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Question
“You haven’t brought home that sick brat!” Anger and astonishment were in the tones of Mrs. Joe Thompson; her face was in a flame.
“I think women’s hearts are sometimes very hard,” said Joe. Usually Joe Thompson got out of his wife’s way, or kept rigidly silent and non-combative when she fired up on any subject; it was with some surprise, therefore, that she now encountered a firmly-set countenance and a resolute pair of eyes.
“Women’s hearts are not half so hard as men’s!”
Joe saw, by a quick intuition, that his resolute bearing h«d impressed his wife and he answered quickly, and with real indignation, “Be that as it may, every woman at the funeral turned her eyes steadily from the sick child’s face, and when the cart went off with her dead mother, hurried away, and left her alone in that old hut, with the sun not an hour in the sky.”
“Where were John and Kate?” asked Mrs. Thompson.
“Farmer Jones tossed John into his wagon, and drove off. Katie went home with Mrs. Ellis; but nobody wanted the poor sick one. ‘Send her to the poorhouse,’ was the cry.”
“Why didn’t you let her go, then. What did you bring her here for?”
“She can’t walk to the poorhouse,” said Joe; “somebody’s arms must carry her, and mine are strong enough for that task.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Does the attitude of the villagers convey some truth about society at large?
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Solution
Yes, the harsh and selfish attitude of the villagers shows that in this world people help only those from whom they can gain something. Very few people like Mr Thompson genuinely are concerned about the destitute and want to help.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Thinking about the Text
Answer these question.
I said it with bullets.”
(i) Who says this?
(ii) What does it mean?
(iii) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?
(a) Given below are five lines from a poem but they are not in the right order.
Get into groups of four. Read the lines and put them in the right order. Read
the version that you develop to the whole class.
(b) Who is 'I' in these lines?
(c) Imagining yourself as the subject of this poem, write five lines about
yourself in less than five minutes.
You may like to
- define yourself
- state what you do
- explain why people like/dislike you
- mention any other characteristic about yourself
Read the following and share your feelings with the class.
INTROSPECT: Realise Your Potential.
Sixteen year old Shreya, a student of XI, angrily outbursts at her parents and says, "No one likes me".
She has not been able to develop an interest in any activity, be it painting, swimming, games or studying. She is not sure what types of relationships give her comfort.
She has never had a good friend. She is not clear about her choice of career.
Shreya is good-looking, as well as physically healthy. During the interview, she was preoccupied with what others think about her.
When asked to talk about her positive qualities, she thought for a long time but could not list any. Nor was she able to mention her negative aspects.
Self Awareness
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you succeed.
Knowing our helps us in acknowledging our success as well as appreciating our capacity to do something with or without support from others.
This givee us a sense of well being and we are able to learn new skills and develop assets , thereby developing our confidence. Confident people attract friends and other stable relationships.
In due course , we are ready to accept various challenges with the right kind of Investment of energy towarde task completion.
Knowing our weaknesses helps us In accepting our limitations, and developing a willingness to take help when offered and enabling us to overcome our deficits.
This paves way to expansion of skills and qualities, which prove useful ln the long run. It is worthwhile to Introspect and reflect so as to realise our potential . This help to bring about a change in us and we are able to meet challenges .
lf Shreya had introspected or had been helped by her parents or teachers to reflect on herself, she would have understood her positive and negative qualities , her likes , dislike , strengths , weakness , feelings , emotions , outlooks , choices , values and attitude towards life.
self awareness paves the way to pregress with respect to relationships , academic success , professional and personal fulfillment .
Adapted from "The Quest",
The Hindu
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants cool shade and tender rain,
And seed and bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see___
These things he plants who plants a tree.
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow:
Who is being referred to as the unborn eyes?
After considering the matter, and talking it over with his wife, farmer Jones said that he would take John, and do well by him, now that his mother was out of the way; and Mrs. Ellis, who had been looking out for a bound girl, concluded that it would be charitable in her to make choice of Katy, even though she was too young to be of much use for several years.
“I could do much better, I know,” said Mrs. Ellis; “but as no one seems inclined to take her, I must act from a sense of duty expect to have trouble with the child; for she’s an undisciplined thing—used to having her own way.”
But no one said “I’ll take Maggie.” Pitying glances were cast on her wan and wasted form and thoughts were troubled on her account. Mothers brought cast-off garments and, removing her soiled and ragged clothes, dressed her in clean attire. The sad eyes and patient face of the little one touched many hearts, and even knocked at them for entrance. But none opened to take her in. Who wanted a bed-ridden child?
“Take her to the poorhouse,” said a rough man, of whom the question “What’s to be done with Maggie?” was asked. “Nobody’s going to be bothered with her.”
“The poorhouse is a sad place for a sick and helpless child,” answered one.
“For your child or mine,” said the other, lightly speaking; “but for tis brat it will prove a blessed change, she will be kept clean, have healthy food, and be doctored, which is more than can be said of her past condition.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Who took Katy? Why?
What made Ravi feel that Lalli will never learn to play the violin?
Word in the box given below indicates a large number of… For example, ‘a herd of cows’ refers to many cows.
Complete the following phrase with a suitable word from the box.
a _________________ of ships
Answer the following question:
Where was Kalpana Chawla born? Why is she called an Indian – American?
Read the following line.
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
Can words crawl into your ear? This is an image. The poet is trying to make an image of what she/he experiences. Now with your partner try and list out some more images from the poem.
According to the speaker’s brother, where did the ghost hid himself?
