MP Board Class 10th Special English Unseen Passages Literary
MP Board Class 10th Special English Unseen Passages Literary
MP Board Class 10th Special English solutions Unseen Passages Literary
Passage-1
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow: (MP Board 2012)
Mankind has undoubtedly progressed since medieval times. The earliest men lived like brutes. Individuals fought among themselves and strong destroyed the weak for what is law of the jungle, the law of irrational life. But man was not an animal. He possessed rational faculties. These faculties gradually developed and appeared in his actions and man gave up the law of the jungle and made his own rational laws. Men saw that the law of physical strength was not applicable to their lives. They realized that they had souls and strength of being with a soul can consist in a variety of capabilities other than the power to cut and kill, tear and bite. For instance a man can be strong in fashioning tools, or in controlling the actions of other rational beings by the power of song or speech. Thus men realized that they should not be fighting among themselves. But they should be working together and giving one another opportunities to develop their respective strengths. This was the first step in man’s progress. By these means men grained such control over the forces of nature. They made each other so much wiser and more comfortable that they were convinced that they were the best creation of God.
Questions:
(a) The earliest men lived like
(i) monkeys
(ii) brutes
(iii) animals
(b) According to the passage what was the law of the jungle?
(i) The animals destroyed the men.
(ii) The strong destroyed the weak.
(c) Who possessed rational faculties?
(i) men
(ii) animals
(iii) brutes
(d) Who realized that they had souls and strength?
(i) men
(ii) animals
(iii) other living beings.
(e) What did the men realize?
(i) They realized that they would be friendly towards the animals.
(ii) They realized that they should not be fighting among themselves.
(iii) Match the words given under column ‘A’ with their meanings given under column ‘B’
‘A’ – ‘B’
(1) developed – gained
(2) ruined – progressed
(3) achieved – destroyed
(g) How were men different from animals?
(h) What did men realise when their rational faculties were fully developed?
Answers:
(a) (ii) brutes
(b) (ii) The strong destroyed the weak.
(c) (i) men
(d) (i) men
(e) (ii) They realized that they should not be fighting among themselves.
(f)
(1) developed — progressed
(2) ruined — destroyed
(3) achieved — gained
(g) Men possessed rational faculties unlike animals. They gave up the laws of the jungle and made their own rational laws.
(h) Men realised that they should work together and give one another opportunities to develop their respective strengths.
Passage-2
1. “King Lear had three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Lear was a very old man, over eighty years of age. He was weary of ruling his kingdom and needed peace and quiet. He decided to give up his throne but first, he wanted to hear how much his daughters loved him.
2. Lear first questioned his eldest daughter, the wife of the Duke of Albany. Goneril declared, “I love you with all my heart and I shall always love you so.” Lear was pleased. He gave her a third of his kingdom.
3. Lear then questioned his second daughter Regan, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. She declared, “My only happiness is in loving you. My love for you will never change.” Her answer pleased the old king, and he gave her a third of his kingdom also.
4. It was then the turn of Cordelia who was his favourite. She just stood there and said nothing.
5. Cordelia had been sickened by sisters’ words. They had flattered their old father to get his stand.
6. She could not deceive or flatter. So she answered the king sincerely, saying, “You are my father. You have brought me up, but I cannot say like my sisters, that my love for you will never change nor can I give you all my love. When I marry, I shall give much of my love to my husband.”
7. When Lear heard this, he was wild with disappointment and anger. “Ungrateful, heartless child!” he called her, “You are no longer my daughter. I disown you. Your share of my kingdom, I give to your sisters.”
8. Lear then summoned his sons-in-law and gave to each of them one half of his kingdom and kept for himself only the name of king and a hundred knights to attend him.” (M.P. Board 2011)
Questions:
(I) Choose the correct alternative:
(i) Cordelia was:
(a) unmarried
(b) married
(c) a widow
(d) fiance
(ii) Lear called Cordelia “heartless” as:
(a) her answer was vague.
(b) her answer displeased him.
(c) she was speaking the truth.
(d) she had no heart.
(II) Give the verb form of the following words:
(a) belief
(b) speech
(III) “You have brought me up… The meaning of the underlined phrasal verb is:
(a) postponed
(b) reared
(c) lifted
(d) helped
(IV) Why did he decide to give up his throne?
(V) What did he want to hear before dividing his kingdom among his daughters?
(VI) What could Cordelia not do?
(VII) What did Lear keep for himself?
(VIII) Why did Goneril and Regan flatter the old king?
Answers:
(I) (i) (a) unmarried
(ii) (b) her answer displeased him.
(II) (a) believe (b) speak
(III) (b) reared
(IV) He was now very old.
(V) He wanted to hear how much his daughters loved him.
(VI) Cordelia could not deceive or flatter her father.
(VII) Lear kept for himself only the name of king and a hundred kinghts to attend him.
(VIII) Goneril and Regan flattered the old king in order to get more of the land in their favour.
Passage-3
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where the knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection. Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Questions:
(a) Fill up the blanks in each of the following sentences with one of the given words: (fragments, striving, dreary)
(i) The history of science is a continuous after knowledge.
(ii) If there were no change in life it would become quite
(iii) In many parts of the country agricultural land is cut up into small
(b) In this poem, the word ’where’ refers to:
(i) the entire world
(ii) the heaven of freedom
(iii) the dreary desert
(iv) narrow domestic walls
(c) What are the narrow domestic walls that the poet speaks of?
(d) What sort of a place is the present world?
(e) What is the significance of ‘awake’ in the last line?
(f) What is the heaven of freedom?
(g) What other freedom does the poet want for our country?
Answers:
(a)
(i) striving.
(ii) dreary
(iii) fragments
(b) (i) the entire world.
(c) The poet here speaks of the caste, creed and culture which divide our society into narrow sub-sections.
(d) The present world is living in dark age. It is not free from narrowness and illiteracy.
(e) It signifies the awakening of sense and inner delight. It also signifies attainment of freedom.
(f) Independence and sovereignty.
(g) Freedom from fear and slavery.
Passage 4
The World-
Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World,
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast—
World, you are beautifully drest.
The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree,
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.
You friendly Earth, how far do you go,
With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow,
With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?
Ah! you are so great, and I am so small,
1 tremble to think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,
A whisper inside me seemed to say,
‘You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot:
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!’
—W.B. Rands
Questions:
(i) And the air is over me.
(ii) A inside me seemed to say
(a) Fill up the blanks in each of the following sentences with one of the given words. (wonderful, tremble, whisper)
(iii) I to think of you.
(b) In this poem ‘beautifully drest’ refers to:
(i) having gaudy dress
(ii) decorated with nature’s beauty
(iii) wearing fine clothes
(c) Why does the poet call the earth ‘beautifully drest’?
(d) What does the wind do?
(e) Whom does the wind talk to?
(f) How is the earth to nature?
(g) What whisper inside the poet arise?
Answers:
(a) (i) wonderful
(ii) wisper
(iii) tremble
(b) (ii) decorated with nature’s beauty
(c) The earth has wonderful grass curled around it.
(d) The wind shakes the tree.
(e) It talks to itself.
(f) The earth is friendly to nature.
(g) A whisper arises in the poet’s mind that the power of man to love and think is more than the earth.
Passage-5
A Green Cornfield-
The earth was green, the sky was blue;
I saw and heard one sunny morn
A skylark hang between the two,
A singing speck above the corn.
A stage below in gay accord,
White butterflies danced on wing,
And still the singing skylark soared,
And silent sank and soared to sing.
The cornfield stretched a tender green
To right and left beside my walks;
I knew he had a nest unseen
Somewhere among the million stalks.
And as I paused to hear his song
While swift the sunny moments slid,
Perhaps his mate sat listening long,
And listened longer than I did.
Questions:
(a) The skylark hang between the two …………….. (complete this line)
(b) Give a word similar in meaning to ‘rose high in the sky’.
(c) The meaning of ‘stretched’ is
(d) What does the skylark do?
(e) What does the poet think?
Answers:
(a) A singing speck above the corn.
(b) soared.
(c) extended, straightened.
(d) The skylark sings above the corn field.
(e) The poet thinks that the mate of the skylark sat listening to his song longer than him.
Passage-6
Night-
The Sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine;
“The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.”
The Moon, like a flower,
In heaven’s high bozuer,
With silent delight , Sits and smiles on the night.
Farewell, green fields and happy groves,
Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves
The feet of angels bright;
Unseen they pour blessing,
And joy without ceasing,
On each bud and blossom,
And each sleeping bosom.
“They look in every thoughtless nest,
Where birds are covered ivarm;
They visit caves of every beast,
To keep them all from harm.”
If they see any weeping
That should have been sleeping
They pour sleep on their head,
And sit down by their bed.
—William Blake
1. Below is the summary of the poem. Complete it by writing the missing word/phrase against the correct blank number in your answer sheet. This poem conveys a beautiful impression of peace and quietness that falls over the landscape at (a) ………………….. At this time there is (b) ………………….. everywhere. The poet compares the moon to a (c) ………………….. It appears to be silently sitting and (d) ………………….. during the night. The poem conveys a feeling of trust in God’s protection. His (e) ………………….. angels with bright feet, shower (f) ………………….. of safe sleep on all.
2. What do the angels do to the following, when they visit them at night? Write the answers in your answer sheet against the correct blank numbers,
(a) birds in their nests
(b) beasts in their caves
(c) any weeping creature
3. Find words/phrases from the poem which mean the same as the following:
(a) areas of land with fruit-trees of particular type
(b) took small bites of food
Answers:
1.
(a) night
(b) silence
(c) flower
(d) smiling
(e) unseen
(f) blessings
2.
(a) look at the warmly covered birds.
(b) ensure that they are free from harm.
(c) they pour sleep on its head and sit by their bed.
3.
(a) groves,
(b) nibbled.
Passage-7
Which Loved Best?
“I love you, Mother,” said little John;
Then, forgetting his work, his cap went on,
And he was off to the garden siving,
And left her the water and wood to bring.
“1 love you, Mother,” said rosy Nell-
“l love you better than tongue can tell”;
Then she teased and pouted full half the day,
Till her mother rejoiced zvhen she went to play.
“I loi’e you. Mother,” said little Fan;
“Today I’ll help you all 1 can;
Hoiv glad I am that school doesn’t keep1.”
So she rocked the babe till it fell asleep.
Then, stepping softly, she fetched the broom,
And szvept the floor and tidied the room;
Busy and happy all day zvas she,
Helpful and happy as child could be.
“I love you. Mother,” again they said,
Three little children going to bed;
Hozv do you think that mother guessed
Which of them really loved her best?
—Joy Allison
1. (a) Instead of helping his mother John …………………..
(b) John could have helped his mother by …………………..
(c) The mother rejoiced when Nell went to play because …………………..
(d) It was easy for Fan to help her mother because …………………..
(e) Fan kept herself busy and happy that day by and …………………..
(f) Fan stepped softly into the room because she …………………..
(g) Mother guessed that Fan loved her most because her other two children …………………..
Answers:
(a) went off to the garden, swing.
(b) bringing to her the water and wood.
(c) she was irritating her by teasing and pouting at her.
(d) she did not have to go to school that day.
(e) sweeping the floor, tidying the room.
(f) did not want to disturb the sleeping baby.
(g) did not even bother to help her in her daily chores.
Passage-8
1. Generally speaking, creative people often believe their purpose in life is to discover and implement the interrelatedness of things, to make order out of disorder. They also see problems where others see none and question the validity of even the most widely accepted answers. Creative persons are compulsive problem seekers, not so much because they thrive on problems, but because their senses are attuned to a world that demands to be put together, like a jigsaw puzzle scattered on a table.
2. Several tests now in use reveal that highly creative people are much more open and receptive to the complexities of experience than are less creative people. The creative temperament has a tendency to break problems down into their most basic elements and then reconstruct them into whole new problems, thereby discovering new relationships and new solutions.
3. Highly creative people aren’t afraid to ask what may seem to be naive or silly questions. They ask questions like, “Why don’t spiders get tangled up in their own webs?” and, “Why do dogs turn in circles before lying down?” Such questions may seem childlike, and in a way they are. Children have not yet had their innate creative energies channelled into culturally acceptable directions and can give full rein to their curiosity —the absolute prerequisite for full creative functioning, in both children and adults.
4. Unlike children, creative people appear to have vast stores of patience to draw upon. Months, years, even decades can be devoted to a single problem.
5. The home that encourages inquisitiveness contributes to creative development. The teacher who stresses questions rather than answers and rewards curiosity rather than restricting it is teaching a shild to be creative.
6. To be extremely intelligent is not the same as to be gifted in creative work. The Quiz Kids are often referred to as geniuses. They would undoubtedly score high in memory functions ………………. But it is doubtful whether they are also fluent in producing ideas.
7. Contrary to popular myths that glorify youth, more creative achievements are likely to occur when people grow older. While memory may falter with age, creativity is ageless. (425 words)
Questions:
(a) The word similar in meaning to ‘exposing secrets’ is
(i) attuned
(ii) reveal
(iii) believe
(b) Unlike children, creative people appear to have vast stores of patience to draw upon. (Say ‘True’ or ‘False’)
(c) The meaning of ‘scattered* is
(i) order
(ii) disorderd
(iii) neat and clean
(d) What do creative people believe?
(e) What is the nature of highly creative people?
(f) What contributes to creative development?
Answers:
(a) (ii) reveal
(b) True
(c) (ii) disordered
(d) Creative people believe that their purpose in life is to discover and implement interrelatedness of things and to make order out of disorder.
(e) Highly creative people are much more open and receptive to the complexities of experience.
(f) The home that encourages inquisitiveness contributes to creative development.
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