English ( Beehive ) Class for 9

Multiple Choice Questions

Q1: What does the poet hear night and day in the core of his heart?
(a) The sound of the lake water lapping against the shore of Innisfree.
(b) The cries of his children telling him to come back home.
(c) The cries of his countrymen to fight for his country
(d) The cries of birds and animals to come and live with them in the forest.
Ans: (a)

Q2: What beautiful sight will he get to see there?
(a)The glimmer of midnight stars.
(b) The linnets flying about in the evening.
(c) The purple glow of the noon.
(d) All the above.
Ans: (d) 

Q3: What does the poet hope to get there?
(a) Peace.
(b) Wealth.
(c) Friends.
(d)Name and fame.
Ans: (a)

Q4: Where does the poet want to go?
(a) To London.
(b) To Paris.
(c) To Innisfree.
(d)To Switzerland.
Ans: (c)

Q5: Name the poet of The Lake Isle of Innisfree’.
(a) James Kirkup.
(b) Robert Frost.
(c) W.B. Yeats.
(d) Phoebe Cary.
Ans: (c) 

Q6: Select the name of the poet of the poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’.
(a) Robert Frost
(b) Subramania Bharati
(c) Coates Kinney
(d) W.B. Yeats
Ans: (d)

Q7: What does the poet hear at Innisfree Island?
(a)the sound of raindrops
(b) the noise of the wind
(c) the lapping low sounds of the
(d) none of these three options lake water
Ans: (c) 

Q8: What does the poet see in Innisfree land?
(a) glimmering midnight
(b) purple noon
(c) the evening full of linnet’s wings
(d) all the options are correct
Ans: (d) 

Q9: Where will the poet have peace?
(a) in his home
(b) in heaven
(c) in Innisfree land
(d) in a lake
Ans: (c)

Q10: What thing will the poet not do on the Innisfree land?
(a) build a restaurant
(b) build a small cabin
(c) plant nine bean rows
(d) build a hive for the honeybee
Ans: (a)

Very Short Answer Questions

Q1: Read the following passages and answer the questions:
Ans: Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
(i) What kind of garden does he want to have?
Ans: He wants to have a garden of beans with nine rows.

(ii) Why does he want to build a hive?
Ans: He wants to build a cabin of clay and wattle and a hive for honey-bees.

(iii) What is a glade?
Ans: A glade is an open space surrounded by woods.

(iv) What does he want to do there?
Ans: He wants to build a hive for honey bees.

Q2: What is the poet going to build in Innisfree and why?
Ans: The poet is going to build a cabin made of clay and wallet and a hive for honey-bee and a garden of nine bean in Innisfree. He wants to live there alone peacefully.

Q3: What kind of house does the poet want to build?
Ans: The poet wants to build a small house like a cabin made of clay and wattle and settle there.

Q4: How the poet wants to spend his time in Innisfree?
Ans: In Innisfree, the poet wants to spend his time listening to the songs of honey-bee and crickets.

Q5: Where was the poet at the time of penning the poem?
Ans: The poet was in the city or town at the time of penning the poem. At the end of the poem he stated that ‘While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey’. He has been dreaming of his childhood fascination to go and settle at an island in lake Innisfree and settle there. He cherished to build a cabin made of clay and wattle and a hive for the honey-bee. He wished to listen to the splash of water striking on the banks and hear the melodious songs of crickets. He longed to hear the loud buzz of the honey-bee in the glade. Though he is unable to go there but the splash of water and dream of being at Innisfree linger on in his heart.

Q6; Read the following passages and answer the questions:
Ans: I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
(i) Who is I in the first line?
Ans: ‘I’ is the speaker or the poet in the first line.

(ii) What’s his resolve?
Ans: His resolve is to go to Innisfree.

(iii) What is he going to build there?
Ans: He is going to build a cabin made of clay and wattles.

(iv) What are wattles?
Ans: Wattles are a fabrication of poles interwoven with slender branches, withes, or reeds and used especially formerly in buildings.

Q7: What is the intension of the poet?
Ans: The intension of the poet is to build a cabin there and stay alone peacefully.

Q8: Why does the poet want to live alone?
Ans: The poet wants to live alone because he doesn’t like the mad rush of the town and live a peaceful life on an isolated island with bees and crickets.

Q9: The poet in the last two lines presents a different picture. What is it?
Ans:The poet in the last two lines presents a different picture, when he tries to express that he is still in the town on a pavement next to the road and feels the splash of water of lake in his heart.

Q10: Why does the poet want to go to Innisfree and what he intends to do there?
Ans:The poet wants to go to Innisfree to spend his time in peace and tranquility of serene place which has a garden of nine bean. He also wants to build a cabin made of clay and wattle surrounded by the garden. He also wants to make a hive for honey-bee. He describes the place as beautiful with moonlight spreading silver splash and purple glow of the sun during noon. He intends to do live there in peace listening to the honey-bee and the songs of the crickets. He also wants to listen to splash of the water on the shores of the lake.

Short Answer Questions

Q1: Describe the Lake Isle of Innisfree as seen through the eyes of the poet.
Ans: The Lake Isle of Innisfree is an island that is incredibly peaceful. The island is also a place of great natural beauty. Yeats describes many different aspects of its appeal, from the various birds and insects to the striking light at different times of day. This is a landscape that has not been damaged or diminished by human interference.

Q2: What kind of life does the poet William Butler Yeats imagine in his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”?
Ans: Yeats imagines Innisfree as an idyllic place of peace and solitude. He imagines living in a “small cabin” of “clay and wattles” where he will support himself on beans he plants and honey from his beehive, and he will “live alone in the bee-loud glade.” There is also a sense that the “peace” he will find there is connected to its natural beauty.

Q3: How does the poet describe the lake’s waves?
Ans: The poet says that the lake’s waves hit its shore and create a low sound. The sound, different from the sounds of the city, gives him great pleasure. He hears it in his heart and enjoys it. It also gives him solace and comfort as he realises he can visualise the island in his heart in the city.

Q4: Why does the speaker in the poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” desire to spend his time alone in his cabin?
Ans: The speaker longs for a quiet place where he can live in peace and in harmony with nature. He envisions a simple life in a cottage surrounded by a garden instead of the dull “pavement” of the city. In his mind, he hears the gentle “lapping” of the water against its shore, the bee loud glade instead of the noise of city traffic. And he will be self-sufficient, growing his own food.

Q5: What words does the poet use to describe how calmness and tranquillity will come to him at Innsifree?
Ans: The poet declares that he will get up and go to Innisfree, where he will build a small cabin “of clay and wattles made.” There, he will have nine bean-rows and a beehive and live alone in the glade loud with the sound of bees. He says that he will have peace there, for peace drops from “the veils of morning to where the cricket sings.”

Long Answer Questions

Q1: How does Yeats create the atmosphere of the island and its sights and sounds in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”? Refer closely to the use of language in the first two stanzas.
Ans: The speaker begins by declaring that he will rise and go to Innisfree, a small island in the middle of Lough Gill, located in County Slogh. There the speaker will construct a cabin of mud and intertwined twigs or branches. He will lead a life of peace and quiet solitude, keeping busy with his garden of beans and a beehive.
The speaker reiterates that he will find calm in the dripping morning dew and singing crickets in the morning light, and this calm will continue throughout the day, when the sky glows purple in the noon and he hears the beating or finches’ wings in the evening, and finally, when the sky shimmers in the light of the stars at midnight.

Q2: Explain the contrast between the last four lines of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and the rest of the poem.
Ans:In the opening lines of the poem, the poet’s tone is dreamy and hopeful as the poet declares his intention of going to Innisfree. This is mainly achieved by the use of the future tense and the speaker’s desire to “arise and go now” to Innisfree. The speaker is sure he will live happily, will build his own home and grow and harvest his own food.

Innisfree takes on a magical character in the second stanza. The buzzing of the bees has, quietened and has been replaced by the gentler noise of crickets, the air is filled with birds in flight, and night and day have reversed their roles: “midnight’s all a glimmer and noon a purple glow.” It is also a place where peace is slow in coming but arrives nonetheless.

The reader is, however, aware that the speaker is not where he wishes to be, yet. The longing becomes more intense in the final stanza when the speaker says he hears the call to go to Innisfree “always night and day” and is even more determined to go to Innisfree. There is a sharp tone shift in the final two lines created by use of present tense “I stand” and “I hear”.

The soothing tone and mood is abruptly cut off and replaced by cold reality and the imagery of the street – to “roadway” and “pavements grey”. The speaker would rather not be where he is in that moment and his tone is sombre. But this mood does not last, as the speaker shifts to the present tense showing that though he stands on the “grey” pavement, he can access Innisfree in his own heart at any time.

Q3: Briefly describe the major theme of the poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, Nature vs City life.
Ans: A major theme in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, is nature versus the somber monotony of city life. Civilization, as represented by London, is monotonous and wearisome. On the other hand, Innisfree is magical with its He is not at peace, because peace is there only at Innisfree. Further, his use of “pavements gray” tells us that the urban environment in which he finds himself is exactly the opposite of the natural world he desires to return to.

On the other hand, Innisfree, which represents Nature, is magical in its appearance. The sounds one hears are the buzzing of bees, the flapping of the linnets’ wings, the singing of crickets and the lapping of the lake water aginst the shores. The sky is magical too. The dew drops from the sky in the morning light, the noon sky glows purple and the stars shimmer at midnight.

Q4: Why does the poet want to go Innisfree?
Ans:The speaker is standing on the pavement in London. He is surrounded by the sombre monotony of “grey” roadway and pavement and the sound of traffic. In that moment, perhaps fed up of the hubbub of the city life, the speaker decides to go to Innisfree. There, the speaker will construct a cabin of mud and intertwined twigs. In a life of quiet solitude, the speaker will keep busy with his garden of beans and a beehive. The speaker reiterates that he will find calm in the easy pace of dripping dew and singing crickets in the morning light, and this calm will continue throughout the day, the purple glow of the afternoon, and the beating of finches’ wings in the evening and shimmering of stars in the sky at midnight.

Q5: In W.B. Yeats’s poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” what indications does the speaker give of his present environment?
Ans: The first line of the poem makes it clear that the speaker is not at Innisfree. In this line, he expresses his wish to go there. Given his peaceful, idealistic description of Innisfree as a magical place that he would want to escape to, we might surmise that his current environment is quite different. If he longs so badly to escape to such a place, perhaps his current environment is bland, boring, oppressive.
He will have peace at Innisfree in the lap of Nature, implying he does not have peace where he is at present. He also brings out the sombre, monotony of the “grey” London pavements and the sound of traffic, by contrasting them with the sounds of bees, birds and crickets and the colours of the sky.

Reference to Context

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; 
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
(a) Who does T refer to in the stanza?
Ans: I is the speaker/ the poet William Butler Yeats

(b) Where is he at the present moment?
Ans: He is walking down a road in London.

(c) Where does he want to go?
Ans: He wants to go to the lake island of Innisfree, a place where he had spent a lot of time as a boy.

(d) What does he wish to do there?
Ans: He wishes to build a small hut of clay and wattles. He will sow nine rows of beans and keep a hive for the honeybee.

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
(a) Name the poetic device used in the first line.
Ans: Allusion: The poet’s declaration ‘’I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree” echoes the words of the prodigal son in the Bible when he says, ‘’I will arise and go to my father.”

(b) What does the word ‘there’ in the above lines refer to?
Ans: ‘There’ in the above lines refer to Lake Isle of Innisfree.

(c) Why does the poet wish to do go to Innisfree?
Ans: The poet wishes to live in the lap of Nature, away from the hubbub of the city.

(d) What does the stanza suggest about the poet?
Ans: The poet loves to live in the lap of nature.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow.
And evenings full of the linnet’s wings.
(a) What is the poet going there to find?
Ans: The poet hopes to find peace in Innisfree.

(b) Explain: What do you think “for peace comes dropping slow/ Dropping from the veils of the morning”?
Ans: The given lines indicate that peace of mind can be slowly acquired from the natural surroundings. It is peace that comes slowly, falling like morning mist from the sky and slowly fades away until it is night.

(c) How has noon been described in the stanza?
Ans: Noon has been described as a purple glow. Here, a purple glow in the sky gives noon a magical quality. The poet could also be referring to the sight of purple flowers of heather in the afternoon

(d) What is a ‘Linnet’?
Ans: A mainly brown and grey finch with a reddish breast and forehead.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow.
And evenings full of the linnet’s wings.
(a) Where is the poet at the moment?
Ans: He is standing on a pavement in London, imagining he is at Innisfree.

(b) What did the poet see in the morning?
Ans: The poet saw dewdrops which seemed to be dropping from the skies and which brought peace.

(c) What did the poet hear?
Ans: The poet heard the singing of the crickets and the flapping of the linnet’s wings.

(d) How does peace come in the morning?
Ans: The peace comes dropping in the form of dewdrops in the morning when the sun rises from behind the curtains of mist. It gives immense pleasure to the poet.

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
(a) What is the poet’s tone as he repeats “I will arise and go now”?
Ans: The poet is determined to go back to Innisfree.

(b) What does the poet hear?
Ans: The hears the lake water lapping with low sounds against the shore.

(c) What do you learn about the poet in this stanza?
Ans: The poet loves nature and is determined to return to live with nature.

(d) How does the poet contrast London and Innisfree?
Ans: The poet contrasts the colours of nature with the grey of the London streets.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
(a) Explain the line “lake water lapping with low sounds”.
Ans: The poet hears the quiet sound of lake’s waves as they gently break on the shore.

(b) Bring out the internal rhyme used in the above lines.
Ans: While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey

(c) Why does the poet want to go to Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Ans: The poet is unhappy with the life in the city. He wants to lead a peaceful life in the lap of nature. He wants to go to Innisfree because it is natural place full of beauty.

(d) Why is the poet looking for peace in Innisfree?
Ans: The poet is living in London at the moment. He does not find peace in the city.

Multiple Choice Questions

Q.1. What did the school headmaster say about Einstein?
(a) None of these
(b) He is great
(c) He can’t be a success at anything
(d)He would be a genius

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Q.2. What did the newspapers proclaim Einstein’s work?
(a)A scientific revolution
(b) An unscientific revolution
(c)A cinematic revolution
(d)An economic revolution

Correct Answer is Option (a)
The newspaper’s proclaimed Einstein’s work as a scientific revolution.

Q.3. What kind of prose do you think, A Truly Beautiful Mind can be categorised as?
(a) Novel
(b)Biographical text
(c) Autobiographical text
(d)Short story

Correct Answer is Option (b)
The prose titled A Truly Beautiful Mind is a biographical text on Albert Einstein.

Q.4. By what age did Einstein not learn to speak?
(a)Five and half years
(b)Three and half years
(c) Two and half years
(d)Four and half years

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Q.5. A Truly Beautiful Mind, what did Albert’s playmates call him?
(a) Boring Brat
(b)Brother Brown
(c) Brother Boring
(d) Big Brother

Correct Answer is Option (c)
Albert had no idea as to what he should do with the other children. He was like a boring child for his playmates so they named him “Brother Boring”.

Q.6. Why did Einstein write a public missive to the UN?
(a) He wanted to propose his theory in the UN.
(b) He wanted the membership of the UN.
(c)He was in favour of the world government.
(d)He was moved by world destruction.

Correct Answer is Option (c)
Einstein wrote a public missive to the United Nations and proposed the formation of a world government.

Q.7. Why did Einstein leave the school?
(a)For good
(b) He had clashed with the teachers
(c)All of these
(d)He didn’t like discipline and order in the school

Correct Answer is Option (c)

Q.8. Who was Einstein’s second wife?
(a)Mileva Maric
(b)Maja
(c)Einstein’s cousin Elsa
(d)He did not marry a second time

Correct Answer is Option (c)
The marriage with Mileva had proved fail and they got divorced in the year 1919. Einstein married his cousin Elsa in the same year.

Q.9. When was Albert Einstein born as per the date given in the text, A Truly Beautiful Mind
(a) 14th March 1859
(b)14th March 1879
(c)14th March 1889
(d) 14th March 1869

Correct Answer is Option (b)
Albert Einstein was born on 14th March 1879 in the German city of Ulm.

Q.10. To which the American President did Einstein write a letter about the destructive powers of such atomic bombs?
(a) Abraham Lincoln
(b)Theodore Roosevelt
(c) Franklin Pierce
(d)Franklin D. Roosevelt

Correct Answer is Option (d)
At the urging of a colleague, Einstein wrote a letter to the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt explaining to him the destructive power of the atomic bombs on 2nd August 1939.

Reference to Context

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
At the age of two-and-a-half, Einstein still wasn ’t talking. When he finally did learn to speak, he uttered everything twice. Einstein did not know what to do with other children, and his playmates called him “Brother Boring
(a) What did Einstein’s mother think of him when he was a baby? Why?
Ans: Einstein’s mother thought of him as a freak because to her, his head seemed much too large.

(b) Why does the writer point out that Einstein wasn’t talking till the age of two-and-a-half?
Ans: The writer points out that Einstein wasn’t talking till the age of two-and-a-half to clarify that his growth parameters were slower as compared to other children of his age.

(c) How did Einstein speak when he finally started talking?
Ans: When Einstein finally started talking, he used to utter everything twice.

(d) Why was Einstein called “Brother Boring” by his playmates?
Ans: Einstein’s playmates called him “Brother Boring” because he was an introvert and did not interact with other children.

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A headmaster once told his father that what Einstein chose as a profession would not matter, because “he will never make a success at anything ” Einstein began learning to play the violin at the age of six, because his mother wanted him to. He later became a gifted amateur violinist, maintaining this skill throughout his life.
(a) What was the headmaster’s opinion about Einstein?
Ans: The headmaster’s opinion about Einstein was that he would never be successful in his life.

(b) Why did Einstein leave the school in Munich?
Ans: Einstein left the school in Munich for good because he hated the school’s regimentation.

(c) Why did Einstein learn to play violin?
Ans: Einstein learnt to play the violin to fulfil the desire of his mother.

(d) What kind of a violin player was Einstein?
Ans: He was a gifted violin player.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
But Albert Einstein was not a bad pupil. He went to high school in Munich, where Einstein’s family had moved when he was 15 months old, and scored good marks in almost every subject.
(a) What had Einstein’s Headmaster said about him?
Ans: The headmaster had told his father that Einstein would never make a success at anything.

(b) What were Einstein’s achievements at school?
Ans: Albert Einstein was not a bad pupil and he scored good marks in almost every subject.

(c) Where did Einstein attend high school?
Ans: Einstein attended High School in Munich.

(d) What kind of a school did Einstein wish to join?
Ans: Einstein wanted to join a school which was more liberal and flexible.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Einstein hated the school’s regimentation and often clashed with his teachers. At the age of 15, Einstein felt so stifled there that he left the school for good.
(a) Why did Einstein clash with his teachers?
Ans: The strict regimentation in the school demanded unquestioning acceptance of the teachers’ words. Hence he often clashed with his teachers

(b) When did Einstein leave his school in Munich and why?
Ans: Einstein left his school in Munich when he was fifteen years of age because he felt completely suffocated by the rigid atmosphere there.

(c) Where did Einstein go after leaving his school in Munich?
Ans: Einstein went to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in a more liberal city than Munich.

(d) What does this tell you about Einstein?
Ans: Einstein had an independent and inquisitive mind and he did not like unquestioning obedience.

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Einstein was highly gifted in mathematics and interested in physics, and after finishing school, he decided to study at a university in Zurich. But science wasn ’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man with the walrus moustache.
(a) Where did Einstein want to continue his education? Why?
Ans: Einstein wanted to continue his education in German-speaking Switzerland because he felt this would be more liberal than Munich.

(b) What were his favourite subjects?
Ans: His favourite subjects were Mathematics and Physics.

(c) Explain: But science wasn’t the only thing that appealed to the dashing young man.
Ans: Einstein also felt a special interest in a fellow student, Mileva Marie, whom he found to be a “clever. creature” and whom he married later.

(d) Why did he see Mileva as an ally?
Ans: Einstein found in Mileva an ally because she disapproved of the “philistines” or the people who did not like art, literature or music.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
He worked as a teaching assistant, gave private lessons and finally secured a job in 1902 as a technical expert in the patent office in Bern. While he was supposed to be assessing other people’s inventions, Einstein was actually developing his own ideas in secret.
(a) How did Einstein earn a living before securing a job?
Ans: Before securing a job. Einstein gave private lessons and worked as a teaching assistant.

(b) When did Einstein secure a job? What was the nature of this job?
Ans: Einstein secured a job in 1902. This job was in a patent office and Einstein worked here as a technical assistant. In this job he was supposed to assess the inventions of other people.

(c) Why did Einstein develop his ideas in secret?
Ans: Einstein’s job required him to assess the inventions of other people. Therefore, he had to develop his ideas in secret.

(d) Where did he store his inventions? What did he call it?
Ans: He stored his inventions in his desk drawer at work which he called the “bureau of theoretical physics.”

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
One of the famous papers of 1905 was Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, according to which time and distance are not absolute.
(a) Explain the term “absolute”
Ans: The term “absolute” refers to something that is true, right, or the same in all situations and not depending on anything else.

(b) What according to Einstein are not absolute?
Ans: According to Einstein time and distance are not absolute.

(c) What is described by the formula E=mc²?
Ans: The relationship between mass and energy is described by this formula. In this formula, ‘E’ stands for energy, ‘m’ for mass and ‘c’ for speed of light in a vacuum.

(d) How did this formula establish Einstein as a scientific genius?
Ans: This formula, having been proved to be accurate, had become the most famous formula of the world and therefore, Einstein’s reputation as a scientific genius was established.

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
While Einstein was solving the most difficult problems in physics, his private life was unravelling. Albert had wanted to marry Mileva right after finishing his studies, but his mother was against it. She thought Mileva, who was three years older than her son, was too old for him. She was also bothered by Mileva’s intelligence. “She is a book like you, ” his mother said. Einstein put the wedding off.
(a) Where was Mileva from? Why did she join Zurich University?
Ans: Mileva was a Serb who had joined Zurich University because it was one of the few places in Europe where women could get degrees.

(b) Why did Einstein’s mother oppose his marriage with Mileva?
Ans: Mileva was three years older than him and very intelligent.

(c) Why did Einstein put the wedding off?
Ans: Einstein put his wedding off because his mother was against the marriage.

(d) When did Einstein get married to Mileva?
Ans: He got married to Mileva in 1903.

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
The pair finally got married in January 1903, and had two sons. But a few years later, the marriage faltered.
(a) Name the couple being talked about?
Ans: The couple being talked about is Albert Einstein and Mileva Marie.

(b) What happened to their marriage?
Ans: With the passage of time, their marriage became weak and failed.

(c) Why did their marriage falter?
Ans: Their marriage faltered because Mileva, who was losing her intellectual ambition, was becoming an unhappy housewife and the couple were constantly fighting.

(d) Whom did Einstein marry later?
Ans: Einstein later married his cousin, Elsa.

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Many of them had fled from Fascism, just as Einstein had, and now they were afraid the Nazis could build and use an atomic bomb.
(a) What does the word ‘fascism’ mean?
Ans: Fascism refers to a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed.

(b) Who does ‘they’ refer to in the above lines?
Ans: In the above lines ‘they’ refers to the American Physicists who had escaped from dictatorship in their parent countries.

(c) When and where had many of them fled from? Why?
Ans: Many of them had fled to America when the Nazis came to power in Germany. They had to flee their country, because they feared suppression of their liberal ideas by the dictatorial Nazis.

(d) What were they afraid of and why?
Ans: They were afraid that the discovery of nuclear fission could be developed by Germany to build and use an atomic bomb which could be misused to cause massive destruction.

Q11: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Einstein was deeply shaken by the extent of the destruction. This time he wrote a public missive to the United Nations In it he proposed the formation of a world government. Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact.
(a) What ‘destruction’ shook Einstein?
Ans: When the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It caused heavy destruction. Einstein was moved because of the extent of damage to life and environment.

(b) What did Einstein write and to whom?
Ans: Einstein wrote to the United Nations proposing the formation of a world government.

(c) Who was Roosevelt? Why had Einstein written to him?
Ans: Franklin Roosevelt was the President of USA. Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt in which he warned him by saying, ‘a single bomb of this type might very well destroy the whole part with some of the surrounding territory’, i.e., a letter warning him about the damage the bomb blast could cause.

(d) How had Roosevelt responded?
Ans: Taking heed of Einstein’s warning, the Americans developed the atomic bomb in a secret project of their own, and dropped it on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Q12: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Unlike the letter to Roosevelt, this one made no impact. But over the next decade, Einstein got ever more involved in politics – agitating for an end to the arms buildup and using his popularity to campaign for peace and democracy.
(a) What does ‘this one’ refer to?
Ans: ‘This one’ refers to Einstein’s letter to the United Nations.

(b) Who had written a letter to Roosevelt and why?
Ans: Einstein had written a letter to President Roosevelt to warn him against the atom bomb that Germany could make on the principle of nuclear fission.

(c) What had Einstein written in ‘this one’?
Ans: The letter written by Einstein to the United Nations spoke about the need for forming a world government to counter destructive acts like the use of atom bombs.

(d) Why did Einstein get more involved in politics?
Ans: Einstein got more involved in politics because he was a supporter of world peace and harmony and in this manner he launched an agitation to end arms buildup and campaigned for peace and democracy.

Multiple Choice Questions

Q.1. Find the word from the poem Rain on the Roof which means a repeated part of a song or a poem.
(a) Refrain
(b)Fancies
(c) Shingles
(d) Patter

Ans: (a)
The refrain is referred to as a repeated line(s) of a poem or a song. In this poem, the poet refers to the repeated sound of the rain on the roof of his cottage as the refrain.

Q.2. What is the favourite activity of the poet during the rainy season?
(a) Eating snacks
(b) Lie on the bed and listen to the pitter-patter sound of the rain
(c)Roaming on the roof
(d) Listening to the music

Ans: (b)

Q.3. What does the poet attach the darkness with?
(a)Pleasant
(b)Sadness
(c) Soothing
(d)Joyful mood

Ans: (b)

Q.4. Which figure of speech has been used in the phrase darling dreamers?
(a) Anaphora
(b)Antithesis
(c)Anticlimax
(d) Alliteration

Ans: (d)
The sound of the consonant has been repeated at the beginning of two consecutive words darling dreamers which stands as an example of Alliteration.

Q.5. Where is the rain making a noise?
(a) In the lanes
(b) On the roof
(c)In the garden
(d)In the room

Ans: (b)

Q.6. Which figure of speech has been used in the phrase starry spheres?
(a) Antithesis
(b)Apostrophe
(c) Alliteration
(d)Anaphora

Ans: (c)
The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of consecutive words or nearly consecutive words is known as Alliteration.

Q.7. Whose memory comes to the poet when he listens to the rain?
(a)The memory of his dear friend
(b)The memory of his mother
(c)The memory of his beloved
(d)The memory of his father

Ans: (b)
The memory of the poet’s mother comes to him as they have been separated long ago by her death.

Q.8. What does cottage-chamber mean?
(a) A separate building next to the cottage
(b)All of these
(c)Type of bed
(d)A room in the cottage

Ans: (d)

Q.9. What tinkles on the shingles?
(a)Raindrops
(b) Silver bangles
(c)Brass-bells
(d) Hailstones

Ans: (a)

Q.10. Select the correct meaning of refrain.
(a) The noise of the rain
(b) Stop making noise
(c) Sound of piano music
(d) Making refined efforts

Ans:  (a)

Very Short Answer Questions

Q1: What do the humid shadows refer to?
Ans: The humid shadows refer to the dark clouds.

Q2: What does the poet like to do when it rains?
Ans: When it rains the poet like to keep lying in his cosy bed and enjoy listening to the patter of soft raindrops.

Q3: What makes an echo in the poet’s heart?
Ans:The sound of raindrops on the roof makes an echo in the poet’s heart.

Q4: Where do the raindrop patter?
Ans: The raindrops patter on the shingles of the roof.

Q5: Is the poet, Coates Kinney, a child now?
Ans: No, he is not a child now.

Short Answer Questions

Q1: How old do you think the poet is? Justify your answer.
Ans: The poet is a young man. He remembers his mother looking down at him and his siblings, who are sleeping in their room, long ago. The poet’s mother also is no longer alive as he says she lives on in his memories.

Q2: ‘And the melancholy darkness gently weeps in rainy tears.’ Explain the phrase ‘melancholy darkness’. What does it do?
Ans:“Melancholy darkness” refers to the dark rain bearing clouds. The poet imagines that the clouds covering the sky are gloomy and depressed because they are heavy and grey. The poet further imagines that the clouds are weeping and their tears are falling down as rain drops.

Q3: What does the poet like to do when it rains?
Ans:The poet likes to lie in his room in his cottage, snug in bed with his head on a pillow when it rains. It gives him the greatest pleasure.

Q4: What are the poet’s feelings as the rain falls on the shingles?
Ans:As the rain falls on the shingles, its tinkling sound creates an echo in the poet’s heart. As he listens to the patter of the raindrops on the roof, his gloom is lifted and his heart is filled with a thousand fantasies and fond memories of his mother.

Q5: “And a thousand dreamy fancies into busy heart.” When do the ‘thousand dreamy fancies’ begin in the poet’s heart?
Ans:When the poet is in his cottage and lies in his cosy bed listening to the soft music of rain on the roof, his mind is flooded with various thoughts and imaginations. The soothing sound of the gentle rain on the shingles fires his imagination

Long Answer Questions

Q1: How does the rain affect the poet? Describe.
Ans: Though at first the sight of the gathering dark clouds fills the poet’s mind with dismay and unhappiness, the gentle patter of the rain falling on his roof soon soothes him. The poet liees in his cosy bed, his head on his pillow and listens to the patter of the raindrops on the shingles. The gentle sound ills him with bliss. A thousand fantasies fill his mind. He is filled with nostalgia as he remembers his mother. He recalls how his mother had looked at him and his sleeping siblings with fondness as they lay in their beds. Hence, the rain is a bliss for the poet.

Q2: In what way are the poems The Road Not Taken and Rain on the Roof evocative of the past?
Ans: In both the poems The Road Not Taken and Rain on the Roof there is a certain nostalgia for events long gone by. In The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost talks with regret about a decision taken long ago to take a certain path in the woods. He had thought of taking the second path sometime in the future. Though he knew, even at that time, that the chances of his returning that way were slim. So his tone is one of regret.
On the other hand, the poet in Rain on the Roof is first filled with melancholy and gloom at the sight of the gathering clouds. However, the gentle patter of the rain soothes him and fills his mind with fond memories of his mother smiling down at him. Thus Kinney’s feelings of unhappiness vanish and he is at peace.

Q3: How does the poet describe the falling rain in the poem ‘Rain on the Roof?
Ans: The poet first describes the falling rain as the tears of clouds. The dark rain bearing clouds appear gloomy and depressed to him. Therefore, they are weeping. Their tears fall to earth as gentle rain. However, as he listens to the patter of rain on the shingles, it provides him immense pleasure. The poet loves to hear the melodious sound of nature. He listens to the patter of soft rain on the wooden roof and is lost in fantasies.
He considers it a rare happiness to listen to the patter of the rain on the roof. Rain brings to his mind memories . of long gone days when he was a child, and he lay sleeping in his room along with his siblings, as his mother gazed down at them with love.

Q4: What happens when the poet listens to the patter of the rain? Do you think that rain is a narrative tool in the poet’s life?
Ans: The raindrops play music on the roof and create a tinkling sound on the shingles. To the poet this music is blissful. At the beginning of the poem there is certain tinge of sadness, and the poet talks of “melancholy darkness/ Gently weeps in rainy tears’. However, as he lies in his cosy bed, a feeling of bliss washes over him. Every raindrop on the tiles of the roof creates a rhythm with the poet’s heartbeat.

The poet tries to focus on listening to the pitter-patter on the roof whereas his mind weaves the recollections of fond memories of yester years. Rain bears a subtle link with all aspects of life. It serves as a powerful narrative tool in the poet’s life as it evokes fantasies and nostalgia in the poet. He recalls his mother in a poignant manner.

Reference to Context Questions

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a bliss to press the pillow
Of a cottage-chamber bed
And lie listening to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!
(a) What does the phrase “humid shadows” refer to?
Ans: “Humid shadows” refer to the dark clouds that cause rain.

(b) What are “starry spheres”?
Ans: The stars that shine in the sky at night are called starry spheres.

(c) Why does the poet call the darkness melancholy?
Ans: The night is dark and gloomy. Perhaps the poet is also in a despondent mood. Where is the poet at the moment?

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
The poet is in his bed in his cottage.
When the humid shadows hover
Over all the starry spheres
And the melancholy darkness
Gently weeps in rainy tears,
What a bliss to press the pillow
Of a cottage-chamber bed
And lie listening to the patter
Of the soft rain overhead!
(a) Who weeps in the form of rainy tears?
Ans: The dark rain-bearing clouds weep tears of rain in their sadness.

(b) Which line shows that the poet is happy when it rains?
Ans: What a bliss to press the pillow shows his happiness.

(c) What memories does the rain bring to the poet’s mind?
Ans: The poet remembers his mother looking down at her sleeping children before going to her room. Name the poetic device used in the above lines.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Alliteration: Over all the starry spheres
What a bliss to press the pillow
And lie listening to the patter
Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their air-threads into woof,
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof
(a) What echoes in the poet’s heart?
Ans: The patter of soft rain on the roof echoes in the heart of the poet.

(b) Explain: a thousand dreamy fancies into busy being start.
Ans: This phrase refers to the various imaginary thoughts and fantasies that are aroused in the poet’s mind.

(c) What starts ‘a thousand dreamy fancies’?
Ans: The tinkling sound of the raindrops on the roof starts a thousand dreamy fancies.

(d) What is a refrain? Find lines from the poem that form its refrain.
Ans: A refrain is the repetition of lines or whole phrases in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza. It creates a musical effect and lends unity to a piece.
Example:
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Every tinkle on the shingles
Has an echo in the heart;
And a thousand dreamy fancies
Into busy being start,
And a thousand recollections
Weave their air-threads into woof
As I listen to the patter
Of the rain upon the roof
(a) Explain ‘shingles’. What is tinkling on the shingles?
Ans: Shingles are thin rectangular tiles, especially made of wood, that are laid with others in overlapping rows to form the roof. Rain is making a sharp sound as it hits the tiles.

(b) What finds an echo in the poet’s heart?
Ans: The tinkle of rain on the shingles finds an echo in the poet’s heart.

(c) Who is a busy being? What happens to his mind?
Ans: The ‘busy being’ refers to the poet. His mind is flooded with fantasies and memories.

(d) Explain: “A thousand recollections weave their air-threads into woof’.
Ans: While weaving a fabric, the threads that run lengthwise are called warp and the threads that run across are known as woof. The poet means that numerous memories intermingle to form a beautiful picture that the poet recollects.’

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Now in memory comes my mother,
As she used in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn:
O! Ifeel her fond look on me
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the shingles
By the patter of the rain.
(a) Whom does the poet remember?
Ans: The poet remembers his mother.

(b) Who are the darling dreamers?
Ans: The darling dreamers are the poet and his siblings who are fast asleep.

(c) How did the poet’s mother gaze at the dreamers?
Ans: The poet’s mother gazes her sleeping children with fondness.

(d) What does he feel? Is his mother alive?
Ans: The poet remembers his mother who died many years ago with longing.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Now in memory comes my mother,
As she used in years agone,
To regard the darling dreamers
Ere she left them till the dawn:
O! Ifeel her fond look on me
As I list to this refrain
Which is played upon the
shingles By the patter of the rain.
(a) What is the poet doing at the moment?
Ans: The poet is lying in his bed listening to the sound of the rain,

(b) What is the memory that comes to the poet?
Ans: The poet remembers his mother standing next to their bed and gazing at her children fondly.

(c) What are the poet’s feelings for his family?
Ans: The poet loves his family. He calls his sleeping siblings “darling dreamers” and he remembers his mother very fondly.

(d) Name a poetic device used in the last line.
Ans: Onomatopoeia : Patter of rain

Multiple Choice Questions

Q1. Why do you think Katherine Mansfield titled her story like The Little Girl?
(a) Because the story talks about the little girl and her feelings
(b) Because the story has a little girl in it
(c) Because The Little Girl seems to be an attractive and interesting title for a story
(d) Because Katherine Mansfield liked the little girl in the story
Ans: (a)
Sol: The story gives us an insight to a little girl’s mind beautifully explaining the thoughts and the emotions that these little children go through or might experience in certain circumstances and how they gradually begin to understand life in their own little way. Therefore,  the title is appropriate for this story.

Q2. Kezia was beaten up with a ruler by her father because
(a) she went to an ice cream parlour
(b) she failed in her exam
(c) she disagreed to sleep alone
(d) she has torn down the papers of her father’s speech
Ans: (d)

Q3. Kezia saw these children playing
(a) football
(b) badminton
(c) hide and seek
(d) tag
Ans: (d)

Q4. How many children did the Macdonalds have in the text titled The Little Girl?
(a) Five
(b) Six
(c) Four
(d) Three
Ans: (a)
Sol: The Macdonalds had five children. Among them was the baby Mao, two little girls and two boys who played with their father in the evening.

Q5. Why did Kezia tear the papers?
(a) To clean her room
(b) To play
(c) All of these
(d) To fill the cushion
Ans: (d)

Q6. In the text The Little Girl,  whom did Kezia find standing at her bedside with a candle when she woke up in the dark due to her nightmare?
(a) The cook, Alice
(b) Her Grannie
(c) Her Father
(d) Her Mother
Ans: (c)
Sol: Kezia often had nightmares and sleeping alone in the dark made it scarier for her. She woke up shivering and found her father standing beside the bed with a candle in his hand.

Q7: The father who lived next door to Kezia’s would
(a) make barbeque
(b) play and laugh
(c) water his plants
(d) speak angrily
Ans: (b)

Q8: Why was Kezia afraid of her father?
(a) Once he beat her for tearing his papers
(b) She thought that he was a hard-hearted man
(c) He used to speak rudely to her and always found faults in her
(d) All of these
Ans: (d)

Q9: Which family lived in the neighbourhood of Katherine?
(a) The Smiths
(b) The Wilson Family
(c) The Johnsons
(d) The Macdonald Family
Ans: (d)
Sol: The Macdonald family was Kezia’s next-door neighbour.

Q.10. What would Kezia find her mother doing on Sunday afternoons in the drawing-room?
(a) Nothing
(b) Reading
(c) Busy in her work
(d) Talking to her father
Ans:  (b)

Short Answer Questions

Q1: Why was Kezia scared of her father?
Ans: Kezia’s father was a busy man and had little time for the little girl. Being a very disciplined man, he was strict with Kezia as well and she would at times get harsh words of scolding and physical punishment from him. He never displated any soft feelings for his little daughter nor did he play with her like Mr Macdonald. All he did was giving her a perfunctory kiss rather than a loving one. Moreover, he was a large man, and his size, too, terrified the little girl. So scared was Kezia of him that she felt relieved when he was gone from home

Q2: What was Kezia’s father’s routine before going to office and after coming back in the evening?
Ans: Before going to office, Kezia’s father would come to her room, give her a perfunctory kiss and leave for work. He would return in the evening and in a loud voice ask for his tea, the papers and his slippers to be brought into the drawing-room. He would wait for Kezia to help him take off his shoes and exchange a few words with Kezia.

Q3: Why did Kezia go slowly towards the drawing-room when mother asked her to come downstairs?
Ans: Kezia was afraid of her dominating father. He always scolded her for one thing or the other and did not display any soft feelings or affection for his little daughter. So frightened was she of him that she went very slowly towards the drawing-room when she was asked to come downstairs to take off his shoes.

Q4: Why did Kezia stutter while speaking to Father?
Ans: Kezia’s father’s had a loud and domineering personality and he frequently frequent rebuked her for her behaviour and appearance. His constant criticism and scolding shook her self-confidence. Moreover, his large size frightened her. Though Kezia tried her best to please him, she found herself tongue-tied while talking to him. This made her stutter in his presence.

Q5: Why was Father often irritated with Kezia?
Ans: Kezia was very scared of her father. She stuttered when he spoke to her. Also, the terrified expression on her face irritated him. In his presence she wore an expression of wretchedness. He felt that with such an expression, she seemed as if she were on the verge of suicide.

Long Answer Questions

Q1: Do you think the Kezia deserved the beating she got for her mistake? What light does this incident throw on her father’s character?
Ans: Kezia earned her father’s wrath for tearing his speech for the Port Authority to stuff a pin-cushion she was making for him as a birthday present. When Father discovered that Kezia was the culprit, he punished her by beating her little pink palms with a ruler to teach her not to touch what did not belong to her.
I think it was too harsh a punishment for an innocent mistake of a fond daughter who was making a gift for her father. Undoubtedly, the papers were extremely important for him and their loss must have caused him a lot of inconvenience but he should have heard out Kezia’s explanation, and understood and appreciated Kezia’s intentions. A firm but gentle reprimand would have sufficed to teach the sensitive Kezia not to touch things that did not belong to her. This incident shows that Father was a very insensitive and harsh man who demanded a very high standard of discipline from his daughter and did not tolerate any disobedience.

Q2: Briefly comment on Kezia’s relationship with her grandmother?
Ans: The little girl is extremely close to her loving and sympathetic grandmother. Failing to get any expression of affection from her parents, especially her father, Kezia turns to her grandmother for the emotional support and comfort that she needs. She turns to her to fulfill her need for love and protection.
Grandmother too showers love upon the little girl. She keeps trying to help the girl build her bridges with her parents. She advises Kezia to talk to her parents when they would be more relaxed as they sat in the drawing¬room on a Sunday afternoon. Again, she suggests to Kezia suggests that she should make a pin-cushion for her father as a present for his birthday. When Father beats Kezia, it is grandmother who tries first to reason with her son and then consoles and comforts Kezia by covering her with her shawl and allowing the child to cling to her soft body.
We also learn that, at night, when Kezia is scared by the dark or by her nightmares, it is for her grandmother that the little girl calls out, and it is grandmother who takes her into her own bed. Hence, her love and support make Kezia look upto her for everything.

Q3: What impression do you form of Kezia’s mother?
Ans: Kezia’s mother is very unapproachable, aloof figure, quite unlike a loving mother a young girl desires and needs. Perhaps her ill-health and her strict and domineering husbands demands leave her with very little room to pay the desired attention to her daughter. Her relationship with her daughter is distant. She treats the little girl in accordance with her husband’s expectations. She orders her to take off her father’s shoes and put them outside as this would indicate obedience. On Sunday afternoons, she spends her time engrossed in her reading, rather than talking to her daughter.
When Kezia innocently tears her father’s papers, she drags her downstairs to face Father’s wrath. She does not try to reason with Father when he reprimands and beats the little girl. She neither defends nor protects her in any way. She does not even go to assuage her traumatised daughter’s physical and emotional hurt. Little wonder then that Kezia turns to her grandmother to fulfill her need for motherly care and affection.

Q4: Kezia decides that there are “different kinds of fathers.” Comment on Kezia’s remark in the light of her relationship with her father and that of the Macdonald children with their father?
Ans: Kezia’s father was a busy man. He was so lost in his business that he had no time for his family. Being a very strict disciplinarian, he was strict with Kezia as well. He did not display any soft feelings for his little daughter through word or deed. All he did was give her a perfunctory kiss rather than a loving one as he left for work each morning. His presence at home frightened Kezia and she was relieved when he was gone. Kezia was unable to speak without stuttering in her father’s presence. Yet, despite all this, Kezia’s father had a loving heart as Kezia discovered when she had her nightmare and she was alone with him.

At once, Father came and took her to his room, made her lie with him and comforted her. He asked her to rub her feet against his legs for warmth. This showed the little girl her father truly loved her and it brought her close to her father. Mr Macdonald, Kezia’s next door neighbour, had five children and Kezia would often see them playing in their garden. One day, when Kezia looked through the gap in the fence she saw the Macdonalds playing ‘tag’.

It was evening, and Mr Macdonald had just returned from work but unlike her father, he looked happy to be playing with his children. He had baby Mao was on his shoulders, and the two girls were hanging on to his coat pockets. The party ran around the flower beds, shaking with laughter. Mr. Macdonald’s sons turned the hose on him and he tried to catch them laughing all the time.

This happy scene made Kezia conclude that there were different sorts of fathers. Mr Macdonald was so different from her own father. He was not at all strict, was always happy and thoroughly enjoyed the company of his children. In contrast, her own father was often in an angry mood and remained much too busy in his work. She dreaded him and avoided his company as much as she could. Whenever she was with him, she would stautter and look silly, like “a brown owl”. His strict discipline and his domineering nature made Kezia wonder what God made fathers for.

Q5: How does Kezia begin to see her father as a human being who needs her sympathy?
Ans: Kezia was scared of her father as he looked like a giant. Every morning he came to her room and gave her a perfunctory kiss before leaving for work, but even that contact with him left her feeling uneasy. She was relieved when her father left home for work. Kezia’s father often mocked or rebuked her and once he even beat her for tearing some of his important papers. So great was her fear of him that she stuttered while answering him.
However, a nightmare one night made Kezia discover the tender, caring and loving side of her father. One night when she was alone at home with her father, and she cried out in fear, he came at once to her room, lifted her in his arms and took her to his room. He comforted her and tucked her up nicely and slept next to her. He asked her to rub her feet against his legs for warmth. This incident brought her close to her father.
She felt sorry for him as he had to work so hard that he had no time to play with her. She even realized that her father loved her but didn’t have the art of expressing it. Thus, her attitude towards her father changed and became more understanding and sympathetic.

Reference Based Questions

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided. Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with “Goodbye, Father And oh, there was a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road!

(a) Who does ‘he’ refer to in this extract?
Ans: He refers to the father of the little girl, Kezia.

(b) What kind of a person was Kezia’s father?
Ans: He was a strict disciplinarian with a harsh exterior.

(c) What were the feelings of the little girl towards him?
Ans: The little girl was afraid of him and tried to avoid him.

(d) How did she feel when her father left for office?
Ans: She heaved a sigh of relief after he left for his office.

Q2: To the little girl he was a figure to be feared and avoided. Every morning before going to work he came into her room and gave her a casual kiss, to which she responded with “Goodbye, Father”. And oh, there was a glad sense of relief when she heard the noise of the carriage growing fainter and fainter down the long road!

(a) Who is the little girl?
Ans: The little girl is Kezia.

(b) Who were the people in Kezia’s family?
Ans: Kezia’s family consisted of her father, mother, grandmother and herself.

(c) What did ‘he’ do before going to work every morning?
Ans: Before going to work every morning, he came to Kezia’s room and casually kissed her.

(d) What does this gesture show about him?
Ans: This gesture shows that he loved her girl but was not very expressive in his affection

Q3: She never stuttered with other people – had quite given it up – but only with Father, because then she was trying so hard to say the words properly.
(a) Who is ‘she’ in this extract?
Ans: ‘She’ is Kezia, the little girl who was afraid of her father.

(b) What had she “quite given up”?
Ans: She had quite given up the occasional stuttering in front of other people.

(c) How did ‘she’ speak in the presence of her father?
Ans: In the presence of her father, Kezia stuttered while speaking and displayed lack of confidence.

(d) Why did ‘she’ stutter in her father’s presence?
Ans: Kezia was afraid of her father and hesitated to speak to him, also whenever she had to speak to him, she would stutter because then she was trying so hard to say the words properly.

Q4: ‘‘What’s the matter? What are you looking so wretched about? Mother, I wish you taught this child not to appear on the brink of suicide … Here, Kezia, carry my teacup back to the table carefully. ” He was so big – his hands and his neck, especially his mouth when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking about a giant.

(a) Who is the speaker in these lines?
Ans: The speaker is Kezia’s father.

(b) Where are they at the moment? What time is it?
Ans: They are in the drawing room. It is evening and Father has just returned from work.

(c) How does Kezia look in her father’s presence? Why?
Ans: Kezia looks miserable and gloomy in his presence because she is scared of him.

(d) Why was she scared of her father?
Ans: She was scared of him because he was a large, loud man and he often reprimanded her.

Q5: Slowly the girl would slip down the stairs, more slowly still across the hall, and push open the drawing – room door.
(a) What time of the day is it?
Ans: It is evening and Father is back from work.

(b) Where is the little girl going?
Ans: The little girl is going to the drawing room, where her father is sitting.

(c) Why is she going there?
Ans: She is going there to help him take off his shoes.

(d) Why does she go slowly?
Ans: She goes slowly because she is afraid of her father and is reluctant to go in his presence.

Q6: He was so big – his hands and his neck, especially his mouth when he yawned. Thinking about him alone was like thinking about a giant.
(a) Who is ‘he’ in the above extract?
Ans: In this extract, ‘he’ refers to the father of Kezia, who was a very strict disciplinarian.

(b) Why does the speaker find him so big?
Ans: The speaker is his little daughter, Kezia, who is very scared of him. Hence she finds a really big and giant-like with big hands, neck and mouth.

(c) Why does the speaker think of him as a giant?
Ans: The speaker, Kezia, thought of him as a giant because to a small girl like her, his big body structure was as frightening as that of a giant of children’s stories.

(d) When did his mouth especially appear big?
Ans: His mouth especially appeared big when he opened it wide while yawning.

Q7: On Sunday afternoons Grandmother sent her down to the drawing-room to have a “nice talk with Father and Mother”. But the little girl always found Mother reading and Father stretched out on the sofa, his handkerchief on his face, his feet on one of the best cushions, sleeping soundly and snoring.
(a) Where did Grandmother send ‘her’? Why?
Ans: Grandmother would send her to the drawing room to talk to her parents.

(b) What would ‘her’ parents be doing?
Ans: Her mother would be reading and her father would be sleeping.

(c) What do you learn about Mother from this passage?
Ans: Mother is unconcerned and not very loving as she would ignore Kezia and continue to read.

(d) What would Father say to the little girl when he got up?
Ans: When he got up Father would ask why Kezia was looking at him like a brown owl.

Q8: One day, when she was kept indoors with a cold, her grandmother told her that father’s birthday was next week, and suggested she should make him a pin-cushion for a gift out of a beautiful piece of yellow silk.
(a) Who had a cold? What was the result of the cold?
Ans: Kezia had a cold and so she could not go out, but had to stay indoors.

(b) What was the occasion next week?
Ans: It was Kezia’s father’s birthday next week.

(c) What did her grandmother want her to do?
Ans: Grandmother wanted Kezia to make a gift for her father, a pin-cushion.

(d) What did Kezia use for stuffing the pin-cushion?
Ans: Kezia used some papers she found on a bed-table in her parents’ bedroom for stuffing the pin-cushion. Unfortunately, the papers were an important speech written by her father.

Q9: “Mother, go up to her room and fetch down the damned thing – see that the child’s put to bed this instant. ”
(a) Who speaks these lines and to whom?
Ans: Kezia’s father speaks these lines to his mother.

(b) What is the mood of the speaker in these lines?
Ans: The speaker, Kezia’s father, is very angry while speaking.

(c) What does the speaker refer to as the ‘damned thing’?
Ans: The ‘damned thing’ referred to by the speaker, Kezia’s father, is the pin-cushion Kezia had made for him.

(d) Who is the ‘child’ here? Why does the speaker wish the child to be put to bed immediately?
Ans: The ‘child’ here is Kezia. Her father, the speaker, wishes her to be put to bed immediately because he is furious at the damage caused by her. He wants to punish her for tearing up his papers.

Q10: “Sit up, ” he ordered, “and hold out your hands. You must be taught once and for all not to touch what does not belong to you. ”
(a) Who is the speaker? Who is he talking to?
Ans: Kezia’s father is talking to Kezia.

(b) Where are they at the moment?
Ans: They are in Kezia’s bedroom where she had been sent for tearing up her father’s papers.

(c) Why does the speaker want the listener to hold out her hands?
Ans: Kezia’s father wanted her to hold out her hands so that he could punish her by hitting her on the palms

(d) What do you learn about the speaker from these lines?
Ans: He is a strict disciplinarian and is punishing his little daughter for tearing up his important papers. He is also unforgiving.

Q11: “But it was for your b-b-birthday. ”
Down came the ruler on her little, pink palms.
(a) Who speaks these words? To whom?
Ans: Kezia speaks these words to her father.

(b) Where are they at the moment?
Ans: They are in Kezia’s bedroom at the moment.

(c) Why does she speak these words?
Ans: She speaks these words to try and explain to her father why she had cut up the papers.

(d) Who brought down ‘the ruler on her little, pink palms’? Why?
Ans: Kezia’s father brought down the ruler on her palms to punish her for touching his papers without permission.

Q12: “Here’s a clean hanky, darling. Blow your nose. Go to sleep, pet; you ’ll forget all about it in the morning. I tried to explain to Father but he was too upset to listen tonight. ”

(a) Why does the speaker offer the listener a clean hanky?
Ans: Grandmother, the speaker, offers a clean hanky because Kezia had been crying after she was punished by her father for tearing up his important papers. She needed a clean hanky to blow her running nose.

(b) What did the speaker want the listener to forget?
Ans: Grandmother, the speaker, wanted Kezia, the listener to forget about the beating that she had got from her Father.

(c) Why did she want the listener to forget it?
Ans: She wanted her to forget it because the punishment was not given to hurt but to make her understand that things belonging to others must not be touched.

(d) What do you think had the speaker tried to explain to Father?
Ans: Grandmother, the speaker, tried to explain to Father that Kezia had not destroyed the papers intentionally and that she had been trying to complete his surprise birthday gift.

Q13: But the child never forgot. Next time she saw him, she quickly put both hands behind her back and a red colour flew into her cheeks.
(a) What did the child never forget?
Ans: The child, Kezia, never forgot how her father had punished her and hit her.

(b) Why did she put her hands behind her back?
Ans: Father had hit her on her palms with a ruler. She remembered the pain, and was afraid of being punished again.

(c) What had she done to get punished by her father?
Ans: She had tom up his important speech in order to stuff the pin-cushion she was making as a surprise gift for him.

(d) What did she wish her father to be?
Ans: She wished for her father to be more like Mr Macdonald

Q14: Looking through a gap in the fence the little girl saw them playing ‘tag ’ in the evening. The father with the baby, Mao, on his shoulders, two little girls hanging on to his coat pockets ran round and round the flower¬beds, shaking with laughter. Once she saw the boys turn the hose on him-and he tried to catch them laughing all the time.

(a) Who is ‘them’?
Ans: ‘Them’ refers to Kezia’s neighbours, Mr Macdonald and his five children.

(b) What is the little girl doing at the moment?
Ans: The little girl is looking at her neighbours, the Macdonald’s through a gap in the fence. The family are playing together.

(c) How is the relationship of the children with their father different from the little girl’s with hers?
Ans: Unlike Kezia, the Macdonald children were not at all afraid of their father. In fact they were all playing and laughing together.

(d) What did she wish as she saw the family?
Ans: As she the children laughing and playing with their father, the little girl wished for her father to be like Mr Macdonald.

Q15: “What’ll 1 do if I have a nightmare? ” she asked. “I often have nightmares and then Grannie takes me into her bed—I can’t stay in the dark- gets ‘whispery ’…”.
(a) Who is the speaker in these lines? Who is being addressed?
Ans: In these lines, the speaker is Kezia, the little girl and she is addressing Alice, the cook.

(b) What happens when the speaker has nightmares?
Ans: When Kezia has nightmares, she is comforted by her grandmother who takes the little girl into her bed

(c) Where was Grannie right now?
Ans: Kezia’s Grannie was at the hospital with Kezia’s mother who is unwell.

(d) Who was beside her bed when she woke shivering that night?
Ans: Kezia’s father came to her when she had her nightmare and cried out in her sleep. He took her to his bed with him.

Q16: Oh, a butcher – a knife – I want Grannie. ” He blew out the candle, bent down and caught up the child in his arms, carrying her along the passage to the big bedroom. A newspaper was on the bed – a half-smoked cigar was near his reading-lamp. He put away the paper, threw the cigar into the fireplace, then carefully tucked up the child. He lay down beside her.

(a) Who wanted Granny? Why?
Ans: Kezia wanted Granny because whenever she had a nightmare Granny would soothe her and take her into her bed with her.

(b) Who blew out the candle? Why?
Ans: Father blew out the candle because he wanted to carry Kezia to his room.

(c) Where was the butcher?
Ans: The butcher was in Kezia’s nightmare.

(d) What does her father’s behaviour in the passage show?
Ans: He was a loving and caring father.

Q17: Then the dark did not matter; she lay still.
(a) When did the dark not matter? Why?
Ans: The dark did not matter because Kezia’s father had brought her to his bed. She felt safe now.

(b) Why had she been afraid in the dark?
Ans: She was afraid of the dark because of her nightmare.

(c) What nightmare did she have?
Ans: Kezia dreamt of a butcher with a knife and a rope, who came nearer and nearer, smiling a dreadful smile, while she could not move, could only stand still, crying out in fear.

(d) What did her father do? What does her father’s behaviour show?
Ans: Her father got her to his bed and tucked her in nicely next to himself. This shows he was a loving, caring father.

Q18: He was harder than Grandmother, but it was a nice hardness. And every day he had to work and was too tired to be a Mr Macdonald… She had torn up all his beautiful writing … She stirred suddenly and sighed.

(a) Who was harder than Grandmother?
Ans: Kezia’s father was harder than her grandmother.

(b) Explain “harder than Grandmother”.
Ans: Her father was more strict and firm than her grandmother was.

(c) Who was Mr Macdonald? Why could “he” not be like him?
Ans: Mr Macdonald was Kezia’s neighbour. He had five children and Kezia had seen him laughing and playing with his children. “He” could not be like mr Macdonald as was a hard working man and was too tired to play with her.

(d) Why did she sigh?
Ans: She sighed in understanding and happiness. She had understood her father and his love for her. She was no longer afraid of him.

Q19: “Oh, ” said the little girl, “my head’s on your heart. I can hear it going. What a big heart you’ve got, Father dear. ”

(a) Where is the little girl at this time? Why?
Ans: The little girl is in bed with her father. He had picked her up and got her here after she had cried out because of her nightmare.

(b) Where has she put her head? Why?
Ans: Kezia has put her head on the big heart of her father. She has done so because she is free from her fears and is happy to discover the tender and loving side of her otherwise strict father.

(c) What can the little girl hear?
Ans: Kezia can hear the heartbeat of her father. She has realised that her father loves her.

(d) How does the little girl feel at this time?
Ans: Kezia is no longer afraid of her father. In fact, she feels happy and safe at this time.

Multiple Choice Questions

Q1: The poem Wind was originally written in which language?
(a) Kannada
(b) Malayalam
(c) Telugu
(d) Tamil
Ans:(d)
The poem had been originally written in Tamil by poet Subramania Bharati and later translated by A.K.Ramanujan.

Q2: The wind has been compared to
(a) god
(b)flood
(c)earthquake
(d)fire
Ans:(a)

Q3: What does the poet want the wind to do?
(a)All of these
(b) Don’t scatter the papers
(c)Don’t throw down the books
(d)Don’t break the shutters of windows
Ans:(a)

Q4:Who breaks the shutters of the window? (Wind)
(a)Wind
(b) Children
(c)A naughty boy
(d) A boy
Ans:(a)

Q5: What is the message of the poem Wind?
(a) Make strong windows
(b) Stop the wind
(c)All of these
(d)Be firm and strong
Ans:(d)

Q6: Which figure of speech has been used in the following line from the poem Wind?
‘Wind comes softly’
(a)Irony
(b)Simile
(c)Oxymoron
(d) Personification

Ans:(d)
The phenomenon of wind has been given a human attribute.

Q7: To whom does the poet make a request and address?
(a) Wind
(b)The people
(c) His children
(d) All of these
Ans:(a)

Q8: What does the word winnows in the poem mean?
(a) None of these
(b) Sorts grains
(c) Blows strongly
(d) Cleams grains
Ans:(c)

Q9: Name the poet of the poem “Wind”.
(a) J.K Krishna Murti
(b) Subramania Bharati
(c) Mahadevi Verma
(d) Ruskin Bond
Ans: (b)
The poem “Wind” was composed by Subramania Bharati.

Q10: Who is negatively affected by the wind?
(a)None of these
(b) Strong people
(c)Both weaklings and strong people
(d)Weaklings
Ans:(d)

Short Answer Questions

Q1: Why does the poet ask the wind to blow softly?
Ans: The poet asks wind to blow softly because he knows that a strong wind will causes a lot of damage to structures that are not very strong. It will break the shutters of windows, throw the books from the shelves, and tear their pages and bring rain.

Q2: What is winnowing? What, according to the poet, does the wind god winnow?
Ans: Winnowing refers to blowing away or removing the chaff from grain before it can be used as food. It thus implies segregating people or things by judging their quality. The poet says that the wind god separates the weak from the strong like the chaff from grain.

Q3: What harm does wind do when it blows hard?
Ans: When a strong wind blows, it destroys everything. It breaks the shutters of the windows, scatters the papers, throws the books off the shelves, and tears the pages of the books.

Q4: What does ‘crumbling’ suggest in the poem ‘Wind’?
Ans: The word ‘crumbling’ in the poem ‘Wind’ suggests fragile or frail. He feels that wind separates the frail
or
derelict houses, doors, rafters, wood, and weak bodies, lives, and hearts from those that are strong and crushes them all.

Q5: What should we do to make friends with the winds?
Ans: The wind makes fun of weak things. Thus, wind teaches us to be strong and determined, as a time friend should. We should make ourselves physically and mentally strong to overcome the troubles and turmoil we may face in life.

Long Answer Questions

Q1: What advice does the poet offer the people? Write your answer in the context of the poem, ‘Wind’.
Ans: According to the poet, the wind is very powerful. It can break the shutters of the windows, scatter the papers, throw the books down from the shelves and tear their pages. When it blows violently, it brings the clouds. It mocks at the weak and destroys their homes. But the poet is not dismayed. He realises thinks that when the people build strong houses, they can challenge the wind. The poet suggests that we should face the challenges and hardships with courage, grit and firm determination. The wind is a symbol of problems and obstacles which are to be dealt without fear.

Q2: What challenges are posed by wind in the life of the poet and the common man?
Ans: According to the poet, wind disrupts our everyday life. Wind, and accompanying rain, are forces of nature that are perceived as the tempest forces which create impediments in a man’s life. Just as our problems which can arise from nowhere, wind can hit us at any time of our life It mocks the weak and the frail. For frail people, literally and metaphorically, wind creates barriers. Winds do not let a frail body or a frail mind survive but on the other hand If you are strong, you have the power and the will to survive and fight back, wind can never be a threat to your being.

Reference to Context

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
There, look what you did-you threw them all down
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.
You are very clever at poking fun at weaklings

(a) Who are these lines addressed to? What is the figure of speech?
Ans: These lines are addressed to the wind; personification

(b) What kind of destruction does wind cause when it blows hard?
Ans: When wind blows hard, it destroys everything. It breaks the shutters, scatters the papers, throws the books, and tears the pages of the books.

(c) What word is repeated and why?
Ans: You is repeated as the poet accuses the wind of wreaking chaos

(d) What does the wind symbolise?
Ans: Wind symbolises the challenges and hardships we face in life.

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Wind, come softly.
Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.

(a) Who is the poet addressing in the above lines?
Ans: The poet is addressing the wind in the above lines.

(b) How does the poet want the wind to blow?
Ans: The poet wants the wind to blow gently without causing destruction

(c) What has the wind done to the books?
Ans: Wind has thrown the books down from the shelves/tearing their pages.

(d)Name the poetic device used in the above lines.
Ans: 
Apostrophe: Wind, come softly.
Anaphora: Don’t break the shutters of the windows.
Don’t scatter the papers.
Don’t throw down the books on the shelf.

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
There, look what you did – you threw them all down.
You tore the pages of the books.
You brought rain again.

(a) What is the poet’s tone in the above lines?
Ans: The poet remonstrates with the wind. He accuses the wind of making a mess.

(b) What has the wind done?
Ans: Wind has thrown down his books from the shelves and has tom them.

(c)What has wind brought with it?
Ans: Wind has brought rain with it.

(d) Name a poetic device used in the lines above.
Ans: Personification: The poet addresses the wind like a mischief maker.

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
You ’re very clever at poking fun at weaklings.
Frail crumbling houses, crumbling doors, crumbling rafters,
Crumbling wood, crumbling bodies, crumbling lives,
Crumbling hearts—
the wind god winnows and crushes them all.

(a) Who is very clever? What is it clever at?
Ans: The wind is very clever. It makes fun of weaklings.

(b) How does wind make fun of weaklings?
Ans: Wind makes fun of the weak by making them crumble.

(c) What does the wind god do to the weak?
Ans: The wind god separates the weak from the strong and crushes them.

(d) What should we do to make friends with the wind?
Ans: To make friends with wind we need to build strong homes with firm doors. We should also make ourselves physically and mentally strong by building strong, firm bodies and having steadfast hearts.

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
He won’t do what you tell him.
So, come, let’s build strong homes,
Let’s joint the doors firmly.
Practise to firm the body.
Make the heart steadfast.

(a) Who is referred to as ‘He’ in the above lines?
Ans: He in the above lines refers to the wind.

(b) What is he being told to do?
Ans: He is being told to blow softly and not break the shutters of the windows, scatter the papers or throw down the books from the shelves.

(c) What advice does the poet give the reader?
Ans: The poet asks people to build strong houses and firm doors and keep our bodies and hearts strong unyielding.

(d) What does wind do to the strong?
Ans: Wind befriends those who are strong.

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Do this, and the wind will be friends with us.
The wind blows out weak fires.
He makes strong fires roar and flourish.
His friendship is good.
We praise him every day.

(a) What does the poet mean when he says ‘do this’?
Ans: By saying do this the poet says we must build strong houses and have firm doors. We must be strong in mind and body.

(b) How does wind affect fires?
Ans: Wind blows out weak fires, but it makes strong fires burn more fiercely.

(c) Who is referred to as ‘He’? Why does the poet say ‘his friendship is good’?
Ans: He refers to wind. The poet says so because friendship gives us strength and makes us flourish.

(d) What message do we get from the poem?
Ans: We grow stronger when we face challenges in life with courage and confidence.

Multiple Choice Questions

Q1: Where was the Shehnai played traditionally?
(a) In wedding ceremonies
(b) In temples
(c) Auspicious ceremonies
(d) All of these
Ans: (d)

Q2: Who banned pungi from the royal residence?
(a) Jahangir
(b) Emperor Akbar
(c) Shah Jahan
(d) Emperor Aurangzeb
Ans: (d)
Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of a musical instrument called pungi in the royal residence because of its shrill and unpleasant sound.

Q3: Name India’s highest civilian award that Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded in the year 2001.
(a) The Padmashri
(b) The Padma Bhushan
(c) The Bharat Ratna
(d) The Padma Vibhushan
Ans: (c)
Ustad Bismillah Khan was awarded the Bharat Ratna regarded to be India’s highest civilian award in the year 2001.

Q4: From whom did Bismillah Khan learn shehnai?
(a) Akbar Ali
(b) Ali Bux
(c) Ghulam Ali
(d) Ali Ahmed
Ans: (b)
Bismillah Khan learnt from his maternal uncle Ali Bux who lived in Benaras.

Q5: What does the title of the text The Sound of Music denote?
(a) The sound of a particular instrument
(b) The sound of a song
(c) The life in music
(d) The sound of various musical instruments

Ans: (c)
The chapter is divided into two parts portray the development of two well-known, revered personalities within the world of music in the West as well as in the East, whose life developed and revolved solely around music which taught them the meaning of life.

Q6: When did Evelyn feel everything so dark in life?
(a) When she was advised to go to a deaf school
(b) When she performed poorly at the examination
(c) When she failed in her music audition
(d) When she was advised to use hearing aids and go to the deaf school
Ans: (d)

Q7: The instrument of shehnai was brought to the ________ stage in the history of Indian music by Ustad Bismillah Khan.
(a) classical
(b) western
(c) folk
(d) popular music
Ans: (a)
The shehnai was played only in temples and weddings in the Northern parts of India until Ustad Bismillah Khan extended it to the field of classical music, therefore giving it a space in the history of music in India.

Q8: What was the source of inspiration for Bismillah?
(a) Royal Palaces
(b) Red Fort
(c) Ganga Ghats
(d) None of these
Ans: (c)

Q9: When did Bismillah get his first big break as a Shehnai performer?
(a) 1945
(b) In 1938, when All India Radio came into existence
(c) 1987
(d) 1989
Ans: (b)

Q10: Who was Ali Bux?
(a) Bismillah’s grandfather
(b) Bismillah’s maternal uncle
(c) Bismillah’s friend
(d) Bismillah’s father
Ans:  (b)

Short Answer Questions

Q1: How old was Evelyn when she went to the Royal Academy of Music? Why was she nervous on her way to the academy?
Ans: Evelyn was only seventeen years of age when she was selected to the Royal Academy of Music, London. She had come straight from a farmland in Scotland, she had not experienced much of the world. In addition, she was profoundly deaf and was going to a big institute like The Royal Academy of Music. Her nervousness was the result of her young age, her lack of exposure and her hearing disability.

Q2: Why was Evelyn Glennie going to face a bigger challenge at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London?
Ans: Evelyn Glennie was passionate about music, and would not let anything stand in her way, but studying music at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London was a challenge for her for two reasons: in the first place she was deaf and in the second, she was brought up on a Scottish farm. It was a challenge for a deaf village girl to compete with other singers who had perfect hearing.

Q3: Who advised Evelyn’s parents to take her to a specialist? Why?
Ans: Evelyn managed to hide her growing deafness from students and teachers for some time. However, by the time she was eleven years old, her performance in school deteriorated and her marks began to fall. It was then that the headmistress advised her parents to consul a specialist.

Q4: “Everything suddenly looked black”. Why did Evelyn feel this way?
Ans: When Evelyn was advised to use hearing aids and join a school for the deaf, she felt that her future was bleak and dark. She was depressed, as she felt she would not be able to lead a normal life nor pursue her interest in music.

Q5: How did Evelyn’s teachers respond when she expressed her desire to play a xylophone?
Ans: Evelyn had always loved music and despite her deafness, she expressed a desire to play the xylophone when she saw another girl playing it. However her teachers felt that she would not be able to play it because of her impaired hearing and they discouraged her from doing so.

Long Answer Questions

Q1: “If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there,” remarks Evelyn Glennie. What does it reveal about her character?
Ans: Evelyn’s firm determination, her hard work and her focus on her goal are well revealed in her statement. These values of her character have enabled her to successfully overcome her handicap of deafness. Though she developed hearing impairment at the young age of eight, and became profoundly deaf by the age of twelve, she has never let it become a stumbling block in her way to success.

Firmly determined to pursue music and to lead a normal life, Evelyn did not let her disability stand in her way. The encouragement and training provided by percussionist Ron Forbes paved the way for her advancement and she stuck to the path with unshakeable self-confidence. It was this confidence and faith in herself that made her dare to audition for the Royal Academy of Music, London where she received the top most awards.

Evelyn is very hard working. She has worked hard, in fact much harder than the other classical musicians to bring percussion to the front stage in orchestra. She believes that no goal is unachievable for those who work hard and are focussed on the goal. With her earnest efforts, she moved from orchestra to solo performances and eventually became an internationally renowned percussionist owing to her command over a large number of instruments. Her courage and confidence to rise above her disability has made her a soprce of inspiration for all.

Q2: Evelyn is an inspiration to all. Justify.
Ans: Despite her disability, Evelyn rose to great heights as a musician. When talking of music, she explains, “It pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even in my hair.” When she plays the xylophone, she can sense the sound passing up the stick into her fingertips. By leaning against the drums, she can feel the resonances flowing into her body. On a wooden platform, she removes her shoes so that the vibrations pass through her bare feet and up her legs.

Not surprisingly, Evelyn delights her audiences. In 1991 she was presented with the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Soloist of the Year Award. Says master percussionist James Blades, “God may have taken her hearing but he has given her back something extraordinary. What we hear, she feels — far more deeply than any of us. That is why she expresses music so beautifully.”

Evelyn confesses that she is something of a workaholic. “I’ve just got to work … often harder than classical musicians. But the rewards are enormous.” Apart from the regular concerts, Evelyn also gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She also gives high priority to classes for young musicians. Ann Richlin of the Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children says, “She is a shining inspiration for deaf children. They see that there is nowhere that they cannot go.”

Evelyn Glennie has already accomplished more than most people twice her age. She has brought percussion to the front of the orchestra, and demonstrated that it can be very moving. She has given inspiration to those who are handicapped, people who look to her and say, ‘If she can do it, I can.’ And, not the least, she has given enormous pleasure to millions.

Q3: Evelyn did not succumb to her disability. Comment.
Ans: Evelyn Glennie was always interested in music. In fact, her mother realised she was having problems with her hearing when at the age of eight years Evelyn was to give a piano recital and she didn’t hear her name being called. By the age of twelve, Evelyn had lost her hearing. However, she did not let this stand in the way of her pursuing her passion music.

Though she was advised to wear a hearing aid and to attend a special school for the deaf, Evelyn did not give up. Despite facing discouragement from her teachers, she wanted to lead a normal life and play xylophone. However, Ron Forbes, a great percussionist, trained her to listen to the musical sounds and vibrations not through ears, but through other parts of her body.

He created two drums with different sounds to make her hear the higher beats from the upper part of her body and the lower beats from below her waist. The experiment was so effective that Evelyn opened her mind and body to the fine sounds of music. Evelyn now believes that music penetrates into her through every part – through her skin, cheekbones and even her hair.

When she plays xylophone, she feels that the sounds move from the stick into the tips of her fingers. When the drums are played, she can feel the resonant sounds pouring into her body. She takes off her foot wears on a wooden stage and the vibrations of the instruments pass from her bare feet into her legs. Thus, Evelyn has sensitized the different parts of her body to the different sounds of music.

Q4: Evelyn is very down-to-earth and does not succumb to hero worship. Comment.
Ans: Evelyn Glennie did not let her loss of hearing get her down. She was determined to make a career in music, and with the help of percussionist Ron Forbes, she trained herself to feel music through every part of her body. She never looked back from that point onwards. She toured the United Kingdom with a youth orchestra and by the time she was sixteen, she had decided to make music her life. She auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music and scored one of the highest marks in the history of the academy.

She gradually moved from orchestral work to solo performances. At the end of her three-year course, she had captured most of the top awards. And for all this, Evelyn doesn’t accept any hint of heroic achievement. “If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there.” And she got right to the top, the world’s most sought-after multi-percussionist with a mastery of some thousand instruments, and hectic international schedule.

Reference Based Questions 

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: It was her first day at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London and daunting enough for any teenager fresh from a Scottish farm. But this aspiring musician faced a bigger challenge than most.

(a) Who is referred to as the ‘aspiring musician’?
Ans: Evelyn Glennie is referred to as the aspiring musician.

(b) How old was this ‘aspiring musician’ when she went to the Royal Academy of Music?
Ans: She was seventeen years old when she went to the Royal Academy of Music in London.

(c) What was likely to ‘daunt any teenager’?
Ans: The first day in a great and renowned institute like The Royal Academy of Music, London was likely to daunt any teenager.

(d) Why did she face “a bigger challenge than most”?
Ans: She faced a ‘bigger challenge’ than most as she was profoundly deaf and was yet joining a music academy.

Q2: Evelyn Glennie’s loss of hearing had been gradual. Her mother remembers noticing something was wrong when the eight-year-old Evelyn was waiting to play the piano.
“They called her name and she didn’t move. I suddenly realised she hadn’t heard,” says Isabel Glennie.

(a) Who is Isabel Glennie?
Ans: Isabel Glennie is Evelyn Glennie’s mother.

(b) Why did Evelyn Glennie not move to play the piano?
Ans: Evelyn did not move because she had not heard her name being called.

(c) When was her deafness first noticed?
Ans: Evelyn’s deafness was first noticed when she was eight years old.

(d) How did Evelyn lose her hearing?
Ans: Evelyn’s hearing impairment happened as a result of gradual nerve damage.

Q3: They were advised that she should be fitted with hearing aids and sent to a school for the deaf.
(a) Who are ‘they’? By whom were they advised?
Ans: ‘They’ are the parents of Evelyn Glennie. They were advised by the specialist to whom Evelyn’s parents had taken her for a check-up.

(b) Who is ‘she’?
Ans: ‘She’ is Evelyn Glennie.

(c) What was the course of action recommended for her?
Ans: It was recommended that she should be provided with hearing aids in order to be able to hear and that she be sent to a school for the deaf.

(d) How had her mother realised that Evelyn was having problems with her hearing?
Ans: Evelyn’s mother realised she was having problems with her hearing when Evelyn did not go for her piano recital when her name was called.

Q4: But Evelyn was not going to give up. She was determined to lead a normal life and pursue her interest in music. One day, she noticed a girl playing a xylophone and decided that she wanted to play it too. Most of the teachers discouraged her, but percussionist Ron Forbes spotted her potential.

(a) Why was Evelyn not going to give up?
Ans: She was not going to give up because of her interest in music. Music was her passion.

(b) What did she want to do?
Ans: She wanted to learn to play the xylophone.

(c) Why did her teachers not encourage her?
Ans: They did not encourage her because they felt it was impossible for a deaf girl to pursue her career in music.

(d) Who encouraged her? What did he say?
Ans: Ron Forbes, who saw her potential and capabilities, encouraged her. He suggested she ‘hear’ with the whole of her body.

Q5: She never looked back from that point onwards. She toured the United Kingdom with a youth orchestra, and by the time she was sixteen, she had decided to make music her life.

(a) Who is ‘she’?
Ans: She refers to Evelyn Glennie.

(b) What does ‘that point’ refer to?
Ans: ‘That point’ refers to the time when Evelyn learnt to listen to music by feeling the vibrations through her body.

(c) Where did she go with a youth orchestra?
Ans: She toured the United Kingdom with a youth orchestra.

(d) What was her age when she decided to make music her life?
Ans: She was just sixteen when she decided to make music her life.

Q6: She gradually moved from orchestral work to solo performances. At the end of her three-year course, she had captured most of the top awards.

(a) How did Evelyn advance in her career?
Ans: Initially Evelyn performed in a group of orchestra. Gradually, she started giving solo performances.

(b) Where did she pursue her three-year course?
Ans: She pursued her three-year course in the most prestigious institute of music in England, The Royal Academy for Music, London.

(c) What were her achievements at the end of her course?
Ans: At the end of her course, she had bagged the biggest awards in her field.

(d) What made her achievements so great?
Ans: The fact that she had won the awards despite her hearing disability made her achievements so great.

Q7: And for all this, Evelyn won’t accept any hint of heroic achievement. “If you work hard and know where you are going, you’ll get there.”

(a) What does ‘all this’ refer to?
Ans: “All this” refers to the fact that by the end of her three-year course at the Royal Academy she had captured most of the top awards.

(b) Why is it a heroic achievement?
Ans: It is a heroic achievement as she has achieved success in music despite being profoundly deaf.

(c) To what does Evelyn give credit for her achievement?
Ans: Evelyn gives credit for her achievements to her focus on her aims and her hard work.

(d) What quality of Evelyn’s character is reflected in this?
Ans: This shows Evelyn is a humble and down-to-earth person.

Q8: In our two-hour discussion she never missed a word. “Men with bushy beards give me trouble,” she laughed. “It is not just watching the lips, it’s the whole face, especially the eyes.”

(a) Who is ‘she’? Why is it strange that she never missed a word?
Ans: She refers to Evelyn Glennie. She is profoundly deaf yet she heard each word.

(b) How does she hear the words?
Ans: She hears the words by reading lips and by studying the whole face and eyes of the speaker.

(c) Why do men with bushy beards give her trouble?
Ans: She is unable to read their lips and their face.

(d) Which are the languages that she speaks?
Ans: She has managed to learn French and master basic Japanese.

Q9: As for music, she explains, “It pours in through every part of my body. It tingles in the skin, my cheekbones and even in my hair.” When she plays the xylophone, she can sense the sound passing up the stick into her fingertips. By leaning against the drums, she can feel the resonances flowing into her body.

(a) Who is the speaker in the first line?
Ans: In the first line, the speaker is Evelyn Glennie, the famous multi-percussionist.

(b) What is it that pours in through every part of her body?
Ans: Music and its vibrations pour in through every part of her body.

(c) How was she able to hear sounds and vibrations?
Ans: She was able to hear sounds and vibrations by sensing them through her body and her mind. Being deaf, she could not hear with her ears so she had trained and sensitized her body and mind.

(d) How did Ron Forbes help her to continue with music?
Ans: Percussionist Ron Forbes tuned two large drums to different notes. He asked her not to listen to them through her ears but to try and sense the sound in some other manner.

Q10: “I’ve just got to work… Often harder than classical musicians. But the rewards are enormous.” Apart from the regular concerts, Evelyn also gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals. She also gives high priority to classes for young musicians. Ann Richlin of the Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children says, “She is a shining inspiration for deaf children. They see that there is nowhere that they cannot go.”

(a) Evelyn works harder than classical musicians. What does it imply?
Ans: Classical music needs a lot of practice. However, Evelyn works even harder than the others.

(b) For whom does Evelyn perform for free?
Ans: Evelyn gives free concerts in prisons and hospitals.

(c) “…there is nowhere that they cannot go.” Who are they here?
Ans: They are deaf children.

(d) What quality of Evelyn’s character is shown by her actions?
Ans: Evelyn is committed to music. She is also compassionate and generous towards those in need.

Q1: What is the tone of the poem The Road Not Taken?
(a) Sad
(b) Hesitation
(c) Reflective
(d) Happy

Correct Answer is Option (c)
The poem reflects on the choices that people make in their life and the outcome that they face.

Q2: How many roads diverged into the yellow woods?
(a) 4
(b) 3
(c) 2
(d) 1

Correct Answer is  Option (c)

Q3: Why is the poet asking to be wise while choosing a pathway?
(a) Because it is a one-sided road
(b) None of these
(c) Because it is the only one road
(d) Because there is no Going Back option

Correct Answer is  Option (d)

Q4: Which thing decides a person’s future according to this poem?
(a) Success
(b) Path one leaves behind
(c) Path one chooses to walk
(d) Regrets

Correct Answer is  Option (c)

Q5: Read the text carefully and answer the question:

Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear.
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

(i) What does grassy mean in the poem?
(a) the road which is not used by anyone
(b) the road with all the luxuries
(c) the comfortable road
(d) well-built road

Correct Answer is  Option (a)

(ii) Why was the poet looking at the path?
(a) to decide whether it was suitable for him
(b) to see how long it was
(c) to check the road
(d) none of these

Correct Answer is  Option (a)

Q6: What is the message of this poem?
(a) Road is nothing but a pathway
(b) All of these
(c) Be wise while choosing and taking decisions
(d) Two roads are confusing

Correct Answer is  Option (c)

Q7: Why did the poet title his poem as The Road Not Taken?
(a) because he regretted not having chosen the other road.
(b) because he thought it better to say about the road not taken.
(c) because he found the title interesting.
(d) because he couldn’t find a suitable title for his poem.

Correct Answer is  Option (a)
The poet chose to walk down the path less trodden by which had probably led him to despair and suffering and he, therefore, regretted about the road that he had not taken that would presumably lead him to prosperity and happiness.

Q8: What is the rhyme scheme of the poem The Road Not Taken?
(a) ababab cdcdcd efefef ghghgh
(b) abbaa cddcc effee ghhgg
(c) abaab cdccd efeef ghggh
(d) abbab cddcd effef ghhgh

Correct Answer is  Option (c)
The rhyme scheme followed in the poem is abaab, cdccd, efeef, ghggh.

Q9: What has made all the difference in the poet’s life?
(a) Choosing a travelled road
(b) Choosing a less travelled road
(c) By not choosing any road
(d) By not being weak

Correct Answer is  Option (b)
Choosing a less travelled road has made all the difference for the poet.

Q10: Where does the poet find himself?
(a) on the road
(b) on a bus
(c) on a muddy road
(d) on a fork

Correct Answer is Option (d)

Reference Based Questions 

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1:
‘‘Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; ”

(a) What does the narrator mean by “a yellow wood”?
Ans: By “yellow wood” the poet means a forest where the trees have yellowing and falling leaves.

(b) What choice did the narrator have to make?
Ans: The narrator had to choose between the two roads.

(c) Which road did the narrator take?
Ans: He took the road that was less travelled upon.

(d) What does the narrator regret?
Ans: The narrator regrets the fact that he cannot travel on both the paths. He also regrets the fact that he cannot come back to the start once he makes a choice.

Q2: 
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry, I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far I could;
To where it bent in the undergrowth, ”

(a) What did the narrator see in the wood?
Ans: The narrator saw two paths diverging in the forest.

(b) Why did the narrator stand there for “long”?
Ans: The narrator stood there for long because he could not make up his mind which path to take.

(c) How were the two roads different?
Ans: While one of the roads was frequently taken, the second road appeared to be less travelled.

(d) The poet here is using “roads” as symbols of:
Ans: Choices one makes in life.

Q3: 
“Then took the other, as just as fair, ‘
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, ”

(a) What does “other” refer to in the above lines?
Ans: In the above lines “other” refers to the road that was grassy and less travelled upon.

(b) Which road did the narrator choose?
Ans: The narrator chose the one that was grassy and less travelled upon.

(c) Explain “grassy and wanted wear”?
Ans: The road was covered with grass as not many people had walked this road so it was more inviting.

(d) What did the narrator decide about the road he did not take?
Ans: He decided to walk down that road another day.

Q4:
‘And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way;
I doubted if I should ever come back. ”

(a) What does “both” refer to?
Ans: In the given lines “both” refers to the two roads that forked out in different directions.

(b) Explain the line “In leaves no step had trodden back”.
Ans: The given line means a path not commonly used so the dried leaves that lay on the ground and had not been trampled upon.

(c) Why did the narrator wish to come back?
Ans: He wanted to walk down the road he had left.

(d) What made the narrator doubt whether he “should ever come back”?
Ans: The fact that one road generally leads to another made the narrator doubt that he should ever come back.

Q5:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference ”

(a) Where was the narrator walking one day?
Ans: He was walking in the woods.

(b) Which road did the narrator leave?
Ans: The narrator left the road on which most people travelled.

(c) When will the narrator look back on his life?
Ans: The narrator will look back on his life after a very long time – when he is an old man.

(d) Why do you think the narrator says this “with a sigh”?
Ans: The narrator is regretful; he could not return and take the road he had left behind to travel on another day. OR He is content as the road he took led him on to glory and a better life.

Q6:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference ”

(a) Where is the narrator standing?
Ans: The narrator is standing at a place where the road forked into two.

(b) Why was the narrator sorry?
Ans: The narrator was sorry because he could not travel both roads.

(c) Which road did the narrator finally decide to take and why?
Ans: The narrator finally decided to take the road that not many people had walked on because it seemed more adventurous than the route everyone seemed to take.

(d) Whom will he tell this with a sigh?
Ans: The narrator will tell this to the people with whom he is sharing the story of his life.

Q7: 
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference. ”

(a) What will the narrator tell “with a sigh”?
Ans: The narrator will tell about the fork that he had come to in the woods and the choice he had to make; the fact that he had taken the road less frequented by people.

(b) Why does the narrator say, “And that has made all the difference”?
Ans: The narrator said that later in life he shall be retrospectively telling people how his life has been different due to the choices he had made long ago.

(c) What did the narrator wish to do when he takes the road that he has not been able to do?
Ans: The narrator wanted to come back and take the other road.

(d) What difference did the road he took make to his life?
Ans: The road he took led him on to glory and a better life.

Q8:
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference “

(a) What is the theme of the poem?
Ans: The theme of the poem is the various problems we face in life and the choices we make.

(b) Which poetic device defines the roads in the wood?
Ans: A metaphor has been used to define the two roads in the wood.

(c) What is the tone of the narrator in the last stanza?
Ans: The narrator adopts a reflective tone in the last stanza.

(d) Where is the narrator when he makes the choice?
Ans: While out for a walk in the woods, the narrator comes to a fork in the road and has to decide which path to take.

Q1: In the chapter, The Fun They Had, Where did Tommy find the book?
(a) In his study room
(b) In the playground
(c) In his school
(d) In the attic

Correct Answer is Options (d)
Tommy told Margie that he had found the book in the attic of his house when she asked him where he got the book from.

Q2. Which subject did Margie face problems in learning?
(a) Geography
(b) History
(c) Mathematics
(d) Science

Correct Answer is Options (a)
Margie had problems with learning Geography from her mechanical teacher.

Q3. Whose father knew as much as a teacher?
(a) Blair
(b) Evelyn
(c) Margie
(d) Tommy

Correct Answer is Options (d)

Q4. How much time was taken to repair Tommy’s teacher?
(a) 15 days
(b) 20 days
(c) 25 days
(d) One month

Correct Answer is Options (d)

Q5. According to Tommy, the real book was
(a) Wrong
(b) Boring
(c) A waste
(d) Fiction

Correct Answer is Options (c)

Q6. To which world does the story take the readers?

(a) Future world where computers will play a major role
(b) Past world
(c) Present World
(d) A future world where humans will play a major role

Correct Answer is Options (a)

Q7 Who was the regular teacher who taught the lessons?
(a) Who teaches
(b) Human teacher
(c) Computer teacher
(d) Mechanical robot teacher who teaches Margie and Tommy

Correct Answer is Options (d)

Q8. In the chapter, The Fun They Had, why were the two children surprised to know that once children were taught different subjects by human teachers?
(a) Because humans were mechanical teachers.
(b) Human teaching the children was an offensive crime.
(c) Because humans were not mechanical teachers.
(d) Human beings were not allowed to teach.

Correct Answer is Options (c)
The prose being set in future portrays the digital world where books no longer existed and people studied from mechanic screens. Therefore, there were no human teachers for centuries since the time books became extinct. Hence, they have never seen or heard of human teaching children in schools.

Q9. In the chapter, The Fun They Had, which date has been mentioned in her diary by Margie?
(a) 15th May 2156
(b) 17th May 2158
(c) 17th May 2157
(d) 15th May 2157

Correct Answer is Options (c)
The day Tommy found a book, Margie recorded the date in her diary where she wrote 17 May 2157.

Q10. What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
(a) Geography
(b) Science
(c) Mathematics
(d) All of these

Correct Answer is Options (d)

Fill in the Blanks

Q1: Margie’s grandfather once said that there was a time when all stories were printed on ____.

Ans: paper

Q2: Tommy found a ___ book in the attic.

Ans: real

Q3: Margie’s mechanical teacher gave her test after test in ____.

Ans: geography

Q4: Margie had to write her homework and test papers in a punch code she learned when she was ____ years old.

Ans: six

Q5: The Inspector adjusted the geography sector to an average ____ level.

Ans: ten-year

True or False

Q1: Margie loved school.

Ans: False

Q2: Tommy found a million books in the attic.

Ans: False

Q3: Margie’s mother never intervened in her education.

Ans: False

Q4: Margie hoped the Inspector would take away the mechanical teacher.

Ans: True

Q5: Margie was happy when the Inspector adjusted the geography sector.

Ans: False

Match the FollowingColumn AColumn B1. Margie’s feelings about schoola. A real book 2. Tommy’s ageb. Thirteen3. Margie’s agec. Adjusted the geography sector4. Tommy’s discoveryd. Hated school5. The Inspector’s actione. Eleven

Ans:

Margie’s feelings about school- Hated School
Tommy’s Age- Thirteen
Margie’s Age- Eleven
Tommy’s Discovery- A real book
The Inspector’s action- Adjusted the geography sector 

Reference Based Questions 

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Q1: “Today Tommy found a real book! ”
It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper.

(a) Who are Margie and Tommy?
Ans: Tommy is a thirteen-year-old boy and Margie an eleven-year-old girl who live in the twenty second century.

(b) Where had Tommy found the book?
Ans: Tommy had found the book in the attic of his house.

(c) What is meant by “real book”?
Ans: The book is “real” as it is printed on paper rather than a telebook.

(d) How had Margie heard of such a book?
Ans: Margie’s grandfather had told her that he had heard from his grandfather about a time when all stories were printed on paper.

Q2: It was a very old book. Margie’s grandfather once said that when he was a little boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper. They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to-on a screen, you know.

(a) Why were the pages of the book yellow?
Ans: The pages of the book were yellow because the book was quite old.

(b) What kind of books did Margie and Tommy read?
Ans: Margie and Tommy read telebooks

(c) What do you think a telebook is?
Ans: A book that is not printed on paper, but one that can be read on a screen. Words move on the screen for the students to read.

(d) Why did Tommy find the book a “waste”?
Ans: Unlike their telebooks, the words on the page stayed the same and did not change. He felt when one was through with the book, one would just throw it away.

Q3: They turned the pages, which were yellow and crinkly, and it was awfully funny to read words that stood still instead of moving the way they were supposed to-on a screen, you know.

(a) Who are ‘they’ in this extract?
Ans: ‘They’ are Margie and Tommy, the young children who are reading the book.

(b) Which book had yellow and crinkly pages?
Ans: The book that Tommy found in the attic of his house had yellow and crinkly pages.

(c) What do the yellow and crinkly pages reveal about the book?
Ans: The yellow and crinkly pages reveal that it was a very old book and had not been lying in the attic for a long time.

(d) What did ‘they’ find funny? Why?
Ans: The children found the fixed and still words in the book funny because they were used to reading electronic books on the television screen in which the words kept moving.

Q4: “I wouldn’t throw it away. ”
(a) Who says these words?
Ans: Tommy, a thirteen-year-old boy says these words.

(b) What does ‘it’ refer to?
Ans: ‘It’ refers to the television screen of the computer on which Tommy reads books. It has a million books . and space for a lot more.

(c) What is it being compared with, by the speaker?
Ans: ‘It’ is being compared with the paper book that Tommy had found in the attic of his house.

(d) Why would the speaker not throw it away?
Ans: The speaker, Tommy, wouldn’t throw the television screen on which he read books away because it had a million books on it and it could be used many times.

Q5: “What’s it about? ”
“School. ”
Margie was scornful. “School? What’s there to write about school? I hate school. ”

(a) What does ‘it’ refer to?
Ans: ‘It’ refers to the book Tommy found in his attic.

(b) Why was Margie scornful about the book?
Ans: Margie was scornful about the book as it was about school. She hated her school and felt school would not be an interesting enough topic to read about.

(c) Why did Margie not like school?
Ans: Margie had never liked her school, but now she hated her mechanical teacher so she disliked school even more.

(d) Why did Margie hate her mechanical teacher?
Ans: The mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse.

Q6: He was a round little man with a red face and a whole box of tools with dials and wires. He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple, then took the teacher apart.

(a) Who is ‘he’?
Ans: He is the County Inspector.

(b) Why had he been called?
Ans: Margie’s mother, Mrs Jones, had called him because Margie’s mechanical teacher had been giving her test after test in geography and she had been doing worse and worse. She wanted the County Inspector to fix the teacher.

(c) Why did he give Margie an apple?
Ans: He smiled at Margie and gave her an apple to reassure her.

(d) How did he fix the teacher?
Ans: The County Inspector found that the teacher’s the geography sector was geared a little too quick. He slowed it up to an average ten-year level.

Q7: He said to her mother, “It’s not the little girl’s fault, Mrs Jones. I think the geography sector was geared a little too quick. Those things happen sometimes. ”

(a) Who is ‘he’ and which ‘little girl’ is he talking about?
Ans: He is the County Inspector. He is talking about Margie.

(b) What, according to him, is not the girl’s fault?
Ans: According to him, the girl’s continuous poor performances in Geography tests was not her fault.

(c) What was wrong with the geography sector of the mechanical teacher?
Ans: He finds that the pace of the geography sector has been a bit too fast for the girl’s level.

(d) What does the County Inspector do to correct the fault?
Ans: The County Inspector took apart the mechanical teacher and slowed it up to an average ten-year level.

Q8: “Actually, the overall pattern of her progress is quite satisfactory. ” And he patted Margie’s head again. Margie was disappointed. She had been hoping they would take the teacher away altogether.

(a) Who is the speaker? Whose progress is being talked about?
Ans: The speaker is the County Inspector. He is talking about Margie’s progress.

(b) Why was Margie disappointed?
Ans: Margie was disappointed as her teacher was not taken away as she wished for.

(c) Whose teacher had been taken away? Why?
Ans: Tommy’s teacher had been taken away for nearly a month because the history sector had blanked out completely.

(d) What subjects did Margie and Tommy learn?
Ans: Margie and Tommy learnt geography, history and arithmetic.

Q9: Tommy looked at her with very superior eyes. “Because it’s not our kind of school, stupid. This is the old kind of school that they had hundreds and hundreds of years ago. ” He added loftily.

(a) What does Tommy mean by “our kind of school”?
Ans: They study in classrooms in their own homes with mechanical teachers.

(b) Why did Tommy call Margie stupid?
Ans: Tommy called Malgie stupid because she was ignorant about schools of the past.

(c) Whom does ‘they’ here refer to?
Ans: ‘They’ here refers to the students of centuries ago who were mentioned in the book.

(d) How was ‘their’ school different?
Ans: Their school was a special building that they went to and they learned the same thing if they were the same age. They had a person as a teacher who taught the whole class.

Q10: “Sure they had a teacher, butit wasn ’t a regular teacher. It was a man. ”

(a) Who speaks these words and about what?
Ans: Tommy speaks these words about the schools in the olden times.

(b) Who does ‘they’ refer to in these lines?
Ans: ‘They’ refers to the students from the schools of the olden times.

(c) What does ‘regular’ mean here?
Ans: Here ‘regular’ means a mechanised teacher like the ones Margie and Tommy had.

(d) What is ‘regular’ contrasted with?
Ans:‘Regular’ is contrasted with the teachers from the olden days who were real men and not programmed machines.

Q11: “A man? How could a man be a teacher? ”
“Well, he just told the boys and girls things and gave them homework and asked them questions. ”

(a) Who feels a man cannot be a teacher? Why?
Ans: Margie feels a man cannot be a teacher as a man is not smart enough. Moreover, she was used to being taught by a mechanical teacher.

(b) What does ‘he’ refer to here?
Ans: ‘He’ refers to a man, a human teacher of the twentieth century.

(c) What job did ‘he’ do?
Ans: His job was to teach boys and girls and give them work to do at home and ask them questions.

(d) Where had the speaker got this information?
Ans: The speaker, Tommy, had found this information in the old book that he had found in the attic of his house.

Q12: Tommy screamed with laughter. “You don’t know much, Margie. The teachers didn ’t live in the house. They had a special building and all the kids went there. ”

(a) Why did Tommy scream with laughter?
Ans: Tommy screamed with laughter at the ignorance of Margie who thought that in old times the human teacher lived in the house of a student and taught him there.

(b) What did Margie not know? Why?
Ans: Margie did not know about the functioning of the schools of olden times because she lived in the year 2157 when education had been made fully computerized.

(c) What ‘special building’ does the speaker refer to?
Ans: By ‘special building’ Tommy means the buildings that housed schools in olden times.

(d) How is the special building a unique place for Margie and Tommy?
Ans: Margie and Tommy are the students of the year 2157. They are taught at home by mechanical teachers. Their television screen is their school. Therefore, a special building for teaching children is a unique thing for them.

Q13: Margie went into the school room. It was right next to her bedroom and the mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her. It was always on at the same time every day except Saturday and Sunday because her mother said little girls learned better if they learned at regular hours.

(a) What was ‘it’? Where was ‘it’?
Ans:‘It’ in these lines is Margie’s schoolroom. It was next to her bedroom.

(b) Why was ‘it’ next to ‘her’ bedroom?
Ans: It was next to her bedroom because in the twenty-second century students were taught through a customized education system under where students were taught at home by mechanical teachers.

(c) Why was the mechanical teacher on and waiting for her?
Ans:The mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her because it was a programmed machine that worked . as per a fixed time-plan and Margie’s mother wanted her to follow a fixed time plan.

(d) Why did Margie not like the mechanical teacher?
Ans: Margie did not like the mechanical teacher because it was very boring and demanding. She had to sit in front of it regularly at fixed hours.

Q14: Margie did so with a sigh. She was thinking about the old schools they had when her grandfather’s grandfather was a little boy. All the kids from the whole neighbourhoods came, laughing and shouting in the schoolyard, sitting together in the school room going home together at the end of the day. They learned the same things, so that they could help one another with the home work and talk about it.

(a) What did Margie do with a sigh?
Ans: Margie put her homework into the slot of her mechanical teacher with a sigh.

(b) Which school is Margie thinking about in the above lines?
Ans: Margie was thinking about the old schools of centuries ago as written about in the book Tommy had found.

(c) Where was Margie’s school? Did she have any classmates?
Ans: Margie’s school was in her home itself. It was right next to her bedroom. No, she did not have any classmates.

(d) How is the school under reference different from the present ones?
Ans: The present schools were located in the student’s house, where a mechanical teacher taught the student as per the child’s individual capacity. The schools under reference had a separate building where all children of a certain age were taught together by human teachers.

Q.1. What was the profession of Gerrard? How did he manage his work?

Q.2. How did Gerrard react on seeing the intruder?

Q.3. Why did Gerrard tell the intruder ‘you will not kill me for a very good reason’?

Q.4. The way Gerrard behaved when the intruder entered his cottage presented that he was amused to see him. Do you think that he was really amused, or he was pretending?

Q.5. What was the intention of the intruder when he entered Gerrard’s cottage?

Q.6. What does the intruder threaten?

Q.7. What was Gerrard doing when the intruder entered his cottage?

Q.8. What was the intention of the intruder when he trespassed into the cottage?

Q.9. What does Gerrard start telling?

Q.10. What does Gerrard want?

Reference to Context Questions

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Why, this is a surprise, Mr— er—
(a) Who speaks these words and to whom?
(b) Where are they at the time?
(c) What is the speaker’s tone at the time?
(d) What does this tell you about the speaker?

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’m glad you ’re pleased to see me. I don’t think you ’ll be pleased for long. Put those paws up!
(a) Who is speaking these lines and to whom? Where is the conversation taking place?
(b) Why is ‘the speaker’ so sure that ‘his listener’ won’t be pleased for long?
(c) What does ‘paws’ mean here? Why does the Intruder use the expression?
(d) Why is the speaker asking the listener ‘to put those paws up’?

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Thanks a lot. You ’ll soon stop being smart. I’ll make you crawl. I want td know a few things, see.
(a) Who is the speaker? Why is he thanking the listener?
(b) Why does the speaker think that the listener is trying to be smart?
(c) Why does the speaker expect the listener to soon stop being smart?
(d) What does the speaker mean by ‘I’ll make you crawl’?

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
At last a sympathetic audience!
(a) Who speaks these words? To whom?
(b) Why does he say it?
(c) Is he sarcastic or serious?
(d) Why does the listener wish to know the story of the speaker’s life?

Q5: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’m sorry. I thought you were telling me, not asking me. A question of inflection; your voice is unfamiliar.
(a) Who is the speaker and who does he speak to?
(b) What had the listener asked the speaker?
(c) What does ‘inflection’ mean here? What logic does the speaker give for misinterpreting the inflection of his voice?
(d) What do these lines tell us about the speaker?

Q6: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
That, ’s a lie. You ’re not dealing with a fool. I’m as smart as you and smarter, and I know you run a car. Better be careful, wise guy!
(a) Who is the speaker? Which Tie’ is he talking about?
(b) Why did the speaker think he was smarter than the listener?
(c) Why did he warn the listener to be careful?
(d) What does the extract reveal about the Intruder?

Q7: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
You seem to have taken a considerable amount of trouble. Since you know so much about me, won’t you say something about yourself? You have been so modest.
(a) Who speaks these words and to whom?
(b) What is his tone when he speaks these words?
(c) Why does he want to know more about the Intruder?
(d) What light does this throw on the speaker’s character?

Q8: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I could tell you plenty. You think you ’re smart, but I’m the top of the class round here. I’ve got brains and I use them. That’s how I’ve got where have.
(a) Who speaks these words to whom and in what context?
(b) Why does the speaker say “I could tell you plenty”?
(c) What does he mean by ‘the top of the class round here’?
(d) What is his tone at the moment?

Q9: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
My speciality’s jewel robbery. Your car will do me a treat. It’s certainly a dandy bus.
(a) What does the speaker do? Why does he call it his ‘speciality’?
(b) What does he call ‘a dandy bus’? What does he mean?
(c) What do his words tell you about the speaker?
(d) What does the speaker intend to do?

Q10: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’m not taking it for fun. I’ve been hunted long enough. I’m wanted for murder already, and they can’t hang me twice.
(a) What ‘step’ is the speaker talking about taking? Why is he taking it?
(b) By whom has the speaker been hunted? Why?
(c) Why does he say “they can’t hang me twice”?
(d) What light do these lines reflect on the speaker’s state of mind?

Q11; Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I’ve got freedom to gain. As for myself I’m a poor hunted rat. As Vincent Charles Gerrard I’m free to go places and do nothing. I can eat well and sleep and without having to be ready to beat it at the sight of a cop.
(a) Why is the speaker a ‘hunted rat’?
(b) Why has he chosen to take on Gerrard’s identity?
(c) Why does the speaker have to run at the sight of a cop?
(d) What advantage will the speaker have once he impersonates Gerrard?

Q12: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
It brought me to Aylesbury. That’s where I saw you in the car. Two other people saw you and started to talk.
I listened. It looks like you ’re a bit queer — kind of a mystery man.
(a) What is ‘it’? Where did it bring him?
(b) What did the speaker overhear about the listener? From whom?
(c) What made the two men conclude that the listener was a mystery man?
(d) How did this suit the Intruder’s purpose?

Q13: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
Don’t be a fool. If you shoot, you ’ll hang for sure. If not as yourself then as Vincent Charles Gerrard.
(a) Why did the speaker say that the listener will be hanged?
(b) What surprise did the speaker give to the listener?
(c) What proof does the speaker give the listener about his being a criminal?
(d) What do you think was the speaker’s tone as he spoke to the listener?

Q14: This is your big surprise. I said you wouldn’t kill me and I was right. Why do you think I am here today and gone tomorrow, never see tradespeople? You say my habits would suit you. You are a crook. Do you think I am a Sunday-school teacher?
(a) What was the big surprise given by the speaker?
(b) What was the speaker right about? Why was he right?
(c) Explain the phrase Sunday school teacher? What does the speaker imply by his words?
(d) What light does it throw on the character of the speaker and the listener?

Q15: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
“I said it with bullets and got away ”.
(a) Who says this?
(b) What does it mean?
(c) Is it the truth? What is the speaker’s reason for saying this?
(d) How was he in imminent danger from the police?

Q16: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
I have got a man posted on the main road. He’ll ring up if he sees the police, but I don’t want to leave… (telephone bell rings,) Come on! They ’re after us. Through here straight to the garage.
(a) Whose call had Gerrard been expecting?
(b) Whose call had told the Intruder he was expecting?
(c) What did he show the Intruder to convince him that he was going to run away?
(d) What is his tone like as he says these words?

Q17: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
For God’s sake clear that muddled head of yours and let’s go. Come with me in the car. I can use you. If you find it’s a frame, you’ve got me in a car, and you still have your gun.
(a) What does the speaker call the listener’s head “muddled”?
(b) Where does the speaker invite the other person?
(c) What assurance does he give the listener?
(d) What is in the speaker’s mind?

You can access the solutions to this worksheet here.

Q.1. Read the following passages and answer the questions
“No motion has she now, no force.
She neither hears nor sees
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees.”
(i) Name the poem and the poet.
(ii) Why does the beloved has no motion and no force?
(iii) What kind of motion does his beloved have now?
(iv) What changes have come in his beloved now?

Q.2. How much does the poet love his beloved? How can we say that?

Q.3. What does the poet feel about his beloved? Is he contented?

Q.4. What is the state of mind of the poet when he comes to know that his beloved is no more?

Q.5. How does the poet imagine his beloved to be, after death?

Q.6. Read the following passages and answer the questions
“A slumber did my spirit seal.
I had no human fears.
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.”
(i) What is the poet talking about in these lines?
(ii) What does the poet mean by slumber?
(iii) Who is she in the above lines?
(iv) Why does the poet have no fears?

Q.7. What does William Wordsworth talking about in the poem?

Q.8. How does the poet react to his beloved one’s death?

Q.9. Which lines of the poem shows that the beloved is no more with the poet?

Q.10. The poet has lost his beloved because of which he feels lonely and a great shock. Explain his state of mind.

Reference to Context Questions

Q1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A slumber did my spirit seal
I had no human fears.
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
(a) What was the poet’s state of mind when Lucy was alive?
(b) What was the ‘human fear’ he did not have?
(c) Why did he not have this fear?
(d) How does the poet imagine her to be, after death?

Q2: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
A slumber did my spirit seal-
I had no human fears.
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
(a) Who does ‘she’ refer to?
(b) What could she not feel?
(c) Explain “the touch of earthly years”.
(d) Why does the poet say that his loved one is rolling round in the way of the earth?

Q3: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
No motion has she now, no force –
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees.
(a) What happened to the poet’s beloved?
(b) Where is she now?
(c) How does she become an inseparable part of nature?
(d) Explain: she is in “earth’s diurnal course with rocks and stones and trees”?

Q4: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
No motion has she now, no force –
She neither hears nor sees,
Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course
With rocks and stones and trees.
(a) What does the word ‘slumber’ refer to?
(b) How will time not affect the poet’s beloved?
(c) ‘No motion has she now, no force.’ Why is ‘she’ motionless?
(d) What is the central theme of the poem?

You can access the solutions to this worksheet here.