Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
The women came out on the shore, and made for the stepping—?stones. They had plenty to laugh and bicker about, as they approached the river in a noisy crowd. They girded up their skirts, so as to jump from stone to stone, and they clanked their sickles and forks together over their shoulders to have ease of movement. They shouted their quarrels above the gush of the river. Noise frightens crocodiles. The big mugger did not move, and all the women crossed in safety to the other bank. Here they had to climb a steep hillside to get at the grass, but all fell to with a will, and sliced away at it wherever there was foothold to be had. Down below them ran the broad river, pouring powerfully out from its deep narrow pools among the cold cliffs and shadows, spreading into warm shallows, lit by kingfishers. Great turtles lived there, and mahseer weighing more than a hundred pounds. Crocodiles too. Sometimes you could see them lying out on those slabs of clay over there, but there were none to be seen at the moment.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What were they doing on the hill?
Advertisements
Solution
The women climbed the hill to reach the grass there and cut it with their sickles and then gather with their hay forks so that they could take it and sell in the market.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
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
Thinking about Poem
What is the meaning of “bleeding bark”? What makes it bleed?
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:
Which sin is hinted at in these lines?
Some are meet for a maiden's wrist,
Silver and blue as the mountain mist,
Some are flushed like the buds that dream
On the tranquil brow of a woodland stream,
Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain :
Some are aglow with the bloom that cleaves
To the limpid glory of new born leaves.
What led the king of Iran to the cave of the shepherd?
Now complete these sentences about your house and home.
(i) My house is ____________.
(ii) The best thing about my home is ____________.
What does he want to know about his teacher? Why?
The words given against the sentences below can be used both as nouns and verbs. Use them appropriately to fill in the blanks.
(i) He said he _________________________ to be invited to the party. (hope)
(ii) We gave up _______________________ of his joining the party.
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
| Portia: The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath : it is twice blessed : It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: |
- Where does this scene take place? Why Is Portia here? [2]
- To what is mercy compared in these lines? [2]
- Why does Portia call mercy ‘twice blessed’?
Explain the lines:
‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
the throned monarch better than his crown: [3] - Later in her speech Portia mentions a sceptre. What is a sceptre?
How, according to Portia, is mercy above the ‘sceptred sway’? [3]
Read the following extract from Leigh Hunt's poem, ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ and answer the question that follows:
|
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, |
- The poem begins with a blessing. What is this blessing? Explain its significance. [3]
- Explain in your own words the following lines and phrases from the poem: [3]
- ‘Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,’
- A look made of all sweet accord
- A great wakening light
- What was the angel doing in Abou Ben Adhem’s room? What did Abou ask the angel? [3]
- Why did Abou say to the angel, “Write me as one that loves his fellow men”? (Give the context) [3]
- Explain the last line of the poem: ‘And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.” If you had to give the poem a different title, what would you call it? Give a reason for your answer. [4]
