Gapped Text (Sentences)

Read the passage carefully. Six sentences have been removed. 

Ambition provides the spur to action. A target in life is a psychological necessity. ___(1)___ “Vaulting ambition”, as Shakespeare says, may “overleap itself”. What is needed is a realisable aim. Overweening ambition can lead to disastrous consequences.

Ambition, of course, is not confined to physical or worldly matters. In the spiritual realm, too, one’s ambition can be realised. One of the best-dressed men in the most fashionable city of Paris walked the dusty streets of Goa and Malacca with a begging bowl in his hand. Francis Xavier, the pleasure-seeking youth, was seized by the yearning not “to suffer the loss of his soul”. ___(2)___

The path to our goal is not always strewn with roses. Today’s discovery of truths that we take for granted brought hardships and loneliness for those who worked untiringly against a mocking world. Louis Pasteur, who said germs cause diseases, was scoffed at and ridiculed by “learned” doctors. ___(3)___ Again, unswerving drive helped Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth Barrett to steer clear of the pride and prejudice of the male-dominated world and realise their ambitions.

___(4)___William Henry David, for example, failed to sell his collection of poems. So he published his poems again. One morning, looking down from his cubicle, William found many cars waiting in the muddy lane. He was surprised to learn that the rich people of high social standing had arrived to invite him to dinner for G.B. Shaw had recommended his book. ___(5)___ Take the case of the unexpected discovery of penicillin, the wonder drug that has saved millions of lives. True. Alexander Fleming left the bacteria culture carelessly open, and this resulted in the discovery. We are, in fact, oblivious of his drive, enthusiasm and initiative, which contributed to his success and so to his greatness.

Material shortcomings need not stop us from reaching our goal. Abraham Lincoln could not afford books, so he increased his vocabulary by learning the meanings of words from the old newspaper wrappings from the grocer’s. ___(6)___ Winston Churchill, a great prime minister, one of the architects of Second World War victory, writer, historian, orator and painter, failed in his examinations many times and had the unsavoury experience of being detained in the same class two or three years but his ambition made him persevere and finally succeed.

In summary, favourable circumstances can indeed lead us to our goals in life. But as seen from previous examples, if that were not the case, it shouldn’t prevent us from persevering, adapting and innovating to attain our ambitions.

A. A man without an ambition may be likened to a ship without a rudder.
B. The realisation of ambition sometimes comes at unexpected moments.
C. This indefatigable Frenchman had to spend as much time fighting against superstition and scepticism as he had to spend fighting pathogenic bacteria.
D. His motivation, called “faith”, gave him wings, and he soared to great heights.
E. Even the past poor examination results need not hamper you.
F. But it should not be surmised that the achievement of our aim depends on blind chance.

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