English

Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view. Scientific intervention is necessary to unearth buried mysteries. - English Core

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Question

Discuss the following in groups of two pairs, each pair in a group taking opposite points of view.

Scientific intervention is necessary to unearth buried mysteries.

Answer in Brief
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Solution

(Such questions are to be done by the students on their own. However, pointers have been provided for the students' help.)
For:

  • Science helps determine the facts related to the past even in the absence of any living evidences.

  • It leads to a good amount of knowledge about the past events without which things would go in mere speculations.

  • It helps determine information about ancient cultures, traditions, and people.

  • The use of advanced scientific tools helps in extracting important facts related to past events.

  • It helps in determining the time and place of the event.

  • It gives us important information about unsolved mysteries.

Against:

  • There is no use of digging the past.

  • The present is valuable and we must live in the present.

  • Delving into the past is a waste of time and energy.

  • It is the job of historians and not scientists.

  • It is always better to invest one’s resources on the development of living rather than investigating the death.

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Chapter 3.1: Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues - Talking about the text [Page 28]

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NCERT English (Core) - Hornbill
Chapter 3.1 Discovering Tut: the Saga Continues
Talking about the text | Q 1 | Page 28

RELATED QUESTIONS

     Have you are wondered why soldiers are always clad in green? This is to enable them to camouflage themselves during wartime. Hiding in the jungles, their green attire blends into the surrounding trees and shrubs, making it difficult for the enemies to spot them.

        Long before man-made use of camouflaging, insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators. By having body colour close to those of the rocks and dried leaves, they can escape from being pursued by the predators.

       Butterflies and moths have developed a variety of camouflage strategies since they are quite defenceless and their predators are abundant. Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help certain butterflies and moths to hide among heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.

   Fortunately, not all insects choose the art of disguise to escape from their predators; otherwise, the world would be so dull and colourless. There are insects which assimilate the bright body colours of bees and wasps to escape from being pursued by their predator. Long ago, birds have already learnt to avoid brilliantly coloured wasps and bees in fear of their painful stings. Hence, over millions of years, many harmless insects have assimilated the bees and wasps by imitating. their bright body colours and shapes. In this way, they appear dangerous and hence ward them off.

      The beefy, not only appears like the bumblebee in terms of body colour, even its hums sound similar too. The only difference is that the beefy does not have a stirring and is hence harmless. The hoverfly is another insect which imitates. the body colours of the wasps. Their bodies are striped yellow and black. The only deviations are that hoverflies do not have stings, and they have only one pair of wings each while wasps have two pairs each. These variations are hardly noticed by the predators and hence help them to escape.

A1. Complete the table with the information from the passage : (2)

Insects Similarity Difference
Bumblebee - Beefy    
Wasp - Hoverfly    

A2. Complete the tree diagram : (2)

 

A3. Find out : (2)

‘Nature has given a self-protection mechanism to insects’.
Find out at least two examples from the passage to prove this statement. 

A4. Vocabulary - (2)

Find the words from the passage for :
(i) animal or bird that hunts other for food
(ii) to get free from danger
(iii) to prevent something from harming
(iv) to make a copy

A5. Personal response - (2)

‘Soldiers disguise themselves to prevent enemies to spot them’.
Give two more examples when the disguising technique is used by humans.

A6. Grammar - (2)

Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) They have only one pair of wings.
(Make it negative without changing the meaning)
(ii) Insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators.
(Replace infinitive with gerund and rewrite)

(B) Summary : (3)

Summarise the above extract with the help of the points given and suggest a suitable title.
Camouflage of soldiers and insects - reason and ways for disguising - assimilation of insects - need of imitation.


Punctuation
Use capital letter, full stops, question marks, commas and inverted commas wherever necessary in the following paragraph. an arrogant lion was wandering though the jungle one day he asked the tiger who is stronger than you you O lion replied the tiger who is more fierce than a leopard asked the lion you sir replied the leopard he marched upto an elephant and asked the same question the elephant picked him up in his trunk swung him in the air and threw him down look said the lion there is no need to get mad just because you don’t know the answer.


In the following items, sentence A is complete, while sentence B is not. Complete sentence B, making it as similar as possible to sentence A.  Write sentence B.

(A) He loved his little daughter, but he was in mortal fear of her fierce temper.
(B) Although .............................................................................. 


Read the passage given below and answer the questions (a), (b) and (c) that follow : 

(1) At the Literary Society’s meeting, Isola read out the letters written to her Granny Pheen, when she was but a little girl. They were from a very kind man – a complete stranger.  Isola told us how these letters came to be written.
(2) When Granny Pheen was nine years old, her cat died. Heartbroken, sitting in the middle of the road, she was sobbing her heart out.
(3) A carriage, driving far too fast, came within a whisker of running her down. A very big man in a dark coat with a fur collar, jumped out, leaned over Pheen, and asked if he could help her. Granny Pheen said she was beyond help. Muffin, her cat, was dead.
(4) The man said, ‘Of course, Muffin’s not dead. You do know cats have nine lives, don’t you?’  When Pheen said yes, the man said, ‘Well, I happen to know your Muffin was only on her third life, so she has six lives left.’ Pheen asked how he knew.  He said he always knew - cats would often appear in his mind and chat with him.  Well, not in words, of course, but in pictures.
(5) He sat down on the road beside her and told her to keep still – very still. He would see if Muffin wanted to visit him.  They sat in silence for several minutes, when suddenly the man grabbed Pheen’s hand.
(6) ‘Ah – yes! There she is!  She’s being born this minute!  In a mansion – in France. There’s a little boy petting her, he’s going to call her Solange. This Solange has great spirit, great verve – I can tell already! She is going to have a long, venturesome life.’
(7) Granny Pheen was so rapt by Muffin’s new fate that she stopped crying.  The man said he would visit Solange every so often and find out how she was faring.
(8) He asked for Granny Pheen’s name and the name of the farm where she lived, got back into the carriage, and left.
(9) Absurd as all this sounds, Granny Pheen did receive eight long letters. Isola then read them out. They were all about Muffin’s life as the French cat − Solange. She was, apparently, something of a feline musketeer.  She was no idle cat, lolling about on cushions, lapping up cream – she lived through one wild adventure after another – the only cat ever to be awarded the red rosette of the Legion of Honour.
(10) What a story this man had made up for Pheen – lively, witty, full of drama and suspense. We were enchanted, speechless at the reading. When it was over (and much applauded), I asked Isola if I could see the letters, and she handed them to me.
(11) The writer had signed his letters with a grand flourish :
                                 VERY TRULY YOURS,
                                          O.F. O’F. W.W.
It was highly possible that Isola had inherited eight letters written by Oscar Wilde, for who else could have had such a preposterous name as Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Willis Wilde. 
                     Adapted from : The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

(a) (i) Given below are four words and phrases.  Find the words which have a similar meaning in the passage :[4]

(1) adventurous
(2) cat-like
(3) appreciated
(4) received something on someone’s death

    (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 :[4]

(1) kind (line 2)
(2) mind (line 13)
(3) still (line 15)
(4) sounds (line 26)

(b)  Answer the following questions in your own words as briefly as possible:
(i) Where did Isola get the letters from to read at the Literary Society’s meeting?[2]
(ii) Who consoled Granny Pheen when she was heart-broken?  What did he say about Muffin’s lives?[2]
(iii) What did the man say when Granny Pheen asked him how he knew about cats’ lives?[2]
(iv) According to the man, what was Muffin’s new fate?[3]

(c) In not more than 100 words, summarise why the eight letters were a treasure to Granny Pheen. (Paragraphs 2 to 10).  Failure to keep within the word limit will be penalised. You will be required to write the summary in the form of a connected passage in about 100 words.[8]


What are the poetic devices (figurative language) in the poem? How do they contribute to the meaning/how do they effect the poem?


Dahl is annoyed that people – including children – watch too much television. Do you agree, or disagree? Why, or why not?


What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?


What does Wordsworth compare the daffodils to? Is the comparison appropriate?


But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

Read the above lines and answer the question that follow.

What docs the word “clipped” mean in this poem?


In what mood is the speaker now? Where is he?


Discuss the theme of the story ‘ Hearts and Hands.’


The end justifies the means.' Argue for or against the statement. 


(A) Some of the cakes had been eaten by the boys before the party began.
(B) The boys………………………… 


Study the picture given below. Write a short story, description, or account of what the picture suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture, or you may take suggestions from it; however, your composition must have a clear connection with the picture. 


Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: 

Lying in bed, Swami realized with a shudder that it was Monday morning. It looked as though only a moment ago, it had been the last period on Friday; already, Monday was here. He hoped that an earthquake would reduce the school building to dust but that my good building, Albert Mission School, had withstood similar prayers for over a hundred years now.

At nine o'clock, Swaminathan wailed, “I have a headache.”

His mother said, “Why don’t you go to school in a bullock cart?”

“So that I may be completely dead at the other end? Have you any idea what it means to be jolted in a cart?”

“Have you any important lessons today?”

“Important! Bah! That geography teacher has been teaching the same lesson for over a year now. And we have arithmetic, which means for a whole period we are going to be beaten by the teacher............ Important lessons!”

And Mother generously suggested that Swami might stay at home.
At 9:30, when he ought to have been lining up in the school prayer hall, Swami was lying on the bench in Mother’s room.

Father asked him, “Have you no school today?”

“Headache,” Swami replied,

“Nonsense! Dress up and go.”

“Headache.”

“Loaf about less on Sundays, and you will be without a headache on Monday.”

Swami knew how stubborn his father could be and changed his tactics.

“I can’t go so late to class.”

“I agree, but you’ll have to; it is your own fault. You should have asked me before deciding to stay away.”

“What will the teacher think if I go so late?”

“Tell him you had a headache, and so are late.”

“He will beat me if I say so.”

“Will he? Let us see. What is his name?”

“Mr. Samuel.”

“Does he beat the boys?”

“He is very violent, especially with boys who come late. Some days ago, a boy was made to stay on his knees for a whole period in a corner of the class because he came late, and after getting six cuts from the cane and having his ears twisted, I wouldn’t like to go late to Mr Samuel’s class.”

“If he is so violent, why not tell your headmaster about it?”

“They say that even the headmaster is afraid of him. He is such a violent man.”

And then Swami gave a lurid account of Samuel’s violence; how when he started caning, he would not stop till he saw blood on the boy’s hand, which he made the boy press to his forehead like a Vermillion marking. Swami hoped his father would be made to see that he couldn’t go to his class late. But his father’s behaviour took an unexpected turn. He became excited.

“What do these people mean by beating our children? They must be driven out of service. I will see…..”

The result was that he proposed to send Swami late to his class as a kind of challenge. He was also going to send a letter with Swami to the headmaster. No amount of protest from Swami was of any avail: Swami had to go to school.

By the time he was ready, his father had composed a long letter to the headmaster, put it in an envelope, and sealed it.

“What have you written, father?” Swaminathan asked apprehensively.

“Nothing for you. Give it to your headmaster and go to your class.”

Swami’s father did not know the truth—that, actually, Mr. Samuel was a very kind gentleman. 

 

(a) Give the meaning of each of the following words as used in the passage. (3)

One-word answers or short phrases will be accepted.

  1. jolted 
  2. stubborn 
  3. avail 

(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words: 

  1. What did Swami wish for on a Monday morning? Why was his wish unlikely to be answered?  (2)
  2. Which sentence tells us that Swami’s father was completely unsympathetic to his son’s headache? (2)
  3. In what way was Swami’s mother’s response different from his father’s? (2)
  4. Why did Swami give a colourful account of Mr. Samuel to his father?  (2)
  5. In what way did Father’s behaviour take an unexpected turn?  (2)
  6. What was Swami finally ordered to do by his father? (2)

(c)

(i) In not more than 60 words, describe how Swami tries to prove that Mr. Samuel is a violent man. (8)
(ii) Give a title to your summary in 3

(c). Give a reason to justify your choice. (2)


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Harish was so tired that he could not keep his eyes open.
(Begin: Harish was too……….)


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ritual resins


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Words which describe ‘sleek’, ‘alert’, and ‘abrupt’


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bed ______ ______


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Sr No. Qualities Lines
1. Patriotic I told Colonel Hunt that I was carrying the Indian flag with me and I would like it to be on the top with other flags.

2.

   
3.    
4.    

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar has cited the quotes by John Stuart Mill and Daniel O’Connel. Go through the lesson and write down 4 to 5 lines for each of them.


Wars are not fought only on the battlefield. Comment.


Write in 100 words what the cherry tree in the poem symbolises.


The poet has observed the sower closely. Express in your own words the reverence the poet has for the sower.


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Mr and Mrs _______________________ solicit the pleasure of your company on the occasion of the ____________________ of their __________________ on _______________ (day), date _______________.

Venue __________________ Time ____________________

(Include other requests like RSVP, No presents please, etc. at the bottom.)


Think and write in your own words.

If you were in the traveller’s place, which road would you choose? Justify your choice.


Draft Letter for the following

You are Sudha. Your neighbour has a pet dog that barks continuously. Write a letter to the Editor of a weekly newspaper of your locality, highlighting the nuisance and noise pollution created thus. Also, suggest ways to solve the problem.


Local Historians

  • Ask students to collect stories about their town from older people.
  • Ask them to find out how the streets were named.
  • Are there any interesting people or legends to which the street names refer?
  • Are there any local places in town about which people tell stories?
  • Any haunted houses?
  • Let students find out when the town was founded and by whom.
  • Visit a local historical society to see old photographs or artifacts.

Let students create an original historical fiction:

Describe the town from the point of view of a fictitious citizen who might have lived in the town long ago. Include local issues of the time in the story. Write the story of the town from the fictionalized point of view of a resident who actually lived.


The word in the sentence is jumbled. Write them in order.

I around me looked.


Complete the following picture board.


  1. Find out how many people are there in our country.
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  3. Is there enough food and water for all people?

Find one word from the story that means

to be inquisitive c ______.


Some word have similar sound, but different meaning. Choose the correct word from the options and fill in the blank.

Do you ______ a secret?


When and how did Bob realise that the tall man was not his friend?


Who was the tall man?


How did the author react on seeing his photograph?


What was the human side to the photographer?


The photographer had made changes ______.


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Write an essay of about 200 word 

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Write the contraction for the following phrase.

have not - ______


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Write a note (4-5 lines) to pass on the message to the other people in your family. Or, Write an imaginary conversation in which you pass on the message to your parents.


Write an original short story that begins with the following words:

My mother stopped suddenly at the doorway and stared in amazement at ..........


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  3. Curtain opens
  4. Action begins
  5. Scene of the play
  6. Curtain closes
  7. Finale (Final outcome)
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Write about your own experience. Do you remember an occasion when you did something successfully for the first time? Write about it in short (10-12 lines). Prepare an outline of your composition before you write it.


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Write an original short story in which a woman, her strange neighbour and a police officer form the main characters.


Write a composition (300-350 words) of the following:

‘Peer pressure is a force for good.' Express your views either for or against this statement.


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