मराठी

Read the Extract Given Below and Answer the Question that Follow. Why Were the Soldiers “Helping to Push Against the Spokes of the Wheels”? - English 2 (Literature in English)

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प्रश्न

An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts, trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn carts staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push against the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading out of it all and the peasants plodded along in the ankle deep dust. But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any farther.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Why were the soldiers “helping to push against the spokes of the wheels”?

टीपा लिहा
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उत्तर

The soldiers were “helping to push against the spokes of the wheels” because there was a steep elevation.

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  या प्रश्नात किंवा उत्तरात काही त्रुटी आहे का?
पाठ 2.02: Old Man at the Bridge - Passage 1

संबंधित प्रश्‍न

The cat and the author are very fond of each other. How has this been shown in the story? Where was the cat after the fire? Who brings it back and how?


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.

(i) How did the porter assist Billy? [2] 
(ii) Why did Billy want to do everything briskly? [2]
(iii) Why did Billy think animals were a good sign in a place like this? [2]
(iv) Which sentence tells you that something strange happened to Billy? [2]
(v) How much did the room cost?[1]
 
(c) In not more than 50 words, give a brief account of what Billy saw as he looked through the window of the room. [8]
 

"They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be 
After a famous victory.
"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro'won,
And our good Prince Eugene."
"Why,'twas a very wicked thing!"
Said little Wilhelmine.

"Nay...nay...my little girl,"quoth he,
"It was a famous victory.
"And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win."
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell,"said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

What is Wilheinien’s reaction to the description of the war?


She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting under a beautiful Christmas-tree. It was larger and more beautifully decorated than the one which she had seen through the glass door at the rich merchant’s. Thousands of tapers were burning upon the green branches, and colored pictures, like those she had seen in the show- windows, looked down upon it all. The little one stretched out her hand towards them, and the match went out.

The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to her like the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, leaving behind it a bright streak of fire. “Someone is dying,” thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only one who had ever loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star falls, a soul was going up to God.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

How did the Christmas lights appear when the match went out?


Discuss the following topic in groups.

Freedom is life. Discuss this with reference to ‘Chandni’ and ‘I Want Something in a Cage’.


(i) What makes Mridu conclude that the beggar has no money to buy chappals?

(ii) What does she suggest to show her concern?


Discuss these questions in small groups before you answer them.

When are you likely to be told this?
Say thank you.


Make noun from the word given below by adding –ness, ity, ty or y 
Bitter ___________.


Who says this to whom and why?
 “What have you to say in your defence?”


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.

find a good …………..


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