CSS 2018 Solved Precis

• Manifest (adjective): Clear or obvious
  • Contextual Explanation: Indicates how clearly the benefits of cold climates can be observed
• Stimulate (verb): To encourage or activate
  • Contextual Explanation: Cold climates are said to stimulate human energy by presenting manageable challenges.
• Insuperable (adjective): Impossible to overcome
  • Contextual Explanation: If a challenge is too overwhelming, it leads to hopelessness instead of motivation.
• Bracing (adjective): Invigorating or stimulating
  • Contextual Explanation: Moderate cold energizes people and strengthens their mental and physical capabilities.
• Arduous (adjective): Involving great effort or difficulty
  • Contextual Explanation: Daily survival tasks in cold climates are challenging but manageable.
• Inclemency (noun): Severe or harsh weather
  • Contextual Explanation: Refers to the cold and difficult weather conditions faced by people in temperate regions.
• Procure (verb): To obtain with effort
  • Contextual Explanation: People must work to acquire shelter, fuel, and food in cold environments.
• Hew down (verb phrase): To chop or cut down
  • Contextual Explanation: Cutting trees for fuel or construction is a necessary effort in cold climates.
• Replenish (verb): To refill or restore
  • Contextual Explanation: People must eat well to recover energy lost through hard physical work.
• Languid (adjective): Weak or lacking in energy
  • Contextual Explanation: Describes the lazy, slow feeling that accompanies hot weather
• Vigorous (adjective): Strong and energetic
  • Contextual Explanation: People feel more motivated to work physically and mentally during colder seasons.

The passage discusses how climate influences human energy, habits, and exertion, contrasting the stimulating effects of temperate cold climates with the lethargic effects of tropical heat. Moreover, the purpose is to explain that moderate cold climates encourage greater exertion, energy, and productivity while tropical climates foster ease, idleness, and reduced motivation.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Moderate cold climates invigorate human energy and productivity, unlike tropical climates that promote ease and inactivity.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Obstacles stimulate human energy, but their absence leads to idleness.
• Extreme cold numbs effort, while moderate cold braces human energy.
• In temperate climates, people struggle against the weather, requiring warm clothes, fuel, and shelter, which demands exertion.
• In the tropics, little effort is needed as food, shade, and comfort are readily available.
• Human energy shows the same seasonal variation: heat induces laziness, while cold prompts vigorous exertion.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

Kindly make sure to revise all five lectures on Precis Writing that I have already delivered. In these sessions, we discussed in detail:

• What a precis is and its purpose.
• What the main idea means and how to extract it effectively.
• What supporting ideas are and how to identify them.
• How to coordinate the main and supporting ideas while writing a concise, coherent precis.

Additionally, go through the 20 examples I shared in the WhatsApp groups. These examples highlight the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing, and revising them will help you avoid common mistakes and refine your technique.

Precis 1

Moderate cold in temperate climates fosters human effort by presenting surmountable survival challenges for them, unlike extreme cold that numbs human activity or tropical heat that promotes their laziness. Particularly, in temperate region, people must continually struggle for shelter, fuel, warmth, and food, which, in turn, strengthens their energy and endurance. In contrast, in the tropics, minimal effort is adequate for human comfort and survival, thus leading to their inactivity. In addition, seasonal changes influence human behavior. For instance, hot weather inclines people to lethargy whereas cold weather inspires their keener mental and physical activities.

• Original Words in the Passage: 350
• Precis Word Count: 95
• Title: Moderate Cold and Human Effort

Precis 2

Temperate climates, characterized by moderate cold, energize human struggle and motivate individuals to strive for essential needs, in contrast to severe cold, stifling human grind, or tropical heat, often leading to their complacency. Undoubtedly, in these temperate zones, the ongoing pursuit of shelter, fuel, and food enhances human resilience. Conversely, in the tropics, the ease of survival breeds human inactivity. Additionally, seasonal shifts affect human behavior, with heat causing lethargy in them and cold stimulating their mental and physical activities.

• Original Words in the Passage: 350
• Precis Word Count: 80
• Title: Temperate Climate and Human Energy

Precis 3

In temperate climates, moderate cold creates an environment that inspires human effort and productivity while extreme cold stifling human activity or tropical heat encouraging their inaction. On the one hand, in these temperate regions, the constant struggle for necessities strengthens human endurance. On the other hand, in tropical climates, human comfort is gained with minimal work, breeding their inertia. This contrast is mirrored in seasonal changes, where heat induces human lethargy and cold revitalizes their mental and physical activities.

• Original Words in the Passage: 350
• Precis Word Count: 79
• Title: Environment’s Influence on Human Activity