Question

B1. Find reasons
(i) The effect of receding forest …………………………………. .
(ii) The number of animals is reduced because ………………………. .
(iii) Elephants entered the city because…………………… .
(iv) Elephants lived a wary life …………………….. .

On the left bank of the Ganga, where it emerges from the Himalayan foothills, there is a long stretch of heavy forest. There are villages on the fringe of the forest, inhabited by bamboo cutters and farmers, but there are few signs of commerce or pilgrimage. Hunters, however, have found the area an ideal hunting ground during the last seventy years, and as a result, the animals are not as numerous as they used to be. The trees, too, have been disappearing slowly; and, as the forest recedes, the animals lose their food and shelter and move further on into the foothills. Slowly, they are being denied the right to live
Only the elephants can cross the river. And two years ago, when a large area of the forest was cleared to make way for a refugee resettlement camp, a herd of elephants - finding their favourite food, the green shoots of the bamboo, in short supply - waded across the river. They crashed through the suburbs of Haridwar, knocked down a factory wall, pulled down several tin roofs, held up a train, and left a trail of devastation in their wake until they found a new home in a new forest which was still untouched. Here, they settled down to a new life but an unsettled, wary life. They did not know when men would appear again, with tractors,bulldozers and dynamite.

B2. Find out
Mention four things the elephants did when they found shortage of food:
(i)………………
(ii)………
(iii) …………
(iv) ………….

B3.Phrases
Make meaningful sentences by selecting any two of the following phrases:
(i) to make way for
(ii) in short
(iii) on the fringe of.

B4. Language study
Select the proper alternative to make the correct voice:
(i) Hunters have found an ideal hunting ground.
-An ideal hunting ground ........found by hunters. (had been, has been, was)
(ii) They are being denied the right to live.
- The people ........them the right to live. (are denying, were denying, denying)

B5.Personal response
What would be your contribution to protect the natural habitat of animals?

Answer 1

B1.
(i) is that animals lose their food and shelter.
(ii) hunters have found the forests an ideal hunting ground.
(iii) they found their favourite food, the green shoots of the bamboo.
(iv) because they did not know when men would appear again with tractors, bulldozers and dynamite and destroy their forests.

B2.
The elephants
(i) They crashed through the suburbs of Haridwar.
(ii) The elephants knocked down a factory wall.
(iii) They pulled down several tin roofs.
(iv) Some elephants held up a train.

B3.
(i) The crowd was asked to move aside to make way for the chief guests.
(ii) The phone kept ringing in short intervals and kept the children awake all night.
(iii) Rag pickers live on the fringes of the city.

B4.
(i) An ideal hunting ground has been found by hunters.
(ii) The people are denying them the right to live.

B5.In order to protect the natural habitat of animals, I will reduce the senseless consumption of paper by reusing printed paper for rough work. I will raise my voice against private industries which attempt to expand their properties by destroying the forests. I will share the importance of the forest cover with my friends and neighbours and urge them to plant more trees.