Shobha Singh

Bihar Board 12 class English book : Summary of “A Marriage Proposal”

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‘A Marraige Proposal’ is a comedy written by Anton Chekhov. In this comedy, the writer describes how Lomov puts his marriage proposal before matalia’s father Choobokov.

In this comedy there are three characters who are Choobokov, Natalia and Lomov. Choobokov is an old landlord. He has a daughter named Natalia, who is unmarried. Lomov is their neighbour and he is also a landlord. He wants to marry Natalia. Lomov goes to the house of Choobokov and talks about the marriage of Natalia. Choobokov becomes very happy to know it. He assures Lomov that Natalia will gladly accept him.

Choobokov goes in and sends Natalia to Lomov. When Natalia comes to Lomov, he becomes so nervous that he cannot say his proposal directly. In his nervousness he talks about the ownership of the meadows. They begin to quarrel on this point. They begin to shout. Choobokov hears the quarrelling and comes there. He supports Natalia. Lomov threatens to go to court for this, and goes out.

When Lomov goes out, Choobokov tells Natalia that he wants to marry her and he has put his marriage proposal with her. Natalia becomes angry and asks him to bring Lomov back. She is eager to marry him and wants to accept him immediately. Choobokov goes to Lomov and comes back with him. When Lomov comes back, Natalia accepts that the meadows were his own. But, another dispute arises over the superiority of their dogs. Choobokov appears again and support Lomov’s dog. At last, Natalia accepts his marriage proposal and they become for each other.

Thus, this comedy revolves round the two emotional characters . They want each other ,but they begin to quarrel themselves without meaningful cause . At last they accept each other.

Bihar Board 12 class English book :Summary of Ideas that have helped mankind

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‘That Have Helped Mankind’ is an important essay written by the famous scientist and thinker, Bertrand Russel. In this essay he describes the ideas and inventions that helped in human-development.

Long ago humans lived in forests and caves. They were afraid of wild animals. They had to move from place to place in search of food. Their number was small. Later they made use of their technique and skill to increase their numbers. But, in certain respects human beings are less developed in comparision to animals.

Russell says that humans and animals suffer from calamities. Humans remember the causes of their sufferings and want to get rid of it in future. On the other hand, animals forget them and can suffer from them again and again. But, this makes human less happy.

According to Russell, the ideas that helped mankind can be broadly divided into two categories. The first category of ideas is related to knowledge and technique. The second category of ideas is concerned with morals and politics. Language played a very important role in human development. The inventions of fire and agriculture were other mile-stones in man’s development. Use of fire was a great step that helped mankind. In the beginning man must have used fire to keep away wild animals. But, people began to use it to keep themselves warm. Later they began to use fire for cooking food. The invention of the art of writing also helped mankind.

Thus, there are several ideas that helped mankind. All these ideas made us developed. We can say that no development was possible without these ideas.

Bihar Board 12 class English book : Summary of “Bharat is My home”.

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‘Bharat is My Home’ is an extract from the speech of Dr. Zakir Husain, He delivered this speech in 1967 after taking the oath as the President of India. In this speech he pledges to be loyal to the nation and work for the welfare of the people of the country.

In this first Presidential speech Dr. Zakir Husain expresses his gratefulness to the people of India for their faith. He is overjoyed, because the people of India have elected him the head of the nation. On this occasion, he remembers Dr. Radhakrishnan, who brought a lot of erudition and wealth of knowledge to the Presidency. He never lost his faith in humanity. Dr. Husain says that Bharat is his home, its people are his family and he has been elected by the family members. This statement expresses his national feelings. He means to say that he does not belong to particular region, creed or class of India.

According to him, our past culture is very important for the nation. It is not dead and static. It is alive and dynamic. Our past glory and culture is the base on which the growth of our national culture and national character depends. We have to build our present on them and determine our future prospect with their help. He advises us to labour hard to build the new life of the nation. He reminds us that the nation demands more and more work from its people. He also advises us to be morally developed and disciplined.

Dr. Husain says that there are two aspects of work. They are work for self and work for society. These both are equally productive aspects of work. When we do our individual work at society level, it becomes social work. The individual cannot grow in full perfection without social help. So, individual and society are co-related to each other.

Thus, Dr. Husain wants to work for the cultural development of the nation. He promises to work for the welfare of the people of India without any distinction of caste, creed and colour.

Bihar Board 12 class English book Summary of “India Through a Traveller’s Eyes”.

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This passage is an extract form of ‘ My several Words’ .”My Several worlds” is written by Pearl S. Buck.   In this passage writer Pearl S. Buck. share her  life experiences. 

In this passage she express her love and affection for India .She visited may time  India and she feel all time some specials .She always Gratitude for India And Indians .

She visited  many times to Taj Mahal but But she says that she was not visit India only for see Taj Mahal or Fatehpur Sikiri  or any other fort. She say that she visit to India for see and listen to two group of intellectuals in cities and peasants in village.

She heard their plans for freedom. She found them angry and disappointed, because England had broken the promise to restore India after the first world war. So, the intellectuals are restless. They had planned to rebel against England during the second world war.

The writer visited rural India and she was shocked too see the miserable condition of the peasants. She found that the condition of Indian peasants was worse than the Chinese. Only Russian peasants under the rules of Czar could be compared with them.

The writer was very much impressed by Indian culture. She was fascinated by the joint family life of Indians living in villages. She saw that the people were basically cultured and deeply religious. The master of the house was respected by everyone, whether he is physically fit or not.

The writer says that selfless men could be the real leaders of Indian people. Indians had a great respect for their leaders. In their opinion, a man could be their leader, who was honest, high-minded and trustworthy.

Thus, the writer presents a picture of India as she saw her and understood her. Her expression about India shows her deep love and affection for Indian people.

Bihar Board 12 class English book :Summary of “The Earth”.

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  “The Earth” is a  knowledgeable and fact  story written by H. E. Bates. Through this story, H. E. Bates explain about lazy parents and their a abnormal minded child.  the laziness of the parents and the selfishness of their simple- minded son who drives them away from their home.

In this story, Johnson was a tenant farmer. He was kind- hearted person, but he was very lazy. He did not work hard. He believed more in luck than work. He had no land of his own. He had rented it from Sanders.

He had a simple- minded son named Benjy. He was worried about his son. On the advice of doctor, Johnson built a wire coop in a corner of his farm and gave him some hens to keep engaged in work. Benjy took interest in keeping hens and knew all the tricks of the trade. Johnson also opened a passbook for him to keep his money.

Benjy’s parents had saved a lot of money Afor him. When they gave him the passbook, he did not say a word of gratitude. He opened the passbook, looked at the amount and put it in his pocket. Benjy’s parents did not feel good, when he silently put the passbook in his pocket.

When Benjy knew the trick of the trade, he began to earn money. He deposited a lot of money in his account.When he started earning money, he forgot his parents. He purchased the land from Sanders that his father had rented.

When he was about forty, he married Florence against the wishes of his parents. Florence was one of the Benjy’s employees.

Gradually, Benjy became indifferent to his parents. He did not treat his parents justly. He became so cruel that the drove them out of his home.

Thus, in this story we find that a selfish and cunning son deceived his parents and too much trust became the reason of the tragedy of the parents.