Telangana TSBIE TS Inter 2nd Year English Study Material Reading Comprehension Passages from Short Stories Exercise Questions and Answers.
TS Inter 2nd Year English Reading Comprehension Passages from Short Stories
Q.No.6 – (4 out of 6 Questions: 4 × 1 = 4 Marks)
EXERCISES
The Women on Platform No.8
Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow in a word or sentence each.
1) She took me into the station dining room and ordered tea, samosas, and jalebies. At once I began to relax and take an interest in this kind woman The strange meeting with her had little effect on my appetite. I was a hungry schoolboy. I ate as much as I could without being impolite. She took pleasure in watching me eat. I think the food strengthened our friendship, for under the influence of the tea and sweets I began to talk quite freely. I told her about my school, my friends, my likes and dislikes. She questioned me quietly from time to time, but preferred listening
Questions :
1) Who is ‘she’ referred to in this passage?
2) Where did she take the boy?
3) What did she order for him?
4) The strange meeting had no effect on his appetite. Write whether it is true or false.
5) I ate as much as I could without being impolite.” What did he mean statement? Choose the best answer.
a. I ate so much food with being polite.
b. I ate not much food without being polite.
c. I ate sufficient quantity of food without being shy.
d. I ate scanty food with a feeling of fear.
6) What did he think of the food offered by the woman?
7) What did he exchange with her during their talk?
8) What did the woman prefer, questioning or listening?
Answers:
1) the woman on platform No.8; the strange woman
2) to the station dining room
3) samosas, jalebies and tea
4) True
5) a) I late so much food with being polite.
6) It strengthened their friendship.
7) about his school friends, his likes and dislikes
8) listening
2) As it approached, a boy jumped off the platform and ran across the tracks to the next platform. He was at a safe distance from the train and there was no danger unless he had fallen. But as he leapt across the tracks, the woman with me gripped my arm. Her fingers dug into my flesh painfully. I looked up at her. Her face was filled with pain and fear, and then sadness swept over her eyes. She watched the boy until he disappeared in the crowd and only then she relaxed her hold on my arm. She smiled at me and took my hand again, but her fingers trembled against mine.
“He was all right,” I said, feeling that she needed reassurance.
Questions :
1) What did Arun see when a train approached?
2) What was the woman’s reaction on seeing the boy leap across the tracks?
3) What type of emotions did the boy observe in her face?
4) Why do you think sadness swept over her eyes when a boy danger?
5) How long did she watch the boy?
6) Only after the boy disappeared that she relaxed. Write true or false
7) “She relaxed only after the boy safely disappeared into Write the true or false.
8) What type of relation between do you notice between the boy and women.
Answers:
1) A boy jumping off the platform
2) She gripped Aurn’s arm
3) pain, fear and sadness.
4) Probably she was reminded of the loss of her dear one on the tracks.
5) until he disappeared in the crowd
6) true
7) false
8) that of a mother and her son
3) By now I really didn’t like Satish’s mother at all. She clearly thought that I and “my mother” came from a very poor family. Because of that, I did not intend giving the other woman away. I let her take my hand in hers, but I could think of nothing to say. I was conscious of Satish’s mother staring at us with hard, unkind eyes, and I found myself hating her. The guard walked up the platform, blowing his whistle as the train got ready to leave. I looked straight into the eyes of the woman who held my hand. She smilec’ in a gentle, understanding way. I leaned out of the window then to her cheek and kissed her.
Questions :
1) Did Arun like Satish’s mother? Which other word in the his feeling?
2) What was the opinion of Satish’s mother on Arun and his mother
3) Who is the other woman referred to here?
4) What was Arun conscious of?
5) Arun let her take his hand into hers and said nothing. Write whether it is true or false.
6) Pick out from the passage train-related words. For example, guard
7) When he leaned out of the window to kiss her, was the train moving
8) Pick out the word which is the antonym of soft.
Answers:
1) No; hating
2) They came from a poor family.
3) mother of Satish
4) of Satish’s mother staring at them with hard, unkind eyes
5) true
6) whistle, window
7) No.
8) hard
A Gift For Christmas
4) Della finished crying. She went up to the looking-glass and began to powder her cheeks. Then she stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking on a grey fence in a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day and she had only $ 1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated They always are. Only $ 1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Oh, the many happy hours she had spent planning for something nice for him! Something fine and rare, worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.
Questions :
1) Why was Della crying?
2) Where did Della go?
3) Where did Della stand?
4) Where did Della look out?
5) The day before Christmas is called _______________ (Fill in the blank choosing from the options.)
a) Boxing Day
b) Shopping Day
c) Christmas Eve .
6) Why had Della been saving every penny for months?
7) What did she do to get the money?
8) Write the synonym of the word gift from the passage.
Answers:
1) Della was crying because she couldn’t save or get money to buy Jim a gift for Christmas.
2) to the looking-glass
3) She stood by the window.
4) She looked out at a grey cat walking on a grey fence in a grey backyard
5) C) Christmas Eve
6) to buy a gift to Jim for Christmas
7) She saved pennies – day by day, for long. (Later, she sold her long brown hair.)
8) Present
B) She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores. It was a platinum watch-chain, simple but well made. It was worthy of the watch. As soon as she saw it she decided that it was the right present for Jim. She paid twenty-one dollars for it and hurried home with the 87 cents that remained.
Questions :
1) What did she find?
2) What was the impression that she did get after looking at the gift?
3) What was the chain made of ?
4) How much did she pay to buy the present?
5) How much money remained with her?
6) What did she buy for Jim?
7) She paid money in Euros. True or False?
8) Write the synonym of the word hastened from the passage
Answers:
1) She found a suitable Christmas gift.
2) She felt that it had been made for Jim.
3) It was made of platinum.
4) twenty-one dollars
5) eighty-seven cents
6) a platinum watch-chain
7) false
8) hurried
5) The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two-and he was burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves. Jim’s eyes were fixed on Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise. He simply stared at her with a strange expression on his face.
Questions :
i) How did Jim look?
ii) Who was burdened with a family?
iii) What did Jim need?
iv) Where were Jim’s eyes fixed?
v) How was Jim’s expression?
vii) What did Della find in Jim’s expression?
vii) Jim was angry with Della. True or False?
viii) Write the synonym of the word looked from the passage
Answers:
i) Thin and very serious Jim
ii) Jim
iii) A new overcoat (tod gloves)
iv) On Della
v) It was neither anger, nor surprise, but strange and a combination of emotions.
vi) She could not read or find anything in Jim’s expression.
vii) False
viii) Stared
The Doctor’s Word
6) When the doctor resumed his seat, the patient asked in faintest whisper possible, “Is that someone crying?” The doctor advised, “Don’t exert yourself. You mustn’t talk.” He felt the pulse. It was already agitated by the exertion. The patient asked, “Am I going? Don’t hide it from me.” The doctor made a deprecating noise and sat back in his chair. He had never faced a situation like this. It was not in his nature to whitewash. People attached great value to his word because of that He stole a look at the other. The patient motioned a finger to draw him nearer and whispered, “I must know how long I am going to last. I must sign the will going to last. I must sign the will. It is all ready. Ask my wife for the dispatch box. You must sign as a witness.”
Questions :
i) who was crying?
ii) What was the doctor’s advice to Gopal ?
iii) Why was Gopal’s pulse already agitated ?
iv) “Am I going?” said Gopal. What did he mean by this?
v) What was NOT there in the nature of the doctor? …
vi) I am going to ‘last’. .” Write the part of speech of the word last.
vii) Write the synonym, from the passage, of the word hide.
viii) Write the idiom used in the passage to mean to see somebody quickly so that nobody sees that.
Answers:
1. Gopal’s wife
2. “Don’t exert your self
3. Because of the exertion
4. If he is going to die …………….
5. To whitewash
6. Verb
7. Whitewash
8. Stole a look
7) Next morning, he was back at Lawley Extension at ten. From ad sat back in his chair his car he made a dash for the sick bed. The patient was this. It was not in his ne awake and looked very well. The assistant reported great value to his word satisfactory pulse. The doctor put his tube at his heart, other. The patient mot so unhappy, lady. Your husband will live to be ninety.” When they were going back to the hospital, the assistant, sitting beside him in the car asked, “Is he going to live, sir?”
“I will bet on it. He will live to be ninety. He has turned corner. How he has survived this attack will be a me all my life,” replied the doctor. “I will bet on it. He will live to be ninety. He has turn comer. How he has survived this attack will be a me all my life,” replied the doctor.
Questions :
i) How was the patient when the doctor visited him following morning?
ii) What did the assistant report?
iii) What did the doctor say to Gopal’s wife?
iv) What would the doctor bet on?
v) What would be a puzzle to the doctor all his life?
vi) Write the idiom used in the passage to mean passed a very important point in an illness and began to improve.
vii) Find out the word used in the passage to mean an act of going somewhere quickly.
viii) The patient was awake… Here the word patient is a noun and it means a sick person. Use the word patient in your own sentence as adjective.
Answers:
i) The patient was awake and looked very well.
ii) Satisfactory pulse
iii) “Don’t look so unhappy, lady. Your husband will live to be ninety.”
iv) On Gopal living to be ninety.
v) How Gopal has survived that attack
vi) Turned the corner
vii) Dash
viii) Our English teacher is very patient (adj) with us.
Lost
Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow in a word or sentence each.
8) This latter circumstance frequently emboldened the stockbroker to me secret overtures to the delightful little lady, overtures which might have fascinated certain Viennese actresses but were an insult to a respectable woman. The baroness, whose name appeared in the Almanac de Gotha felt something very like hatred for the man from the ghetto, and for a long time her pretty little head had been full of various plans of revenge.
Questions :
i) What does the phrase ‘This latter circumstance’ refer to?
ii) Was the lady a Viennese actress?
iii) What were insults to a respectable woman?
iv) “The stockbroker’ and ‘the man from the ghetto’ both are the same. Write true or false.
v) Where did her name appear?
vi) Why did the lady develop hatred for the man?
vii) Find the word from the passage which means different.
viii) Pick the antonym of ugly from the passage
Answers:
i) It refers to ‘a very modest income’ (poverty) of the married
ii) Lady.
iii) No overtures (from the baron)
iv) True
v) In the Almanac de Gotha
vi) Because of his insulting overtures
vii) Various
viii) Pretty
9) Next evening the enamoured stockbroker came to the abode on which the price of the charming little baroness and found her alone, lying on the couch, wrapped in dark fur and holding a dog whip in her small hand, which the man from the ghetto kissed: “You know our agreement,” she began. “Of course, I do,” the Stock Exchange baron replied. “I am that? It is a sun to allow you to give me twenty-five cuts with the whip, and h a charmingly after the twenty-fifth you will listen to me.”
Questions :
1. Where did the stockbroker go?
2. Whom did he find ?
3. What did the lady hold in her hand ?
4. The lady was accompanied by her friends. Write true or false.
5. Write the word, from the passage, that means a house.
6. Write the part of speech of the word couch.
7. When would the lady listen to the baron favourably?
8. The man from the ghetto kissed the dog whip. Write Yes or No.
Answers:
1. To the abode (home) of the charming little baroness
2. Found the baroness
3. A dog whip
4. False
5. Abode
6. Noun
7. He wouldn’t have his wish fulfilled.
8. No. (He kissed her small hand.)
10) “Certainly, but I promised you to grant your wish after the twenty-fifth blow, and you have only received twenty-four,” the cruel little atom of virtue cried, and I have witnesses to prove it.” With these words she drew back the curtains over the door, and her husband, followed by two other gentlemen, came out of the next room, smiling. For a moment the stockbroker remained speechless on his knees before his Delilah; then he gave a deep sigh and sadly uttered that one most significant word: “Lost!”
Questions :
1. What did the lady promise ?
2. Was the baron ready to receive the twenty-fifth blow?
3. Whom does the phrase the cruel little atom of virtue refer to ?
4. Who were the witnesses ?
5. Find the word, from the passage, which means very important.
6. Write the antonym, from the passage, of the word vice.
7. Who does the word Delilah refer to ?
8. Why did the stockbroker remain speechless ?
Answers:
1. The lady promised to grant the baron his wish.
2. Yes
3. To the baroness (the lady)
4. Her husband and two other gentlemen
5. Significant
6. Virtue
7. The lady.
8. As what he expected did not happen – totally unexpected things – her husband and two gentlemen coming there.
An Interview
Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow in a word or sentence each.
11) ‘I am not the Dean,’ he explained. ‘I am the medical school Secretary here long before you were born, my boy. Before your fair probably. I remember well enough when the Dean himself came up admitted.’ He removed his glasses and pointed them at me. I’ve seen thousand of students pass through the school. Some of them have turned out on and some of them bad – it’s just like your own children.’ I nodded heartily, as I was anxious to please everyone.
Now, young feller,’ he went on more briskly, ‘I’ve got some questions to ask you.’ I folded my hands submissively and braced myself mentally. ‘Have you been to a public school?’ he asked. ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you play Rugby football or Association?’ ‘Rugby.’ ‘Do you think you can afford to pay the fees?’ ‘Yes.’ He grunted, and without a word withdrew. Left alone, I diverted my apprehensive mind by running my eye carefully over the line of black-and white pictures of past deans, studying each one in turn. After ten minutes or so the old man returned and led me in to see the living holder of the office.
Questions :
1. I am not the Dean, he explained. Who does the word ‘I” refer to ?
2. How long was the Secretary there in the college ?
3. Name the games mentioned in the passage.
4. What was the last question to the speaker ?
5. How did the narrator divert his apprehensive mind?
6. Where did the old man take the narrator?
7. Pick the word, from the passage, which means have enough money to pay.
8. Pick the antonym of slowly from the passage.
Answers:
1. The Secretary
2. Since the narrator or even his father was not born.
3. Rugby and Association (football).
4. If he could afford to pay the fee
5. By running his eye carefully over the line of black-and-white pictures of past deans
6. Into the office of the Dean
7. Afford.
8. Briskly
12) He frowned at his paper pad for a few seconds. His face suddenly lightened, and I saw he had come to a decision. My hands gripped the arms of the chair as I waited to receive it. Rising, he shook me briskly by the hand and told me he had pleasure in admitting me to St Swithin’s.
I wondered for some time afterwards how he had been able to discover from these questions that I had the attributes of a successful doctor, but I later found out that even this brief interview was superfluous, as the Dean always took the advice of his old secretary and told applicants whose looks this man disliked that there were no vacancies.
Questions :
1. “My hands gripped the arms of the chair…” What does it express?
2. What was the narrator waiting for?
3. What did the Dean do raising from the chair?
4. Why did the narrator wonder?
5. Later he found out something. What was it?
6. Pick the word, from the passage, that means not necessary.
7. How were the applicants selected for admission?
8. Why was the interview superfluous?
Answers:
1. His tension/anxiety
2. For the result of his interview
3. The Dean shook the narrator briskly by hand and announced that his admission was finalized.
4. Wondered how the interview decided his attributes of successful doctor
5. That the interview was superfluous
6. Superfluous
7. Based on the liking by the Secretary of the looks of the aspirants
8. As the interview was NOT deciding admissions