An Excerpt from “Optimism”
by Helen Keller

1 Could we choose our environment, and were desire in human undertakings synonymous with
endowment, all men would, I suppose, be optimists. Certainly most of us regard happiness as
the proper end of all earthly enterprise. The will to be happy animates alike the philosopher, the
prince and the chimney-sweep. No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels
that happiness is his indisputable right.
2 It is curious to observe what different ideals of happiness people cherish, and in what singular
places they look for this well-spring of their life. Many look for it in the hoarding of riches, some
in the pride of power, and others in the achievements of art and literature; a few seek it in the
exploration of their own minds, or in the search for knowledge.
3 Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession.
Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they would be!
Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so
measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and
weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so
thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life,—if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to
the creed of optimism is worth hearing....
4 Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then
love came and set my soul free. Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and
joy. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. Now I rejoice in the
consciousness that I can think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death,
the pessimist would say, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.” But a little word from the
fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the
rapture of living. Night fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a
passion of obedience to knowledge. Can anyone who has escaped such captivity, who has felt
the thrill and glory of freedom, be a pessimist?
5 My early experience was thus a leap from bad to good. If I tried, I could not check the
momentum of my first leap out of the dark; to move breast forward is a habit learned suddenly
at that first moment of release and rush into the light. With the first word I used intelligently, I
learned to live, to think, to hope. Darkness cannot shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the
shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it.
6 So my optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction. A poet once said I must be happy
because I did not see the bare, cold present, but lived in a beautiful dream. I do live in a
beautiful dream; but that dream is the actual, the present,—not cold, but warm; not bare, but
furnished with a thousand blessings. The very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel

6) Read the last sentence from the text.
Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness.
Explain how Helen Keller develops this idea in the text. Use specific details to
support your answer.​

Answer:

An Excerpt from “Optimism”

by Helen Keller

1 Could we choose our environment, and were desire in human undertakings synonymous with

endowment, all men would, I suppose, be optimists. Certainly most of us regard happiness as

the proper end of all earthly enterprise. The will to be happy animates alike the philosopher, the

prince and the chimney-sweep. No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels

that happiness is his indisputable right.

2 It is curious to observe what different ideals of happiness people cherish, and in what singular

places they look for this well-spring of their life. Many look for it in the hoarding of riches, some

in the pride of power, and others in the achievements of art and literature; a few seek it in the

exploration of their own minds, or in the search for knowledge.

3 Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession.

Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they would be!

Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so

measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and

weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so

thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life,—if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to

the creed of optimism is worth hearing....

4 Once I knew the depth where no hope was, and darkness lay on the face of all things. Then

love came and set my soul free. Once I knew only darkness and stillness. Now I know hope and

joy. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. Now I rejoice in the

consciousness that I can think, act and attain heaven. My life was without past or future; death,

the pessimist would say, “a consummation devoutly to be wished.” But a little word from the

fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the

rapture of living. Night fled before the day of thought, and love and joy and hope came up in a

passion of obedience to knowledge. Can anyone who has escaped such captivity, who has felt

the thrill and glory of freedom, be a pessimist?

5 My early experience was thus a leap from bad to good. If I tried, I could not check the

momentum of my first leap out of the dark; to move breast forward is a habit learned suddenly

at that first moment of release and rush into the light. With the first word I used intelligently, I

learned to live, to think, to hope. Darkness cannot shut me in again. I have had a glimpse of the

shore, and can now live by the hope of reaching it.

6 So my optimism is no mild and unreasoning satisfaction. A poet once said I must be happy

because I did not see the bare, cold present, but lived in a beautiful dream. I do live in a

beautiful dream; but that dream is the actual, the present,—not cold, but warm; not bare, but

furnished with a thousand blessings. The very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel

6) Read the last sentence from the text.

Only by contact with evil could I have learned to feel by contrast the beauty of truth and love and goodness.

Explain how Helen Keller develops this idea in the text. Use specific details to

support your answer.

V. Supply the correct form of the words in brackets.
1. Keep yourself __________ by eating well and exercising regularly. (health)
2. My best friend is very sporty. He plays football and basketball very ________(good).
3. The class is _______________; students do not stop talking to each other. (noise)
4. Your room is a _______________; please pick up your toys. (messy)
5. Every day, students learn English with English _______________teacher. (speak)
6. In the afternoon, they can join many _______________clubs. (interest)
7. My house is warm and _______________. (comfort)
8. Kids are not allowed to use _______________in math class. (calculate)
9. What is your _______________room, Tony? (favour)
10. I’m so _______________about my first day at school. (excite)
11. There are only 20 _______________ in my class. (study)
12. Some _______________students do drawings and paintings in the art club. (create)
13. Ella is very __________ and gets along well with everyone. (friend)
14. Please be__________ with those vases. Don’t break them. (care)
15. Alisa is so__________. She talks too much in class, (talk)
16. We had a lot of __________ at Sandra’s party. (funny)

It costs $5 plus $2 per mile to ride in a taxi. Hannah took a taxi from her house to school this morning. She paid the taxi driver $25 when she got to the school. How many miles is it from Hannah's house to her school?

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Choose an invention that you believe has changed the world, and write an essay about the invention. In your essay, explain the importance of this particular invention and its impact on your life and our world.

50:02

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a compound sentence

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Write a diary of Behrman Before the painting 'Masterpiece'...

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please help
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can someone help me?​

II.There are ten mistakes in the following passage. Find and correct them. (5 marks)My friends Paul and Ellen have just return from their honeymoon in Europe. Before they had left New York, I had given them my brother’s address in Switzerland in the hope that they will visit him and his family.When I went to call on the newly-weds last Tuesday night, they told how many they hadenjoyed traveling around Europe and that we soon would look at the color slides they had taken. They also gave me greetings from my brother and assured me that it had been a great pleasure for them meeting my relatives.The slide show started with pictures the couple had snapped on the boat. They came view of Paris, Chartres and Loire. Since Paul had mentioned earlier in the evening that the weather had turned very murky as soon as they got to Switzerland, I hardly expected seeing any pictures of that country. How surprising and pleased I was when I saw my brother and sister-in-law appeared on the screen with their new house in the background. They certainly looked very well and didn’t seem to change at all in the two years that I haven’t seen them.Answers: Example: 0. Line 1: return ¼ returned

I’ll give brainliest

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B. Love is a solid rock: strong and unmoving.
C. The engine growled at me like a beast.
D. Painting a whole house takes forever

in lines 1-2 the speaker describes like as a semi-demi goddess primarily to emphasize the

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Must be 1 paragraph and must include 2 citations. "..."(Douglass, pg#).

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Skan
Which answer is the best example
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please i need you guys help​

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