Precis Writing on The Spirit of Adventure

Make a precis of each of the following passages. Suggest a suitable title also for your precis.

The word ‘adventure’ embraces a company of great words, including courage, tenacity, selflessness & faith, but its most potent ingredient cannot be expressed in one word. It is the spirit that urges men to volunteer to undertake hazardous tasks, for adventure implies the readiness and desire to embark on a course of action that entails risk. A young child may display an instinct for adventure by climbing out of his play pen to explore the mysteries of the nursery, but this kind of adventure is hardly laudable because the child has not yet sufficient reasoning power to realise the potential risk in such an action. As we grow older, however, the spirit of adventure tends to be restrained by caution; the fire is often smothered by reason, which gives warning of impending dangers and coldly counsels safety first. Yet in some men the urge for adventure may be so strong that it overwhelms the primary instinct of self- preservation and inspires them to attempt the impossible.
To evoke our admirations adventure need not be successful; it is enough if the adventurer is impelled by courage. Indeed the failure of a gallant enterprise often touches our hearts even more than its success. Success in dangerous enterprises often bring material rewards, but a glorious failure that inspires those who follow after brings a greater honour than any material reward.
It was said of Mallory that “a fire burnt in him that caused his willing spirit to rise superior to the weakness of his flesh”. Yet it would be a fallacy to assume that the conquest of the flesh is easier for such adventures than for is humbler mortals. There has never been a man who knew no fear, but the finer the courage of a man, the less will he betray his fears. When we imagine that men who delebrately set out on perilous adventures are endowed with a disregard for danger, let us remember that their bodies are sensible of the same pains as ours and that their minds suffer the same anxieties. What they have that we lack is the ability to call up some impelling force from within that we all possess but that lies dormant in most of us, although we admire its manifestation in others. To summon the power the individual must fight gigantic battles within himself; reason, hunger, love of life, the insistent call of home-all these present vast obstacles which he must surmount and which yet rear up before him again & again.

THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

Adventure means readiness and desire to undertake a risky enterprise. The impelling force from within helps man to conquer fear, reason, hunger, love of life and home sickness. Nobody is completely free from fear of danger. But the difference between a timid and adventurous person is that the latter does not allow fear to overpower him. We all mortals, are subject to the weakness of the flesh. But the spirit of an adventurous person overpowers the weakness of his flesh. Their bodies are as much sensitive to physical pains and anxieties as ours. So the spirit of adventure in dangerous enterprises is encouraged by conquest of self. One likes to admire the spirit of willingness to undertake hazardous tasks without caring for self preservation. Even failure in an adventure is considered as glorious as success, rather an admirable feat. Success is no criterion for undertaking any adventure. Even failure evokes touching admiration provided the deed is inspired by genuine adventurous spirit.