1.

Read the passage given below and answer the questions:This problem of the art of living is one which for two thousand years has interested and perplexed the world’s philosophers ………….. Most people would agree that, apart from the eternal verities, the art of living consists in the achievement of happiness and in the avoidance of unhappiness. Happiness has little to do with enjoyment or even pleasure; it is something for more reputable than self-indulgence. Happiness can only be found in the free and successful expression of one’s own personality. I shall now examine that phrase and therefore repeat it.Happiness, or the art of living, consists in the free and successful expression of one’s own personality, what do I mean by that? I mean something for more than the selfishness of self-seeking. People who are selfish or self-centered or conceited have not begun to learn the art of living; they have not mastered even the ABC of the art. Of all the miserable people in the world, there are none so miserable as those who think only of themselves and whose every motive is the self-seeking motive.You see, every man or woman born into this world is given certain personal virtues and cursed with certain personal defects. If he or she seeks to express his or her own personality, which I hold to be the art of living, he must strive always to express his virtues and to suppress his defects. He must not express the worst in himself; he must express the best in himself. He will never be happy if he falls into the dreary round of selfishness.(i) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it using headings and subheadings.(ii) Write a summary of the passage and suggest a suitable title.

Answer»

(i) Notes:
1. The art of living consists
1.1. in the achievement of happiness
1.2. in the avoidance of unhappiness

2. Happiness
2.1. is not self-indulgence
2.2. is not selfishness

3. Happiness can only be found
in the free and successful expression of one’s personality

4. Every man or woman
4.1. has certain personal virtues
4.2. is cursed with certain personal defects.

5. This art of living is
5.1. to express virtues
5.2. to suppress defects

(ii) Summary
The world’s philosophers have always strived to know the art of living and they, at last, define it as the achievement of happiness. Happiness is the free and successful expression of one’s own personality. It has nothing to do with selfishness or self-centeredness. A man having the art of living always expresses his virtues and suppresses his defects with having a desire of selfishness.
Title – The Art of Living



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