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प्रश्न
Lights were shining from every window, and there was a savoury smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and
she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. Ah! perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and strike it against the wall, just to warm her fingers. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. How the fire burned! and seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as if to warm them, when, lo! the flame of the match went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the half-burnt match in her hand.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why could the girl not go home?
उत्तर
The little girl did not dare to go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her for earning no money.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
'Ordeal in the Ocean' is the story of Slava Kurilov, a Russian, who faced a remarkable trial in the water. Slava Kurilov tells his own story. Read on .......
When the liner had finally vanished over the horizon, I was absolutely alone in the stormy night sea. First I thought I had to swim one way, then another. It was not even midnight yet, and I had no hope at all of finding my way in this terrible night time ocean. I began to feel afraid. Waves of fear rolled through me, starting from my hands and feet, attacking my heart and then reaching through my neck to my head. Waves broke over me and water went into my snorkel. I realised I would not be able to last even half an hour in such a condition.
I saw individual stars, but I could not distinguish the constellations they belonged to. Then dawn came and put out all my stars and I felt my solitude more keenly. The sky was grey at first, then blue-violet shades appeared. In a few minutes, the colours became brighter, with dark red strips cutting across the sky!
The rising sun came up over the ocean. I was surrounded by large waves. The clouds turned pink and swept across the sky in all directions. It was a windy day.
There was no land visible. I grew alarmed. Had I made a mistake in my calculations? Perhaps the current had carried me a long a way off the course during the night?
An hour passed, perhaps two. "Landlll" I could not deny myself the pleasure of shouting the magic word aloud and of hearing my own voice. Perhaps it was my ghostly island of Siargao? I almost felt I had succeeded - now at least I had hope.
The sun looked out for the last time, as if it was saying goodbye to me, and hid itself away again. In a few minutes the sky was filled with all the colours of a rainbow, the bright shades changing and merging as I watched. At first the clouds became deep red and then their edges turned bright orange. A little while afterwards, the clouds turned lilac and dark violet. Darkness fell swiftly. My second lonely night in the ocean began. The stars came out unnoticed. I changed course and headed for the south west. As it turned out, this was an unforgivable mistake.
Evening was approaching. The ocean around me was full of life; large fish often leapt out of the water and big birds flew right above my head. I could see the island distinctly now. A line of dancing palms stretched the length of its shore. The sides of the mountain were covered in many different shades of green.
An hour passed, perhaps more. It was extraordinarily quiet. Then suddenly to my horror, I discovered my island had noticeably begun to move north and was drifting further and further in that direction right before my eyes. Before I had worked out what was happening and could sharply change my course towards the north, the southern tip of the island had appeared in front of me and, beyond that, open ocean stretched to the very horizon. I was totally at the mercy of the current and realised to my alarm that it was slowly carrying me past the land.
My third night in the ocean crept up unnoticed. This third night in the ocean was very dark, much darker than the two previous ones. I almost decided to die as I had no hope of seeing another dawn. I was suddenly aware of a quiet voice: "Swim to the sound of the breakers."
Indeed, there had been a distant rumbling for some time, although I had paid no attention to it. Now, I started listening and I thought it sounded like the characteristic noise of jet aeroplanes constantly landing and taking off. The voice inside kept insisting that I should swim towards this thunder of waves.
At last I obeyed. Again I heard an approaching rumble. What I suddenly saw at a distance of about 30 or 40 metres has imprinted itself on my memory forever. It was a gigantic wave with steep, very slowly falling crests. Never in my life had I seen such an enormous wave - it even seemed to be touching the sky. It moved very slowly and was fantastically beautiful.
The wave did not break over me as I assumed it would. An irresistible force dragged me up its steep slope right to the very foot of the falling crest. Instinctively I clutched my mask snorkel and managed to take a deep breath. The crest started to break over me and pulled me under it. For a moment, I found myself in the air
under the crest as ifin a cave. Then my body was in a swirling current of water; the inner power of the wave made me recover several times, twisting me in all directions before it subsided.
I realised that I had to try to keep my body on the crest and I quickly took up a horizontal position. This time the wave quickly grabbed me and carried me at great speed for quite a long distance on its crest.
I got up to the surface easily and swam in the direction the waves were heading. "Somewhere there, beyond the reef, there should be a lagoon," I hoped.
Suddenly, I felt something hard under my feet. I could stand up to my chest in water! Around me I could see random currents of water, splashes of foam and phosphorescent spray, all swirling about. Before I fully came to my senses, another large wave approached and carried me some distance further. I was up to my waist in water when a new wave picked me up, taldng me several metres forward. Now the depth of the water was only up to my knees. I had enough time to take a few tentative steps, to catch my breath and look around.
I surfaced at the foot of very tall palm trees. I left a trail of luminous water and my body glittered like some princess's ball-gown. Only now did I feel completely safe. The ocean was behind me ....
This woman had been despised, scoffed at, and angrily denounced by nearly every man, woman, and child in the village; but now, as the fact of, her death was passed from lip to lip, in subdued tones, pity took the place of anger, and sorrow of denunciation.
Neighbours went hastily to the old tumble-down hut, in which she had secured little more than a place of shelter from summer heats and winter cold: some with grave-clothes for a decent interment of the body; and some with food for the half-starving children, three in number. Of these, John, the oldest, a boy of twelve, was a stout lad, able to earn his living with any farmer. Kate, between ten and eleven, was bright, active girl, out of whom something clever might be made, if in good hands; but poor little Maggie, the youngest, was hopelessly diseased. Two years before a fall from a window had injured her spine, and she had not been able to leave her bed since, except when lifted in the arms of her mother.
“What is to be done with the children?” That was the chief question now. The dead mother would go underground, and be forever beyond all care or concern of the villagers. But the children must not be left to starve.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why was the dead woman despised and hated by all the people of the village?
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
The breaking down of discipline likewise affected the dogs in their relations with one another. They quarreled and bickered more than ever among themselves, till at times the camp was a howling bedlam: 'Dave and Sol-leks alone were unaltered, though they were made irritable by the unending squabbling.
(i) What led to the break-down of discipline in the dog team?
How did it affect the relationship in the dogs?
(ii) What other acts of indiscipline did Buck's encouragement lead to?
(iii) What started the dogs off on a chase after supper one night at the mouth of the river Tahkeena?
(iv) Who led the dogs in the chase? What primitive urge did Buck experience during the chase?
(v) How did Spitz use the chase to try and outwit Buck? What does this reveal of Spitz's nature?
Answer the following question
Did Kari enjoy his morning bath in the river? Give a reason for your answer.
What did Tilloo hope to see once he emerged from his underground home?
What do you know about worker ants?
Explain elaborately India’s dominance in the world cricket today.
Why the chopped down trees are called timber?
Multiple Choice Question:
What effect does blowing of winds and falling of raindrops create?
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
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That huge bell never stopped ringing. It got us out of bed, it summoned us for meals, it rang between class periods, it sent us unwillingly to bed. One morning it failed to ring, or rather, there was no bell to ring. Someone had removed it, and it wasn't found till late in the afternoon. What a glorious day! As there was no bell to rouse us, everyone got up late, and there was no morning PT. Some of us missed breakfast too. The teachers got confused and mixed up their classes. How could the school manage without it? Confusion reigned. Of course, no one owned up. It could have meant expulsion. Some suspicion fell on the Sports Captain because of our aversion to morning PT, but nothing could be proved. No one was very anxious to find the bell - we were quite happy without it - but it was finally discovered hanging from a branch of one of the trees. 'It may have been Mr. Sharma,' surmised Brian. Mr. Sharma, our Maths teacher, was known to walk in his sleep. And sleepwalkers did funny things sometimes. 'It could be Mool Chand himself,' suggested Cyrus Satralkar. Mool Chand was the school chowkidar, who also had the job of banging the brass bell at appointed times. 'Why would he throw it away?' 'He must be as fed up with ringing it as we are of hearing it.' This was my theory. 'Perhaps he wants a rise in salary.' The identity of the culprit remained a mystery. Happily, the senior Hockey team went on a winning spree against all corners, and our month-end exits were restored. But soon there was another sensation. A girl was admitted to our class! The boys were scandalized. No girl had ever studied in our school before. We protested. 'What's the problem?' asked Mr. Knight, our class master. 'Haven't you seen a girl before?' 'But - but. Sir ...' Tata was our spokesman. 'How will we concentrate on our studies?' 'When did you ever concentrate on your studies, Tata?' 'Are we going co-ed, sir?' Adams wanted to know. 'Not at all,' said Mr. Knight. 'This is a special case. She is the school accounts manager's daughter, and he can't afford the Girls school fees. So, I'm sure you'll make her feel very welcome.' The accountant was a popular man who also ran the school's tuck shop and allowed most of us a certain amount of credit. All our objections faded away. At first, Sunita, our new entrant, was a bit of a distraction because, although she was very shy and demure, she had lovely curly hair, bright eyes, pink cheeks and a smile for everyone. All the boys were very polite and attentive to her and Brian in particular was always ready to help her. |
- For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the passage) from the options provided: (3)
- summoned (line 1)
- totalled
- ordered
- requested
- shout
- aversion (line 10)
- hatred
- fear
- politeness
- creation
- restored (line 25)
- helped
- returned
- permit
- victory
- summoned (line 1)
- Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.
- Why did no one confess to having removed the missing bell? (1)
- Why did suspicion fall on the Sports Captain? (2)
- What made Brian think that it was Mr. Sharma? (2)
- Which sentence in the passage tells you that Mr. Knight thought poorly of Tata's academic performance? (2)
- Why was the accountant a popular man? (2)
- In not more than 50 words describe the effects of the lost bell. (8)
