Q.1. (A) Read
the following passage and answer the questions given
below :
When the cousins appeared we excitedly told them about Old
Tom. Dad rolled some mince balls and off we set to the stump. The cousins
were from
Mum’s side of the family and were all city-born and bred. They would almost faint at the sight of cows grazing, let
alone a live snake. To them, snakes belonged in jars in a museum.
When
we got to the stump, we all peered in and the city cousins were suitably horrified at the sight of Old Tom. The snake certainly looked
huge.
Dad rolled his sleeve right back of his shoulder with
great gusto and wriggled close to the stump to get a good position. We all leaned for a good view.
Then
as Dad reached into the stump with the mince ball in his hand, the snake suddenly coiled up, raised its neck and viciously
struck Dad’s arm three or four times in rapid succession. Dad
recoiled in shock and rolled several metres away from the stump. He was
white as a ghost
and completely dumbfounded as he looked at the
blood-stained puncture holes in his arm.
I peered into the stump and saw two snake heads
entwined in a
tight
embrace. In a frenzied delight, I yelled out: “Dad! Dad! Old Tom’s got a girl friend.” Pondering the situation for a moment, I added: “Girl snakes musn’t like being stroked.. Eh, Dad”
Questions :
1. How did Dad look after he was struck
on his arm?
2. What did the narrator
comment on seeing the two snake heads?
3. What, do you
think, we can learn
from this text?
4. (a) Dad recoiled in shock and rolled several metres away.
(Rewrite as a Simple
Sentence)
(b) The snake certainly looked huge.
(Rewrite as an Exclamatory Sentence)
5. (i) Identify
a compound word from the passage.
(ii) Frame one sentence using both, 'coil up' and 'recoiled'.
6. Why does the
narrator say that
his city cousins were suitably horrified?
Answers :
1. Dad was as white as a ghost and completely dumbfounded.
2. The narrator
concluded that girl snakes
mustn’t like being stroked.
3. We can learn that animals are not very frightening and
they retaliate
only when we harm them.
4. (a) Recoiling in shock, Dad rolled several metres away.
(b) How huge the snake looked!
5. (i) blood-stained, city-born. (any one)
(ii) We recoiled at the sight of a snake which
coiled up its head.
6. The narrator knew that his city cousins would almost faint at the sight of cows grazing, let alone a live snake. They had never seen snakes in
the
open, so he had expected that the moment they would see Tom they would get very terrified. This is exactly what happend. Thus he
says
they were suitably horrified.
