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प्रश्न
I could hear the squeaking that heralded the evening arrival of the bats. I listened to the noises of the approaching night. Every day my hearing grew sharper. I was learning to filter out whatever I did not need to listen to, and giving no sign that I could hear everything that went on in the house.
I could not sleep. The air was heavy and still, the moon hidden behind thick banks of cloud. Lord Otori was sound asleep. I did not want to leave the house I'd come to love so much, but I seemed to be bringing nothing but trouble to it. Perhaps it would be better for everyone if I just vanished in the night. [5]
Now I heard the hiss of hot water as the bath was prepared, the clatter of dishes from the kitchen, the sliding sigh of the cook's knife, a dog barking two streets away, and the sounds of feet on the wooden bridges on the canals. I knew the sounds of the house, day and night, in the sunshine and under the rain. This evening I realized I was always listening for something more. I was waiting too. For what? [10]
I began to wonder if I could get out of the house without setting the dogs barking and arousing the guards. I started consciously listening to the dogs. Usually, I heard them bark on and off throughout the night, but I'd learned to distinguish their barks and to ignore them. I set my ears for them but heard nothing. Then I started listening for the guards: the sound of a foot on stone or a whispered conversation. Nothing. Sounds that should have been there been missing from the night's familiar web. [20]
Now I was wide-awake, straining my ears to hear. There came the slightest of sounds, hardly more than a tremor, between the window and the ground.
For a moment I thought it was the earth-shaking, as it so often did. Another tiny tremble followed, then another. Someone was climbing up the side of the house [25]
My first instinct was to yell out, but cunning took over. I rose from the mattress and crept silently to Lord Otori's side. I knelt beside him and whispered in his ear, "Lord Otori, someone is, outside." [30]
He woke instantly and then reached for the sword and knife that lay beside him. I gestured to the window. The faint tremor came again.
Lord Otori passed the knife to me and stepped to the wall. I moved to the other side of the window. We waited for the assassin to climb in.
Step by step he came up the wall, stealthy and unhurried as if he had all the time in the world. We waited for him with the same patience. [35]
He paused on the sill to take out the knife he planned to use on us and then stepped inside. Lord Otori took him in a stranglehold. The intruder wriggled backwards. I leaped at him, and the three of us fell into the garden like a flurry of fighting cats. [40]
The man fell first, across the stream, striking his head on a boulder. Lord Otori landed on his feet. My fall was broken by one of the shrubs. The intruder groaned, tried to rise, but slipped back into the water.
"Get a light," Lord Otori said.
I ran to the house, took a light that still burned in one of the candle stands and carried it back to the garden. [45]
The assassin had died without regaining consciousness. It turned out he had a poison pellet in his mouth and had crushed it as he tell. He was dressed in black, with no marking on his clothes. I held the light over him. There was nothing to tell us who he was. [50]
(i) Given below are four words and phrases. Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage:
(1) Coming near
( 2 ) Disappeared suddenly
(3) Awakening from sleep
(4) Moved slowly and gradually
(ii) For each of the words given below, write a sentence of at least ten words using the same word unchanged in form, but with a different meaning from that which it carries in the passage:
(1) Bats ( line 1 )
( 2 ) Sign ( line 4 )
( 3 ) Banks ( line 6 )
( 4 ) Back ( line 43 )
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उत्तर
(i)
(1) Coming near - arrival
( 2 ) Disappeared suddenly - vanished
(3) Awakening from sleep - woke
(4) Moved slowly and gradually - crept
(ii)
(1) Bats: I am afraid of bats.
( 2 ) Sign: I will sign for him.
( 3 ) Banks: I work for a bank.
( 4 ) Back: Then he handed the wallet back to his wife.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Explain what the reason for the following is .
Einstein seeing in Mileva an ally.
Now fill in the blanks with suitable words from the ones that you have formed.
(i) Mass literacy was possible only after the ___________ of the printing machine.
(ii) Ramesh is unable to tackle the situation as he lacks ____________.
(iii) I could not resist the _____________ to open the letter.
(iv) Hardwork and ___________are the main keys to success.
(v) The children were almost fainting with ______________after being made to stand in the sun.
Thinking about the Text
Answer these question.
A mystery I propose to explain.” What is the mystery the speaker proposes to explain?
What is the single major memory that comes to the poet? Who are the “darling
dreamers” he refers to?
Answer following question in short.
How did the duck force the kangaroo to fulfil his desire?
Why is his finger bleeding? What is his wife’s reaction?
What is the significance of the title?
On the basis of your understanding of the poem, answer the following question
by ticking the correct choice.
In the poem 'The Solitary Reaper' to whom does the poet say, ' Stop here or gently
pass'?
Some are Purple and gold flecked grey
For she who has journeyed through life midway,
Whose hands have cherished , whose love has blest,
And cradled fair sons on her faithful breast,
And serves her household in fruitful pride,
And worship the gods at her husband's side.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
What in the passage will repel a modern woman?
It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun,
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found,
That was so large, and smooth, and round.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
What was Peterkin doing?
'All right!' you 'll cry.'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children?Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.
According to the poet, what should be done to save children from the hypnotism of television?
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in springhtly dance.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to context.
Mr. Oliver, an Anglo-Indian teacher, was returning to his school late one night on the outskirts of the hill station of Shimla. The school was conducted on English public school lines and the boys – most of them from well-to-do Indian families – wore blazers, caps and ties. “Life” magazine, in a feature on India, had once called this school the Eton of the East.
Mr. Oliver had been teaching in this school for several years. He’s no longer there. The Shimla Bazaar, with its cinemas and restaurants, was about two miles from the school; and Mr. Oliver, a bachelor, usually strolled into the town in the evening returning after dark, when he would take short cut through a pine forest.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
When did Mr Oliver return from the town?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Baldeo, the watchman, was awake. He stretched himself, slowly unwinding the heavy shawl that covered him like a shroud. It was close on midnight and the chill air made him shiver. The station, a small shack backed by heavy jungle, was a station in name only; for trains only stopped there, if at all, for a few seconds before entering the deep cutting that led to the tunnel. Most trains only slowed down before taking the sharp curve before the cutting.
(i) What were Baldeo’s duties as a watchman? What question did his son ask him before he left for his nightly errand?
(ii) Describe the axe that Baldeo carried with him. Who had made the axe?
(iii) Which sound made Baldeo realize that the tiger was close by?
Why was he worried that the tiger may be going in the opposite direction? Why didn’t the tiger fear the man?
(iv) Give an account of the encounter between Baldeo and the tiger.
(v) How did the tiger die? Point out a similarity in the characters of Baldeo and his son Tembu. Give an example for each to justify your answer.
What is meant by 'dead habit'? What is 'dead habits' compared to and why?
What does ti» poet wish for al the end ~f the poem? What does tl1e poem tell the readers about the poet? Give a reason to justify yow· answer.
Abbu Khan said, “No more goats in my house ever again.” Then he changed his mind. Why?
What changes had occurred, which forced people to live in underground homes?
Why we cannot use water to put out some fires?
Why is it necessary to enjoy sound sleep?
What was the connection between the motor and the fan’s Chatter?
Plan C was success. What went wrong then?
From where did the narrator’s father get the ladder?
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the expression “They pinched the chocolate-flakes’ mean?
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the expression Whatif mean?
Look at the following phrases and their meanings. Use the phrase to fill in the blank in the sentence given below.
A fund has been _____________ for the soldiers’ families.
Write ‘True’ or ‘False’ against each of the following sentences.
Gopal was a clever man. ________
Fill in the blanks with the words given in the box.
| how, what, when, where, which |
There are so many toys in the shops. Neena can’t decide ______ one to buy.
The words helper, companion, partner and accomplice have very similar meanings, but each word is typically used in certain phrases. Can you fill in the blanks below with the most commonly used words? A dictionary may help you.
tennis / golf / bridge …………….
What was announced on the loudspeakers before the start of the race in the poem, ‘Nine Gold Medals’?
