CBSE solutions for इंग्लिश लिटरेचर रीडर कक्षा १२ chapter 3 - The Hum of Insects [Latest edition]

Given below is a list of words. Find a suitable word to describe each word, with the unique sound associated with it. Then classify the sounds as ‘natural’ and those caused by human activity. Work in pairs.

Eg.: the roaring of waves

Given below is a list of words that describe sounds. Categorise them as positive or negative. Work in pairs.

Onomatopoeic words are a combination of sounds that suggest what the words refer to. Hum, buzz, hiss, sizzle etc are a few examples. List at least ten words that you know.

Insects can annoy us as much as they delight. How does the writer explain this contrast?

Why does the author refer to the mosquito as a ‘beast of prey’?

To what does the author compare the humming of insects in the bedroom? Why?

Why are some called the ‘noble insects’?

Who are the victims of the angry bee?

How does the author justify the statement that the bee is ‘morally higher in the scale than the mosquito’?

What is the best way to avoid a wasp sting?

What are the other sounds that bring delight?

How does the author express the joy of listening to natural melodies?

What reminiscences does the hum of insects bring to the author?

Why does he observe that ‘a smile now seems a formula’?

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. Identify ‘it’ in the line.
2. Why is ‘it’ referred to as an ‘unscrupulous enemy’?
3. Give the opposite of ‘offensive’.

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. Who is ‘the human being’ mentioned here? 
2. Explain the reference to a ‘partially civilized planet’?
3. Why does he describe it as ‘partially civilized’?

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. What is the question?
2. Why does the author use ‘luckily’ in this context?
3. Give the meaning of ‘nocturnal’.

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. What does the author refer to as the ‘millionfold chorus of life’?
2. What do the sounds in nature echo?
3. Give the adjectival form of ‘chorus’.

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1.  Identify ‘we’. What does ‘those days’ mean’?
2. What illusion did they nurse?
3. Why does he call it an ‘illusion’?

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. Why is the world the chief toy to a child?
2. What enchants the child as much as the hum of a musical top?
3. Give another word for ‘enchanting’.

Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:

1. What has turned into a stuffy room now? Why?
2. Explain’stabbing’.
3. Explain:‘a run-down machine’.

Match the words in column A with their meaning in column B.

Use Prefixes to form opposites. A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word.

‘ir’, ‘il’, ‘im’, ‘in’, ‘un’, ‘dis’ are the prefixes used to change the meaning of the root word to its opposite.

Add a suitable prefix to each of the words given below.

Discreet, legal, continue, regular, equal, usual, advantage, mobile, correct, pleasant, logical, relevant

Given below are the features that make the essay humourous:

1. the theme
2. the choice of words used to describe the insects
3. the style of narration - the exalting the status of insects and exaggerating their powers of both sound and performance

• With your partner, pick out words and phrases from the text as examples of features (ii) and (iii)
• Based on the above, write a paragraph of 150-200 words on the use of humour with reference to “The Hum of Insects”

‘… for we do not remember any toys so intensely as we remember the garden and the farm’. Do you share the opinion of the author regarding your childhood? Write a paragraph of 120-150 words on The Sweet Reminiscences of My Childhood for your school magazine.

Read paragraph 2 again. The author vividly describes the strategies he adopts to avoid a wasp bite. Write a letter to your friend about how you cleverly escaped from being attacked/bitten by an animal/insect. Describe an imaginary incident in about 150-200 words.

Suppose that insects can understand human language. Write a humourous notice in about 40-50 words to be put up in the garden/living/dining room for the benefit of fellow insects.

Have you ever been enchanted by music? Share your experience with your partner.

Organise your thoughts to deliver a two-minute speech on the theme ‘The Magic of Music’.

Towards the end of the essay, the tone of the author changes. How does it change and why? Discuss in groups of four. The group secretary will share the group’s thoughts with the class.