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Old Sunday, January 17, 2010
out of place out of place is offline
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Default precis

hello friends, i have just recently started my preparation and have tried my hand at the precis given at the very beginning of this thread. kindly take the pains of going through it and make any suggestions,if needed.

"I know no place where the great truth that no man is necessary is brought home to the mind so remorselessly, and yet so refreshingly, as the house of commons. Over even the greatest reputations it closes with barely a bubble. And yet the vanity of politicians is enormous. Lord Melbourne, when asked his opinion of men, replied, 'Good fellows, but vain very vain'.

There is a great deal of vanity, both expressed and concealed, in the house of commons. I often wonder why, for I cannot imagine a place where men so habitually disregard eache other's feelings, so openly trample on each other's egotisms. You rise to address the Hourse. The speaker calls on you by name. Hardly are you through the first sentence when your oldest friend, your college chum the man you have appointed guardian of your infant children, rises in his place, gives you a stony stare and seizing his hat in his hand, ostentatiously walks out of the House, as much as to say. 'I can stand many things, but not this'. Whilst speaking of the House I have never failed to notice one man, at all events, who was paying me the compliment of the closest attention, who never took his eyes off me, who hung upon my words, on whom everything I was saying seemed to be making the greatest impression. But this solitary auditor is not in the least interested either in me or in my speech, and the only reason why he listens so intently and eyes me so closely is that he has made up his mind to follow me, and is eager to leap to his feet, in the hope of cathcing the speaker's eye the very moment I sit down. Yet for all this vanity thrives in the House - though what it feeds on I cannot say. We are all anxious to exaggerate our own importance, and desperately anxious to make reputations for ourselves and to have our names associated with some subject - to pose as its patron and friend. (317 words)



precis:

House of commons is only place where absurdity of man is so evident. It is full of self-centered politicians with great penchant for outward show but nothing of inner substance and mutual respect. As soon as you start to address the house, even the best of colleagues doesn’t fail to disrespect you by staging a walk out. And even if any person does hold onto everything that one says, it is not out of his interest in the speech but because he intends to speak right after. Everyone is only interested in promoting one’s own name and importance. (99 words)
Can the title be: Vanity at work

kindly respond

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