Read the passage a nd the answer th questions: (12 Marks)
The Taj Mahal is on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern Wo r ld. Histo r ians, tourists, a nd students of architecture a nd design admire it fo r two reasons. One is fo r its beauty. The other is the love sto r y that led to its creation.
The Taj Mahal sta nds on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, India. Its construction began in 1631 a nd was finished in 1653. It is an Islamic tomb built of white marble, which was impo r ted fr om all over India a nd neighbo r ing la nds. Its creation required the use of mo r e than 1,000 elephants to transpo r t the marble. Mo r e than 22,000 builders labo r ed fo r twenty- one years to erect it. They used twenty-eight different kinds of precious a nd semi-precious stones to deco r ate the temple.
This “Crown Palace” is a monument to love. Shah Jahan was the fifth Mughal empero r of India. When he was a fourteen-year-old prince, he fell in love with a fifteen-year-old Persian princess. Five years later, she became his third wife. This was in 1612. He called her “Mumtaz Mahal,” which means “Jewel of the Palace.” They had a happy marriage. However, she died giving birth to their fourteenth child. Heartbroken, her husba nd o r dered the building
of the Taj Mahal. This tomb is a tribute to her. It still sta nds as an enduring symbol of their love.
A. Choose the co r rect answer fr om a, b, c d: (4 Marks)
1. How old was the princess when they were married?