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प्रश्न
Describe Golu’s meeting with the crocodile.
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उत्तर
Golu reached the edge of the Limpopo river. He saw a crocodile on its bank. The crocodile winked at Golu. Golu asked him if he was the crocodile. The crocodile raised his tail out of the mud. He was surprised why Golu asked him such a question. He shed crocodile tears. He asked Golu to come close. He would not answer the personal question. He would whisper the answer to his question. He would tell him what he had for dinner in a low tone. Golu put his head down close to the crocodile's snout. The crocodile caught Golu by the nose. He declared that he would eat Golu that day, Golu screamed with fear and pain.
संबंधित प्रश्न
The Narrative Present
Notice the incomplete sentences in the following paragraphs. Here the writer is using incomplete sentences in the narration to make the incident more dramatic or immediate. Can you rewrite the paragraph in complete sentences?
(You can begin: The vet and I made a dash back to the car. Bruno was still floundering…)
(i) A dash back to car. Bruno still floundering about on his stumps, but clearly weakening rapidly; some vomiting, heavy breathing, with heaving flanks and gaping mouth. Hold him everybody! In goes the hypodermic – Bruno squeals – 10 c.c. of the antidote enters his system without a drop being wasted. Then minutes later: condition unchanged! Another 10 c.c. injected! Ten minutes later: breathing less stertorous – Bruno can move his arms and legs a little although he cannot stand yet. Thirty minutes later: Bruno gets up and has a great feed! He looks at us disdainfully, as much as to say, ‘What’s barium carbonate to a big black bear like me?’ Bruno is still eating.
(ii) In the paragraphs above from the story the verbs are in the present tense (eg. hold, goes, etc.). This gives the reader an impression of immediacy. The present tense is often used when we give a commentary on a game (cricket, football, etc.), or tell a story as if it is happening now. It is, therefore, called the narrative present. You will read more about the present tense in Unit 10
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.
The athletes had come from all over the country
To run for the gold, for the silver and bronze
Many weeks and months of training
All coming down to these games.
The spectators gathered around the old field
To cheer on all the young women and men
The final event of the day was approaching
Excitement grew high to begin.
Read the lines given above and answer the following question:
Explain with reference to context.
There was a time when our people covered the land as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea cover its shell-paved floor, but that time long since passed away with the greatness of tribes that are now but a mournful memory. 1 will not dwell on, nor mourn over, our untimely decay, nor reproach my paleface brothers with hastening it, as we too may have been somewhat to blame.
Youth is impulsive. When our young men grow angry at some real or imaginary wrong, and disfigure their faces with black paint, it denotes that their hearts are black, and that they are often cruel and relentless, and our old men and old women are unable to restrain them. Thus it has ever been. Thus it was when the white man began to push our forefathers ever westward. But let us hope that the hostilities between us may never return. We would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Revenge by young men is considered gain, even at the cost of their own lives, but old men who stay at home in times of war, and mothers who have sons to lose, know better.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What happened when the tribal young man became angry?
This woman had been despised, scoffed at, and angrily denounced by nearly every man, woman, and child in the village; but now, as the fact of, her death was passed from lip to lip, in subdued tones, pity took the place of anger, and sorrow of denunciation.
Neighbours went hastily to the old tumble-down hut, in which she had secured little more than a place of shelter from summer heats and winter cold: some with grave-clothes for a decent interment of the body; and some with food for the half-starving children, three in number. Of these, John, the oldest, a boy of twelve, was a stout lad, able to earn his living with any farmer. Kate, between ten and eleven, was bright, active girl, out of whom something clever might be made, if in good hands; but poor little Maggie, the youngest, was hopelessly diseased. Two years before a fall from a window had injured her spine, and she had not been able to leave her bed since, except when lifted in the arms of her mother.
“What is to be done with the children?” That was the chief question now. The dead mother would go underground, and be forever beyond all care or concern of the villagers. But the children must not be left to starve.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe the three children.
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.
When would the Sun shine again? Why had the children locked Margot in the closet?
Do the following activity in groups.
Describe a desert in your own way. Write a paragraph and read it aloud to your classmates.
Notice how in a comic book, there are no speech marks when characters talk. Instead what they say is put in a speech ‘bubble’. However, if we wish to repeat or ‘report’ what they say, we must put it into reported speech.
Change the following sentences in the story to reported speech. The first one has been done for you.
I accept the challenge, Your Majesty. Gopal told the king_____________________
What did the beggar feel about the ladies of the household?
Why do you think we should be kind towards animals?
When and how did Timothy become unfriendly?
Why was the crocodile’s wife annoyed with her husband one day?
Is there a “talking fan’ in your house? Create a dialogue between the fan and a mechanic.
What was troubling the talking fan?
In the story, Patrick does difficult things he hates to do because the elf pretends he needs help. Have you ever done something difficult or frightening, by pretending about it in some way? Tell your classmates about it.
Replace the italicised portion of the sentence below with a suitable phrase from the box. Make necessary changes, wherever required.
I was in a difficult situation till my friends came to my rescue.
According to the speaker’s brother, where did the ghost hid himself?
What special ‘deed of gift’ does Jessica give to Lorenzo at the end of the play?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
|
Bassanio: Portia: |
- Who is on trial?
Why is this person on trial? [3] - Explain in your own words Bassanio’s request to portia in the given extract.
What reason does he give for his request? [3] - How does Portia respond to Bassanio's request? What TWO reasons does she give for her response? [3]
- Who does Bassanio refer to as ‘this cruel devil’? What is this person's response to Portia’s words in the given extract? [3]
- How is the ‘cruel devil’ punished at the end of the trial?
How fair, in your opinion, is this punishment? Justify your response. [4]
In the poem, John Brown, John Brown drops his medals into his mother's hands because ______.
