Question

1. 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, etc., men of such extraordinary courage, wisdom and generosity that their like may never be known again.

(a) Whom does ‘my’ refer to in the passage?
(b) Name two persons of extraordinary courage, wisdom and generosity mentioned in the passage?
(c) Trace a word from the passage which means the same as ‘a period of ten years’.
(d) What created a lasting wound in Nelson’s country?
2. “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) Who is the speaker?
(b) What pledge does he take?
(c) Which word is the noun form of ’emancipate’?
(d) What has the speaker achieved?
3. Tenth May dawned bright and clear. For the past few days, I had been pleasantly besieged by dignitaries and world leaders who were coming to pay their respects before the inauguration. The inauguration would be the largest gathering ever of international leaders on South African soil. The ceremonies took place in the lovely sandstone amphitheatre formed by the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For decades this had been the seat of white supremacy, and now it was the site of a rainbow gathering of different colours and nations for the installation of SouthAfrica’s first democratic, non-ethical government.
(a) What is the significance of tenth May ?
(b) What are the ceremonies referred to here ?
(c) Which word in the passage means the same as ‘placement of person in office with ceremony’?
(d) Where did the ceremonies take place ?
4 ‘Perhaps it requires such depths of oppression to create such heights of character. My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds’.
(a) Whose country is referred here ?
(b) What is a country’s greatest wealth ?
(c) Mention the figure of speech used in the above extract.
(d) Mention the valuable stone in the passage ?

Answer 1

Answer:

a. the author

b.Oliver Tambos and Chief Luthulis

c. decades

d. the policy of apartheid.

2.a. Nelson Mandela

b. A pledge to attain independence for the people

c. emancipation

d. his country's political emancipation

3a.  the installation of South Africa’s first democratic, non-ethical government.

b. inauguration of the white colonial masters

c.inauguration

d. the lovely sandstone amphitheatre formed by the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

4a. the author

b. its people

c.irony

d. gems

Explanation: