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प्रश्न
From the library or Internet, read the story ‘How much land does a man need?’ by Leo Tolstoy and write a review of the same, covering the following points.
- Background of the story
- Characters
- Plot/Theme
- Climax
- Message/Moral
| If necessary, the students can read the same story two or three times to understand all the points. |
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उत्तर
Background of the story:
Leo Tolstoy wrote "How much land does a man need?" against the backdrop of massive changes in the 19th century in Russia. Until the emancipation of Russian serfs by Czar Alexander II, the peasants were virtual slaves of landowners and aristocrats, Tolstoy wrote this story after the Serfs had already got their freedom for 25 years. They now had rights and their own land. There was progress among the peasants but Tolstoy was apprehensive about whether the peasants' progress brought changes they would regret. This story brings a harsh warning of unchecked materialism which is clearly established through the fate of Pahom, the protagonist of the story, and his sad, untimely death.
Characters - Pahom (the protagonist), his wife, his sister-in-law, the Bashkirs, and the Devil.
Plot/Theme - Pehom, a Russian peasant, overhears his wife and her sister having an argument over whether it is better to live in the country or the city. This lands Pahom to make the dangerous declaration that if he had just enough land, he would not even fear the Devil. The Devil hears this boast and decides to put this to the test and exploits the greed of Pahom. The story relates to Pahom's success in buying land, yet also his dissatisfaction.
Climax - Pahom comes to know about the Bashkir region where very fertile land can be purchased very cheaply. The Bashkirs agree to sell him for 1000 roubles, as much land as he can pace off in a day as long as he returns before the end of the day to the starting point. Pahom walks far, trying to get as much as land as possible, but when he sees more fertile land ahead of him, greed overtakes his senses and he keeps walking further and further away without realizing it would be difficult for him to return to the starting point. In his rush to get back to the starting point. In his rush to get back to the starting point which he succeeds in, he collapses and dies. When he dies the Baskhins ask Pahoms servant to bury him on the same land and he ends up with six feet of land, enough to bury him instead of all the land that he had acquired.
Message/Moral:
The story tells us about the destructive consequences of human ambition & greed. The message is clear, a warning against biting off more than you can chew. The story shows us how human nature pushes us to want more and more. We are never content, no matter how well off we may be. While trying to improve our standard of living, we put ourselves in danger of ending up with nothing, It gives us the message, how greed and excessive desire for earthly desires can destroy a person.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
(A) Read the following extract and answer the questions given below :
Oil is one of the world's major sources of energy. We depend on it as fuel for heating, transport, and generation of power.
For centuries, animal and vegetable oils have been used for cooking and as a source of artificial light. But it is mineral oil which meets most of the world's needs today.
Crude mineral oil comes out of the earth as a thick brown or black liquid with a strong smell. It is a complex mixture of many different substances, each with its own individual qualities. Most of them are combinations of hydrogen and carbon in varying proportions. Such hydrocarbons are also found in other forms such as bitumen, asphalt and natural gas. Mineral oil originates from the carcasses of tiny animals and from plants that live in the sea. Over millions of years, these dead creatures form large deposits under the sea bed and ocean currents cover them with a blanket of sand and silt. As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock and effectively shuts out the oxygen so preventing the complete decomposition of the marine deposits underneath. The layers of sedimentary rock become thicker and heavier. Their pressure produces heat, which transforms the tiny carcasses into crude oil in a process that is still going on today.
The earth's crust is split into a few hu·ge continental plates which move continuously rather like rafts on a sluggish tide. Geologists call this rnoven1ent as 'continental drift'.
(1) What does the extract ·tell us about?
(2) In which form does crude mineral oil come out of the earth and from what does it originate?
(3) How is 'continental drift' formed?
(4) According to you, how can we stop the excessive use of energy?
(5) Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) Oil is one of the world's major sources of energy.
(Rewrite it as a negative sentence without changing its meaning.)
(ii) As this material hardens, it becomes sedimentary rock.
(Make it a compound sentence.)
(iii) Geologists call this movement 'con·tinental drift'.
(Frame a 'Wh-question' to get the underlined part as an answer.)
(6) Give the antonyms from the extract for :
(i) artificial
(ii) lighter
(B) Write·a brief summary of the above extract with the help of the points given below and suggest a suitable title.
Oil as a source of energy - our dependence - types of oil -mineral oil origin of crude oil formation of crude oil-farming of sedimentary rocks - continental drift
Write a short summary of the passage given in the following and suggest a suitable title.
Human and dogs are inseparable for thousands of years and they are dependent on each other for protection and survival. Relationship between humans and dogs is often characterized by strong emotional bonds which run both way. Dogs are very popular as pets and companions. Dog is the ‘Man’s Best Friend’
and a family member. The dog is one of the most loyal, faithful and devotee animal. In earlier days dogs were kept mainly for hunting and guarding; now they are kept for companionship, protection and showmanship.
There are millions of people all over the world who are dog lovers Puppies need more attention at the, early age. As much as possible try many methods of socialization, such as playing with them, taking them for walk, expose them to crowds, make them to obey the orders etc.
Write a summary of the above extract with the help of the following points and suggest a suitable title.
Organic farming – depends on – ensures soil fertility by – organic agriculture promotes – difficulty for farmers because – burden on the consumer.
Cut redundant words:
We’re often inefficient in our language, using more words than necessary. Consider the following phrases. Find five more redundant words.
- “Circle around” can become “circle.”
- “Write down” can become “write.”
- “Added bonus” is simply a “bonus.”
- “Get to the point as quickly as possible” is really “get to the point.”
- “Close proximity” is “close.”
- “During the course of” is “during.”
One word substitutes are words that replace a group of words or a full-sentence effectively without creating any ambiguity in the meaning of the sentences.
(a) The life story of man written by himself: autobiography
(b) A sound that cannot be heard: inaudible
(c) A list of books: catalogue
(d) A sentence whose meaning is unclear: ambiguous
Find as many examples as you can from the internet and make a list.
Transforming Complex to Simple: By using phrases like ‘too...to’ or using noun phrase instead of a clause:
Nagpur is the city where oranges grow.
- Oranges grow in Nagpur
The old man is so weak that he cannot walk.
- The old man is too weak to walk.
Change the following sentence into simple:
The room is so small that it cannot accommodate many people.
Further reading :
- “The Phantom Luncheon” by Saki.
- “The Ant and the Grasshopper” by William Somerset Maugham. Form 4 groups of the class. Every group will visit the school’s library or use the internet to read both the creations of Saki and W. S. Maugham. After reading them, every group will summarise both the creations and later read out in the class.
Read the passage and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.
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Fireflies are beetles and go through several life stages, starting out as an egg, then hatching into larvae. At the juvenile stage, they turn into pupae and then, finally adults. Fireflies spend most of their lives in a larval stage, hidden away. There are 2000 different species of fireflies. But they all go through a long juvenile stage and a short adult life, which is mainly about courtship, mating and reproduction. The juveniles living underground or underwater, are very different though-they're hunters, they eat snails and soft-bodied insects and they have very different habitats. Conserving them is essential for human life as fireflies are a key part of the food web. They are predators of agricultural pests. In turn, they are prey for spiders and other insects. They are completely enmeshed in the web of life. In addition, about 70 years ago, scientists unravelled the mystery of fireflies' light-producing talents. Since then, the bio-chemical reactions that fireflies experience have been used in detecting bacterial contamination in foods, testing drugs against cancer, developing drought-resistant crops. They have been used in space exploration. So fireflies give us beauty and inventions. Fireflies carry oxygen, calcium, magnesium and a natural chemical called luciferin. These react together to produce the photons. This is how the fireflies glow. Firefly tourism is growing across the world. In Maharashtra, for example, a particular species monsoon fireflies, emerge before the rains. They're beautiful and a festival is held in Purushwadi, encouraging firefly tourism. Its wonderful that people around the world go to see fireflies in their natural habitat. We need to be cautious. Too many people can disturb adult and larval habitats. Fireflies need darkness to communicate with each other and we need fireflies because they are harbingers of hope. |
Read the following passage and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title for it.
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During the Gulf War, a few years back, tens of thousands of sea birds were killed due to oil spills. Do you know what makes crude oil on ocean water so deadly? Crude oil is not used in the state it is produced at the off-shore wells. It is converted in refineries into a wide range of products such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oils, and petrochemical feed-stocks. Before it is refined, the oil also contains potentially fatal components. Crude oil is made up of compounds of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons may be paraffin, the oil that is used as fuel in heaters and lamps or cycloparaffins (naphthenes) or aromatic compounds in varying proportions. While crudes found in the US are mostly paraffinic, these found along the Gulf Coast are naphthenic which contain sulphur compounds in varying amounts, a small amount of nitrogen and very little oxygen. Every variety of crude oil has nickel and vanadium in high concentration. Iron may be found in organic form due to the corrosion of pipes. Paraffins like methane and ethane are asphyxiants, substances that cause suffocation. The effects of cycloparaffins are more or less similar to those of paraffins but unsaturated paraffins are more noxious, than saturated ones. The sulphur present in crude oil may be toxic. The mechanism of toxic action seems to involve its breakdown to hydrogen sulphide. They will act principally on the .nervous system with death resulting mainly from respiratory paralysis. Sulphur in the form of aromatic thiophenes, benzothiophenes can damage the livers and kidneys of sea animals. Sulphur compounds like mercaptens can be very dangerous too. |
Read the passage given in below and write a summary of it in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.
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The humble son of a farmer from Sarakkalvilai village in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district, Dr. K. Sivan as Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman was leading the Chandrayaan-2 mission to the moon. Sivan studied in a Tamil medium government school. After graduating from S.T. Hindu College in Nagercoil, Sivan completed a Master's in Engineering from IISC in 1982. In 2006, he received Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay. Sivan is the first graduate in his family. His brother and two sisters were unable to complete higher education due to their poverty. "When I was in college, I used to help my father in the field. That was the reason he got me admitted to a college near our house." Sivan told TOI, "Only when I had completed my B.Sc. (Mathematics) with 100% marks his mind changed." Sivan said he had spent his childhood days without a shoe or sandal. I continued wearing a vesti (dhoti) till college. I wore pants for the first time when I entered MIT." He joined ISRO in 1982 and worked on almost all rocket programmes. Before taking charge as an ISRO chairman in January 2018, he was the director, of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) which develops rockets. He is known as ISRO's 'Rocket Man'. |
