Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
We sang our school fight song dozens of times – en route to Arlington National cemetery, and even on an afternoon cruise down the Potomac River. We visited the Lincoln Memorial twice, once in day – light, the second time at dusk. My classmates and I fell silent as we walked in the shadows of those 36 marble columns, one for every state in the Union that Lincoln laboured to preserve. I stood next to Frank at the base of the 19 foot seated statue. Spotlights made the white Georgian marble seem to glow. Together we read famous words from Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg remembering the most bloody battle in the war between the status : “………….we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom………..”
As Frank motioned me into place to take my picture, I took one last look at Lincoln’s face. He seemed alive and so terribly sad.
The next morning I understand a little better why he wasn’t smiling. “Clifton,” a chaperone said, “could I see you for a moment?”
(1) When did the boys visit Lincoln Memorial?
(2) What made the Georgian marble glow?
(3) What did the words: “………. We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom …………” remind them?
(4) Do you believe in building memorials? What kind should they be, if your answer is ‘yes’? If no, give reasons why you do not believe in memorials?
Advertisements
Solution
(1) The boys visited Lincoln Memorial once in daylight and the second time at dusk.
(2) Spotlights made the Georgian marble glow.
(3) The words reminded them of the bloodiest battle in the War between the States.
(4) Yes, I do believe in building memorials. War memorials, statues and memorial benches should be built to remind people of the incidents they represent.
No, I do not believe in building memorials as it is an expensive affair. The taxpayer’s hard-earned money can be used for other productive purposes rather than expensive memorials.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the text below and summarise it.
The Great Desert Where Hippos Once Wallowed
The Sahara sets a standard for dry land. It’s the world’s largest desert. Relative humidity can drop into the low single digits. There are places where it rains only about once a century. There are people who reach the end of their lives without ever seeing water come from the sky.
Yet beneath the Sahara are vast aquifers of fresh water, enough liquid to fill a small sea. It is fossil water, a treasure laid down in prehistoric times, some of it possibly a million years old. Just 6,000 years ago, the Sahara was a much different place.
It was green. Prehistoric rock art in the Sahara shows something surprising: hippopotamuses, which need year-round water.
“We don’t have much evidence of a tropical paradise out there, but we had something perfectly liveable,” says Jennifer Smith, a geologist at Washington University in St Louis.
The green Sahara was the product of the migration of the paleo-monsoon. In the same way that ice ages come and go, so too do monsoons migrate north and south. The dynamics of earth’s motion are responsible. The tilt of the earth’s axis varies in a regular cycle — sometimes the planet is more tilted towards the sun, sometimes less so. The axis also wobbles like a spinning top. The date of the earth’s perihelion — its closest approach to the sun — varies in cycle as well.
At times when the Northern Hemisphere tilts sharply towards the sun and the planet makes its closest approach, the increased blast of sunlight during the north’s summer months can cause the African monsoon (which currently occurs between the Equator and roughly 17°N latitude) to shift to the north as it did 10,000 years ago, inundating North Africa.
Around 5,000 years ago the monsoon shifted dramatically southward again. The prehistoric inhabitants of the Sahara discovered that their relatively green surroundings were undergoing something worse than a drought (and perhaps they migrated towards the Nile Valley, where Egyptian culture began to flourish at around the same time).
“We’re learning, and only in recent years, that some climate changes in the past have been as rapid as anything underway today,” says Robert Giegengack, a University of Pennsylvania geologist.
As the land dried out and vegetation decreased, the soil lost its ability to hold water when it did rain. Fewer clouds formed from evaporation. When it rained, the water washed away and evaporated quickly. There was a kind of runaway drying effect. By 4,000 years ago the Sahara had become what it is today.
No one knows how human-driven climate change may alter the Sahara in the future. It’s something scientists can ponder while sipping bottled fossil water pumped from underground.
“It’s the best water in Egypt,” Giegengack said — clean, refreshing mineral water. If you want to drink something good, try the ancient buried treasure of the Sahara.
Staff Writer, Washington Post
Comment on the lines that make you visualise the colourful image of the peacock.
Think and answer in your own words.
What could have inspired the poet to compose this poem? Do you think it relates to our present-day life? Defend your choice.
Define drama.
Comment on the given statement after reading the given dialogue -
I wouldn’t be in your shoes if he rewards me ten times as much. People generally fall victim to incentives. Some people stick to values. They _________________.
Discuss the following question after you have seen a presentation of the ‘ad’.
How many times is the name Krispy Krunchy repeated in the ad? Why?
What is meant by browsing or surfing?
What prompted the young seagull to fly finally?
How did Santhosh spend his time in the river?
______will often say to be honest.
