Read the following text and answer the questions that follow.
The Taj Mahal is also known as "the Taj". It is a white marble tomb located in Agra in India. Do you know the story behind the Taj Mahal? The Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan loved his wife Mumtaz Mahal more than his life. Mumtaz died at an early age. Shah Jahan was very shocked at her death. So he built the Taj Mahal as a token of love for his wife. It is the place where Mumtaz is sleeping for ever.
The Taj has an area of about 1003 acres or 405 hectares. The Taj Mahal is the finest example of Mughal architecture. It combines the art of Persia, Turky, and India. It took 21 years and thousands of artisans and craftsmen to complete the Taj Mahal. The Taj is universally admired as one of the wonders of the world.

• (a) Read the above text again and answer the following questions.
• (i)

  Identify the finest example of Mughal architecture.

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• (ii)

  Interpret the term 'wonder of the world'.

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• (iii)

  Describe the story behind the building of Taj Mahal.

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• (iv)

  "The Taj is universally admired"- explain the reason.

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• (v)

  Discuss the art and area of Taj Mahal.

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• (b) Fill in each gap with a suitable word based on the information of the text

• Shah Jahan built The Taj Mahal for his (a)________, Mumtaz Mahal. He loved her a lot, even more than his own life. So, when she (b)_______ , it was very painful for him. At that time, he built the beautiful Taj Mahal to express his (c) ______. Thousands of artisans and craftsmen worked on the project for (d) ______  years. It truly is one of the (e) _______ of the world.

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• (c) Read the passage again and then write the antonym or synonym of the words as directed.
• (i)

  combine (synonym)

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• (ii)

  shocked (synonym)

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• (iii)

  early (antonym)

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• (iv)

  finest (antonym)

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• (v)

  complete (synonym)

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