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प्रश्न
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink....
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK - HE ONLY SEES!
Read the lines given above and answer the question given below.
Explain with reference to context.
उत्तर
These lines are taken from the poem TELEVISION, written by Roald Dahl, a British novelist, short story writer and a poet. It is taken from his collection ‘Revolting Rhymes’. It is a stinging satire on Television. In this poem Roald Dahl expresses concern over what the modem invention the television set has done to children. Fie points out that watching TV has become a craze in modem time. Children of today spend hours together in front of the ‘idiot box’. Roald Dahl is addressing all British parents and telling them that the most important thing one must learn while raising children is to keep them away from the television set. He also says that it is possible to come to a better solution to the problem by not installing a television set in their homes in the’ first place.
Dahl admits that he knows that television can be a convenient way to keep children occupied. While watching television, children never cause trouble or throw tantrums. As a result, their parents can go about doing their household chores without any interruption.
However, parents do not stop to consider what television might do to their children.
Lines 25-33 are written in capitals to emphasize that they carry the main message of the poem. This message is that watching too much television fills up.the minds of children with useless facts while at the same time destroying their ability to create or understand worlds of fantasy in their imagination. It takes away their ability to think and they can only keep staring at the television screen.
APPEARS IN
संबंधित प्रश्न
Discuss in group and answer the following question in two or three paragraphs (100
−150 words)
Of the three, Jerome, George and Harris, who do you think is the best or worst packer?
Support your answer with details from the text.
How does Bill Bryson end up in a “crash position” in the aircraft?
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed-and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Which wealth is referred to by the poet?
Easton, with a little laugh, as if amused, was about to speak again when the other forestalled him. The glum-faced man had been watching the girl’s countenance with veiled glances from his keen, shrewd eyes.
“You’ll excuse me for speaking, miss, but, I see you’re acquainted with the marshall here. If you’ll ask him to speak a word for me when we get to the pen he’ll do it, and it’ll make things easier for me there. He’s taking me to Leavenworth prison. It’s seven years for counterfeiting.”
“Oh!” said the girl, with a deep breath and returning color. “So that is what you are doing out here? A marshal!”
“My dear Miss Fairchild,” said Easton, calmly, “I had to do something. Money has a way of taking wings unto itself, and you know it takes money to keep step with our crowd in Washington. I saw this opening in the West, and—well, a marshalship isn’t quite as high a position as that of ambassador, but—”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Easton states that, “Money has a way of taking wings unto itself, and you know it takes money to keep step with our crowd in Washington”. What does Mr. Easton mean by the idiom, “taking wings unto itself,” and what does this tell us about both Mr. Easton and Miss Fairchild’s former lives in Washington?
Complete the following sentences.
i. An ant is the smallest,————————————————————————————————
ii. We know a number of facts about an ant’s life because————————————————————————————————
Notice how in a comic book, there are no speech marks when characters talk. Instead what they say is put in a speech ‘bubble’. However, if we wish to repeat or ‘report’ what they say, we must put it into reported speech.
Change the following sentences in the story to reported speech. The first one has been done for you.
Bring the man to me at once. The king ordered the guard________________________
What did Gopal’s wife think about him?
What do you know about worker ants?
How did Ray tackle the evil-minded shoppers?
Read the following extract from H.W. Longfellow’s poem, ‘Haunted Houses' and answer the questions that follow:
| The stranger at my fireside cannot see The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear; He but perceives what is; while unto me All that has been is visible and clear. |
- What makes the poet-narrator different from the stranger at his fireside? [3]
- What, according to the poet, turns a house into a ‘haunted’ house? [3]
- Where is one likely to meet the ‘phantoms’ in a haunted house? [3]
- What are the poet-narrator’s views on owning property? [3]
- How do the poet’s views of ghosts differ from the traditional perception of ghosts? How would you describe the mood that the poem evokes? Give ONE reason for your answer. [4]
