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First Edition

April 2007 Chaitra 1929

Reprinted

November 2007 Kartika 1929

February 2009 Phalguna 1930

December 2009 Pausa 1931

February 2010 Phalguna 1932

January 2012 Magha 1933

November 2012 Kartika 1934

October 2013 Asvina 1935

December 2014 Pausa 1936

December 2015 Pausa 1937

December 2016 Pausa 1938

November 2017 Agrahayana 1939

PD 400T HK

© National Council ofEducational Researchand Training, 2007

40.00

Printed on 80 GSM paper with

NCERT watermark

ISBN 81-7450-723-X

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior

permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of

trade, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the

publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in

which it is published.

The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page,

any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any

other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.

OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION

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Published at the PublicationDivision by the Secretary,National Council of EducationalResearch and Training, SriAurobindo Marg, New Delhi110 016 and printed at EyeVision Printograph, 78,Mohkampur IndustrialComplex, Phase-I, DelhiRoad, Meerut - 250 002 (U.P.)

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The National Curriculum Framework, 2005,recommends that children's life at school must belinked to their life outside the school. This principlemarks a departure from the legacy of bookishlearning which continues to shape our system andcauses a gap between the school, home andcommunity. The syllabi and textbooks developedon the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implementthis basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rotelearning and the maintenance of sharp boundariesbetween different subject areas. We hope thesemeasures will take us significantly further in thedirection of a child-centred system of educationoutlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).

The success of this effort depends on the stepsthat school principals and teachers will take toencourage children to reflect on their own learningand to pursue imaginative activities and questions.We must recognise that, given space, time andfreedom, children generate new knowledge byengaging with the information passed on to them byadults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the solebasis of examination is one of the key reasons whyother resources and sites of learning are ignored.Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if weperceive and treat children as participants in learning,not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.

These aims imply considerable change in schoolroutines and mode of functioning. Flexibility in thedaily time-table is as necessary as rigour inimplementing the annual calendar so that therequired number of teaching days are actuallydevoted to teaching. The methods used for teachingand evaluation will also determine how effective thistextbook proves for making children's life at schoola happy experience, rather than a source of stressor boredom. Syllabus designers have tried toaddress the problem of curricular burden by

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restructuring and reorienting knowledge at differentstages with greater consideration for childpsychology and the time available for teaching. TheSupplementary Reader attempts to enhance thisendeavour by giving higher priority and space toopportunities for contemplation and wondering,discussion in small groups, and activities requiringhands-on experience.

The National Council of Educational Researchand Training (NCERT) appreciates the hard workdone by the Textbook Development Committeeresponsible for this book. We wish to thank theChairperson of the Advisory Committee in Languages,Professor Namwar Singh and the Chief Advisor forthis book, Professor Amritavalli for guiding the workof this committee. Several teachers contributed to thedevelopment of this Supplementary Reader; we aregrateful to their principals for making this possible.We are indebted to the institutions andorganisations which have generously permitted usto draw upon their resources, material andpersonnel. We are especially grateful to the membersof the National Monitoring Committee, appointedby the Department of Secondary and HigherEducation, Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment under the Chairmanship of ProfessorMrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for theirvaluable time and contribution. As an organisationcommitted to systemic reform and continuousimprovement in the quality of its products, NCERTwelcomes comments and suggestions which willenable us to undertake further revision andrefinement.

Director

National Council ofNew Delhi Educational Research20 November 2006 and Training

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Vistas is a supplementary reader in English(Core course) for Class XII, based on the guidelinesof the National Curriculum Framework 2005. Themain objective of this book is to make extensivereading an enjoyable experience, lead students toappreciate some of the best examples of writing andunderstand the social milieu they live in.

An attempt has been made to attain theseobjectives by presenting varied themes and genresof writing. The themes range from scientific fantasy,political satire, and adventure, to ethical and moralissues and personal conflicts.

Jack Finney’s ‘The Third Level’ is a scientificfantasy, while ‘The Tiger King’ by Kalki is a politicalsatire. ‘Antartica’ is a travel piece, with a suggestionthat the young reader could take part in theexpedition by logging on to www.studentsonice.com.

The three stories that follow are by Pearl S. Buck,John Updike and Colin Dexter. Buck’s story setshuman fellow-feeling against national loyalty; JohnUpdike’s story is about a child participating in theconstruction of a story by her father and raisesissues regarding parental prejudices foisted onchildren. Dexter’s story is fun-reading about how acriminal escapes jail through creating circumstancesby insisting on taking an examination in the prison.

The play by Susan Hill is on the themes ofdisabilities while excerpts from Bama’s ‘Karukku’and an excerpt from ‘The Land of the Red Apple’, astory in Zitkala-Sa’s, book ‘The School Days of anIndian Girl’.

Each unit has questions. The question on thetexts in the supplementary reader take the learnerbeyond factual comprehension to contemplating onthe issues that the texts raise. Activities suggestedtake off from the texts.

What will now

happen to the

astrologer? Do you

think the prophecy

was indisputably

disproved?

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G a n d h i j i ’ s T a l i s m a nG a n d h i j i ’ s T a l i s m a nG a n d h i j i ’ s T a l i s m a nG a n d h i j i ’ s T a l i s m a nG a n d h i j i ’ s T a l i s m a n

I will give you a talisman. Whenever

you are in doubt or when the self

becomes too much with you, apply

the following test:

Recall the face of the poorest and

the weakest man whom you may

have seen and ask yourself if the

step you contemplate is going to be

of any use to him. Will he gain

anything by it? Will it restore him

to a control over his own life and

destiny? In other words, will it lead

to Swaraj for the hungry and

spiritually starving millions?

Then you will find your doubts

and your self melting away.

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CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TEXTBOOKS

IN LANGUAGES AT THE HIGHER SECONDARY LEVEL

Namwar Singh, Professor and formerly Chairman,

School of Languages, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi

CHIEF ADVISOR

R. Amritavalli, Professor, English and ForeignLanguages University (EFLU), Hyderabad

CHIEF COORDINATOR

Ram Janma Sharma, Professor and Former Head,

Department of Education in Languages, NCERT,New Delhi

MEMBERS

Chaya Nautiyal, Deputy Director, SecondaryEducation, Directorate of Education, Allahabad

Gayatri Khanna, ELT Consultant, New Delhi

Indu Khetarpal, Principal, Salwan Public School,Gurgaon

Kirti Kapur, Assistant Professor, NCERT, New Delhi

Malathy Krishnan, Professor, EFLU, Hyderabad

Nasiruddin Khan, Reader (Retd.), NCERT, New

Delhi

Pranjit Dev Savema, PGT, J.N.V, Roing, ArunachalPradesh

Rajendrasinh Jadeja, Director, H.M.Patel Instituteof English Training and Research, Vallabh

Vidyanagar, Gujarat

Saryug Yadav, Associate Professor, RIE, Ajmer

S.K. Shyamla, PGT , Demonstration Multi Purpose

School, RIE, Mysore

MEMBER-COORDINATOR

Meenakshi Khar, Assistant Professor, Departmentof Education in Languages, NCERT, New Delhi

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The National Council of Educational Research andTraining is grateful to Professor Harish Trivedi andProfessor Alok Rai from the Department of EnglishDelhi University and Vandana R Singh, Consultant

Editor for going through the manuscript and makingvaluable suggestions.

For permission to reproduce copyright materialin this book, NCERT would like to thank The Hindu

for ‘Journey to the end of the Earth’ by Tishani Doshiand for Macmillan India Limited for Bama, ‘Karukku’,Dalit writing and Translation by Bama; MacmillanGeneral Books for ‘Evans Tries an O-Level’ by CollinDexter; Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd for ‘The TigerKing’ by Kalki; Holt Rinehart for ‘Should Wizard hitMommy’ by John Updike and Blackwell Publishersfor ‘The Cutting of my Long Hair’ by Zitkala-Sa.

The Council acknowledges the services ofSunanda Khanna and G C Chandrakar, Copy Editors;Surender K Vats, Proof Reader; Mohd. Harun, DTP

Operator; and Parash Ram Kaushik, Incharge,Computer Station. The efforts of the publicationDepartment, NCERT are also highly appreciated.

It has not been possible to trace the copyright inall cases. The publishers apologise for any omissionsand would be glad to hear from any suchunacknowledged copyright holders.

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Foreword iii

About the Book v

1. The Third Level Jack Finney 1

2. The Tiger King Kalki 8

3. Journey to the end of the Earth Tishani Doshi 18

4. The Enemy Pearl S. Buck 24

5. Should Wizard hit Mommy John Updike 48

6. On the face of It Susan Hill 56

7. Evans Tries an O-level Colin Dexter 70

8. Memories of Childhood 93

• The Cutting of My Long Hair Zitkala-Sa

• We Too are Human Beings Bama

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