Read the following passages and answer the given questions :
Answers :
(i)‘She’ is the grandmother of the writer.
(ii) She was short and fat and was slightly bent.
(iii) Her face was full of wrinkles.
(iv) The writer says that she was terribly old. She seemed so old that she could not grow older.
(v) (a) Greatly, (b) Younger.
Answers :
(i)The lady described in these lines is the writer’s grandmother.
(ii) The writer says that her grandmother was old, short, fat and wrinkled. But she had some grace and attraction. So, he calls her beautiful.
(iii) The following sentence tells us that she was religious : “.....and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer.”
(iv) She was very old. ‘Her silver locks’ and ‘puckered face’ give us the idea of her old age.
(v) (a) Ugly, (b) Spotted.
PASSAGE 3
My grandmother and I were good friends. My parents left me with her when they went to live in the city and we were constantly together. She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart; I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn it.
(i)Name the lesson this passage has been taken from. Also name its writer.
(ii) Why does the writer say that he and his grandmother were good friends?
(iii) What did she do when she bathed and dressed the writer?
(iv) What did she wish?
(v) Use the following in sentences of your own : (a) Monotonous , (b) Constantly.
Answers :
(i)The name of the lesson is ‘The Portrait of a Lady’ and its writer is Khushwant Singh.
(ii) The writer and his grandmother lived together. She helped him in getting ready for the school. She took care of him. Thus they were like good friends.
(iii) She kept praying when she bathed and dressed the writer.
(iv) She wished that the writer would learn the prayer by heart.
(v) (a) Monotonous : His lecture was monotonous.
(b) Constantly: It has been raining constantly since morning.
PASSAGE 6
When I decided to go abroad for further studies, I was sure my grandmother would be upset. I would be away for five years, and at her age one could never tell. But my grandmother could. She was not even sentimental.
She came to leave me at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, her mind was lost in prayer. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. Silently she kissed my forehead, and when I left I cherished the moist imprint as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between us.
Questions :
(i)What did the author decide?
(ii) What did he think of his grandmother?
(iii) What does this passage tell us about the religious nature of the writer’s grandmother?
(iv) What sign of physical contact did he cherish?
(v) Use the following in sentences of your own : (a) Cherish, (b) Sentimental.
Answers :
(i)The author decided to go abroad for higher studies.
(ii) He thought that his grandmother would be upset at the idea of his going abroad.
(iii) She was a religious lady. She came to see off the writer at the railway station. At that time also her lips were moving in prayer.
(iv) He cherished the physical contact of his grandmother’s kiss on his forehead.
(v) (a) Cherish : He cherishes bright hope about the future of his son.
(b) Sentimental : A mother is always sentimental about her son.
PASSAGE 7
The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a blaze of golden light. We stopped halfway
in the courtyard. All over the verandah and in her room right up to where she lay dead and stiff wrapped in the red shroud, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirruping. We felt sorry for the birds and my mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, the way my grandmother used to, and threw it to them. The sparrows took no notice of the bread.
Questions :
(i)Who was lying dead and stiff?
(ii) How does the writer describe the setting sun?
(iii) What did they see as they entered the room?
(iv) What did the sparrows do when the bread crumbs were thrown to them?
(v) Use the following in sentences of your own : (a) Shroud, (b) Scattered.
Answers :
(i)The author’s grandmother was lying dead and stiff.
(ii) The sun was setting and its golden rays lighted the room and the verandah.
(iii) As they entered the room, they saw that thousandsof sparrows were sitting around the dead body.
(iv) They did not eat the bread crumbs.
(v) (a) Shroud : When a person dies, his body is covered with a shroud.
(b) Scattered : The file fell from my hands and the papers were scattered in the room.
PASSAGE 8
My grandmother always went to school with me because the school was attached to the temple. The priest taught us the alphabet and the morning prayer. While the children sat in rows on either side of the verandah singing the alphabet or the prayer in a chorus, my grandmother sat inside reading the scriptures. When we had both finished,we would walk back together. This time the village dogs would meet us at the temple door. They followed us to our home growing and fighting with each other for the chapattis we threw to them.
Questions :
(i)Why did the grandmother accompany the author to the school?
(ii) What did the grandmother do while the author studied at the school?
(iii) How did the children study at the school?
(iv) What did the grandmother do on her way back to the home?
(v) Use the following in sentences of your own : (a) Scriptures, (b) Growling.
Answers :
(i)The grandmother accompanied the author to the school because this school was attached to a temple.
(ii) While the author studied in the school, his grandmother read scriptures in the temple.
(iii) The children sat in rows on either side of the verandah and sang the alphabet in chorus.
(iv) On her way back, they threw chapattis to the village dogs.
(v) (a) Scriptures : He had read a number of scriptures.
(b) Growling : The dogs were growling at one another.
PASSAGE 3
Unexpectedly, my head popped out of the water. A few metres away, Wavewalker was near capsizing,
her masts almost horizontal. Then a wave hurled her upright, my lifeline jerked taut, I grabbed the guard rails
and sailed through the air into Wavewalker’s main boom. Subsequent waves tossed me around the deck like a
rag doll. My left ribs cracked; my mouth filled with blood and broken teeth. Somehow, I found the wheel,
lined up the stern for the next wave and hung on.
Questions :
(i)What happened unexpectedly?
(ii) What was the condition of the Wavewalker?
(iii) What did the subsequent waves do?
(iv) What was the physical condition of the narrator?
(v) Find words in the passage which have the same meaning as : (a) Becoming upside down,
(b) Held tightly.
Answers :
(i)The narrator’s head popped out of the water, unexpectedly.
(ii) The Wavewalker was near capsizing and her masts were almost horizontal.
(iii) The subsequent waves tossed the narrator like a rag doll.
(iv) His ribs cracked. His mouth was filled with blood and he had broken teeth.
(v) (a) Capsizing, (b) Grabbed.
PASSAGE 4
After finding a hammer, screws and canvas, I struggled back on deck. With the starboard side bashed
open, we were taking water with each wave that broke over us. If I couldn’t make some repairs, we would
surely sink.
Somehow I managed to stretch canvas and secure waterproof hatch covers across the gaping holes. Some
water continued to stream below, but most of it was now being deflected over the side.
More problems arose when our hand pumps started to block up with the debris floating around the cabins
and the electric pump short-circuited. The water level rose threateningly. Back on deck I found that our two
spare hand pumps had been wrenched overboard–along with the forestay sail, the jib, the dinghies and the
main anchor.
Questions :
(i)When did the narrator struggle back on deck ?
(ii) What did he manage to do?
(iii) What happened to the electric pump?
(iv) What happened to the two spare hand pumps?
(v) Find words in the passage which have the same meaning as : (a) Menacingly, (b) Broken parts.
Answers :
(i)He struggled back on deck after finding a hammer, screws and canvas.
(ii) He managed to stretch canvas and secure waterproofhatch covers across the holes.
(iii) The electric pump short-circuited.
(iv) The two spare pumps were tossed overboard.
(v) (a) Threateningly, (b) Debris.
PASSAGE 6
On January 4, after 36 hours of continuous pumping, we reached the last few centimetres of water. Now,
we had only to keep pace with the water still coming in. We could not set any sail on the main mast. Pressure
on the rigging would simply pull the damaged section of the hull apart, so we hoisted the storm jib and headed
for where I thought the two islands were. Mary found some corned beef and cracker biscuits, and we ate our
first meal in almost two days.
But our respite was short lived. At 4 p.m. black clouds began building up behind us; within the hour the
wind was back at 40 knots and the seas were getting higher. The weather continued to deteriorate throughout
the night, and by dawn on January 5, our situation was again desperate.
When I went in to comfort the children, Jon asked, “Daddy, are we going to die ?” I tried to assure him
that we could make. “But, Daddy, “he went on, “We aren’t afraid of dying, if we can all be together-you and
Mummy, Sue and I”.[H.B.S.E. March, 2018]
Questions :
(i)Name the chapter and the author.
(ii) Why were they pumping water ?
(iii) Why was their respite short lived ?
(iv) How did Jon reassure the author ?
(v) Give the word from the passage which means :
(a) become worse (b) daybreak
Answers :
(i)Chapter : We’re Not Afraid To Die,............. If We Can All Be Together.
Author : Gordon Cook and Alan East
(ii) They were pumping water because water was flowing in their boat through the hole.
(iii) Their respite was short lived because at 4 p.m. black clouds began building up behind them.
(iv) Jon reassured the author by saying that they were not afraid to die.
(v) (a) deteriorate (b) dawn
PASSAGE 8
While I was thinking, Sue, moving painfully, joined me. The left side of her head was now very swollen
and her blackened eyes narrowed to slits. She gave me a card she had made.
On the front she had drawn caricatures of Mary and me with the words : “Here are some funny people.
Did they make you laugh ? I laughed a lot as well.” Inside was a message : “Oh, how I love you both. So this
card is to say thank you and let’s hope for the best.” Somehow we had to make it.
Questions :
(i)What happened when the narrator was thinking?
(ii) What was Sue’s condition?
(iii) What did Sue give to her father?
(iv) Whose caricatures had Sue drawn?
(v) Find words in the passage which have the same meaning as : (a) Cartoon sketch of someone,
(b) Humorous.
Answers :
(i)When the narrator was thinking, Sue joined him.
(ii) Her head was swollen and her blackened eyes narrowed to slits.
(iii) Sue gave a card to her father.
(iv) She drawn the caricatures of her father and mother.
(v) (a) Caricatures, (b) Funny.