Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below:
Tenth May dawned bright and clear. For the past few
days I had been pleasantly besieged by dignitaries and world leaders who were
coming to pay their respects before ¢he inauguration. The inauguration would be
the largest gathering ever of international leaders on South African Soil.
The ceremonies took place in the lovely sandstone
amphitheatre formed by the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For decades this had
been the seat of while supremacy, and now it was the site of a rainbow
gathering of different colours and nations for the installation of South
Africa’s first democratic, non-racial government.
On that lovely autumn day I was accompanied by my
daughter Zenani. On the podium, Mr. de Klerk was first sworn in as second deputy president. Then Thabo Mbeki was sworn in as
first deputy president. When it was my turn, I pledged to obey and uphold the
Constitution and to devote myself to the well-being of the Republic and its people.
Questions:
(a) How was tenth May?
(b) Where did the ceremonies take place?
(c) What was the ‘inauguration’ for?
(d) Who was sworn in as second deputy president?
(e) Who was sworn in as the first deputy president?
(f) Who accompanied the narrator?
(g) Give the meaning of the word ‘besieged’.
