Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
“...Mr. Purcell heard it no more than he would have heard the monotonous ticking of a familiar clock.” (Read para beginning with “It was a rough day...”)
(i)What does ‘it’ refer to?
(ii) Why does Mr. Purcell not hear ‘it’ clearly?
Advertisements
Solution
(i) Here, ‘it’ refers to the chirping, squeaking and mewing of the birds and animals in the shop.
(ii) Mr. Purcell did not hear the noise clearly because he owned the pet shop and thus, these noises seemed usual to him, like the monotonous ticking of a clock. He was used to the noise.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Answer these question in one or two words or in short phrase.
The writer says, “All this I wash down with Coca Cola.” What does ‘all this’ refer to?
A Russian girl, Maria Sharapova, reached the summit of women’s tennis when she was barely eighteen. As you read about her, see if you can draw a comparison between her and Santosh Yadav.
Match the following.
| something disarming | something that makes you feel friendly, taking away your suspiciousness |
| at odds with | in contrast to; not agreeing with |
| glamorous attire | attractive and exciting clothes |
| in almost no time | quickly, almost immediately |
| poised beyond her years | more calm, confident and in control than people of her age usually are |
| packed off | sent off |
| launched | started |
| heart wrenching | causing strong feelings of sadness |
Notices
Read the following captions
. Change them into active (voice) and explain their meaning.
e.g. All credit cards accepted.
We accept credit cards.
Meaning: The organization accepts credit cards from customers for all their transactions.
1. Domestic help required
_______________________________________
2. All types of computer servicing undertaken.
_______________________________________
3. Using cell phones is not allowed (University Campus)
_______________________________________
4. Spoken English classes conducted.
_______________________________________
5. All Recharge Coupons sold here.
_______________________________________
The horse was nearly life-size, moulded out of clay, baked, burnt, and brightly coloured, and reared its head proudly, prancing its forelegs in the air and flourishing its tail in a loop; beside the horse stood a warrior with scythelike mustachios, bulging eyes, and aquiline nose. The old image-makers believed in indicating a man of strength by bulging out his eyes and sharpening his moustache tips, and also decorated the man’s chest with beads which looked today like blobs of mud through the ravages of sun and wind and rain (when it came), but Muni would insist that he had known the beads to sparkle like the nine gems at one time in his life.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe the horse.
Then there it lay in her wet palm, perfect, even pierced ready for use, with the sunset shuffled about inside it like gold—?dust. All her heart went up in flames of joy. After a bit she twisted it into the top of her skirt against her tummy so she would know if it burst through the poor cloth and fell. Then she picked up her fork and sickle and the heavy grass and set off home. Ai! Ai! What a day! Her barefeet smudged out the wriggle— ?mark of snakes in the dust; there was the thin singing of malaria mosquitoes among the trees now; and this track was much used at night by a morose old makna elephant—the Tuskless One; but Sibia was not thinking of any of them. The stars came out: she did not notice. On the way back she met her mother, out of breath, come to look for her, and scolding. “I did not see till I was home, that you were not there. I thought something must have happened to you.” And Sibia, bursting with her story, cried “Something did). I found a blue bead for my necklace, look!”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Is the Ending Appropriate?
What do you think of Antonio and of Shylock 1vi' regard to the signing of the bond?
Discuss the following topic in groups.
The second bear did not attack the lady because he was afraid of her. Do you agree?
Who the author called the right person to shake the bicycle?
Give the character sketch of the narrator.
What were the primary objectives of the NASA Viking Mission to Mars?
- What did the iron chest contain?
- Why did the shepherd always carry it?
- Is it an example of the shepherd’s humility or wisdom or both?
Who is giving these instructions?
Have you seen animals or birds making houses in trees?
Read the lines in which the following phrases occur. Then discuss with your partner the meaning of each phrase in its context.
meadow houses
What lesson does the young child narrator learn from his mother?
Multiple Choice Question:
What effect does blowing of winds and falling of raindrops create?
Multiple Choice Question:
What does the poem reveal about the speaker?
Who says this to whom and why?
“My wife knows best how to run the house.”
What change occurs in the attitude of the speaker?
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
|
One day I found the pond occupied by several buffaloes. Their keeper, a boy a little older than me, was swimming about in the middle. Instead of climbing out on the bank, he would pull himself up on the back of one of his buffaloes, stretch his naked brown body out on the animal’s glistening hide, and start singing to himself. When he saw me staring at him from across the pond, he smiled, showing gleaming white teeth in a dark face. He invited me to join him in a swim. I told him I couldn’t swim, and he offered to teach me. His name was Ramu, and he promised to give me swimming lessons every afternoon, and so it was during the afternoons — especially summer afternoons when everyone was asleep — that we usually met. Before long I was able to swim across the pond to sit with Ramu astride a contented buffalo. Sometimes I would slip into the water. Emerging in shades of green and khaki, I would sneak into the house through the bathroom and bathe under the tap before getting into my clothes. One afternoon Ramu and I found a small tortoise in the mud, sitting over a hole in which it had laid several eggs. I presented the tortoise to Grandfather. He had a weakness for tortoises, and was pleased with this addition to his menagerie, giving it a large tub of water all to itself, with an island of rocks in the middle. If one of the dogs bothered it too much, it would draw its head and legs into its shell and defy all its attempts at rough play. Ramu came from a family of bonded labourers and had received no schooling. But he was well-versed in folklore and knew a great deal about birds and animals. “Many birds are sacred,” said Ramu, as we watched a blue jay swoop down from a peepul tree and carry off a grasshopper. Both Ramu and Grandfather were of the opinion that we should be more gentle with birds and animals and should not kill so many of them. “It is also important that we respect them, said Grandfather. We must acknowledge their rights. Birds and animals are finding it more difficult to survive, because we are trying to destroy both them and their forests.” Ramu and I spent long summer afternoons at the pond. I still remember him with affection, though we never saw each other again after I left Dehra. |
- For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided: [2]
- hide (line 4)
- blanket
- fur
- undisclosed
- skin
- contented (line 12)
- cheerful
- lazy
- satisfied
- container
- hide (line 4)
- Which word in the passage is the opposite of ‘easy’? [1]
- sneak
- difficult
- labourer
- survive
- Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
- What did Ramu like to do once he had climbed on the back of a buffalo? [2]
- What offer did Ramu make to the narrator? [2]
- Why do you think the narrator would bathe before entering the house? [2]
- Who was the large tub of water for? [1]
- How would the tortoise protect itself from the dogs? [2]
- Despite the lack of schooling what did Ramu know? How, according to Ramu and Grandfather, should we treat birds and animals? Answer in not more than fifty words. [8]
