CBSE 2024 · Region 1 · Set 1 · Q34

Read the following source carefully and answer the questions that follow : This is how Mercier describes the impact of the printed word, and the power of reading in one of his books : 'Anyone who had seen me reading would have compared me to a man dying of thirst who was gulping down some fresh, pure water.... Lighting my lamp with extraordinary caution, I threw myself hungrily into the reading. An easy eloquence, effortless and animated, carried me from one page to the next without my noticing it. A clock struck off the hours in the silence of the shadows, and I heard nothing. My lamp began to run out of oil and produced only a pale light, but still I read on. I could not even take out time to raise the wick for fear of interrupting my pleasure. How those new ideas rushed into my brain! How my intelligence adopted them!' $\displaystyle 34.1$ How does the passage reflect the immersive nature of reading of Mercier ? $\displaystyle 34.2$ Why did Mercier describe himself as a virtual writer ? $\displaystyle 34.3$ How did reading influence Mercier's intellectual capacity and his engagement with new concepts ? Explain in any two points.