Advertisements
Advertisements
प्रश्न
Thinking about the Poem
Which country or countries do you think “the Northland” refers to?
Advertisements
उत्तर
“The Northland” could refer to any extremely cold country in the Earth’s north polar region, such as Greenland, the northern regions of Russia, Canada, Norway etc.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Thinking about the Text
Given in the box are some headings. Find the relevant paragraphs in the text to match the headings.
An Orphaned Cub;
Bruno’s Food-chart;
An Accidental Case of Poisoning;
Playful Baba; Pain of Separation;
Joy of Reunion;
A Request to the Zoo;
An Island in the courtyard
The teacher will read out the story of a young girl about a special day.
One day our teacher announced that there was a surprise awaiting us the next day. We were asked to get whatever little pocket money we could.
The next day our teacher said, 'Today is Grandparents' Day' and you will be meeting many grandparents who do not live with their families. Yes, we were going to an Old Age Home! On the way we bought a nice big cake, chart paper and balloons. We entered an old, big building. Later we were taken into a hall and were allowed to decorate it.
We blew balloons and hung them around the hall. We cut out chart paper, wrote quotes, drew pictures and stuck them on the wall. Then came in all the grey–haired sweethearts, some alone, some couples, some in groups ans settled down.
It was time to welcome them. Robert, who was a good speaker, greeted them and told them that we had come along to make their day a little special. We gathered in front and started singing songs for them. Most of the people were single grandparents whose spouses had expired. The other few were couples; many of them were smiling and singing along too. But there were a few who sat without any expression. While some of us sang the others sat beside them and spoke to them.
Two of us cut the cake into several pieces to be distributed. We were informed by the caretaker that there were diabetic people amongst them and they couldn't have sweets. He said they could have fruit instead the non-diabetics and fruit to those who were diabetic. Many of them missed their grand children. One of them told me that her son was in the U.S. and as he found it difficult to look after her, he had left her at this Home.
While returning home we realized that our grandparents are lonely and insecure. They spend their second childhood in their old age homes. Most of those living in old age homes do not complain. It is left to us to decide how happy their old age can be. We do not need any special day to make them feel their worth. If you have never told them how much you love them, say it before it's too late.
(b) List any three feelings of the old people in this story.
- _____________________________
- _____________________________
- _____________________________
(c) Complete the following :
- We can make our grandparents happy by ________________
- We can avoid constructing more and more Old Age Homes by___________
After reading the poem answer the following questions.
The poet has used a number of words which indicate 'movement' and 'sound'. Working
with your partner make a list of these words from the poem and complete the web chart.

(c.) A word or a combination of words, whose sound seems to resemble the sound it
denotes (for example: "hiss", "buzz", "etc.) is called onomatopoeia. From the words that
you have filled in the blurbs above point out these words.
Understanding the Connectors.
Connectors are joining words. They join any of the following:
| 1. One word with another | tired but happy. |
| 2. One phrase with the other | ready to go and eager to start. |
| 3. One clause with another | I went home because I had finished my work. |
| 4. One sentence with another | It was raining along heavily. So we took along an umbrella. |
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In black and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.
Their dying fire in need of logs;
The first man held his back.
For on the faces around the fire,
He noticed one was black.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Why does the poet use this diction?
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.
Why did Seattle wanted to end up the hostilities?
The village consisted of less than thirty houses, only one of them built with brick and cement. Painted a brilliant yellow and blue all over with gorgeous carvings of gods and gargoyles on its balustrade, it was known as the Big House. The other houses, distributed in four streets, were generally of bamboo thatch, straw, mud, and other unspecified material. Muni’s was the last house in the fourth street, beyond which stretched the fields. In his prosperous days Muni had owned a flock of forty sheep and goats and sallied forth every morning driving the flock to the highway a couple of miles away.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What had Muni owned in his days of prosperity? What did he do every morning?
But even as he approached the boy, Mr. Oliver sensed that something was wrong. The boy appeared to be crying. His head hung down, he held his face in his hands, and his body shook convulsively. It was a strange, soundless weeping, and Mr. Oliver felt distinctly uneasy.
Well, what’s the matter, he asked, his anger giving way to concern. What are you crying for? The boy would not answer or look up. His body continued to be wracked with silent sobbing.
Oh, come on, boy. You shouldn’t be out here at this hour. Tell me the trouble. Look up.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why did Mr Oliver feel uneasy? What was strange?
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.
Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savoury smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and
she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe her home.
As it turned out, Luz broke his own past record. In doing so, he pushed me on to a peak performance. I remember that at the instant I landed from my final jump—the one which set the Olympic record of 26 feet 5-5/16 inches—he was at my side, congratulating me. Despite the fact that Hitler glared at us from the stands not a hundred yards away, Luz shook my hand hard—and it wasn’t a fake “smile with a broken heart” sort of grip, either.
You can melt down all the gold medals and cups I have, and they couldn’t be a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at that moment. I realized then, too, that Luz was the epitome of what Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, must have had in mind when he said, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What, according to Coubertin, is the true spirit of the Olympics? Explain the reference to Coubertin.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Each Friday morning the whole school spent the pre-recess period in writing their Weekly Review. This was one of the Old Man’s pet schemes; and one about which he would brook no interference. Each child would review the events of his school week in his own words, in his own way; he was free to comment, to criticize, to agree or disagree, with any person, subject or method, as long as it was in some way associated with the school …..
(i) Why did Mr. Florian feel that the weekly review was of advantage to both pupil and teacher?
(ii) Why did Braithwaite feel both relief and disappointment at the first weekly review his students had written since he joined the school?
(iii) How was he given the silent treatment by his students?
(iv) What does Braithwaite term the second and more annoying phase of his relationship with his students? What did some students do to disrupt his class?
(v) Mention two qualities in Braithwaite’s character which help him to become a model teacher. Give suitable examples to illustrate your choice.
Why was the king advised to listen to his soldiers?
Is it good to play with snakes which are not very dangerous?
Multiple Choice Question:
Which of the following words mean the same as ‘stormy wind”?
With your partner try to guess the meaning of the underlined phrase.
And somehow we fell out.
Multiple Choice Question:
What effect does blowing of winds and falling of raindrops create?
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the phrase pick their noses’ mean?
What does the word ‘bake’ in the above passage mean?
Who asks permission to speak at Caesar’s funeral?
