Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 1

Sample Paper 20
Class XII Exam 2022-23
English-Core (301)
Time Allowed : 3 Hrs. Maximum Marks: 80
General Instructions:
1. 15-minute prior reading time allotted for Q-paper reading.
2. The Question Paper contains THREE sections READING, WRITING and LITERATURE.
3. Attempt question based on specific instructions for each part. Write the correct question number in your
answer sheet to indicate the option/s being attempted.

SECTION A-READING SKILLS 20

I. Read the passage given below. 10

1. The National Basketball Championship Women’s finals had all the ingredients of the Chak De climax.
Till half-time, the Railways team, playing against the Chhattisgarh girls’ team, led on the scoreboard.
And then, the unexpected happened. The Chhattisgarh girls tore into the Railway’s defences and every
time they took a shot, the ball made it through the hoop. The scoreboard kept moving and at the final
whistle, it stood in Chhattisgarh’s favour.
2. But more important than the victory, it is the stories of some of these players that make it a fantastic
match. Most of the players come from poor families and have dealt with severe setbacks. Take the story
of India’s tallest woman hoopster, Poonam Chaturvedi. A severe headache that had been bothering her
for a long time, was diagnosed with brain tumour six months ago. She had lost her will to live but had
joined the team to please her father, a constable in Uttar Pradesh. Within a few minutes into the game the
headache had returned and she was benched. But when Captain Seema Singh fouled out, she was forced
to return. She went on to put up a brilliant performance, despite the pain and anxiety.
3. Behind this stupendous success is coach Rajesh Patel, who has been running the Chhattisgarh Basketball
Development Academy for 13 years. With financial backing from the steel plants in his area, he has
been mentoring deserving boys and girls from tribal belts and training them for the game. A promise of
employment and promotion if they excel in the game, keeps his girls going, says Patel.
4. So far, Patel has trained 1500 youngsters. Of the lot, the really disadvantaged children are taken into a
hostel run by him and his wife Anita, till they are independent. Many of Patel’s protégés have gone on
to perform at national and international events and the Chhattisgarh girls he has trained, claim a unique
record of bringing home 74 medals in their 80 national-level appearances.
5. Yet none of these players have had an easy life. Seema Singh of the current team is its most experienced
player. She had represented Chhattisgarh for the first time in 2002. When she was dropped from the
Railways team earlier, due to a knee injury, she picked herself up and resumed playing for Chhattisgarh
and won the national trophy for her coach, as she puts it.
6. Another team member, L Deepa, triumphed over a physical drawback. She is short and has found this a
great disadvantage in a sport like basketball where height matters. But when Patel gave her a chance to
come up to his expectations, Deepa more than measured up.

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7. Others, like Bharti Nigam, came into the team as she could not make to the Railways team this year. This
daughter of a police constable, she took this snub as a challenge and went on to become a professional
player. Her sports teacher, she feels, motivated her to take up the sport as a career.
8. All these women together have thus scripted an unusual tale of great valour, indomitable courage and
implicit trust in their coach to secure for India a great honour. For their team the win, over the giants, the
Railways team, this victory has spelt a personal rewind of the typical underdog-who-triumphs movie of
how they dunked the odds.

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
i. Choose the most appropriate statement to complete the sentence.
At the National Basketball Women’s Finals _____.
(a) The Chhattisgarh team was leading till half time
(b) The Railway Women’s team were unexpected winners
(c) The Chhattisgarh Women’s team tore at the opponent’s defences after half time
(d) the Chhattisgarh Women’s team began to play professionally past half time

ii. Comment on Poonam Chaturvedi’s role towards the victory of her team.

iii. List two reasons behind the motivation of coach Rajesh Patel for training tribal girls.
Rajesh Patel has continued training the girls at the Basketball Academy because _____.

iv. Select the antonym for the word ‘resumed’ (para 5) from the text.
(a) suspected (b) suspended
(c) subsumed (d) subverted

v. Based on your understanding of the text tell what role does stature play, in a game of basketball?

vi. With which statement given below would the readers of the passage disagree?
(a) The women’s team owe their success to their brilliant coaching.
(b) The women’s team owe their success to their sports teacher.
(c) The women’s team owe their success to how they dunked the odds against them.
(d) The women’s team owe their success to their taking snubbing as a challenge.

vii. Give one reason why Seema Singh, the team’s most experienced player, has not had an easy life.

viii. Choose the most appropriate comment for the given sentence.
Patel and his wife take the really disadvantaged girls and train them till _____.
(a) they become independent
(b) they become dependents
(c) they become dependable
(d) they become dispensable
ix. Mention two players whose success is a personal rewind after health and physical disadvantage came
their way.
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x. Select a suitable sub-title if the title of the passage is ‘The Women Who Scripted History’. The sub title
could be _____.
(a) Challenging the underdog syndrome
(b) Challenging their superiors
(c) Challenging themselves
(d) Challenging and winning

II. Read the passage given below. 10

1. The arts which admit of exact reproduction are such that the disciple is on the same level as the creator,
and so it is with their fruits. These are useful to the imitator, but are not of such high excellence as those
which cannot be transmitted as an inheritance like other substances. Among these, painting is the first.
Painting cannot be taught to him on whom nature has not conferred the gift of receiving such knowledge,
as mathematics can be taught, of which the disciple receives as much as the master gives him.
2. It cannot be copied, as letters can be, in which the copy equals the original. It cannot be stamped, in the
same way as sculpture, in which the impression is in proportion to the source as regards the quality of
the work. It does not generate countless children, as do printed books.
3. It alone remains noble, it alone confers honour on its author and remains precious and unique, and does
not beget children equal to itself. And it is more excellent by reason of this quality than by reason of
those which are everywhere proclaimed. Now do we not see the great monarchs of the East going about
veiled and covered up from the fear of diminishing their glory by the manifestation and the divulgation
of their presence? And do we not see that the pictures which represent the divine deity are kept covered
up with inestimable veils?
4. Their unveiling is preceded by great sacred solemnities with various chants and diverse music. When
they are unveiled, the vast multitude of people who are there flocked together, immediately prostrate
themselves and worship. They invoke those whom such pictures represent that they may regain their lost
holiness and win eternal salvation, just as if the deity were present in the flesh.
5. This does not occur in any other art or work of man. If you say that is owing to the nature of the subject
depicted, rather than to the genius of the painter, the answer is that the mind of man could satisfy itself
equally well in this case, were the man to remain in bed and not make pilgrimages to places which are
perilous and hard to access as we so often see is the case.
6. But if such pilgrimages continually exist, what is then their unnecessary cause? You will certainly admit
that it is an image of this kind, and all the writings in the world could not succeed in representing the
semblance and the power of such a deity.
7. Therefore, it appears that this deity takes pleasure in the pictures and is pleased that it should be loved
and revered, and takes a greater delight in being worshipped in that rather than in any other semblance
of itself. By this reason, it bestows grace and gifts of salvation according to the belief of those who meet
together in such a place.
Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below.
i. Which of the statements given below, agrees with the information given in the passage?
(a) Painting cannot be taught except as a form of imitation.
(b) Painting can only be taught to one who is capable of receiving this knowledge.
(c) Painting and mathematics are at par, when it comes to learning.
(d) Paintings cannot be transferred as an inheritance.
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ii. Select the best option chosen to show that the writer aimed to change the general outlook about painting.
Why do you think so?
(a) It cannot be copied as letters can be.
(b) As sculptures are closest to painting and yet there is a fundamental difference.
(c) It cannot be stamped in the same way as sculptures can in which the impression is in proportion to
the source.
(d) It does not generate countless children in the way printed books can.

iii. Select the core idea that displays the most likely reason for including the line-
“It alone confers honour on its author and remains precious and unique and does not beget children equal
to itself.”
(a) To show that painters are god gifted.
(b) To show painting as inborn talent and not inherited or passed to children.
(c) To show that painting thrives when it has many benefactors in the form of children.
(d) To show that it is precious in the eyes of the beholder.

iv. Complete the statement given below:

‘Pictures of deities are covered with a number of veils because _____.

v. The unveiling of painted images is unique because _____.

(a) this does not occur in any other work of man
(b) this occurs in all works of man
(c) the unveiling is preceded with great pomp and ceremony
(d) this occurs owing to the genius of the painter

vi. Complete the sentence by filling appropriate words.

The genius of the painter makes men _____.

vii. Why does the author compare the quest for seeing a beautiful painting equal to that of a hazardous
pilgrimage?

viii. Choose the most appropriate comment for the given sentence.
‘All the writings in the world cannot compete with the power of the painted image of the deity”
(a) from rigid experience
(b) from personal opinion
(c) from universal experience
(d) from painterly experience
ix. Complete the sentence below with one word.
Therefore this deity takes _____ in the pictures and bestows grace and gifts of salvation to those who
meet together in such a place.
x. On the basis of your reading, state one point to challenge the statement.
‘Painting cannot be taught to him on whom nature has not conferred the gift of receiving such knowledge.’

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Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 5

III. SECTION B- CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS 20

All the names and addresses used in the questions are fictitious. Resemblance, if any, is purely
coincidental.
1. Attempt ANY ONE from A and B given below. 5
A. Recently there has been an increase in the cases of kidnappings, especially of children. On closer
investigation it has been found that domestic helps or some persons familiar with the family were
involved in most cases. You are the Secretary of the Residents’ Welfare Association. Write a notice in
about 50 words to be put up on the noticeboard of the colony informing the citizens about the following:
• Police verification of servants, identity cards to be made
• Register entry of visitors at the gate
• Installation of CCTV in the premises


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B. You are the president of the Malviya Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, Block A and you are
organising a “New Year Party” in your area. Draft a notice as Dharam Sethi informing the residents of
your block of the same. Include details which you deem necessary for the purpose.

2. Attempt ANY ONE from A and B given below. 5

A. You are a student of St. Anthony School, Gwalior. The school is holding its annual function. Write an
invitation on behalf of the Principal inviting the parents and dignitaries of the town to attend the function
to be held on September 18, 20xx at 5:00 p.m. (50 words).


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B. Invite your class fellows and friends on the wedding of your elder sister. Invent necessary details. (50 words).

3. Attempt ANY ONE from A and B given below. 5

A. You are perturbed to read about the rising cases of road rage in the National Capital. People become so
aggressive and violent that an argument results in injuries or, in some extreme cases, even death. Write a
letter in 120-150 words to the Editor of a daily to make the public aware of the need to curb such behaviour
to make roads safer for the people. You are Anvita/Anmol, a resident of Ashok Nagar, New Delhi.

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B. You are Rajan/Rama, living in Ghaziabad. You have just completed your studies and are in search of a
job. While browsing through the Times of India, you came across the following advertisement. Choose
a post for which you think you are suitable. Send your application in response to this advertisement.
An Upcoming School in Ghaziabad Requires the Following Staff
Lab Assistant : Science graduates having 2-5 yeats of lab experience
Accountant : B Com with minimum experience of 2 years in maintaining accounts
Receptionist : Young female candidates fluent in English with good communication skills
and proficiency in computer/Net surfing with 3 year experience
Please send your detailed updated resume within seven days to the Manager, Prayag International
School, 674, Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad, 20xx.

4. Attempt ANY ONE from A and B given below. 5

A. After class 12, students are apprehensive about choosing the course and the college. The ‘Mission
Admissions’ organized by the Times of India is a great platform for college aspirants. It would help them
to get knowledge about emerging opportunities in various streams. Write an article in 120-150 words
emphasizing the need of career counselling to help students with the admission process.

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B. You are a press reporter. Write a report in 120-150 words on the recent cattle catching drive launched by
MCD to clear stray cattle from Delhi roads.

SECTION C- LITERATURE 40
IV. Read the given extracts to attempt the questions with reference to context.
5. Attempt ANY ONE of two extracts given. 1#6 = 6

1.A Now we will count to twelve

And we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth
Let’s not speak in any language
Let’s stop for one second
And not move our arms so much.
(Keeping Quiet)
i. Which poetic device has been used in “not move our arms so much”?
1. Pun
2. Simile
3. Metaphor
4. Alliteration
5. Transferred epithet
Choose the most appropriate option.
(a) Only 1 (b) 1 and 2 both
(c) 2 and 3 both (d) 1 and 4 both
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Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 7

ii. What does the phrase ‘count to twelve’ symbolize?

(a) Seconds of a year
(b) Hours of a day and months of a year
(c) Months and weeks of a year
(d) Twelve hours of a day

iii. What does the poet want to see on this earth for a while?
(a) Anger (b) Silence
(c) Chaos (d) Commotion

iv. Complete the following analogy correctly. Do NOT repeat from used example.
Antithesis : contrasting ideas :: personification : _____.

v. On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to (1) and (2) given below.
1. The poet asks us to keep quiet for attaining peace and silence.
2. The poet asks us to keep quiet for maintaining brotherhood.
(a) 1 is true but 2 is false.
(b) 2 is true but 1 is false.
(c) 1 and 2 both are true.
(d) Both 1 and 2 cannot be inferred from the extract.

vi. Fill in the blank with an appropriate word, with reference to the extract.
“... let’s stop for one second, not move our arms so much” implies that “our” are being _____.

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1.B Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother
beside me
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realized with
pain
that she thought away, and
looked but soon...
(My Mother at Sixty-six)

i. Choose the option that displays the same poetic device as used in the line “her face ashen like that of a
corpse”.
(a) O my Luve is like a red, red rose.
(b) The breeze kissed my cheek.
(c) Rays of sunshine danced through the trees.
(d) Two sunflowers move in the yellow room.

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Page 8 Sample Paper 20 Class XII English-Core

ii. What does the phrase “of a corpse” mean?

(a) A fallen log
(b) Dead body of humans
(c) Dead body of animals
(d) Dead plants

iii. The theme of the given extract is _____.

1. Carried away youth
2. Old age
3. Stolen childhood
4. Fear of loss
5. Fear of separation
Choose the most appropriate option.
(a) 1 and 2 both (b) Only 3
(c) 3 and 4 (d) 4 and 5 both

iv. Answer in ONE word.

When the poet says that “driving from my parent’s home to Cochin”, she means that she is moving from
her parent’s home to _____ airport.

v. On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.
1. Loss or separation causes pain.
2. Her mother’s face ashen like that of a corpse.
(a) 1 can be inferred from the extract but 2 cannot.
(b) 2 can be inferred from the extract but 1 cannot.
(c) Both 1 and 2 can be inferred from the extract.
(d) 2 is the reason for 1 and can be inferred from the extract.

vi. Which of the following is an apt title for the extract?

(a) Fear of loss or separation
(b) Concern for motherhood
(c) Mother’s eternal love
(d) My parents

6. Attempt ANY ONE of two extracts given. 1#4 = 4

2.A DERRY : How could I? You pass people in the street and you might even speak to them, but you never
see them again. It doesn’t mean they’re friends.
MR LAMB : Doesn’t mean they’re enemies, either does it?
DERRY : No, they’re just... nothing. People. That’s all.
MR LAMB : People are never just nothing. Never.
DERRY : There are some people I hate.
MR LAMB : That’d do you more harm than any bottle of acid. Acid only burns your face.
(On the Face of It)

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Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 9

i. List the playwright’s purpose of using ellipses (...) in this extract.

ii. Select the option that best describes Derry and Mr Lamb’s attitude towards the people discussed in the
extract.
(a) Derry : pessimistic; Mr Lamb: friendly
(b) Derry : fearful; Mr Lamb: weird
(c) Derry : charming; Mr Lamb: introvert
(d) Derry : frightening; Mr Lamb: worried

iii. Which of the following best summarises Mr. Lamb’s attitude when he said “That’d do you more harm
than any bottle of acid?”?
(a) His pessimism was hurting him more than acid.
(b) His optimism was hurting him more than acid.
(c) His acid was hurting him more than his optimism.
(d) His acid was hurting him more than his pessimism.

iv. Derry says, “There are some people I hate.” What was the one significant thing Derry might have
disliked about the people, as per the extract?

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2.B The reason the programme has been so successful is because it’s impossible to go anywhere near the
South Pole and not be affected by it. It’s easy to be blase about polar ice-caps melting while sitting in the
comfort zone of our respective latitude and longitude, but when you can visibly see glaciers retreating
and ice shelves collapsing, you begin to realise that the threat of global warming is very real.
(The Journey to the End of Earth)

i. Complete the sentence appropriately, with reference to the extract.

The reason behind the success of the programme ‘Students on Ice’ is the impossibility to _____.

ii. Which of the following options does the narrator NOT find responsible for the global warming?
(a) Plants
(b) Human beings
(c) Fog and smoke
(d) Plastic

iii. Select the most suitable title for the given extract.
(a) Students of the Future
(b) Kalyuga Power
(c) Global Warming
(d) Earth’s End - A Journey

iv. When does one feel that the threat of global warming is very real?

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7. Attempt ANY ONE of two extracts given. 1#6 = 6

3.A Poor man! It was in honour of this last lesson that he had put on his fine Sunday clothes, and now I
understood why the old men of the village were sitting there in the back of the room. It was because they
were sorry, too, that they had not gone to school more. It was their way of thanking our master for his
forty years of faithful service and of showing their respect for the country that was theirs no more. While
I was thinking of all this, I heard my name called. It was my turn to recite. What would I not have given
to be able to say that dreadful rule for the participle all through, very loud and clear, and without one
mistake? But I got mixed up on the first words and stood there, holding on to my desk, my heart beating,
and not daring to look up.
(The Last Lesson)
i. Select the option that completes the given sentence appropriately.
‘Poor man!’ in the given context would refer to _____.
(a) M. Hamel
(b) French people
(c) France
(d) Science teacher

ii. Select the suitable word from the extract to complete the following analogy.
Respect : country :: honour : _____.

iii. Select the correct option to fill in the blank.

_____ had put on his fine Sunday clothes.
(a) France people
(b) Students in the class
(c) M. Hamel
(c) Principal

iv. Based on the above extract, choose the correct statement that is TRUE for M. Hamel’s viewpoint.
(a) Those who know nothing of foreign language, know nothing of their own.
(b) Their own language is most beautiful, clearest and logical which is quite foreign to them.
(c) A poor man is like a foreigner in his own country. Only French is the most beautiful language one
would ever know.
(d) German was a beautiful language.

v. Identify the textual clue that allows the reader to infer that what M. Hamel did in honour of this last
lesson.

vi. Complete the sentence with an appropriate explanation, as per the extract.
The old men of the village were sitting there in the back of the room because _____.

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Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 11

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3.B It had happened when I was ten or eleven years old. I had decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at
the YMCA in Yakima that offered exactly the opportunity. The Yakima River was treacherous. Mother
continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But
the YMCA pool was safe. I was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end; and while it was nine feet
deep at the other, the drop was gradual. I got a pair of water wings and went to the pool. I hated to walk
naked into it and show my skinny legs. But I subdued my pride and did it.
(Deep Water)

i. What is the most likely reason some people consider the practice of swimming to be treacherous?
(a) Because mother warned against it.
(b) Because of hydrophobia.
(c) Because of the depth at the shallow end.
(d) Because one has to change clothes after being wet.

ii. Rewrite the sentence by replacing the underlined phrase with its meaning. But I subdued my pride and
did it.

iii. On the basis of the extract, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.
1. Douglas doesn’t consent to swim.
2. But he subdued his pride and did it.
(a) 1 can be inferred from the extract but 2 cannot.
(b) 2 can be inferred from the extract but 1 cannot.
(c) 1 and 2 both the statements are true and can be inferred from the extract.
(d) 2 is the reason for 1 and can be inferred from the extract.

iv. Rationalize the following to support the given statement.

The author says, “The instructor was finished. But I was not finished.”

v. Replace the underlined word with its antonym from the extract :
She got into car accident while driving through a safe intersection.

vi. What does the narrator mean by ‘all efforts ceased’?

(a) That he gave up hope.
(b) That he gave up trying.
(c) That he gave in courage to survive.
(d) All of the above.

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Page 12 Sample Paper 20 Class XII English-Core

V Answer ANY FIVE of the following in about 40-50 words each. 2 # 5 = 10

i. Why did the girl close the door when the ironmaster opened the door for the peddler to go?

ii. Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers?

iii. How did the poet prove that there can be life under apparent stillness in the poem ‘Keeping Quiet’.

iv. Why does the wedding band ‘sit heavily’ upon Aunt Jennifer’s hand?

v. How can ‘mighty dead’ be things of beauty?

vi. How did M. Hamel say farewell to his students and the people of the town?

VI. Answer ANY TWO of the following in about 40-50 words each. 2#2 = 4

i. What were the feelings of Dr. Sadao and his wife on seeing the wounded man? What did they finally
decide to do?

ii. What arguments does Charley offer to show his disagreement with the psychiatrist’s diagnosis?

iii. Do you think all this will change Derry’s attitude towards Mr. Lamb?

VII. Answer ANY ONE of the following in about 120-150 words. 1#5 = 5

i. The characters in prose sections, Mukesh in The Lost Spring and Sophie in Going Places are two different
kinds of daydreamers. One is who fulfilled his dreams in real and the other is one who always lives in
imaginary dreams. The daydreaming can affect our lives positively as well as negatively.
Imagine yourself as a motivational speaker who has to address high school students. Write this address in
about 120-150 words elaborating on occurrences from the two texts highlighting realistic and unrealistic
types of day dreaming.

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ii. ‘Poets and Pancakes’ includes this telling, “What is an English poet doing in a film studio which makes
Tamil films for the simplest sort of people?” Comment on Stephen Spender.
In Keeping Quiet, we are told that: “It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines, we
would all be together in a sudden strangeness.”
Imagine a conversation between you and Stephen Spender about your dream goals. Create this exchange
with reference to the two extracts given above.

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Class XII English-Core Sample Paper 20 Page 13

VIII. Answer ANY ONE of the following in about 120-150 words. 1#5 = 5

i. On returning home, Bama narrated the funny stories to her elder brother Annan. Her brother explained
her that it is not funny in anything she told to him, instead all these incidents shows caste discrimination.
As she understood the events, she felt disgusted and sad.
Imagine yourself to be BAMA and discuss what the Constitution of India does for this.

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ii. Both Derry and Mr Lamb suffered from handicaps, yet their outlook towards life is totally different.
Instead of letting it pull them down, they both found a way to overcome it in their own way. You wish to
include a cameo of both in your upcoming blog post.
(A cameo is a short description that neatly encapsulates someone or something)
As a part of the research, compare and contrast the experiences faced by the two and their responses to
these experiences, in about 120-150 words.
(Clue : include similarities and differences in the discrimination they faced - their feelings - determination
to overcome - success)

******

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