Class 10 - Synonyms - 2. Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Read the paragraph and write the synonym of the underlined words choosing from the words given in the brackets:

1. ( meeting,      delightful,     dreadful,         authority,       diverse,         inauguration)  

The ceremonies took place in the lovely (a) sandstone amphitheatre formed by the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For decades this had been the seat of white supremacy, (b) and now it was the site of a rainbow gathering (d) of different colours and nations for the installation  (d) of South Africa’s first democratic, non-racial government. 

2.  ( respected         captivity           possession     advantage          inhumane              freedom )

We, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege (a) to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil. We thank all of our distinguished (b) international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity. 

 We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation (c)We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage (d) of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. 

 

3.  ( built        control        moved        hearty        heartless        submissive )

On the day of the inauguration, I was overwhelmed (a) with a sense of history. In the first decade of the twentieth century, a few years after the bitter Anglo-Boer war and before my own birth, the white-skinned peoples of South Africa patched up their differences and erected (b) a system of racial domination (c) against the dark-skinned peoples of their own land. The structure they created formed the basis of one of the harshest, most inhumane, (d) societies the world has ever known.

4. ( hardship        dignified        unbelievable        gains        produced        offerings )

That day had come about through the unimaginable (a) sacrifices of thousands of my people, people whose suffering (b) and courage can never be counted or repaid. I felt that day, as I have on so many other days, that I was simply the sum of all those African patriots who had gone before me. That long and noble (c) line ended and now began again with me. I was pained that I was not able to thank them and that they were not able to see what their sacrifices (d) had wrought.

5. ( suffering            victory        strength        weakness        companion        foe )

It is from these comrades (a) in the struggle that I learned the meaning of courage. Time and again, I have seen men and women risk and give their lives for an idea. I have seen men stand up to attacks and torture (b) without breaking, showing a strength and resilience (c) that defies the imagination. I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph (d) over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

6. ( hermit        limited        terrified        longing         craving        liberty )

I saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, (a) but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did. That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for my own freedom (b) became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people. It was this desire for the freedom of my people to live their lives with dignity and self-respect that animated my life, that transformed a frightened (c) young man into a bold one, that drove a law-abiding attorney to become a criminal, that turned a family-loving husband into a man without a home, that forced a life-loving man to live like a monk. (d) 

7. ( united             independent       approved           craving       restricted        righteous )

I am no more virtuous (a) or self-sacrificing than the next man, but I found that I could not even enjoy the poor and limited (b) freedoms I was allowed (c) when I knew my people were not free. Freedom is indivisible; (d) the chains on anyone of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me. 

8. ( compassion        hostility           passion     released             insane        undoubtedly )

I knew that the oppressor must be liberated  (a) just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred; (b) he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else’s freedom, just as surely (c) as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. (d)