Wren and Martin Chapter 38: Precis Writing, Exercise 148, Sample 1 | Precis Title: Patriotism
In every country people imagine that they are the best and the cleverest and the others are not so good as they are. The Englishman thinks that he and his country are the best; the Frenchman is very proud of France and everything French. The Germans and Italians think no less of their countries and many Indians imagine that India is in many ways the greatest country in the world. This is wrong. Everybody wants to think well of himself and his country. But really there is no person who has not got some good and some bad qualities. In the same way, there is no country which is not partly good and partly bad. We must take the good wherever we find it and try to remove the bad wherever it may be. We are, of course, most concerned with our own country, India. Unfortunately, it is in a bad way today. Many of our people are poor and unhappy. They have no joy in their lives. We have to find out how we can make them happier. We have to see what is good in our ways and customs and try to keep it, and whatever is bad we have to throw away. If we find anything good in other countries, we should certainly take it.
Precis
People from every country – Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Englishmen and many Indians – think that they and their countries are the best. They feel proud of themselves and their countries which is obvious; but, they disrespect other countries. This is incorrect; no country can be absolutely good and every country has some badness which need to be removed wherever they may be found. Many people suffer from extreme poverty which has to be obviated. As far as our country, India, is concerned, we have to eliminate poverty and misery from our country and make it happy. Only then we can say that we are patriots.
