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NELSON MANDELA Extract Based Comprehension Questions

The document contains comprehension questions and answers from extracts about obligations every man has, the lasting effects of apartheid policies in South Africa, the illusion of freedom as a boy and longing for basic freedom as a young man, and Mandela thanking international guests for celebrating South Africa's achievement of political emancipation and pledging to liberate people from poverty and discrimination.

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2K views3 pages

NELSON MANDELA Extract Based Comprehension Questions

The document contains comprehension questions and answers from extracts about obligations every man has, the lasting effects of apartheid policies in South Africa, the illusion of freedom as a boy and longing for basic freedom as a young man, and Mandela thanking international guests for celebrating South Africa's achievement of political emancipation and pledging to liberate people from poverty and discrimination.

Uploaded by

maaman30102009
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Extract based comprehension questions: -

1. In life, every man has twin obligations- obligations to his family, to his parents, to his wife and children;

and he has an obligation to his people, his community, his country. In a civil and humane society, each
man

is able to fulfil those obligations according to his own inclinations and abilities. But in a country like
South

Africa, it was almost impossible for a man of my birth and colour to fulfil both of those obligations. In
South

Africa, a man of colour who attempted to live as a human being was punished and isolated.

a).What twin obligations every man has in his life?

b).Why was it impossible for a coloured man to discharge his obligations in South Africa?

c). What does it mean by the phrase ‘a man of my birth’?

d)Find a word from the extract which means same as ‘out of the way’

Answers

a)Every man in his life has twin obligations- towards his family and towards his country.

b) It was almost impossible for a coloured man to discharge his obligations because he would be
punished

and isolated.

c) It means that the man is born of the black origin of South Africa.

d) Isolated

2. The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people. All of us will

spend many years, if not generations, recovering from that profound hurt. But the decades of oppression
and

brutality had another, unintended effect and that was that it produced the Oliver Tambos, the Walter
Sisulus,

the Chief Luthulis, the Yusuf Dadoos, the Bram Fishchers, the Robert Sobukwes of our time”- men of
such

extraordinary courage, wisdom and generosity that their like may never be known again.

a) What did the policy of apartheid create?

b)What is the greatest wealth of the narrator’s country?

c)What were the unintended effect of this policy?


d)Find a word from the extract which means opposite of ‘selfishness’

Answers

a)The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in the country and its people.

b)The greatest wealth of the narrator’s country is its courageous people.

c)The unintended effect of the policy was that it created men of courage, wisdom and generosity.

d)Generosity.

3. It was only when I began to learn that my boyhood freedom was an illusion, when I discovered as a

young man that my freedom had already been taken from me, that I began to hunger for it. At first as

student, I wanted freedom only for myself, the transitory freedom of being able to stay out at night, read

what I pleased and go where I chose. Later as a young man in Johannsburg I yearned for the basic and

honourable freedom.

a)Why does the speaker mention some freedoms as ‘transitory’?

b) The speaker says ‘at first as a student I wanted freedom only for myself’. Why?

c) According to the extract what did the narrator yearn for?

d) Find a word from the extract which means the same as ‘deception’

Page83

Answers

a) The speaker mentions some freedoms as transitory as they are momentary and keep changing with
time.

b) He was too young to realise that freedom was denied to other blacks as well.

c) The narrator yearned for the basic and honourable freedom.

d) Illusion

4. We, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the
nations

of the world on our town soil. We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to
take

possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace,
for

human dignity. We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all
our
people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

a)What does the phrase ‘rare privilege’ mean here?

b)Why does Mandela thank the gathering?

c)What have the people of this country achieved?

d)What did the narrator intend to liberate his people from?

Answers

a)The phrase means to host the nations of the world.

b)Mandela thanked the gathering for gracing the occasion to celebrate his country’s victory of justice,
peace

and human dignity.

c)The people of his country achieved wisdom, good luck and richness of culture.

d)The narrator intended to liberate his people from continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation,
suffering,

gender and other discrimination

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