Lesson 2 | Nelson Mandela all questions answers for Class 10 English | NCERT Solutions | HSLC

 

Lesson 2 | Nelson Mandela all questions answers for Class 10 English | NCERT Solutions

Lesson 2 - Nelson Mandela All questions answers

. VERY SHORT TYPE QUESTIONS: 

⦁ What is the full name of Nelson Mandela?

Answer: The full name of Mandela is Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. 

⦁ Who wrote the autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom”?

Answer: Nelson Mandela wrote the autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom”.

⦁ What is the name of the autobiography of Nelson Mandela?

Answer: The name of the autobiography of Nelson Mandela is “Long Walk to Freedom”.

⦁ What is ‘Apartheid’?

Answer: Apartheid is a political system that separates people according to their race.

⦁ How many years did Nelson Mandela spend in prison?

Answer: Nelson Mandela spent thirty years in prison. 

⦁ Who according to Mandela is a prisoner of haters?

Answer: According to Mandela the oppressors are prisoners of haters.

⦁ When was South Africa’s first democratic election held?

Answer: South Africa’s first democratic elections were held in 1994.

⦁ Why did the leaders gather in South Arica on 10th May, 1994?

Answer: The leaders gathered in South Africa on 10th May, 1994 to witness South Africa’s first installation of nonracial and democratic form of government. 

⦁ To which political party did Nelson Mandela belong?

Answer:  Nelson Mandela belonged to the African National Congress.

2. Say true or false: 

⦁  Apartheid is a political system that separates people according to their race. 

Answer: True.

⦁  The greatest wealth of South Africa is the purest diamonds. 

Answer: False.

⦁  Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. 

Answer: True

⦁  The policy of apartheid created a feeling of unity in the country.

Answer: False.

⦁ The policy of apartheid created lasting peace in Mandela’s Country. [H.S.L.C. 2017]

Answer: False

⦁  Only one national anthem was sung on that historic day.

Answer: False.

⦁  The colors of the new South African flag are black, red, green, blue and silver. 

Answer: False.

⦁ The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in South Africa. 

Answer: True.

⦁  Nelson Mandela said that the chains on all of his people were not chains on him.

      Answer: False.

⦁ On the day of inauguration Mandela was accompanied by his daughter Zenani. [H.S.L.C. 2016]

Answer: True

⦁ On the day of inauguration Mandela was overwhelmed with a sense of history. [H.S.L.C. 2017]

Answer: True

⦁ Apartheid is a social system. 

Answer: False.

⦁ Nelson Mandela became the first white president of South Africa.

Answer: False.

⦁ The blacks sang ‘Die stem.’

Answer: True.

⦁ The inauguration ceremony took place on 10th May 1992.

Answer: False.

⦁  Mandela pledged to obey and uphold the constitution of South Africa.

Answer: True.

⦁ Apartheid was not erected for racial domination in South Africa.

Answer: False.

⦁ Nelson Mandela became the third Black president of South Africa. 

Answer: False.

⦁ For decades, the Union Building in Pretoria had been the seat of white supremacy.

Answer: True.

⦁ On the podium, Mr. De Klerk was the first sworn in as first deputy president. [HSLC 2019]

Answer: False.

⦁ Then Thabo Mbeki was sworn in as second Deputy President. [HSLC 2016, 2019]

Answer: False.

⦁ Nelson Mandela was the first black President of South Arica.

Answer: True.

⦁ According to Mandela South Africa’s greatest wealth people of the county.

Answer: True.

⦁ The inauguration was held in winter. 

Answer: False.

       ENGLISH NCERT SOLUTION FOR CLASS 10  

     

3. LONG TYPE QUESTIONS:

⦁ Where did the ceremonies take place? Can you name any buildings in India that are made of sandstone?

Answer: The ceremonies took place in the lovely sandstone amphitheater formed by the Union Building in Pretoria.

 Some of the sandstone buildings in India are the Tajmahal, the Red Fort, and the Rang Ghar etc.

⦁ Can you say how 10 May is an ‘autumn day’ in South Africa?

Answer: 10 May was an autumn day for South Africa because on that very day South Africa’s first nonracial democratic government was established and the dark cloud of apartheid was abolished.

⦁ What mission would Mandela like to achieve for the future of South Africa and her people on securing the political emancipation?

Answer: Mandela pledged that he would never put the land to experience the oppression of one by another. He was determined to liberate all the people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. 

⦁ “The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity.” What makes Mandela say this? [H.S.L.C-2018]

Answer: Both the oppressed and the oppressors are not free because a man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred. The oppressor is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

⦁ Mention two things that Nelson Mandela was free to do as a child?

Answer: When Nelson Mandela was a child, he was free to run in the fields near my mother’s hut and free to swim in the stream of his village. 

⦁ What happened in the first decade of the 20th century?

Answer: In the first decade of the 20th century, in South Africa the white skinned people dragged their differences with black skinned people and introduced the system of apartheid.

⦁ What are the national anthems of South Africa?

Answer: The national anthems of South Africa are ‘Nkosi Sikelel- iAfrica’ of the white and Die Stem of the black. 

⦁ What does freedom mean to Mandela?

Answer: According to Mandela, freedom means an opportunity to live with dignity and self-respect. A man is free when he is able to discharge his duty towards his family and to his society.  

⦁ What kind of freedom did Mandela want when he was a student?

Answer: As a student he wanted freedom for himself, to read what he wanted and to go where he chose.

⦁ How did Mandela become the first Black President in South Africa?

Answer: Mandela had fought a hard battle against apartheid before he became the first black president in South Africa. He was accompanied by many strugglers along with him. 

⦁ Who were present, on the podium, beside Nelson Mandela on the day  

of the inauguration ceremony?

Answer: On the day of the inauguration ceremony, second deputy president Mr. De Klerk and first deputy president Thabo Mbeki were present on the podium beside Mandela. 

⦁ At the beginning of his speech, Mandela mentions “an extraordinary human disaster”. What does he mean by this? What is the “glorious…human achievement” he speaks of at the end?

OR

What did Mandela mean when he mentioned an extraordinary human disaster?

Answer: By “an extra ordinary human disaster” Mandela drew light upon the system of apartheid that had been subduing the Blacks of South Africa by the white supremacy.

Mandela pointed out the win of nonracial democracy over the subduing, discriminating apartheid political system at the end. 

⦁ What are the “twin obligations” maintained by Nelson Mandela?

Answer: The “twin obligations” maintained by Nelson Mandela are towards his family, parents, wife and children and secondly to the society, community and the country. 

⦁ What did Mandela thank the international leaders for?

Answer: Mandela thanked the international leaders for taking part in the historic event of South Africa. The presence of international guests signified the common brotherhood among the nations.

⦁ What ideals does he set out for the future of South Africa?

Answer: Mandela dreamt to have a liberating, democratic country which would be free from any bondage of poverty, deprivation, and discrimination. The sun of justice, liberty and freedom would never set down on such a glorious human achievement.

⦁ What do the military generals do? How has their attitude changed and why?

Answer: The military generals demonstrated their loyalty to the newly established democracy of South Africa. The Highest Generals paid a salute to the newly elected President Mandela. 

 The generals once arrested the freedom fighters including Mandela and now the same generals had saluted Mandela. Their attitude changed because the new democracy removed the system of Apartheid. 

⦁ Why were two national anthems sung?

Answer: On the day of inauguration of South Africa two national songs were sung; Nkosi Sikelel- iAfrica of the white and Die Stem of the black. Singing of two songs was symbolic that the two communities had come into one stream and that their difference was gone forever.

⦁ How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his country (i) in the first decade, and (ii) in the final decade, of the twentieth century? 

Answer: 

(i) In the first decade of the twentieth century South Africa suffered from the system of Apartheid which classified people on the basis of the color of their skin. 

 (ii) After a long struggle, towards the final decade of twentieth century South Africa was successful to install a democratic government and the Apartheid system was replaced by a system which recognized the rights and freedoms of all people.

⦁ What does courage mean to Mandela? [H.S.L.C. 2017]

Answer: Courage did not mean absence of fear to Mandela, but courage meant triumph over the fear. Even the bravest man feels afraid, but to show courage he conquers that fear.

⦁ Which does he think is natural, to love or to hate? [H.S.L.C. 2016]

Answer: According to Mandela, to love is more natural than to hate for love comes more naturally to human heart than its opposite.

⦁ What does Mandela mean when he says he is “simply the sum of all the African people” who had gone before him?

Answer: The journey to freedom of South Africa was not a struggle led by only one man. Mandela was the leader of the fight but he was accompanied by many freedom fighters, in fact by all the people of South Africa. So by saying that he was a sum of all the people, he acknowledged the efforts and sacrifices of all the strugglers and the martyrs.

⦁ What did Mandela say about the wealth of his country? [HSLC 2019]

Answer: Undoubtedly, South Africa is very rich in minerals and gems, but for Mandela, the greatest wealth of the country are its people because they are finer and truer than the purest diamonds. 

⦁ Would you agree that the “depths of oppression” create “heights of character”? How does Mandela illustrate this?

Answer: Mandela experienced an oppressive system called apartheid which made no room for freedom of the black skinned people. But that oppressive period had another unintended effect that it forcefully created some people who showed and possessed superfine human qualities. South Africa was full of resources but the finest and the truest resource are its citizen. And the oppressive policy helped to discover those fine people. 

⦁ How did Mandela’s understanding of freedom change with age and experience?

Answer: In his childhood, Mandela wanted to be free to run near mother’s hut, free to swim, free to roast mealies. As a student he wanted freedom for himself, to read what he wanted and to go where he chose. As a young man in Johannesburg, he wanted freedom to choose a decent carrier, to marry and to have a family. But when he grew up he understood that his boyhood freedom was an illusion.

⦁ How did Mandela’s hunger for freedom change his life?

Answer: Mandela’s hunger for freedom changed him from a law abiding attorney to a criminal. A family loving man turned into a man without a home. This also forced a life loving man to live like a monk. 

⦁ Describe the scene of inauguration of South Africa’s first democratic government?

Answer: On 10th May, 1994 South Africa established its first nonracial democratic form of government. The day was bright autumn day for South Africa. The inauguration ceremonies took place in the lovely sandstone Amphitheatre formed by the Union Building in Pretoria. Military demonstration was a part of the programme. Two national anthems were sung to symbolize brotherhood. 

⦁ Choose the meaning of the underlined words from the alternatives given in brackets:

⦁ ....had been pleasantly besieged by… (Felt good/to be surrounded/ honoured).

Answer: besieged – to be surrounded

⦁ Our political emancipation. (curtailment/ freedom from restriction/ bondage)

Answer: emancipation - freedom from restriction

⦁ … Anthem they once despised, they… (hatred/ reluctant/ had a very low opinion of)

Answer: despised – hatred

⦁ …..from that profound heart…… (mild/ superficial/ deep)

Answer: profound – deep. 

⦁ …..the ‘transitory’ freedoms….. (permanent/ lasting for a short time/ ever)

Answer: transitory – lasting for a short time.

⦁ I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone……...  [HSLC 2019]

(enhanced/reduced/withheld)

Answer: Curtailed – Reduced.

⦁ In life, every man has --------- [HSLC 2019]

          Three obligations

          Twin obligations

          Many obligations

.