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Question
Read the following passage carefully and complete the activities given below :
A.1) Complete the web :
Write the words from the passage on the web. 
We saw small bits of grass peeping through the small cracks in concrete pavement. It left us thinking: however impossible things may look, there is always an opening…………
We saw a tree bare of all leaves in the cold winter months. We thought its chapter was over. But three months passed, spring set in and the tree was back to its green majesty once again, full of leaves, flowers, birds, and life. What if we too had the conviction that, however difficult things are right now, it will not remain so forever. Remember, this too shall pass.
We saw an army of ants lugging a fly which was at least ten times the ant’s size. The ants organized themselves around the fly, lifted it on frail feelers and carried it to quite a distance. Their teamwork and perseverance were impressive. What if we too are consistent, organized, focused ……… Spider webs are delicate, yet very strong. A rainbow colors the entire sky. Oysters take in a grain of sand they open up with a pearl. Innumerable stars shine across the infinite sky. Clouds take new shapes with every passing moment. The wind makes trees dance with unhindered passion. Water, without a hint of ego, changes its form according to the dictates of the sun and the wind. When we see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly, a flower turns into a fruit, we experience the alchemy of nature ………. We touch it and become gold ourselves.
A.2) Finding meanings :
Write what you mean by :
(i) _______ there is always an opening.
(ii) _______ its chapter was over.
(iii) _______ the tree was back to its green majesty.
(iv) _______ this too shall pass.
A.3) Matching :
Match the words in Column ‘A’ with their synonyms in Column ‘B’:
| Column 'A' | Column'B" | ||
| (i) | conviction | (a) | strong feeling |
| (ii) | alchemy | (b) | delicate |
| (iii) | frail | (c) | mysterious/magical power |
| (iv) | passion | (d) | strong belief |
A.4) Language study :
Rewrite the sentence using the correct question tag given in the brackets :
(i) Water changes its form. (does it?, do it?, do they?, doesn’t it)
(ii) However impossible things may look, there is always an opening. (Rewrite using ‘but’)
A.5) Personal Response :
Nature is the best teacher. Explain.
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Solution
A.1)
A.2) Finding meanings:
(i) ... there is always a solution to an impossibility.
(ii) ... its life or its term was over.
(iii) .... after autumn, the tree was full of green leaves.
(iv) .... this also will go away, and not last forever.
A.3) Matching:
| Column 'A' | Column'B' | ||
| (i) | conviction | (d) | strong belief |
| (ii) | alchemy | (c) | mysterious/magical power |
| (iii) | frail | (b) | delicate |
| (iv) | passion | (a) | strong feeling |
A.4)
(i) Water changes its form, doesn’t it?
(ii) Thigs may look very impossible, but there is always an opening.
A.5)
Nature is a great teacher. No wonder our ancestors used to look up to nature to understand life itself. Our ancient scriptures are filled with hymns devoted to nature, as we treated nature as God in many instances.
SUN: The giver of light, energy, seasons … the list is endless.
MOON: The bestower of calm, cooling sensations to the aggrieved or restless mind.
TREES: Nature’s ardent helper, giver of oxygen, provider of shade to the tired traveler, health giver, shelter provider to the birds and other creatures.
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The Sherpas were nomadic people who first migrated from Tibet approximately 600 years ago, through the Nangpa La pass and settled in the Solukhumbu District, Nepal. These nomadic people then gradually moved westward along salt trade routes. During 14th century, Sherpa ancestors migrated from Kham. The group of people from the Kham region, east of Tibet, was called “Shyar Khamba”. The inhabitants of Shyar Khamba, were called Sherpa. Sherpa migrants travelled through Ü and Tsang, before crossing the Himalayas. According to Sherpa oral history, four groups migrated out of Solukhumbu at different times, giving rise to the four fundamental Sherpa clans: Minyagpa, Thimmi, Sertawa and Chawa. These four groups have since split into the more than 20 different clans that exist today
Sherpas had little contact with the world beyond the mountains and they spoke their own language. AngDawa, a 76-year-old former mountaineer recalled “My first expedition was to Makalu [the world’s fifth highest mountain] with Sir Edmund Hillary’’. We were not allowed to go to the top. We wore leather boots that got really heavy when wet, and we only got a little salary, but we danced the Sherpa dance, and we were able to buy firewood and make campfires, and we spent a lot of the time dancing and singing and drinking. Today Sherpas get good pay and good equipment, but they don’t have good entertainment. My one regret is that I never got to the top of Everest. I got to the South Summit, but I never got a chance to go for the top.
The transformation began when the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and the New Zealander Edmund Hillary scaled Everest in 1953. Edmund Hillary took efforts to build schools and health clinics to raise the living standards of the Sherpas. Thus life in Khumbu improved due to the efforts taken by Edmund Hillary and hence he was known as ‘Sherpa King’.
Sherpas working on the Everest generally tend to perish one by one, casualties of crevasse falls, avalanches, and altitude sickness. Some have simply disappeared on the mountain, never to be seen again. Apart from the bad seasons in 1922, 1970 and 2014 they do not die en masse. Sherpas carry the heaviest loads and pay the highest prices on the world’s tallest mountain. In some ways, Sherpas have benefited from the commercialization of the Everest more than any group, earning income from thousands of climbers and trekkers drawn to the mountain. While interest in climbing Everest grew gradually over the decades after the first ascent, it wasn’t until the 1990s that the economic motives of commercial guiding on Everest began. This leads to eclipse the amateur impetus of traditional mountaineering. Climbers looked after each other for the love of adventure and “the brotherhood of the rope” now are tending to mountain businesses. Sherpas have taken up jobs as guides to look after clients for a salary. Commercial guiding agencies promised any reasonably fit person a shot at Everest.
