Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occas… - Vidyadip

Question

Saul Bellow, who has consented to be interviewed on several occasions, nevertheless once
described interviews as being like thumbprints on his windpipe. Yet despite the drawbacks of the interview, it is
a supremely serviceable medium of communication. These days more than at any other time,our most vivid
impressions of our contemporaries are through interviews. Dennis Brian has written Almost everything of
moment reaches us through one man asking questions of another. Because of this, the interviewer holds a
position of unprecedented power and influence.

(a)How would you describe Denis Brians opinion on interviews? Choose the most appropriate options.

(1)Appeasing
(2)utilitarian
(3)approving
(4)praising

(i)Options (1) and (2)
(ii)options (3) and (4)
(iii)options (2) and (3)
(iv)options (1) and (4)

(b)According to Saul Bellow,interviews are like thumbprints on his windpipe,What emotion might best describe
such an image?

(c)Why does Dennis Brian state that the interviewer occupies a position of power and influence?

(d)The use of the word serviceable implies that interviews are powerful.(True/False)

(e) In which of the following statements has the word ‘unprecedented power” been used appropriately?
(i)Technology now gives the state unprecedented power to monitor the lives of individuala.
(ii)This was interpreted that some unprecedented power has descended at the temple.
(iii)His unprecedented power to create whirlwind for mass destruction made him one of the most fearsome evil
forces
(iv)She interviewed six women who with their unprecedented power have reached positions of great power and
influence.

(f)Contemporaries means the opposite of:
(i)present
(ii)latest
(iii)in vogue
(iv)preceding

✓

Answer

(a)(iii)options (2) and (3)
(b)The word pain might describe such an image.
(c)Denis Brian states that the interviewer occupies a position of power and influence
(d)False
(e)iv
(f)iv

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While I was wondering about it all, M. Hamel mounted his chair, and, in the same grave and gentle tone
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What a thunderclap these words were to me! Oh, the wretches; that was what they had put up at the town-
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i. Comment on the mood of M Hamel as evident in the extract.

ii. The Germans impose learning of German over the French community. This illustrates.
a. linguistic approach
b. linguistic chauvinism
c. lingua franca
d. linguistic nationalism

iii. Connect ‘town hall’ and ‘thunderclap’ to highlight Franz’s reaction.

iv. “I hardly knew how to write” reveals that Franz was a keen learner: True/False

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But the stranger said no, and no, and again no and the ironmaster saw that he must give in.“It looks as though Captain von Stahle preferred to stay with you tonight, Stjernström”, he said to the master blacksmith, and turned on his heel.
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(6) Why was the peddler not keen on going to the manor house and declined the invitation?

(i) He wanted to stay at the mill.

(ii) He wasn’t feeling comfortable.

(iii) He had stolen money with him.

(iv) all of the above

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(a) Though the stranger appeared incredulous yet he showed his ____________ to him.

(b) These thirty kronors were earned by selling ____________ .

(d) Find out from the passage a word which means ‘unbelieving’.

(a) Who is the stranger in the first line of the passage?

(i) the peddler

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(1) Though the stranger appeared incredulous yet he showed his ____________ to him.

(2) These thirty kronors were earned by selling ____________ .

(3) Find out from the passage a word which means ‘unbelieving’.

(4) Who is the stranger in the first line of the passage?

(i) the peddler

(iii) a milkman

(iv) a beggar
(5) How was the peddler treated by the old man?

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(ii) in a warm and friendly manner

(iii) with hostility

(iv) none of the above

(6) After holding the thirty kronor bills before the eyes of his guest, the crofter stuffed the bills back into a..?

“but the servants knew Shukla as a poor yeoman who pestered their master to help the indigo sharecroppers.
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Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops from his bucket pollute the entire
source..”

i) What does “yeoman” mean?
a) Gentleman
b) Illiterate
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d) Landlord

ii) Where does this episode happen?

iii) What does the behavior of the servants show about the social situation?

iv) Why wasn’t Gandhi permitted to draw water from the well?
a) Because there was water scarcity in the place
b) Because they thought Gandhi to be an untouchable
c) Because they didn’t want Gandhi to take any trouble
d) Because Gandhi was against the British

v) Who was Shukla?

vi) “pestered their master....” Who is the master mentioned in these lines?

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1. Who is the poet in these lines?
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c) Louis Fischer
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2. What does ‘dazed’ in the extract mean?

3. Why didn’t the audience understand the speech?

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
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b) The poet felt happy about the warm welcome
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5. Give an example from the extract to prove that the Boss too knew little about the poet.

6. Why did the poet’s visit baffle everyone?

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i. M Hamel looked very pale because ___________
a. he was tired after teaching
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c. no one thanked him for his service.
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ii. The teacher appeared ‘tall’. This implies that

(I) M Hamel was proud to be a teacher of French
(II) M Hamel gathered his strength to stop himself from breaking down.

a. option I is correct.
b. option II is correct.
c. Both I & II are correct.
d. II is the explanation of I

iii. The extract brings out the feeling of patriotism in M Hamel. Provide evidence for the fact.

iv. What is the significance of the church bell in the context?

v. The word ‘drill’ as used in the extract means ....
a. a tool
b. teach many times
c exercise, marching
d. make a hole

vi. The teacher could not continue speaking because _________________.

But half an hour later the rattrap peddler stood again before the door. He did not try to get in, however. He only went up to the window, smashed a pane, stuck in his hand, and got hold of the pouch with the thirty kronor. He took the money and thrust it into his own pocket. Then he hung the leather pouch very carefully back in its place and went away.

As he walked along with the money in his pocket he felt quite pleased with his smartness. He realised, of course, that at first he dared not continue on the public highway.
Answer the following.

(1) The peddler had to take the forest route as he had ____________ .

(2) Taking the public highway was not ____________ for him.

(3) The phrase that suggests ‘morning’.

(4) With what motive do you think, the rattrap peddler had gone back to the crofter’s house?

(i) to express his gratitude

(ii) to get back something that he had forgotten

(iii) to steal the crofter’s money

(iv) to have a last look at the place where he had stayed

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(i) He needed the money to buy clothes.

(ii) He had to fulfil his needs as the world hadn’t been kind to him.

(iii) He wanted money to buy drinks.

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i. Point out the word that tells that the narrator was consuming his physical power.

ii. The experience of drowning in the pool was like a ..............

iii. ‘lost my breath.... Lungs ached.... Head throbbed’ – emphasize the fact that water was ......................
a. overpowering
b. docile
c. energetic
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iv. Figure of speech in ‘come like a cork to the surface’.
a. comparison
b. simile
c. personification
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v. How would the narrator reach the edge of the pool?
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“But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of large
numbers of peasants. This was the typical Gandhi pattern — his politics were intertwined with the practical,
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beings. In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and
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i) Study the following statements:

Statement-1: His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings.
Statement-2: Gandhi was a humanitarian at heart.

Can statement-2 be inferred from statement-1?

ii) The word ‘alleviate’ in the extract means.........

iii) The typical Gandhi pattern was....
a) To separate politics from day to day life problems of people
b) To integrate politics with day to day life problems of people
c) To philosophize the problems faced by people
d) To confine politics to the problems of the elite

iv) “But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance”. This means..
a) It was a movement planned in advance
b) It was a movement without any goal or plan
c) It started as a movement for justice but later developed into civil disobedience movement
d) The Champaran movement was not a civil disobedience movement at all

v) How did Gandhi want to mould a new Indian?

vi) The word ‘typical’ in this context means......

“But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out of an attempt to alleviate the distress of large
numbers of peasants. This was the typical Gandhi pattern — his politics were intertwined with the practical,
day-to-day problems of the millions. His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human
beings. In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his own feet and
thus make India free. “

i) Study the following statements:

Statement-1: His was not a loyalty to abstractions; it was a loyalty to living, human beings.
Statement-2: Gandhi was a humanitarian at heart.

Can statement-2 be inferred from statement-1?

ii) The word ‘alleviate’ in the extract means.........

iii) The typical Gandhi pattern was....
a) To separate politics from day to day life problems of people
b) To integrate politics with day to day life problems of people
c) To philosophize the problems faced by people
d) To confine politics to the problems of the elite

iv) “But Champaran did not begin as an act of defiance”. This means..
a) It was a movement planned in advance
b) It was a movement without any goal or plan
c) It started as a movement for justice but later developed into civil disobedience movement
d) The Champaran movement was not a civil disobedience movement at all

v) How did Gandhi want to mould a new Indian?

vi) The word ‘typical’ in this context means......

Savita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside an elderly woman, soldering pieces of glass. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make. It symbolises an Indian woman's suhaag, auspiciousness in marriage. It will dawn on her suddenly one day when her head is draped with a red veil, her hands dyed red with henna, and red bangles rolled onto her wrists. She will then become a bride. Like the old woman beside her who became one many years ago. She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes. -Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya,|| she says, in a voice drained of joy. She has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime that's what she has reaped! Her husband, an old man with a flowing beard, says, I know nothing except bangles. All I have done is make a house for the family to live in.|| Hearing him, one wonders if he has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime. He has a roof over his head!

1. "I know nothing except bangles". Which one of the following best speaks about the character of the old man.
a) (i) Cunning; (ii) wise; (iii) soft; (iv) obedient
b) (i) Intelligent; (ii) irresponsible; (iii)caring; (iv) simple
c) (i) Innocent; (ii)foresight (iii) responsible; iv)caring
d) (i) Impeccable; (ii) honest; (iii) rude; (iv) simple

2. Which option best indicates that the old woman too has sacrificed something in her life for the sake of her family.

(i) The old woman has bangles on her wrist, but she can't see them.
(ii) She has not even enjoyed one full meal in her life time.
(iii)She never supported her husband in bangle making in her life.
(iv)She knows nothing expect making bangles which symbolise an Indian woman's suhaag.

a) (i)&(iv)
b) (ii)&((iii)
c) (iii)&(iv)
d) (i)&(ii)

3. "Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya", the grand mother says. Her voice indicates that she is
a) Undergoing an emotion of great happiness.
b) Going through an emotion which lacks happiness.
c) Undergoing an emotion of anger and frustration.
d) Experiencing an emotion which reflects her fear and anxiety.

4. Which of these statements is TRUE about the husband of the elderly woman?
a) He says he knows nothing about making bangles in Firozabad.
b) He did not enjoy even one full meal in his entire life for the sake of his family.
c) He says he knows only bangle making and nothing else in his life.
d) All he has done in his life for the sake of his wife is making bangles for her.

5. "I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make". In this statement, I wonder reflects the author's?

6. Savita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside........