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Question
Read the following passage carefully and do the given activities:
A.1) True or False:
Write the statements and state whether they are true or false:
(i) Those who choose to live well must help others.
(ii) If neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily improve the quality.
(iii) The farmer grew award-winning corn.
(iv) The reporter discovered that the farmer didn’t share his seed corn with his neighbors.
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his sweet corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir”, said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.” He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.
The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
A.2) Consequences:
Write the consequences:
(i) The farmer shares the corn.
(ii) The farmer doesn’t share the corn.
A.3) Antonyms:
Find out the words opposite in meaning from the passage:
(i) superior x _______
(ii) lost x _______
(iii) improve x _______
(iv) inconstantly x _______
A.4) Language study:
(i) We must help our neighbors. (Replace the modal auxiliary showing advice).
(ii) The wind picks up pollen from ripening corn and swirls it field to field. (Use “not only…….. but also” and rewrite)
A.5) Personal Response:
What do you learn from the story? Suggest a suitable title.
Solution
A.1)
(i) Those who choose to live well must help others. - True
(ii) If neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily improve the quality. - False
(iii) The farmer grew award-winning corn. - True
(iv) The reporter discovered that the farmer didn’t share his seed corn with his neighbors. - False
A.2)
(i) The farmer shares the corn: The neighbor’s corn will be of good quality and so will the farmers’ be.
(ii) The farmer doesn’t share the corn: Cross-pollination will take place and the farmer’s corn will be degraded.
A.3)
(i) superior x Inferior
(ii) lost x found
(iii) improve x degrade
(iv) inconstantly x steadily
A.4)
(i) We should help our neighbors.
(ii) The wind not only picks up pollen from ripening corn but also swirls it field to field.
A.5)
Title: As you sow, so shall you reap.
The story teaches us an important session of life - that what goes around comes around. ‘As you sow, so shall you reap’. Goodness always begets goodness. Happiness does not come to anyone on a platter. Happiness is in reaching out to others, especially our neighbors in need that we will experience true happiness.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Read the following extract and then do all the activities that follow :
I rain into a stranger as he passed by
“Oh, excuse me please” was my reply.
He said, “please excuse me too; wasn't even watching for you.”
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on out way and we said good-bye.
But at home a different story is told.
How we treat out loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My daughter stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knoked her down.
“Move out of the way,” I said with a frown.
She walked away, her little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,
“While Dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,
But children you love, you seem to abuse.”
A1. Order-
The incidents narrated in the extract are arranged in a jumbled manner here, Rearrange them in a proper order as they occur in the extract:
(i) The poet and the stranger went on their way saying good-bye.
(ii) Seeking excuse politely from the stranger, she went her way.
(iii) The poet ran into a stranger on the road.
(iv) The poet yelled at her daughter.
A2. Poetic device:
Make a list of rhyming pairs from the second stanza and note down the rhyme scheme of the same stanza.
A3. Personal Response:
Understanding and politeness are the essentials of out everyday life. Explain your views in brief.
A4. Creativity -
Frame two poetic lines on the following situation using a rhyming pattern with the help of clues given:
“While introducing great personalities, we praise them highly and talk about their qualities, but while speaking
about our friends we may not follow the same trend.”
While introducing great personalities, — a
------------------------------------ — a
But while speaking about our friends, — b
------------------------------------ — b
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