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प्रश्न
From the first paragraph
(i) pick out two phrases which describe the desert as most people believe it is;
(ii) pick out two phrases which describe the dessert as specialists see it.
Which do you think is an apt description, and why?
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उत्तर
(i) Two phrases which describe the desert as most people believe it is “an endless stretch of sand, where no rainfalls and no vegetation grows.” “A place that is dry, hot, waterless and without shelter.”
(ii) Two phrases which describe the dessert as specialists see it are “a beautiful place”, “home of a variety of people, animals and plants that have learnt to live under hot and dry conditions.”
Both are apt descriptions as they both describe the desert.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
What does Jerome say was Montmorency’s ambition in life? What do you think of
Montmorency and why?
Thinking about the Poem
What do the last four lines of the poem mean to you?
Answer following question in short.
How did the duck force the kangaroo to fulfil his desire?
Can you think of some other ending for the story?
Here's a glimpse of a naughty child whose life is full of fun and frolic .
One of the reasons why Tom's mind had drifted away from ita secret troubles was that it bad found a new and weighty matter to interest itself about. Becky Thatcher had stopped coming to school. Tom bad struggled with his pride a few days and tried to "whistle her down the wind," but failed. He began to find himself hanging around her father's house all night and feeling very miserable. She was ill. What if she should die! There was distraction in the thought. Tom Sawyer no longer took an interest in war, nor even in piracy. The charm of life was gone; there was nothing but dreariness left. He put his hoop away, and his bat; there was no joy in them any more. His aunt was concerned. She began to try all manners of remedies on him. She was one of those people who are Infatuated with patent medicines and all new-fangled methods of producing health or mending it. She was an inveterate experimenter in these things. When something fresh in this line came out, she was in a fever, right away, to try it; not on herself, for she was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy.
2. She tried every remedy she could. Yet, not with standing all this, the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected. She added hot baths, sitz baths, shower baths, and plunges. The boy remained as dismal as a hearse. She began to assist the boy with a slim oatmeal diet and blister-plaster&. She calculated his capacity as she would judge and filled him up every day with quack cure-alls.
3. Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time. This phase filled the old lady's heart with consternation. This indifference must be broken up at any cost. Now she heard of Pain-killer for the first time. She ordered a lot at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude. It was simply fire in a liquid form. She dropped the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith on Pain-killer. She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with the deepest anxiety for the result. Her troubles were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again; for the 'indifference' was broken up. The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest, if she had built a fire under him.
4. Tom felt that it was time to wake up; this sort of life might be romantic enough, in his blighted condition, but it was getting to have too little sentiment and too much distracting variety about it. So he thought over various plans for relief and finally hit upon that of professing to be fond of Pain-killer. He asked for it so often that he became a nuisance and his aunt ended up by telling him to help himself and quit bothering her. If it had been Sid, she would have had no misgivings to alloy her delight; but since it was Tom, she watched the bottle clandestinely. She found that the medicine did really diminish, but it did not occur to her that the boy was mending the health of a crack in the sitting-room floor with it.
5. One day Tom was in the act of dosing the crack when his aunt's yellow cat came along, purring, eyeing the teaspoon avariciously and begging for a taste. Tom said: "Peter, now you've asked for it, and I'll give it to you, because there ain't anything mean about me; but if you find you don't like it, you mustn't blame anybody but your own self."
6. Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the Pain-killer. Peter sprang a couple of yards in the air, and then delivered a war-whoop and set off round and round the room, banging against furniture, upsetting flower-pots, and making general havoc. Next he rose on his hind feet and pranced around, in a frenzy of enjoyment, with his head over his shoulder and his voice proclaiming his unappeasable happiness. Then he went tearing around the house again spreading chaos and destruction in his path. Aunt Polly entered in time to see him throw a few double summersaults, deliver a final mighty hurrah, and sail through the open window, carrying the rest of the flower-pots with him. The old lady stood petrified with astonishment, peering over her glasses; Tom lay on the floor hysterical with laughter.
"Tom, what on earth ails that cat?"
"I don't know, aunt," gasped the boy.
7. The old lady was bending down, Tom watching, with interest emphasized by anxiety. Too late he divined her 'drift'. The handle of the telltale teaspoon was visible under the sofa. Aunt Polly took it, held it up. Tom winced, and dropped his eyes. Aunt Polly raised him by the usual handle - his ear - and cracked his head soundly with her thimble.
"Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so, for?"
"I done it out of pity for him - because he hadn't any aunt."
"Hadn't any aunt! -you numskull. What has that got to do with it?"
"Heaps. Because if he'd had one, she'd a burnt him out herself! She'd a roasted his bowels out of him 'thout any more feeling than if he was a human!"
Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity.
"I know you was meaning for the best, aunty, and so was I with Peter. It done him good, too. I never see him get around so-"
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see___
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
How is it the harvest of a coming age?
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:-
Read the lines given above and answer the following question.
What was the angel doing when Abou bin Adhem saw him within the moonlight in his room?
“If you are rested I would go,” I urged. “Get up and try to walk now.”
“Thank you,” he said and got to his feet, swayed from side to side and then sat down backwards in the dust.
“I was taking care of animals,” he said dully, but no longer to me. “I was only taking care of animals.”
There was nothing to do about him. It was Easter Sunday and the Fascists were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a grey overcast day with a low ceiling so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that the old man would ever have.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
When the narrator spoke to the old man about the pigeon cage, what does this reveal about him?
He flungs himself down in a corner to recoup from the fatigue of his visit to the shop. His wife said, “You are getting no sauce today, nor anything else. I can’t find anything to give you to eat. Fast till the evening, it’ll do you good. Take the goats and be gone now,” she cried and added, “Don’t come back before the sun is down.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What lie did Muni tell the shopkeeper?
Beside him in the shoals as he lay waiting glimmered a blue gem. It was not a gem, though: it was sand—?worn glass that had been rolling about in the river for a long time. By chance, it was perforated right through—the neck of a bottle perhaps?—a blue bead. In the shrill noisy village above the ford, out of a mud house the same colour as the ground came a little girl, a thin starveling child dressed in an earth—?coloured rag. She had torn the rag in two to make skirt and sari. Sibia was eating the last of her meal, chupatti wrapped round a smear of green chilli and rancid butter; and she divided this also, to make
it seem more, and bit it, showing straight white teeth. With her ebony hair and great eyes, and her skin of oiled brown cream, she was a happy immature child—?woman about twelve years old. Bare foot, of course, and often goosey—?cold on a winter morning, and born to toil. In all her life, she had never owned anything but a rag. She had never owned even one anna—not a pice.
Why does the writer mention the blue bead at the same time that the crocodile is introduced?
Ans. The author mentions the blue bead at the same time that the crocodile is introduced to create suspense and a foreshadowing of the events’to happen.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe Sibia’s home.
They stood in the doorway of the underground for a moment until it was raining hard. Then they closed the door and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere and forever.
“Will it be seven more years?” “Yes. Seven.” Then one of them gave a little cry. “Margot!” “What?” “She’s still in the closet where we locked her.” “Margot.”
They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor. They looked at each other and then looked away. They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily. They could not meet each other’s glances. Their faces were solemn and pale. They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down. “Margot.” One of the girls said, “Well.. .?” No one moved. “Go on,” whispered the girl. They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of the cold rain. They turned through the doorway to the room in the sound of the storm and thunder, lightning on their faces, blue and terrible. They walked over to the closet door slowly and stood by it. Behind the closed door was only silence. They unlocked the door, even more slowly, and let Margot out.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why does the author describe their faces as blue and terrible?
How, according to Portia, can the Duke of Saxony’s nephew be made to choose the wrong casket? What do these suitors ultimately decide? Why?
Mark the right item.
The greedy couple borrowed the mill and the mortar to make
Why do we make swings on trees?
Why does the poet say, “I hope it doesn’t matter”?
How many times does the narrator’s father try to climb the tree?
Which is more desirable-friendship or enmity? When does a person hear strongly the voice of his conscience?
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
|
That huge bell never stopped ringing. It got us out of bed, it summoned us for meals, it rang between class periods, it sent us unwillingly to bed. One morning it failed to ring, or rather, there was no bell to ring. Someone had removed it, and it wasn't found till late in the afternoon. What a glorious day! As there was no bell to rouse us, everyone got up late, and there was no morning PT. Some of us missed breakfast too. The teachers got confused and mixed up their classes. How could the school manage without it? Confusion reigned. Of course, no one owned up. It could have meant expulsion. Some suspicion fell on the Sports Captain because of our aversion to morning PT, but nothing could be proved. No one was very anxious to find the bell - we were quite happy without it - but it was finally discovered hanging from a branch of one of the trees. ‘It may have been Mr. Sharma,' surmised Brian. Mr. Sharma, our Maths teacher, was known to walk in his sleep. And sleepwalkers did funny things sometimes. ‘It could be Mool Chand himself,’ suggested Cyrus Satralkar. Mool Chand was the school chowkidar, who also had the job of banging the brass bell at appointed times. ‘Why would he throw it away?’ ‘He must be as fed up with ringing it as we are of hearing it.’ This was my theory. ‘Perhaps he wants a rise in salary.’ The identity of the culprit remained a mystery. Happily, the senior Hockey team went on a winning spree against all corners, and our month-end exits were restored. But soon there was another sensation. A girl was admitted to our class! The boys were scandalized. No girl had ever studied in our school before. We protested. ‘What’s the problem?’ asked Mr. Knight, our class master. ‘Haven’t you seen a girl before?’ ‘But - but. Sir ...’ Tata was our spokesman. ‘How will we concentrate on our studies?’ ‘When did you ever concentrate on your studies, Tata?’ ‘Are we going co-ed, sir?’ Adams wanted to know. ‘Not at all,’ said Mr. Knight. ‘This is a special case. She is the school accounts manager’s daughter, and he can’t afford the Girls school fees. So, I’m sure you’ll make her feel very welcome.’ The accountant was a popular man who also ran the school’s tuck shop and allowed most of us a certain amount of credit. All our objections faded away. At first, Sunita, our new entrant, was a bit of a distraction because, although she was very shy and demure, she had lovely curly hair, bright eyes, pink cheeks and a smile for everyone. All the boys were very polite and attentive to her and Brian in particular was always ready to help her. |
- For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided: (3)
- summoned (line 1)
- totalled
- ordered
- requested
- shout
- aversion (line 10)
- hatred
- fear
- politeness
- creation
- restored (line 25)
- helped
- returned
- permit
- victory
- summoned (line 1)
- Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
- Why did no one confess to having removed the missing bell? (1)
- Why did suspicion fall on the Sports Captain? (2)
- What made Brian think that it was Mr. Sharma? (2)
- Which sentence in the passage tells you that Mr. Knight thought poorly of Tata’s academic performance? (2)
- Why was the accountant a popular man? (2)
- In not more than 50 words describe the effects of the lost bell. (8)
Read the following extract from William Wordsworth's poem, 'Daffodils' and answer the questions that follow:
|
When all at once I saw a crowd |
- Wordsworth uses the words, 'wondered' and 'lonely' to describe himself in the opening lines of the poem.
What mood do these words convey?
What let to a change in his mood? [3] - How does Wordsworth describe the sight that met his eyes?
Give a brief description of what the poet saw. [3] - To what does the poet compare this sight?
How is this comparison appropriate? [3] - What does the poet mean when he says, 'Ten thousand saw I at a glance'?
Find two other words in the given extract that create the impression of large numbers. [3] - What immediate effect did this sight have on Wordsworth?
How did it affect him in the long-term?
What does this poem tell us about Wordsworth's attitude to Nature? [4]
“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills."
Which one of the following explains why the short story, The Story of an Hour ends with the phrase "...of joy that kills"?
- To convey a sense of irony.
- To make the readers judge Mrs. Mallard.
- To convey Mrs. Mallard’s sheer sense of shock.
- To explain Brently Mallard’s shock at the incident.
