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In the poem Telephone Conversation, the potent metaphor “stench of rancid breath” is used to ______. - English Literature

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प्रश्न

In the poem Telephone Conversation, the potent metaphor “stench of rancid breath” is used to ______.

विकल्प

  • evoke a strong sense of repulsion and disgust.

  • describe bad odour in the telephone booth.

  • create a toxic atmosphere.

  • create a mental image of the lady with bad breath.

MCQ
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उत्तर

In the poem Telephone Conversation, the potent metaphor “stench of rancid breath” is used to evoke a strong sense of repulsion and disgust.

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Answer these question in a few words or a couple of sentence.

How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music?


Answer the question in two or three paragraphs (100–150 words).

How does Evelyn hear music?


Thinking about Language
Match the words/phrases in Column A with their meanings in Column B.

A B
1. slaving (i) a quarrel or an argument
2. cgaos (ii) remove something from inside another thing using a sharp tool
3. rummage (iii) strange, mysterious. Difficult to explain
4. scrape out (iv) finish successfully, achieve
5. stumble over, tumble
into
(v) search for something by moving things around hurriedly or
carelessly
6. accomplish (vi) completer confusion and disorder
7. uncanny (vii) fall, or step awkwardly while waking
8. (to have or get into) a (viii) working hard

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow : 

Billy Weaver had travelled down from London, and by the time he arrived, it was nine o’clock in the night, and the moon was coming up. 

“Excuse me,” he asked a porter. “But is there a cheap hotel nearby?” 

“Try the Bell Hotel,” the porter answered, pointing down the road. 

Billy thanked him, picked up his suitcase, and set out to walk the distance to the Bell Hotel. He had never been to Richmond before, but the man at the office had told him it was a splendid city. 

Billy was seventeen years old. He was wearing a new navy blue overcoat, a new brown hat, and a new brown suit, and he was feeling fine. He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. The big shots up at the head office were fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing. 

The road was lonely and dark, with a few scattered houses. 

Suddenly, in a downstairs window, Billy saw a printed notice propped up against the window glass. It said bed and breakfast. 

He moved a bit closer and peered through the window into the room, and the first thing he saw was a bright fire burning in the hearth. On the carpet in front of the fire, a little dog was curled up asleep with its nose tucked into its belly. The room, in its half-darkness, was filled with pleasant furniture. There was a piano, a big sofa, and several plump armchairs. In one corner, he spotted a large parrot in a cage. Animals were usually a good sign in a place like this, Billy told himself, and it looked to him as though it would be a pretty decent house to stay in. 

Then a queer thing happened to him. He was in the act of stepping back and going away from the window when he felt a strange urge to ring the bell! 
He pressed the bell. He heard it ring, and then, at once, the door swung open, and a woman stood there. 
She gave him a warm, welcoming smile. 
“Please come in,” she said pleasantly. Billy found himself automatically moving forward into the house.  
“I saw the notice in the window,” he said, holding himself back. 
“Yes, I know.” 
“I was wondering about a room.” 
“It’s already for you, my dear,” she said. She had a round, pink face and very gentle blue eyes. 
“How much do you charge?” 
“Five dollars a night, including breakfast.” 
It was fantastically cheap. He could easily afford it. 

(a) Give the meaning of the following words used in the passage:  One-word answers or short phrases will be accepted. [3]

(i) splendid (line 7)  
(ii) spotted (line 20)  
(iii) automatically (line 29)   

(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.

(i) How did the porter assist Billy? [2] 
(ii) Why did Billy want to do everything briskly? [2]
(iii) Why did Billy think animals were a good sign in a place like this? [2]
(iv) Which sentence tells you that something strange happened to Billy? [2]
(v) How much did the room cost?[1]
 
(c) In not more than 50 words, give a brief account of what Billy saw as he looked through the window of the room. [8]
 

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:

Explain with reference to context.


"Now tell us what 'twas all about,"
Young Peterkin, he cries;
And little wilhelmine looks up
with wonder-waiting eyes;
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for."
"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,"quoth he,
"That 'twas a famous victory.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

Quote the lines that show the children were curious about the battle and its outcome?


"They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be 
After a famous victory.
"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro'won,
And our good Prince Eugene."
"Why,'twas a very wicked thing!"
Said little Wilhelmine.

"Nay...nay...my little girl,"quoth he,
"It was a famous victory.
"And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win."
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell,"said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

How do the skulls symbolize the theme in “The Battle of Blenheim”?


Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink....
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK - HE ONLY SEES!

Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.

The children Describe the effects of television on children’s mind.


I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

Who does he come across while wandering ?


To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.

Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort them.

Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What is the religion of the Tribal men? How is it different?


“I love the West,” said the girl irrelevantly. Her eyes were shining softly. She looked away out the car window. She began to speak truly and simply without the gloss of style and manner: “Mamma and I spent the summer in Deliver. She went home a week ago

because father was slightly ill. I could live and be happy in the West. I think the air here agrees with me. Money isn’t everything. But people always misunderstand things and remain stupid—” “Say, Mr. Marshal,” growled the glum-faced man. “This isn’t quite fair. I’m needing a drink, and haven’t had a smoke all day. Haven’t you talked long enough? Take me in the smoker now, won’t you? I’m half dead for a pipe.”

The bound travellers rose to their feet, Easton with the Same slow smile on his face. “I can’t deny a petition for tobacco,” he said, lightly. “It’s the one friend of the unfortunate. Good-bye, Miss Fairchild. Duty calls, you know.” He held out his hand for a farewell. “It’s too bad you are not going East,” she said, reclothing herself with manner and style. “But you must go on to Leavenworth, I suppose?” “Yes,” said Easton, “I must go on to Leavenworth.”

The two men sidled down the aisle into the smoker. The two passengers in a seat near by had heard most of the conversation. Said one of them: “That marshal’s a good sort of chap. Some of these Western fellows are all right.” “Pretty young to hold an office like that, isn’t he?” asked the other. “Young!” exclaimed the first speaker, “why—Oh! didn’t you catch on? Say—did you ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What does the other passenger conclude about Easton?


 

After considering the matter, and talking it over with his wife, farmer Jones said that he would take John, and do well by him, now that his mother was out of the way; and Mrs. Ellis, who had been looking out for a bound girl, concluded that it would be charitable in her to make choice of Katy, even though she was too young to be of much use for several years.

“I could do much better, I know,” said Mrs. Ellis; “but as no one seems inclined to take her, I must act from a sense of duty expect to have trouble with the child; for she’s an undisciplined thing—used to having her own way.”

But no one said “I’ll take Maggie.” Pitying glances were cast on her wan and wasted form and thoughts were troubled on her account. Mothers brought cast-off garments and, removing her soiled and ragged clothes, dressed her in clean attire. The sad eyes and patient face of the little one touched many hearts, and even knocked at them for entrance. But none opened to take her in. Who wanted a bed-ridden child?

“Take her to the poorhouse,” said a rough man, of whom the question “What’s to be done with Maggie?” was asked. “Nobody’s going to be bothered with her.”

“The poorhouse is a sad place for a sick and helpless child,” answered one.
“For your child or mine,” said the other, lightly speaking; “but for tis brat it will prove a blessed change, she will be kept clean, have healthy food, and be doctored, which is more than can be said of her past condition.”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Who offered to take John? Why?


Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savoury smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and

she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Why could the girl not go home?


From the day, perhaps a hundred years ago when he sun had hatched him in a sandbank, and he had broken his shell, and got his head out and looked around, ready to snap at anything, before he was even fully hatched-from that day, when he had at once made for the water, ready to fend for himself immediately, he had lived by his brainless craft and ferocity. Escaping the birds of prey and the great carnivorous fishes that eat baby crocodiles, he has prospered, catching all the food he needed, and storing it till putrid in holes in the bank. Tepid water to live in and plenty of rotted food grew him to his great length. Now nothing could pierce the inch-?thick armoured hide. Not even rifle bullets,

which would bounce off. Only the eyes and the soft underarms offered a place. He lived well in the river, sunning himself sometimes with other crocodiles-muggers, as well as the long-? snouted fish-?eating gharials-on warm rocks and sandbanks where the sun dried the clay on them quite white, and where they could plop off into the water in a moment if alarmed. The big crocodile fed mostly on fish, but also on deer and monkeys come to drink, perhaps a duck or two.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What helped him grow to his present size?


As it turned out, Luz broke his own past record. In doing so, he pushed me on to a peak performance. I remember that at the instant I landed from my final jump—the one which set the Olympic record of 26 feet 5-5/16 inches—he was at my side, congratulating me. Despite the fact that Hitler glared at us from the stands not a hundred yards away, Luz shook my hand hard—and it wasn’t a fake “smile with a broken heart” sort of grip, either.

You can melt down all the gold medals and cups I have, and they couldn’t be a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment. I realized then, too, that Luz was the epitome of what Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, must have had in mind when he said, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Why did Hitler glare at Luz Long and Jesse Owens?


Margot stood alone. She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair. She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost. Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass. “What’re you looking at ?” said William. Margot said nothing. “Speak when you’re spoken to.” He gave her a shove. But she did not move; rather she let herself be moved only by him and nothing else. They edged away from her, they would not look at her. She felt them go away. And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city. If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow. When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved. Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

When did Margot react ?


Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:


What do you call, O ye pedlars?
Chessmen and ivory dice.
What do you make, O ye goldsmiths?
Wristlet and anklet and ring, ….
                     (In the Bazaars of Hyderabad: Sarojini Naidu)

(i) What all were being sold by the merchants? 

(ii) What is being ground by the maidens? Which items are the vendors weighing? 

(iii) Describe the bells that the goldsmiths are crafting for blue pigeons? What do the goldsmiths make for the dancers and the king? 

(iv) Which instruments are the musicians playing? What are the magicians doing? 

(v) Mention the happy as well the sad occasions for which the flower girls are weaving flowers. Write one reason why the poem has appealed to you.


Why did it make Mr. Purcell feel “vaguely insulted”?


Why was everyone in the Control Room greatly excited?


Why do ants want alien creatures to live in their nests?


What surprised Mr. Purcell one day?


Why is Prem determined not to return to his village?


Why did the Dog say goodbye to the Wolf?


Mark the right item:

“This, said the emperor, was to encourage all children to honour and obey their parents.”

‘This’ refers to ______


Talk to your partner and say whether the following statement is true or false.

Snakes cannot hear, but they can feel vibrations through the ground.


Why does Mary O’ Neill call English “a wonderful game’?


Answer the following question.
 “God lives in the heart of the Panch.” the aunt said. What did she mean? 


What role does Ariel play in Act IV of the play, The Tempest?


In the poem, The Darkling Thrush, the poet uses the words “evensong" and “carolling” to describe the thrush's song because ______.


Read the following extract from Maya Angelou’s poem, ‘When Great Trees Fall’ and answer the questions that follow:

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.
  1. What effect does the falling of a ‘great tree’ have on the creatures of the forest?  [3]
  2. How does the death of a great soul affect the lives of those left behind in the immediate aftermath of their passing?  [3]
  3. What long-term effect does the death of a ‘great soul' have?  [3]
  4. What feeling is being expressed by the following lines/phrases?  [3]
    1. small things recoil into silence
    2. kind words/unsaid,
    3. Beand be/better. For they existed
  5. What is a ‘Great tree’ a metaphor for?  [4]
    What is the central message of Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall"?

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