Question

Read the passage given below:

(1)	Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them a disgrace and a dishonour. But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve – slowing, slowing, and stalling once more –was no ordinary bird. Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
(2)	This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make oneself popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent the whole day alone, making hundreds of low-level gliders, experimenting. "Why, Jon, why?" his mother asked. "Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don't you eat? Son, you're bone and feathers!" "I don't mind being bone and feathers, Mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know." "See here Jonathan," said his father, not unkindly. "Winter isn't far away. Boats will be few, and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can't eat a glide, you know. Don't you forget that the reason you fly is to eat?"
(3)	Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days, he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn't make it work. It wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. The subject was speed and in a week's practice he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive. Time after time it happened. Careful as he was, working at the very peak of his ability, he lost control at a high speed. The key, he thought at last, dripping wet, must be to hold the wings still at high speeds – to flap up to fifty and then hold the wings still.
(4)	From two thousand feet he tried again, rolling into his dive, beak straight down, wings full out and stable from the moment he passed fifty miles per hour. It took tremendous strength, but it worked. In ten seconds he had blurred ninety miles per hour. Jonathan had set a world speed record for seagulls! But victory was short-lived. The instant he began his pullout, the instant he changed the angle of his wings, he snapped into the same uncontrollable disaster, and at ninety miles per hour, it hit him like dynamite. Jonathan Seagull exploded in midair and smashed down into a brick-hard sea. As he sank low in the water, a strange hollow voice sounded within him. There's no way around it. I am a seagull. I am limited by my nature. If I were meant to learn so much about flying, I'd have charts for brains. If I were meant to fly at speed, I'd have a falcon's short wings. Short wings. A falcon's short wings! That's the answer! What a fool I've been! All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and just fly on the tips along. Short wings!

Based on your understanding of the passage, answer the questions given below:

1. Complete the sentence by choosing an appropriate option: (1)
   Majority of seagulls fly only short distances as ______.
   1. they are more interested in food than flight
   2. they don't have energy
   3. they are not meant to fly low
   4. food is not available at high speed
2. Why were Jonathan Livingston's parents' dismayed? (1)
3. Give two reasons for Jonathan's unconventional behaviour. (1)
   (Clue: think about Jonathan's point of view.)
4. Select the option that conveys the opposite of 'glory' from the words used in paragraph 1. (1)
   1. disgrace
   2. dishonour
   3. learning
   4. unashamed
5. The writer would not agree with the given statements based on paragraph 2, EXCEPT (1)
   1. Jonathan could not fly but only glide.
   2. Jonathan wanted to be popular with other birds.
   3. Jonathan realised that even the albatross flew at high altitudes.
   4. The reason seagulls flew was to find food.
6. Jonathan was different, from other seagulls. Based on your understanding of paragraph 2, list what Jonathan wanted to know. (1)
7. What was the mother's concern about Jonathan? (1)
8. Complete the given sentence with an appropriate inference with respect to the following: (1)
   Father reminds Jonathan that he 'can't eat a glide' in order to ______.
9. It, wasn't long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea. Which trait of Jonathan does this statement reveal? (1)
   1. practical bird
   2. persistent learner
   3. lonely and sad
   4. carefree and irresponsible
10. Was it fair to fly like a falcon when he was just a seagull? Why does he say so? (1)

Answer 1

1. Majority of seagulls fly only short distances as they are more interested in food than flight.
2. Jonathan Livingston's parents were concerned since he had spent the entire day alone and had glided at a low level without eating.
3. The two reasons for Jonathan's unconventional behaviour are:
   1. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.
   2. He wanted to know what he could do in the air and what he couldn't.
4. disgrace
5. The reason seagulls flew was to find food.
6. Jonathan wanted to know what he could and couldn't do in the air.
7. Mother was concerned about Jonathan's low-flying practice and inadequate nourishment.
8. Father reminds Jonathan that he 'can't eat a glide' in order to tell him that he had to learn how to get food.
9. persistent learner
10. No, it was not fair for Jonathan to fly like a falcon when he was only a seagull. since of his physical constraints, he could not soar as quickly as a falcon does since his wings were too long.