Q.1. (A) Readthe 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 fromMum’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.
Whenwe 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.
Thenas 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 headsentwined 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 struckon his arm?
2. What did the narratorcomment on seeing the two snake heads?
3. What, do you think, we can learnfrom this text?
4. (a) Dad recoiled in shock and rolled several metres away.
(Rewrite as a SimpleSentence)
(b) The snake certainly looked huge.
(Rewrite as an Exclamatory Sentence)
5. (i) Identifya 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 narratorconcluded that girl snakesmustn’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 whichcoiled 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 theopen, 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.