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Question
Write a character sketch of Nicola and Jacopo.
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Solution
Nicola was 13 and Jacopo only 12. They were brothers. They were tanned, had tangled hair and dark earnest eyes. Though they were just kids, they were serious about their work. They did hundreds of errands for the tourists. They were found doing brisk business shining shoes or selling wild berries. They had the skill to find seats in the theater for the tourists and also guide the tourists through many important sites of the city of Verona such as Juliet’s tomb. Jacopo was lively as a squirrel. Nicola’s smile was steady and engaging yet in their innocent faces, one could find seriousness far beyond their years. What struck one was the extreme willingness of both the boys to work. Under the scorching Sun, they hawked newspapers. When the narrator enquired what they did with the money they earned as they were not spending it on clothes or food or saving it for emigrating to America, Nicola colored but he did not reveal the secret family adversity. Both are gentlemen because they did not want anyone’s sympathy.
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Here are a few varieties of tea. How many of these have you tasted? Tick the boxes.

| Herbal Tea | |
| Ice Tea | |
| Lemon Tea | |
| Green Tea | |
| Black Tea | |
| Tea with Milk |
Why should tea be directly added to the pot?
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Based on your understanding of the text, complete the chart given below by choosing the appropriate words or phrases given in brackets.
Golden Rules of Tea Preparation
(add sugar, shaken, milk, infused properly, strainers, without cream, taken to the kettle, small quantities, China or earthenware, stirred, warmed)
| Tea should be made in ______in a teapot. |
↓
| The teapot should be made of ______ |
↓
| The pot should be ______beforehand. |
↓
| The pot should not have ______ |
↓
| While pouring water the teapot should be ______ |
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| The tea leaves should be ______ |
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| After making tea, it should be ______or the pot should be ______ |
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What thoughts troubled Dr. Christiaan Barnard as he neared the end of his career as a heart surgeon?
What does Dr. Barnard compare this entertainment to?
What happened when the doctor couple were crossing the street?
Dr. Barnard couldn’t find any nobility in suffering. Why?
What were the problems the trolley driver suffered from?
What did Hillary find in a tiny hollow?
What did Edmund Hillary do to escape the large overhanging ice cornices?
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What did the photograph portray?
The soft snow was difficult and dangerous. Why?
Who visited the family?
What was Pedanna’s suggestion to their father?
Narrate the humorous incidents that happened in the author’s home before and after the arrival of the chair.
From the pictures given below, identity the actions that may cause inconvenience and discomfort to others. Discuss.

How would ‘liberty’ cause universal chaos?
Para 4
Tenzing kicked steps in a long
traverse back towards the ridge, and we
reached its crest where it forms a great
snow bump at about 28000 feet. From
here the ridge narrowed to a knife-edge
and, as my feet were now warm, I took
over the lead.
Para 5
The soft snow made a route on top
of the ridge both difficult and dangerous,
which sometimes held my weight but often
gave way suddenly. After several hundred
feet, we came to a tiny hollow and found
there the two oxygen bottles left on the
an earlier attempt by Evans and Bourdillon.
I scraped the ice off the gauges and was
relieved to find that they still contained
several hundred liters of oxygen-enough
to get us down to the South Col if used sparingly
Para 6
I continued making the trail on up
the ridge, leading up for the last 400 feet
to the southern summit. The snow on this
the face was dangerous, but we persisted in
our efforts to beat a trail up it.
We made frequent changes of
lead. As I was stamping a trail in the deep
snow, a section around me gave way and
Para 7
I slipped back through three or four of
my steps. I discussed with Tenzing the
the advisability of going on, and he, although
admitting that he felt unhappy about the
snow conditions, and finished with his
the familiar phrase “Just as you wish”.
Para 8
I decided to go on, and we finally
reached firmer snow higher up, and then
chipped steps up the last steep slopes and
crampon onto the South Peak. It was now 9 a.m.
Give an account of the journey to the South Col from 28,000 feet. (Para 4 to 8)
‘There is no height, no depth that the spirit of man, guided by higher Spirit cannot attain’. Discuss the above statement in the context of the achievement of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing.
