Available Answers

1. 1.

   Read the passages given below and answer the questions based on them.

   Chiang Mei, in northern Thailand was the former seat of the Lanna kingdom. It is an escape from the whirlwind pace of life of its southern rival, Bangkok. Despite the constant arrival of planes and trains full of tourists, this city is still blissfully calm and laid-back.

   Nestled among forested foothills and surrounded by rainforests, Chiang Mei is much older than it first appears. The beautiful, old monasteries still remain, centred on ancient brick Stupas in a remarkable range of shapes and styles.

   However, the gaps between them have been filled in with modern Thai houses, traveller hotels and smart shopping centres. Despite this, the historic centre of Chiang Mei Still feels overwhelmingly residential, more like a sleepy country town than a bustling capital.

   A sprawling modern city has grown around ancient Chiang Mei, ringed by a tangle of superhighways, but if you drive in a straight line in any direction, you will find yourself in the lush green countryside of northern Thailand. Go and loose yourself in the world of pristine rainforest reserves, churning waterfalls, serene forest glades, bubbling hot springs and peaceful country villages-not to forget the host of adventure camps, the night safari, elephant sanctuaries, modern hotels and souvenir markets.

   This is the place to relax, have fabulous food and wander about leisurely.

   A. Give the answers.

   1. Look up the dictionary and write the meanings of: former., whirlwind, residential, pristine, serene
   2. Make sentences of your own with these words. Try to write the sentence in such a way that the meaning of the word is clear. an escape from; surrounded by; has grown around; ringed by; in any direction
   3. Find words from the passage which mean the following:
      1. a person/thing/place competing with another for the same thing.
      2. relaxed and easy going.
      3. perfectly happy

   B. Answer these questions in detail.

   1. Explain how Chiang Mei is 'an escape from its rival. Bangkok.'
   2. How do we know that the city has become modern?
   3. Describe the countryside in your own words.

   C. What are the things which would attract you to Chiang Mei? Write your answer in about fifty words.

2. 2.

   To Question or Not to Question

   Should we completely surrender to authority or should we question it? To grow, one needs to learn to question-that is true growth.

   A professor, after his lecture on Philosophy, gave his class a short, surprise test based on what he had just taught them. When the students got back their answer papers, they found that all of them had been awarded a zero! Seeing their shocked faces, the professor told them that he had deliberately taught them wrong facts- but no one in class had questioned him. They had accepted all that he told them. This taught the students to develop a questioning attitude.

   A young proud mother was proudly lauding her nine-year-old son's habit of questioning everything. "Why this? Why that? What does this mean? He will never accept anything without questioning!" The teacher she was talking to replied and said, " That's the right way. My six-year-olds often get on my nerves, but then I tell myself it is good that they ask and seek clarification."

   The new education paradigm encourages the habit of questioning. But, in the domain of spirituality, the guru discourages this practice. The moral code is to accept all that he tells you unquestioningly; to do what he asks you to do - who is right?

   A. Give the answers.

   1. Look up the thesaurus and write two synonyms for each of these words: lecture, laud, clarification, domain, paradigm
   2. Make sentences of your own with: surprise, shocked, questioned, habit, discourage
   3. Find words from the passage which mean the following: 
      1. give in to authority or an opponent.
      2. done consciously and intentionally
      3. give support or help the development of

   B. Answer these questions in detail.

   1. Imagine you were one of the students who wrote the surprise test the professor gave. How did this test change your way of thinking? Write your answer in a short paragraph.
   2. Did you grow up with a questioning attitude? Yes/No? Explain in a paragraph why you did so.
   3. Read the last paragraph and write your views expressing which is right- the habit of questioning or that of acceptance.

   C. Imagine yourself to be a teacher teaching five -year old kids. How would you deal with them?

3. 3.

   A single guy decided that life would be more fun if he had a pet. So off he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to purchase an unusual pet. After much discussion, deliberations and haggling, he finally settled upon a talking centipede- a hundred-legged bug- which came in a little, white box.

   Taking a leisurely stroll, he walked back home with his new pet in the box tucked under his arm. He put the box in a safe place and decided that he would start off by taking his new pet to church. So, he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to church with me today?' But there was no response. He waited a while, then asked again, "How 'bout going to church with me today?" But again, there was no answer from his new pet. He waited a few minutes more then decided to give it a last try. Going close to the box he shouted, "Hey! Will you go to church with me or not?"

   This time, a little voice came out of the box. "Mr., I heard you the very first time. I'm putting my shoes on."

   A. Give the answers.

   1. Look up the thesaurus and write the antonyms for each of these words: unusual, bought, decided, leisure, reply, going, shouted, first
   2. Make sentences of your own with : leisurely stroll, haggling, tucked under his arm, start off, a few minutes
   3. Find words in the passage which mean the following: a. long and careful consideration b. bargain persistently
   4. The same question was put forward to the centipede in three different ways. Note down the three questions. What does this teach you regarding the style of questioning?

   B. Write short answers.

   1. Give one word for 'a singly guy.' What is a single girl called?
   2. Tick the correct option: leisurely means:
      (i) unhurried, (ii) very slow, (iii) extremely slow
   3. Think and write any two places where you would take a stroll.
   4. Replace response with another word: But there was no response.
   5. Explain the joke in a sentence in the last line.
4. 4.

   There are a number of short poems that live long lives. No one remembers exactly when they first appeared; usually their authors are forgotten. But these rhymed jokes are reprinted again and again. Here are two of them along with a limerick for your reading pleasure and answering the questions that follow.

   Rhymed Chuckles

   1. A doctor fell into a deep well
      And broke his collar bone.
      The Moral: Doctor, mind the sick
      And leave the well alone.
   2. Little Willie from his mirror
      Sucked the mercury all off,
      Thinking his childish error.
      Would cure his whooping-cough.
      At his funeral Willie's mother
      Crying, said to Mrs Brown:
      "Twas a Chilly day William
      When the mercury went down."
   3. There was a young man ol' Bengal
      Who went to a fancy-dress ball,
      He went. just for fun,
      Dressed up as a bun,
      And a dog ate him up in the hall.

   Give short answers.

   1. Give an example of a pun in the rhymed joke no. i. Explain the pun to bring out the humour of the word.
   2. Give an example of a pun in the rhymed joke no. ii. Explain the pun to bring out the humour of the word.
   3. What is a 'limerick'? How do we know this is a limerick?
   4. What is a moral? In which type of stories do we find such morals?
   5. Which of the three rhymed jokes and limerick did you enjoy reading most? Why?
5. 5.

   Father hadn't started lunch or rather tiffin, as we called it then. He usually waited for me, if I was late. I don't suppose he enjoyed eating alone.

   For tiffin we usually had rice, a mutton curry (koftas or meat balls, with plenty of gravy, was my favorite curry), fried dal and a hot lime or mango pickle. For supper we had English food - a soup, roast meat and fried potatoes, a rich gravy made by my father, and a custard or caramel pudding. My father enjoyed cooking, but it was only in the morning that he found time for it. Breakfast was his own creation. He cooked eggs in a variety of interesting ways, and favoured some Italian recipes which he had collected during a trip to Europe, long before I was born.

   'And where have you been?' asked my father, helping himself to the rice as soon as he saw me come in.

   'To the top of the old palace,' I said.

   'Did you meet anyone there?'

   'Yes, I met a tiny old lady who told me she was a Rani. She gave me chocolates.'

   As a rule, she doesn't like visitors.'

   'Oh, she didn't mind me. But is she really a queen?'

   'Well, she is the daughter of a Maharaja. That makes her a princess. She never married. There's a story that she fell in love with a commoner, one of the palace servants. and wanted to marry him, but of course they wouldn't allow that. She became very melancholic and started living all by herself in the old palace. They give her everything that she needs but she doesn't go out or have any visitors. Everyone says that she's mad'

   'How do they know?' I asked.

   'Because she is different from other people, I suppose.'

   'Is that being mad?'

   'No, not really, I suppose madness is not seeing things as others see them.

   'Is that very bad?'

   'No,' said father, who for once was finding it very difficult to explain something to me. 'But people who are like that - people whose minds are so different that they don't think step by step, as we do, whose thoughts jump all over the place-such people are very difficult to live with.....'

   'Step by step,' I repeated. 'Step by step..

   You aren't eating,' said my father. 'Hurry up, and you can come with me to school today.

   'l always looked forward to attending my father's classes. He did not take me to the classroom very often, because he wanted school to be a treat, to begin with; then, later, the routine wouldn't be so unwelcome.

   Sitting there with older children, understanding only half of what they were learning, I felt important and part grown-up. And of course I did learn to read and write, although I first learnt to read upside-down, by means of standing in front of other's desks and peering across at their books. Later, when I went to school, I had some difficulty in learning to read the right way up; and even today I sometimes read upside-down, for the sake of variety. I don't mean that I read standing on my head; simply that I hold the book upside-down.

    A. Give the meaning of each of the following as used in the passage. One word answers or a short phrase will be accepted.

   1. creation (Line 7)
   2. commoner (Line 18)
   3. melancholic (Line 20)
   4. peering (Line 41)
   5. variety (Line 43)

   B. Answer the following questions in your own words.

   1. What would the narrator and his father eat for tiffin usually? Explain the term 'tiffin'.
   2. How can you tell that the father loved cooking?
   3. Why was the narrator late for lunch?
   4. According to the father what kind of people were very difficult to live with?
   5. Why would the father of the narrator not take him to the classroom very often?
   6. What difficulty did the narrator face when he went to school formally? What was the reason that lay behind him facing that particular difficulty?