we have so often
            have learnt in any other way.                       taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India
       (3) Failure gives you an inner security which cannot     means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the
            be otherwise attained.                              ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality
       (4) Failure helps you in finding the determination to    of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our
            succeed.                                            generation has been to, wipe every tear from every eye.
958. Why does the author say that failure is ‘inevitable’ in    That may be beyond us but as long as there are tears and
       life?                                                    suffering, so long our work will not be over.
       (1) Because nothing can prevent the caprice of fate.           And so we have to labour and work hard to give reality
       (2) Because not all of us are well-acquainted with       to. our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are
            failure.                                            also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too
       (3) Because life is difficult and too complicated.       closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine
       (4) Because the fear of failure takes precedence over    that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible,
            the desire for success.                             so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster
                                                                in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated
959. Which of the following is a suitable title for this
                                                                fragments.
       passage?
                                                                      To the people of India, whose representatives we are,
       (1) What constitutes failure?
                                                                we make appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this
       (2) Failure is inevitable in life                        great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive
       (3) Failure has its benefits                             criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to
       (4) A hope rather than a reality                         build the noble mansion of free India where all her children
960. According to the author, what is the impact of failure     may dwell.
       on a person?
                                                                                   SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
       (1) A person emerges wiser and stronger implying that
            he is secure in his ability to survive.               (1) tryst (N.) : a secret meeting
       (2) A person realises that happiness in life does not      (2) utterance (N.) : the act of expressing something in
            depend on the achievements or acquisitions.               words
       (3) A person realises that his qualifications and CV       (3) striving (N.) : the act of trying very hard to achieve
            are not his life.                                         something
       (4) A person realises the strength of his relationships    (4) endured (V.) : bear
            by identifying his true friends.                      (5) beckons (V.) : to be something that is likely to
                             Passage-2                                happen/will possibly happen to somebody in the
                                                                      future
     Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now
the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly        (6) incessant (Adj.) : never stopping
or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of    961. What is the greatest challenge that India faces today
the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake             as per the passage?
to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but
                                                                       (1) It is a challenge to end poverty, ignorance, disease
rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new,
                                                                           and inequality of opportunity.
when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long
suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn         (2) It is a challenge to wipe off tears from every eye
                                                                           and thus eradicating suffering.
moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of
India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.        (3) It is a challenge to build a noble mansion of free
                                                                           India
     At the dawn of history India started on her unending
quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving            (4) It is a challenge to fulfil the pledges that we have
and the grandeur of her successes and her failures. Through                so often taken
good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that     962. How can we fulfil our pledges that we have taken in
quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We              the past and the present?
end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself          (1) The people of India need to set a hope that can
again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step,                   never be betrayed.
an opening of opportunity, to the greater trumphs and                  (2) The people of India need to provide a service to
achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise                   millions of people who suffer in their country.
                                                            SEE–999