Solved Unseen Passage Class 10 English
People fight to settle disputes. Fighting means killing and civilized people ought to be able to find some way of settling their disputes other than by seeing which side can kill the greater number of the other side, and then saying that the side which has killed most has won; and not only has won, but because it has won has been in the right. For that is what going to war means; it means saying that might is right. That is what the history of mankind on the whole has been like. Even our own age has fought the two greatest wars in history, in which millions of people were killed and multilated.
And today while it is true that people don't fight and kill each other in the streets, this is to say, we have got to the stage of keeping the rules or behaving properly towards each other in daily life, nations and countries have not learnt to do this yet and still behave like savages.
Word-meanings :
- civilized - शिष्ट , सभ्य
- dispute - असहमति
- multilated - अपंग बना दिया
- savages - जंगली एवं बर्बर मनुष्य, दैत्य।
Questions :
- What should civilized people do ?
- What does 'might is right' mean ?
- Which word in the passage means 'wild persons' ?
- What has the history of mankind been like ?
- How many wars have been fought in our own age which are considered the greatest wars in history ?
Answers :
- Civilized people should find some peaceful way to settle their disputes.
- It means that the person who wins always thinks himself to be right.
- savages = wild persons.
- The history of mankind has been the history of people for whom 'might is right'.
- The two greatest wars, i.e. the two world wars.