Question
A1. Simple Factual Activities:
State whether the following statements are True or False:
(1) Pitchblende is a black, very hard and cheap substance.
(2) Men could see many substances through the powerful rays of Uranium.
(3) The emperor of Austria gifted a ton of pitchblende to the Curies
(4) The Curies sacrificed all their luxuries of life to save money to buy pitchblende.
Marie was specially interested in a substance called uranium which was obtained from pitchblende, a black, very hard and very expensive substance. Uranium was known to give off very powerful rays by which men could see through many substances. Now Marie discovered that what was left after obtaining uranium was even more powerful. Later on, Pierre and Marie found that there was not one, but two new substances giving off these rays although they had not yet been able to obtain either of them. They called one of them Polonium, in honour of her country. Poland and the other was called Radium. Radium is the most powerful of the radio-active elements. And radio-active elements can give off rays which can penetrate substances that are opaque to light. There was another French scientist called Henri Becquerel, who in 1896 had discovered that uranium possessed this property. But Polonium and Radium possessed radio-active in much higher degree.
The Curies now began to work with greater enthusiasm, but they were poor and pitchblende itself was an extremely expensive substance, which they could not afford to buy in large quantity. They, however, sacrificed all the luxuries of life to save money to buy whatever little amount of pitchblende they could. They lived in utter penury, not buying costly food and warm clothes for the extremely cold Parisian winter. Often they could not sleep during the cold nights due to lack of warmth. Overwork seriously affected Madame Curie’s health. Often she was forced to leave the laboratory to take a much needed rest. Her husband begged her to give up the struggle, but she resolutely refused. Marie was driven by a mad determination to discover the mystery of radium. With courage she faced all the miseries of a life of poverty and carried on with her research along with her husband who loved and supported her.
Luck, however, favoured the Curies and a windfall came to them. It was a gift of a ton of pitchblende from the emperor of Austria, who was an admirer of the Curies. It was the most precious gift the Curies had received and in their shabby laboratory they toiled along, boiled and burnt, overpowered by heat in summer and frozen with cold in winter.
A2. Complex Factual Activities:
(1) What proves Marie's strong will power?
A3. Activities based on Vocabulary:
Find out antonyms for the following from the passage:
(1) economical ×
(2) poverty ×
(3) chill ×
(4) worthless ×
A4. Activities based on Contextual Grammar:
Change the degree:
(1) Pitchblende was the most precious gift the Curies had received.
A5. Personal Response:
(1) What qualities, do you think, are important to get success in our life?
State whether the following statements are True or False:
(1) Pitchblende is a black, very hard and cheap substance.
(2) Men could see many substances through the powerful rays of Uranium.
(3) The emperor of Austria gifted a ton of pitchblende to the Curies
(4) The Curies sacrificed all their luxuries of life to save money to buy pitchblende.
Marie was specially interested in a substance called uranium which was obtained from pitchblende, a black, very hard and very expensive substance. Uranium was known to give off very powerful rays by which men could see through many substances. Now Marie discovered that what was left after obtaining uranium was even more powerful. Later on, Pierre and Marie found that there was not one, but two new substances giving off these rays although they had not yet been able to obtain either of them. They called one of them Polonium, in honour of her country. Poland and the other was called Radium. Radium is the most powerful of the radio-active elements. And radio-active elements can give off rays which can penetrate substances that are opaque to light. There was another French scientist called Henri Becquerel, who in 1896 had discovered that uranium possessed this property. But Polonium and Radium possessed radio-active in much higher degree.
The Curies now began to work with greater enthusiasm, but they were poor and pitchblende itself was an extremely expensive substance, which they could not afford to buy in large quantity. They, however, sacrificed all the luxuries of life to save money to buy whatever little amount of pitchblende they could. They lived in utter penury, not buying costly food and warm clothes for the extremely cold Parisian winter. Often they could not sleep during the cold nights due to lack of warmth. Overwork seriously affected Madame Curie’s health. Often she was forced to leave the laboratory to take a much needed rest. Her husband begged her to give up the struggle, but she resolutely refused. Marie was driven by a mad determination to discover the mystery of radium. With courage she faced all the miseries of a life of poverty and carried on with her research along with her husband who loved and supported her.
Luck, however, favoured the Curies and a windfall came to them. It was a gift of a ton of pitchblende from the emperor of Austria, who was an admirer of the Curies. It was the most precious gift the Curies had received and in their shabby laboratory they toiled along, boiled and burnt, overpowered by heat in summer and frozen with cold in winter.
A2. Complex Factual Activities:
(1) What proves Marie's strong will power?
A3. Activities based on Vocabulary:
Find out antonyms for the following from the passage:
(1) economical ×
(2) poverty ×
(3) chill ×
(4) worthless ×
A4. Activities based on Contextual Grammar:
Change the degree:
(1) Pitchblende was the most precious gift the Curies had received.
A5. Personal Response:
(1) What qualities, do you think, are important to get success in our life?
