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What changes had occurred, which forced people to live inunderground homes? - English

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What changes had occurred, which forced people to live in underground homes?

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The changes that had occurred, which forced people to live in underground homes was that the sun, which had provided sustenance, turned hostile. It changed slightly but the change was sufficient to upset the balance of nature on this planet. The birds, animals and fish couldn't bear it and became extinct.

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Chapter 10: An Alien Hand - Comprehension Check [Page 69]

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NCERT English - An Alien Hand Class 7
Chapter 10 An Alien Hand
Comprehension Check | Q 4 | Page 69

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What is Behrman’s masterpiece? What makes Sue say so?


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The Mystery of Bermuda Triangle. 

The potential of nature, of discovered and undiscovered elements in our world, persuades us to probe into some of her mysteries and what they may tell us. Prepare yourself then for a true odyssey of the Earth around us. 

Air France Plane Misalng Near Bermuda Triangle 
June 1, 2009 An Air France plane is missing. The Agence France-Presse reported that an Air France Airbus A330-200 wide-body jet carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members disappeared from the radar screens on Monday somewhere off Brazil's Atlantic coast. 
Flight AF 447 out of Rio de Janeiro was headed for Paris. According to the Mirror, Air France reported that the plane had radioed in, that they were going through turbulence. They also reported that a message, signalling electrical circuit malfunction, was received before it disappeared. 
A search for the missing plane was conducted by the Brazilian Air Force. The French were also involved in the search. 
Another well known case of 1962 vividly brings home the need for careful behind -the-scenes probing. Once again, it involved an aircraft. 

The date was January 8, 1962. A huge 4 engine KB50 aerial tanker was enroute from the east coast to Lajes in the Azores. The captain, Major Bob Tawney, reported in at the expected time. All was normal, routine. But he, his crew and the big tanker, never made it to the Azores. Apparently, the last word from the flight had been the usual routine report, which had placed them a few hundred miles off the East Coast. 
FLASH! the media broadcasted, fed by a sincere Coast Guard, that a large oil slick was sighted 300 miles off Norfolk, Virginia, in the plane's proposed route. The mystery could be breaking ... 
But that was the only clue ever found. Although never proved, it was from the plane, publicly the suspicions were obvious: the tanker and its qualified crew met a horrid and sudden death by crashing headlong into the sea. 
However, the report, which was finished months later, confirmed no such thing. Tawney had been clearly overheard by a Navy transport hours after his last message. This placed him north of Bermuda, hundreds of miles past the spot of the oil slick. There is no evidence, therefore, that the plane and its crew ever met any known fate. 

                   The Sea of Lost Ships 

The ships below represent samples of the many vessels that have mysterioualy vanished in the Bermuda Triangle . 

Many US warships are listed missing by the US Navy between 1780 and 1824 , including the general Gates , Hornet , Insurgent , Pickering , wasp , wildcat and Expervier .

The Rosalle was built in 1838 of 222 tons of wood . In 1840 , she was found deserted but in ship shape near the Bahamas .

Ellen Austin's Encounter disappeared in 1881 in the Triangle

Bermuda Triangle Theories 
The Bermuda triangle is a stretch over the Atlantic Ocean, measuring less than a thousand miles on any one side. The name 'Bermuda Triangle' remained a colloquial expression throughout the 1950s. By the early 1960s, it acquired the name 'The Devil's Triangle.' Bordered by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, the location became famous on account of the strange disappearance of ships, as well as aircrafts in the area. A number of supernatural explanations have been put forward with regard to the mysterious disappearances. 
However, many probable logical explanations for the missing vessels include hurricanes, earthquakes, as well as magnetic fields, which render navigation devices worthless. However, most people do not like to accept such boring explanations and instead opt for more interesting options like alien abduction, giant squids, or getting sucked into another dimension. 

Supernatural theories 

Death Rays from Atlantis. 
Rays from the magic crystals, left from the time of Atlantis, deep down in the sea are responsible for the strange sinking of ships. However, several underwater expeditions have revealed places under the ocean that look man-made, but no such crystals have been found. In fact no real proof that Atlantis existed, has been ever found. 
Sea monsters. 
The presence of sea monsters was the most widely believed explanation especially in the earlier times, when their existence was believed to be true. 

Presence of a time warp. 

People claim to be lost in the time warp while going through the region. 

Alien abductions. 
The Bermuda Triangle is a collecting station from where aliens take our people, ships, planes and other objects back to their planet to study. 

Scientific Explanations 
Magnetic Compass 
According to the scientists in the US Navy, this area is one of the only two in the world, where a magnetic compass points to true north rather than magnetic north. This probably caused some navigators to go off course, which is very dangerous because many of the islands in 'The Triangle' have large areas of shallow water where vessels can run aground. They can also sink a long way down as some of the ocean's deepest trenches, from 19 ,000 to over 27 ,000 feet below sea level, are found here. 

Unpredictable weather 
Since the island is situated in the Atlantic Ocean, the weather is influenced by several factors and can change instantly. That means that at one moment the weather is stable, and at another it becomes extremely turbulent accompanied by strong currents of wind along with the hurricanes. 
Formation of methane in the sea. 
Methane can lower the density of water, leading to the sinking of ships. Similarly, methane can cut out an aircraft engine leading to crashes. 
Bermuda Triangle Survivors 
These witnesses constitute a long list of pilots, sailors and fishermen. 

1. It is interesting to note that Christopher Columbus was one such witness. He wrote in his memoir on how his compass acted strangely while sailing through the Bermuda Triangle. He along with another shipmate witnessed a glowing globe of light that seemed to hover over the sea. 
2. It is said that when clouds or fog enter the Bermuda Triangle, strange things start happening. Such a phenomenon has been witnessed with the Philadelphia Experiment in which the USS Eldridge vanished and reappeared later miles away, with some of the crew men warped into the hull of the ship. 
3. In 1901, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain stepped into a mist and claimed to arrive at a time period before the French Revolution. It is said, that the mist and the ominous clouds might be the key to time travel or entering into other dimensions. 
4. Even a great pilot like Charles Lindbergh witnessed unusual events while flying in the reaches of the Bermuda Triangle. It is said that when he was making a nonstop flight from Havana to St. Louis, his magnetic compass started rotating. His Earthinductor-compass needle jumped back and forth erratically. This has now all been revealed in his autobiography. 

5. Another eyewitness account is that of Bruce Gernon, who flew his plane, a BonanzaA36, into the Bermuda Triangle and encountered a non-threatening mile and a half long cloud. As he neared, the cloud seemed to come alive. It became huge and engulfed his plane. However, a tunnel opened up in the cloud and he went through this tunnel. It had cloud trails swirling around his plane. He also reported that while going into this tunnel, he experienced zero gravity and the only thing that kept him in the cockpit was his seatbelt. 
Whatever be the actual reason, there is an involvement of more than one fact.or behind the disappearances of ships and aircrafts in the Bermuda triangle region. 
The Bermuda triangle continues to evoke a lot of interest. Most people like to read about it. In fact., in the last few decades, island of Bermuda has emerged as a major tourist destination as well; mainly, due to its close proximity with the Bermuda Triangle. 


It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridge head 3 beyond and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very few people on foot, but the old man was still there.’’Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and he smiled.
“I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and said, “What animals were they?”
“Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What was the name of the old man’s native town?


He flungs himself down in a corner to recoup from the fatigue of his visit to the shop. His wife said, “You are getting no sauce today, nor anything else. I can’t find anything to give you to eat. Fast till the evening, it’ll do you good. Take the goats and be gone now,” she cried and added, “Don’t come back before the sun is down.”

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Where had Muni gone and why?


 

The boy looked up. He took his hands from his face and looked up at his teacher. The light from Mr. Oliver’s torch fell on the boy’s face, if you could call it a face. He had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth. It was just a round smooth head with a school cap on top of it.

And that’s where the story should end, as indeed it has for several people who have had similar experiences and dropped dead of inexplicable heart attacks. But for Mr. Oliver, it did not end there. The torch fell from his trembling hand. He turned and scrambled down the path, running blindly through the trees and calling for help. He was still running towards the school buildings when he saw a lantern swinging in the middle of the path. Mr. Oliver had never before been so pleased to see the night watchman. He stumbled up to the watchman, gasping for breath and speaking incoherently.

What is it, Sahib? Asked the watchman, has there been an accident? Why are you running?

I saw something, something horrible, a boy weeping in the forest and he had no face.
No face, Sahib?
No eyes, no nose, mouth, nothing.
Do you mean it was like this, Sahib? asked the watchman, and raised the lamp to his own face. The watchman had no eyes, no ears, no features at all, not even an eyebrow. The wind blew the lamp out and Mr. Oliver had his heart attack.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

Why did Mr Oliver tell the boy that he should not be out at that hour?


Suddenly all the tension seemed to ebb out of my body as the truth of what he said hit me. Confidently, I drew a line a full foot in back of the board and proceeded to jump from there. I qualified with almost a foot to spare.

That night I walked over to Luz Long’s room in the Olympic village to thank him. I knew that if it hadn’t been for him I probably wouldn’t be jumping in the finals the following day. We sat in his quarters and talked for two hours—about track and field, ourselves, the world situation, a dozen other things.

When I finally got up to leave, we both knew that a real friendship had been formed. Luz would go out to the field the next day trying to beat me if he could. But I knew that he wanted me to do my best—even if that meant my winning.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

How did Owens manage to qualify for the finals with a foot to spare?


Margot stood apart from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain. They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall. Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering an old or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with. She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands. But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone. All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot. And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it:

I think the snn is a flower,
That blooms for just one hour.

Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.

What had Margot written about the sun in her poem?


Describe the stranger who came to the pet shop. What did he want?


Answer the following questions.

(i) Who is the speaker in the poem?

(ii) Is she/he afraid or curious, or both?

(iii)What is she/he planning to do soon?

(iv)“But not just yet...” suggests doubt, fear, hesitation, laziness, or something else. Choose the word which seems right to you. Tell others why you chose it.


Why the king changed his clothes and left behind his bodyguards and horse before meeting the hermit?


What does walking by dragging feet suggest?


Is there a “talking fan’ in your house? Create a dialogue between the fan and a mechanic.


Do you find the poem humorous? Read aloud lines which make you laugh.


Look at these sentences.

1. “Too boring,” he said.

2. Cleaned his room, did his chores.

When we speak, we often leave out words that can easily be guessed. We do not do this when we write unless we are trying to write as we speak (as in the story).

So, if we were to write carefully, we would say:

  • “Homework is too boring,” he said.
  • He cleaned his room and did his chores.

Multiple Choice Question:
Who is the poet of this poem?


The words given against the sentences below can be used both as nouns and verbs. Use them appropriately to fill in the blanks.

(i) The two teams have ____________ three matches already. (play)

(ii) The last day’s ____________ was excellent.


Add im- or in- to each of the following words and use them in place of the italicised words in the sentences given below.

patient, proper, possible, sensitive, competent

"Don’t lose patience. Your letter will come one day," the postman told me.


Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped from several inches beyond the take-off board for a foul.
  1. When and where is this narrative set?    [2]
  2. What reason does the narrator Jesse Owens give for the heightened nationalistic feelings at this time?      [2]
  3. In which event had Owens been confident of winning a gold medal? Why?     [3]
  4. What had made Owens angry enough to make mistakes? Name Owens’ rival who approached him at this point.    [3]

How is Death personified in the opening lines of the poem, Death be Not Proud?


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