Top 10 Exercises for Precis writing for Class 10, 11, 12 and Graduation and other classes Examination. Solved Precise 2

Write precis of the following passage and give it a suitable heading:

EXERCISE 1

Character is destiny. Character is that on which the destiny of a nation is built. One cannot have a great nation with men of small character. If we want to build a great nation we must try to train a large number of young men and women who look upon others as the living images of themselves. But whether in public life or in student life, we cannot climb the mountain when the very ground at our feet is crumbling. When the very basis of our structure is shaky, how can we reach the heights which we have set before ourselves? We must all have humility. India is a country, which we are interested in building up. For whatever service we take up, we should not care for what we receive. We must know how much we can put into that service. That should be the principle which should animate our young men and women.

EXERCISE 2

Journalism today offers vast opportunities to young men and women. It is a developing and expanding profession. In India, the profession of journalism has a great future. In the wake of multi-channel TV programmes, journalism is holding a great promise too many a young man and woman entering this profession. A time journalist is a star attraction for the people. The profession of journalism is not meant for unscrupulous persons. Some journalists distort facts and exaggerate things. They spread baseless rumours. There are others who thrive on slander or abuse and they take delight in obscenity and vulgarity. This is known as “Yellow journalism.” In fact journalism as a profession poses a great challenge. It is time that journalism as a profession breaks fresh grounds and attracts many young men and women in this field.

EXERCISE 3

India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to different religions live in it. The introduction of foreigners does not necessarily destroy the nation, they merge in it. A country must have a faculty for assimilation. India has always been such a country. In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals, but those who are conscious of the spirit of nationality do not interfere with one another’s religion. If Hindus believe that India should be peopled only by Hindus, the Mohammedans, the Sikhs, the Parsis and the Christians who have made India their country are fellow country-men and they will have to live in unity if only for their own interest. In no part of the world are one nationality and one religion synonymous terms, nor has it ever been so in India.

EXERCISE 4

Self-help is the most valuable thing in human life. It is only self-confidence and will-power that save us from the calamities of fate. A person who cannot help himself is never helped by others. Such a man doesn’t deserve even a small help because he cannot do anything for himself. So we must be ready to stake our life for the sake of achieving higher goals in life. Only then will God be with us. To sit idle and look up to God for help is foolishness on our part. We should arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is achieved. Such people lose self-confidence in life and fail in their mission. They lose even the grace of God. So we must have courage and self-confidence. Only then can we succeed in attaining our lofty ideals. Fortune will surely smile upon us and God will be with us.

EXERCISE 5

Many people think that education means storing the mind with knowledge of all kinds — literary, philosophical, and scientific and so on. If this were education then the computer would be the most educated thing in the world! No, education does not aim at making human computers, with wonderfully developed memory power and storage space in the mind. It is a process of training the mind, drawing out its latent powers and developing them. It must aim at developing the reasoning power, for example, enabling the student to think for himself and acquire knowledge by his own efforts. It must train the moral sense and also the aesthetic sense. Thus education means the all-round development of human personality. And this personality, this well-trained reason, moral sense and aesthetic sense will remain, even when all the information laboriously stored up in the mind is forgotten. (142 words)

EXERCISE 6

We sometimes think it would be very nice to have no work to do. How we envy the rich people who have not to work for their living, but can do just what they please all the year round. Yet when we feel like this, we make a mistake. Sometimes, rich people are not as happy as we think they are, because they are tired of having nothing to do. Most of us are happy when we have regular work to do for our living, especially if the work is what we like to do. The first thing work does for us is to give us happiness. Then work gives us self-respect. The idler, however rich he is, lives on the work of others. Lastly, regular work helps to build up character. It teaches us such good habits as punctuality, carefulness, thoroughness and faithfulness in work. It is the man who works, not the idler that as a rule, develops the best character.

EXERCISE 7

The problem of human relationships is often ignored in our fierce arguments about politics and economics. It was not so ignored in the old and wise civilisations of India and China, where they developed patterns of social behaviour which, with all their faults, certainly gave poise to the individual. That poise is not in evidence in India today. But where is it in countries of the west which have progressed so much in other directions? Or is poise essentially static and opposed to progressive change? Must we sacrifice one for the other? Surely it should be possible to have a union of poise and inner and outer progress of the wisdom of the old with the science and the vigour of the new. Indeed, we appear to have arrived at a stage in the world’s history when the only alternative to such a Union is likely to be the destruction and undoing of both.

EXERCISES 8

Misers are generally characterized as men without honour or without humanity, who live only to accumulate, and to this passion sacrifice every other happiness. They have been described as mad men who in the midst of abundance, banish every pleasure, and make from imaginary wants real necessities. But few, very few, correspond to the exaggerated pictures, perhaps there is not one in whom all these circumstances are found united. Instead of this we find the sober and the industrious branded by the vain and the idle with the odious appellation; men who by frugality and labour, raise themselves above their equals, and contribute their share of industry to the common stock.

Whatever the vain or the ignorant may say, well were it for society had we more of this character among us. In general, these close men are found at last the true benefactors of society. With an avaricious man we seldom lose in our dealings; but too frequently in our commerce with prodigality,

EXERCISE 9

Discontentment is the root cause of all unhappiness. Contentment is a bliss whereas discontentment is a curse. The more discontented we are, the more unhappy we are. We may have large amounts of money in the bank, we may own vast farms or palaces or factories, we may be monopolists with a powerful control over sources of income, we will never be happy if we are discontented. A discontented man is always a slave to his desires. He acts as his own enemy. He does not care for his position of prestige. He does not care for his mental or physical health. He wants only the satisfaction of his desires. He can act as his own friend if he acquires contentment, but he does not do so. It is in his own hands to be free or to be a slave. If he controls his desires he becomes free, if he is controlled by his desires, he becomes a slave.

EXERCISE 10

The spirit of sportsmanship is what we are lacking in to-day. The sports tell us that we should take a defeat or disappointment with a smile. We should not go about insisting on our success in whatever we attempt. It is not possible for every man to succeed in every desire which he has. There may be ambitions of groups, there may be ambitions of individuals which they set before themselves and they must try, if they are disappointed in the carrying out of their ambitions to take that disappointment and that defeat with a smile and not take law in their own hands. What will happen if every individual in the street wishes to go his own particular way without observing the rules of traffic, there will be clashes, there will be accidents? What happens on the road-side will also happen in the public activities, in the public life of the country.